Negation marking in Igbo

Abstract

At first sight Igbo as a whole unfolds different strategies to indicate negation. The major strategies are the use of negative affixes, inherently negative auxiliary verbs, tonal alternation, contrastive focus. Though we meet a richness of negation formation, there also common basic features and concepts emerging from the investigation: TAM categories may be neutralized when being negated. Negation provokes a wide range segmental and tonal changes within the scope of negation. As observed in many other languages, there is a clash when negation and focus interact. As the two seem to clash, special strategies must be applied to bring the two together. One such strategy is to apply a cleft-like construction, involving two clauses and an obligatory movement of the negated constituent to the ‘focal point’. Another cause for the explanation of the richness of negation in Igbo is the fact that different negation patterns are applied in constituent and predication negation.

Negative Imperfective Verb Form in Kanuri

“…In example 7 above the sentence is a coordination by the additive adjunct -ye being placed after each clause where the negative particle -bawo is attached with emphasis to the verb class 2 of second person plural fanjin hear negates the part of the imperfective sentence. Ndimele (1995) opines that there are two main strategies for marking negation in Igbo. The first strategy is to negate the whole sentence, i.e 'predicate negation'.…”

Negation in Pichi (Equatorial Guinea)

“…Asymmetric negation of tense-aspect-mood categories involving the use of portmanteau forms like nɛá/nóba is extensively documented for genealogically diverse languages belonging to all West African linguistic groupings including Benue-Congo (Ndimele 2009), Mande (Creissels 1997: 3;Kastenholz 2002: 96), Gur (Winkelmann & Miehe 2009: 173-174), Berber (Mettouchi 2009: 293-303), Atlantic (Robert 1990), Saharan (Cyffer 2009: 73-75;Zima 2009: 99), and Chadic (Zima 2009: 99). West African languages naturally vary in the extent to which asymmetric negation occurs and how it is realized.…”

“…-The absence in Pichi of complex asymmetric verb negation paradigms covering several TMA categories as found in some potential West African substrate and adstrate languages of Krio/Pichi (e.g. Igbo, see Ndimele 2009; for the Gur languages, see Winkelmann & Miehe 2009: 173; see Fabunmi 2013: 2, for standard Yoruba) and the limitation to the areally most common suppletive negative TMA paradigms in Pichi (i.e. perfect aspect and imperative mood) found in equally many substrate languages (e.g.…”