9. Negation

There are a number of negation strategies in Yawarana. The most general negator is the particle =jra, which can negate a number of constructions. It occurs encliticized to transitive and intransitive verbs , nouns , adverbs , and postpositions .

1. kukurujra tëwï
  
  kukuru =jra kuku -ru =jra answer-ipfv=neg
  
  tëwï tëwï 3pro
  
  ‘They didn't answer.’ ()
2. uyarë wïrë wïnïkïrïjra
  
  u =yarë u =yarë 1=alone
  
  wïrë wïrë 1pro
  
  wïnïkïrï =jra wïnïkï -rï =jra sleep-ipfv=neg
  
  ‘I did not sleep apart.’ ()
3. aaa, ijtarijra ta
  
  aaa aaa ah
  
  ijtari =jra i- jta -ri =jra 3-foot-pert=neg
  
  ta ta like
  
  ‘Ah, without his legs.’ ()
4. entë ma teijpojra wejtane
  
  entë entë here.loc
  
  ma ma rst
  
  teijpo =jra teijpo =jra far=neg
  
  wejtane wej -tane cop-cncs
  
  ‘Although it is close to here.’ ()
5. toto waimu yayejra
  
  toto toto non_Indian
  
  waimu waimu -∅ language-pert
  
  yaye =jra yaye =jra loc=neg
  
  ‘Not in Spanish.’ ()

On verbs, it sometimes occurs with an overt allomorph of -ri , sometimes its zero allomorph, shown in .

wïrë wajyakïtïjra taro wïrë ta wïrë ya

wïrë wïrë 1pro

wajyakïtï =jra wajyakïtï -∅ =jra be_happy-ipfv=neg

taro taro -∅ say-ipfv

wïrë wïrë 1pro

ta ta -∅ say-ipfv

wïrë wïrë 1pro

ya ya erg

‘I’m saying I am not happy.’ (Conversación sobre la risa entre GrMe y ElPe : 24)

This variation is found in other contexts as well, but the conditioning factors of the deletion are currently unknown (see 6.2.1). However, in the case of jra, it may occur for a different reason entirely. Historically, a verb suffixed with *-rï and followed by a particle *pïra was a distinct construction from a verb with an adverbializing negative suffix *-pïra and followed by a copula (Gildea and Meira 2016, Cáceres 2016).