[Lingtyp] Swearwords as a negator and/or minimizer: a cross-linguistic perspective

Tue Jun 13 16:20:25 UTC 2023

Hello Maïa – It seems that _shit_ etc. start out as NPIs, just like _anything_ in _I don’t know anything._ What we are dealing with seems to be reanalysis of NPIs as negators, which I assume is a case of grammaticalization. – Best – Juergen

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From: Lingtyp <lingtyp-bounces at listserv.linguistlist.org> on behalf of PONSONNET Maia <maia.ponsonnet at cnrs.fr>
Date: Tuesday, June 13, 2023 at 12:15 PM
To: <lingtyp at listserv.linguistlist.org>
Subject: Re: [Lingtyp] Swearwords as a negator and/or minimizer: a cross-linguistic perspective

Hello,

Please excuse my ignorance as a non native speaker, but to my ears, "I don't know shit" sounds like a double negation, structurally equivalent to "I don't know nothing". I wouldn't be sure how to interpret "shit" as an intensifier here  - very pleased to be enlightened.

Thanks for an interesting and fun thread ;-).

Maïa

Maïa Ponsonnet

Chargée de Recherche HDR @ CNRS Dynamique Du Langage

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Adjunct @ University of Western Australia

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________________________________
De : Lingtyp <lingtyp-bounces at listserv.linguistlist.org> de la part de Ian Joo <ian_joo at nucba.ac.jp>
Envoyé : mardi 13 juin 2023 15:43
À : <LINGTYP at LISTSERV.LINGUISTLIST.ORG>
Objet : Re: [Lingtyp] Swearwords as a negator and/or minimizer: a cross-linguistic perspective

Dear all,

technically speaking, I think Pun Ho Lui’s original question was swear words acting as negators, not just intensifiers.
So phrases like “I don’t know shit” wouldn’t apply, only those like “I know shit” (intended meaning: I don’t know anything).

Regards,
Ian

13/6/2023 오후 3:37, Eitan Grossman <eitan.grossman at mail.huji.ac.il> 작성:

I don't know if anyone has mentioned this, but Jespersen already discussed this phenomenon to some extent in his 1917 monograph on negation, and it was extended by many including Ross & Postal, Horn, and others (e.g., 'squatitive negation' as in 'You don't know doodly-squat.')

For the sake of typology, some of the Hebrew terms for penis (mainly zayin and zibbi, the latter a loanword) also show the behavior mentioned by Pun Ho Lui, Misha, and others.

On Tue, Jun 13, 2023 at 4:23 PM Lewis C Howe <chowe at uga.edu<mailto:chowe at uga.edu>> wrote:
Hi Pun Ho Lui and all,

These patterns are relatively common in Romance Languages. For instance, in Spanish you can find the following:

There are a number of lexical options, which, not surprisingly, are quite dialectally diverse. The preverbal negation is optional, and, for some speakers in some collocations, may in fact be dispreferred.

Following up on the comment about đavola ("devil") in BCMS/Serbo-Croation, there’s a similar construction in Romance (illustrated below in Spanish) that (typically) involves wh-words. This construction also includes similarly taboo lexical options—e.g., carajo ‘shit’, cojones ‘testicles’. These types of constructions, at least for English, are described by Pesetsky (1987) as “Aggressively Non-D-Linked” wh-phrases.

¿Qué   demonios quieres?
What  devils        want.2sg
‘What the hell do you want?’

Best wishes,
Chad Howe

Pesetsky, D. 1987. Wh-in-situ: Movement and unselective binding. In The representation of (in)definiteness, ed. by Eric Reuland and Alice G. B. ter Meulen, 98-130. Cambridge, MA: MIT Press.

From: Lingtyp <lingtyp-bounces at listserv.linguistlist.org<mailto:lingtyp-bounces at listserv.linguistlist.org>> on behalf of Michael Daniel <misha.daniel at gmail.com<mailto:misha.daniel at gmail.com>>
Date: Tuesday, June 13, 2023 at 9:01 AM
To: Stefan Savić <stefansavicz at gmail.com<mailto:stefansavicz at gmail.com>>
Cc: lingtyp at listserv.linguistlist.org<mailto:lingtyp at listserv.linguistlist.org> <lingtyp at listserv.linguistlist.org<mailto:lingtyp at listserv.linguistlist.org>>
Subject: Re: [Lingtyp] Swearwords as a negator and/or minimizer: a cross-linguistic perspective
[EXTERNAL SENDER - PROCEED CAUTIOUSLY]
Dear Pun Ho Lui,

In Russian strong speech, 'penis' is used as a non-referential NP in different type of emphatic negation; including constructions very similar to what you quote. See for examples, some way below. Note that "ни" is a negative particle distinct from regular negative "не" and commonly (though not exclusively) used under the scope of clausal negation; I am not sure how to gloss it.

Sincerely,

Michael Daniel

он         ни    хуя                  не    знает
he.nom not   penis-Sg.Gen not    knows
'he does not know anything at all'

хуй                    тебе,             а     не   деньги
penis.Sg.Nom    you.sg-Dat,  and  not  money
'You are not getting anything, you are not (instead of) getting any money'

ни      хуя                 (подобн-ого)
not     penis-Sg.Gen (similar-N.Sg.Gen)
'Nothing like that at all!'

вт, 13 июн. 2023 г. в 14:45, Stefan Savić <stefansavicz at gmail.com<mailto:stefansavicz at gmail.com>>:
Dear Pun Ho Lui, Dear All,

In BCMS/Serbocroatian one can also use the genitive singular form đavola ("devil") in the same function, now hardly considered a swear word per se, but once it definitely was (along with other religious terms). As a matter of fact, in numerous such instances, the nominative singular kurac is often replaceable with the genitive singular đavola (whereby the latter sounds considerably milder than the former).

Best,
Stefan

On Tue, 13 Jun 2023 at 14:35, Pun Ho Lui <luiph001 at gmail.com<mailto:luiph001 at gmail.com>> wrote:
Dear linguists,

Swearwords/taboo words can function as a negator (1) or minimizer/“squatitive” (2):

(1) Cantonese
     我    撚        知
     1sg  dick  know
   ‘I don’t know.’

(2) I learn fuck all/ shit.
‘I learn nothing.’

Other languages with these pattens include:

- Russian
- German einen Teufel ‘a devil’
- Swedish så fan Heller
- French mon cul ‘my ass’ (?)
- Polish chuj ‘dick’; gówno ’shit’
- Serbian kurac ‘penis'
- Croatian kurac ‘penis’
- Colloquail Finnish “aggressive mood”

These examples are provided in: https://www.facebook.com/groups/lingtyp/permalink/6751622964867235/

I am wondering if there are other languages performing similar constructions. If so, is the any requirement for using them.

Thank you.

Warmest,
Pun Ho Lui

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