This Thesis Has Been Submitted in Fulfilment of the Requirements for a Postgraduate Degree (E.G

Total Page:16

File Type:pdf, Size:1020Kb

This Thesis Has Been Submitted in Fulfilment of the Requirements for a Postgraduate Degree (E.G This thesis has been submitted in fulfilment of the requirements for a postgraduate degree (e.g. PhD, MPhil, DClinPsychol) at the University of Edinburgh. Please note the following terms and conditions of use: This work is protected by copyright and other intellectual property rights, which are retained by the thesis author, unless otherwise stated. A copy can be downloaded for personal non-commercial research or study, without prior permission or charge. This thesis cannot be reproduced or quoted extensively from without first obtaining permission in writing from the author. The content must not be changed in any way or sold commercially in any format or medium without the formal permission of the author. When referring to this work, full bibliographic details including the author, title, awarding institution and date of the thesis must be given. 74,790 words (76,536 incl. footnotes) The Life and Landscape of Dreams Personhood, Reversibility and Resistance among the Nagas in Northeast India By Michael Heneise PhD South Asian Studies The University of Edinburgh Doctoral thesis submitted 29 February 2016 Supervised by: Dr Jacob Copeman Dr Arkotong Longkumer PhD in South Asian Studies – The University of Edinburgh – 2016 Declaration I hereby certify that the work contained within has been composed by me and is entirely my own work. Where information has been derived from other sources, this has been indicated in the thesis.No part of this thesis has been submitted for any other degree or professional qualification. Edinburgh, 19 July 2016 Michael Timothy Heneise Abstract Ancestral knowledge exerts itself in the daily lives of the Nagas in Northeast India, whether through passed down clan genealogical knowledge, or through dreams and waketime omens. The Angamis, one of the Naga tribes, articulate a close relationship between the ancestral spirits they meet in their dreams, and ruopfü, one’s always- perceiving soul or life-being, complicating the boundary that would separate dreaming and waking states. In mediating these two states, the Angami ruopfü therefore has a powerful ability to inhabit these two spaces simultaneously, thus allowing for their reversibility. These processes of inhabiting the ‘real’ in waking and dreaming, occur in the midst of significant political turmoil, and this thesis examines the ways in which dreams index terrains of clan and state power in relation to a broader cosmic struggle. Moreover, as a guiding principle of personhood, dreaming, and reversibility elucidate the ways in which Angamis explore, understand, and generate alternative futures. I begin the discussion in the domain of the kitchen hearth. Within this gendered space characterised by a continuous rhythm of quotidian practices and attentiveness to dreams and omens, a significant political counter-narrative to the enduring pattern of clan patriarchy emerges. This tense symbiosis is characterised by a relationship of nurturance, but at the same time resistance to patriarchal meddling in domestic affairs. I then describe how this tension mirrors a power dynamic perceived by many in their dreams in which the clan collectively confronts morally ambivalent spiritual forces that inhabit spaces outside of delimited clan domains. This recalls earlier times when public life centred on the propitiation of powerful spirits in order to preserve harvests, and protect clan settlements in times of war. With the advent of Christianity, public discourse is transformed not solely via the iconoclastic demands of the American missionaries, but through a spatiotemporal reorientation of public life towards regularised church membership, and the development of missional institutions. Traditional public rituals, and ritual objects gradually faded, but informal inspirational practices such as divinational healing and dreaming, rooted as they were in the domestic sphere, remained integral to community life. In contemporary Nagaland, Christian charismatic groups have reconsidered the efficacy of traditional practices, and the inspirational potential of dreams, and opened spaces for supervised spirit mediation. These practices, however, have the potential to disrupt the church, and the community, and community elders are alert to their potential dangers, often seeking to defuse spirit mediated charisma as it emerges. The elder generation frequently cites the role of divination in spurring upheaval, and within living memory a young Naga prophetess, inspired by powerful dreams, succeeded in mounting a tribal uprising against British rule in the region. The power of visions and dreams to inspire political movements has not been lost on more recent Naga political groups, and in the final chapter I draw parallels between the nature of charisma to inspire i political agency, and the function of the oneiric in normative patriliny, especially in public events, and ultimately in the construction of nationalist ideology. Finally, though the material and social circumstances separating public and domestic spheres in Angami life-worlds continually produce divergent political imaginaries, reversibility reveals how these formations emerge, how they coexist and continuously shape daily life, and how they produce the potentialities for unified political resistance. ii Contents Abstract ......................................................................................................................... i Contents ...................................................................................................................... iii Figures.......................................................................................................................... v Acknowledgements ..................................................................................................... vi A Note on Vocabulary, Naming and Currency ........................................................... ix Glossary and Acronyms .............................................................................................. xi 1 Introduction .......................................................................................................... 