Linguistics of the Tibeto-Burman Area - Volume 48, Issue 2, 2025

Tonogenesis for Tangsa-Nocte has previously been described as likely derived from phonation distinctions in the proto-language, where aspiration and voicing played no part (van Dam 2018). With newly published Wancho data (Losu & Morey 2023), a direct tone correspondence can be shown between Tangsa-Nocte and Wancho. Phom (Burling & Phom 1998) shows a similar correspondence. The situation differs when considering Southeast Patkaian varieties such as Lainong and Khiamniungan; a correspondence pattern can still be found, but only when taking into account features like voicing and aspiration which had no role in Tangsa-Nocte tonogenesis.

Khiamniungan also lacks the checked-tone category found elsewhere in Patkaian and other Mainland Southeast Asian languages. This paper will show how tonogenesis can be explained for the entirety of Patkaian (Northern Naga) as distinct tonogenetic events based on common pre-tonal features such as voicing, aspiration, and phonation in the proto language.

The goal of this article is to describe the evidential-epistemic (E-E) system of Dolpo, a Tibetic language of Nepal. The evidential and epistemic paradigms are constructed with equative, existential, and auxiliary verbs. The first two, equative and existential verbs, are also used as linking verbs, whereas auxiliary verbs form a part of verbal endings. These markers can be divided into two major types depending on what they connote: if doubt is conveyed, the verb is labelled as epistemic; if the statement is strictly based on evidence, the verb is designated as evidential. The core part of this article comprises a systematic overview of the interaction of E-E markers with differing tenses and aspects. Moreover, we demonstrate the existence of some original features of the Dolpo system, including documentation of specific inferential markers; we also discuss several semantic and cognitive differences in the E-E markers of local varieties within Dolpo. The multiterm E-E system is illustrated by examples obtained during linguistic fieldwork in Dolpo in 2022 and 2023.

Mienic languages constitute one of two branches of the Hmong-Mien language family, Hmongic and Mienic, and are distributed over a vast area from southern China to Southeast Asia. Based on the published data, this paper argues that certain correspondence patterns found between Mienic languages provide evidence on specific phonological states of Proto-Mienic initial consonants, which have been lost in all modern Mienic languages: Proto-Mienic has prenasalized plosives in its initial consonant inventory.

This paper investigates clausal complementation in Mising, an Eastern Tani (TB) language spoken in Assam, India. It examines finite and non-finite complement clauses, analyzing their grammatical structures and underlying conceptualizations. Mising employs at least four complementizers (one finite, three non-finite), while some complement clauses appear without overt complementizers. Each of these constructions exhibits distinct semantic properties.

While primarily descriptive in nature, this study incorporates insights from Cognitive Linguistics. Our analysis suggests that finite complementation aligns with an objective perspective, where the speaker views the complement event as external and distinct. Conversely, non-finite complementation aligns with a subjective perspective, reflecting a closer involvement of the speaker in the complement event. These two perspectives are associated with different conceptual viewing arrangements.

The data for this paper comes from the Pagro dialect of Mising, primarily spoken in the Jonai sub-division of Assam’s Dhemaji district.

In this paper, I examine two cases of merger, by comparing the fricatives (/s/, /ʃ/) and affricates (/ts/ and /tʃ/) in ten varieties of Mongsen-Ao, including Changki, which is structurally close to Mongsen. Based on the comparison of fricatives and affricates in the ten selected varieties, I show that the merger of /s/ and /ʃ/ as observed by Bruhn (2014) and merger of affricates /ts/ and /tʃ/ as proposed by Coupe (2003, 2007), did not take place in all varieties of Mongsen. The merger also had an impact on the following vowel, leading to a process of vowel reduction in most of the Mongsen varieties. As part of the analysis, two fricatives- *s and *ʃ, and two affricates- *ts and *tʃ, are reconstructed with all the four vowels in Proto-Mongsen.

Given the phonological variation within Mongsen varieties spoken in different villages, this paper also sheds light on some of the phonological changes across varieties.

Numeral classifiers in Tawrã stand out from other Tibeto-Burman languages in Northeast India for having several members, many of which do not have a nominal counterpart. Tawrã also shares the typologically uncommon order [n clf num] with neighboring Tani and Boro-Garo languages. This article has three purposes: (i) it describes the classifier system of Tawrã, an under-described language from Arunachal Pradesh, (ii) it discusses the referential effect of classification, which commonly signals individuation and (iii) it discusses the participation of classifiers in nominal compounding, a typologically uncommon construction. Although the connection between classifiers and individuation has already been established in the literature, this investigation explores examples from a naturalistic corpus, elicitation and translation.