Cover not available
Article published In:
Postverbal negation
Edited by Olga Krasnoukhova, Johan van der Auwera and Mily Crevels
[Studies in Language 45:3] 2021
► pp. 684–706

Stories behind post-verbal negation clustering

ORCID logo | University of California

Post-verbal markers of negation were once thought to be rare cross-linguistically, but as more has been learned about more languages, it has become clear that such markers occur in a number of parts of the world. Moreover, they often appear in areal clusters, suggesting that language contact may play a role in their development. Such a cluster can be seen in a well-known linguistic area of North America, Indigenous Northern California. Languages in the area show parallel negative constructions, but without shared substance. Here it is shown how such parallelisms may have come about.

Keywords: negative existentials, language contact, Pomoan, renewal, Wappo, Wintuan, Yuki
Article outline
  • 1.Introduction
  • 2.Postverbal negation: Central Pomo
    • 2.1Sources of the markers
    • 2.2Pathways of development
  • 3.Yukian: Wappo-Yuki
  • 4.The Wintuan family
  • 5.Conclusion
  • Abbreviations
  • References
Published online: 24 August 2021
DOI logo
https://doi.org/10.1075/sl.19040.mit
References
Bright, Elizabeth
Patwin field notes. Eight notebooks, collected 1952. Includes texts, vocabulary, and notes on grammar. Speakers Minnie Bill, Sarah Gonzales, Daisy Lorenzo, Nora Lowell, and Ida Mitchum. Survey for California and Other Indian Languages, Berkeley: BrightE.002.001–003,006–010.url: DOI logo
Balodis, Uldis
2014 Yuki grammar, with sketches of Huchnom and Coast Yuki. (University of California Publications in Linguistics 150.) Oakland: University of California Press.Google Scholar
Bean, Lowell John & Dorothea Theodoratus
1978 Western Pomo and Northeastern Pomo. In Robert Heizer (ed.), Handbook of North American Indians 8: California, 289–305. Washington, D.C.: Smithsonian Institution.Google Scholar
Croft, William
1991 The evolution of negation. Journal of Linguistics 27(1). 1–27. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Dahl
2010 Typology of negation. In Laurence R. Horn (ed.), The expression of negation, 9–38. Berlin: De Gruyter Mouton. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Golla, Victor
2011 California Indian languages. Berkeley: University of California. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Güldmann, Tom
2007 The Macro-Sudan belt: Towards identifying a linguistic area in northern sub-Saharan Africa. In Bernd Heine & Derek Nurse (eds.), A linguistic geography of Africa, 151–185. Cambridge: Cambridge University.Google Scholar
Heine, Bernd and Tania Kuteva
2005 Language contact and grammatical change. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Heizer, Robert F.
(ed) 1978 Handbook of North American Indians 8: California. Washington: Smithsonian Institution.Google Scholar
Horn, Laurence R.
1989/2001 A natural history of negation. Chicago: University of Chicago.Google Scholar
Idiatov, Dmitry
2015 Clause-final negative markers in Bobo and Sanogo: Parallel evolution and contact. Journal of Historical Linguistics 51. 235–266. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Jespersen, Otto
1917 Negation in English and other languages. Copenhagen: Høst.Google Scholar
Johanson, Lars
2008 Remodeling grammar: Copying, conventionalization, grammaticalization. In Peter Siemund & Noemi Kintana (eds.), Language contact and contact languages, 61–80. Amsterdam: John Benjamins. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Kroeber, Alfred S.
1911 The languages of the coast of California north of San Francisco. University of California Publications in American Archaeology and Ethnology 9.Google Scholar
Lawyer, Lewis C.
2015 A description of the Patwin language. Davis: University of California PhD dissertation.
McLendon, Sally
1977 Bear kills her own daughter-in-law, Deer (Eastern Pomo). In Victor Golla & Shirley Silver (eds.), Northern California texts, 26–70. International Journal of American Linguistics Text Series 2(2). Chicago: University of Chicago.Google Scholar
1996 Sketch of Eastern Pomo, a Pomoan language. In Goddard, Ives (ed.), Handbook of North American Indians 17: Languages, 507–550. Washington: Smithsonian Institution.Google Scholar
1973 Proto Pomo. (University of California Publications in Linguistics 71.) Oakland: University of California Press.Google Scholar
Miestamo, Matti
2005 Standard negation. The negation of declarative verbal main clauses in a typological perspective. Berlin: Mouton de Gruyter.Google Scholar
Oswalt, Robert
1976 Comparative verb morphology of Pomo. In Margaret Langdon & Shirley Silver (eds.), Hokan studies, 13–28. The Hague: Mouton. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Pitkin, Harvey
