1887
  1. Home
  2. e-Journals
  3. Studies in Language. International Journal sponsored by the Foundation “Foundations of Language”
  4. Volume 45, Issue 3
  5. Article
Volume 45, Issue 3
  • ISSN 0378-4177
  • E-ISSN: 1569-9978
USD
Buy:$35.00 + Taxes

Abstract

Abstract

The paper sketches the state of affairs of our understanding of postverbal negation. It departs from the typological finding that there is a cross-linguistic preference for a negator to precede the verb. Nevertheless, a sizable proportion of the world’s languages adhere to a pattern with a negator following the verb, and such negators are typically morphologically bound. The existence of this pattern, unfavorable from a functional perspective, calls for a diachronic explanation. The paper takes stock of diachronic processes that can lead to postverbal negation, in general, and suffixal negation, in particular. Furthermore, a language may acquire a pattern with postverbal negation through language contact, and this is yet another perspective that the paper addresses. Finally, we introduce the contributions to this volume, highlighting the new insights.

© John Benjamins Publishing Company
Loading

Article metrics loading...

/content/journals/10.1075/sl.00020.int
2021-11-05
2025-11-08

  • From This Site

    /content/journals/10.1075/sl.00020.int
    dcterms_title,dcterms_subject,pub_keyword
    -contentType:Journal -contentType:Contributor -contentType:Concept -contentType:Institution
    10
    5
Loading full text...

Full text loading...

