英 文 問 題

ain't no不是文法結構，有首歌叫做ain't no mountain high enough，係習慣性用法，因為前人文獻有先例，亦有ain't got no money講法，簡單一句就是冇錢。

DOUBLE NEGATIVE

1. 負負得正

In the double negative construction, two negative words are used to make a positive. Used correctly with the adverbs “no “ and “not”, the double negative can place emphasis on an idea or a phrase.

There is no way we cannot go on this trip.

This is equivalent to writing, “We must go on this trip.”

The writer has chosen to emphasize the fact that no way exists to prevent him and his friends from travelling, so he uses the double negative. Such usage is justifiable.

Another example:
It has not gone unnoticed. (= It has been noticed.)

2. 負負得負 (強調)

On the other hand, the double negative is too often used with the intention of expressing a negative idea. Speakers forget that one negative word expresses one negative idea and that two negative words express a positive idea.

“Man, I don’t see nothing.” ~ by an American negro.
He meant “I don’t see anything.” = 我什麼睇唔到

“I have a small shop. I don’t want no trouble.” ~ by an Italian shopkeeper
He meant “I don’t want any trouble.”

In the above two examples the double negative construction is obviously a comfortably natural way of expressing the idea by these two speakers. The double negative emphasized the negativity and did not cancel it. There was no ambiguity, and the communication was not impeded in any way.

"but this ain't no party"

Having said that, double negation used in this way has become socially unacceptable in standard English. Such use for emphasis is taken to be a certain indication of poor education and of linguistic deficit. I think it is not encouraged in any Hong Kong school.

"but this ain't no party"

That two negatives exist in a single sentence is called "double negative".

The term "double negative" is often applied to the non-standard use of a second negative as an intensifier to a negation.

Although they are uncommon in written English, double negatives are employed as a normal part of the grammar of Southern American English, African American Vernacular English, and various British regional dialects, particularly the East London and East Anglian dialects.