I came across this word in the Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy:
one might hold that certain words simply have no semantic values, and so make no contribution to propositions. So-called neoplanastic ‘ne’ in French might be thought to be an example of this.
Searches have found only one other use, but there it is essentially just repeating the the same sentence.
Searching for 'ne'+'french' led me first here, where I learned that 'ne' is disappearing from spoken French, even though, etymologically, it is the 'ne' in 'ne…pas' etc. that expresses negation. This seemed promising, but then this article about 'ne' without 'pas' says
The ne in this sentence is called a ne explétif (also known as ne pléonastique). Instead of negating the clause (as it does when combined with pas, plus, personne, etc.), this ne emphasizes the general feeling that the clause expresses.
Pléonastique is translated as 'pleonastic', which is defined as
Adjective
relating to or having the characteristics of pleonasm; needlessly wordy or redundant:
pleonastic expressions such as “I heard it with my own ears.”
'Redundant' would seem to make sense in the context of the source phrase, so is neoplanastic likely just a typo for pleonastic?
Best Answer
Almost certainly. I can't find any other uses of the word, and the established word "pleonastic" works perfectly here.