1 1.1 The Social Life of Dreams ........................................................................... 5 1.2 The Angami Nagas .................................................................................... 12 1.3 An Overview of Nagaland and Kohima ..................................................... 21 1.4 Fieldwork Successes and Challenges ......................................................... 24 1.5 The Plan of the Thesis ................................................................................ 30 2 The Angami Science of Dreaming ..................................................................... 34 2.1 The Anthropology of Dreaming ................................................................. 35 2.2 Dreaming and Narrating the Past ............................................................... 45 2.3 Messages from the Ancestors .................................................................... 55 2.4 Dreams as Community Events ................................................................... 58 2.5 Conclusion ................................................................................................. 61 3 The Phenomenology of Dreaming ..................................................................... 64 3.1 The Nature of Ruopfü ................................................................................ 65 3.2 Ruopfü and the Tiger-man ......................................................................... 72 3.3 Mhorüvemia Dreaming .............................................................................. 80 3.4 The Reversibility of Ruopfü ...................................................................... 83 3.5 Conclusion ................................................................................................. 89 4 The Corporeality of Dreams .............................................................................. 91 4.1 Hearth as Materiality of Ruopfü ................................................................ 92 4.2 Atsa’s Contingency .................................................................................... 95 4.3 Atsa’s Sharing and Remembering ........................................................... 102 iii 4.4 Making Akhuni ........................................................................................ 109 4.5 Conclusion ............................................................................................... 114 5 The Authority of Dreams ................................................................................. 118 5.1 The Dream as Omen ................................................................................ 121 5.2 Waketime Interference ............................................................................. 124 5.3 Community Disruption ............................................................................ 126 5.4 The Interpretive Community .................................................................... 133 5.5 Conclusion ............................................................................................... 137 6 The Landscape of Dreams ............................................................................... 140 6.1 The LYO Ultimatum ................................................................................ 141 6.2 Spatial Configurations and Power ..........................................................
Recommended publications
  • A Comparative Study of Angami and Chakhesang Women
    A SOCIOLOGICAL STUDY OF UNEMPLOYMENT PROBLEM : A COMPARATIVE STUDY OF ANGAMI AND CHAKHESANG WOMEN THESIS SUBMITTED FOR THE DEGREE OF DOCTOR OF PHILOSOPHY IN SOCIOLOGY SCHOOL OF SOCIAL SCIENCES NAGALAND UNIVERSITY BY MEDONUO PIENYÜ Ph. D. REGISTRATION NO. 357/ 2008 UNDER THE SUPERVISION OF PROF. KSHETRI RAJENDRA SINGH DEPARTMENT OF SOCIOLOGY DEPARTMENT OF SOCIOLOGY NAGALAND UNIVERSITY H.Qs. LUMAMI, NAGALAND, INDIA NOVEMBER 2013 I would like to dedicate this thesis to my Mother Mrs. Mhasivonuo Pienyü who never gave up on me and supported me through the most difficult times of my life. NAGALAND UNIVERSITY (A Central University Estd. By the Act of Parliament No 35 of 1989) Headquaters- Lumami P.O. Mokokchung- 798601 Department of Sociology Ref. No……………. Date………………. CERTIFICATE This is certified that I have supervised and gone through the entire pages of the Ph.D. thesis entitled “A Sociological Study of Unemployment Problem: A Comparative Study of Angami and Chakhesang Women” submitted by Medonuo Pienyü. This is further certified that this research work of Medonuo Pienyü, carried out under my supervision is her original work and has not been submitted for any degree to any other university or institute. Supervisor Place: (Prof. Kshetri Rajendra Singh) Date: Department of Sociology, Nagaland University Hqs: Lumami DECLARATION The Nagaland University November, 2013. I, Miss. Medonuo Pienyü, hereby declare that the contents of this thesis is the record of my work done and the subject matter of this thesis did not form the basis of the award of any previous degree to me or to the best of my knowledge to anybody else, and that thesis has not been submitted by me for any research degree in any other university/ institute.
