On the grammaticalization of Japanese verbal negative marker

Abstract

AbstractIn Japanese, the verbal negative markernaiappears in both negated verbs (as a sentential negator) and compound negative adjectives (as an affix). Negativenaiused as a sentential negator is a syntactically independent word devoid of adjectival properties despite its adjectival inflection, whereas negativenaiappearing in negative adjectives is a derivational affix. On the basis of idiomatic expressions, the present article argues that the lexical wordnai‘null, empty’ has developed into the affixnaiwhile retaining its lexical properties via morphologization. On the other hand, the functional negatornaiis argued to have emerged from the same lexical wordnaivia decategorialization, which induces a shift from a lexical to a functional category. The analysis taking the two uses ofnaito trace back to the common source of the lexical negative adjective wordnaiprovides a natural account for whynaihas these two totally different uses.