In the light of this finding it is all the more striking that, at a later age, this natural cluster is overridden by the reversed - and ungrammatical - combination, where meer is followed by the negation, instead of preceding it. This phenomenon was reported in the diary notes of two children. The examples are given below:

i

es meer niet. (2;09.08)
is more/anymore not.
ii

nou es meer niks in water. (2;10.28)
now is anymore nothing in water.
iii

meer niet afdoen? (3;00.26)
anymore not take-off?
iv

is meer niet druivesap. (3;01.01)
is anymore not grape-juice.
v

sap is meer niet goed. (3;01.01)
juice is anymore not good.
vi

nee, zo is meer niet in de mond lekker. (3;01.01)
no, so is anymore not in the mouth tasty.
vii

heb jij meer niet muesli? (3;04.01)
have you more/anymore not muesli?
viii

niet dat jongetje weg, kan ik meer niet kijken. (3;04.11)
not that little-boy away, can I anymore not look.
ix

ik kan meer niet kijken. (3;04.11)
I can anymore not look.
x

is meer niet donker. (3;04.20)
is anymore not dark.
xi

strakjes is meer niet nat. (3;05.28)
in-a-little-while is anymore not wet.

Characteristic of these ungrammatical utterances is that they appear after niet meer has been used correctly for some time. Also, the reversed order of meer and niet is not used consistently. For instance, v was followed by the correct utterance is niet goed meer, he? (is not good anymore, huh?).


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