Negation in Kabyle (Berber)

Authors

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.6092/jalalit.v2i2.8059

Abstract

Berber languages display a number of characteristic asymmetries in negative utterances as compared to positive ones. This paper focuses on Kabyle, and analyzes its main typological characteristics concerning negation, namely an asymmetry at the level of the aspect-mood system, a binary distinction between two non-verbal negative predications (existential-locative and attributive-equative), as well as a postverbal ‘reinforcement’ strategy whose grammaticalization and prosody will be analyzed in detail. Other dimensions of negation are presented, in order to give an overview of the system as a whole. The synthesis puts the Kabyle system of negation into perspective within the Berber language family.
KEY WORDS: negation, Berber, Kabyle, typology, aspect-mood

Author Biography

Amina Mettouchi, EPHE-PSL / CNRS-LLACAN

Amina Mettouchi is Professor at the Ecole Pratique des Hautes Etudes (EPHE-PSL) in Paris, where she holds the Berber Linguistics Chair. She is a member of the LLACAN CNRS Research unit. Her research spans the whole Berber language family, and her main areas of expertise are: aspect, mood, negation and reference in Berber; the interaction between prosody, information structure and syntax in Kabyle; the role of corpora in cross-linguistic research (AfroAsiatic, Typology); grammaticalization and comparative Berber morphosyntax; language documentation and endangered Berber languages; oral tradition, prosody and gesture. She has been working on negation in Berber for the last thirty years and is the author of several publications on this topic. https://llacan.cnrs.fr/pers/mettouchi/ 

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Published

2021-05-29

Issue

No. 2 (2021): Journal of African Languages and Literatures

Section

Research articles