(Meadow Mari)

DbleNeg

DbleNeg: Negation is expressed through the use of both a negative pronoun and a negative predicate.

(1)tidetemə-mńigöo-kuməlo.
thistopicACCnobodyNEG3SGunderstand.CNG
’Nobody understands this topic.’ (Riese et al. 2022: 151)

(2)japon-lamem-na-nkoklašteikt=ato-kkutəro.
japaneseCOMPwe1PLGENamongone=PCLNEG3SGspeak.CNG
’None of us speaks Japanese.’ (Riese et al. 2022: 151)

(3)ńigö=atməj-əmvestürlənšon-aštarat-eno-kseŋe.
nobody=PCLIACCotherdifferentlythinkINFforceCVBNEG3SGwin.CNG
’Nobody can make me change my mind.’ (MariDict: н'игӧат 2020.02.19.)

In Meadow Mari double negation is the norm. If the sentence contains a negative pronoun the verb is negated as well (1). Negative pronouns are derived from interrogative pronouns with the help of the ńi- prefix (e.g. mo ’what’ ~ ńimo ’nothing’). The negative pronoun iktat is an exception, being formed of ikte ’one’ and the clitic =at (2). The use of iktat is restricted to animate contexts. Alternatively, the clitic =at can appear on the negative personal pronoun, in which case it has an emphasizing role (3) (Riese et al. 2022: 150─151).

Author: Bogáta Timár


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