‘Not’ to distinguish types of Nouns and nominalized clauses Negative imperatives

81 naŋ 33 a 31 le 33 tso 33 you don’t go should ‘Don’t you go’ Xu 2001:116 The copula is used only with the negative adverb ‘not’, whether in existential clauses or in negative questions Xu 2001:78–79. 82 ʑaŋ 33 aŋ 33 lai 31 lin 31 fu 33 ba 31 a 31 la 31 he student not be Q ‘Isn’t he a student?’ based on Xu 2001:79 Affirmative nominal predicates delete the copula Xu 2001:143. The homophonous declarative particle has a different syntactic position from the copula. 83 ga 33 a 31 aŋ 33 lai 31 ma 31 fu 33 I DECL teacher ‘I am a teacher.’ Xu 2001:143

5.2 Lahu negation

Lahu has a single negative adverb for ‘not’ and two for the negative imperative ‘don’t’.

5.2.1 ‘Not’ to distinguish types of

VP s The negative adverb ‘not’ is analytically useful in determining the difference between disyllabic verbs that are lexical compounds and verb-verb combinations that are resultative ‘catch fire’, ‘fit into’, since the first are never split by the adverb in negation, while the latter always are Matisoff 1973:208. In verb concatenations, where there are prehead versatiles, the adverb ‘not’ must precede the entire concatenation Matisoff 1973:266. 84 mâ q ɔ̀ʔ ga gu bù ʔ not again help revisefix write ‘It does not help rewrite it again.’ Matisoff 1973: 213, 219, 220, 238 When there are no prehead versatiles, the adverb ‘not’ may negate the entire VP , in which case it precedes the VP . Or it may negate subparts of the concatenation, which it then immediately precedes. These two sentences exemplify the contrast Matisoff 1973:267. 85 mâ ni m ɔ̀ not look see ‘Didn’t even look.’ 86 ni mâ m ɔ̀ look not see ‘Looked but didn’t see.’ Matisoff 1973:267

5.2.2 Nouns and nominalized clauses

Nouns and nominalized clauses are negated periphrastically, with the phrase meaning ‘it is not the case’ Matisoff 1973:269: 87 lâhū-yâ mâ hêʔ Lahu not case ‘He’s not a Lahu.’ 88 š ɔ́ pɔ̄ qay ve mâ hê ʔ. phà ʔ qay ve yò tomorrow go NOM not the case day after go NOM yes AFFIRM ‘It’s not the case that I’m going tomorrow; I’m going the day after.’ Matisoff 1973:269

5.2.3 Negative imperatives

The negative imperative is often softened by adding the “persuasive” final particle to make it more urging. The negative imperative is usually used with action verbs, and not with adjectives, so ‘Don’t be fat’ must expressed paraphrastically Matisoff 1973:271. So the first example below is unacceptable because the negative imperative cannot be used with an adjective. 89 tâ chu don’t fat ‘Don’t be fat.’ 90 chú ɛ̀ tâ te fat ADV don’t do ‘Don’t be fat’ literally, ‘don’t do fatly’. Matisoff 1973:271 There is a sarcastic negative imperative that is used less frequently Matisoff 1973:358: 91 câ mâ-yo- ʔ eat don’t ‘OK, don’t eat but you’ll be sorry later….’ Matisoff 1973:358, 682 5.2.3.2 Negative probability Negative probability is expressed by a particle that is a negative polarity item; it can only be used if the preceding verb has been negated. 92 ŋà ve mâ hê ʔ tà I POSS not case probability ‘It’s probably not mine.’ Matisoff 1973:349

5.3 Lalo negation