SENTENCE NEGATION

Key terms

Assertive - non-assertive

Full - local negation

Negative vs. affirmative sentences. Tests for negativity

Instances of negation

Polarity Items

Negative concord - non-negative concord languages

Conclusion. Key terms

Key Terms

We start the discussion on Sentence Negation by revising upon some concepts that will be crucial for every section in this course. We will therefore have to remember the meaning of such terms as:

Constituent (phrase) - any part of a sentence which is regarded as forming a distinct syntactic unit within the overall structure of the sentence.

For instance, if we were to take the following example:

Susan loves her mother very much.

Susan isi iubeste foarte mult mama.

we can identify the following constituents: Susan, loves, her mother, very much.

Each of the above identified elements can be said to form a distinct syntactic unit, since it has a certain semantic and structural autonomy inside (1). Consequently, sequences of the kind her mother very, or Susan loves her cannot be considered constituents, since they do not have a structural and semantic unity. They are just strings, that is sequences fragmented at random.

Syntactic, Semantic, Pragmatic

Syntactic - relates to the structure of sentences

Semantic - relates to the meaning of words, sentences

Pragmatic - relates to the function of a sentence (utterance) inside discourse

In the following example,

Give Susan the money and then send her away!

Da-i banii lui Susan si apoi trimite-o de aici!

syntactically we are dealing with a compound sentence (where two main clauses are coordinated by and), semantically the two sentences are perceived as sequential (the event in the first sentence is followed by the one in the second) and pragmatically, we are dealing with a directive (i.e. an order given to an interlocutor).

Auxiliary verbs - one of a small set of lexical items having certain properties in common with verbs but also exhibiting a number of other distinct properties. The English auxiliaries are usually divided into the modal auxiliaries (such as may, must, should, etc.) and the non-modal auxiliaries (such as have, be).

Insertion - a procedure by which some element not previously present in a structure is added to it. An example is the insertion of the element do in sentence (3):

She told me the secret.

(Mi-a spus secretul.)

As a consequence of the insertion of do in (3) we obtain the following emphatic structure:

She did tell me the secret.

Mi-a spus intr-adevar secretul.)

Assertive - non-assertive

We need to make a distinction between assertive and non-assertive sentences. For instance, a sentence of the form:

(5) He offered her some chocolates.

(I-a oferit bomboane de ciocolata.

is said to be an assertion, in the sense that it states something, it asserts something. This example can be compared to:

a. He didn't offer her any chocolates.

(Nu i-a oferit bomboane de ciocolata.

b. Did he offer her chocolates?

(Oare i-a oferit bomboane de ciocolata?)

The difference between example (5) and the examples under (6) is that the latter examples are non-assertive, in that they do not state anything.

Consequently, a sentence can be non-assertive if it is negative or if it is a question. We do not therefore have two independent systems:

- Positive vs. Negative

- Declarative vs. Interrogative

but rather an interrelated system in which assertion involves both 'positive' and 'declarative' while non-assertion has a subsystem either 'negative' or 'interrogative'. The relationship can be represented as follows:

assertion - positive and declarative (e.g. They told her the secret.)

sentence    positive ( e.g. Did they tell her the secret? )

interrogative negative (e.g. Didn't they tell her the secret?)

non-assertion

negative (They didn't tell her the secret.)

other (if -clauses, comparison, subjunctive)

Activity 1: Which of the following sentences are assertive and which are non-assertive?

They like her a lot. / Are you listening to me? / Aren't you listening to me? / He never listens. / We didn't come here just to talk. / Come with me. / Don't do that. / If you like her, don't bother her. / She can't wait to read that book. / She finally admitted, didn't she? / Hasn't she arrived? / If you like jazz, listen to this. / She is more interesting than anyone I have ever seen. / It is odd that you should like Sartre so much.

The distinction assertive / non-assertive brings us to one of the main questions we need to answer in this section: when is a sentence negative and how do we distinguish between various forms of negation? We shall answer the second question in the following subsection.

Full - local negation

The first distinction to draw between various forms of negation is that of

Sentence vs. Word negation.

For example, the sentences under (7) are considered instances of syntactic negation, whereas those under (8) are considered to be forms of word negation:

a. Susan doesn't like her friends.

(Lui Susan nu-i place de prietenii ei.)

b. John is not happy.

(John nu e fericit)

a. Susan dislikes her friends.

(Lui Susan nu-i place de prietenii ei.)

b. John is unhappy.

