Negative irrealis clauses in Malay/Indonesian and Sri Lankan Malay infinitives

Abstract

This article concerns establishing a plausible connection between the word jang ( an ) in colloquial Malay varieties and jang- , a form which negates infinitives, in the diasporic contact variety Sri Lankan Malay. The principal claim is that jang ( an ) marks irrealis modality in Southeast Asian Malay varieties, in which it is frequently (optionally) deployed in negative subjunctive-like embedded clauses. A related claim, dependent on the first of the two, is that the irrealis interpretation conveyed by jang ( an ) makes it a semantically plausible bridge from a Malay grammar with clausal symmetry to the grammar of Sri Lankan Malay. In Sri Lankan Malay, embedded clauses are frequently non-finite, with infinitives similarly conveying irrealis meaning. Sri Lankan Malay jang- is in complementary distribution with the affirmative infinitival prefix me -, which is also derived from a marker of irrealis modality ( mau ) in colloquial Southeast Asian Malay varieties.