Prohibitives: why two thirds of the world's languages are unlike Dutch

Abstract

Most languages of the world have prohibitive constructions that use a negative marker than is more or less dedicated to this construction, rather than a negative that also serves in declarative constructions. The explanation has to appeal to aspect. Declarative negation is inherently stative, but prohibition is inherently dynamic. The negative of the declarative is therefore not well suited to appear in prohibitives.