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Most languages probably allow double negatives with a positive, or at
least a neutral (mitigated negative) meaning when they are in different
clauses. E.g. I would expect "He never said he wouldn't go" to deny the
(verbal) negation of intent to go, and thus at least open the door for,
if not establish the expectation of, the subject's having intended to
go and perhaps even having gone. <br>
<br>
Nahuatl sometimes has double negatives giving a negative meaning. "Amo
okihtoh niontli" [not he-said-it nothing] would in most dialects, I
believe, mean "he said nothing, he didn't say anything". But modified,
questioned or mitigated negatives are often affirmative. E.g. in
Orizaba the word for "yes" is morphologically "tla-amo" [if not], and
kox-amo [whether-not] often means "probably, like as not". In many
other dialects the word for "yes" is "kēma", which fits in the
interrogative series as "when?"<br>
<br>
--David Tuggy<br>
<br>
Kenneth C. Hill wrote:<br>
<blockquote cite="mid20050131221743.41044.qmail@web12209.mail.yahoo.com"
type="cite"><tt>
In my work with Uto-Aztecan languages I have not encountered double<br>
negatives with a resultant negative meaning. Quite the contrary. For<br>
example, Hopi has two negatives, qa and son or so'on. When they cooccur
in<br>
the same clause, the result is positive, meaning necessarily, surely, it<br>
must be. Here's an example from the Hopi Dictionary (under son):<br>
<br>
Pay naat son ason qa yokvani.<br>
well yet NEG eventually NEG will.rain<br>
It will inevitably rain when the time comes.<br>
<br>
--Ken<br>
<br>
--- Peter Kirk <a class="moz-txt-link-rfc2396E" href="mailto:peterkirk@qaya.org"><peterkirk@qaya.org></a> wrote:<br>
<br>
> On 29/01/2005 22:07, <a class="moz-txt-link-abbreviated" href="mailto:rtroike@email.arizona.edu">rtroike@email.arizona.edu</a> wrote:<br>
> <br>
> >Peter,<br>
> ><br>
> > Your recollection is certainly good. ...<br>
> ><br>
> <br>
> Thank you!<br>
> <br>
> >...<br>
> ><br>
> > I've (randomly) encountered this "agreement" phenomenon in<br>
> Egyptian Arabic,<br>
> >where an enclitic pronoun "-ish" (I think) has been recruited
for this<br>
> purpose,<br>
> >and in Burmese. The underlying psychology that would reproduce
this<br>
> same<br>
> >structural effect so widely may be rooted in the communicative
need to<br>
> make the<br>
> >negation clear to a hearer. Why the second element comes to be<br>
> interpreted as<br>
> >the primary negator is mysterious.<br>
> ><br>
> > <br>
> ><br>
> Another interesting example is in Azerbaijani, another language in
which<br>
> <br>
> a double negative has a negative meaning. (Indeed, are there any <br>
> languages in which it does not apart from upper-class Latin and <br>
> upper-class English?) In this Turkic language negation is marked
on the <br>
> verb, and can be emphasised or further specified by either a
negative <br>
> adverb, pronoun etc or by a positive one. The Arabic adverb
"aslaa", <br>
> meaning something like "actually" or "originally", has become
commonly <br>
> used as a loan word with negative sentences with a meaning like
"at all"<br>
> <br>
> or "ever" in English, i.e. strengthening the negative. And, with
its <br>
> original Arabic meaning forgotten, it has then been reinterpreted
as a <br>
> negative word which can be used in the sense "not at all" or
"never" <br>
> even when there is no negative verb associated with it. Thus the
word <br>
> has come to mean precisely the opposite of what it originally
meant.<br>
> <br>
> -- <br>
> Peter Kirk<br>
> <a class="moz-txt-link-abbreviated" href="mailto:peter@qaya.org">peter@qaya.org</a> (personal)<br>
> <a class="moz-txt-link-abbreviated" href="mailto:peterkirk@qaya.org">peterkirk@qaya.org</a> (work)<br>
> <a href="http://www.qaya.org/">http://www.qaya.org/</a><br>
> <br>
> <br>
> <br>
> -- <br>
> No virus found in this outgoing message.<br>
> Checked by AVG Anti-Virus.<br>
> Version: 7.0.300 / Virus Database: 265.7.6 - Release Date:
27/01/2005<br>
> <br>
> <br>
<br>
<br>
<br>
<br>
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</tt>
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