negative (2)

enclitic n/a

Proto-Siouan-Catawba

Proto-Siouan *aši

Pre-Mandan

Mandan -xi- ~ -rįx- ‘negative’ RTC

Proto-Mississipi-Valley *ašE

Proto-Dakota *-šE

Lakota -š ‘adversative’ RTC , -šnį- ‘negative’ RTC

Assiniboine -šį ‘negative’

Stoney -šį ‘negative’

Proto-Hoocąk-Chiwere *ži

Chiwere š- [š- in the compound š-ku-ñį neg] RR

Hoocąk -ži ‘at least; focus marker’ WL , -ži ‘weak dubitative (neg 1)’ , ’š-gų́-nį , šgųnį, gųnį

Proto-Dhegiha *aži

Omaha-Ponca aži ‘neg.’ JOD

Kanza/Kaw aži ‘neg.’ RR

Osage aži ‘neg.’ RR

Quapaw aži ‘neg.’ RR

Proto-Southeastern

Proto-Biloxi-Ofo

Biloxi atcí , †ačí ‘oh, no!’ D&S:174b

General comment

Biloxi maintains this root as an independent interjection. In DH aži usually functions as a conjugated negative auxiliary. Mandan, Lakota, Dakota and Chiwere/Hoocąk have reanalyzed (resegmented) the initial a- of the enclitic as a verb stem-final ablauted vowel. This morpheme has undergone additional reduction like most of the negative morphology in several of the subgroups. Mandan shows the x fricative symbolism grade. In Mandan the negative has two allomorphs, -xi after vowels, and -rįx after consonants. The first of these is a reflex (in the x-grade) of Proto-Siouan *aši the second is a complex of Proto-Siouan *-rį ‘negative (3)’ and *aši. Lakota also combines ‘adversative’ -š- (Boas and Deloria’s term), the local reflex of *aši, with -ni the reflex of ‘negative (3)’, to form the most common Dakotan negative. Assiniboine and Stoney nasalization is probably a product of long association with *-rį cf. Lakota and Dakota šni ‘negative’; the nasalization is found nowhere else in Siouan. However, although ‘adversative’ requires the -a ending of a preceding verb stem, the general negative requires the -e ending. This leads some Siouanists to suspect that -š ‘adversative’ and the initial š- of the general negative have different etymologies. Cf. ‘<a class="Parameter" href="https://csd.clld.org/parameters/871" title="emphatic, contrastive, but">emphatic, contrastive, but</a>’.

Language Cognate Phonetic Siouan Meaning Comment Sources