Negation in Guianese Lokono/Arawak

Apart from a negative particle, Guianese Arawak-Lokono exhibits, as many other Arawakan languages, a privative marker ma- which is the negative counterpart of attributive ka-. But in this particular language, the privative has developed uses independently from the attributive. On the one hand, it plays a role in derivation conveying the meaning of "lack"; on the other hand, it acts as a negative operator. Furthermore, the privative allows a specific construction which associates the non finite form of the lexical verb with a "dummy" verb. We assume this last construction to be due to the affinity of negation with stativity.

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Additional Info

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Source https://shs.hal.science/halshs-00696066
Author Patte, Marie-France
Maintainer CCSD
Last Updated May 19, 2026, 10:47 (UTC)
Created May 19, 2026, 10:47 (UTC)
Identifier halshs-00696066
Language en
Rights https://about.hal.science/hal-authorisation-v1/
contributor Structure et Dynamique des Langues (SeDyL) ; Institut National des Langues et Civilisations Orientales (Inalco)-Institut de recherche pour le développement [IRD] : UR135-Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS)
creator Patte, Marie-France
date 2011-05-19T00:00:00
harvest_object_id 66090f21-cb5d-4454-ad16-44954a005a26
harvest_source_id 3374d638-d20b-4672-ba96-a23232d55657
harvest_source_title test moissonnage SELUNE
metadata_modified 2023-03-24T00:00:00
set_spec type:UNDEFINED