A BRIEF DESCRIPTION ON DOUBLE NEGATION IN ANAKALANGU, CENTRAL SUMBA

Abstract

This paper aims at describing double negation in Anakalangu, Central Sumba-Indonesia. Anakalangu is a morphologically-synthetic language in which its word-morpheme ratio can be 1:3 up to 1:4. It also has SVO order. Data in this research were collected through elicitation and recording processes. Then they were analysed by using Miestamo (2007), Dahl (1979) and Klamer (1998). Results show that negative constructions in Anakalangu clearly involve double negators where NEG1 is located in pre-verbal and NEG2 is found in post-verbal positions. From seven negative structures provided by Miestamo (2007), standard negators in Anakalangu are ‘da-, -ma’ ; its imperative negators are ‘abu-, -di’ ; its existential are ‘da-, ai-mang/-u’ ; its nominal and adjectival negators are ‘da-,-ma’ ; its temporal negators are ‘dhadhi-,-ma/-e’ and its locative negators are ‘da-,ai-ma’. Moreover, the presence of negative constructions in Anakalangu verbal and non-verbal phrases in fact make them morphologically denser than the rest of phrases. Interestingly, our observation finds that double negation in Anakalangu probably fills one of Jespersen’s stage where NEG2 located in post-verbal situations tends to be omitted without changing the meaning of the sentence although it needs more investigation.