Klallam Grammar

9.2. Not

In Klallam, as in many languages around the world, the word for ‘not’ is the same as the word for ‘no.’ This appears in phrases where English would use words like ‘didn’t,’ ‘won’t,’ ‘isn’t,’ and so on. We say that this ‘not’ negates the statement or idea. For example, in ‘He is going’ and ‘He is not going,’ the ‘not’ negates the idea that he is going. In ‘It is a canoe’ and ‘It is not a canoe,’ the ‘not’ negates the idea that it is a canoe.

In such phrases Klallam uses a combination of ʔáwə at the beginning of the sentence with a special little word c (that’s right, just c) that comes before the main verb of the negated part of the statement. We will call this little word the ‘negative c.’ Usually a sentence beginning with ʔáwə will also have a negative c.

There are some cases in which ʔáwə and the negative c do not go together. These are cases in which the meaning involves the time expression ‘never.’ That construction is covered in §19.4.
 

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