    [Show full text]
  • Some Principles of the Use of Macro-Areas Language Dynamics &A
    Online Appendix for Harald Hammarstr¨om& Mark Donohue (2014) Some Principles of the Use of Macro-Areas Language Dynamics & Change Harald Hammarstr¨om& Mark Donohue The following document lists the languages of the world and their as- signment to the macro-areas described in the main body of the paper as well as the WALS macro-area for languages featured in the WALS 2005 edi- tion. 7160 languages are included, which represent all languages for which we had coordinates available1. Every language is given with its ISO-639-3 code (if it has one) for proper identification. The mapping between WALS languages and ISO-codes was done by using the mapping downloadable from the 2011 online WALS edition2 (because a number of errors in the mapping were corrected for the 2011 edition). 38 WALS languages are not given an ISO-code in the 2011 mapping, 36 of these have been assigned their appropri- ate iso-code based on the sources the WALS lists for the respective language. This was not possible for Tasmanian (WALS-code: tsm) because the WALS mixes data from very different Tasmanian languages and for Kualan (WALS- code: kua) because no source is given. 17 WALS-languages were assigned ISO-codes which have subsequently been retired { these have been assigned their appropriate updated ISO-code. In many cases, a WALS-language is mapped to several ISO-codes. As this has no bearing for the assignment to macro-areas, multiple mappings have been retained. 1There are another couple of hundred languages which are attested but for which our database currently lacks coordinates.
    [Show full text]
  • The Situation of the Rights of Indigenous Peoples in India
    Joint Stakeholders’ submission on The situation of the rights of indigenous peoples in India For 3rd cycle of the Universal Period Review (UPR) of India 27th Session of the Human Rights Council (Apr-May 2017) Submitting organizations (in alphabetical order)1 1. Adivasi Women’s Network (AWN) (Email: [email protected]; [email protected]) 1st Lane, Don Bosco, Kokar, Khohar Toli, Ranchi, Jharkhand 834001, India) 2. Asia Indigenous Peoples Pact (AIPP) (Website: www.aippnet.org; Email: [email protected]; Address: 108 Moo 5, T. San Phranet, A. Sansai, Chiang Mai 50210, Thailand) 3. Borok Peoples Human Rights Organization (BPHRO) (Email: [email protected]; Address: Palace Compound, Post Box No. 80, Agartala-1, Tripura, India) 4. Centre for Research and Advocacy (CRA) Manipur (Website: www.cramanipur.org; Email: [email protected]; Address: Sega Road Hodam Leirak Imphal Manipur 795001 India) 5. Chhattisgarh Tribal Peoples Forum (CTPF) (Email: [email protected]) 6. Indigenous Peoples Forum, Odisha (IPFO) (Email: [email protected]) 7. Jharkhand Indigenous and Tribal Peoples for Action (JITPA) (Email: [email protected]; Address: At Hehal Delatoli, Itki Road, PO Hehal, Ranchi Jharkhand 834005 India) 8. Karbi Human Rights Watch (KHRW) (Email: [email protected]; [email protected]) 9. Meghalaya Peoples Human Rights Council (MPHRC) (Email: [email protected]; Address: Mawlai-Mawroh, Shillong, Meghalaya 793008, India) 10. Naga Peoples Movement For Human Rights (NPMHR) (Email: [email protected], [email protected]; Address: Kohima, Nagaland 797005, India) 11. Zo Indigenous Forum (ZIF) (Website: http://zoindigenous.blogspot.com/; Email: [email protected]; Address: MZP Pisa Pui, Treasury Square, Aizawl, Mizoram 796001, India) 1 The preparation of this joint submission was led by AIPP and ZIF with inputs and endorsements from other organizations through online and in-person consultations.
