[Ads-l] On National Grammar Day . . .

[Laurence Horn]

> On Mar 5, 2016, at 4:57 PM, Baron, Dennis E <debaron at ILLINOIS.EDU> wrote:
> 
> Replying to Larry Horn’s comment,
> 
> I agree, Larry, that Lowth was prescriptivist incarnate, and I do mention that he opposed double negatives in GGT—though I don’t quote him--but curiously, my pdf copy of the 1762 Lowth has nothing on double negatives, not on p. 126, not anywhere. And though, in 1982, there were no pdfs, when I thumbed through the pages back then I didn’t see that either. He must have added that in later editions — he did that with other proscriptions (passive voice, maybe? don’t remember offhand). I have, though, sharpened the post to take your comment into consideration! Thx.


Hmmm.  Interesting.  I've found a number of other places on the web where the quote is attributed to Robert Lowth, with the same date (1762) and I assume the same publication (his _Short Introduction to English Grammar, with Critical Notes_).  Here's one that's more scholarly than some, based on the research of a distinguished historian of the English language, the delightfully yclept Ingrid Tieken Boon von Ostade: 
 
http://research.leiden.edu/news/bishop-lowth-was-not-a-fool.html

but on the other hand I agree with Dennis that the passage in question does not appear in the work cited, at least in the copy I found online.  

I'll try to sort out this contretemps, if only to satisfy myself (and maybe Dennis), since in my message I was citing an old paper of mine ("Duplex negatio affirmat...: The economy of double negation", 1991) and I shudder to think I got the reference wrong.  On the bright side, the bishop's estate hasn't sued yet.

LH
> 
> 
> On Mar 4, 2016, at 11:00 PM, ADS-L automatic digest system <LISTSERV at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU<mailto:LISTSERV at listserv.uga.edu>> wrote:
> 
> Two negative in English destroy one another, or are equivalent to an affirmative
> 
> 
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