Never again: the multiple grammaticalization of never as a marker of negation in English
| Main author: | Lucas, Christopher |
|---|---|
| Other authors: | Willis, David |
| Format: | Journal Article |
| Online access: |
Click here to view record |
| id |
eprints-14523 |
|---|---|
| recordtype |
eprints |
| institution |
SOAS, University of London |
| collection |
SOAS Research Online |
| language |
English |
| language_search |
English |
| topic |
P Philology. Linguistics PE English |
| description |
In both standard and nonstandard varieties of English there are several contexts in which the word never functions as a sentential negator rather than as a negative temporal adverb. This article investigates the pragmatic and distributional differences between the various non-temporal uses of never and examines their synchronic and historical relationship to the ordinary temporal quantifier use, drawing on corpora of Early Modern and present-day British English. Primary focus is on (i) a straightforward negator use that in prescriptively approved varieties of English has an aspectual restriction to non-chance, completive achievement predicates in the preterite, but no such restriction in nonstandard English; and (ii) a distinct categorical-denial use that quantifies over possible perspectives on a situation. Against Cheshire (1998), it is argued that neither of these uses represents continuity with non-temporal uses of never in Middle English, but both are instead relatively recent innovations resulting from semantic reanalysis and the semanticization of implicatures. |
| format |
Journal Article |
| author |
Lucas, Christopher |
| author_facet |
Lucas, Christopher Willis, David |
| authorStr |
Lucas, Christopher |
| author_letter |
Lucas, Christopher |
| author2 |
Willis, David |
| author2Str |
Willis, David |
| title |
Never again: the multiple grammaticalization of never as a marker of negation in English |
| publisher |
Cambridge Journals |
| publishDate |
2012 |
| url |
https://eprints.soas.ac.uk/14523/
|