    [Show full text]
  • 3. on April 9, 1946, the NNC Submitted a Memorandum to The
    The 72nd anniversary of NNC formation Day. The Naga Club was formed in October 1918, and the same leaders renamed the Naga Club as the Naga National Council (NNC) on the 2nd February 1946 at Wokha Town, Nagaland, and the Naga Club leaders became the leaders of NNC. The aspiration of the leaders was to safeguard the sovereignty of Nagaland in those days of changing world. Today, the 2nd February 2018 is the 72nd anniversary of the NNC formation Day. The achievements and history of the NNC. 1. With the formation of the NNC, all the Naga Villages were brought into a nation for the first time in the Naga national history. Before the formation of the NNC, each and every Naga village was sovereign and republic in itself. 2. The NNC blatantly rejected the Couplan plan of the British Crown Colony for the Hill people of Frontier areas, which was proposed by Sir Robert Reid and Sir Reginald Coupland in 1946, and thus the plan became non-starter. 3. On April 9, 1946, the NNC submitted a memorandum to the British Cabinet Commission Camp New Delhi stating that “The Naga future would not be bound by arbitrary decision of the British Government. And any recommendation without consultation would not be accepted. We have not deviated from the true path of national independence. We shall not betray our nation.” 4. On 27th March, 1946, the Naga National Council sent a letter to Lord Simon, House of Lords, stated that “we the Nagas made it clear to your Lordship and your Lordship’s colleagues in 1929 that we desire to be left alone in the event of the British withdrawal from India.
    [Show full text]
  • The Status of Tribal Women in Northeast India: Responding to India's Social Challenges
    ISSN: 2455-3220 International Journal for Social Studies Volume 03 Issue 11 Available at https://edupediapublications.org/journals October 2017 The Status of Tribal Women in Northeast India: Responding to India's Social Challenges. -Dr. ASHA SOUGAIJAM Department of Sociology Indira Gandhi National Tribal University, Regional Campus, Chingmeirong, Adhimjati Complex, Imphal-795001, Manipur. INTRODUCTION Northeast India, considered as one of most interest in developing the living standards and culturally diverse regions of the world, is a tourism among these tribal occupied states. land inhabited by more than 200 fascinating tribes. It is no wonder the region has ever- Different ethnic groups and tribal groups since captured the imaginations of inhabit the region of northeast India. They all anthropologists from all over the world. have their own culture and tribal tradition and all speak their own tribal languages. This has The north eastern part of India shares its made Northeast India one of the most boundary with China, Nepal, Bhutan, culturally diverse regions of the world. The Myanmar and Bangladesh. Northeast India cuisines and attires also vary among the tribes. comprises of eight states. They are Mizoram, Each tribal community has their unique way of Arunachal Pradesh, Sikkim, Assam, Manipur, living. Tribal people mostly live and earn Nagaland, Meghalaya and Tripura. Nagaland through the hills and forest areas. and Manipur share their boundary with Myanmar. Meghalaya and Tripura share it ORIGIN OF THE TRIBES with Bangladesh whereas Assam shares it‟s North East Indian tribes have originated with Bhutan. Sikkim shares its boundary with from the ethnic groups of Tibeto-Burmese, China, Nepal, and Bhutan.
