double negative

 

A double negative occurs when two forms of negation are used in the same sentence. In some languages (or varieties of a language) negative forms are consistently used throughout the sentence to express a single negation, while in others a double negative is used to negate a negation and therefore resolves to a positive. In the former case, triple and quadruple negation can also be seen, which leads to the terms multiple negation or negative concord.

In literature, denying a negation is known as the trope of litotes.

English

The double-negatives-make-a-positive rule was first introduced in English when Bishop Robert Lowth wrote A Short Introduction to English Grammar with Critical Notes in 1762.^[1]

Double negative resolving to a negative

In today's standard English, double negatives are not used; for example the standard English equivalent of "I don't want nothing!" is "I don't want anything". It should, however, be noted that in standard English one cannot say "I don't want nothing!" to express the meaning "I want something!" unless there is very heavy stress on the "don't" or a specific plaintive stress on the "nothing". (In one of these cases, it would be a grammatically correct way of emphasizing that the speaker would rather have something than nothing at all.)

Although they are not used in standard English, double negatives are used in various American English dialects, including African American Vernacular English, and the East London Cockney and East Anglian dialects and less frequently, but still commonly, in colloquial English. In the film Mary Poppins, Dick Van Dyke uses a double negative when he says

If you don't want to go nowhere.

A double negative is also famously used in the first two lines of the song "Another Brick in the Wall (part II)" included in the album The Wall by Pink Floyd, sung by schoolchildren

We don't need no education.

We don't need no thought control.

Other examples of double negatives include:

I ain't got nobody.

or

Don't nobody go to the store.

or

I can't hardly wait.

or the Faithless song "Insomnia"

I can't get no sleep.

or the "stinking badges" from The Treasure of the Sierra Madre

Badges? [pause] We ain't got no badges.^[2]

Double negative also refers to even more than two negatives, like:

And don't nobody buy nothing.

It is common amongst children whenever mischief has occurred for them to say,

I didn't do nothing^{[citation needed]} or

I ain't done nuffin' or nuffin'

Today, the double negative is often considered the mark of an uneducated speaker, but it used to be quite common in English, even in literature. Chaucer made extensive use of double negatives in his poetry, sometimes even using triple negatives. For example, he described the Friar in The Canterbury Tales: "Ther nas no man no wher so vertuous" (i.e. "there wasn't no man nowhere so virtuous"), and he even used a fourfold negative when describing the Knight: "He nevere yet no vileynye ne sayde / In all his lyf unto no maner wight." In more recent times, more publicised examples of double negatives appear in Eastenders, particularly with the character Dot Branning, who sometimes uses triple negatives as well (e.g. 'I ain't never 'eard of no licence). However, this is an obvious example of Estuary English or Mockney, as June Brown (who plays her) speaks with a much more posh accent.

Double negative resolving to a positive

Main article: Litotes

Example: "There isn't a day when I don't think about her." -- Prince William, speaking of his mother.

Litotes is a rhetorical device which uses double negation to emphasise a statement. By denying its opposite, the double negation cancels itself out and resolves to a positive. The effect of this can differ depending on context.

For instance, "I don't disagree" could be said to mean "I certainly agree" if stated in an affirmative manner. However, if stated in a cautious manner, "I don't disagree" can also be used to mean "you may be right, although I am not sure" or "there is no mistake in what you say, but there is more to it than that."

Similarly, the phrase "Mr. Jones was not incompetent" may be used to mean either "Mr. Jones was very competent" or "Mr. Jones was competent, but not brilliantly so."

This device can also be used to humorous effect; for example, in the TV show The Simpsons, Homer Simpson says in one episode ("Missionary: Impossible"), "I'm not not licking toads", humorously conveying to the audience that he had indeed been licking toads.

Triple and quadruple negatives

Bert Williams' early twentieth century hit song Nobody (rerecorded by Johnny Cash) contains the notable chorus:

Well, I ain't never done nothing to nobody.

I ain't never got nothing from nobody, no time.

And, until I get something from somebody sometime,

I don't intend to do nothing for nobody, no time.^[3]

The song "Stay Free" by The Clash contains the lyric:

Never took no shit from no one, we weren't fools.

This is an example of triple and quadruple negatives, used for emphasis. Another example from the song "A Horse with No Name" by America (band):

There ain't no one for to give you no pain.

A further example:

I am not never going to do nowt no more for thee.

Negatives are often found in legislation, perhaps to make it sound official:

"Regulations setting out rules in respect of the sale of goods but illogically not in respect of the supply of services in similar situations."

