Japanese negation

Japanese negates a plain verb with the suffix -na- on its stem, and the negative inflects as an adjective: tabe-ru 'eats' has the negative tabe-na-i and tabe-ta 'ate' the negative tabe-na-katta, with the adjectival endings -i and -katta, not the verbal -ru and -ta. In the polite style the negative -en stands in place of the nonpast ending, tabe-mas-u and tabe-mas-en, and the past negative adds the past of the polite copula, tabe-mas-en deshita beside tabe-mashi-ta, where -mashi- is the form of -mas- before -ta. A plain verb thus becomes an adjective under negation, the adjectival tense endings replacing the verbal ones, while each affirmative form keeps its own negative. Miestamo's examples, from Hinds's grammar, are rows of Data.Examples.Miestamo2005.

Main definitions

• Japanese.Negation.na, Japanese.Negation.en: the plain and the polite negative suffix
• Japanese.Negation.adjectivalEndings: the adjectival tense endings

References

• [Mie05]
• [Hin88]

def Japanese.Negation.na : Negation.Marker

The plain negative suffix -na-, inflected as an adjective.

Equations

• Japanese.Negation.na = { pieces := [[Morphology.Morph.suff "na"]] }

def Japanese.Negation.en : Negation.Marker

The polite negative suffix -en.

Equations

• Japanese.Negation.en = { pieces := [[Morphology.Morph.suff "en"]] }

def Japanese.Negation.adjectivalEndings : List Morphology.Morph

The adjectival tense endings, the non-past -i and the past -katta.

Equations

• Japanese.Negation.adjectivalEndings = [Morphology.Morph.suff "i", Morphology.Morph.suff "katta"]

def Japanese.Negation.standard : List Negation.Marker

The standard negators.

Equations

• Japanese.Negation.standard = [Japanese.Negation.na, Japanese.Negation.en]