The relative constructions in several Palaungic languages (Htanaw, Wa, Lawa, Rumai Palaung, Samlong Palaung, and Rucing Palaung), here shown to be participant nominalizations, display striking mutual similarities, while conspicuously diverging from the dominant relativization strategy within the Austroasiatic family. Instead of the common n [rel (s) v (o)] pattern, the Palaungic constructions examined exhibit the following structural features: (a) rel invariably precedes the verb complex directly; (b) internal constituent order is vs(o), with the exception of Htanaw. An unusual functional trait is additionally found in the three Palaung varieties: the construction only performs object relativization. By placing the findings in a diachronic perspective, we propose two new pathways of branch-internal syntactic change that may explain this unusual synchronic status. Among these, the lexical-to-clausal-nominalization pathway in particular offers a plausible alternative scenario to the earlier hypothesis that such verb-initial structures are inherited from Proto-Austroasiatic (Jenny 2020). Furthermore, a tentatively suggested etymological origin of the relativizer, pAA *pa ‘place’, provides an account of the narrow semantics in Palaung.
{"title":"Syntactic change in Palaungic","authors":"Wei-Wei Lee, M. Jenny","doi":"10.1075/ltba.21004.lee","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1075/ltba.21004.lee","url":null,"abstract":"\u0000The relative constructions in several Palaungic languages (Htanaw, Wa, Lawa, Rumai Palaung, Samlong Palaung, and Rucing Palaung), here shown to be participant nominalizations, display striking mutual similarities, while conspicuously diverging from the dominant relativization strategy within the Austroasiatic family. Instead of the common n [rel (s) v (o)] pattern, the Palaungic constructions examined exhibit the following structural features: (a) rel invariably precedes the verb complex directly; (b) internal constituent order is vs(o), with the exception of Htanaw. An unusual functional trait is additionally found in the three Palaung varieties: the construction only performs object relativization. By placing the findings in a diachronic perspective, we propose two new pathways of branch-internal syntactic change that may explain this unusual synchronic status. Among these, the lexical-to-clausal-nominalization pathway in particular offers a plausible alternative scenario to the earlier hypothesis that such verb-initial structures are inherited from Proto-Austroasiatic (Jenny 2020). Furthermore, a tentatively suggested etymological origin of the relativizer, pAA *pa ‘place’, provides an account of the narrow semantics in Palaung.","PeriodicalId":41542,"journal":{"name":"Linguistics of the Tibeto-Burman Area","volume":" ","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":0.1,"publicationDate":"2022-06-02","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"46294563","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
This paper provides a systematic description of the kinship system of Tiwa, a Boro-Garo language of northeast India. It complements existing partial descriptions by Ramirez (2014) and Bouchery and Longmailai (2018), including documentation of affinal relationship terminology and kinship-based politeness strategies. A key new finding of this work is that Tiwa has a series of dyadic group kin terms which behave in similar (though not identical) ways to what Bradley (2001) identifies as family group classifiers in several Ngwi languages. To my knowledge, this is the first time such dyadic kin terms have been identified beyond the Ngwi and Ersuic branches, suggesting they may be more widespread throughout the Tibeto-Burman family than previously believed.
{"title":"The kinship system of Tiwa","authors":"V. Dawson","doi":"10.1075/ltba.21020.daw","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1075/ltba.21020.daw","url":null,"abstract":"\u0000This paper provides a systematic description of the kinship system of Tiwa, a Boro-Garo language of northeast India. It complements existing partial descriptions by Ramirez (2014) and Bouchery and Longmailai (2018), including documentation of affinal relationship terminology and kinship-based politeness strategies. A key new finding of this work is that Tiwa has a series of dyadic group kin terms which behave in similar (though not identical) ways to what Bradley (2001) identifies as family group classifiers in several Ngwi languages. To my knowledge, this is the first time such dyadic kin terms have been identified beyond the Ngwi and Ersuic branches, suggesting they may be more widespread throughout the Tibeto-Burman family than previously believed.","PeriodicalId":41542,"journal":{"name":"Linguistics of the Tibeto-Burman Area","volume":" ","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":0.1,"publicationDate":"2022-06-02","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"49346442","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Hmongic languages exhibit a single nasal coda -ŋ corresponding to three codas in Mienic: -m, n, -ŋ, which suggests that Hmongic languages have lost place distinctions in nasal codas. However, in some words, Hmongic syllables with a nasal coda -ŋ correspond to Mienic syllables with no nasal coda, which has been recognized as posing a problem in reconstructing Proto-Hmong-Mien. This paper provides an explanation for this exceptional correspondence by hypothesizing a phonological change in Proto-Hmongic and in later stages whereby nasality transfers from a syllable-initial nasal to a tautosyllabic coda. This paper also explores the Proto-Hmongic rime categories to which the relevant words would be expected to belong if the nasal transfer did not apply.