1977 Coyote and Bullhead (Wintu). In Victor Golla & Shirley Silver (eds.), Northern California texts, 82–104. International Journal of American Linguistics Text Series 2.2. Chicago: University of Chicago.Google Scholar
1978 Squirrel and Acorn Woman (Wintu). In William Bright (ed.), Coyote stories, 32–44. International Journal of American Linguistics Text Series 1. Chicago: University of Chicago.Google Scholar
1984 Wintu grammar. (University of California Publications in Linguistics 94.) Oakland: University of California Press.Google Scholar
1985 Wintu dictionary. (University of California Publications in Linguistics 95.) Oakland: University of California Press.Google Scholar
Radin, Paul
1929 A grammar of the Wappo language. University of California Publications in American Archaeology and Ethnology 27.vi+194.Google Scholar
1924 Wappo texts: First series. University of California Publications in American Archaeology and Ethnology 19(1). 1–147.Google Scholar
ms. Patwin texts. Ethnographic and folkloristic texts with English translations, from speaker Anderson Lowell and his mother. Collected 1932. Manuscript at APS: 497.3 B63c P4b.6–7.
Reesink, Ger P.
2002 Clause-final negation, structure, and interpretation. Functions of Language 91. 239–268. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Sawyer, Jesse O.
1965 English-Wappo vocabulary. (University of California Publications in Linguistics 43.) Oakland: University of California Press.Google Scholar
1978 Wappo. In Robert Heizer (ed.), Handbook of North American Indians 8: California, 256–63. Washington: Smithsonian Institution.Google Scholar
Sawyer, Jesse O. & Laura Fish Somersal
1977 Bear Woman and her children (Wappo). In Victor Golla & Shirley Silver (eds.), Northern California texts, 105–113. International Journal of American Linguistics Text Series 2.2. Chicago: University of Chicago.Google Scholar
Schlichter, Alice
1978 Coyote and Badger (Wintu). In William Bright (ed.), Coyote stories, 44–51. International Journal of American Linguistics Text Series Monograph 1. Chicago: University of Chicago.Google Scholar
1980 Coyote and the “Cricket” (Wintu). In Martha B. Kendall (ed.), Coyote stories II1, 71–80. International Journal of American Linguistics Text Series 6. Chicago: University of Chicago.Google Scholar
Shepherd, Alice Schlichter
1989 Wintu texts. (University of California Publications in Linguistics 117.) Oakland: University of California Press.Google Scholar
Thompson, Sandra A., Joseph Sung-Yul Park, & Charles N. Li
2014 A reference grammar of Wappo. (University of California Publications in Linguistics 138.) Oakland: University of California Press.Google Scholar
Ultan, Russell
1964 Hill Patwin field notes. Microfilm copies (filmed 1964) at the Survey of California and Other Indian Languages, Berkeley: University of California. Available at: DOI logo (last access 9 August 2021).Google Scholar
van der Auwera, Johan, Olga Krasnoukhova, & Frens Vossen
2020 Intertwining the negative cycles. In Ljuba Veselinova & Arja Hamari (eds.), The negative existential cycle from a historical-comparative perspective, 557–596. Berlin: Language Science Press.Google Scholar
van Gelderen, Elly
(ed) 2009 Cyclical change. Amsterdam: John Benjamins. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
(ed.) 2016 Cyclical change continued. Amsterdam: John Benjamins. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
2011 The linguistic cycle. Oxford: Oxford University. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Veselinova, Ljuba
2014 The negative existential cycle revisited. Linguistics 521. 1327–1369. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
2016 The negative existential cycle viewed through the lens of comparative data. In Elly van Gelderen (ed.), Cyclical change continued, 140–188. Amsterdam: John Benjamins. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Vossen, Frens
2016 Towards a typology of the Jespersen cycles. Antwerp: University of Antwerp PhD dissertation.
Whistler, Kenneth W.
1977 Deer and Bear Children (Patwin). In Victor Golla & Shirley Silver (eds.), Northern California texts, 158–178. International Journal of American Linguistics Text Series 2(2). Chicago: University of Chicago.Google Scholar
1978 Mink Bullethawk, and Coyote (Patwin). In William Bright (ed.), Coyote stories, 51–61. International Journal of American Linguistics Text Series Monograph 1. Chicago: University of Chicago.Google Scholar
Whistler, Kenneth W.
ms. Hill, Patwin, and Nomlaki Notebooks. Survey of California and Other Indian Languages, Berkeley: University of California. Available at: DOI logo (last access 9 August 2021).
Willis, David, Christopher Lucas, & Anne Breitbarth
2013 Comparing diachronies of negation. In David Willis, Christopher Lucas, & Anne Breitbarth (eds.), The history of negation in the languages of Europe and the Mediterranean, 1–50. Oxford: Oxford University. DOI logoGoogle Scholar