References

  1. Alves, Flávia de Castro
    2004 O Timbira falado pelos Canela Apãniekrá: Uma contribução aos estudos da morfossintaxe de uma língua Jê. Campinas: Universidade Estadual de Campinas PhD dissertation.
  2. 2010 Evolution of alignment in Timbira. International Journal of American Linguistics76(4). 439–475. 10.1086/658054
     https://doi.org/10.1086/658054 [Google Scholar]
  3. Bickel, Balthasar
    2013 Distributional biases in language families. InBalthasar Bickel, Lenore A. Grenoble, David A. Peterson & Alan Timberlake (eds.), Language typology and historical contingency, 415–444. Amsterdam: John Benjamins. 10.1075/tsl.104.19bic
     https://doi.org/10.1075/tsl.104.19bic [Google Scholar]
  4. Bybee, Joan, William Pagliuca & Revere D. Perkins
    1990 On the asymmetries in the affixation of grammatical material. InWilliam Croft, Keith Denning & Suzanne Kemmer (eds.), Studies in typology and diachrony: Papers presented to Joseph H. Greenberg on his 75th birthday, 1–42. Amsterdam: John Benjamins. 10.1075/tsl.20.04byb
     https://doi.org/10.1075/tsl.20.04byb [Google Scholar]
  5. Christmas, Raymond B. & J. Elisabeth Christmas
    1973a Clause patterns in Kupia. InRonald L. Trail (ed.), Patterns in clause, sentence, and discourse in selected languages of India and Nepal, Part 2: Clause (Publications in Linguistics and Related Fields 41), 257–343. Norman, OK: Summer Institute of Linguistics & University of Oklahoma.
     [Google Scholar]
  6. 1973b Kupia texts. InRonald L. Trail (ed.), Patterns in clause, sentence, and discourse in selected languages of India and Nepal, Part 3: Texts (Publications in Linguistics and Related Fields 41), 3–108. Norman, OK: Summer Institute of Linguistics.
     [Google Scholar]
  7. Costa, Lucivaldo Silva da
    2015 Uma descrição gramatical da língua Xikrín do Cateté (família Jê, tronco Macro-Jê). Brasilia: Universidade de Brasília PhD dissertation. 10.26512/2015.06.T.20098
     https://doi.org/10.26512/2015.06.T.20098
  8. Croft, William
    1991 The evolution of negation. Journal of Linguistics27. 1–27. 10.1017/S0022226700012391
     https://doi.org/10.1017/S0022226700012391 [Google Scholar]
  9. Crowley, Terry
    2002 Port Sandwich. InJohn Lynch, Malcolm Ross & Terry Crowley (eds.), The Oceanic languages, 650–659. Richmond: Curzon.
     [Google Scholar]
  10. 2006 The Avava language of Central Malakula (Vanuatu) (Pacific Linguistics 574), edited byJohn Lynch. Canberra: Pacific Linguistics.
     [Google Scholar]
  11. Cutler, Anne, John A. Hawkins & Garry Gilligan
    1985 The suffixing preference: A processing explanation. Linguistics23. 723–758. 10.1515/ling.1985.23.5.723
     https://doi.org/10.1515/ling.1985.23.5.723 [Google Scholar]
  12. Dahl, Östen
    1979 Typology of sentence negation. Linguistics17. 79–106. 10.1515/ling.1979.17.1‑2.79
     https://doi.org/10.1515/ling.1979.17.1-2.79 [Google Scholar]
  13. 2010 Typology of negation. InLaurence R. Horn (ed.), The expression of negation, 9–38. Berlin: De Gruyter Mouton.
     [Google Scholar]
  14. Dourado, Luciana Gonçalves
    2001 Aspectos morfossintáticos da língua Panará (Jê). Campinas: Universidade Estadual de Campinas PhD dissertation.
  15. Dryer, Matthew S.
    1988 Universals of negative position. InMichael Hammond, Edith A. Moravcsik & Jessica R. Wirth (eds.), Studies in syntactic typology (Typological Studies in Language 17), 93–124. Amsterdam: John Benjamins. 10.1075/tsl.17.10dry
     https://doi.org/10.1075/tsl.17.10dry [Google Scholar]
  16. 2009 Negation patterns in West African languages and beyond. InNorbert Cyffer, Erwin Ebermann & Georg Ziegelmeyer (eds.), Verb-object-negative order in Central Africa (Typological Studies in Language 87), 307–362. Amsterdam: John Benjamins. 10.1075/tsl.87.15dry
     https://doi.org/10.1075/tsl.87.15dry [Google Scholar]
  17. 2013a Order of negative morpheme and verb. InMatthew S. Dryer & Martin Haspelmath (eds.), The World Atlas of Language Structures Online. Leipzig: Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology. Available atwals.info/chapter/143 (last access9 June 2021).
     [Google Scholar]
  18. 2013b Position of negative morpheme with respect to subject, object, and verb. InMatthew S. Dryer & Martin Haspelmath (eds.), The World Atlas of Language Structures Online. Leipzig: Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology. Available atwals.info/chapter/144 (last access9 June 2021).
     [Google Scholar]
  19. 2013c Prefixing vs. suffixing in inflectional morphology. InMatthew S. Dryer & Martin Haspelmath (eds.), The World Atlas of Language Structures Online. Leipzig: Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology. Available atwals.info/chapter/26 (last access9 June 2021).
     [Google Scholar]
  20. 2013d Negative morphemes. InMatthew Dryer & Martin Haspelmath (eds.), The World Atlas of Language Structures Online. Leipzig: Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology. Available atwals.info/chapter/112 (last access9 June 2021).
     [Google Scholar]
  21. Fricke, Hanna
    2019 Traces of language contact: The Flores-Lembata languages in eastern Indonesia (LOT Dissertation Series 544). Utrecht: LOT.
     [Google Scholar]
  22. Gildea, Spike & Sérgio Meira
    2016 A comparative survey of verbal negation in the Cariban family. Paper presented atAmazonicas VI, Leticia, May 23–28.
