Abstract :
[en] In the Jê languages standard negators tend to take a post-verbal position. This paper asks why this should be the case and therefore discusses earlier accounts relating Jê standard negators to either negative verbs or privative postpositions. We argue that these accounts do not have to exclude each other. In particular, we propose that an existential negator can be reanalyzed as a privative one. We also argue that if the origin of the standard negator is a verb with the meaning 'finish', we may be dealing with a scenario that is similar to the 'Negative Existential Cycle'. In both, the existential negator denies the existence of a state of affairs and then turns into a standard negator. But whereas in the Negative Existential Cycle the non-existence of a state of affairs is modelled on the non-existence of an object, in the 'new' scenario the non-existence of a state of affairs derives from the fact that a process or event has come to an end.
Funding text :
This study was made possible by the Research Foundation Flanders, whose financial support is gratefully acknowledged: grant No G024117N awarded to Johan van der Auwera. Olga Krasnoukhova would like to acknowledge funding from the European Union's Horizon 2020 research and innovation program under the Marie Skłodowska-Curie grant agreement No 895548, made use of when finalizing the present paper. We are most grateful to Andrés Salanova (Ottawa), Andrey Nikulin (Brasília), and three anonymous reviewers for all very helpful comments.This study was made possible by the Research Foundation Flanders, whose financial support is gratefully acknowledged: grant No G024117N awarded to Johan van der Auwera. Olga Krasnoukhova would like to acknowledge funding from the European Union’s Horizon 2020 research and innovation program under the Marie Skłodowska-Curie grant agreement No 895548, made use of when finalizing the present paper. We are most grateful to Andrés Salanova (Ottawa), Andrey Nikulin (Brasília), and three anonymous reviewers for all very helpful comments.
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