Az ugor tagadásról
The Negation in Ugrian Languages

Summary/Abstract: The author is fi nding a common denominator for the seemingly discrepant elements of negation and prohibition of Ugrian languages (Ostyak en - äl - ent (m), Vogul at - ul - at'i(m), Hungarian nem - ne - nincsen, nincsenek and the interrogative particle -e) in the Uralic negative auxiliary stem e- i-. In contradistinction to most of the cognate languages the verbal character of the negative auxiliary was preserved only partially in Ugrian. Nevertheless the traces of a one time full verbal auxiliary paradigm are seen through differentiation in modality by virtue of vowel rotation in ObUgrian and by virtue of complementary distribution of grammatical persons as well as grammatical numbers in Hungarian. The initial n- of Hungarian negative particles ne, nem, nincs etc. is considered an inetimological consonant, since it is a prothetic nasal developed in the separate life of Hungarian as written records from the XVth century indicate. The originial negative stem with vowel initial e- i- has been preserved in the interrogative particle of general questions, e.g. Igaz-e? 'Is it true, it isn't?'

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