Nominalization and relativization in Tujia

Abstract

This paper presents a preliminary investigation of nominalization and relativization in Tujia from a typological perspective. We show that there are several nominalizers in Tujia, only two of which are multifunctional: ɕi and ɲie. ɕi can function as a nominalizer, a relativizer, a complementizer, a converbal clause marker or a stance marker. ɲie can function as a genitive marker, a nominalizer, a relative clause marker, a non-relative attributive marker or a stance marker. Relative clauses in Tujia can be head internal and pre-nominal. The head internal relative clauses are marked by ɕi, while the pre-nominal relative clauses are marked by ɲie.1 We point out that ɲie manifests typical genitive-relative-nominalization syncretism, whereas ɕi manifests extended nominalization functions, both of which are widely attested in other Tibeto-Burman languages. We argue that ɕi originates from a general noun, of unknown etymology. The nominalizer ɲie originates from a genitive marker. These findings should prove useful to future typological or comparative research with respect to nominalization in Tibeto-Burman languages.