1887
Volume 28, Issue 2
  • ISSN 1387-6740
  • E-ISSN: 1569-9935
USD
Buy:$35.00 + Taxes

Abstract

Abstract

Negation in narrative has been described primarily as a resource for expressing evaluation, and secondarily in its role in establishing orientation, but this article investigates a range of ways negated statements can contribute directly to complicating action. Negation works through presupposition in the rhetorical figure of paralipsis with phrases like “to say nothing of.” Reporting “I don’t see how she got in” presupposes that she got in. Semantic double negation in phrases like “never fail to” contributes to the complicating action. Idiomatic negatives like “didn’t go out” and negatives matching expectations like “didn’t go to sleep” mirror positive actions in the narrative model. Constructions coupling main clause negation with a positive embedded clause produce statements entailing actions in the chain of events, as in “I couldn’t face going back.” Taken together, these constructions provide powerful resources for contributing positively to the dynamic narrative model with negative statements.

Loading

Article metrics loading...

/content/journals/10.1075/ni.17028.nor
2018-10-19
2025-02-12
Loading full text...

Full text loading...

References

  1. Ayer, A. J.
    (1963) Negation. Philosophical essays, 3, 6–65. London: Macmillan. (Reprinted fromJournal of Philosophy, 49, 797–815 1952.)
    [Google Scholar]
  2. Clark, H. H.
    (1974) Semantics and comprehension. InT. A. Sebeok (Ed.), Current trends in linguistics, vol. 12 (pp.1291–1428). The Hague: Mouton.
    [Google Scholar]
  3. Corbett, E. P. J., & Connors, R. J.
    (1998) Classical rhetoric for the modern student. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
    [Google Scholar]
  4. Eco, U.
    (1984) The role of the reader: Explorations in the semiotics of texts. Bloomington: Indiana University Press.
    [Google Scholar]
  5. Horn, L. R.
    (1989) A natural history of negation. Chicago: University of Chicago Press.
    [Google Scholar]
  6. Jespersen, O.
    (1917) Negation in English and other languages. Copenhagen: Hoest.
    [Google Scholar]
  7. Kissin, P.
    (1969) Negation in natural language (Doctoral dissertation). University of Wisconsin-Madison. Ann Arbor: University Microfilms 1970.
    [Google Scholar]
  8. Labov, W.
    (1972) Language in the inner city. Philadelphia: University of Pennsylvania Press.
    [Google Scholar]
  9. (2013) The language of life and death: The transformation of experience in oral narrative. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.10.1017/CBO9781139519632
    https://doi.org/10.1017/CBO9781139519632 [Google Scholar]
  10. Labov, W., & Waletzky, J.
    (1967) Narrative analysis: Oral versions of personal experience. InJ. Helm (Ed.), Essays on the verbal and visual arts (pp.12–44). Seattle: University of Washington Press.
    [Google Scholar]
  11. Lewis, D.
    (1978) Truth in fiction. American Philosophical Quarterly, 15, 37–46.
    [Google Scholar]
  12. Ryan, M. -L.
    (1985) The modal structure of narrative universes. Poetics Today, 6(4), 717–756.10.2307/1771963
    https://doi.org/10.2307/1771963 [Google Scholar]
  13. (1991) Possible worlds, artificial intelligence and narrative theory. Bloomington: Indiana University Press.
    [Google Scholar]
  14. (2006) From parallel universes to possible worlds: Ontological pluralism in physics, narratology and narrative. Poetics Today, 27, 633–674.10.1215/03335372‑2006‑006
    https://doi.org/10.1215/03335372-2006-006 [Google Scholar]
  15. Strawson, P. F.
    (1952) Introduction to logical theory. London: Methuen.
    [Google Scholar]
  16. Vickers, B.
    (1988) In defence of rhetoric. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
    [Google Scholar]
  17. Volterra, V., & Antinucci, F.
    (1979) Negation in child language: A Pragmatic Study. InE. Ochs & B. Schieffelin (Eds.), Developmental pragmatics (pp.281–303). New York: Academic Press.
    [Google Scholar]
  18. Warhol, R.
    (2007) Narrative Refusals and Generic Transformation in Austen and James: What Doesn’t Happen in Northanger Abbey and The Spoils of Poynton. The Henry James Review, 28, 259–268.10.1353/hjr.2007.0026
    https://doi.org/10.1353/hjr.2007.0026 [Google Scholar]
  19. Wason, P. C.
    (1972) In real life negatives are false. Logique et Analyse, 15, 17–38.
    [Google Scholar]
/content/journals/10.1075/ni.17028.nor
Loading
  • Article Type: Research Article
Keyword(s): complicating action; evaluation; negation; orientation; paralipsis; presupposition
This is a required field
Please enter a valid email address
Approval was successful
Invalid data
An Error Occurred
Approval was partially successful, following selected items could not be processed due to error