[Lingtyp] Expletive derivational negation

[Pun Ho Lui]

Dear all,

Thank you for all the replies and interesting instances. I am glad that it has sparked a discussion.

I agree that the use of such negative derivation is more of a subjective semantics rather than being truly “expletive” (my original thinking was that the “NEG+root” shares a similar polarity as the root per se). 

Warmest,
Joe




> Pun Ho Lui <luiph001 at gmail.com> 於 2024年8月16日 上午8:22 寫道：
> 
> Dear linguists,
> 
> I am recently interested in lexical items that consist of a derivational negative affix which may not contribute a negative meaning (i.e. being expletive). 
> 
> For instance, in-valuable ~ valuable. Other possible examples would be 無價 ‘invaluable [lit. NEG value’ in Mandarin, and sewashi-nai ‘restless’ ~ sewashii ‘busy’ in Japanese.
> 
> I have looked into a number of (decent) grammar descriptions but have no luck.
> 
> I am wondering if you know of any language with similar items.
> 
> Thank you.
> 
> Warmest,
> Pun Ho Lui Joe

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