[Lingtyp] Polarity-reversing particle

[Samia Naim]

In Arabic (classical and some dialectes) we find the particle  bala بلی

- baʕd-ak mā tɣaddajt ?
Still-you NEG have lunch-2SGM-perfect
Tu n’as pas encore déjeuné ?

- bala
Si [j’ai déjà mangé]



Samia Naïm
Directrice de recherche émérite
CNRS-LACITO
7 rue Guy Môquet 
94801 Villejuif Cedex

bureau 01 49 58 37 67 ;  secrétariat — 37 78 télécopie —37 79
samia.naim at cnrs.fr
http://lacito.vjf.cnrs.fr


Le 7 janv. 2019 à 15:21, Elena Moser <elemoser at gmail.com> a écrit :

Dear all, 
 
Do you know of a polarity-reversing particle in the language(s) you speak/work on? 
 
A short definition and examples follow below.
 
Polarity-reversing particles are particles that function as positive answers to negative questions; however, in contrast to other answer particles such as yes and no, they specifically express disagreement with the negative proposition of the questions. 
Some examples come below. The abbreviation REV indicates a polarity-reversing particle. This term was coined by Holmberg (2016: 6).
 
Swedish
Q. Är det inte varm idag? 
[is it not hot today]
It’s not hot today?
 
A. Jo (det är det)!
[REV it is it]
Yes, it is!
 
German
Q. Hast du deine Hausaufgaben nicht gemacht?
[have you your homework not done]
Have you not done your homework?
 
A. Doch (gestern schon)!
[REV yesterday already]
Yes, (I have already done them yesterday) !
 
 
French
Q. Il n’est pas là Basil?
[he NEG=be NEG here B. ]
Isn’t Basil here?
 
A. Si!
[REV]
Yes, he is!
 
 
Hungarian
Q. Ők nem beszélnek angolul?
[3PL no speak.3PL English]
They don’t speak English?
 
A. De.
[REV]
Yes, they do.
 
Data from a previous cross-linguistic investigation on answers to polarity questions suggest that polarity-reversing particles are predominantly found in Germanic languages (see Moser 2018). This result is congruent with findings in Da Milano’s (2004) study on the Mediterranean area. However, currently, there is no good cross-linguistic dataset about this feature; consequently, a broader assessment of its distribution is not warranted.  
For my final project at the master’s level, I want to explore the distribution of polarity-reversing particles in a more in-depth study. In order to do this, I will make use of all resources available to me (reference grammars, etymological dictionaries, language corpora, etc.). Because information on polarity-reversing particles is scarce, I greatly appreciate any help.
 
References: 
Da Milano, Federica. 2004. Le domande sì/no nelle lingue del mediterraneo. Archivio Glottologico Italiano, 1. 3–40.
Holmberg, Anders. 2016. The syntax of yes and no. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
Moser, Elena V. 2018. Answers to Polarity Questions: A Typological Study. Retrieved 2018-09-20, http://www.diva-portal.org/smash/get/diva2:1219275/fulltext02.pdf <http://www.diva-portal.org/smash/get/diva2:1219275/fulltext02.pdf>.
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