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Double negation

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Double negation is attested both in spoken and written language. Some examples are given below:

Ik hie nearne gjin nocht oan

I had nothing.R no liking to

There was nothing I felt like doing

Dat er noait net fan God of godstsjinst rept, dat is dom

that he never not of God or religion mentions that is foolish

It is foolish that he never mentions God or religion

Double negation is frequently found with specific combinations of negative constituents and clause negation, whereas other combinations are very rare.

The following types can be found involving the quantifier of temporal negation noait never as the first element of a pair of two negative constituents:

Der ûntkaam him noait neat

there missed him never nothing

He never missed anything

Dy leafde dy't dochs noait net stjerre koe

that love that nevertheless never not die could

That love which, nonetheless, could never die

Ik brûk sels noait gjin drank

I use myself never no alcohol

I never drink alcohol myself

Examples of type (a) are rare (6x in the Frisian Language Corpus), in which temporal negation is followed by bare inanimate argument negation. Examples of type (b) and (c) are frequent: the temporal negation is followed by clause negation as in (b), or by argument negation followed by overt Noun Phrase (NP) material as in (c). The first negation functions as an intensifer for clause and argument negation. This is particularly clear in the (a) example, in which the temporal negation can be left out, but not the argument negation. The temporal negation nea never is mostly confined to written language. It has the same distribution with respect to double negation as noait never.

The types of examples in (6) involve bare inanimate argument negation as the first element of double negation:

Formulieren ha ik it neat net op stean

forms have I it nothing net on stand

Forms, I don't like at all

It wiene leave bern, neat net fervelend

it were dear children nothing not annoying

They were good children, not annoying at all

Hy hie neat gjin oanstriid fan selskip

he had nothing no tendency of company

He did not feel at all like having company

These examples make it clear that the first negation neat, the bare argument inanimate negation, functions as an intensifier of clause negation and noun negation.

The animate argument negation nimmen nobody can be found in the following types of examples as the first element of double negation:

Mar hy doarst der tsjin nimmen neat fan útlitte

but he dared R against nobody nothing of out.let

But he did not dare tell anybody anything about it

It bewiis hat nimmen net leverje kinnen

the evidence has nobody not provide could

Nobody has been able to provide the evidence

Nimmen net kaam op it tinkbyld oft in Frysk frijsteat mooglik wie

nobody not came on the idea whether a Frisian free.state possible was

Nobody struck upon the idea whether a free Frisian state would be a possibility

Ik doch nimmen gjin oerlêst oan

I do nobody no inconvenience to

I don't cause anybody any inconvenience

(4a) shows that animate argument negation can be followed by bare argument negation, but the number of examples is small and they belong to older literature, dating mostly to the nineteenth or early twentieth-century. (4b) shows that animate argument can be reinforced by the second element, by clause negation. (4c) shows that animate argument negation and clause negation have optionally been reanalysed as one constituent. Examples of the (b) and (c) type are frequent. The (d) type is rare again, and the examples date back to the nineteenth or early twentieth-century.

Place negation nearne nowhere may appear as the first element of double negation in the following types of examples. Note that place negation is translated as 'nothing' in case it functions as a prepositional complement, as in the (a) example below:

Ik sil de Heare net fergje en nearne net om freegje

I shall the Lord not demand and nothing.R for ask

I shall not demand things from the Lord and not ask for anything

Der is gjin wetter mear, nearne net kinne se sile

there is no water more nowhere not can they sail

There is no water anymore, nowhere can they sail

Earst hie hja nearne gjin hâldfêst hân en wie har leauwe swier op 'e proef steld.

first had she nowhere no hold had and was het belief heavily on the pest put

At first, she had not had any hold anywhere and her belief had been severely put to the test

(5a) and (5b) show that bare place negation can be intensified by a following clause negation. The case in (5b), moreover, shows that place negation and following clause negation are optionally reanalysed as one constituent. (5c) shows that bare place negation may be followed by overt noun negation. Both types are relatively frequent. There is, in addition, one nineteenth-century example of place negation followed by bare argument negation.

The negative conjunct noch nor occasionally conjoins two negative constituents in written language:

Hja moatte nea noch nimmer it sjitlead út 'e hannen lizze

they should never nor never the plummet out the hands lie

They should never ever let go of the plummet

Fierder te wollen, nea noch nearne rêst te hawwen, oant it kommen wêze sil

further to want never nor nowhere rest to have until it come be shall

To want to go further, to not have any rest ever anywhere, until it will have arrived

This kind of language is old-fashioned, as is also signalledd by the choice of the temporal quantifiers, which belong to older language.

In addition, the preposition sûnder without may also be found with another negation, as in the following example:

Sûnder boe noch ba sette er ôf

without boo nor ba set he off

He left without saying anything

Finally, it has been reported that an eastern dialect, the dialect of the eastern part of the municipality of Kollumerlân, may have double clause negation, as in the following example:

Ik wol net datstû sûnder jas bûtendoar omrinst net

I want not that.you without coat outside about.walk net

I don't want you to walk about outside without your coat on

extra

Literature

More details can be found in Hoekstra (2004), Hoekstra (1987) and Tamminga (1963:6-7).

References

Hoekstra, Eric2004Neat gjin helemaalFriesch Dagblad11-13Taalgenoat en taalgeniet 52
Hoekstra, Jarich1987Frysk en AfrikaanskFriesch Dagblad25-07Taalsnipels 42
Tamminga, Douwe Annes1963Op 'e taelhelling. Losse trochsneden fan Frysk taellibben. IBoalsertA.J. Osinga

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About this article

Author(s): Eric Hoekstra, Geart Tigchelaar

Category: Frisian Syntax

Keywords: double negation

Version: 1.0, December 2015

Version history:

version	editor(s)	date	remarks
1.0	Eric Hoekstra	December 2015

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