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ERIC Number: EJ1284905
Record Type: Journal
Publication Date: 2021
Pages: 19
Abstractor: As Provided
ISBN: N/A
ISSN: EISSN-1305-578X
EISSN: N/A
Privative Constructions in Mesoamerica: How Do Languages without 'Without' Actually Function?
Vinogradov, Igor
Journal of Language and Linguistic Studies, v17 spec iss 1 p384-402 2021
Languages in the Mesoamerican linguistic area have been reported to lack a dedicated means of expressing the privative meaning that encodes the absence of a participant in a situation. This micro-typological study identifies alternative strategies that the languages in this area employ to function without dedicated privative markers, namely borrowing the Spanish preposition sin, the use of regular negative constructions, including negative existential and copulative constructions, and developing functionally restricted markers for particular semantic domains (body parts, clothes, and so forth). The fact that Mesoamerican languages are averse to the use of negative comitative or instrumental constructions supports that privatives have a more complex semantic nature than a simple negation of possession, existence, or comitativity. A notable similarity in the privative constructions employed in Mesoamerica and in the languages to the north reflects the linguistic relationship between Mesoamerica and the American Southwest.
Journal of Language and Linguistic Studies. Hacettepe Universitesi, Egitim Fakultesi B Blok, Yabanci Diller Egitimi Bolumu, Ingiliz Dili Egitimi Anabilim Dali, Ankara 06800, Turkey. e-mail: jllsturkey@gmail.com; Web site: http://www.jlls.org
Publication Type: Journal Articles; Reports - Research
Education Level: N/A
Audience: N/A
Language: English
Sponsor: N/A
Authoring Institution: N/A
Identifiers - Location: South America; United States
Grant or Contract Numbers: N/A