Saturday, 10 August 2019

Paratactic Extension: Additive Negative 'Nor'


Halliday & Matthiessen (2014: 472-3):
Examples of clauses linked by an ‘additive: negative’ relation:
||| Untouchability was observed in matters of food even by Muslims; || they would never dine at the same table with Christians || nor touch what was cooked by them. |||
||| He could neither explain the whole situation to the editor || nor could he accept his rebuke. |||
Note that since the linker nor embodies negative (clausal) polarity, it attracts the Finite, so the sequence is nor ^ Finite ^ Subject (unless the Subject is ellipsed).