    [Show full text]
  • Centre for North East Studies and Policy Research Jamia Millia Islamia New Delhi 110 025 Panel Discussion on 'Understanding Th
    Centre for North East Studies and Policy Research Jamia Millia Islamia New Delhi 110 025 Panel Discussion on ‘Understanding the Naga Peace Talks: The ways forward’ 28 September, 2020, from 2 PM onwards Join with Google Meet: meet.google.com/xoa-ucuk-jjg A Background Note The Naga movement for independence started around the time India won independence. The first ever peace building effort was made as early as in June 1947 through an agreement between the then Governor of Assam and the Naga National Council. The effort however failed to have any meaningful impact. Thereafter, the Naga National Council declared independence and claimed to have conducted a plebiscite for independence. The government was willing to give limited autonomy under the constitution of the country. The Nagas rejected the offer and boycotted the first parliamentary elections held in 1951. In 1959, the Naga People’s Convention adopted a resolution for the formation of a separate state. This led to the Sixteen-Point agreement to elevate Naga Hills-Tuensang Areas into a state known as Nagaland. But, the creation of Nagaland could not bring peace. Another agreement, popularly known as the Shillong accord, was signed in 1975 between the Government of India and the “Representative of the Underground Organisations”. It created a major rift within the Naga National Council which ultimately led to its split in 1980 with the formation of the National Socialist Council of Nagaland. Meanwhile, a ceasefire came into being in 1997 between the Government of India and the NSCN-IM, and separately with the Khaplang-led NSCN faction since 2001.
    [Show full text]
  • Traditional Knowledge of Medicinal Plants Used by the Chakhesang Naga Tribe in Phek District of Nagaland, India
    Pleione 14(2): 237 - 247. 2020. ISSN: 0973-9467 © East Himalayan Society for Spermatophyte Taxonomy doi:10.26679/Pleione.14.2.2020.237-247 Traditional knowledge of medicinal plants used by the Chakhesang Naga tribe in Phek District of Nagaland, India Nelia Lea1 and Limasenla Department of Botany, Nagaland University, Lumami-798627, Nagaland 1Corresponding author: E-mail: [email protected] [Received 12.10.2020; Revised 21.12.2020; Accepted 22.12.2020; Published 31.12.2020] Abstract The present paper deals with the Chakhesang Naga traditional knowledge of medicinal plants which are used for the treatment of various ailments and diseases. The paper reports 68 species belonging to 41 families and 66 genera. The ethnobotanical data were analyzed through informant consensus factor (ICF) and fidelity level (FL). The informant consensus factor shows that blood pressure (0.87) has the highest agreement, followed by dermatological problems and inflammation and pain (0.83 respectively). Saccharum officinarum has the highest FL value (100%). Leaves were the most commonly used plant part. Key words: Medicinal plants, Chakhesang Naga tribe, Nagaland, Informant Consensus Factor, Fidelity Level INTRODUTION The state of Nagaland situated in Northeast India harbors rich biodiversity and is situated within the Indo-Burma Biodiversity Hotspot as recognized by IUCN. The Naga tribes have a rich knowledge, based on their natural resources of traditional folk medicine which they have developed through their age long, trial-and-error methods. The culture and traditional knowledge has been passed on from generation to generation through oral folklore, tradition, customs, and festivals. The state has 14 officially recognized Naga Tribes and 5 recognized Scheduled Tribes.
    [Show full text]
  • Naga Identity: Naga Nation As an Imagined Communities
    International Journal of Research in Social Sciences Vol. 8 Issue 2, February 2018, ISSN: 2249-2496 Impact Factor: 7.081 Journal Homepage: http://www.ijmra.us, Email: [email protected] Double-Blind Peer Reviewed Refereed Open Access International Journal - Included in the International Serial Directories Indexed & Listed at: Ulrich's Periodicals Directory ©, U.S.A., Open J-Gage as well as in Cabell‟s Directories of Publishing Opportunities, U.S.A Naga Identity: Naga Nation as an Imagined Communities Longkoi Khiam* T.Longkoi Khiamniungan* Abstract Nationalism, as a political phenomenon, has gained much currency in the last few centuries. It has aroused large collectives of people and has become the grounds on which economic, cultural and political claims have been made. The nation has also become a marker of identity for individuals and whole societies. In this paper, I would like to look at the beginnings and formation of Naga nationalism and the important economic, cultural and political claims it makes. The beginnings of Naga nationalism could be located in the specific encounter Nagas had with modernity via British administrators and missionaries. From the 1940s onwards, the claims made by Naga nationalism have been met with certain ideological and militarist response from the Indian state. The response of the Indian state has determined the subsequent efforts of the Nagas to define the contours of their nationalism. Key words: Nationalism, nation, Naga identity, political, imagined communities, Nagaland, India, Indian response * Assistant Professor, Central University of Haryana 637 International Journal of Research in Social Sciences http://www.ijmra.us, Email: [email protected] ISSN: 2249-2496 Impact Factor: 7.081 Introduction As identities are mobilized to serve the political designs of vested interests, it seems obvious that the idea of a Naga nation and behind the „national liberation‟ and „secessionist‟ movements in the region is seemingly at least, incompatible with the idea of the Indian 'nation state'.