{"title":"Nasal transfer in Hmongic","authors":"Y. Taguchi","doi":"10.1075/ltba.21005.tag","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1075/ltba.21005.tag","url":null,"abstract":"\u0000Hmongic languages exhibit a single nasal coda -ŋ corresponding to three codas in Mienic: -m, n, -ŋ, which suggests that Hmongic languages have lost place distinctions in nasal codas. However, in some words, Hmongic syllables with a nasal coda -ŋ correspond to Mienic syllables with no nasal coda, which has been recognized as posing a problem in reconstructing Proto-Hmong-Mien. This paper provides an explanation for this exceptional correspondence by hypothesizing a phonological change in Proto-Hmongic and in later stages whereby nasality transfers from a syllable-initial nasal to a tautosyllabic coda. This paper also explores the Proto-Hmongic rime categories to which the relevant words would be expected to belong if the nasal transfer did not apply.","PeriodicalId":41542,"journal":{"name":"Linguistics of the Tibeto-Burman Area","volume":" ","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":0.1,"publicationDate":"2022-06-02","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"43206167","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
This exploratory study focuses on the use of hearsay evidential marking in the course of storytelling in a Tibetic language, Lhagang Tibetan, combining a descriptive linguistic approach with a literary-theoretic analysis. Tibetic languages generally possess a morpho-syntactically encoded evidential-epistemic system, in which the hearsay evidential represents a non-first-hand information source. However, we find a random use of the hearsay evidential marker in the oral literature of Lhagang Tibetan, although it has been transmitted from one generation to another by storytellers. The article aims to provide a reasonable explanation for the use of the hearsay evidential in storytelling. It proposes that hearsay evidential marking reflects the speaker’s attitude towards the utterance to either avoid full responsibility for the utterance or enhance the utterance’s authenticity. The former objective principally appears in telling a story based on a weak memory of the story; the latter appears in telling a legend. This explanation is supported by oral literature theory, especially the arguments regarding the difference between folktales and legends.
{"title":"Hearsay evidential marking strategy in Lhagang Tibetan","authors":"Hiroyuki Suzuki, Sonam Wangmo","doi":"10.1075/ltba.21001.suz","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1075/ltba.21001.suz","url":null,"abstract":"\u0000This exploratory study focuses on the use of hearsay evidential marking in the course of storytelling in a Tibetic language, Lhagang Tibetan, combining a descriptive linguistic approach with a literary-theoretic analysis. Tibetic languages generally possess a morpho-syntactically encoded evidential-epistemic system, in which the hearsay evidential represents a non-first-hand information source. However, we find a random use of the hearsay evidential marker in the oral literature of Lhagang Tibetan, although it has been transmitted from one generation to another by storytellers. The article aims to provide a reasonable explanation for the use of the hearsay evidential in storytelling. It proposes that hearsay evidential marking reflects the speaker’s attitude towards the utterance to either avoid full responsibility for the utterance or enhance the utterance’s authenticity. The former objective principally appears in telling a story based on a weak memory of the story; the latter appears in telling a legend. This explanation is supported by oral literature theory, especially the arguments regarding the difference between folktales and legends.","PeriodicalId":41542,"journal":{"name":"Linguistics of the Tibeto-Burman Area","volume":" ","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":0.1,"publicationDate":"2021-11-23","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"45982256","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Two 2nd person verbal indexation forms are reconstructed back to Proto-Trans-Himalayan (PTH): a suffix #-n(a) (Bauman 1975; DeLancey 1989, 2014; H. Sun 1983, 1995; van Driem 1993; Watters 2002), and a prefix #tV- (Watters 2002; Jacques 2012; DeLancey 2011a, 2014). While #-n(a) is in paradigmatic distribution with other suffixal forms, the prefixal position of #tV-raises the question of its functional origin. DeLancey (2011a, 2014: 23) suggests hypothetically that #tV- finds its origin either in a non-finite nominalization or in an irrealis nominalization, “ideal for an impersonal 2nd person use: ‘One might [speak]’ rather than ‘You will [speak].’” Through the comparison of cognate tV- possessive and tV- nominalizer prefixes found in rGyalrongic, Kuki-Naga (Ao), and Sinitic, I propose that 2nd person #tV- can be traced back to a nominal possessive modifier such as one’s or someone’s: a man-type of R-impersonals (Malchukov & Siewierska 2011). Spreading to verbs, #tV- was used as a nominalizer indexing the notional S or A argument. With nouns and verbs alike, the referent of the possessor, whether 1st, 2nd, or 3rd person, was specific (Siewierska 2011: 62), accessible in discourse, anaphorically or deictically, regardless of the presence of a coreferential overt noun-phrase. The prefix #tV- started to be used in particular to address 2nd person indirectly, a development likely triggered by pragmatic motivations, i.e. politeness, before being reanalyzed as a 2nd person indexation marker.
