In the previous section, the
simple sentences were classified into four types. Of these only one
had the principal very as the constituent of the predicate, whereas
the others had copula as the predicate. This includes NN (C) type of
sentences. It would be seen presently that all the sentences having
the copula as the predicate takes a particular negative particle,
viz., n«. It would also be
seen that a principal verb in its simple past takes a particular
negative particle, viz., ny
whereas a principal verb in other tense take n«.
A verb in different aspects and moods other than the non-past
potential mood also takes n«
as the negative particle. A verb in past potential mood takes no as
the negative particle. Thus, of the three negative particles, n«
has the maximal distribution. We may now state the distribution of the
different negative particles, along with illustrative examples.
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1. ny.
It occurs only with a verb in its simple past tense, as in:
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neg+moy moso
kahyse ¾® moy moso
khayny
‘I did not eat meat’ |
neg+moy
jayse ¾® moy jay ny
‘I did not go’ |
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2. no. It occurs with a verb
in the non-past potential mood, as in: |
neg+sualitu jabo pare ¾¾® sualitu jabo
noare ‘the gil cannot go’ |
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3. ne. It occurs in all
environments except the ones mentioned above, some of the occurrences are listed below:
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In addition to a verb in a
VP, the negative marker n
could also negate lexical items (individual words), as in :
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neg+jorawa ¾® |
njorawa
‘unconnect’ |
neg+iman thoka
¾¾® |
iman nthoka
‘unlimited’, etc. |
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(lit. this much have) |
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1 2 3 |
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neg+hoy ¾® |
n«hoy1
‘no’ |
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The position of the negative
particle in the VP:
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1. |
The
negative particle ny
which occurs only with the simple past tense, occurs after the
verb by substituting the tense marker.
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2. |
The
negative particle n
which occurs only with a verb in potential mood, occurs before
the verbal marker.
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1This could also be considered a simple
sentence of minor type.
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