Tense and Aspect in Izọ́n Negation Marker.

In the most, it is established that natural languages code Tense, Aspect, Agreement (TAM) and other grammatical categories on the inflection (INFL) node with the VP shell representing its complement. Thus, a verb in a natural language may inflect for TAM features overtly or otherwise in varied ways. This paper examines the distinctive features of the Izọ́n INFL node with particular reference to the morpho-syntactic manifestations of tense and aspect in Negative polarity. The elements -m-ii and -minimi are isolated for past, present and future tenses in Izọ́n, while de and -ii instantiates perfective and imperfective aspects respectively. Three distinct negation (NEG) markers are identified namely; -gha', -kmo and e'in. While -gha' distinguishes reference time based on the specified time in an underlying affirmative clause, -kmo clusters round present time on the time line as such negates only in imperative clauses otherwise translates as an adverbial. e'in is distinguished as an unexpanded polar response element, while na'a' is an auxiliary. The study is cast within the framework-free approach and posits that, the choice to make in negating an underlying proposition with the tense or aspect feature intact is not only triggered by the clause type but by the tense or aspect marking on the core-predicate. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]