[339] in tlhIngan-Hol
RE: Multiple negatives
daemon@ATHENA.MIT.EDU (daemon@ATHENA.MIT.EDU)
Tue May 19 15:34:34 1992
Errors-To: tlhIngan-Hol-request@village.boston.ma.us
Reply-To: "Klingon Language List" <tlhIngan-Hol@village.boston.ma.us>
From: Ken_Beesley.PARC@xerox.com
To: "Klingon Language List" <tlhIngan-Hol@village.boston.ma.us>
Date: Tue, 19 May 1992 11:34:00 PDT
In-Reply-To: "EVERSON@irlearn.ucd:ie:Xerox's message of 19 May 92 03:31 PDT"
I wrote:
>French routinely requires two negative-like words:
>Je ne vous aime pas.
>I not you love not (I don't love you)
Michael Everson responds:
>Historically, this means
>I not you love a-step
>that is, the ne...pas "double negative" is not really a double negative,
>but a parenthetical negativizing phrase or some such.
As you say, "pas" did historically and, in some constructions, still does mean
"step." It is cognate with the English "pace." Presumably it was used
originally in constructions like the following:
Je ne vais pas.
Historically: I not go (a) step.
Modern: I don't go.
Similarly, even in modern French
Il n'a dit mot.
He not has said (a) word. (= He said nothing.)
We must beware, however, of equating what something meant historically with
what it "really" means--this is known in linguistics as the Etymological
Fallacy. Words don't "really" mean anything--in synchronic linguistics you
have to look at how words are used right now. And the "pas" in "Je ne vous
aime pas" and similar constructions is a negative marker in modern French.
J'y vais. = I there go.
J'y vais pas. = I there go not. (colloquial)
Pourquoi. = Why?
Pourquoi pas = Why not?
In the more formal "Je n'y vais pas", modern French has two negative-marking
words.
Ken Beesley
