Abstract
This article is a quantitative study of the diachronic evolution of negation in K’iche’ Maya. The latter can be summarized as a version of Jespersen’s Cycle in which a single negator anteceding the predicate head (NO1) was replaced by a counterfactual marker reanalyzed as negator in post-predicate head position (NO2). The original negator was reanalyzed as an optional negative polarity item in indicative clauses without losing its independent negative feature in non-indicative contexts. The reanalysis started with unrelated changes that led first to the disappearance of a small class of clitic particles attaching onto the negator. These particles acted as negative force intensifiers or inter-sentential linkers and were widespread in Classical K’iche’ texts. Similar collusions of pragmatic, phonological, and syntactic changes have shaped the syntax of negation in other Mayan languages.
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