(John e nefericit.)

It is obvious that sentences under (7) are structurally different from those under (8) in that they are marked by the presence of the negative word not. In the case of the sentences under (8), we can speak more of a negative meaning than of a negative structure, since the negative word not is not present there. There is also a difference in meaning between the two examples, since it is obvious that the meaning of (7) is not really equivalent to that of (8).

A second distinction to be drawn here is between such examples as:

Not long ago, I met a girl named Susan.

(Nu demult, am intalnit o fata pe nume Susan

In this case, just like in the case of word negation, we speak about local negation in the sense that the negative word not does not influence more than the first part of the sentence, more precisely the phrase it is part of. In other words, the whole sentence under (9) has an affirmative dimension and it is only the phrase not long ago that has a negative connotation. This is also called an instance of phrasal negation, since the negative meaning is restricted to one constituent only. Example (10) gives us however reason to speak about full negation, namely the whole sentence is negative and the word not influences the whole meaning of the sentence:

I didn't meet a girl named Susan long ago.

(N-am intalnit o fata pe nume Susan demult.

An interesting problem is posed by such examples as:

(11)a. She was not an unattractive woman.

(Nu era o femeie neatragatoare

b. He was not without intelligence.

(Nu era lipsit de inteligenta.)

c.  I was not a little worried.

(Nu mica mi-a fost ingrijorarea.)

The meaning of all these examples is a positive one: (11)a. implies that she was an attractive woman, (11)b. implies that the guy there was quite intelligent, whereas (11)c. states that I was very worried about something. In other words, these sentences look negative, since the negative word not is present inside them, but their meaning tells us a different story. We can say that we are dealing with a combination of word and phrasal negation, where the word negation (unattractive, without intelligence, a little worried) is cancelled by the presence of not: not unattractive = attractive.

Another name for the distinction between full negation and local (that is word and phrasal) negation is supplied by the opposition syntactic vs. semantic negation. By syntactic negation we mean negation at the level of the sentence (i.e. the whole meaning of the sentence is negative). Semantic negation will consequently refer to sentence bits with a negative meaning.

Activity 2 Which of the following sentences exhibit forms of semantic/ syntactic negation?

His observation is non-scientific and it is also irrelevant. / Bill isn't interested in syntax and his friends are not interested in syntax. / He disapproves of mothers going out to work. / He doesn't approve of mothers going out to work. / Nikita's unpleasant face appeared on TV last Thursday night. / Nikita's unpleasant face did not appear on TV last Thursday night. / Nikita's not very unpleasant face did not appear on TV last Thursday night. / Nikita's not very unpleasant face appeared on TV last night. / Nikita's not very unpleasant face didn't appear on TV last night.

Activity 3: Translate the following sentences into English, paying attention to the distinction between full and local (that is word or phrasal) negation:

Nu era lipsita de gratie si de frumusete. / Cand a aflat vestea, nu s-a simtit deloc incantat. / Nu cu multa vreme in urma, toata lumea calatorea cu trasura. / I-a trebuit nu putina iscusinta sa rezolve problema. / Nu il prefera pe John in mod special. / Il prefera pe John, dar nu in mod special. / Nu era neobisnuit de destept. / Era neobisnuit de smecher. / Era el destul de istet, dar nu neobisnuit. / Deloc interesat de conferinta, domnul Jones s-a ridicat si a plecat din sala. / Domnul Jones nu era deloc interesat de discutiile din sala. / Nu tocmai convinsi de ceea ce auzisera, cei doi frati si-au luat inima in dinti si au protestat. / Nu erau nelamuriti, ci doar indecisi. / Nu neg ca aceasta culoare ma prinde de minune. / A negat cu tarie orice legatura cu crima comisa cu o seara inainte. / Nu mica i-a fost mirarea sa vada cat de bine se intelegeau cei doi.

Since this course is an attempt to clarify matters related to syntax we shall consider negative sentences only those sentences that qualify as syntactically negated. This means that negative sentences need to have a negative word present inside them that will influence the whole meaning of the respective sentences.

Negative vs. affirmative sentences. Tests for negativity

In this subsection we are going to answer two questions:

a) What is the difference between negative and affirmative (positive) sentences?

b) How do we tell when a sentence is syntactically negative? Are there any ways of checking on the sentence's negativity?