Germanic languages

Double negation is not found in the standard West Germanic languages except for Afrikaans where it is mandatory. For example: Hy kan nie Afrikaans praat nie. (literally 'he cannot Afrikaans speak not'). Both French and San origins have been suggested for double negation in Afrikaans. While double negation is still found in Low Franconian dialects in West-Flanders and in some 'isolated' villages in the center of the Netherlands (i.e. Garderen), it takes a different form, which is not found in Afrikaans (ie. ikne wil dat nie doen - I not will that not do). In Flemish dialectical speech though there are still some widely used expressions like nooit niet (literally: 'never not' : used instead of just nooit 'never'). The -ne was the Old Franconian way to negate, but it is suggested that since it became highly non-voiced 'nie' or 'niet' was needed to complement the -ne. With time the -ne disappeared in most Low Franconian ("Dutch") dialects. Non-standard varieties of Germanic languages all use them. Here are German language examples:

Das macht kein Mensch nicht. (literally: "That does no man not.") Example of an archaic form that resolves to a negative but is no longer understood as: "No man does that."

Ich kenne nicht niemanden. (literally: "I know not nobody.") Modern usage, easily understood as: "It is not true that I don't know anybody."

And in English:

I ain't done nothing (literally: "I have not done anything")

The double negative construction has been fully grammaticalized in standard Afrikaans (due to its use in many indigenous languages in that area) and its proper use follows a set of fairly complex rules as the examples below (provided by Bruce Donaldson) show:

Ek het nie geweet dat hy sou kom nie = Eng. I didn't know that he would be coming.

Ek het geweet dat hy nie sou kom nie = Eng. I knew that he wouldn't be coming.

Ek het nie geweet dat hy nie sou kom nie = Eng. I didn't know that he wouldn't be coming.

Hy sal nie kom nie, want hy is siek = Eng. He won't be coming because he is sick.

Dis (=Dit is) nie so moeilik om Afrikaans te leer nie = Eng. It's not so difficult to learn Afrikaans.

Romance languages

Double negatives are standard in Romance languages. Complex negation is generally expressed by placing a negation adverb (word for "not": ne in French, no in Spanish and Catalan, non in Italian, não in Portuguese, nu in Romanian) before the verb and zero or more negative adverbs or pronouns elsewhere to indicate what kind of negation is being made. In standard French, unlike the others, simple negation also requires a second negative particle, pas.

"I do not eat" in several Romance languages (negative words are bolded):

French: Je ne mange pas.

Catalan: No menjo or no menjo pas or menjo pas.

Spanish: No como.

Portuguese: Não como.

Italian: Non mangio.

Romanian: Nu mănânc.

"I do not eat anything":

French: Je ne mange rien.

Catalan: No menjo res.

Spanish: No como nada.

Portuguese: Não como nada.

Italian: Non mangio niente.

Romanian: Nu mănânc nimic.

Pas (from Latin passus), the word for "step", was originally used for emphasis, e.g., Fr. Je ne marche pas and Cat. No camino pas originally meant "I won't go a step". The usage of the word later extended to serve as a negative particle, to the point that nowadays, in colloquial speech, ne is often left out, while pas serves as the only negating element. In Catalan, however, pas is used in some dialects to mark that a negative sentence contradicts what was expected, although in the Northern Catalan dialect pas is the only negative adverb while no is not used. Conversely, in standard Occitan, pas is the only particle used to negate sentences and non is only used as an answer to questions.

The correlative negative words in Spanish and Italian are used only in negative sentences (e.g. ningún "none", a positive sentence uses algún "some") whereas some French, Catalan and Occitan negative words are the same as positive words. This sometimes leads to confusion for non-native speakers if the verb. For example, in French personne can mean "person" or "nobody," plus can mean both "more" and "[not] anymore", and in Catalan res can mean both "nothing" and "anything", while enlloc can mean both "nowhere" or "anywhere". (However, in Catalan such positive uses are most frequently found on interrogative or conditional sentences and are rare in affirmative statements.)

This is compounded by the fact that colloquial French has a strong tendency to drop the particle ne, keeping only pas.

Since there are many Catalan negative particles which are in fact no plus an affirmative particle, there is a tendency to add no to particles which can't be affirmative in any context, for example Jo tampoc no l'he vista (literally "I neither not her have seen"; I haven't see her either"). Those double negations are, however, correct, and in fact are encouraged by most teachers, despite the fact that some grammars consider both constructions as valid. The usage of this kind of double negation is decreasing, perhaps due to Spanish influence or perhaps due to the birth of a new natural tendency to drop particles similar to the one found in French.

In colloquial Brazilian Portuguese, an extra negative particle can often be found in apposition at the end of a double negative sentence. For example, Não vi nada, não translates literally to "I didn't see nothing, no" (idiomatic translation: "Oh no, I didn't see anything"), or Não chamamos ninguém, não, literally "We didn't call nobody, no" (idiomatic translation: "Oh no, we didn't call anybody").

In Romanian, double negation is standard, just like in the surrounding Slavic languages. For instance, Nu deranjez pe nimeni niciodatã literally means "I don't disturb nobody never" but is the same as saying in English "I never disturb anybody."

Slavic languages

In many Slavic languages, including Russian and Serbian, a double negative is correct grammar, while a single negative is an error in grammar. The following are literal translations of grammatically correct Serbian sentences: Niko nikada nigde ništa nije uradio - Nobody never nowhere nothing did not do (nobody ever did anything anywhere), Ovo nije izazvano ničim - This is not caused by nothing (not caused by anything).

