SHIFTS IN THE NEGATIVE CONJUGATION OF SOME FORMS OF THE LITERARY EASTERN ARMENIAN LANGUAGE

Abstract

Disagreements over the existence and use of different forms of the three tenses in
question (հարակատար + չէ // չի + հարակատար; մի՛ գրեք // մի՛ գրեցեք; չպիտի գրի
// պիտի չգրի) lead to a preference for one or the other form, or one of the options is selected.
Research, which is largely based on the statistics of the use of the mentioned forms in written
and oral speech (according to the data of Արեւակ), “comes” to the following conclusions: a) in
the modern Eastern Armenian language the third person singular of the (participle + եմ)
paradigm can also be expressed by (չի + participle) with the auxiliary preceding the participle,
and the latter should be accepted as a canonical variant, and parallelly used with the regular
(participle + չէ) paradigm; b) the versions (մի՛ գրեք//մի՛ գրեցեք) discussed in the plural
paradigm of the modern Armenian prohibitive imperative should be fixed as optional; of course, the present tense formations should be considered as preferred options; c) in the compulsive mood, in structures with modals «պիտի and պետք է», where the forms with «պիտի» have an incomparably active use, unconditionally prevail with the negative modal
(չպիտի գնա, չպիտի խոսի, չպիտի երգի) and not with the negative verb formations
(պիտի չգնա, պիտի չխոսի, պիտի չերգի). Therefore, considering both optional canons as
normal, preference should be given to the version with a negative modal.