Date:  Sat, 15 Nov 1997 22:18:35 -0600
From:  "Donald M. Lance" <engdl[AT SYMBOL GOES HERE]SHOWME.MISSOURI.EDU>
Subject: Re: Double negatives (was one as a pronoun?)

>  Using computational linguistics logic to translate Spanish or any other
>  language is to apply a secondary system to a primary (nonlogical, in
>  the syllogistic sense) one--perhaps a worthwhile endeavor. But we
>  can't make the primary system over to fit our computer "logic"; the
>  language is what it is--no one can't never turn no natural language
>  into no artificial one nohow. (BTW, that's six negatives; by
>  mathematical logic I guess the meaning is therefore positive: 2 neg. =
>  pos., 3 neg.=neg., 4 neg.=pos.,... Labov demonstrated 30 years ago
>  that Black English speakers' triple and quadruple negatives still meant
>  negative, and so do my six.)

In the plenary session at the Mid-America Lingusitics Conference two weeks
ago, James McCawley demonstrated that words and logical operators do not
work exactly alike.