Expletive negation

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The term expletive negation is often used (especially in the linguistics of the Romance languages) for a negative marker that has no negative meaning.

Examples

  • French Je crains qu'elle ne vient 'I fear that she comes';
  • Italian Io sono più alto che tu non sei 'I am taller than you are'
  • English We don't need no education. (Pink Floyd song)

Synonyms

Polysemy

See expletive (disambiguation page).

Origin

The term was apparently introduced only in the 1970s (cf. Muller 1978, Nocentini 2003).

References

  • Jack, G.B. 1977. "Negation in later Middle English prose." Archivum Linguisticum 9:58-72.
  • Jespersen, Otto. 1940. A modern English grammar on historical principles. Copenhagen: Munksgaard.
  • Muller, Claude. 1978. "La negation explétive dans les constructions complétives." Langue Française 39:76-103.
  • Nocentini, Alberto. 2003. "La cosidetta negazione espletiva in italiano." Archivio Glottologico Italiano 88:72-90.
  • Vendryès, Joseph. 1950. "Sur la nègation abusive." Bulletin de la Société de Linguistique de Paris 46: 1-18.