THE PROTO-SAPIENS PROHIBITIVE/NEGATIVE PARTICLE *MA

Abstract

We report here on a lexical root, very widespread in diverse languages worldwide, including more than 50 ancient languages, long-isolated languages, and proto-languages. Most of these rely on uncontroversial reconstructions, while others, from Proto-Nilo-Saharan to Proto-Trans-New Guinea through Proto-Austric and Proto-Amerind, go back to far more than 10,000 years ago and cover all continents. We argue that this lexical root may only have been part of the ancestral language common to all modern humans.