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- Volume 43, Issue 2, 2020
Linguistics of the Tibeto-Burman Area - Volume 43, Issue 2, 2020
Volume 43, Issue 2, 2020
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Information structure and intonational accent in Burmese
Author(s): Pavel Ozerovpp.: 191–224 (34)More LessAbstractIt tends to be assumed that tonal languages do not make use of intonational tones and accent location for the purpose of conveying information structural aspects of the utterance. This study of read-aloud stories in colloquial Burmese shows that this tonal language does resort to this sort of intonational means for information-structuring reasons. The prosody of Burmese exhibits identifiable intonational patterns, which function on the level of accentual phrases. An accentual phrase constitutes the basic prosodic unit, and it is there that we find the real interaction of information structure, intonation and tone. Accentual phrases are organised around a single accent, the location of which depends on information structural factors. Sentences can consist of a single accentual phrase or a few phrases, while the exact partition into such phrases is also motivated by information- and discourse-structuring considerations.
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How many vowels are there in Lhasa Tibetan?
Author(s): Xun Gongpp.: 225–254 (30)More LessAbstractLhasa Tibetan is described in a number of independent research traditions which give different accounts of its phonology. To what extent do these discrepancies reflect real dialectal or idiolectal differences? To what extent do they reflect different analyses of the same system?
In this paper, we examine one aspect of Lhasa Tibetan phonology on which different descriptions show substantial discrepancies: vowels. Different descriptions of Lhasa Tibetan transcribe from 8 to more than 16 vowel qualities, ascribing to them different degrees of phonemicity. A detailed comparison of the transcription systems shows that all reflect the same underlying system of 12 vowel sounds, which agrees with the transcription conventions of the Seattle Tibetanists. The discrepancies among the systems mostly concern four vowels, namely ɔ, ə, ɪ and ʊ. These vowels, which started as allophonic variants of other vowels, later appear in a set of words which cannot be explained as allophony, and hence are unambiguous phonemes in contemporary Lhasa Tibetan.
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Verb classes in Horpa
Author(s): Sami Honkasalopp.: 255–290 (36)More LessAbstractBased on argument indexation properties, this paper offers a model of four verb classes for Geshiza and Stau, two closely related and endangered Horpa lects spoken in Sichuan. Despite increased awareness and interest in Horpa, no exhaustive classification of verbs from the viewpoint of argument indexation has been offered. Even though argument indexation itself has been discussed in previous scholarship, the striking diversity of argument indexation patterns has not been addressed. It is shown that both Geshiza and Stau, the two lects chosen as the sample for this study, share the same verb classes, even though the class assignment of individual cognate verbs occasionally varies. The paper also describes how semantic and animacy features inherent in verbs, most prominently compatibility with human S and P arguments resulting in compatibility with speech act participants, play a crucial role in verb class assignment. Establishing a framework for Horpa verb classes helps in the ongoing descriptive work of these languages. In addition, it offers new material for typological studies of argument indexation.
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The origin of the causative and simulative suffix -ter in Hakha Lai and Falam Chin
Author(s): Kenneth Van Bikpp.: 291–308 (18)More LessAbstractThis paper investigates the origin of the causative (CAUS) and simulative (SML) suffix -ter in two varieties of Lai language, Hakha Lai and Falam Chin. It also shows that Proto Central Chin (PCC) full verbs *tiir ‘to send someone to do an errand’ and *der ‘to pretend to’ grammaticalized and merged into the Lai CAUS and SML suffix -ter due to frequency pressure, the first time this type of argument for semantic change is used in Kuki-Chin (KC).
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The segmental phonetics and phonology of Hyow, A Tibeto-Burman language of Bangladesh
Author(s): Muhammad Zakariapp.: 309–346 (38)More LessAbstractThis paper presents a description and analysis of segmental phonetics and phonology of Hyow, a Tibeto-Burman language spoken by almost 4,000 people in the southeast of Bangladesh. Hyow demonstrates phonological features which are absent in other Chin languages of the Tibeto-Burman branch. Proto Kuki-Chin initial voiceless nasals are not only preserved in Mara and Central Chin languages (Van Bik 2009: 220), but also in Hyow. Unlike other Southern Chin languages, Hyow final liquids are sometimes preserved or developed into central approximants. In fact, final liquids are preserved in Bangladesh Hyow, and in two varieties of Laitu – Keyni and Myebon – and Laisaw in the Rakhine State of Myanmar. The salient and prevalent phonological process of re-syllabification in Hyow demonstrates that the glottal stop cannot be treated as a phonetic property of the coda-cluster sonorants, which is otherwise treated as glottalized in some Chin languages by scholars, e.g. Hakha Lai (Hyman & Van Bik 2002: 114). Hyow does not show a phonemic contrast between long and short vowels which is very often found in Chin languages. Though Mainland Southeast Asian Languages are profoundly known for having sesquisyllables or reduced syllables, in Hyow, vowels of initial syllables of disyllabic words carrying grammatical morphemes are harmonized with vowels of root-initial syllables, which confirms the absence of such type of reduced syllables in Hyow. The phonological description and analysis in this paper are furthermore supported by phonetic data and illustrations. Discussions of variant phonetic realizations of certain segments have also been included.
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Review of Fortier & Witzer (2019): A Comparative Dictionary of Raute and Rawat: Tibeto-Burman languages of the Central Himalayas
Author(s): David Bradleypp.: 347–351 (5)More LessThis article reviews A Comparative Dictionary of Raute and Rawat: Tibeto-Burman languages of the Central Himalayas
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