Negative prefix attached to the grammatical head of a finite volitional verb Negative prefix attached to the grammatical head of an unvolitional finite verb

The morphophonemic changes which take place in the prefix and in the initial consonant of the verb will explain why Lhomi negative prefix has a final t. The following morphophonemic rules apply when a verb is negated by a negative prefix: • High-low register contrast of the verb is governed by the verb, not by the prefix. In Lhomi it is the whole word which is either in tense register or lax register. • Nonpast prefix mit- attaches to nonpast verb roots. • Past prefix mat- attaches to past verb roots and to imperative verb roots. • When the initial phoneme of the verb root is m, n, ŋ, l, lh, r, h, j, w or a vowel, the final t of the prefix changes to a glottal stop which is a phonetic variant of alveolar stop t. • When the initial phoneme of the verb is any other consonant phoneme s, ɕ, t, ʈ, ts, tɕ, tsh, tɕh the final t of the prefix assimilates to the root-initial consonant and there is an audible gemination. • There is phonological stress on the prefix particularly when the negated verb is without any suffixation. There is also a negation marker - moŋ-maŋ which is suffixed to a finite verb, e.g. example 13.23. I gloss this morpheme as NEG.PST.EXP. It is the negative counterpart of -t ɕuŋ, which marks the direct experience for speakerhearer. Morphologically it seems to be a merger which explains why occasionally also mat-lit-t ɕuŋ ‘he did not arrive’ occurs. See also section 14.1.1. The operators that nominalize verbs are very common in Lhomi and all kinds of negations take place in those operations but they are not included in examples below. The negative prefixes mit- and mat- have merged with existentials and copulas as shown in table 13.4 and table 13.5. Table 13.4. Negative prefixes merging with equative copular verbs mit- +copula mit- + auxiliary Fused form Morpheme glosses of fused forms mit- + bet mem-pet NEG-COP mit- + him=pa mem=pa NEG.COP.EXP=Q mit- + hin- ʈo men- ʈo NEG.COP-PROB mit- + hin men NEG.COP.EXP mit- + hiŋ-køppet meŋ-køppet NEG.COP-INFER Table 13.5. Negative prefixes merging with existential copular verbs mit- +existential mit- +auxiliary Fused form Morpheme glosses of fused forms mit- +jøt mit NEG.EXIST.EXP mit- +jøp=pa mip=pa NEG.EXIST.EXP=Q mit- +jøppa bet mip-pa bet NEG.EXIST-NMLZ;Q AUX mit- +duk min-tuk NEG-EXIST.VIS mit- +jøʈ-ʈo miʈ-ʈo NEG.EXIST-PROB mit- + jøt- tɕaŋ mit- tɕaŋ NEG.EXIST-NFNT3

13.4.2 Negative prefix attached to the grammatical head of a finite volitional verb

The next examples illustrate some pairs of simple affirmative and negative clauses. 13 .9 ŋa nempet ʈhom-la ɖo-ken. 1SG tomorrow market-DAT go-NMLZ;CONJ ‘I will go to the market tomorrow.’ 13 .10 ŋa nempet ʈhom-la mit-ɖo. 1SG tomorrow market-DAT NEG-go[NPST] ‘I won’t go to the market tomorrow.’ First person negated declaratives of volitional verbs have only the negated verb root. See also section 13.6. 13 .11 ŋ-e phitsa-la tuwa luk-pen. 1SG-ERG child-DAT food put-1PST ‘I fed the porridge to the child.’ 13 .12 ŋ-e phitsa-la tuwa mat-luk. 1SG-ERG child-DAT food NEG-put[PST] ‘I did not feed the porridge to the child.’ Note that the past root of the verb stands alone when the clause is negated in the first person. This is true of all agentive verbs in nonpast and past tense. In other words the first person agentsubject of a negated agentive verb is marked in the verb as follows: NEG -V.root [NPST] NEG -V.root [PST] 13.13 am-e phitsa-la tuwa luk- soŋ. mother-ERG child-DAT food put-PST.VIS ‘Mother fed the food to the child.’ 13.14 am-e phitsa-la tuwa mat-luk- soŋ mother-ERG child-DAT food NEG-put-PST.VIS ‘Mother did not feed the food to the child.’

13.4.3 Negative prefix attached to the grammatical head of an unvolitional finite verb

13 .15 ŋ-e papa mat-ɕi-soŋ. 1SG-GEN father NEG-die-PST.VIS ‘My father did not die.’ 13 .16 ŋ-e khimtsi mat-ɕi-ja bet. 1SG-GEN neighbour NEG-die-NMLZ;Q AUX ‘My neighbour did not die.’ 13.17 t ɕheppa dʑak-kuk. rain VBZR-PROG;VIS ‘It is raining.’ No nominal argument with this ambient clause. 13.18 t ɕheppa mit-dʑak-pet. rain NEG-VBZR-INCH ‘It is not raining yet.’ The rain is about to start but has not started yet. The process raining cannot be negated before it has started. Therefore negated inchoative is used. 13.19 d ʑaa-p-ʏ phu-mu di-ki mat-ɕi king-M1-GEN daughter-F1 DEF-ERG NEG-die[IMP] mat- ɕi mat-ɕi NEG-die[IMP] NEG-die[IMP] ŋ-e tam ɕet joŋ tɕhi-pa bet. TE21 1SG-ERG speech speak intend say-NMLZ;Q AUX ‘Then the princess said, “Do not die Do not die Do not die I am going to tell the story.”’ The one who had tied a rope around his neck badly wanted to know the story of the princess and this was the only way he could force the princess to tell. The verb ɕi ‘to die’ of course is an unvolitional verb of type I which cannot be used in imperative. However, the same verb when an instrument-case marked instrument role is added means to commit suicide which is a volitional verb, roo raŋ-ɕi-ki ɕi-soŋ ‘he died by himself, he committed suicide’. Hence the negated imperative may be used. 13.20 u- ki ŋ-e kettɕa ha that-ERG 1SG-GEN language aud.impact mit-khoo-ken bet. NEG-hear;understand-NMLZ;CONJ AUX ‘He does not understand my talk or my language.’ Negating speakerhearer’s direct experience: 13.21 toto lit- moŋ. elder.brother arrive-NEG.PST.EXP ‘Elder brother didnt come while I was at home.’ Speaker is the experiencer of the non-event of arrival which means that he was at home when the brother was supposed to come home. This negation marker occurs only in connection with this particular evidentiality strategy see more in section 14.1.1. 13 .22 ŋa-la dukɕi noŋ-tɕuŋ. 1SG-DAT hardship experience-PST.EXP ‘I experienced hardships’. Or: ‘I had a tough time.’ 13 .23 ŋa-la dukɕi noŋ-moŋ. 1SG-DAT hardship experience-NEG.PST.EXP ‘I experienced no hardships.’

13.4.4 Negated existential copulas