Jespersen cycles in the Mayan, Quechuan and Maipurean languages*
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Johan van der Auwera
Abstract
This study looks for evidence for the Jespersen Cycle, which is typically the development from one single negator to another one via a strengthening stage in which both are present, in the Mayan, Quechuan and Maipurean languages. For Mayan and Quechuan languages the evidence is solid, and what is particularly interesting is that the strengthening would seem to have happened twice and that in both families an irrealis marker served to make the negation emphatic. In Maipurean languages the most important development is the extension of a prenominal privative marker (‘without’) to clausal negation, which if it shows up preverbally to a verb that already has postverbal negation, would show us a Jespersen Cycle which, untypically, operates from right to left.
Abstract
This study looks for evidence for the Jespersen Cycle, which is typically the development from one single negator to another one via a strengthening stage in which both are present, in the Mayan, Quechuan and Maipurean languages. For Mayan and Quechuan languages the evidence is solid, and what is particularly interesting is that the strengthening would seem to have happened twice and that in both families an irrealis marker served to make the negation emphatic. In Maipurean languages the most important development is the extension of a prenominal privative marker (‘without’) to clausal negation, which if it shows up preverbally to a verb that already has postverbal negation, would show us a Jespersen Cycle which, untypically, operates from right to left.
Chapters in this book
- Prelim pages i
- Table of contents v
- List of contributors vii
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Part I Characteristics of Cycles
- Cyclical change continued 3
- What cycles when and why 19
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Part II Macro-cycles
- Is radical analyticity normal 49
- An analytic-synthetic spiral in the history of English 93
- The interaction between the French subject and object cycles 113
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Part III The Negative Micro-Cycles
- The negative existential cycle viewed through the lens of comparative data 139
- Jespersen cycles in the Mayan, Quechuan and Maipurean languages* 189
- Mayan negation cycles 219
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Part IV Pronominal, Quantifier, and Modal Micro-cycles
- The diachrony of pronominal agreement 251
- The degree cycle 287
- Modality and gradation 319
- All you need is another ‘Need’ 351
- The grammaticalization of 要 Yao and the future cycle from Archaic Chinese to Modern Mandarin* 395
- Author Index 419
- Subject and Language Index 425
Chapters in this book
- Prelim pages i
- Table of contents v
- List of contributors vii
-
Part I Characteristics of Cycles
- Cyclical change continued 3
- What cycles when and why 19
-
Part II Macro-cycles
- Is radical analyticity normal 49
- An analytic-synthetic spiral in the history of English 93
- The interaction between the French subject and object cycles 113
-
Part III The Negative Micro-Cycles
- The negative existential cycle viewed through the lens of comparative data 139
- Jespersen cycles in the Mayan, Quechuan and Maipurean languages* 189
- Mayan negation cycles 219
-
Part IV Pronominal, Quantifier, and Modal Micro-cycles
- The diachrony of pronominal agreement 251
- The degree cycle 287
- Modality and gradation 319
- All you need is another ‘Need’ 351
- The grammaticalization of 要 Yao and the future cycle from Archaic Chinese to Modern Mandarin* 395
- Author Index 419
- Subject and Language Index 425
