Cover not available

Article published In: Postverbal negation
Edited by Olga Krasnoukhova, Johan van der Auwera and Mily Crevels
[Studies in Language 45:3] 2021
► pp. 684–706

Get fulltext from our e-platform
JBE logo with link
PDF logo with download linkDownload PDF
authorization required

Stories behind post-verbal negation clustering

ORCiD logo with link | University of CaliforniaSanta Barbara
Published online: 24 August 2021
DOI logo with link
https://doi.org/10.1075/sl.19040.mit
Abstract
Post-verbal markers of negation were once thought to be rare cross-linguistically, but as more has been learned about more languages, it has become clear that such markers occur in a number of parts of the world. Moreover, they often appear in areal clusters, suggesting that language contact may play a role in their development. Such a cluster can be seen in a well-known linguistic area of North America, Indigenous Northern California. Languages in the area show parallel negative constructions, but without shared substance. Here it is shown how such parallelisms may have come about.
Article outline
  • 1.Introduction
  • 2.Postverbal negation: Central Pomo
    • 2.1Sources of the markers
    • 2.2Pathways of development
  • 3.Yukian: Wappo-Yuki
  • 4.The Wintuan family
  • 5.Conclusion
  • Abbreviations
  • References
References (47)
References
Bright, Elizabeth. Patwin field notes. Eight notebooks, collected 1952. Includes texts, vocabulary, and notes on grammar. Speakers Minnie Bill, Sarah Gonzales, Daisy Lorenzo, Nora Lowell, and Ida Mitchum. Survey for California and Other Indian Languages, Berkeley: BrightE.002.001–003,006–010.url:
Balodis, Uldis. 2014. Yuki grammar, with sketches of Huchnom and Coast Yuki. (University of California Publications in Linguistics 150.) Oakland: University of California Press.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Bean, Lowell John & Dorothea Theodoratus. 1978. Western Pomo and Northeastern Pomo. In Robert Heizer (ed.), Handbook of North American Indians 8: California, 289–305. Washington, D.C.: Smithsonian Institution.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Croft, William. 1991. The evolution of negation. Journal of Linguistics 27(1). 1–27. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Dahl. 2010. Typology of negation. In Laurence R. Horn (ed.), The expression of negation, 9–38. Berlin: De Gruyter Mouton. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Golla, Victor. 2011. California Indian languages. Berkeley: University of California. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Güldmann, Tom. 2007. The Macro-Sudan belt: Towards identifying a linguistic area in northern sub-Saharan Africa. In Bernd Heine & Derek Nurse (eds.), A linguistic geography of Africa, 151–185. Cambridge: Cambridge University.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Heine, Bernd and Tania Kuteva. 2005. Language contact and grammatical change. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Heizer, Robert F. (ed). 1978. Handbook of North American Indians 8: California. Washington: Smithsonian Institution.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Horn, Laurence R. 1989/2001. A natural history of negation. Chicago: University of Chicago.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Jespersen, Otto. 1917. Negation in English and other languages. Copenhagen: Høst.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Johanson, Lars. 2008. Remodeling grammar: Copying, conventionalization, grammaticalization. In Peter Siemund & Noemi Kintana (eds.), Language contact and contact languages, 61–80. Amsterdam: John Benjamins. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Kroeber, Alfred S. 1911. The languages of the coast of California north of San Francisco. University of California Publications in American Archaeology and Ethnology 9.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Lawyer, Lewis C. 2015. A description of the Patwin language. Davis: University of California PhD dissertation.
McLendon, Sally. 1977. Bear kills her own daughter-in-law, Deer (Eastern Pomo). In Victor Golla & Shirley Silver (eds.), Northern California texts, 26–70. International Journal of American Linguistics Text Series 2(2). Chicago: University of Chicago.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
. 1996. Sketch of Eastern Pomo, a Pomoan language. In Goddard, Ives (ed.), Handbook of North American Indians 17: Languages, 507–550. Washington: Smithsonian Institution.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
. 1973. Proto Pomo. (University of California Publications in Linguistics 71.) Oakland: University of California Press.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Miestamo, Matti. 2005. Standard negation. The negation of declarative verbal main clauses in a typological perspective. Berlin: Mouton de Gruyter.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Oswalt, Robert. 1976. Comparative verb morphology of Pomo. In Margaret Langdon & Shirley Silver (eds.), Hokan studies, 13–28. The Hague: Mouton. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Pitkin, Harvey. 1977. Coyote and Bullhead (Wintu). In Victor Golla & Shirley Silver (eds.), Northern California texts, 82–104. International Journal of American Linguistics Text Series 2.2. Chicago: University of Chicago.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
. 1978. Squirrel and Acorn Woman (Wintu). In William Bright (ed.), Coyote stories, 32–44. International Journal of American Linguistics Text Series 1. Chicago: University of Chicago.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
