Chapter 127Absence and Lack: Isam and Sak

127.1 An absent entity

Isam is an intransitive verb meaning ‘not exist’, ‘be absent’, or ‘disappear’. It supplies a lexical negative counterpart to an and oka ‘exist’ Tamura (1996: s.v. isam)Bugaeva (2012: 496). The absent entity is its subject. A locative expression can identify where the absence holds.

Isam can describe a change as well as a state. Tamura's entry includes gradually diminishing, running out, and dying Tamura (1996: s.v. isam). For positive existence and location, see Chapter 97 (Existential and Locational Predicates).

127.2 Lacking something with sak

Sak is transitive: the subject lacks something, and the lacked entity is its object. Tamura contrasts it directly with kor ‘have’ in a narrative about parents Tamura (1996: s.v. sak, transitive-verb entry).

The noun's form can reflect the difference in construction. Tamura compares hon ka sak ‘have no belly’, with a concept-form object, and honihi ka isam, where the possessed noun identifies the absent belly Tamura (1996: s.v. sak). The dictionary attributes the two conversational examples to W and S respectively; they illustrate its comparison across two speakers.

127.3 Lexical alternatives and their limits

The lexical pairs are useful starting points, but their existence alone does not prove that every analytic negative is impossible. Dal Corso reports southern Hokkaido somo kor alongside sak, with a pragmatic difference, on information from Nakagawa. The note does not spell out all conditions governing that choice Dal Corso (2025: 40, note 1).

Ordinary clausal negation is described in Chapter 126 (Clausal Negation with Somo). The transitive sak discussed here is also distinct from the homophonous noun ‘summer’ Tamura (1996: s.v. sak, separate verb and noun entries).

127.4 Wa isam and a completed change

A predicate followed by wa isam often describes an action completed with something gone or used up. Nakagawa gives a mother's death as a relatively literal example, then a brother's going to bed while remaining visible in the same house. In the latter passage, he interprets the construction as entering fully into the sleeping posture Nakagawa (2024: 450–451, examples 1026–1027). The more extensive comparison with wa okere is in Chapter 113 (Completion, Repetition, and Event Phases).

127.5 A historical proposal

In a comparative study centered on Sakhalin negation, Dal Corso reconstructs a transitive *sam ‘not exist at a place’ and proposes that antipassive i- produced the intransitive ancestor of isam. He relates this reconstruction to the history of other Ainu negatives Dal Corso (2025: 43–45, §4.2). The asterisk marks a reconstructed form; the proposal does not establish a productive modern verb sam.