     [Google Scholar]
  23. Givón, T.
    1971 Historical syntax and synchronic morphology: An archaeologist’s field trip. CLS7(1). 394–415.
     [Google Scholar]
  24. 1973 The Time-Axis Phenomenon. Language49. 890–925. 10.2307/412067
     https://doi.org/10.2307/412067 [Google Scholar]
  25. 1978 Negation in language: Pragmatics, function, ontology. InPeter Cole (ed.), Syntax and semantics, Vol. 9 (Pragmatics), 69–112. New York: Academic Press.
     [Google Scholar]
  26. 2001 Syntax: An Introduction, Volume I. Amsterdam: John Benjamins. 10.1075/z.syn1
     https://doi.org/10.1075/z.syn1 [Google Scholar]
  27. Greenberg, Joseph H.
    1957 Order of affixing: a study in general linguistics. Essays in linguistics, 86–94. New York: Wenner-Gren Foundation.
     [Google Scholar]
  28. Güldemann, Tom
    2007 The Macro-Sudan belt: Towards identifying a linguistic area in northern sub-Saharan Africa. InBernd Heine & Derek Nurse (eds.), A linguistic geography of Africa, 151–185. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
     [Google Scholar]
  29. Horn, Laurence R.
    2001 [1989] A natural history of negation, 2nd edn.Chicago: The University of Chicago Press.
     [Google Scholar]
  30. Idiatov, Dmitry
    2012 Clause-final negative markers in southeastern Bamana dialects: A contact-induced evolution. Africana Linguistica18. 169–192. 10.3406/aflin.2012.1009
     https://doi.org/10.3406/aflin.2012.1009 [Google Scholar]
  31. 2015 Clause-final negative markers in Bobo and Samogo: Parallel evolution and contact. Journal of Historical Linguistics5(2). 235–266. 10.1075/jhl.5.2.02idi
     https://doi.org/10.1075/jhl.5.2.02idi [Google Scholar]
  32. 2018 An areal typology of clause-final negation in Africa: Language dynamics in space and time. InDaniël Van Olmen, Tanja Mortelmans & Frank Brisard (eds.), Aspects of linguistic variation, 115–163. Berlin: De Gruyter Mouton.
     [Google Scholar]
  33. Jespersen, Otto
    1917 Negation in English and other languages. Kopenhagen: Høst.
     [Google Scholar]
  34. Jolkesky, Marcelo Pinho de Valhery
    2010 Reconstrução fonológica e lexical do Proto-Jê Meridional. Campinas: Universidade Estadual de Campinas MA thesis.
     [Google Scholar]
  35. Klamer, Marian, Ger P. Reesink & Miriam van Staden
    2008 East Nusantara as a linguistic area. InPieter Muysken (ed.), From linguistic areas to areal linguistics, 95–149. Amsterdam: John Benjamins. 10.1075/slcs.90.03kla
     https://doi.org/10.1075/slcs.90.03kla [Google Scholar]
  36. Krasnoukhova, Olga & Johan van der Auwera
    2021 South American postverbal standard negation. Manuscript, under revision. (Submitted). 10.20396/liames.v20i0.8658401
     https://doi.org/10.20396/liames.v20i0.8658401 [Google Scholar]
  37. Lafkioui, Mena B.
    2013 Reinventing negation patterns in Moroccan Arabic. InMena B. Lafkioui (ed.), African Arabic: Approaches to dialectology (Trends in Linguistics, Studies and Monographs 258), 51–94. Berlin: De Gruyter Mouton. 10.1515/9783110292343.51
     https://doi.org/10.1515/9783110292343.51 [Google Scholar]
  38. Lafkioui, Mena B. & Vermondo Brugnatelli
    2020 Negation in Berber: Variation, evolution, and typology. Linguistics58(4). 967–1008. 10.1515/ling‑2020‑0010
     https://doi.org/10.1515/ling-2020-0010 [Google Scholar]
  39. Langdon, Margaret
    1970 A grammar of Diegueño: The Mesa Grande dialect. (University of California Publications in Linguistics 66.) Berkeley: University of California Press.
     [Google Scholar]
  40. Meillet, Antoine
    1912 L’évolution des formes grammaticales. Scientia12. 384–400. (Reprinted inMeillet, Antoine 1921 Linguistique historique et linguistique générale. 130–148. Paris: H. Champion.)
     [Google Scholar]
  41. Miestamo, Matti
    2005 Standard negation. The negation of declarative verbal main clauses in a typological perspective. Berlin: De Gruyter Mouton.
     [Google Scholar]
  42. Miranda, Maxwell
    2015 Negação em Krahô (família Jê) em uma perspectiva comparative [Negation in Krahô (Jê family) in a comparative perspective]. Revista Brasileira de Linguística Antropológica7. 245–274. 10.26512/rbla.v7i2.20599
     https://doi.org/10.26512/rbla.v7i2.20599 [Google Scholar]
  43. Munro, Pamela
    1973 Reanalysis and elaboration in Yuman negatives. Linguistic Notes from la Jolla5. 36–62.
     [Google Scholar]
  44. 1974 Topics in Mojave syntax. San Diego, CA: University of California PhD dissertation.
  45. 1976 Subject copying, auxiliarization and predicate raising: The Mojave evidence. International Journal of American Linguistics42(2). 99–112. 10.1086/465398
     https://doi.org/10.1086/465398 [Google Scholar]
  46. 1977 From existential to copula: The history of Yuman be. InCharles Li (ed.), Mechanisms of syntactic change, 445–490. New York: Academic Press. 10.7560/750357‑013
     https://doi.org/10.7560/750357-013 [Google Scholar]
  47. Muysken, Pieter, Harald Hammarström, Joshua Birchall, Swintha Danielsen, Love Eriksen, Ana Vilacy Galucio, Rik van Gijn, Simon van de Kerke, Vishnupraya Kolipakam, Olga Krasnoukhova, Neele Müller & Loretta O’Connor
    2014 The languages of South America: Deep families, areal relationships, and language contact. InLoretta O’Connor & Pieter Muysken (eds.), The native languages of South America: Origins, development, typology, 299–322. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
