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Article published In:
Linguistics in the Netherlands 2017
Edited by Sander Lestrade and Bert Le Bruyn
[Linguistics in the Netherlands 34] 2017
► pp. 47–62

The rise of clause-final negation in Flores-Lembata, Eastern Indonesia

| Universiteit Leiden

The Austronesian languages of Flores-Lembata in eastern Indonesia show all three stages of a Jespersen Cycle: some have a negator in pre-predicate position, others in clause-final position, and yet others have embracing double negation. In this article the various negation patterns in the Flores-Lembata languages are described using a sample of nine closely related languages of the region. It examines not only the negative constructions but also the etymology of the negators used, showing historical connections between some of the languages, as well as independent developments in others. On the basis of cross-linguistic evidence, and taking into account the non-Austronesian (Papuan) structures found in these Flores-Lembata languages, it is argued that the clause-final negation in several of these languages was caused by contact with speakers of Papuan languages during an earlier stage.

Keywords: Austronesian languages, contact induced grammaticalization, Jespersen Cycle, clause-final negation, Papuan languages
Article outline
  • 1.Introduction
  • 2.Theoretical background: Jespersen Cycle
  • 3.Negation patterns in Flores-Lembata languages
    • 3.1Overview of negation patterns
    • 3.2Pre-predicate single negation
    • 3.3Embracing negation
    • 3.4Clause-final single negation
  • 4.Etymology of Flores-Lembata negators
    • 4.1Overview of negators
    • 4.2Pre-predicate negators
    • 4.3Clause-final negators
  • 5.Discussion
  • Acknowledgements
  • Notes
  • References
Available under the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial (CC BY-NC) 4.0 license.

For any use beyond this license, please contact the publisher at [email protected].

Published online: 23 November 2017
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https://doi.org/10.1075/avt.34.04fri
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