    [Show full text]
  • A Phonetic, Phonological, and Morphosyntactic Analysis of the Mara Language
    San Jose State University SJSU ScholarWorks Master's Theses Master's Theses and Graduate Research Spring 2010 A Phonetic, Phonological, and Morphosyntactic Analysis of the Mara Language Michelle Arden San Jose State University Follow this and additional works at: https://scholarworks.sjsu.edu/etd_theses Recommended Citation Arden, Michelle, "A Phonetic, Phonological, and Morphosyntactic Analysis of the Mara Language" (2010). Master's Theses. 3744. DOI: https://doi.org/10.31979/etd.v36r-dk3u https://scholarworks.sjsu.edu/etd_theses/3744 This Thesis is brought to you for free and open access by the Master's Theses and Graduate Research at SJSU ScholarWorks. It has been accepted for inclusion in Master's Theses by an authorized administrator of SJSU ScholarWorks. For more information, please contact [email protected]. A PHONETIC, PHONOLOGICAL, AND MORPHOSYNTACTIC ANALYSIS OF THE MARA LANGUAGE A Thesis Presented to The Faculty of the Department of Linguistics and Language Development San Jose State University In Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree Master of Arts by Michelle J. Arden May 2010 © 2010 Michelle J. Arden ALL RIGHTS RESERVED The Designated Thesis Committee Approves the Thesis Titled A PHONETIC, PHONOLOGICAL, AND MORPHOSYNTACTIC ANALYSIS OF THE MARA LANGUAGE by Michelle J. Arden APPROVED FOR THE DEPARTMENT OF LINGUISTICS AND LANGUAGE DEVELOPMENT SAN JOSE STATE UNIVERSITY May 2010 Dr. Daniel Silverman Department of Linguistics and Language Development Dr. Soteria Svorou Department of Linguistics and Language Development Dr. Kenneth VanBik Department of Linguistics and Language Development ABSTRACT A PHONETIC, PHONOLOGICAL, AND MORPHOSYNTACTIC ANALYSIS OF THE MARA LANGUAGE by Michelle J. Arden This thesis presents a linguistic analysis of the Mara language, a Tibeto-Burman language spoken in northwest Myanmar and in neighboring districts of India.
    [Show full text]
  • The Nagas: an Introduction
    The Nagas: An Introduction The Nagas: An Introduction The entry of the Nagas into the written history of the world can be dated to 24th February 1826. On that day representa- tives of the Kingdom of Burma and the British military signed the Treaty of Yandabo, in which Burma renounced all claims to Assam and Manipur. The westward policy of expansion pursued by Burma – at that time the most pow- erful kingdom in Southeast Asia – had begun in the 1780s when Burmese troops occupied the independent Kingdom of Arakan and reached for the first time the eastern border of the British Indian Empire, which corresponds fairly exactly with the present-day borders of Bangladesh and North Ben- gal. In 1817 the Burmese invaded Assam and in 1819 the in- dependent Kingdom of Manipur. In 1823 they also annexed the Kingdom of Cachar, a strategic area for invading Bengal. In March of the following year, Britain officially declared war on Burma, a war which ended two years later with the aforementioned Treaty of Yandabo. Gradually Britain occu- pied the whole of Assam and intensified its diplomatic and military relations with Manipur, which was intended to have a key position in monitoring and if need be defending the border between Burma and the British sphere of influence. British India had reached the foot of the Naga Hills – the southeastern foothills of the Himalayas in the present bor- der triangle of India, Burma and China, which at that time was covered in jungle. The first Nagas with whom the British came in contact were the Tengima (Hutton 1914: 476).
