Linguistics of the Tibeto-Burman Area - Volume 43, Issue 1, 2020

Ritual speech in many languages around the world shows grammar distinct from grammar used in daily speech. In Northern Prinmi ritual speech we found a significant use of two exhaustive constructions, one of which is not attested in daily speech; the other is only minimally attested. We argue that exhaustive constructions are strong expressions of the utmost degree which makes them particularly useful to the serious occasions in which ritual speech is used, such as when pronouncing blessings or invoking the gods. We also discuss two possible grammaticalization pathways, but find no conclusive evidence for either.

The Tangsa-Nocte languages of the India/Myanmar border region employ a system of suffixes to modify descriptive words. These may be reduplicated under certain conditions, determined by the stress patterns of the larger utterance. Previously referred to as intensifiers (Morey n.d.; van Dam 2018), these affixes modify their stems to cover a wide range of different meanings, with each stem having a limited and sometimes unique set of applicable modifiers. Such intensifiers are found throughout the Pangwa varieties of Tangsa-Nocte and occur with the majority of basic adjectives derived from monosyllabic verbal stems.

This paper is a description of the copula system of Tawang Monpa [Dakpa], an East-Bodish language, spoken in Arunachal Pradesh in India and by small groups of speakers in Bhutan and Tibet. There are two equative copulas in Tawang Monpa: personal jin and neutral jim, and three existential copulas: testimonial ni, neutral num and personal nou. In addition, there are separate negative copulas; equative: personal men and neutral menum, and existential: testimonial mon, neutral munum and personal monou. There is also one example of a past positive copula ne and a past negative copula monelu.

This paper argues that certain phonological similarities between the three Trans-Himalayan languages Gongduk, Bjokapakha (Tshangla) and Black Mountain Mönpa are areal features and discusses the historical and ethnolinguistic implications of this assumption. The similarities between Gongduk and Bjokapakha indicate a situation of areal convergence of recent data. This contact scenario explains certain aberrancies of Bjokapakha with regard to other Tshangla varieties. The attestation of some of the phonological features in Black Mountain Mönpa is analysed as the result of early contact between Gongduk and Black Mountain Mönpa, i.e. dating back to the time before the arrival of the East Bodish peoples in Central Bhutan.

Bjokapakha belongs to the Tshangla cluster of the Trans-Himalayan (Tibeto-Burman) language family and is spoken in Central Bhutan. Like many languages of the Himalayan region, Bjokapakha exhibits a rich system of epistemic functions, centering around the notion of personal or subjective knowledge (a.k.a. egophoricity, conjunct-disjunct or mirativity). Morphosyntactically, the epistemic categories of Bjokapakha are expressed by constructions involving combinations of nominalisers and copulas which exhibit varying degrees of grammaticalisation. This paper presents the epistemic categories of Bjokapakha and examines the genesis of the Bjokapakha epistemic verbal system from a comparative perspective drawing on insights from other varieties of the Tshangla cluster. Furthermore, a first reconstruction of the nominalisers and copulas of Proto-Tshangla is proposed. It will become evident that nominalisers and copulas have played a crucial role in the emergence of epistemic verbal morphology of Bjokapakha and still constitute productive means for the grammaticalisation of new epistemic categories.

The paper presents an overview of negative expression in Liangmai, an under-described Tibeto-Burman language, primarily spoken in the Northeast Indian states of Manipur and Nagaland. There are two ways of negative formation in the language: (i) by suffixing negative markers to the main verb, and (ii) by the use of negative particles. The main negative suffixes in Liangmai are -mak, mainly used with realis constructions; -lak, used mainly with irrealis constructions; and -tu/-du with imperative, giving a prohibitive meaning. Negative particles used in the language include ha, which is a negative existential and raó, used to express ‘undesirability’. Additionally, a negative interjection hái is used frequently in the language as a negative answer to a question or to contradict a statement perceived to be incorrect. Negative polarity items are form by suffixing -dí to nominal stems and numerals. The present paper offers a descriptive account of negation in Liangmai, providing an overview of various constructions, namely, declarative, interrogative, imperative, relative and hortative, with negative polarity in the language.

This paper presents a comprehensive phonetic and phonological description of Northern Sangtam, an essentially undescribed Tibeto-Burman language of central Nagaland belonging to the Aoic subgroup. It is a noteworthy language from a number of phonological perspectives, not least because its phoneme inventory contains two of the world’s rarest phonemes: a pre-stopped bilabial trill, and a doubly-articulated labial-coronal nasal. These unique segments are described in detail, and an attempt is made to determine how they might have developed their phonemic status. The tone system is also of interest, as it demonstrates evidence of debuccalization resulting in the development of a new high tone. Following a systematic description of the syllable and word structure, the tone system, and the segmental phonology, some observed age-related differences in the phoneme inventory are discussed. The paper is linked to an online repository containing the audio-visual data and transcribed word lists of approximately 900 items, based on the recorded utterances of eight speakers.