Re: double negatives

En réponse à Vasiliy Chernov <bc_@...>:

>
> 2) Next negation negates the previous one; in theory, an even number of
> negations will be equal to affirmative, an odd number - to simple
> negative, with some additional shade of meaning. But typically even two
> negations in one phrase are exceptional, and more then two, eventually
> forbidden. E. g. in Latin:
>
> Nunquam nil     narravit
> Never   nothing told+3.Sg.
>
> 'It has never happened that s/he'd tell nothing' = 'S/he has always told
> (at least) something'.
>
> I wonder if _Nunquam nil non narravit_ or _Nunquam nemini nil narravit_
> are possible in Latin, and what such utterances could mean...
>
I don't think so, but I've checked a book of Latin grammar I have, and seen that
double negations (where the presence of two negations equals an affirmation) is
not rare in Latin. Also, "non" has a special role in this case:
- when put after the other negative word, it leads to an emphatic affirmation:
Nemo non venit (nobody not came): everybody came.
- when put before the other negative word, it leads to a mild affirmation:
Non nemo venit (not nobody came): somebody came.

> The situation in English is in a way transitional. Most speakers are
> aware
> of <dia/idio>lects that allow 'heaped negations' which are considered
> incorrect. Therefore, even two negations in one phrase are avoided.
>
> _Je n'ai pas dit rien à personne_ - is this possible in any variety of
> native French? If not, the situation in French is better termed 'split
> negation', IMHO.
>
This sentence is not possible, as far as I know (and I know quite well France
French). Yet you can say: "Je n'ai rien dit à personne" even if it sounds a
little awckward ("well, if you didn't say anything, of course you didn't say it
to anyone!", I would answer to this kind of sentence).

Christophe.