Characteristic features of expressing negation in English language

Finally, Wouden devotes part three of his book on negative contexts to the study of multiple negation in different languages. For this scholar the addition of a negative to an already negative construction may lead to the following possibilities: (I) the structure containing various negatives may be equivalent to a single one as in some varieties of sub-standard English, e.g. I didn 't see nobody nowhere; (II) the two negatives may weaken each other as in the case of litotes above, e.g. She's not an unattractive woman; (III) the two negatives cancel each other out as in logic, giving as result no negation, e.g. Neighbours should not be uncooperative; and (IV) the two negatives intensify each other, e.g. He never stops working, not even at Christmas. As can be easily gathered from the previous account, Wouden's analysis of multiple negation is mainly semantic rather than syntactic; the following taxonomy of multiple negation is derived from each of the four possibilities explained above: (I) negative concord, (II) litotes, (III) denial and (IV) emphatic negation. [9]

 

 

1.4. Grammatical features of functional styles.

Fiction is the form of any narrative or informative work that deals, in part or in whole, with information or events that are not factual, but rather, imaginary—that is, invented by the author. Although fiction describes a major branch of literary work, it may also refer to theatrical, cinematic or musical work. Fiction contrasts with non-fiction, which deals exclusively with factual (or, at least, assumed factual) events, descriptions, observations, etc. (e.g., biographies, histories).

Types of fiction:

Realisticfiction, although untrue, could actually happen. Some events, people, and places may even be real. This is termed "faction". It can be possible that in the future imagined events could physically happen.

Realistic fiction strives to make the reader feel as if they're reading something that is actually happening—something that though not real, is described in a believable way that helps the reader make a picture as if it were an actual event. This can also confuse the reader into making the reader thinking it's non-fiction.

Non-realistic fiction is that in which the story's events could not happen in real life, because they are supernatural, or involve an alternate form of history of mankind other than that recorded, or need impossible technology. A good deal of fiction books are like this, e.g. Alice in Wonderland, Harry Potter and The Lord of the Rings.

However, even fantastic literature is bidimensional: it is situated between the poles of realism and the marvelous or mythic. Geographical details, character descriptions etc. create a rhetoric of realism, which “invites the reader to ignore the text's artifice, to suspend one's disbelief, exercise poetic faith and thereby indulge in the narrative's imaginative world.” The bidimensionality appears within the story as astonishment or frightening. According to G.W. Young and G. Wolfe, fictional realities outside the text are evoked, and the reader's previous conceptions of reality are exposed as incomplete. Hence, “by fiction is one able to gain even fuller constructs of what constitutes reality”. On the other hand, the infinite fictional possibilities signal the impossibility of fully knowing reality. There is no criterion to measure constructs of reality − in the last resort they are “entirely fictional”. [32]

Semi-Fiction is fiction implementing a great deal of non-fiction, for example: a fictional depiction "based on a true story", or a fictionalized account, or a reconstructed biography.

Often, even when the author claims the story is true, there may be significant additions and subtractions from the true story to make it more suitable for storytelling.

Elements of fiction

Fiction has three main elements: plotting, character, and place or setting.

 

Newspaper. A news article discusses current or recent news of either general interest (i.e. daily newspapers) or of a specific topic (i.e. political or trade news magazines, club newsletters, or technology news websites).

A news article can include accounts of eye witnesses to the happening event. It can contain photographs, accounts, statistics, graphs, recollections, interviews, polls, debates on the topic, etc. Headlines can be used to focus the reader’s attention on a particular (or main) part of the article. The writer can also give facts and detailed information following answers to general questions like who, what, when, where, why and how.

Quoted references can also be helpful. References to people can also be made through written accounts of interviews and debates confirming the factuality of the writer’s information and the reliability of his source. The writer can use redirection to ensure that the reader keeps reading the article and to draw her attention to other articles. For example, phrases like "Continued on page 3” redirect the reader to a page where the article is continued. [32]

While a good conclusion is an important ingredient for newspaper articles, the immediacy of a deadline environment means that copy editing often takes the form of deleting everything past an arbitrary point in the story corresponding to the dictates of available space on a page. Therefore, newspaper reporters are trained to write in inverted pyramid style, with all the most important information in the first paragraph or two. If less vital details are pushed towards the end of the story, the potentially destructive impact of draconian copy editing will be minimized.

