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From: kriha_p@actrix.gen.nz (Paul J. Kriha)
Subject: Re: Double Negatives
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Date: Tue, 15 Aug 1995 13:41:52 GMT
References: <00994B4F.3BE17BC2@vms.csd.mu.edu> <sarimaDD898A.HJ0@netcom.com> <40o883$kqu@lyra.csx.cam.ac.uk>
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In article <40o883$kqu@lyra.csx.cam.ac.uk>, Brian.Kelk@cl.cam.ac.uk wrote:
>In article <sarimaDD898A.HJ0@netcom.com>,
>Stanley Friesen <sarima@netcom.com> wrote:
>.. . .
>>Actually, until a few misguided school teachers tried to apply
>>Aristotilean logic to English grammar, double negatives were
>>a form of *emphasis*.  This mechanism is quite widespread in the
>>world's languages.  Treating negation as a logical operation, on
>>the other hand, is quite rare.
>.. . .
>
>Really? So what does "not empty" mean? What does "not impossible"
>mean? What does "not without good reason" mean?

These are not double negatives.

Just because "empty" is an opposite of something it doesn't 
follow that "not empty" is a good example of grammatical
double negative.  

If "not impossible" is a double negative, would you consider
"not black" to be one too?

We are talking about negatives in IE languages not specifically
English. 
Try "There are not no empty bottles here", or
"That bottle wasn't never empty before"  THESE are double
negatives grammatically valid in most European languages.
Today's English translations must use only single negative.

>Incidentally, how does one express something like "the authorities
>haven't been doing nothing" in a double negative language?

Easy peasy, depending on where you want to put the emphasis:

"the authorities have done something"  (flat statement)
or
"the authorities haven't been doing quite NOTHING"
(emphatic statement)


>Brian Kelk
>Cambridge
>U.K.
>bck1@cl.cam.ac.uk

Just pick any IE language at random, except English after ~1760.
ANY!
