English Polarity-Marking Strategies #
@cite{wilder-2013}
English marks polarity reversal (contradiction of a negative assertion) with emphatic do — auxiliary do bearing a pitch accent in an affirmative sentence that contradicts a prior negative claim.
@cite{wilder-2013} distinguishes two uses of emphatic do:
Verum-focus do — polarity focus on the truth value of the proposition. Contradicts a prior negative assertion. "He doesn't like cats." → "He DOES like cats." This is the English analogue of German Verum focus.
Contrastive-topic do — do marks a contrastive topic shift, not polarity focus per se. "He DOES like cats (, but he doesn't like dogs)." This use is not polarity-specific and is not modeled here.
Only the VF use of emphatic do is formalized as a polarity-marking entry, since it is the strategy that participates in the polarity-contrast/correction paradigm alongside Dutch wel and German Verum focus.
Key properties #
- Sentence-internal (auxiliary in I°)
- Available in both contrast and correction contexts
- Prosodic: pitch accent falls on do
- Strategy:
.verumFocus— targets the assertion level, like German VF
Emphatic do (Verum-focus use) — English polarity-marking strategy. Pitch accent on auxiliary do in an affirmative sentence contradicting a negative context. Sentence-internal (auxiliary in I°). Available in both contrast and correction contexts. @cite{wilder-2013}: VF-do targets the assertion operator, like German Verum focus.
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