 

Science fiction is a genre of fiction dealing with imaginary but more or less plausible (or at least non-supernatural) content such as future settings, futuristic science and technology, space travel, aliens, and paranormal abilities. Exploring the consequences of scientific innovations is one purpose of science fiction, making it a "literature of ideas".

Science fiction is largely based on writing rationally about alternative possible worlds or futures. It is similar to, but differs from fantasy in that, within the context of the story, its imaginary elements are largely possible within scientifically established or scientifically postulated laws of nature (though some elements in a story might still be pure imaginative speculation). [32]

The settings for science fiction are often contrary to known reality, but most science fiction relies on a considerable degree of suspension of disbelief, which is facilitated in the reader's mind by potential scientific explanations or solutions to various fictional elements. Science fiction elements include:

* A time setting in the future, in alternative timelines, or in a historical past that contradicts known facts of history or the archaeological record.

* A spatial setting or scenes in outer space (e.g., spaceflight), on other worlds, or on subterranean earth.

* Characters that include aliens, mutants, androids, or humanoid robots.

* Technology that is futuristic (e.g., ray guns, teleportation machines, humanoid computers).

* Scientific principles that are new or that contradict known laws of nature, for example time travel, wormholes, or faster-than-light travel.

* New and different political or social systems (e.g. dystopia, post-scarcity, or a post-apocalyptic situation where organized society has collapsed).

* Paranormal abilities such as mind control, telepathy, telekinesis, and teleportation.

* Other universes or dimensions and travel between them.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

2. Analysis of negative expressions in English language

2.1 The usage of negative expressions in fiction

 

The first, whose work we considered to investigate, is Lauren Weisberger, the an American novelist, whose works were translated to different languages. Let us analyze first of all one of the best her works “Chasing Harry Winston” which is Weisberger's third novel, it was released on May 27, 2008. The main characters are three best friend New Yorkers, Emmy, Adriana and Leigh, who are facing the horror of turning 30.

We will take not only sentences containing words with negative affixes, but also sentences where negation is expressed in other ways, for example participle not. It will help to prove (or not to prove the statement that the negation of actions are more likely to be expressed by the particle not).

1) When Leigh’s doorbell rang unexpectedly at nine on Monday night, she did not think, Gee, I wonder who that could be. [33]

Here we see that the function of negation is performed here: it is stressed that Leigh did not expect the doorbell. Unexpectedly is derived from the word expect (because there is no such word in English as ”expectedly”), so the first function is not performed here. Another negation in the sentence is expressed by the negative particle not. It is used to change the meaning of the verb to the opposite.

 2) Where there people who actually welcomed unannounced visitors when they just stopped to “say hello” or “check in”? [33]

In this example both functions are realized: there is a negation in the sentence (there are few people who welcome visitors who are not announced), and the word unannounced comes from the word announced, being its antonym.

3) Or those friendly Midwestern folks she’d seen depicted in Big Love but had never actually met-yes, they probably didn’t mind. [33]

Here in the sentence ‘Never’ have some common features in usage with ‘not’, especially when ‘not’ is used as an adverb. However, ‘never’ does not require the dummy auxiliary ‘do’ in forming a sentence. ‘Didn’t’ is another example of informal negative expressions and therefore the shortened form ‘n’t’ is used. However, in formal English, the shortened form will be reconverted to their original forms like ‘did it not’.

4) The apartment might have been the most perfect she’d seen in a year and a half of looking, but she had not wanted to take any chance. [33]

Here the negation in the sentence is expressed by the negative particle not. It is used to change the meaning of the verb to the opposite, what is very frequent, as it was said above.

5) Before her, removing a QVC catalog from an unlocked mailbox, stood an overweight woman in a polka-dot housedress. [33]

In the example above both functions are performed: unlocked is an antonym for locked and there is an idea of negation on the sentence (from the mailbox which was not locked).

6) Not a day younger than eighty, thought Leigh, and she breathed a sigh of relief. [33]

This sentence is another example of the negation expressed by the negative particle not.

7) How could she possibly have predicted that the seemingly innocuous upstairs neighbor was a dedicated wearer of massive wooden orthopedic clogs? [33]

In the given example only the second function is performed (the neighbor did not seem a person intending to do harm), because there is no such a word as “nocuous” [33], so antonymic function is irrelevant here.

