[Lingtyp] fear + NEG

[Hannu Tommola]

As Hartmut, I feel a clarification of the original query is needed here. I
know that my competence in French is poor, but isn't it that there is a
difference between the following utterances:

  French:

  Je crains qu'il ne vienne
  'I'm afraid he'll come'

  and

  Je crains qu'il ne vienne PAS.
  'I'm afraid he'll NOT come'

  Similarly in Russian:

  Ja bojus', chto on pridët
  'I'm afraid he'll come'

  and

  Ja bojus', chto on NE pridët
  'I'm afraid he'll NOT come'

  Best wishes,
  Hannu

     Quoting Hartmut Haberland <hartmut at ruc.dk>:
  > I need a clarification here. The Japanese sentence can be paraphrased
  > as: Something bad may have happened. I am afraid of that. But do the
  > Hindi and French sentences mean: He may come. I am afraid of that. Or:
  >  He may not come. I am afraid of that. ?
  > It could just be a question whether the complementizer means that or if
  > (like Japanese ka); the latter would require a negation that disappears
  > when the complementizer is rendered by a that-like conjunction in a
  > different language. 
  > Hartmut
  >
  >    Sendt fra min iPhone
  >
  >    Den 19/03/2015 kl. 08.17 skrev "Anvita Abbi" <anvitaabbi at gmail.com>:
  >     
  >> Dear All,
  >> Hindi is one language with such structures. One example is given here.
  >> /mujhe       Dar     hai       ki           vo         aa       na    
  >>   jaye/
  >> 1sg.Dat     fear     AUX    COMP   3sg       come  NEG  come
  >> Literal: 'I am afraid that he does not come'
  >>  
  >> Anvita
  >>
  >>
  >>
  >> Prof. Anvita Abbi
  >>
  >> Director: Centre for Oral and Tribal Literature
  >>
  >> Sahitya Akademi
  >>
  >> Rabindra Bhavan
  >>
  >> 35, Ferozeshah Road
  >>
  >> New Delhi 110 001
  >> www.andamanese.net[1][1]
  >> President: Linguistic Society of India
  >>
  >> On Wed, Mar 18, 2015 at 5:09 PM, Michael Daniel
  >> <misha.daniel at gmail.com> wrote:
  >>> Dear all,
  >>>
  >>>         below is a letter I post on behalf of Nina Dobrushina. If you
  >>> have any references or ideas that you could share, please send them to
  >>> her: nina.dobrushina at gmail.com (also in the copy above)
  >>>
  >>>         Michael Daniel
  >>>
  >>>         Dear all,
  >>>
  >>>         could you give me hints on empirical evidence and literature
  >>> about languages where the predicates of fear (?fear?, ?to be afraid?,
  >>> ?to worry?  and the like) (tend to) have negation in the complement
  >>> clause? I am aware of Russian, French (and other Romance languages),
  >>> Japanese, and some Turkic languages like Kumyk. Two examples are
  >>> provided below.
  >>>
  >>>
  >>>         French:
  >>>
  >>>         Je    crain-s    que    la    lettre    n?    arrive       
pas
  >>>         I    fear    COMPL    DEF    letter    NEG    come.SUBJ.3SG   
NEG
  >>>
  >>>         LT: 'I am afraid that the letter does not arrive'
  >>>         (less literal 'I am afraid that the letter may not arrive')
  >>>
  >>>         Japanese (example courtesy Tasaku Tsunoda):
  >>>
  >>>         Nanika        waru-i        koto=ga        
  >>> oki-nak-at-ta=ka        sinpai=da
  >>>         something        bad-NPST    thing=NOM   
  >>> happen-NEG-LINK-PST=Q    worried=COP.NPNST
  >>>          
  >>>         LT: ?[I] am worried whether something bad did not happen.?
  >>>         FT: ?I am worried that something bad happened.?
  >>>
  >>>         Thanks,
  >>>
  >>>         Nina Dobrushina
  >>>
  >>>        _______________________________________________
  >>>        Lingtyp mailing list
  >>> Lingtyp at listserv.linguistlist.org
  >>> http://listserv.linguistlist.org/mailman/listinfo/lingtyp
  >> _______________________________________________
  >> Lingtyp mailing list
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Hannu Tommola
   Professor emer. of Russian Language (Translation Theory and Practice)
   School of Language, Translation and Literary Studies
   FIN-33014 University of Tampere, Finland
Linkit:
-------
[1] http://www.andamanese.net/


Linkit:
-------
[1] http://www.andamanese.net
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