{"title":"On the origin of 2nd person prefix #tV- in Trans-Himalayan languages","authors":"Marie-Caroline Pons","doi":"10.1075/ltba.20004.pon","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1075/ltba.20004.pon","url":null,"abstract":"\u0000Two 2nd person verbal indexation forms are reconstructed back to Proto-Trans-Himalayan (PTH): a suffix #-n(a) (Bauman 1975; DeLancey 1989, 2014; H. Sun 1983, 1995; van Driem 1993; Watters 2002), and a prefix #tV- (Watters 2002; Jacques 2012; DeLancey 2011a, 2014). While #-n(a) is in paradigmatic distribution with other suffixal forms, the prefixal position of #tV-raises the question of its functional origin.\u0000DeLancey (2011a, 2014: 23) suggests hypothetically that #tV- finds its origin either in a non-finite nominalization or in an irrealis nominalization, “ideal for an impersonal 2nd person use: ‘One might [speak]’ rather than ‘You will [speak].’”\u0000Through the comparison of cognate tV- possessive and tV- nominalizer prefixes found in rGyalrongic, Kuki-Naga (Ao), and Sinitic, I propose that 2nd person #tV- can be traced back to a nominal possessive modifier such as one’s or someone’s: a man-type of R-impersonals (Malchukov & Siewierska 2011). Spreading to verbs, #tV- was used as a nominalizer indexing the notional S or A argument. With nouns and verbs alike, the referent of the possessor, whether 1st, 2nd, or 3rd person, was specific (Siewierska 2011: 62), accessible in discourse, anaphorically or deictically, regardless of the presence of a coreferential overt noun-phrase. The prefix #tV- started to be used in particular to address 2nd person indirectly, a development likely triggered by pragmatic motivations, i.e. politeness, before being reanalyzed as a 2nd person indexation marker.","PeriodicalId":41542,"journal":{"name":"Linguistics of the Tibeto-Burman Area","volume":"1 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":0.1,"publicationDate":"2021-11-23","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"41319193","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Review of Bodt & van Driem (2019): Grammar of Duhumbi (Chugpa)","authors":"D. Bradley","doi":"10.1075/ltba.00011.bra","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1075/ltba.00011.bra","url":null,"abstract":"","PeriodicalId":41542,"journal":{"name":"Linguistics of the Tibeto-Burman Area","volume":" ","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":0.1,"publicationDate":"2021-11-23","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"48367923","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Review of van Breugel (2021): A dictionary of Atong: A Tibeto-Burman language of Northeast India and Bangladesh","authors":"G. Driem","doi":"10.1075/ltba.00012.dri","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1075/ltba.00012.dri","url":null,"abstract":"","PeriodicalId":41542,"journal":{"name":"Linguistics of the Tibeto-Burman Area","volume":" ","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":0.1,"publicationDate":"2021-11-23","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"46720649","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Review of Oko & van Driem (2019): A grammar of Darma","authors":"D. Bradley","doi":"10.1075/ltba.00010.bra","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1075/ltba.00010.bra","url":null,"abstract":"","PeriodicalId":41542,"journal":{"name":"Linguistics of the Tibeto-Burman Area","volume":" ","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":0.1,"publicationDate":"2021-11-23","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"42706668","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
This paper presents two types of maledictions in Thadou-Kuki. The first deals with the various forms of maledictions which on the surface appear as though they are curse words in terms of their forms and meanings. But a close examination reveals that the mere presence of such maledictions does not constitute cursing. Rather, it is the context of who said what to whom and why that determines whether they should be interpreted curses or not. The second deals with words that are used purely as abuses or insults and, as such, do not have such semantic or pragmatic ambiguities like the various forms of maledictions. The paper shows that maledictions are expressed with the help of imperatives of which the directive -în and the command tâng are used with slight nuances in meaning. That is, with the latter, the wish is more pronounced and indicates the true intent of the speaker to inflict harm upon the addressee, which the former lacks. Abuses or insults, on the other hand, are momentary emotional reactions to the things that happened around the speaker and unlike true curses are not carefully thought out expression of words. They are rather words that the speaker picked up as and when the situation demands and may involve an element of bragging.
