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Volume 47, Issue 1
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Abstract

Abstract

This study investigates the non-negating negator in Taiwanese. With respect to its function, this study argues that it is neither an intensifier nor a rhetorical marker. Furthermore, contrary to prevalent intuition, the combination is not parallel to the ostensible cognate in Mandarin Chinese. Instead, the non-negating is an intersubjective speech-act adverbial affix attaching to the head of FocP (realized as or ) that takes scope over whatever follows. Typologically, this study uncovers another use of non-negating negation in natural languages, and consequently challenges the enterprise pursuing a unified analysis for the phenomena of the so-called expletive negation.

© Department of English, National Taiwan Normal University
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2021-04-19
2025-04-24

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/content/journals/10.1075/consl.00025.lau
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Negator turned intersubjective speech-act adverbial
Concentric 47, 113 (2021); https://doi.org/10.1075/consl.00025.lau
/content/journals/10.1075/consl.00025.lau
/content/journals/10.1075/consl.00025.lau
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  • Article Type: Research Article
Keyword(s): expletive negation; non-negating negator; speech-act adverbial; Taiwanese; 台語; 空填補否定詞; 虛否定; 言語行為

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