8) It seemed to be happening more frequently, this sweating/breathing issue-and not just when she heard the wood-on-wood banging. [33]

This sentence is another example of the negation expressed by the negative particle not.

9) Before she had spotted her neighbor wearing the offending shoes, Leigh had created an elaborate explanation for the relentless upstairs racket. [33]

Here we see the adjective built with the suffix –less. As we remember it is the only negative affix which transports a word from one part of speech to another. So it can not perform the antonymic function, because antonyms must refer to one part of speech (relent is a verb, relentless is an adjective ). The conclusion can be made that only the second function is expressed by the affix (the upstairs racket which never stopped moving).

10) Leigh’s throat constricted and her pulse inexplicably quickened. [33]

In the sentence above inexplicably is derived from explicable, but not “explicably”, so it does not perform the antonymic function. But the affix expresses the function of negation in the sentence (it was not easy to explain, why her pulse quickened).

11) Leigh did not think she was a likely candidate for a coronary: It was a panic attack, plain and simple. [33]

In this example both functions are realized: there is a negation in the sentence (there are few people who welcome visitors who are not announced), and the word unannounced comes from the word announced, being its antonym.

12) I am not falling for this, she thought as she stealthily dialed her doorman. [33]

In the last two examples we can observe the expression of the negation in the sentence with the participle not.

13) In an ineffective attempt to dispel the panic, Leigh pressed her fingertips into her temples and stretched her neck from side to side. [33]

Here ineffective is an antonym of effective, and the second function is also expressed by the affix (the attempt is not effective).

14) I’m not falling for this, she thought as she stealthily dialed her doorman. [33]

This sentence is another example of the negation expressed by the negative particle not.

15) Emmy had made this pronouncement no fewer than eight times in the five years she and Duncan had been dating, but something about tonight seemed different. [33]

The use of ‘no’ here is more emphatic than ‘not a’ or ‘not any’ when stating a negative idea.

16) Never mind that in eighty years of city living she did not personally known anyone who had been so much as pickpocketed, or that the chances of a psychopathic murderer choosing her apartment from more than two hundred other units in her building was unlikely… [33]

Here in the sentence ‘Never’ have some common features in usage with ‘not’, especially when ‘not’ is used as an adverb. However, ‘never’ does not require the dummy auxiliary ‘do’ in forming a sentence.

17) According to him, it wasn’t ‘an efficient use of his time’ to just go and stand on the treadmill? [33]

‘Wasn’t’ is another example of informal negative expressions and therefore the shortened form ‘n’t’ is used. However, in formal English, the shortened form will be reconverted to their original forms like ‘it was not’.

18) I, genius extraordinaire, decide to buy him a series of sessions with a personal trainer so he wouldn’t have to waste one precious second exercising like everyone else. [33]

‘Wouldn’t’ is another example of informal negative expressions and therefore the shortened form ‘n’t’ is used. However, in formal English, the shortened form will be reconverted to their original forms like ‘would it not’.

19) All-out loving sympathy and support were the best she could offer, but Emmy didn’t appear comforted. [33]

‘Didn’t’ is another example of informal negative expressions and therefore the shortened form ‘n’t’ is used. However, in formal English, the shortened form will be reconverted to their original forms like ‘did it not’.

20) “He’s ‘waiting for her,’ quote-unquote, until she’s ‘ready. [33]

In this example both functions are realized: there is a negation in the sentence, and the word unquot comes from the word quote, being its antonym.

21) I don’t want to interrupt. [33]

‘Don’t’ is an example of informal negative expressions and therefore the shortened form ‘n’t’ is used. However, in formal English, the shortened form will be reconverted to their original forms like ‘do it not’.

22) “Don’t be ridiculous. I wasn’t even doing anything,” Leigh lied. [33]

‘Wasn’t’ and ‘don’t’ are another examples of informal negative expressions and therefore the shortened form ‘n’t’ is used. However, in formal English, the shortened form will be reconverted to their original forms like ‘was it not’ and ‘do it not’.

23) Contrary to everyone’s belief, Leigh wasn’t exactly in the world’s most perfect relationship, either. [33]

‘Wasn’t’ is an example of informal negative expressions and therefore the shortened form ‘n’t’ is used. However, in formal English, the shortened form will be reconverted to their original forms like ‘was it not’.

24) “No tea!” Adriana screeched and pointed to Emmy. [33]

The use of ‘no’ here is more emphatic than ‘not a’ or ‘not any’ when stating a negative idea.

