Just a small issue (5 Viewers)

[Ahsoka]

When I was younger, I learned in school that you can’t use double negatives because it’s unclear. I thought about that and agreed in my head that no language could use double negatives and have it make sense because that’s must not how negatives work. Years later, I picked up on a discrepancy when I was speaking Russian and I (correctly) said “to me, no one nothing never didn’t say” (directly translated). I think it’s safe to say that more than one negation doesn’t inherently have to be unclear, given that example, along with others

 

[dark_tranquility]

what do you mean by a double negative?

 

[Ahsoka]

what do you mean by a double negative?

Like saying “I didn’t never know” instead of saying “I never knew” or “I didn’t ever know”. Basically using more than one negation in a sentence.

 

[dark_tranquility]

Like saying “I didn’t never know” instead of saying “I never knew” or “I didn’t ever know”. Basically using more than one negation in a sentence.

so basically broken english?

 

[Ahsoka]

so basically broken english?

In English it isn’t grammatically correct to use multiple, yes. In Russian it’s in many cases grammatically incorrect to use only one negative, there are plenty of cases where you need to use multiple negatives for it to make sense.

 

[dark_tranquility]

In English it isn’t grammatically correct to use multiple, yes. In Russian it’s in many cases grammatically incorrect to use only one negative, there are plenty of cases where you need to use multiple negatives for it to make sense.

Ah true

and what other languages do this?
Thai
mandarin
cantonese

???

Unsure if asian languages have this problem

 

[Ahsoka]

Ah true

and what other languages do this?
Thai
mandarin
cantonese

???

Unsure if asian languages have this problem

According to google, some that do it are Lithuanian, Portuguese, Persian, French, Russian, Polish, Bulgarian, Greek, Spanish, Icelandic, Italian, Afrikaans, and Hebrew. Of course that’s mostly just focusing on Europe, there’s probably many more around the world. Also some English dialects use it too, but I don’t think it’s that many. And Old English also used to use it too actually, but it shifted to view them as unclear over time.

 

[The_LastRomeo]

ah yes, English, the pigeon language

 

[StirFriedPanda]

You can prove mathematically that double negatives make sense. "I definately do not, not believe you." When you multiple 2 negatives it becomes positive. Thus, I believe you. I'm a genius! I know.

 

[alo]

in school i learnt the "mathematical" explanation that @PandaTteokbokki gave for double negatives not being correct for talking about a negative meaning. and it's true, they're not used for a negative meaning in english or in hindi (the primary two languages taught in our school). in fact, i'm honestly not even sure how a double negative would be constructed in hindi lmao.

but then cut to me learning french and finding out that yes, double negatives are used and make perfect sense in conclusion: math isn't everything

 

[dark_tranquility]

According to google, some that do it are Lithuanian, Portuguese, Persian, French, Russian, Polish, Bulgarian, Greek, Spanish, Icelandic, Italian, Afrikaans, and Hebrew. Of course that’s mostly just focusing on Europe, there’s probably many more around the world. Also some English dialects use it too, but I don’t think it’s that many. And Old English also used to use it too actually, but it shifted to view them as unclear over time.

European is fine
I didn't know icelandic did it?

 

[lexus]

Nani?

 

[StirFriedPanda]

in school i learnt the "mathematical" explanation that @PandaTteokbokki gave for double negatives not being correct for talking about a negative meaning. and it's true, they're not used for a negative meaning in english or in hindi (the primary two languages taught in our school). in fact, i'm honestly not even sure how a double negative would be constructed in hindi lmao.

but then cut to me learning french and finding out that yes, double negatives are used and make perfect sense in conclusion: math isn't everything

Right, I'm a genius!

 

[alo]

Right, I'm a genius!

except in francophone countries, sorry :(

eta: that said idk if this necessarily applies to all versions of french ofc, given that the version i learnt was the one used in france, and that too only in like written contexts. i know next to nothing about how french is actually spoken colloquially, especially in other places. so i could be wrong.

 

[StirFriedPanda]

except in francophone countries, sorry :(

eta: that said idk if this necessarily applies to all versions of french ofc, given that the version i learnt was the one used in france, and that too only in like written contexts. i know next to nothing about how french is actually spoken colloquially, especially in other places. so i could be wrong.

I can't respect a language that doesn't pronounce half then letters in a word but expects you to spell them.

 

[LoveYooShaSha]

I don't know half of you half as well as I should like; and I like less than half of you half as well as you deserve.

The above from Bilbo's speech in Lord of The Rings the fellowship of the ring(book version, idr if in film) still has me discombobulated especially or maybe only the 2nd part, tho no double negatives in it I think.

There's also a sentence in the Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy 4th book which I can't rmbr n my copy is lost: but it's awesome.

So if u r a master of language, I think attempting double negatives is okay(but make sure it works maybe? Otherwise don't try it?)

 

[ChiaraStar169]

Spanish uses double negatives: "no tenemos nada" = "we don't have anything"

 

[Ahsoka]

You can prove mathematically that double negatives make sense. "I definately do not, not believe you." When you multiple 2 negatives it becomes positive. Thus, I believe you. I'm a genius! I know.

The languages I talk about don’t use them that way. They use many negatives to show the sentence is overall negative, regardless of whether there’s an even or odd number of negatives

 

[Ahsoka]

in school i learnt the "mathematical" explanation that @PandaTteokbokki
gave for double negatives not being correct for talking about a negative meaning. and it's true, they're not used for a negative meaning in english or in hindi (the primary two languages taught in our school). in fact, i'm honestly not even sure how a double negative would be constructed in hindi lmao.

but then cut to me learning french and finding out that yes, double negatives are used and make perfect sense in conclusion: math isn't everything

Yeah I learned that English meaning in school too. I never formally learned Russian though, so I didn’t even notice that I was using double or more negatives until recently, I just used them naturally

 

[Ahsoka]

European is fine
I didn't know icelandic did it?

It seems like a lot of languages with similar linguistic backgrounds to Icelandic have it or used to have it to some capacity. There are other languages with similar backgrounds that still have it (Scots, Faroese, some Low German dialects).