Those pesky negatives (revisited)

[Laurence Horn]

At 1:39 PM -0400 8/10/04, Baker, John wrote:
>         I noticed a different issue with negatives today in Brad
>DeLong's Semi-Daily Journal, a popular economics blog:
>
>         "You cannot--not given current projections--"support" all
>three of (a) diverting Social Security revenue to young workers'
>private accounts, (b) maintaining benefits at their current levels,
>and (c) keeping payroll taxes from rising."
>
>         What struck me is that the meaning would be the same if he
>had written "You cannot--given current projections . . . ."  In his
>version, "not" is a double negative (with "cannot") that cannot be
>re-analyzed as a positive.
>
>John Baker

Yes, this is a lot like negative parentheticals or "not even" tags,
in each of which the negation is similarly pleonastic.  (These
constructions have been described in the literature by Bolinger,
Ross, Klima, and others.)

You can't, I (don't) think, keep getting away with that.
The current economic climate will not, I (don't) believe, sustain all
three of those measures.

You can't keep getting away with that, (not) even if you...
The current economic climate will not support that sort of move,
(not) even if...

larry