. 1984. Wintu grammar. (University of California Publications in Linguistics 94.) Oakland: University of California Press.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
. 1985. Wintu dictionary. (University of California Publications in Linguistics 95.) Oakland: University of California Press.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Radin, Paul. 1929. A grammar of the Wappo language. University of California Publications in American Archaeology and Ethnology 27.vi+194.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
. 1924. Wappo texts: First series. University of California Publications in American Archaeology and Ethnology 19(1). 1–147.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
. ms. Patwin texts. Ethnographic and folkloristic texts with English translations, from speaker Anderson Lowell and his mother. Collected 1932. Manuscript at APS: 497.3 B63c P4b.6–7.
Sawyer, Jesse O. 1965. English-Wappo vocabulary. (University of California Publications in Linguistics 43.) Oakland: University of California Press.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
1978. Wappo. In Robert Heizer (ed.), Handbook of North American Indians 8: California, 256–63. Washington: Smithsonian Institution.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Sawyer, Jesse O. & Laura Fish Somersal. 1977. Bear Woman and her children (Wappo). In Victor Golla & Shirley Silver (eds.), Northern California texts, 105–113. International Journal of American Linguistics Text Series 2.2. Chicago: University of Chicago.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Schlichter, Alice. 1978. Coyote and Badger (Wintu). In William Bright (ed.), Coyote stories, 44–51. International Journal of American Linguistics Text Series Monograph 1. Chicago: University of Chicago.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
. 1980. Coyote and the “Cricket” (Wintu). In Martha B. Kendall (ed.), Coyote stories II1, 71–80. International Journal of American Linguistics Text Series 6. Chicago: University of Chicago.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Shepherd, Alice Schlichter. 1989. Wintu texts. (University of California Publications in Linguistics 117.) Oakland: University of California Press.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Thompson, Sandra A., Joseph Sung-Yul Park, & Charles N. Li. 2014. A reference grammar of Wappo. (University of California Publications in Linguistics 138.) Oakland: University of California Press.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Ultan, Russell. 1964. Hill Patwin field notes. Microfilm copies (filmed 1964) at the Survey of California and Other Indian Languages, Berkeley: University of California. Available at: (last access 9 August 2021).Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
van der Auwera, Johan, Olga Krasnoukhova, & Frens Vossen. 2020. Intertwining the negative cycles. In Ljuba Veselinova & Arja Hamari (eds.), The negative existential cycle from a historical-comparative perspective, 557–596. Berlin: Language Science Press.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
van Gelderen, Elly. (ed). 2009. Cyclical change. Amsterdam: John Benjamins. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
. (ed.) 2016. Cyclical change continued. Amsterdam: John Benjamins. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
. 2011. The linguistic cycle. Oxford: Oxford University. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Veselinova, Ljuba. 2014. The negative existential cycle revisited. Linguistics 521. 1327–1369. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
. 2016. The negative existential cycle viewed through the lens of comparative data. In Elly van Gelderen (ed.), Cyclical change continued, 140–188. Amsterdam: John Benjamins. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Vossen, Frens. 2016. Towards a typology of the Jespersen cycles. Antwerp: University of Antwerp PhD dissertation.
Whistler, Kenneth W. 1977. Deer and Bear Children (Patwin). In Victor Golla & Shirley Silver (eds.), Northern California texts, 158–178. International Journal of American Linguistics Text Series 2(2). Chicago: University of Chicago.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
1978. Mink Bullethawk, and Coyote (Patwin). In William Bright (ed.), Coyote stories, 51–61. International Journal of American Linguistics Text Series Monograph 1. Chicago: University of Chicago.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Whistler, Kenneth W.. ms. Hill, Patwin, and Nomlaki Notebooks. Survey of California and Other Indian Languages, Berkeley: University of California. Available at: (last access 9 August 2021).
Willis, David, Christopher Lucas, & Anne Breitbarth. 2013. Comparing diachronies of negation. In David Willis, Christopher Lucas, & Anne Breitbarth (eds.), The history of negation in the languages of Europe and the Mediterranean, 1–50. Oxford: Oxford University. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Cited by (3)

Cited by three other publications

Mithun, Marianne
2025. Constructions and Language Contact. In The Cambridge Handbook of Construction Grammar, ► pp. 469 ff. DOI logo
Krasnoukhova, Olga, Johan van der Auwera & Sietze Norder
2023. Standard negation: the curious case of South America. Linguistic Typology 27:3 ► pp. 629 ff. DOI logo
Rosés Labrada, Jorge Emilio
2021. Synchrony and diachrony of postverbal negation in Jodï-Sáliban. Studies in Language 45:3 ► pp. 621 ff. DOI logo

This list is based on CrossRef data as of 2 december 2025. Please note that it may not be complete. Sources presented here have been supplied by the respective publishers. Any errors therein should be reported to them.

Mobile Menu Logo with link to supplementary files background Layer 1 prag Twitter_Logo_Blue