25) “Can’t you see she’s miserable? [33]

‘Can’t’ is an example of informal negative expressions and therefore the shortened form ‘n’t’ is used. However, in formal English, the shortened form will be reconverted to their original forms like ‘can it not’.

26) I don’t have any mint. [33]

‘Don’t’ is an example of informal negative expressions and therefore the shortened form ‘n’t’ is used. However, in formal English, the shortened form will be reconverted to their original forms like ‘do it not’.

27) Actually, I’m not even sure I have the right booze,” Leigh said. [33]

This sentence is another example of the negation expressed by the negative particle not.

28) It was so fundamentally unfair. [33]

In this example both functions are realized: there is a negation in the sentence (there is the attitude which is not fair), and the word unfair comes from the word fair, being its antonym.

29) There’s not that much to tell. [33]

This sentence is another example of the negation expressed by the negative particle not.

30) “That’s not so young.” [33]

This sentence is another example of the negation expressed by the negative particle not.

 

 

2.2 The usage of negative expressions in newspapers

 

As the next work to investigate we chose newspaper article. It includes a system of interrelated lexical, phraseological and grammatical means serving the purpose of informing, instructing and, in addition, of entertaining the reader. As a result of this diversity of purposes, newspapers contain not only strictly informational, but also evaluative material comments and views of the news-writers, especially characteristic of editorials and feature articles. The newspaper article “Fearing Harm to Myanmar Ties, Thailand Limits Visiting Opposition Leader” was written in famous American newspaper “New York Times” by Thomas Fuller in June 2, 2012. The second newspaper article we had investigated is “Gun Violence Wave Challenges Seattle’s Notion of Security” by Kirk Johnson, published also in June 2, 2012. [34]

 

 

Fearing Harm to Myanmar Ties, Thailand Limits Visiting Opposition Leader

By THOMAS FULLER

Published: June 2, 2012

1) Although the Thai government accepted her last-minute request to visit the camp, which has about 50,000 people living on the border between Thailand and Myanmar, formerly Burma, Thai officials declined her request for a public address system, barred her from meeting the leaders of ethnic minority groups and tried, without success, to keep the international news media away, local officials here said. [34]

In this sentence negative is expressed through the word declined which is opposite of accept or consent.

2) “Put simply, they didn’t want her trip to become news because they don’t want this to affect our relationship with Burma.” [34]

‘Didn’t’ and ‘don’t’ are another examples of informal negative expressions and therefore the shortened form ‘n’t’ is used. However, in formal English, the shortened form will be reconverted to their original forms like ‘did it not’ and ‘do it not’.

  3) I won’t find anywhere to go. [34]

Here the double negation is used for emphatic purpose.

4) You will get nothing, if you tell anyone about this.

In this sentence negative is expressed through the word declined which is opposite of accept or consent. [34]

5) Some damage may already have been done: U Thein Sein, the president of Myanmar, postponed a trip to Thailand last week after it became public that Ms. Aung San Suu Kyi would be speaking at the same conference. On Friday he canceled the visit altogether. [34]

In this sentence negative is expressed through the words postponed and canceled which has the opposite meaning - to delay until a future time; put off.

6) But those matters were never disclosed. [34]

Here in the sentence ‘Never’ have some common features in usage with ‘not’, especially when ‘not’ is used as an adverb. However, ‘never’ does not require the dummy auxiliary ‘do’ in forming a sentence.

In this sentence negative is expressed through the word disclosed which has the opposite meaning - to expose to view, as by removing a cover; uncover.

7) Mr. Suriya, who was summoned to an urgent meeting on Friday when the Thai government decided to curtail Ms. Aung San Suu Kyi’s activities, said he believed that Myanmar’s president “did not want to follow in the footsteps of Suu Kyi.” [34]

Here the negation in the sentence is expressed by the negative particle not. It is used to change the meaning of the verb to the opposite, what is very frequent, as it was said above.

8) In a news conference held before Ms. Aung San Suu Kyi flew back to Bangkok from the border, she said that she had not consulted with Myanmar’s government about the trip and that she did not see how it could conflict with government efforts. [34]

Here the negation in the sentence is expressed by the negative particle not. It is used to change the meaning of the verb to the opposite, what is very frequent, as it was said above.

9) “I do not see how our efforts should overlap because I was just studying conditions in the refugee camps,” she said. [34]