The role of negation in the grammaticalization of ability verbs

The case of Iquito

Bibliographic Data

ID20344706
AuthorsBrianna Wilson (University of Chicago), Cynthia Hansen (Grinnell College)
Year2019
Volume36
Issue4
Pages546-583
Publication date2019-12-18
Peer ReviewedYes
Open AccessNo
TypeARTICLE
VenueDiachronica (JOURNAL)
Journal identifiersISSN: 0176-4225 • E-ISSN: 1569-9714
PublisherJohn Benjamins Publishing Company (PUBLISHER • NL)
DOI10.1075/dia.00016.wil
OpenAlexW2994973413
LanguageEN
Citations received1
References cited20

This paper investigates the role of negation in grammaticalization in Iquito, an endangered Zaparoan language of the Peruvian Amazon. Iquito has a verb, pajɨɨni , which has undergone two paths of grammaticalization only in negated clauses. First, pajɨɨni has grammaticalized from “learn” to “be able to.” Subsequently, it is undergoing grammaticalization from an ability verb to a future auxiliary. Given that ability verbs are an uncommon source for future auxiliaries ( Bybee et al. 1994 ), this study provides a detailed case study of this rare path. Our analysis of Iquito demonstrates that grammaticalization paths are not limited to affirmative contexts and may behave differently depending on the polarity of the utterance

Grammaticalization · Linguistics · Negation · Verb · History · Language, Discourse, Communication Strategies · Linguistic Variation and Morphology · Philosophy · Syntax, Semantics, Linguistic Variation