The pragmatics of negation : negative meanings, uses and discursive functions / edited by Malin Roitman.

Includes bibliographical references and index.

Print version record and CIP data provided by publisher.

Negation is one of the most discussed phenomena within linguistics, on all language levels though it never seems to be exhausted. This operator establishes complex sentence structures and constantly challenges - from a cognitive, syntactical, semantic and morphologic viewpoint - presuppositions on language internal relations as rational and logic. It arouses therefore interest through all fields within language sciences. From a pragmatic perspective, where negation is conceived a marked structure, using negation often produces meanings beyond the one of a reversed affirmation "it is not the case that X". This book explores the various uses and pragmatic meanings of negation in authentic communication, in different text types and in different languages, predominately romance languages. The multilingual composition marries a macro-micro perspective where aspects of genre, sociocultural context, memory, rhetoric and argumentation interplay with the negative morpheme's nature and embedded instructions.

Intro -- The Pragmatics of Negation -- Editorial page -- Title page -- LCC data -- Table of contents -- Preface -- Introduction -- 0.1 The nature of negation -- At the crossroads between truth-value operator and speech act -- 0.2 The asymmetry of negation -- A history beyond binary relations -- 0.3 The markedness of negation: A cognitive challenge and informative unexpectedness -- 0.4 Metalinguistic negation -- 0.5 Negation as marker of polyphony and a tool for argumentation -- 0.6 Summary of the chapters in this volume -- Part I. Reinforcements of negatives: Pragmatic uses and discursive meanings -- Chapter 1. Metalinguistic negation and rejection discourse markers in Spanish -- 1.1 Introduction -- 1.2 Background overview -- 1.3 Metalinguistic negation, replies introduced by ma que, otra que, minga que, cómo que, pero si and rejection of a prior discourse -- 1.4 Evidentiality, polyphonic perspective and rejection replies -- 1.5 Concluding remarks -- Chapter 2. Metalinguistic negation and explicit echo, with reference to English and Spanish -- 2.1 Introduction -- 2.2 Linguistic reflexivity, metalinguistic negation and discursive echo -- 2.3 Idiomatic expressions -- 2.4 Formal and discursive articulation of the explicit echo -- 2.5 Dialogic vs. monologic uses -- 2.6 Intensified negation -- 2.7 Concluding remarks -- Chapter 3. Metalinguistic negation vs. descriptive negation: Among their kin and foes -- 3.1 Introduction -- 3.1.1 Research on negative expressions -- 3.1.2 What this chapter explores -- 3.2 Identifying metalinguistic negation -- 3.2.1 Basic distinctions -- 3.2.2 Metalinguistic Negation vs. 'Contrastive Negation' -- 3.3 Negative Polarity vs. MN -- 3.3.1 Two negations or one negation? Different positions on Metalinguistic Negation -- 3.4 Implications of some prosody and ERP experiments.

3.4.1 Prosodic markedness of MN-licensed degree adverbials -- 3.4.2 ERP experiments on MN-licensed degree adverbials -- 3.4.3 Principle of metalinguistic denial of commonality -- 3.4.4 MN adverbials: How violations are manifested in brainwaves -- 3.4.5 Experiment 1: ERP analysis of MN adverbials in written sentences -- 3.4.6 Experiment 2: ERP analysis of MN adverbials in spoken sentences -- 3.5 General discussion of ERP Experiments for MN (and NPIs) -- 3.6 Concluding remarks -- Acknowledgement -- Chapter 4. Intervention Effects are (lack of) informativity: The case of negative interrogatives -- 4.1 Introduction -- 4.2 A pragmatic affair -- 4.3 Escaping intervention effects -- 4.4 Concluding discussion -- Chapter 5. Discourse-pragmatic change and emphatic negation in Spoken French: Or coming full circle -- 5.1 Introduction -- 5.2 The pragmatics of negation -- 5.3 Data and approach -- 5.4 Results: Discourse-pragmatic findings or 'Quand elle mousse, elle ne' -- 5.4 Results: Discourse-pragmatic findings or 'Quand elle mousse, elle ne' -- 5.5 Discussion and conclusion(s) -- Part II. Negation and linguistic polyphony -- Chapter 6. Interpretations of the French negation ne ... pas -- 6.1 Introduction -- 6.2 Pragmatic meaning of negation -- 6.2.1 Uses and forms of negative utterance -- 6.2.2 Polemic and descriptive degations -- 6.2.3 Recapitulation -- 6.3 Polyphonic analysis -- 6.3.1 Metalinguistic negation -- 6.3.2 Descriptive negation -- 6.3.3 Strong blockers -- 6.3.4 Weak blockers -- 6.3.5 Triggers -- 6.3.6 Blockers and triggers combined -- 6.3.7 Cotextual constraints -- 6.4 Conclusions -- Chapter 7. French negation as a marker of (external/internal) polyphony -- 7.1 Introduction -- 7.2 Why linguistic polyphony? -- 7.3 Linguistic polyphony and different kinds of polyphony -- 7.3.1 Refusal of the unified nature of the speaker.

7.3.2 The speaker and the points of view -- 7.3.3 External vs internal polyphony -- 7.3.4 An example of external polyphony -- 7.4 The French polemic negation ne ... pas as a marker of external and/or internal polyphony -- 7.4.1 Polyphony in negated utterances modalised by the modal verb devoir -- 7.4.2 External and internal polyphony in adversative structures -- 7.5 Conclusion -- Part III. Negation and polyphony in discourse analysis -- Chapter 8. Negation as a rhetorical tool in climate change discourse -- 8.1 Introduction -- 8.2 The IPCC and previous research on climate change discourse -- 8.3 Negation as a marker of polyphony -- 8.4 Analysis: The IPCC's "summary for policymakers" 2007 and 2013 -- 8.4.1 The 2007 IPCC summary -- 8.5 Concluding remarks -- Chapter 9. Negation and straw man fallacy in French election debates 1974-2012 -- 9.1 Introduction: Negation and argumentation -- 9.2 Negation in pragmatics: Enunciation theory and in discourse analysis -- 9.3 Argumentation by negation and the straw man fallacy -- 9.4 Refutations in the presidential election debates 1974 to 2012: Global scene and generic features -- 9.4.1 Refuting the collective voice or the opponent's argument -- 9.5 The straw man fallacies in the presidential debates -- 9.5.1 Negation used for straw man attacks -- 9.5.2 Defence against straw man attacks -- 9.6 Synthesis and discussion -- 9.6.1 Generalities -- 9.6.2 Straw man attacks and facts -- 9.6.3 Right-wing and left-wing straw man negations and differences between candidates -- 9.6.4 Straw man and political ideas -- 9.6.5 Straw man and personal attitudes and character -- 9.7 Conclusion -- References -- Index.

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