The polarity asymmetry of negative strengthening
- The interpretation of negated antonyms is characterised by a polarity asymmetry: the negation of a positive polarity antonym (X is not interesting) is more likely to be strengthened to convey its opposite ('X is uninteresting') than the negation of a negative polarity antonym (X is not uninteresting to convey that 'X is interesting') is. A classical explanation of this asymmetry relies on face-management. Since the predication of a negative polarity antonym (X is uninteresting) is potentially face-threatening in most contexts, the negation of the corresponding positive polarity antonym (X is not interesting) is more likely to be interpreted as an indirect strategy to minimise face-threat while getting the message across. We present two experimental studies in which we test the predictions of this explanation. In contrast with it, our results show that adjectival polarity, but not face-threatening potential, appears to be responsible for the asymmetric interpretation of negated antonyms.
Author details: | Diana MazzarellaORCiD, Nicole GotznerORCiDGND |
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DOI: | https://doi.org/10.5334/gjgl.1342 |
ISSN: | 2397-1835 |
Title of parent work (English): | Glossa : a journal of general linguistics |
Subtitle (English): | dissociating adjectival polarity from face-threatening potential |
Publisher: | Open Library of Humanities |
Place of publishing: | London |
Publication type: | Article |
Language: | English |
Date of first publication: | 2021/04/12 |
Publication year: | 2021 |
Release date: | 2023/07/14 |
Tag: | antonyms; face; negation; negative strengthening; polarity; politeness |
Volume: | 6 |
Issue: | 1 |
Article number: | 47 |
Number of pages: | 17 |
Funding institution: | German Research Foundation (DFG) as part of the Xprag.de InitiativeGerman Research Foundation (DFG) [BE 4348/4-1]; Emmy Noether grantGerman Research Foundation (DFG) [GO 3378/1-1] |
Organizational units: | Humanwissenschaftliche Fakultät / Strukturbereich Kognitionswissenschaften / Department Linguistik |
DDC classification: | 4 Sprache / 40 Sprache / 400 Sprache |
Peer review: | Referiert |
Publishing method: | Open Access / Gold Open-Access |
DOAJ gelistet | |
License (German): | CC-BY - Namensnennung 4.0 International |