Stories behind post-verbal negation clustering

Abstract

Post-verbal markers of negation were once thought to be rare cross-linguistically, but as more has been learned about more languages, it has become clear that such markers occur in a number of parts of the world. Moreover, they often appear in areal clusters, suggesting that language contact may play a role in their development. Such a cluster can be seen in a well-known linguistic area of North America, Indigenous Northern California. Languages in the area show parallel negative constructions, but without shared substance. Here it is shown how such parallelisms may have come about.