I wonder if in structures of the type "not the cat,
but the dog ate the cheese cake" that you can meet in
any i.e. language, if not in any language, the
negative bears on the following noun only and neither
on the main verb or clause. Is it not the same in Pâli
?

Metta

Jacques Huynen

--- rett <rett@...> wrote:

> >
> >
> >I read Speijer's Sanskrit Syntax 401, find that
> 'na'
> >sometimes could negative only single words, which
> are
> >usually put just after 'na', not the whole
> statement.
> >Does this apply to Pali too? How do we know when
> na
> >negatives single words and when the whole
> statement?
> >just by context?
> >I very much appreciate any comment.
> >
>
> Dear Tzung-Kuen and group,
>
> Interesting question. I mostly rely on context to
> determine the scope of negation, but there may very
> well be some patterns of word order that play a role
> as well.
>
> An interesting piece of the puzzle is that sometimes
> negating a single word and negating the whole
> statement amount to the same thing. I'm thinking of
> cases where the word 'na' negates the finite verb.
> By negating the main verbal action you effectively
> negate the sentence as a whole.
>
> I'll keep an eye peeled for interesting examples of
> negation. And maybe someone has a fuller answer to
> the question.
>
> best regards,
>
> /Rett
>

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