Are asymmetries in imperative negation based in usage?
This article extends the study of (a)symmetries in negation to the domain of (negative) imperatives. It examines a balanced sample of the world’s languages for distinctions in tense, direction/location and intersubjectivity and observes that, like with asymmetry in standard negation, they are often...
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
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University of Bologna
2025-01-01
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| Series: | Linguistic Typology at the Crossroads |
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| Online Access: | https://typologyatcrossroads.unibo.it/article/view/19446 |
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| author | Daniel Van Olmen |
| author_facet | Daniel Van Olmen |
| author_sort | Daniel Van Olmen |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | This article extends the study of (a)symmetries in negation to the domain of (negative) imperatives. It examines a balanced sample of the world’s languages for distinctions in tense, direction/location and intersubjectivity and observes that, like with asymmetry in standard negation, they are often neutralized from positive to negative but not vice versa. Intersubjective marking is found to be somewhat exceptional in that the opposite situation does occasionally occur. The article also tests whether and confirms that these asymmetries are grounded in usage patterns, with a corpus investigation of English and Dutch (negative) imperatives. It proposes negation’s discourse presuppositionality, which has been argued to account for neutralization in standard negation, as an explanation for most but not all of these typological and usage-based results in imperative negation too. It nevertheless makes a case for other, more imperative-specific motivations as well. |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj-art-c3bcd579bce145b6a336f60d1323ea0c |
| institution | Kabale University |
| issn | 2785-0943 |
| language | English |
| publishDate | 2025-01-01 |
| publisher | University of Bologna |
| record_format | Article |
| series | Linguistic Typology at the Crossroads |
| spelling | doaj-art-c3bcd579bce145b6a336f60d1323ea0c2025-01-31T10:34:03ZengUniversity of BolognaLinguistic Typology at the Crossroads2785-09432025-01-014215821910.6092/issn.2785-0943/1944617811Are asymmetries in imperative negation based in usage?Daniel Van Olmen0https://orcid.org/0000-0001-9289-9196Lancaster UniversityThis article extends the study of (a)symmetries in negation to the domain of (negative) imperatives. It examines a balanced sample of the world’s languages for distinctions in tense, direction/location and intersubjectivity and observes that, like with asymmetry in standard negation, they are often neutralized from positive to negative but not vice versa. Intersubjective marking is found to be somewhat exceptional in that the opposite situation does occasionally occur. The article also tests whether and confirms that these asymmetries are grounded in usage patterns, with a corpus investigation of English and Dutch (negative) imperatives. It proposes negation’s discourse presuppositionality, which has been argued to account for neutralization in standard negation, as an explanation for most but not all of these typological and usage-based results in imperative negation too. It nevertheless makes a case for other, more imperative-specific motivations as well.https://typologyatcrossroads.unibo.it/article/view/19446asymmetrydutchenglish(negative) imperativeusage |
| spellingShingle | Daniel Van Olmen Are asymmetries in imperative negation based in usage? Linguistic Typology at the Crossroads asymmetry dutch english (negative) imperative usage |
| title | Are asymmetries in imperative negation based in usage? |
| title_full | Are asymmetries in imperative negation based in usage? |
| title_fullStr | Are asymmetries in imperative negation based in usage? |
| title_full_unstemmed | Are asymmetries in imperative negation based in usage? |
| title_short | Are asymmetries in imperative negation based in usage? |
| title_sort | are asymmetries in imperative negation based in usage |
| topic | asymmetry dutch english (negative) imperative usage |
| url | https://typologyatcrossroads.unibo.it/article/view/19446 |
| work_keys_str_mv | AT danielvanolmen areasymmetriesinimperativenegationbasedinusage |