Back on the subject of emphasis and we can see how we can make the negative more or less emphatic by the simple separation or contraction of the modal negative idea:
She does not like chocolate - more emphatic
She doesn’t like chocolate - less emphatic
In our negative question, the separation of the negative will force the emphatic not to return to its preverbal emphatic position leaving the emphatic inversion of does and she intact:
Doesn’t she like chocolate?
Does she not like chocolate?
Here we can see that the pre-verb position holds the true key emphatic position.
When we look at this in illustrated form, we can see how the emphasis provokes a kind of dip or stop, in the sentence, before the release of the verb. Furthermore, the more marked our dip (or stop) is, the greater the emphasis we create. Conversely, the smoother our horizontal line of projection is, the less emphatic our sentence becomes.
It also becomes easier to understand that the smoother our line is, that’s to say - the more horizontal the angle we drive our phrase at is, the more contraction we may add.
It becomes clear that it is this aspect of emphasis which controls the emphatic value of the modality of a verb action, aids the creation of the negative forms, allows the function of inversion and is further fundamentally essential in the formation of interrogatives:
I can eat chocolate.
I must not eat chocolate.
Do you eat chocolate! My god!
Would you like some chocolate?
Emphatic Adverbs
Furthermore, I can add adverbs (such as adverbs of frequency: e.g. always; never ) in this important position.
Understanding this further clears up any doubt as to where an emphatic form should go.
Emphatic Quantifiers
Quantifiers (such as really), unlike the emphatic adverbs, do not take the full weight of the marked emphasis, rather, they act as a lead in to the emphatic word, helping to bridge the gap. Their position is higher than that of the emphatic adverbs and this allows the placement of the verb or even the auxiliary in the position of stronger emphasis.
She does not like chocolate - more emphatic
She doesn’t like chocolate - less emphatic
In our negative question, the separation of the negative will force the emphatic not to return to its preverbal emphatic position leaving the emphatic inversion of does and she intact:
Doesn’t she like chocolate?
Does she not like chocolate?
Here we can see that the pre-verb position holds the true key emphatic position.
When we look at this in illustrated form, we can see how the emphasis provokes a kind of dip or stop, in the sentence, before the release of the verb. Furthermore, the more marked our dip (or stop) is, the greater the emphasis we create. Conversely, the smoother our horizontal line of projection is, the less emphatic our sentence becomes.It also becomes easier to understand that the smoother our line is, that’s to say - the more horizontal the angle we drive our phrase at is, the more contraction we may add.
It becomes clear that it is this aspect of emphasis which controls the emphatic value of the modality of a verb action, aids the creation of the negative forms, allows the function of inversion and is further fundamentally essential in the formation of interrogatives:
I can eat chocolate.
I must not eat chocolate.
Do you eat chocolate! My god!
Would you like some chocolate?
Emphatic Adverbs
Furthermore, I can add adverbs (such as adverbs of frequency: e.g. always; never ) in this important position.Understanding this further clears up any doubt as to where an emphatic form should go.
Emphatic Quantifiers
Quantifiers (such as really), unlike the emphatic adverbs, do not take the full weight of the marked emphasis, rather, they act as a lead in to the emphatic word, helping to bridge the gap. Their position is higher than that of the emphatic adverbs and this allows the placement of the verb or even the auxiliary in the position of stronger emphasis.
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