Negation in Kho-Bwa: A typological comparison

Abstract

The Kho-Bwa languages Puroik (Sulung), Bugun (Khowa), Sherdukpen, Sartang, Khispi (Lishpa) and Duhumbi (Chugpa) are generally presumed to form a small, coherent cluster within the Sino-Tibetan language family. They are spoken in western and central Arunachal Pradesh in Northeast India. The latter four languages form an established subgroup, the Western Kho-Bwa languages. The Kho-Bwa languages are characterized by a few typologically idiosyncratic negative forms and negation strategies. The inherited Kho-Bwa negation prefix is *ba, unlike basically all other Sino-Tibetan languages that have negation markers deriving from a bilabial nasal onset, *ma. The Kho-Bwa negation prefix is a real prefix, forming a single phonological unit with the verbal or deverbalised form it modifies. Unlike some neighboring languages, such as the Tani languages that have post-verbal negation, negation in the Kho-Bwa languages is predominantly, but not exclusively, pre-verbal, more like other neighboring languages, such as the Bodish and Hrusish languages. Specific negation strategies that show variation within the Kho-Bwa languages and may serve as means to further sub-group them include the strategies for negation of derived adjectives, the negation of serial verb constructions, the negation of noun-verb compounds and the form of the negative imperative (prohibitive).