No full-text available
To read the full-text of this research,
you can request a copy directly from the author.
Abstract
This wasa research about the role of linguistic features in contributing to the overall meaning of a song entitled I Can’t Unlove You by Kenny Rogers. The goal of the research was to prove that special linguistic features used in the song played a significant role in conveying the meaning of the song. This wasa library research by identifying and elaborating the special linguistic construction found in the song lyric text. It is concluded that the use of double negation combined with invented negative verbs has successfully build up the idea of impossibility in undoing love. This double negative expression is needed because love intricacy and complicatedness can only be expressed in a stylistically special way where common expressions are unable to reach the intended meaning.
ResearchGate has not been able to resolve any citations for this publication.
The paper proposes a syntactic and semantic analysis of Double Negation (DN). It is shown that there are two types of DN. Strong DN is the result of a Focus construction that involves a polar reading triggered by a Verum Focus; Weak DN, on the other hand, arises when the corresponding n-word is marked as a Contrastive Topic and introduces weak (i.e. non-exclusive) alternatives. The paper discusses the occurrence of these two kinds of DN in two types of languages, which feature different negative strategies. While Hungarian is a strict NC language with non-negative n-words and an obligatory negative marker, English and German are non-NC languages, with negative n-words that can function on their own. It is shown that both strong DN and weak DN occur in each of these languages. However, the mechanisms that license n-words contributing the DN reading are different, due to the differences in the nature of the n-words and in the discourse-functional behavior of the languages in question.
This paper addresses the two interpretations that a combination ofnegative indefinites can get in concord languages like French:a concord reading, which amounts to a single negation, and a doublenegation reading. We develop an analysis within a polyadic framework,where a sequence of negative indefinites can be interpreted as aniteration of quantifiers or via resumption. The first option leadsto a scopal relation, interpreted as double negation. The secondoption leads to the construction of a polyadic negative quantifiercorresponding to the concord reading. Given that sentential negationparticipates in negative concord, we develop an extension of thepolyadic approach which can deal with non-variable binding operators,treating the contribution of negation in a concord context assemantically empty. Our semantic analysis, incorporated into agrammatical analysis formulated in HPSG, crucially relies on theassumption that quantifiers can be combined in more than one wayupon retrieval from the quantifier store. We also considercross-linguistic variation regarding the participation ofsentential negation in negative concord.
Stylistics: A Resource Book for Students
- P Simpson
Simpson, P. (2004). Stylistics: A Resource Book for Students. London: Routledge.
The Columbia Guide to Standard American English
- K G Wilson
Wilson, K. G. (1993). The Columbia Guide to Standard American English. New York: Columbia
University Press.