Linguistics of the Tibeto-Burman Area - Volume 37, Issue 2, 2014

Based on comparative data from 64 modern Tai varieties, we propose that Proto-Tai had three distinct negators, namely *ɓawB, *mi and *pajB. These morphemes were distinguished from each other in terms of aspect. Moreover, we show that the Old Thai language represented by the literary classic Lilit Phra Lo, and the modern Tai dialect of Bao Yen are attestations of the reconstructed system. PT *ɓawB and *mi were probably used to negate stative verbs and dynamic verbs with volitional and habitual reading. In contrast, *pajB probably co-occurred with dynamic verbs as well as stative verbs interpreted as change of state. It is however unclear what the difference between *ɓawB and *mi was.

The aim of this paper is two-fold: (i) to investigate the reflexes of the Proto-Jingpho initial glides in modern Jingpho dialects based on sound correspondences between them; and (ii) to discuss vowel developments conditioned by proto-glides. The main findings of this paper can be summarized as follows: (a) the proto-initial *w- has developed into y- in Standard Jingpho and Nkhum before proto-front vowels; (b) the proto-initial *ʔw- before proto-front vowels became ʔy- in Standard Jingpho, Nkhum and Gauri, but disappeared in Duleng, Dingga, Numphuk and Turung; (c) the proto-initial *ʔw- and *ʔy- before non-front vowels have developed into w- and y-, respectively, in Duleng, Dingga, Numphuk and Turung; (d) the proto-bilabial glides, *w- and *ʔw-, sporadically raised the following vowel *-a to -o in Gauri; (e) the proto-palatal glides, *y- and *ʔy-, raised and fronted the following vowel *-a to -e in Gauri and partially in Numphuk and Turung; (f) the proto-medial *-y- raised the following vowel *-e to -i in Dingga.

The area between Bhutan in the west, Tibet in the north, the Kameng river in the east and Assam in the south is home to at least six distinct phyla of the Trans-Himalayan (Tibeto-Burman, Sino-Tibetan) language family. These phyla encompass a minimum of 11, but probably 15 or even more mutually unintelligible languages, all showing considerable internal dialect variation. Previous literature provided largely incomplete or incorrect accounts of these phyla. Based on recent field research, this article discusses in detail the several languages of four phyla whose speakers are included in the Monpa Scheduled Tribe, providing the most accurate speaker data, geographical distribution, internal variation and degree of endangerment. The article also provides some insights into the historical background of the area and the impact this has had on the distribution of the ethnolinguistic groups.

Evidentiality is often defined as the grammatical means of expressing information source. This paper argues for a broader definition of evidentials, as close work documenting languages has shown that simply saying evidentials mark source of information does not capture all of the actual uses of evidential marking. The paper discusses other aspects that need to be taken account of in any full discussion of the use of evidential marking, in particular the speaker’s access to information (not just source), plus the subjective strategy or perspective of the speaker in representing a particular state of affairs. The notion of ‘source’ in this paper is used in a restricted sense to mean primarily a verbal source of information (reported information) and is distinguished from ‘access’, which refers to the non-verbal access to information (sensory, inferential, etc., including the sensory access to verbal source) available to the speaker, though marking of source and access may appear together. Given this distinction the paper proposes a new definition of evidential marking: the representation of source and access to information according to the speaker’s perspective and strategy.

This paper presents a detailed description of clause linking in Japhug, based on a corpus of traditional narratives and conversations. It follows the methodology used in Dixon and Aikhenvald’s (2009) collective book on this topic, to ease crosslinguistic comparisons. Although Japhug has a very rich system of converbs, there is not a single meaning that requires a non-finite form: all subtypes of clause linking can be expressed exclusively with finite verb forms, and these indeed predominate in our corpus.