Datapoint Kriol/The prohibitive

Two prohibitive constructions are found in the speech of older generation Victoria River District Kriol speakers, one employing the general negator nomo and the standard imperative form, and one a special negator don (< Engl. don't) with the standard imperative form (in both cases, a second person pronoun may or may not be used, as in the imperative). Impressionistically, the latter construction is more acrolectal and less frequent.

Values

Normal imperative construction and normal negator Frequency: 70.0%

Example 25-23:
Yu nomo washim bla mi kloth.
Yu
2sg
nomo
neg
wash-im
wash-tr
bla
dat/poss
mi
1sg
kloth.
clothes
You never wash my clothes for me. (uttered as a complaint)
Example 25-243:
"Holum taid!" im reken jad lilboi la im drim
"Hol-um
hold-tr
taid!"
tight
im
3sg
reken
think/say
jad
dem
lilboi
little.boy
la
loc
im
3sg
drim
dream
"Hold it tight" he said/thought, the little boy in his dream

Source: Galmurr and Willika 1996

Example 25-244:
Nomo yu kolimbat tru, olmen!
Nomo
neg
yu
2sg
kol-im-bat
call-tr-prog
tru,
true
olmen!
older.man
Don't you claim this is true, old man!
Example 25-245:
Libim! [...] nomo yu jeisim, yu libim, wot fo yu jeisim.
Lib-im!
leave-tr
[...]
[...]
nomo
neg
yu
2sg
jeis-im,
chase-tr
yu
2sg
lib-im,
leave-tr
wot
what
fo
for
yu
2sg
jeis-im.
chase-tr
Leave it alone! Don't chase it! Leave it, why do you chase it?
Example 25-246:
Nomo beltimbat! Yu jas tekim thatsol!
Nomo
neg
belt-im-bat!
belt-tr-prog
Yu
2sg
jas
just
tek-im
take-tr
thatsol!
that's.all
Don't hit him! Just take him (away)!
Example 25-249:
Ei, olmen, yu weit na! Yu gada gibit la melabat du sambala shuga. Melabat wandi shuga du.
Ei,
ey
olmen,
old.man
yu
2sg
weit
wait
na!
now
Yu
2sg
gada
fut/oblig
gib-it
give-tr
la
loc
melabat
1pl.excl
du
too
sam-bala
some-adj2
shuga.
sugar
Melabat
1pl.excl
wandi
want
shuga
sugar
du.
too
Hey, old man, wait now! You've got to give us some sugar too. We want sugar too.

Source: Angelo et al. 1998

Confidence:
Certain

Normal imperative construction and special negator Frequency: 30.0%

Example 25-111:
Olabat nomo sabi slip.
Olabat
3pl
nomo
neg
sabi
know
slip.
sleep
They don't [know how to] sleep. (Referring to young people who are making noise in the night)
Example 25-247:
Don idim na!
Don
neg.imp
id-im
eat-tr
na!
now
Don't eat it!
Example 25-248:
Don go gota but!
Don
neg.imp
go
go
gota
com
but!
boot
Don't go with boots (on)!
Example 25-249:
Ei, olmen, yu weit na! Yu gada gibit la melabat du sambala shuga. Melabat wandi shuga du.
Ei,
ey
olmen,
old.man
yu
2sg
weit
wait
na!
now
Yu
2sg
gada
fut/oblig
gib-it
give-tr
la
loc
melabat
1pl.excl
du
too
sam-bala
some-adj2
shuga.
sugar
Melabat
1pl.excl
wandi
want
shuga
sugar
du.
too
Hey, old man, wait now! You've got to give us some sugar too. We want sugar too.

Source: Angelo et al. 1998

Confidence:
Certain