In Slovenian, much like in many other Slavic languages, double negation is a correct form, though sometimes causing confusion as to whether the positive or the negative is meant by a given (ambiguous) sentence. For example, the English sentence 'I don't know anyone' would be translated to Ne poznam nikogar (I don't know nobody); a literal translation, Ne poznam kogarkoli, is a somewhat strange construction, but means 'I don't know just anyone' (i.e. I know someone important or special). Peculiarly, 'Nobody knows one another' becomes 'Nihče ne pozna nikogar' (No one doesn't know no one).

However, the Church Slavonic language allows only single negation (still, many norms of Church Slavonic are artificial, as it is not a spoken language).

Example of commonly used triple negative in Czech: Nikdo nic nevyhrál meaning Nobody won anything, translated literally as Nobody didn't win nothing.

In Russian the following sentence with 6 negations is grammatically correct: Неужели никто нигде никогда не видел ничего подобного?, meaning Is it possible that no one has ever seen anything like that anywhere?

In Polish the equivalent sentence to Russian six-negations example as above has five: Możliwe to, że nikt nigdzie nigdy nikogo nie widział?. The negative answer for this question, i.e. "it is impossible that no one has ever seen anything like that anywhere", in Polish to niemożliwe, że nikt nigdzie nigdy nikogo nie widział, has six negations. The double negative is used in any case that pronouns are used with a negative construction and is considered grammatically correct. For example, Nie znam nikogo, means literally I do not know nobody but means that the speaker does not know anybody. Another example, Nic nie mam, means literally I do not have nothing, but means that the speaker does not have anything. This is quite a philosophical question, whether somebody can have nothing. In Polish not nothing is everything and something is not nothing and not everything - coś to nic i wszystko. The double negation may be better understand as an answer to negative question:

• no nie?: is a short question about fallibility of preceding statement it could be answered:
• nie, no: is the general opposition
• no tak: the "no" is "true" - to confirm
• nie ino: the conjugative falsification,
• tak ino: the alternative opposition, only specific part is objected or will be pointed to alternative consideration.
• tak i nie: ("yes and no") some truth some false given if the answer is to alternatives.

i = "and", tak = yes, ino (tylko) = "only", i nie = "and not", if it looks confusing its not for native speaker and is consisted with later described by de Morgano logic. The English triple form of words nay no not have perhaps common IE origin.

Ancient Greek

Double negatives are perfectly correct in Ancient Greek and Modern Greek, sometimes expressing an affirmation, sometimes strengthening the negation. With few exceptions, a simple negative (οὐ or μή) following another simple or compound negative (e.g., οὐδείς, no one) results in an affirmation, whereas a compound negative following a simple or compound negative strengthens the negation.

• οὐδείς οὐκ ἔπασχε τι, no one was not suffering something, i.e., everyone was suffering.

• μὴ θορυβήσῃ μηδείς, let no one raise an uproar, lit. do not let no one raise an uproar.

The above applies only when the negatives all refer to the same word or expression in a clause, so in

οὐ διὰ τὸ μὴ ἀκοντίζειν οὐκ ἔβαλον αὐτόν, it was not on account of their not throwing that they did not hit him,

all the negatives operate independently of each other.

Hungarian

Double or multiple negative is grammatically required in Hungarian with negative pronouns, e.g. Nincs semmim (lit. "I don't have nothing", meaning I don't have anything), Soha nem iszom (lit. "I never don't drink", meaning I never drink), Ne mondd el senkinek (lit. "Don't tell no one about it", meaning Don't tell anyone about it), or a quintuple case: Soha sehol ne mondj el semmit senkinek, literally "Never nowhere don't tell no one about nothing", meaning Don't ever, anywhere tell anyone about anything.

Hebrew

Double or multiple negative is correct grammar in Hebrew:

• לא הלכתי לשום מקום > Not (I)went to no place > I didn't go to nowhere > I didn't go anywhere.
• אני לא מדבר עם אף אחד > I not (masc.)speak with no one > I don't speak with no one > I don't speak with anyone.
• אל תדבר על שום דבר עם אף אחד > not (you-masc.-sing.)will-talk about no thing with no one > Don't talk about nothing with no one > Don't talk about anything to anyone.

Sometimes it is possible to avoid double negatives by choosing words that are not negatives, but which convey a similar meaning. In the following example "איש" ("man") functions much like French "personne": לא דיברתי עם איש > Not (I)spoke with man > I didn't speak to a man > I didn't speak to anyone.

See also

• Agreement (linguistics)
• Idiom
• Negation
• Pleonasm
• Redundancy (language)

References

1. ^ Fromkin, Victoria; Rodman, Robert & Hyams, Nina (2002). An Introduction to Language, Seventh Edition. Heinle, p. 15. ISBN 0-15-508481-X. 
2. ^ John Huston 1948, The Treasure of the Sierra Madre
3. ^ Bert Williams 1906, Nobody

Donate to Wikimedia