Re: Negation raising (was: introduction)

Christophe Grandsire scripsit:

> > A:      Is he coming to the office today?
> > B:      I don't think so.
> >
> > B's comment means more than that B doesn't believe the underlying
> > statement "He is coming to the office today"; rather it means that he
> > believes it to be false.
>
> Well, that's not how I would understand it. To me it means that there is still
> doubt on whether he is gonna come or not, and B's statement shows simply B's
> opinion. But since i'm French I may simply be influenced by my L1.
If you stress *think*, thus "I don't *think* so", then there is genuine doubt.
If you say it with fairly neutral stress, it means you believe it is false.
If you say it with high level pitch "I-don't-think" followed by falling
"so", you mean "Absolutely not!"  (This is a rather recent slangy usage.)

> Well, since it's a sentence of mine which raised that point, be sure that
> Maggel is gonna be filled with it ;)))) .
I thought so.  :-)

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