Aspects of negation in Makaa (A83)

Abstract

Polarity is a topic that has attracted much attention in semantics but as well in language typology regarding the syntactic and morphological realisations of negation. This paper studies negation in Makaa (A83) following two major perspectives. First, typologically, it examines the system of Makaa negation against the backdrop of polarity theory and second, from a (comparative) Bantu perspective, it examines the system of Makaa negation against the backdrop of other Bantu languages; including grammaticalization. Makaa negation displays divergent and very complex negation patterns studied under the contrast standard vs. non-standard negation. Concerning the origin of negators in Makaa, it is argued that Makaa negators might derive from grammaticalized verbs, the 3SG personal pronoun, possessive adjectives or object marker, and locative pronouns. Others are probably old negation particles.