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4.10. Negatives : |
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The negative in Ao has two markers,
viz., /ta/ and /ma/. The former is added to the verb in
imperative and the latter to any other verbal form. The negative
marker /ma/ is also a free form and can be used as a negative
reply to a question : |
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Q : ná c
akine
as ?
‘do you want water ?’ |
|
A1 :
ma
‘no’ |
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A2 : makine
‘(I) do not want’ |
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Q : ní s u
akine
‘I want tea’ |
|
A1 :
ma
‘no’ |
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A2 : makine
‘(I) do not want’ |
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There is also another free negative form /no/
which is politer than /ma/. |
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Q : ná coffee akiner as
?
‘do you want coffee ?’ |
|
A1 :
no
‘no please’ |
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A2 : no
makine
‘no please, do not want’ |
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4.10.1. The vowel /-a/ in the negative marker is assimilated to
the following vowel as given below. The reason for having /-a/
as the basic vowel is that only if the vowel is /-a/ the
morphophonemic loss of one of the two /a/s can be explained as a
result of the rule (cf. 1.7) which deletes one of the two
identical vowels in a sequence. Moreover, the free form of the
negative has the vowel /-a/ present. |
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The vowel /a/ of the negative markers is assimilated to the
following vowel as mentioned earlier. And the vowel /a-/ is lost
before the verb with the classificatory suffix /a/. The
following examples will illustrate these changes. |
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| 4.10.1.1.
a à ø
when followed by a verb with the classificatory vowel. |
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ma + apú
à
mapú
‘not to blow’ |
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ma + asu
à
masu
‘not to die’ |
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ma + acam
à
macam
‘not to drink’ |
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ta + apú
à tapú
‘don’t blow’ |
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ta + asu
à tasu
‘don’t die’ |
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ta + acam
à tacam
‘don’t drink’ |
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| 4.10.1.2. a
à i when followed by a verb
beginning with the vowel /i/ (the glide /y/ is inserted later
between the two vowels). |
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ma + imsa
à
mi-y-imsa
‘not to melt’ |
|
ma + imla
à
mi-y-imla
‘not to expect’ |
|
ta + imsa
à
ti-y-imsa
‘don’t melt’ |
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ta + imla
à
ti-y-imla
‘don’t expect’ |
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| 4.10.1.3. a
à u when followed by a verb
beginning with the vowel /u/ (the glide /w/ is inserted between
the two vowels). |
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ma + uta
à
mu-w-uta
‘not to measure’ |
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ma + ulu
à mu-w-ulu
‘not toexcel’ |
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ma + úsi
à mu-w-úsi
‘not to load’ |
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ta + uta
à
tu-w-uta
‘don’t measure’ |
|
ta + ulu
à tu-w-ulu
‘don’t excel’ |
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ta + úsi
à
tu-w-úsi
‘don’t load’ |
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| 4.10.1.4. a
à e when followed by a verb
beginning with a consonant. |
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ma + sùpu
mesùpu
‘not to put on’ |
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ma + meci
memeci
‘not to bite’ |
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ma + nemsi
menemsi
‘not to massage’ |
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ta + ásà teásà
‘don’t explain’ |
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ta + kamet
tekamet
‘don’t protect’ |
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ta + cipu
tecipu
‘don’t fear’ |
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