Evidences Indicating that the Adverb"m?i"Is a Univerbation of"m-s?i"in Guangzhou Dialect
"mɐi"(咪)is a common negative adverb in Guangzhou dialect that expresses prohibition or dissuasion.According to the dialect survey data and the historical literature of the dialect,it is proved that the forbidding words"mɐi"in Guangzhou dialect is a combination of the negative structure"m-sɐi"(唔使)from both the phonological and semantic aspects."mɐi"and"sɐi"in the negative structure"m-sɐi"used to be pro-nounced as a yinshang tone.The current yangshang reading is a tone adjustment based on the the voiced nasal features of its initial consonant;"m-sɐi"was historically used usage of to mean necessity negation or prohibi-tive negation.The abbreviation of"m-sɐi"to"mɐi"is realized in prohibitive imperative sentences,and the abbreviated"mei"inherits the prohibitive negation of"m-sɐi".
negative words"mɐi""m-sɐi"disyllabic wordsphonological and semantic evolution
NETL
NSTL
万方数据