Let us start with the first question: the difference existing between negative and

positive sentences is not only a semantic one (that is the fact that they express opposite truth values) but also a syntactic and pragmatic one:

As we were saying, syntactically negative sentences are marked by the presence of a negative structure (such as the word not, etc.) and sometimes by other syntactic changes. Compare:

I went there.

(M-am dus acolo.)

to

I didn't go there.

(Nu m-am dus acolo.)

The second sentence has undergone certain syntactic changes, such as do insertion. (see subsection 1.1.).

Let us now discuss the pragmatic differences between positive and negative sentences: basically, whenever we utter a negative sentence in a discourse, we imply the existence of its affirmative counterpart. For instance, in a negative sentence such as:

Harry didn't attack the government.

(Harry nu a atacat guvernul)

the implicit affirmative sentences existing in correlation to the negative sentences could be: - Harry did something to the government (but he didn't attack it)

Someone attacked the government (but it wasn't Harry).

Activity 4: Which are the implied affirmative sentences with the following negative sentences?

They did not tell Susan the truth about Jim. / Susan did not get married to Jim. / I don't like her very much. / We don't come here often. / Susan was not bitten by a dog. / She does not hate animals. / They didn't leave.

The second question that springs to one's mind is: but how do we tell when a sentence is negative, since sometimes examples can be so misleading?

An efficient way of doing that was offered by Klima (1964) who distinguishes between four tests of negativity:

Tag-questions - a sentence is syntactically negative if it allows for the presence of an affirmative tag question (with a falling intonation):

Susan does not like her friends, does she?

( Lui Susan nu ii place de prietenii ei, nu-i asa?)

Susan dislikes her friends, *does she?

Susan dislikes her friends, doesn't she?

Sentence (14) qualifies as negative, since it is followed by an affirmative question tag, whereas the sentence under (15) does not: the star placed at the beginning of the tag question indicates that the structure is ungrammatical, incorrect. The sentence allows only for a negative question tag (see example (16)) and is syntactically affirmative.

Not even-tags - a sentence is syntactically negative if it allows for the presence of a not even-tag :

Susan does not like her friends, not even the smart ones.

(Lui Susan nu-i place de prietenii ei, nici macar de cei destepti.)

Susan dislikes / likes her friends, *not even the smart ones.

Susan dislikes/ likes her friends, even the smart ones.

Example (17) is syntactically negative, as is demonstrated by the presence of the not even tag. Compare this example to those under (18) and (19), which exhibit samples of affirmative sentences, since the not even tag cannot be applied to them.

Either conjoining - a sentence is syntactically negative if it can be followed by another negative sentence and the adverb either:

Susan does not like her friends, and they don't like her either.

(Lui Susan nu ii place de prietenii ei si nici lor nu le place de ea.)

Susan dislikes / likes her friends, * and they don't like her either.

Sentence (20) is syntactically negative because the either conjoining is possible, which does not happen in the case of (21), which is ungrammatical.

Neither tags - a sentence is syntactically negative if it can be followed by a neither tag:

Susan doesn't like her friends, and neither do they like her.

( Lui Susan nu ii place de prietenii ei si nici lor nu le place de ea

(23) Susan likes / dislikes her friends, *and neither do they like her.

Sentence (22) is syntactically negative since it can be combined with a neither tag, whereas sentence (23) is syntactically affirmative since its combination with neither is obviously impossible.

In conclusion, whenever one wishes to check whether a certain sentence is negative from a syntactic point of view, they need to refer to these tests of negativity. By applying these tests to the sentence in question, one can tell if the sentence is negative or not.

Activity 5: Say whether the following are instances of local or sentence negation by using the tests for negativity above:

I don't know much about him. / I can hardly understand what they are saying. / You have never met her. / I haven't ever seen such a thing. / Should they not have told her the truth? / Not infrequently, they go skiing in the mountains. / In no time he was able to solve the problem. / At no time was he able to solve the problem. / Not always a witty interlocutor, Jim felt rather at a loss for words. / They caused us no problems. / No problems were caused after all. / This boy is no good. / Few of them stayed behind. / A few of them stayed behind.

Instances of Negation

We shall now attempt to offer a classification of the various instances of negation present in English. The criterion we employ has to do with the position of the negative word inside the negative sentence:

a) negative insertion (the negative word not is inserted in the auxiliary):

John has not come.

(N-a venit John).

Susan could not go to the theatre.

