[lit-ideas] Negative Polarity (Was: Geary, "I don't speak Polish")
- From: Jlsperanza@xxxxxxx
- To: lit-ideas@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
- Date: Sat, 7 Aug 2004 23:48:38 EDT
In a message dated 8/7/2004 10:40:00 AM Eastern Standard Time,
atlas@xxxxxxxxxxxxx writes:
JL:
> What we need is Geary's list of polar opposites....
Sorry, I don't speak Polish.
----
Well, I wasn't really asking for _Polish_ polar opposites. Negative polarity
items are most frequent in English,
"She don't know sh*t"
rather than the positive poral item that renders nonsenses:
"She does know sh*t".
-- unless in a specific context.
"I couldn't sleep a wink."
vs. the positive polarity item, "I could sleep a wink".
It seems that negative polarity is _built_ into the structure of a couple
languages, including English, maybe Polish.
Cheers,
JL
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