The Rise of Negative Markers in Vietnamese: Evidence from Primary Nôm Texts

This paper explores the transformation of the Sino-Vietnamese word không, originally meaning ‘empty/void,’ into a clausal negator in Vietnamese. Through a comparative analysis of its interpretation, collocational usage, and function alongside native Vietnamese negators, chăng and chẳng, in primary Nôm texts, we observe a diachronic competition among these negators, resulting in không evolving from a non-standard existential negator into a standard negator. Our analysis reveals a more intricate grammaticalization process than previously assumed, including an intermediate step related to negative existential. This process aligns with Croft's negative existential cycle, underscoring the interplay between existentials and negation, incorporating universal linguistic processes like domain extension and phonological fusion. Our key finding suggests that Sino-Vietnamese không transitions into a negator due to two main factors: the negative existential cycle (internal) and competition for standardization with native Vietnamese negators (external).