(Susan nu s-a putut duce la teatru)

The negative word not has been inserted inside the sentences under (23) and (24). This kind of negation is the most frequent one in English. A variation to this instance of negation is offered by those sentences in which the negative word is attached to the auxiliary verb by means of contraction:

John hasn't come.

Susan couldn't go to the theatre.

b) negative incorporation (the negative word is incorporated in a determiner, a pronoun or an adverb):

I saw no student.

(N-am vazut nici un student

In example (27) negation is incorporated in the determiner (that is the article ) of the direct object.

I saw nobody.

N-am vazut pe nimeni

In this case negation is incorporated in the pronoun.

a . I went nowhere.

(Nu m-am dus nicaieri

b. I never went to his place.

(Nu m-am dus niciodata la el.)

In sentence (29) the negative word has been incorporated in the adverb of place.

All the sentences discussed here are variants for:

a.   I didn't see any student.

(N-am vazut nici un student.)

b. I didn't see anybody.

(N-am vazut pe nimeni.)

c.  I didn't go anywhere. / I didn't ever go to his place.

(Nu m-am dus nicaieri. / Nu m-am dus niciodata la el.)

c) negative attraction (the negative word is attracted by the nominal phrase in the first position of the sentence; no incorporation takes place.)

a. Not all that glitters is gold.

Nu tot ce straluceste e aur.)

b. Not a day passed without me thinking of him.

( N-a trecut o zi fara sa ma gandesc la el.)

It is obvious that in such examples the negative word not has been 'attracted' by the nominal phrase in sentence initial position. The sentences under (31) may be paraphrased by means of negative insertion or incorporation:

a. All that glitters is not gold.

b. No day passed without me thinking of him.

The fact that these sentences may be paraphrased by means of other negative sentences makes us believe that the process of attraction is optional not obligatory.

Activity 6: Distinguish between the sentences which exhibit negative insertion or contraction, negative attraction and negative incorporation:

They didn't send many students abroad. / I showed him nothing. / Not many women are famous opera composers. / Not a word fell from her lips. / She said not a word when I spoke to her. / It didn't take him a minute to tell her the secret. / Not a minute did it take him to tell her the secret. / No one ever listens to her. / None of them liked house music. / Not one of them came to meet her. / They didn't come to meet her. / I saw nobody. / I didn't see anybody. / They never went there. / They didn't ever tell her what bothered them. / He should not be released.

There are other instances of negation that do not necessarily fall under the criterion we mentioned above (that of the position of the negative word inside the sentence).

incomplete negation (negation in the sentence is made by means of the so-called incomplete negators such as hardly, scarcely, barely, seldom, rarely, etc.) - the sentences that contain these negators are also considered syntactically negative, because they pass all the tests for negativity presented in 1.4.:

I hardly met this man, did I?

(Nu l-am cunoscut pe omul acesta.)

They barely read any novels, not even short ones.

(Nu citesc romane, nici macar din alea scurte.)

We seldom watch T.V, and we don't go to the theatre either.

(Ne uitam rar la televizor, si nu mergem nici la teatru.)

They rarely talked to their friends, and neither did their friends talk to them.

(Vorbeau rar cu prietenii si nici prietenii nu vorbeau cu ei.)

Activity 7: Paraphrase the following instances of incomplete negation by means of negative insertion, negative attraction or negative incorporation:

I can barely look into his eyes. / I could hardly wait to hear the news. / This is hardly the time to buy yourself a new fur coat. / I scarcely ever see her. / Hardly anybody liked him. / You've eaten hardly anything. / I seldom look at her like that. / Few people came to see her. / You can hardly blame me for your mistakes. / I hardly ever look at those paintings.

emphatic negation (emphasis is laid by placing the negative word or the incomplete negator in the first position inside the sentence, which triggers inversion):

a. Never have I met a more horrible person.

Niciodata n-am cunoscut un om mai ingrozitor.)

b. Rarely have I done such a stupid thing.

(Rareori am facut un lucru asa de prostesc.)

c. Hardly have they heard a thing like that.

(N-am mai auzit asa ceva.)

d. Not for the world would I do such a thing.

(Pentru nimic in lume n-as face una ca asta.)