    [Show full text]
  • Prestopped Bilabial Trills in Sangtam*
    PRESTOPPED BILABIAL TRILLS IN SANGTAM* Alexander R. Coupe Nanyang Technological University, Singapore [email protected] ABSTRACT manner of articulation in an ethnographic description published in 1939: This paper discusses the phonetic and phonological p͜͜ w = der für Nord-Sangtam typische Konsonant, sehr features of a typologically rare prestopped bilabial schwierig auszusprechen; tönt etwa wie pw oder pr. trill and some associated evolving sound changes in Wird jedoch von den Lippen gebildet, durch die man the phonology of Sangtam, a Tibeto-Burman die Luft so preßt, daß die Untelippe einmal (oder language of central Nagaland, north-east India. zweimal) vibriert. (Möglicherweise gibt es den gleichen Konsonanten etwas weicher und wird dann Prestopped bilabial trills were encountered in two mit b͜ w bezeichnet). dozen words of a 500-item corpus and found to be in Translation: pw = the typical consonant for the North phonemic contrast with all other members of the Sangtam language, very difficult to pronounce; sounds plosive series. Evidence from static palatograms and like pw or pr. It is however produced by the lips, linguagrams demonstrates that Sangtam speakers through which one presses the air in a way that the articulate this sound by first making an apical- or lower lip vibrates once (or twice). (Possibly, the same laminal-dental oral occlusion, which is then consonant exists in a slightly softer form and is then 1 explosively released into a bilabial trill involving up termed bw). to three oscillations of the lips. In 2012 a similar sound was encountered in two The paper concludes with a discussion of the dozen words of a 500-word corpus of Northern possible historical sources of prestopped bilabial Sangtam, the main difference from Kauffman’s trills in this language, taking into account description being that the lip vibration is preceded phonological reconstructions and cross-linguistic by an apical- or laminal-dental occlusion.
    [Show full text]
  • Non-Structural Case Marking in Tibeto-Burman and Artificial Languages*
    Non-structural Case Marking in Tibeto-Burman and Artificial Languages* Alexander R. Coupe Sander Lestrade Nanyang Technological University Radboud University This paper discusses the diachronic development of non-structural case marking in Tibeto- Burman and in computer simulations of language evolution. It is shown how case marking is initially motivated by the pragmatic need to disambiguate between two core arguments, but eventually may develop flagging functions that even extend into the intransitive domain. Also, it is shown how different types of case-marking may emerge from various underlying disambiguation strategies. 1. Introduction This paper was motivated by the authors’ serendipitous discovery that a computer simulation of the emergence of case marking produced results that are uncannily similar to attested grammaticalization pathways and patterns of core case marking observed in the grammars of many Tibeto-Burman (henceforth TB) languages with pragmatically-motivated case marking. When it manifests, core case marking in both the natural and artificial languages appears to be initially motivated by the same fundamental need to disambiguate semantic roles. In other words, whenever some meaning does not follow inherently from the semantics of the dependency relationship holding between a head and its arguments, it must be encoded explicitly in the grammars of both the simulated language and the natural languages. Disambiguating case marking is most likely to appear in clauses with two core arguments when either one may potentially fulfill the role of the agent. Under these circumstances, some grammatical means of distinguishing an A argument from an O argument may be required to clarify meaning. 1 Conversely, if semantic roles can be unambiguously assigned to core arguments because of the semantic nature of their referents, then there may be no overt marking, even in bivalent clauses, so the use of core case marking is observed to have a pragmatic basis.
    [Show full text]