<div dir="ltr"><div dir="ltr"><div dir="ltr"><div dir="ltr"><div dir="ltr"><div dir="ltr"><div dir="ltr"><div dir="ltr"><div dir="ltr"><div dir="ltr"><div dir="ltr"><div dir="ltr"><div dir="ltr"><div dir="ltr"><div dir="ltr"><div dir="ltr"><div dir="ltr"><div dir="ltr"><div dir="ltr"><div dir="ltr"><div dir="ltr"><div dir="ltr"><div dir="ltr"><div dir="ltr"><div dir="ltr"><div dir="ltr"><div dir="ltr"><div dir="ltr"><div dir="ltr">Dear all,</div><div dir="ltr"><br></div><div dir="ltr">A variant of this, in a sense the opposi<font face="arial, sans-serif">te, <span style="color:rgb(0,0,0)">is found in Tukang Besi (Austronesian, central Indonesia). We</span> m</font>ight call an ironic positive, in that the verb is not marked for negation in any normal sense, but the predicate can be taken to be negated.</div><div dir="ltr"><div><br></div><div>General non-imperative verbal clauses take agreement, as in (1) and (2).</div><div><br></div><div>Normal declarative</div><div>(1) ku-wila-mo</div><div> 1SG-go-PF</div><div> 'I went.'</div><div><br></div><div><div style="color:rgb(0,0,0)">(2) ku-dahani</div><div style="color:rgb(0,0,0)"> 1SG-know</div><div style="color:rgb(0,0,0)"> 'I know.'</div></div><div><br></div><div>Negation can be symmetrical, with a preverbal negator in this VOS language.</div><div><br></div><div>Negative declarative</div><div><div style="color:rgb(0,0,0)">(3) mbeaka ku-wila-mo</div><div style="color:rgb(0,0,0)"> NEG 1SG-go-PF</div><div style="color:rgb(0,0,0)"> 'I didn't go.'</div></div><div style="color:rgb(0,0,0)"><br></div><div style="color:rgb(0,0,0)"><div>(4) mbeaka ku-dahani</div><div> NEG 1SG-know</div><div> 'I don't know.'</div><div><br></div><div>There is a speech style, that establishes camaraderie between the speaker and the interlocutor, in which the (penultimate) accented syllable is lengthened, and the verb is not affixed for agreement, with a non-overt 1SG subject. (This prosody is not found with other speech acts.)</div><div><br></div><div>Ironic positive</div><div><div>(5) wiíla</div><div> go<!></div><div> 'As if I went!'</div><div><div> 'I certainly didn't go!'</div></div><div><br></div><div><div>(6) dahaáni</div><div> know<!></div><div> 'Like I would know!'</div></div></div><div><div> 'I don't know anything!'</div></div><div><br></div><div>Imperatives (only possible with agentive S or A) are another speech act without agreement, but without the prosody found with the ironic positive.</div><div><br></div><div>Imperative</div><div><div>(7) wila!</div><div> go</div><div> 'Go!'</div><div><br></div><div><div>(8) * dahani!</div><div> know</div><div> 'Know!'</div></div></div><div><br></div><div>The ironic positive is rarely found in utterances longer than a single word (the verb), but every now and then it comes up, in which case the marker of ironic positive is on the final foot.</div><div><br></div><div>Declarative</div><div>(9) ku-manga te ndawu mokaha</div><div> 1SG-eat CORE <font face="arial, sans-serif">pumpkin.soup spicy/salty</font></div><div><font face="arial, sans-serif"> 'I ate spicy pumpkin soup.'</font></div><div><br></div><div><font face="arial, sans-serif">Imperative</font></div><div><div><font face="arial, sans-serif">(10) manga te ndawu mokaha!</font></div><div><font face="arial, sans-serif"> eat CORE pumpkin.soup spicy/salty</font></div><div><font face="arial, sans-serif"> 'Eat the spicy pumpkin soup!'</font></div><div><font face="arial, sans-serif"><br></font></div></div><div><font face="arial, sans-serif">Ironic positive</font></div><div><div><div><font face="arial, sans-serif">(11) manga te ndawu mokaáha!</font></div><div><font face="arial, sans-serif"> eat CORE pumpkin.soup spicy/salty<!></font></div><div><font face="arial, sans-serif"> 'Like I would eat the spicy pumpkin soup!'</font></div><div><div><font face="arial, sans-serif"> 'I don't ever eat spicy pumpkin soup!'</font></div></div></div></div><div><font face="arial, sans-serif"><br></font></div><div><font face="arial, sans-serif">Also, unlike imperatives and regular clauses, agreement for P is not possible with this set of speech acts.</font></div><div><font face="arial, sans-serif"><br></font></div><div><font face="arial, sans-serif">Declarative</font></div><div><font face="arial, sans-serif">(12) ku-manga-'e na ndawu.</font></div><div><font face="arial, sans-serif"> 1SG-eat-3 NOM pumpkin.soup</font></div><div><font face="arial, sans-serif"> 'I ate the pumpkin soup.'</font></div><div><font face="arial, sans-serif"><br></font></div><div><div><font face="arial, sans-serif">(13) ku-manga-'e.</font></div><div><font face="arial, sans-serif"> 1SG-eat-3</font></div><div><font face="arial, sans-serif"> 'I ate it.'</font></div></div><div><font face="arial, sans-serif"><br></font></div><div><font face="arial, sans-serif">Imperative</font></div><div><div><font face="arial, sans-serif">(14) manga-'e na ndawu!</font></div><div><font face="arial, sans-serif"> eat-3 NOM pumpkin.soup</font></div><div><font face="arial, sans-serif"> 'Eat up the pumpkin soup!'