A grammar of negation in Tonga.
Date
2019
Authors
Nkolola, Sheila
Journal Title
Journal ISSN
Volume Title
Publisher
The University of Zambia
Abstract
The study examined A Grammar of Negation in Tonga. The research was explored in order to
investigate the morphological, syntactic and the semantic structure of negation in Tonga. The
objectives of the study were; to analyze the morphology of negation in Tonga, to examine the
syntactic distribution and some semantic aspects of negation in Tonga. In particular, the study
examined incorporation, productivity of negative markers across the noun class system, the
necessity of the negative marker ‘ta’ within a statement and the negative concord. Secondary and
Primary sources were employed in data collection.
The study employed a qualitative approach and the findings were analyzed in line with the
objectives. The major negative markers under discussion include: ‘ta’, ‘na’, ‘ni’, ‘ti’, ‘pe’, ‘tu’,
‘li’ and ‘he’ . From the morphological point of view, the study reveals that negation is manifested
through prefixation and suffixation.
Following the Jespersen’s cycle theory, the negative marker ‘ta’ is considered as an original
negator or necessity in the sense that, when it is dropped in a negative expression, the statement
loses its grammaticality. The example is illustrated as: Utakkali pe,’ direct translated as ‘you
should not sit no’. When the negative marker ‘ta’ is dropped, the statement is presented as:
*Ukkali pe ‘you sit not’. From the given illustrations, the second statement is considered
ungrammatical because of the absence of the original negative marker ‘ta’. Hence, the negative
marker ‘ta’ generates the theme called necessity.
Nonetheless, the negative markers ‘li’ and ‘ta’ are considered to be the most productive elements
in the noun class system. The marker ‘li’ can be applied in the noun class (1); these are nouns that
begin with the morpheme ‘mu’. An example is illustrated as: Tali Muntu ‘it is not a person’,
among others.
Syntactically, the theory of negation that encompasses sentential and constituent negation played
a very important role in this study. With regards to sentential negation, the negative marker scopes
over the entire sentence whereas constituent negation focuses on a particular category.
Semantically, the study reveals that Tonga is a negative concord language; this is because most
of the negative expressions manifest more than one negative marker with a single interpretation.
Having achieved the study’s objectives, the study recommends other studies to investigate a
comparison of negation between English and Tonga and other Bantu languages.
Description
Thesis of Master of Arts in Linguistic Science.