Posted: Feb 28, 2019 2:40 pm
The_Piper wrote:I dunno, that all went over my head. Does it mean that "wouldn't a pizza be great?" should mean what I mean it to mean, that a pizza would be great?
You are right on the button there... 'Wouldn't pizza be great?' definitely indicates that the speaker has a preference for pizza. But, the use of the modal verb 'would' places the utterance as a tentative suggestion, and it indicates to the recipient that they (the recipient) has agency in the decision about what to eat, and the case is far from closed. It is all about recipient design and avoiding a face threatening act (FTA), that is, imposing on the other and denying them agency.
Consider the common way that children express themselves... (I want, I want, I want) There is no recipient design there and the child is not concerned with the preferences of other persons.
The negative polarity of this statement is different to the negative polarity of the 'Isn't it raining?' examples I gave up-thread. In those cases, a truth condition was the focus... raining now? Yes or No?
In the case of 'Wouldn't Pizza be great' , negative polarity with a modal verb placed in the 'past tense' form (will---would) is a well recognized formula for offering a suggestion that projects alignment and agreement in the subsequent turn.
A: 'Wouldn't pizza be great?'
B: 'Yeah, lets get pepperoni.'