Politeness in Urdu: Takalluf

Negated statements often have asymmetric interpretations. For example, ‘not happy’ is taken to implicate sad but ‘not sad’ does not implicate happy to the same extent (e.g., Gotzner & Mazzarella, 2021). In this study, we test this asymmetry in Urdu, which exhibits a form of ritualized politeness known as Takalluf. One group of participants will do the experiment in their first language Urdu (L1) and the second group will do it in their second language English (L2). We further manipulate the speaker personae implemented in the experimental contexts: a polite and a self-concerned speaker. We test whether the polarity asymmetry in negative strengthening is modulated by speaker personae and the language administered in the experiment (Urdu vs. English).