[Lingtyp] Ironic negative constructions

[Mark Donohue]

Dear all,

A variant of this, in a sense the opposite, is found in Tukang Besi
(Austronesian, central Indonesia). We might 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.

General non-imperative verbal clauses take agreement, as in (1) and (2).

Normal declarative
(1) ku-wila-mo
     1SG-go-PF
     'I went.'

(2) ku-dahani
     1SG-know
     'I know.'

Negation can be symmetrical, with a preverbal negator in this VOS language.

Negative declarative
(3) mbeaka ku-wila-mo
     NEG      1SG-go-PF
     'I didn't go.'

(4) mbeaka ku-dahani
     NEG      1SG-know
     'I don't know.'

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.)

Ironic positive
(5) wiíla
     go<!>
     'As if I went!'
     'I certainly didn't go!'

(6) dahaáni
     know<!>
     'Like I would know!'
     'I don't know anything!'

Imperatives (only possible with agentive S or A) are another speech act
without agreement, but without the prosody found with the ironic positive.

Imperative
(7) wila!
     go
     'Go!'

(8) * dahani!
        know
        'Know!'

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.

Declarative
(9) ku-manga te         ndawu            mokaha
      1SG-eat   CORE pumpkin.soup spicy/salty
      'I ate spicy pumpkin soup.'

Imperative
(10) manga te         ndawu             mokaha!
        eat       CORE pumpkin.soup spicy/salty
       'Eat the spicy pumpkin soup!'

Ironic positive
(11) manga te         ndawu               mokaáha!
        eat       CORE pumpkin.soup   spicy/salty<!>
       'Like I would eat the spicy pumpkin soup!'
       'I don't ever eat spicy pumpkin soup!'

Also, unlike imperatives and regular clauses, agreement for P is not
possible with this set of speech acts.

Declarative
(12) ku-manga-'e na      ndawu.
        1SG-eat-3    NOM pumpkin.soup
         'I ate the pumpkin soup.'

(13) ku-manga-'e.
        1SG-eat-3
         'I ate it.'

Imperative
(14) manga-'e na     ndawu!
        eat-3       NOM pumpkin.soup
        'Eat up the pumpkin soup!'

(15) manga-'e!
        eat-3
        'Eat it up!'

Ironic positive
(16) * ku-manga-'e na     ndaáwu.
         1SG-eat-3    NOM pumpkin.soup<!>
         'Like I would eat the pumpkin soup!'
         'I wouldn't eat the pumpkin soup!'

(17) * mangaá-'e.
          eat-3<!>
          'Like I would eat it!'
          'I would never eat it!'

-Mark Donohue

On Sat, 25 Jan 2020 at 04:16, Bastian Persohn <persohn.linguistics at gmail.com>
wrote:

> Dear group members,
>
> 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).
>
> Best regards,
>
> Bastian
>
>
> 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 it’s the ironic negative. Here are some
>> examples (numbers indicate noun classes, FV is the default final vowel
>> morpheme):
>>
>>
>> *A-ka-se-m-hle lo mntwana*
>> NEG-SBJ.NEG.1-still-1-pretty PROX.1 1.child
>> 'This child is so/very beautiful' (lit: 'This child is no longer
>> beautiful')
>>
>>
>> *A-ni-sa-hlafun-i*
>> NEG-SBJ.2PL-still-chew-NEG
>> 'You are chewing so much/so loudly' (lit: 'You are no longer chewing')
>>
>>
>> *A-ndi-sa-dinw-anga*
>> NEG-SBJ.1SG-still-be(come)_tired-NEG.PFV
>> 'I am so/very tired.' (lit: 'I am not tired anymore')
>>
>> *Be-ndi-nge-minc-e*
>> REC.PST-SBJ.1SG-NEG-tense_up-PFV
>> 'I was so very tense' (lit: 'I was not tensed up')
>>
>> *A-yi-nints-i imi-buzo ya-m*
>> NEG-COP.4-many 4-question 4-POSS.1SG
>> 'My questions are so many' (lit: 'My questions are not many')
>>
>> 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.
>>
>> Thanks!
>>
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