Activity 8: Rephrase the following sentences making them emphatic:

I shall never, never trust a man again. / One can have peace in life only by avoiding them altogether. / A truer word has seldom been spoken! / This nation scarcely ever in the past faced so great a danger. / There is rarely an opportunity for us to serve the community in this way. / Nothing like that ever happened in our street before./ We seldom receive such generous praise. / Ann gave him the use of her flat and lent him a car as well. / She had no idea he was a man on the run from the police./ We never thought he was that sort of fellow. / We little suspected when we started our holiday that it would be like this. / You rarely see such an outstanding bargain. / You shouldn't wander away from the path under any circumstances. / I didn't leave the office at any time. / You must on no account touch this machinery. / She could rely on nobody but him. / We not only ran into the fog but it began to rain. / The keys couldn't be found anywhere.

negative transportation (the negative word is transported to the main clause from a subordinate that clause where it originates and belongs semantically):

For instance, sentence (38)

They think that he doesn't like them

(Ei cred ca lui nu-i place de ei.)

becomes

They don't think that he likes them.

(Ei nu cred ca lui ii place de ei.)

by undergoing a process of negative transportation. As you can see from the translation of these examples, the phenomenon is the same in Romanian. The difference between (38) and (39) is a pragmatic one, in the sense that the original sentence (38) is stronger from the point of view of its negative force. In sentence (39), the negative meaning is less strong.

Negative transportation is optional and may appear with verbs of opinion, intention, probability, etc.: think, believe, imagine, suppose, guess, expect, seem, appear, look like, sound/feel like, intend, choose, want, be probable, be likely, be supposed to, ought to, should be desirable, advise, suggest, etc.

Activity 9: Reformulate the sentences below in such a way that they become instances of negative transportation:

John claims that Susan doesn't trust him. / I suppose she doesn't care, does she? / It's likely that he won't help her. / I expect he won't come here again. / I thought I didn't have to do it myself. / They believe she does not like them. / They suggested that she should not meet Jim. / He reckoned he would not win her over.

Polarity Items

Sometimes a negative sentence is characterized not only by the existence of a negative word (such as not or hardly, barely, etc.) but also by the existence of certain elements that, although not negative in meaning, cannot appear in an affirmative context. For example, we can very well say something like:

a. She didn't lift a finger to help me.

(N-a miscat un deget sa ma ajute.)

b. She doesn't like our chairman at all.

(Nu-i place deloc de presedinte.)

In the above examples, I underlined the phrases (not) to lift a finger and at all that are specific for the negative context. They are not usable in an affirmative environment, and sentences such as:

a.*She lifted a finger to help me.

b. *She likes our chairman at all.

are clearly not grammatical. This means that the negative word not is so powerful that it literally imposes the presence of certain elements (such as lift a finger or at all) in its vicinity.

These elements that can appear only in non-assertive contexts (see section1.2. for the definition of assertive/ non-assertive) are called negative polarity items. They are lexical items (that is words and phrases) and are sensitive to the polarity of the sentence (namely to the assertive or non-assertive nature of the respective sentence).

The phenomenon is not restricted to English only as one can come up with examples of such items from Romanian:

Nu e chip sa vorbesti cu el.

N-am vazut nici picior de hot prin preajma.

The fact that the italicized phrases above are indeed negative polarity items is demonstrated by their inadequacy in an assertive context. It is incorrect to say:

* E chip sa vorbesti cu el.

* Am vazut picior de hot prin preajma.

Negative polarity items are sometimes paralleled by Affirmative Polarity Items, that is by items that can appear only in assertive contexts. That is exactly why, we can speak of pairs of Negative and Affirmative Polarity items:

Any vs. some   (I haven't any money. / I have some money.)

At all vs. somehow/ somewhat (I don't like him at all. / I somehow like him.)

Yet vs. already (I haven't seen him yet. / I have already seen him.)

Any more vs. still (I don't love you any more. / I still love you)

Either vs. too (I don't like it, either. / I like it , too.)

Hardly ever vs. most of the times (I hardly ever eat caviar. / I eat caviar most of the times.)

Until vs. before (He didn't arrive until 5. / He arrived before 5.)

Much vs. a lot (I don't like you much. / I like you a lot.), etc.

