LL-L: "Double negative" [E] LOWLANDS-L, 15.SEP.1999 (07)

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 L O W L A N D S - L * 15.SEP.1999 (07) * ISSN 1089-5582 * LCSN 96-4226
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From: Peter Stornebrink [frlboppe at direct.ca]
Subject: LL-L: "Double negative" [A/E] LOWLANDS-L, 15.SEP.1999 (04)

john feather [johnfeather at sceptic1.freeserve.co.uk] wrote:

>Subject: Double negative [E]
>
>I don't see why British English should be left off the list, but I think a
>distinction may have to be made between a fixed use of the double negative
>(if I have understood the Afrikaans example properly) and the simple
>addition (or multiplication) of negatives in BrE, eg "I ain't never done
>nothin' like that to nobody, nohow!"
>
>John Feather
>johnfeather at sceptic1.freeserve.co.uk

John, I can think of a triple negative which someone in the USA might use,
namely:

 "I ain't got no nottin!" (logically equivalent to "I have nothing!", since
a triple negative is equivalent to a single negative.)

Perhaps there are other triple negatives and maybe someone can even think
of a quadruple negative statement, which would be the equivalent of an
affirmative statement. I suspect that such statement would be quite clumsy.
Here is a try: "I ain't got not no nottin!"

Regards,

Peter Stornebrink

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