Negation in Murrinhpatha

Abstract

This chapter discusses negation strategies in Murrinhpatha, a non-Pama-Nyungan polysynthetic language from the Daly region of northern Australia. Murrinhpatha is spoken by 2500–3000 people, mainly located in the remote township of Wad eye (Port Keats) in the Northern Territory, where it is the language of daily communication and one of a small number of Australian languages still learned as a first language by all children in the community. Standard negation structures in Murrinhpatha are typical for languages of northern Australia, with an initial negative particle combining with a verb in irrealis mood; therefore of the mixed Type SymAsy category of Miestamo (2013). The expression of negat..