Strategies of double negation in Spanish and Portuguese JOHN M. LIPSKI The Pennsylvania State University
(c) 2001 John M. Lipski—DO NOT CITE WITHOUT PERMISSION Introduction Negation in Spanish exhibits relatively little variation over the Spanish-speaking world, and the same is true of the remaining Ibero-Romance languages. Etymologically, Spanish no is a continuation of Latin non and its syntax differs little from its Latin progenor. Linguistic studies of Ibero-Romance negation revolve around issues of negative scope and the combination of negative elements such as nada, nunca, nadie, and so forth. Regionally, some dialects of Spanish (e.g. in the Caribbean, the Canary Islands, and Galicia) exhibit combinations such as más nunca and más nada, which, behave, however, the same as their non- inverted counterparts in other Spanish dialects. One exception to the generally unremarkable behavior of negative structures in Spanish and Portuguese is `double negation,’ typically represented by the combination of preposed and postposed no/não, but occasionally involving variants of this configuration. In the extreme case, only the postposed negator remains. Significantly, Ibero-Romance double negation always occurs in regions characterized by language contact and the acquisition of Spanish and Portuguese as a second language, either at the present time or in centuries past. In the majority of instances, contact with African languages is implicated, while in a smaller number of cases, indigenous languages may have provided the impetus for an innovative form of double negation. Among the areas where Spanish and Portuguese double negation is closely correlated with the presence of large numbers of Africans who acquired European languages under harsh conditions (slavery and indentured servitude) are: • The Colombian Chocó in the northwestern portion of the country; very occasionally single postposed negation can be observed (Schwegler 1991a, Granda 1977): (1) No me gustó eso allá no (Schwegler 1991a:95) Yo no aguanté el calor de allá no (Schwegler 1991a:97) Mi papá sí fue a la escuela no (Schwegler 1991a:109) No duró no. No duró nada (Schwegler 1991a:111) De esas cosas de sembado, yo no sé no (Ruíz García 2000) El no ha vuelto no (Ruíz García 2000) No me había ocurrido esas cosas más no (Ruíz García 2000)