Negation in Tundra Nenets

Abstract

The paper provides an analysis of Tundra Nenets (Northern Samoyedic) negative constructions. Firstly, different aspects of clausal negation will be analysed, such as standard negation by negative auxiliary (ńiiś) and the negation of non-declarative and non-verbal clauses, which are mainly negated by the standard negative auxiliary, too. In addition, certain non-verbal predicates can only be negated by a negative existential verb (jaŋkoś). Furthermore, there are also negative auxiliaries and negative lexical verbs having some other meaning beyond the negation. Secondly, the paper focuses on non-clausal negative structures, so the structures and types of negative replies, indefinites and abessive/caritive negation are also described here. Finally, other aspects of negation (i.e. scope of negation, negative polarity, case marking under negation, negative conjunctions and non-negative use of negatives) are analysed.