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Negators and Quantifiers

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Negation in Mon

In Mon, the negator precedes the verb:

1. John taye.
John sing

'John sings.'

2. John hù'7 taye.
John no sing

'John does not sing.'

3. John te'm.
John know

'John knows.'

4. John hù'7 te'm..
John no know

'John does not know.'

5. John mòa¹ hù'7 te'm.
John one no know

'John doesn't know anything.'

All the data that we've received seems to indicate that there is no equivalent to the English negator not in Mon.

Instead, the word hù'7 (no) is used to express negation in all Mon sentences as opposed to English which uses no initially in response to yes/no questions and the do+not construction in non-initial positions as in example 5.

Therefore, negation in Mon more closely resembles negation in Spanish which also lacks the English do+not construction and makes use of only no (no). Example 7, which is a yes/no sentence that uses hù'7 as in example 5, proves this:

6. Ca'kaw tè'h tay7 po ha.
you like kick soccer question marker

'Do you like soccer?'

7. Hù'7 tè'h ca't wo'in po.
no like play soccer

'No, I don't like soccer.'

Negative Quantifiers

8. Manè kraw lange taye mò'ng.
people man some sing prog

'Some men are singing.'

9. Manè kraw mòa hù'7 taye mò'ng.
people man one no sing prog

'No men are singing.'

10. Nyeh mòa hù'7 taye mò'ng.
he one no sing prog

'Nobody is singing.'

11. John tè'h tù'ng cia7 sayng kì pa7ong nyi nye'a.
[ John feels ]  [   pain    ] [ a little ]

'John feels little pain.'

Quantifiers in Mon

Some quantifiers in Mon are formed by repeating pronouns as can be seen in example 18 while others are expressed by individual words accompanied by NPs:

12. Manè kraw pha7a't cia7 mò'ng.
people man all eat prog

'All men are eating.'

Or you could also say:

13. Manè kraw kamalayn cia7 mò'ng.
people man a lot     eat    prog

'All men are eating.'

14. Nyeh to'7 sa'm ba cia7 mò'ng.
[ both      ]    eat prog

'Both men are eating.'

15. Manè kraw    klàyn   cia7 mò'ng.
people man many eat prog

'Many men are eating'

16. Came'p manè kraw cia7 mò'ng.
each people man eat progresive marker

'Each man is eating.'

17. John tè'h tù'ng cia7 sayng kì pa7ong kwe7 kwe7
[          John feels ] [ pain ] [   much     ]

'John feels much pain.'

18. Nyeh nyeh 7ua 7ua toit mò'ng.
he he I I sleep progressive marker

'Every person is sleeping.'

Comparatives and Superlatives

In Mon, there are no equivalents for the English comparatives and superlatives more, most, least, etc... These concepts are expressed with the use of quantifiers:

19. John me'-wiang² nùm klàyng nùka' Jen.
John marbles have a lot than Jen

'John has more marbles than Jen.'

20. John me'-wiang nùm klàyng 7a't.
John marbles have a lot most

'John has the most marbles.'

21. John me'-wiang nùm nyi nye'a nùka' Jen.
John marbles have [ a little ] than Jen

'John has fewer marbles than Jen.'

Or you could also say:

22. John me'-wiang nùm hù'7 klàyng nùka' Jen.
John marbles have not a lot than Jen

'John has fewer marbles than Jen.'

23. John tè'h tù'ng cie sayng kì pa7ong 7oin núka' Jen.
[ John feels ] [ pain ] little than Jen

'John feels less pain than Jen.'

24. John tè'h tù'ng cie sayng kì pa7ong³ 7oin 7a't.
[ John feels ] [ pain ] little most

' John feels the least pain.'

25. John tè'h tù'ng cie sayng kì 7oin 7a't.
[ John feels ] pain little most

'John feels the least pain.'

Quantifiers used with countable and uncountable nouns

26. manè lange
people few or some

'few people'

27. che'n nyi nye'a
love [ little ]

'little love'

28.

Footnotes:

1. Mòa appears frequently in negative sentences of Mon and seems to form the English equivalent of no one thing or nothing (anything is used in 5 presciptively) as in example 5 or no one person or nobody as in example 10 when it used in conjuction with hù'7. Therefore, example five can be thought of in English as John doesn't know one thing, or example 10 can be thought of as Not one person is singing.

2. Wiang in Me'-wiang translates to play (wo'in > wiang) and acts as a unit syntactically.

3. Pa7ong is optional and may be omitted.