What is the reason for the double negation found in some languages?

[bytebuster]

 // Блін, який я вумний, шо капець! :)
Q: What is the reason for the double negation found in some languages?

I'm a bulgarian. My language has a double negation form and I do not understand why and how can people talk like that and how it came to be in first place. Everyone just seem to accept it and no one actually questions it. Here is an example:

English: Don't you ever speak to me again

Official bulgarian: Don't you never speak to me again

I was taught that way in school but now I find it a bizarre way of expressing my thoughts. Even official documents use this form. My language do allow for logically correct sentences but I've never seen a single person using them.

I want to know what is the driving force behind this (...madness) and how it came to be? How can people talk like that and do not take a notice?

---

A:

As @user6726 said in their comment, double negation is a fairly common feature of many languages.

Answering, "What is the reason?", there are two aspects:

1. "What is the reason?" in meaning, "why does it present in Bulgarian, but is absent in some other languages?" — because modern Bulgarian is on a different Phase of Jespersen's Cycle.
2. "What is the reason?" in meaning of "how it is used?" — in languages with double-negation, single-negation also has meaning, but a different one.

---

In his work, Negation in English and Other Languages (1917), Otto Jespersen has discovered a pattern that describes how linguistic negation shifts between several Phases:

1. Negation is expressed by a single negative marker (NEG1);
2. Negation is expressed by NEG1 in a combination with a negative adverb or noun phrase (NEG2);
3. NEG2 takes on the function of expressing negation by itself; NEG1 becomes optional;
4. NEG1 becomes extinct and NEG2 expresses negation on its own.

So, Bulgarian is on a Phase 2 of Jespersen's Cycle, while, for example, English is in Phase 4 (thanks @StoneyB for correction). It is well possible that in some distant future Bulgarian shifts to Phase 1 or Phase 3, we don't know.

---

Chapter VII "Double Negation" (page 62 in the referenced document) reviews many examples of double negation in various languages, including those belonging to Slavonic family. One of the nice ideas stated there is that even in a language with double negation, single-negation phrases are valid, and they convey a meaning, different to double-negation ones. To give a hint (a bit stretched because it is English), think for a difference between "nobody has spoken", "everyone has not spoken", and "somebody has not spoken".

Comments

...

[ukurainajin]

Yes, that's really interesting!

...

[bytebuster]

Та да. ;))

Хоч би яка падла прийшла і плюсика поставила… ех… :))

...

[sirozhagladkov]

Тут умєсно нагадать анєкдота про "ну да, канєшно!" - но його і там всі знають.

...

[bytebuster]

«Ну да, канєшно» — то анекдот, а Джесперсен — це наука! ;)