tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-26129073.post7708205247127019252..comments2023-12-06T19:46:26.522-05:00Comments on The Greenbelt: "Double" NegativesThe Ridger, FCDhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01538111197270563075noreply@blogger.comBlogger5125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-26129073.post-74717720468393662412013-08-18T20:50:32.598-04:002013-08-18T20:50:32.598-04:00...which returns us full-circle to how Quine manag......which returns us full-circle to how Quine managed to write a Brazilian logic textbook explaining all that, when the Portuguese-language uses double negatives for emphasis. I've sent out a BOLO for our favorite Lusophone math professor/novelist to explain it to us.Kathienoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-26129073.post-60765843260515112682013-08-18T19:12:02.835-04:002013-08-18T19:12:02.835-04:00Since не не does cancel, they'd just use those...Since не не does cancel, they'd just use those particles.<br /><br />But I expect - just like other languages with negative concord (Portuguese) - they just don't think language is math. Or logic.<br />The Ridger, FCDhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/01538111197270563075noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-26129073.post-10833744757791551942013-08-18T16:00:55.045-04:002013-08-18T16:00:55.045-04:00How would the Russian language solve the quandary ...How would the Russian language solve the quandary of explaining that a double negative equals a positive in logic?Kathienoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-26129073.post-80226266025792352532013-08-15T21:11:35.088-04:002013-08-15T21:11:35.088-04:00Russian (like all Slavic languages) requires negat...Russian (like all Slavic languages) requires negative concord. You can say "I will not tell someone" but it means a particular someone, not anyone. To mean "I will not tell anyone" you must say "I will not tell no-one."The Ridger, FCDhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/01538111197270563075noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-26129073.post-48667438709418661062013-08-15T20:45:05.737-04:002013-08-15T20:45:05.737-04:00Portuguese uses "negative concord" a lot...Portuguese uses "negative concord" a lot, for emphasis -- which led me to wonder, when I read that (just before WW II, IIRC) philosopher Willard Van Orman Quine had learned Portuguese in order to write a logic textbook in that language for Brazilian students, how on earth he ever handled the "two negatives make a positive" aspect of Boolean logic.<br /><br />As to the churl (the nicest word I can think of that applies) who attacked Cavett's use of "Doesn't never announcing a date allow them to...," that person probably also would endorse Churchill's sarcastic "up with which I will not put" construction. Harrumph!Kathienoreply@blogger.com