{"title":"“May you fall [dead] while standing!”","authors":"Pauthang Haokip","doi":"10.1075/ltba.20010.hao","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1075/ltba.20010.hao","url":null,"abstract":"\u0000 This paper presents two types of maledictions in Thadou-Kuki. The first deals with the various forms of maledictions which on the surface appear as though they are curse words in terms of their forms and meanings. But a close examination reveals that the mere presence of such maledictions does not constitute cursing. Rather, it is the context of who said what to whom and why that determines whether they should be interpreted curses or not. The second deals with words that are used purely as abuses or insults and, as such, do not have such semantic or pragmatic ambiguities like the various forms of maledictions. The paper shows that maledictions are expressed with the help of imperatives of which the directive -în and the command tâng are used with slight nuances in meaning. That is, with the latter, the wish is more pronounced and indicates the true intent of the speaker to inflict harm upon the addressee, which the former lacks. Abuses or insults, on the other hand, are momentary emotional reactions to the things that happened around the speaker and unlike true curses are not carefully thought out expression of words. They are rather words that the speaker picked up as and when the situation demands and may involve an element of bragging.","PeriodicalId":41542,"journal":{"name":"Linguistics of the Tibeto-Burman Area","volume":" ","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":0.1,"publicationDate":"2021-11-23","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"44032776","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
East Tusom is a Tibeto-Burman language of Manipur, India, belonging to the Tangkhulic group. While it shares some innovations with the other Tangkhulic languages, it differs markedly from “Standard Tangkhul” (which is based on the speech of Ukhrul town). Past documentation is limited to a small set of hastily transcribed forms in a comparative reconstruction of Tangkhulic rhymes (Mortensen & Miller 2013; Mortensen 2012). This paper presents the first substantial sketch of an aspect of the language: its (descriptive) phonetics and phonology. The data are based on recordings of an extensive wordlist (730 items) and one short text, all from one fluent native speaker in her mid-twenties. We present the phonetic inventory of East Tusom and a phonemicization, with exhaustive examples. We also present an overview of the major phonological patterns and generalizations in the language. Of special interest are a “placeless nasal” that is realized as nasalization on the preceding vowel unless it is followed by a consonant, and numerous plosive-fricative clusters (where the fricative is roughly homorganic with the following vowel) that have developed from historical aspirated plosives. A complete wordlist, organized by gloss and semantic field, is provided as appendices.
东图桑语是印度曼尼普尔邦的一种藏缅语，属于唐khulic语系。虽然它与其他唐廓尔语有一些共同的创新，但它与“标准唐廓尔语”(基于Ukhrul镇的讲话)明显不同。过去的文献仅限于对唐曲韵脚的比较重建中的一小部分仓促誊写的形式(Mortensen & Miller 2013;莫滕森2012)。本文提出了语言的一个方面的第一个实质性草图:它的(描述性)语音和音系。这些数据是基于一个广泛的单词表(730个单词)和一篇短文的录音，这些录音都来自一位25岁左右的流利的母语人士。我们提出了东图桑的语音清单和音位化，并详尽的例子。我们也提出了主要的语音模式和概括在语言的概述。特别有趣的是一个“无位置鼻音”，它是在前面的元音上实现鼻音化，除非后面跟着一个辅音，还有许多从历史上的吸气式爆破音发展而来的爆破音-摩擦音簇(其中摩擦音与后面的元音大致是同质的)。一个完整的词表，组织的光泽和语义领域，提供作为附录。
{"title":"East Tusom","authors":"David R. Mortensen, J. Picone","doi":"10.1075/ltba.21009.mor","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1075/ltba.21009.mor","url":null,"abstract":"\u0000East Tusom is a Tibeto-Burman language of Manipur, India, belonging to the Tangkhulic group. While it shares some innovations with the other Tangkhulic languages, it differs markedly from “Standard Tangkhul” (which is based on the speech of Ukhrul town). Past documentation is limited to a small set of hastily transcribed forms in a comparative reconstruction of Tangkhulic rhymes (Mortensen & Miller 2013; Mortensen 2012). This paper presents the first substantial sketch of an aspect of the language: its (descriptive) phonetics and phonology. The data are based on recordings of an extensive wordlist (730 items) and one short text, all from one fluent native speaker in her mid-twenties. We present the phonetic inventory of East Tusom and a phonemicization, with exhaustive examples. We also present an overview of the major phonological patterns and generalizations in the language. Of special interest are a “placeless nasal” that is realized as nasalization on the preceding vowel unless it is followed by a consonant, and numerous plosive-fricative clusters (where the fricative is roughly homorganic with the following vowel) that have developed from historical aspirated plosives. A complete wordlist, organized by gloss and semantic field, is provided as appendices.","PeriodicalId":41542,"journal":{"name":"Linguistics of the Tibeto-Burman Area","volume":" ","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":0.1,"publicationDate":"2021-11-23","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"47636774","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
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