(Meadow Mari)
AsymFinCop
AsymFinCop: Affirmative sentences use finite verbs, while negative sentences use nonfinite verbs, with the grammatical categories of the verb partially or wholly expressed by the copula or the verb of negation.
| (1) | tol-am |
|---|
| come‑1SG |
| ’I’m coming’ (Saarinen 2015: 329) |
| (2) | o-m | tol |
|---|
| NEG‑1SG | come.CNG |
| ’I’m not coming’ (Saarinen 2015: 330) |
| (3) | tol-əm |
|---|
| come‑PST1.1SG |
| ’I came’ (Saarinen 2015: 331) |
| (4) | š-əm | tol |
|---|
| NEG.PST1‑1SG | come.CNG |
| ’I didn’t come’ (Saarinen 2015: 331) |
| (5) | tol-ən-am |
|---|
| come‑PST2.1SG |
| ’I came’ (Saarinen 2015: 332) |
| (6) | tol-ən | o-m-əl |
|---|
| come‑PST2.CNG | NEG‑1SG‑be |
| ’I didn’t come’ (Saarinen 2015: 332) |
| (7) | tol! |
|---|
| come.IMP.2SG |
| ’Come!’ (Saarinen 2015: 335) |
| (8) | i-t | tol! |
|---|
| NEG.IMP‑2SG | come.CNG |
| ’Don’t come!’ (Saarinen 2015: 335) |
| (9) | tol-ne-m |
|---|
| come‑DES‑1SG |
| ’I want to come’ (Saarinen 2015: 336) |
| (10) | ə-ne-m | tol |
|---|
| NEG‑DES‑1SG | come.CNG |
| ’I don’t want to come’ (Saarinen 2015: 336) |
In Meadow Mari negation is asymmetric (for more on asymmetric negation see Miestamo 2005), with the finite verb form of the affirmative sentence used in a non-finite, so-called connegative form and the categories of the finite verb expressed on the negative verb. The root of the negative verb varies according to tense and mood (Saarinen 2015: 328). The negative verb precedes the main verb and the connegative root is the bare verbal stem, with the exception of the second simple past tense and the third and fourth complex past tenses (which are formed by combining the second simple past and the auxiliaries əle, and ulmaš, respectively) (1)─(4); (7)─(10). In the second simple past tense and the complex tenses based on it the connegative root is the nonfinite verb form derived with the gerundival suffix -ən/-en, and the negative verb is formed with the copula (ulaš, or, in the written varieties of western dialects, əlaš) (5)─(6), which follows the main verb (Saarinen 2015: 332).
Author: Bogáta Timár
[🠐 back]
