A corpus analysis of multiple negation in Turkish

Abstract

This study investigates double negative constructions (DNCs) in Turkish that incorporate an inner verbal negation followed by an outer sentential negation with respect to their pragmatic properties in a general corpus linguistics framework. In order to find such marked constructions, we have compiled a corpus and conducted a collocational analysis to observe which tense, agreement marker, verbs and discourse markers that follow the sentential negation operator değil are more prevailingly employed in DNCs. The asymmetrical distribution of DNCs in the context of specific grammatical and lexical elements designates the use of multiple negation as a mitigation device. Such contexts in which multiple negation leads to understatement are revealed by an elaborate empirical investigation, which indicates that the use of impersonalization and certain type of lexical elements are significantly affiliated with multiple negation. It is observed that the verbs and the majority of post-değil elements are semantically associated with the cognitive, perceptive or emotive stance of the author. The correlation between impersonalization and particular semantic characteristics of the lexical items constitutes a strong basis in explaining the pragmatic effects of the phenomenon of multiple negation.