On ‘to not V’ Forms in American English Conversation

Sadashi Mori

The purpose of this paper is to advance a new theory in explanation of the occurrence of ‘to not V’ forms. In the literature on the subject, the prevention of ambiguous interpretation has been regarded as the motivation for splitting the infinitive. However, based on the results of our analysis, it is argued that this account doesn’t fully clarify the existence of these forms.

We found that: (1) ‘to not V’ forms are used in expressions where avoidance of splitting the infinitive (the occurrence of ‘not to V’ forms) does not produce ambiguity, (2) while it is impossible to transform ‘not to V’ forms in “A is not B (B = to V)” constructions into ‘to not V’ forms, it is possible to transform those forms in “A is B (B = not to V)” constructions into ‘to not V’ forms, and (3) the negative force toward V conveyed by ‘to not V’ forms is stronger than that conveyed by ‘not to V’ forms.

These results lead us to argue that the occurrence of ‘to not V’ forms is triggered by the speaker’s intention not to weaken the negative force toward V.