Activity 10: Give the negative / positive counterpart of the following sentences; identify the polarity items:

We have already had some snow this winter. / They say he once had someone very close. / Come on, you can still do something about it. / We will see them again somewhere sometime. / We were somehow surprised by that sudden appearance. / Well, I hope he's somewhat wiser now. / I somewhat like his proposal. / I think I can help him (to) some (extent). / Don't worry, it will stop hurting before tomorrow. / Susan got a passing grade in English and her friend did, too. / Alice doesn't live here any longer/ more. / I don't feel any better for having had a holiday. / Well, I'm afraid her husband was never any good. / You needn't send her anything. / She hardly ever comes here. /This experiment has revealed something of importance already. / Bob is still living at that address. / I can understand both of these sentences./ I can understand all of these ten English words. / Hundreds of students can find somewhere comfortable to liveŽ / Some of the questions on this test he knew how to answer. / Peter knows some English and so does John./ Both John and Peter have pretty wives. / Daddy drinks a lot of coffee and now he misses it quite badly. / I nearly always have to clean it myself. / Almost everyone of them did well on that exam. / You must pay that fine. / You must be telling lies.

Activity 11: Translate into English, paying attention to the following Negative Polarity Items:

Budge, flinch, bat an eye(lid), give a damn/darn, find a trace, hear a peep, hurt a fly, last a minute, crack a smile, turn a hair, sleep a wink, touch a drop, leave a stone unturned, lift/raise/ stir a finger, lay a finger on someone, touch her/him with a ten-foot pole, move a muscle, see/ feel/ remember a thing, tell/ ask/speak to a soul, say / breathe/ understand a word, know a single person, have a care/ friend in the world, have/be worth a red cent.

Ion nu e prea destept, de fapt nimeni din familia lor nu e prea destept. / N-a putut face el asa ceva! Nu e el chiar asa de destept! / Nu stiu ce s-a intamplat cu ea; n-am vazut-o de ani de zile. / Ajuta-ma, te rog! Nu pot sa clintesc din loc pietroiul asta. / Se spune ca acest doctor in stiinte n-a studiat niciodata nimic nicaieri. / Noua nu ne-a spus nimeni nimic, nici unuia dintre noi. / Sunt convinsa ca Mark nu s-a deranjat sa telefoneze. / Jim e atat de curajos! Nici n-a clipit macar o data. N-a zis nici pas cand doctorul i-a pansat rana. / Arati atat de obosita azi! -Nu e de mirare, n-am inchis un ochi toata noaptea (n-am lipit geana de geana). / A: Bei un pahar de vin? B: Nu, multumesc, de cand cu ulcerul asta, nu mai pun picatura in gura inainte de masa. / A: Te-a afectat desigur foarte mult plecarea lui. B: Asi, nu-mi pasa catusi de putin daca se intoarce sau nu. / Politia a scotocit peste tot, n-a lasat cotlon necercetat, incercand sa prinda criminalul. / Hotarat lucru, i se intamplase ceva ingrozitor, dar ea nu-si mai amintea absolut nimic si nu scotea o vorba. / Nu stiu de ce plange, nu e vina mea, n-am atins-o nici cu un deget! / Era singurul care ar fi putut s-o faca, dar n-a miscat un deget sa-i salveze! / Era un om tare, a primit vestea mortii fiului sau fara sa clipeasca! / E un om fericit. N-are nici o grija pe lume, dar nici para chioara in buzunar. / Nu te lua dupa el! Parerea lui nu face nici doua parale! / Scena era atat de caraghioasa, incat nu-si putea tine rasul. / Sa fiu al naibii daca mai vorbesc cu el vreodata! / A: A sunat clopotelul? B: Nu, n-a sunat inca.

Activity 12: Translate into Romanian, paying attention to Polarity Items:

No fool like an old fool. / Never trouble till trouble troubles you. / Never is a long word. / No man is wise all the time. / No sooner said than done. / Nothing succeeds like success. / He won't make old bones. / Not to put too fine an edge point on it, he's a pig. / I had no end of trouble. / He is no end of a fellow. / No hands wanted. / No admittance. / No entry. / These guys never know whether they're coming or going. / I couldn't make head or tail of it. / Nothing doing! / "Sorry!" "No harm done!" / Nothing daunted, he left the room. / No trouble at all. / Not that I care, but you really should do something about it.

As you have noticed from the exercises above, there are cases when Polarity Items work in pairs (such as still and any more) and cases when there are only Negative Polarity Items (lift a finger, budge, etc) or Affirmative ones (would rather). Normally, Negative Polarity Items are more numerous than Affirmative ones, and this is helped by the fact that they can appear in any context that is non-assertive: they can appear in negative sentences, but also in interrogative ones (Have you seen anyone?) or in If-clauses (If you have anything to say, say it.)