</font></div><div><font face="arial, sans-serif"><br></font></div><div><div><font face="arial, sans-serif">(15) manga-'e!</font></div><div><font face="arial, sans-serif"> eat-3</font></div><div><font face="arial, sans-serif"> 'Eat it up!'</font></div></div><div><font face="arial, sans-serif"><br></font></div></div><div><font face="arial, sans-serif">Ironic positive</font></div><div><div><font face="arial, sans-serif">(16) * ku-manga-'e na ndaáwu.</font></div><div><font face="arial, sans-serif"> 1SG-eat-3 NOM pumpkin.soup<!></font></div><div><font face="arial, sans-serif"> 'Like I would eat the pumpkin soup!'</font></div><div><font face="arial, sans-serif"> 'I wouldn't eat the pumpkin</font> soup!'</div><div><br></div></div><div><div>(17) * mangaá-'e.</div><div> eat-3<!></div><div> 'Like I would eat it!'</div><div> 'I would never eat it!'</div></div><div><br></div><div>-Mark Donohue</div></div></div></div></div></div></div></div></div></div></div></div></div></div></div></div></div></div></div></div></div></div></div></div></div></div></div></div></div></div></div><br><div class="gmail_quote"><div dir="ltr" class="gmail_attr">On Sat, 25 Jan 2020 at 04:16, Bastian Persohn <<a href="mailto:persohn.linguistics@gmail.com" target="_blank">persohn.linguistics@gmail.com</a>> wrote:<br></div><blockquote class="gmail_quote" style="margin:0px 0px 0px 0.8ex;border-left-width:1px;border-left-style:solid;border-left-color:rgb(204,204,204);padding-left:1ex"><div dir="ltr">
<div dir="ltr"><p style="margin:6px 0px;font-family:Helvetica,Arial,sans-serif;color:rgb(29,33,41);font-size:14px">Dear group members,<br></p><p style="margin:6px 0px;font-family:Helvetica,Arial,sans-serif;color:rgb(29,33,41);font-size:14px">I am posting the below on behalf of a student of mine. Any input will be greatly appreciated, be it on similar conventionalized uses of negation and irony in other languages of the world, general thoughts, or even specific remarks regarding isiXhosa (or the larger Nguni branch of Bantu).<br></p><p style="margin:6px 0px;font-family:Helvetica,Arial,sans-serif;color:rgb(29,33,41);font-size:14px">Best regards,</p><p style="margin:6px 0px;font-family:Helvetica,Arial,sans-serif;color:rgb(29,33,41);font-size:14px">Bastian<br></p><p style="margin:6px 0px;font-family:Helvetica,Arial,sans-serif;color:rgb(29,33,41);font-size:14px"><br></p><blockquote class="gmail_quote" style="margin:0px 0px 0px 0.8ex;border-left-width:1px;border-left-style:solid;border-left-color:rgb(204,204,204);padding-left:1ex"><p style="margin-top:6px;margin-right:0px;margin-bottom:6px;font-family:Helvetica,Arial,sans-serif;color:rgb(29,33,41);font-size:14px">I
would like some help with finding resources/getting more information on
ironic negative constructions, which are a rather frequent device in isiXhosa (Bantu, South Africa). I’m not sure if they go by any other
name, I found this term in Oosthuysen’s (2016) Grammar of isiXhosa. He
describes it as “The use of a grammatical negative to convey a predicate
with an emphatic positive connotation”. So, these constructions read as
negative statements but in actual fact mean the opposite. The prosody is
different which helps in realising that<span style="display:inline;font-family:inherit"> it’s the ironic negative. Here are some examples (numbers indicate noun classes, FV is the default final vowel morpheme):</span></p><div style="display:inline;font-family:Helvetica,Arial,sans-serif;color:rgb(29,33,41);font-size:14px"><p style="margin:0px 0px 6px;font-family:inherit"><br></p><p style="margin:6px 0px;font-family:inherit"><i>A-ka-se-m-hle lo mntwana</i><br>NEG-SBJ.NEG.1-still-1-pretty PROX.1 1.child<br>'This child is so/very beautiful' (lit: 'This child is no longer beautiful')
</p><p style="margin:6px 0px;font-family:inherit"><br></p><p style="margin:6px 0px;font-family:inherit"><i>A-ni-sa-hlafun-i</i><br>NEG-SBJ.2PL-still-chew-NEG<br>'You are chewing so much/so loudly' (lit: 'You are no longer chewing')<br></p><p style="margin:6px 0px;font-family:inherit"><br></p><p style="margin:6px 0px;font-family:inherit"><i>A-ndi-sa-dinw-anga</i><br>NEG-SBJ.1SG-still-be(come)_tired-NEG.PFV<br>'I am so/very tired.' (lit: 'I am not tired anymore')<br></p><br>
<i>Be-ndi-nge-minc-e</i><div>REC.PST-SBJ.1SG-NEG-tense_up-PFV<br></div><div>'I was so very tense' (lit: 'I was not tensed up')<br></div><div><br></div><div><i>A-yi-nints-i imi-buzo ya-m</i></div><div>NEG-COP.4-many 4-question 4-POSS.1SG <br></div><div>'My questions are so many' (lit: 'My questions are not many')<br></div><p style="margin:6px 0px;font-family:inherit">Any input in the
form of papers, books, tiny excerpt, noting that it you’ve encountered a
similar thing in another language etc would be of great help.</p><p style="margin:6px 0px;font-family:inherit">Thanks!<br></p></div></blockquote></div>
</div>
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