     [Google Scholar]
  48. Nikulin, Andrey
    2020 Proto-Macro-Jê: Um estado reconstrutivo. Brasilia: Universidade de Brasília PhD dissertation.
  49. Nikulin, Andrey & Mário André Coelho da Silva
    2020 As línguas Maxakalí e Krenák dentro do tronco Macro-Jê. Cadernos de Etnolingüística8(1). 1–64.
     [Google Scholar]
  50. Payne, John R.
    1985 Negation. InTimothy Shopen (ed.), Language typology and syntactic description, Volume 1: Clause structure, 197–242. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
     [Google Scholar]
  51. Price, Glanville
    1962 The negative particles pas, mie, and point in French. Archivum Linguisticum14. 14–34.
     [Google Scholar]
  52. 1971 The French language: Present and past. London: Edward Arnold.
     [Google Scholar]
  53. Reesink, Ger
    2002 Clause-final negation: Structure and interpretation. Functions of Language9(2). 239–268. 10.1075/fol.9.2.06ree
     https://doi.org/10.1075/fol.9.2.06ree [Google Scholar]
  54. Ribeiro, Eduardo Rivail
    2012 A grammar of Karajá. Chicago, IL: University of Chicago PhD dissertation.
  55. Sapir, Edward
    1921 Language. New York: Harcourt Brace and World.
     [Google Scholar]
  56. Schapper, Antoinette
    2015 Wallacea, a linguistic area. Archipel90. 99–151. 10.4000/archipel.371
     https://doi.org/10.4000/archipel.371 [Google Scholar]
  57. Thackston, Wheeler M.
    2006 Kurmanji Kurdish: A reference grammar with selected readings. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University.
     [Google Scholar]
  58. van Alsenoy, Lauren
    2014 A new typology of indefinite pronouns, with a focus on negative indefinites. Antwerp: University of Antwerp PhD dissertation.
  59. van der Auwera, Johan
    2009 The Jespersen Cycles. InElly van Gelderen (ed.), Cyclical change, 35–71. Amsterdam: John Benjamins. 10.1075/la.146.05auw
     https://doi.org/10.1075/la.146.05auw [Google Scholar]
  60. van der Auwera, Johan & Olga Krasnoukhova
    2020 The typology of negation. InViviane Déprez & M. Teresa Espinal (eds.), The Oxford handbook of negation, 91–116. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
     [Google Scholar]
  61. (forthc.) Revisiting postverbal standard negation in the Jê languages. To appear in: Boletim do Museu Paraense Emílio Goeldi. Ciências Humanas.
     [Google Scholar]
  62. van der Auwera, Johan, Olga Krasnoukhova & Frens Vossen
    In print Intertwining the negative cycles. InLjuba Veselinova & Arja Hamari (eds.), The Negative Existential Cycle from a historical-comparative perspective. Berlin: Language Science Press.
     [Google Scholar]
  63. van der Auwera, Johan, Daniël Van Olmen & Frens Vossen
    (forthc.) Negation. InK. Alexander Adelaar & Antoinette Schapper eds. The Oxford guide to the Malayo-Polynesian languages of Asia and Madagascar. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
     [Google Scholar]
  64. van Gelderen, Elly
    2011 The linguistic cycle: Language change and the language faculty. Oxford: Oxford University Press. 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199756056.001.0001
     https://doi.org/10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199756056.001.0001 [Google Scholar]
  65. In print The Negative Existential and Other Cycles: Jespersen, Givón, and the Copula Cycle. InLjuba Veselinova & Arja Hamari (eds.) The Negative Existential Cycle from a historical-comparative perspective. Berlin: Language Science Press.
     [Google Scholar]
  66. Van Olmen, Daniel
    2010 Typology meets usage: The case of the prohibitive infinitive in Dutch. Folia Linguistica44(2). 471–508. 10.1515/flin.2010.017
     https://doi.org/10.1515/flin.2010.017 [Google Scholar]
  67. Verkerk, Annemarie & Shahar Shirtz
    In print Negative existentials in Indo-European: A typological and diachronic overview. InLjuba Veselinova & Arja Hamari (eds.), The Negative Existential Cycle from a historical-comparative perspective. Berlin: Language Science Press.
     [Google Scholar]
  68. Veselinova, Ljuba
    2014 The negative existential cycle revisited. Linguistics52(6). 1327–1369. 10.1515/ling‑2014‑0021
     https://doi.org/10.1515/ling-2014-0021 [Google Scholar]
  69. Veselinova, Ljuba & Arja Hamari
    eds. In print. The Negative Existential Cycle from a historical-comparative perspective. Berlin: Language Science Press.
     [Google Scholar]
  70. Vossen, Frens & Johan van der Auwera
    2014 The Jespersen cycles seen from Austronesian. InMaj-Britt Mosegaard Hansen & Jaqueline Visconti (eds.), The diachrony of negation, 47–83. Amsterdam: John Benjamins. 10.1075/slcs.160.03vos
     https://doi.org/10.1075/slcs.160.03vos [Google Scholar]
  71. Vossen, Frens
    2016 Towards a typology of the Jespersen Cycles. Antwerp: University of Antwerp PhD dissertation.
/content/journals/10.1075/sl.00020.int
Loading
  • Article Type: Introduction
Keyword(s): diachrony; existential negation; Givón Cycle; Jespersen Cycle; language contact; Negative Existential Cycle; negative verb; postverbal negation; prohibitive negation; standard negation; typology

Most Cited

This is a required field
Please enter a valid email address
Approval was successful
Invalid data
An Error Occurred
Approval was partially successful, following selected items could not be processed due to error