Activity 13: Identify the contexts that allow for Negative Polarity Items:

a) He admitted saying something to some of the people present. / He denied ever saying anything to anyone. b) I love asking some funny remarks. / I hate making any commitments. c) He is anxious to say something. / He is reluctant to ever say anything. d) He is wrong / unwilling / unable to say anything about it. e) She is the cutest girl anyone has ever seen.

Negative concord / Non-negative concord

This subsection attempts to draw a distinction between negative concord languages (such as Romanian) and non-negative concord ones (such as English). Compare the following sentences:

I did not see anyone./ I saw no one.

N-am vazut pe nimeni.

In the case of the sentence under (48) there are two negative words in concord, which is not the case of the sentence under (47). Romanian is therefore a negative -concord language and we can safely say that Substandard English - that uses double negation - exhibits negative concord, as well:

I don't need no satisfaction.

The examples of double negation that are so frequent in Substandard English need not be, however, mistaken for the so-called ample negatives, that are instances of Standard English:

­A: You can't really like this poem.

B: Not this poem, I don't.

(A: Doar nu-ti place poezia asta.

B: Nu, nu-mi place, nu poezia asta

The example above is a sample of Standard English, in that it does not in fact contain two negative words in the same sentence. The second negation is somehow independent, it is just a copy of the first one for the sake of emphasis. The sentence under (50) is a rephrased emphatic variant of:

No, I don't like this poem.

Nu, nu imi place poezia asta

Conclusion. Key terms.

One of the most important issues discussed in this chapter is that of the negative status of a sentence. We have drawn a distinction between affirmative and negative sentences, from a syntactic point of view.

Syntactic negation refers to those sentences that have a negative word/ phrase inside them that modifies the whole content of the sentences.

Semantic negation is related to the meaning of a sentence or phrase only, without taking into consideration form and structure.

The second issue discussed here is connected to the changes performed on affirmative sentences when one needs to transform them into negative ones. From this point of view, it is crucial for one to understand the problem of Polarity Items.

Negative Polarity Items are those elements that can appear only in non-assertive contexts.

Affirmative Polarity Items are those elements (fewer in number) that appear only in assertive contexts.

The third issue tackled here refers to the difference between negative concord and non-negative concord languages:

English - non-negative concord (does not allow for 'double negation')

Romanian - negative concord (negation is made up of two parts)

Substandard English - negative concord

Optional activities:

Translate the following into English and comment upon any difficulties of translation you can think of in relation to negativity:

Exista un mare pericol: sa nu degenerezi si sa ajungi sa vezi viata altfel de cum este. / Ii era teama sa nu plece el mai devreme si sa uite valiza acasa. / Stau si pazesc cladirea si am grija sa nu izbucneasca vreun foc la parter. / Trebuie sa te feresti sa nu se intample ceva rau. / N-a venit acasa mai devreme pentru ca nu stia daca el n-o sa vrea sa manance in oras.

Abia cand m-am pomenit batand in poarta Magurenilor, incet, slab, fara prea multa hotarare, au inceput sa mi se hipertrofieze brutal in minte dimensiunile aventurii in care ma varasem. Nu-mi facusem mari iluzii, nu ma asteptam sa obtin ceva de la Carol, dupa cum nu crezusem ca voi fi bruscat, expediat afara. (A. Buzura, Fetele tacerii)

Oricum distanta care o tineau fata de mine nu-mi convenea, mi se parea amenintatoare. N-aveam mai nimic comun, nu ne lega o singura amintire, intamplare, ceva, nu mi se ivise prilejul sa dovedesc, intr-un fel sau altul, ca sunt om bun, cu nevoi ca ei. (A. Buzura, Fetele tacerii)

Cu nici unul dintre acestia N.S. nu se gasea in relatii deosebit de norocoase, ceea ce insemna ca ei nici nu-si vorbeau si nici binete nu-si dadeau. (L. Blaga, Peisaj si amintire)

Nici o clipa nu-mi trecuse prin minte ca venind aici, la manastire, as avea nevoie in bagajele mele de un frac. De fapt, nici nu doream sa iau parte la petrecere. (St. Agopian, Tache de catifea)

Pe locul hotarat se adunase, inca pana a nu se face ziua, atata lume, cat frunza si iarba, de nu se mai putea misca; si batranul cu copiii abia gasira si ei un coltisor la o parte de unde sa se poata uita si ei. N-apucara sa se aseze bine si auzira un sunet de fluier. (P.Ispirescu, Basme)