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- Volume 38, Issue, 2015
Linguistics of the Tibeto-Burman Area - Volume 38, Issue 1, 2015
Volume 38, Issue 1, 2015
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Evidentiality and epistemic modality in Zhuang
Author(s): Yongxian Luopp.: 3–25 (23)More LessThis paper discusses evidentiality and epistemic modality in Zhuang, a Tai language spoken in South China’s Guangxi Province and surrounding regions. A set of verbs of SPEAKING are found in Zhuang that describe the sources of information. These typically involve the grammaticalised marker nau⁴ which derives from a lexical verb meaning ‘say’, forming a rich array of expressions to mark direct and indirect speech, hearsay and other types of reported information, which carry a wide variety of evidential and epistemic overtones such as surprise, self-correction, mirativity, uncertainty, among others. A number of sentence-final particles, along with hedges and sensory verbs, are also found with these functions. Each of these conveys different degrees of reliability of the source of information.
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Deictic expressions in Darma (Almora)
Author(s): Christina M. Willis Okopp.: 26–65 (40)More LessThis paper provides a description of the morphological composition and syntactic distribution of the spatial deictic system found in Darma a Tibeto-Burman language spoken in Uttarakhand, India. The description is informed by existing typologies of deictics and demonstratives (e.g. Levinson 1983; Diessel 1999, 2013; Senft 2004) with an eye towards identifying similar patterns in other Tibeto-Burman languages. In Darma, we find that the deictic roots can be meaningfully categorized into two groups based on the scale of reference: a distance-based scale (e.g. near and far), and a direction-based scale (e.g. up and down). These deictic roots combine with other morphemes to form sets of demonstratives that are categorized as Demonstrative Pronouns, Demonstrative Adverbs, and Demonstrative Quantifiers. In addition to the morphological structure of deictic elements, this paper explores the syntactic distribution of the deictic roots and combined demonstrative forms and suggests that a set of determiners is in the process of grammaticalizing. The discussion is geared towards contrasting the typology of demonstrative systems with the data attested in Darma and emphasizing topics that should be described in grammars of Tibeto-Burman languages.
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First notes on the phonology and classification of the Bangru language of India
Author(s): Timotheus A. Bodt and Ismael Lieberherrpp.: 66–123 (58)More LessThis is the first description of the Bangru language spoken in a remote corner of Kurung Kumey district, Arunachal Pradesh, Northeast India. On the basis of our data and analysis, we identify Bangru as a Tibeto-Burman language with as its closest genetic relatives Miji and Hruso, spoken further to the southwest in East and West Kameng districts. Based on these preliminary data and their analysis, Bangru is described as having 18 distinctive consonants, seven distinctive simple vowels and three distinctive diphthong vowels. The basic syllable structure is Ci(G)V(Cf). Bangru is furthermore characterised by the retention of Proto-Tibeto-Burman prefixes as reduced syllables. This paper also provides additional evidence for the validity of Shafer’s ‘Hruso’, with Hruso itself as its most aberrant member.
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Strata of standardization: The Phong Nha dialect of Vietnamese (Quảng Bình Province) in historical perspective
Author(s): Alexis Michaud, Michel Ferlus and Minh-Châu Nguyễnpp.: 124–162 (39)More LessThe present research, based on first-hand data, is intended as a contribution to the study of the present-day diversity of lesser-described Vietnamese dialects, and of the range of evolutionary paths to which they testify. The Vietnamese dialect of the hamlet of Phong Nha (commune of Sơn Trạch, county of Bố Trạch, Quảng Bình) is one of the “heterodox” dialects of Vietnamese, which are known to present considerable interest for the historical study of Vietnamese and of the Vietic group at large. These dialects are the product of the southerly expansion of Vietnamese over related (Vietic) languages, a process which involved various interferences. Comparative evidence reveals strata of standardization: some words are phonologically identical to Standard Vietnamese; others are of Southern Vietic stock, as demonstrated by the absence of telltale historical changes that took place in Vietnamese, such as the spirantization of medial stops; still others appear to be the result of hybridization.
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Clause linking in Japhug
Author(s): Guillaume Jacques
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Reflexive derivations in Thulung
Author(s): Aimée Lahaussois
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