Those pesky negatives (revisited)

[Dennis R. Preston]

Wilson,

Serious? Did you think I was serious? F1 and F2 distinctions in vowel
rotations are serious; split infinitives - hardly.

Well, Wilson appears to be right for the great majority of those who
care about splitting infinitives; hardly a mention of negatives in
all the hand-wringing (only an occasional reference to a badly placed
"never").

While we are talking about those who care, please (everybody) go back
and read Fowler's wonderful entry on split infinitives.
Sociolinguistics really was invented before 1966.

dInIs





>Actually, I forgot to add the appropriate smileys. I'm not taking it as
>seriously as I may have seemed. I'm retired with nothing to do,
>basically, after I've finished changing the cats' litterbox and taken
>out the trash. So, I sometimes put more ardor into my postings than the
>situation calls for. Like, I don't have underlings to kick around
>anymore, so I have a lot of psychic energy with no way to expend it.
>
>What interests me about "to not verb" is that it seems to have come out
>of nowhere. Most of the stuff that prescriptivists rail against has
>been around for generations, if not centuries. But, AFAIK, no
>prescriptivists of the old school have included "to *not* verb" in the
>class of "split infinitives" because it simply didn't exist in their
>day. But why and how did it come into existence? What motivated it? It
>really "bugs my head," as used to be said.
>
>Another thing that I've noticed that is new to me is the use of the
>"wrong" preposition, such as "he was beaten by a baseball bat" as
>opposed to the "correct" form, "he was beaten with a baseball bat."
>These have become so common that even I occasionally find myself using
>the *wrong" preposition. But only in speech, needless to say. I never
>miswrite, of course.;-)
>
>-Wilson Gray
>
>On Aug 10, 2004, at 3:23 PM, Dennis R. Preston wrote:
>
>>---------------------- Information from the mail header
>>-----------------------
>>Sender:       American Dialect Society <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
>>Poster:       "Dennis R. Preston" <preston at MSU.EDU>
>>Subject:      Re: Those pesky negatives (revisited)
>>-----------------------------------------------------------------------
>>--------
>>
>>Wilson,
>>
>>We got different notions of 'right.' That's OK, but it's also the
>>case that I was not be idiomatic in my "translation." I also very
>>infrequently use to+not+v, but I am not so unfond of it as you appear
>>to be.
>>
>>dInIs
>>
>>>On Aug 10, 2004, at 12:34 PM, Dennis R. Preston wrote:
>>>
>>>>---------------------- Information from the mail header
>>>>-----------------------
>>>>Sender:       American Dialect Society <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
>>>>Poster:       "Dennis R. Preston" <preston at MSU.EDU>
>>>>Subject:      Re: Those pesky negatives (revisited)
>>>>---------------------------------------------------------------------
>>>>--
>>>>--------
>>>>
>>>>>larry,
>>>>
>>>>
>>>>I have the sneaking suspicion that some not familiar with the sense
>>>>of "negative" you use here may have trouble finding three; I offer
>>>>the following translation:
>>>>
>>>>They've NOT ever NOT continued to NOT live up to our expectations.
>>>
>>>Almost. They've NOT ever NOT continued NOT to live up to our
>>>expectations.
>>>
>>>_That_ is right.
>>>
>>>But, seriously, folks, I've been completely blind-sided by what seems
>>>to me to be the out-of-nowhere emergence of the "splitting of an
>>>infinitive" by inserting "not" that has now become common. I've racked
>>>my brain and I can't recall that I was ever taught a prescriptive rule
>>>against this. (FWIW, I've read only one prescriptive grammar in my
>>>life
>>>and the only thing that I remember about it is that it was a green
>>>hardcover, was written by a Jesuit, and was published by Loyola
>>>University Press, Chicago.) There was no need for a rule against it
>>>because NOBODY EVER DID IT! For all practical purposes, I never lived
>>>anywhere but Saint Louis for the first quarter-century of my life.
>>>Perhaps the non-occurrence of "to not VERB" was just a local
>>>phenomenon
>>>or something. Oh, well.
>>>
>>>-Wilson Gray
>>>
>>>>
>>>>Is that right?
>>>>
>>>>dInIs
>>>>
>>>>>3 negatives = 1 positive?
>>>>>
>>>>>larry
>>>>>=================
>>>>>
>>>>>The New York Times
>>>>>August 10, 2004, D3
>>>>>HEADLINE: Showalter Builds Another Team Into a Contender
>>>>>by JACK CURRY
>>>>>
>>>>>  Buck Showalter is doing it again. He is breathing and he is
>>>>>building
>>>>>a contending baseball team, so he has his priorities covered. He can
>>>>>keep them covered by constructing and cajoling the Texas Rangers,
>>>>>and
>>>>>trying to go to a World Series, someplace he has never been.
>>>>>
>>>>>  The Rangers are already in a rarefied place, where they were not
>>>>>supposed to be: they are challenging for first place in the American
>>>>>League West and for the wild card. After the Rangers unloaded Alex
>>>>>Rodriguez to the Yankees for Alfonso Soriano in an embarrassing
>>>>>salary dump, they were expected to crawl to a fourth straight
>>>>>last-place finish. No A-Rod? No way.
>>>>>
>>>>>  But the Rangers have performed like a revived team, a team that
>>>>>Showalter said was looser, a team that is not centered on one
>>>>>special
>>>>>player. Rodriguez has left. But Showalter, whom Rodriguez has called
>>>>>a former manager but not a friend, has not. There are no power
>>>>>struggles this season. Showalter's all-consuming style has the
>>>>>Rangers winning and dreaming.
>>>>>
>>>>>  ''We have a thing with the coaching staff where we say, 'Let's go
>>>>>out and see what the boys have in store for us tonight,''' said the
>>>>>48-year-old Showalter, who is in his second season with the team.
>>>>>''They've never ceased to let us down.''
>>>>
>>>>
>>>>--
>>>>Dennis R. Preston
>>>>University Distinguished Professor
>>>>Department of Linguistics and Germanic, Slavic,
>>>>         Asian and African Languages
>>>>Wells Hall A-740
>>>>Michigan State University
>>>>East Lansing, MI 48824-1027 USA
>>>>Office: (517) 353-0740
>>>>Fax: (517) 432-2736
>>
>>
>>--
>>Dennis R. Preston
>>University Distinguished Professor
>>Department of Linguistics and Germanic, Slavic,
>>         Asian and African Languages
>>Wells Hall A-740
>>Michigan State University
>>East Lansing, MI 48824-1027 USA
>>Office: (517) 353-0740
>>Fax: (517) 432-2736


--
Dennis R. Preston
University Distinguished Professor of Linguistics
Department of Linguistics and Germanic, Slavic, Asian, and African Languages
A-740 Wells Hall
Michigan State University
East Lansing, MI 48824
Phone: (517) 432-3099
Fax: (517) 432-2736
preston at msu.edu