極性項目. Words that appear exclusively in affirmative or negative (or interrogative) environments. For example, the adverbial particle しか only appears in negative contexts. Some words have an association with one polarity but also appear outside that context; for example, 全然 appears chiefly in negative contexts but also appears in affirmative contexts. Some words, such as あまり, are polarity items only in certain uses.
Questions tagged [polarity-items]
26 questions
9
votes
2 answers
Does 稀に have negative polarity?
In English, you have the following phenomenon:
○ I sometimes play jazz piano.
? I rarely play jazz piano.
That is, when you have a predicate that usually does not take place, you can use "sometimes" with it, but "rarely" is weird without further…
Darius Jahandarie
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3
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3 answers
-まい suffix usage in sample sentence
This sentence is rather confusing. あの人は、二度と嘘をつくまいと誓ったのです。
Apparently the translation is: 'That person had sworn to never lie again' but I previously thought まい is a negative intention so surely it means 'they won't swear to never lie'. Obviously…
Jack D
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