@article{472174,
  author     = {Romero, Sergio F.},
  journal    = {International Journal of American Linguistics},
  number     = {1},
  pages      = {77–96},
  title      = {A Maya Version of Jespersen's Cycle: The Diachronic Evolution of Negative Markers in K'iche' Maya},
  url        = {http://www.jstor.org/stable/10.1086/662638},
  volume     = {78},
  year       = {2012},
  abstract   = {This article is a quantitative study of the diachronic evolution of negation in K'iche' Maya. The latter can be summarized as a version of Jespersen's Cycle in which a single negator anteceding the predicate head (NO1) was replaced by a counterfactual marker reanalyzed as negator in post-predicate head position (NO2). The original negator was reanalyzed as an optional negative polarity item in indicative clauses without losing its independent negative feature in non-indicative contexts. The reanalysis started with unrelated changes that led first to the disappearance of a small class of clitic particles attaching onto the negator. These particles acted as negative force intensifiers or inter-sentential linkers and were widespread in Classical K'iche' texts. Similar collusions of pragmatic, phonological, and syntactic changes have shaped the syntax of negation in other Mayan languages.},
  doi        = {10.1086/662638},
  inlg       = {English [eng]},
  issn       = {0020-7071},
  lgcode     = {K'iche' [kich1262]},
  macro_area = {North America},
  src        = {haspelmath}
}