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RABHA BRILL’S TIBETAN STUDIES LIBRARY edited by HENK BLEZER ALEX MCKAY CHARLES RAMBLE LANGUAGES OF THE GREATER HIMALAYAN REGION edited by GEORGE L. VAN DRIEM VOLUME 5/1 RABHA BY U.V. JOSEPH LEIDEN • BOSTON 2007 This book was published with financial support from the International Institute for Asian Studies (IIAS), Leiden, the Netherlands. This book is printed on acid-free paper. Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data A C.I.P. record for this book is available from the Library of Congress. ISSN 1568-6183 ISBN-10: 90 04 13321 6 ISBN-13: 978 90 04 13321 1 © Copyright 2007 by Koninklijke Brill NV, Leiden, The Netherlands Koninklijke Brill NV incorporates the imprints Brill, Hotei Publishing, IDC Publishers, Martinus Nijhoff Publishers and VSP. All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, translated, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording or otherwise, without prior written permission from the publisher. Authorization to photocopy items for internal or personal use is granted by Brill provided that the appropriate fees are paid directly to The Copyright Clearance Center, 222 Rosewood Drive, Suite 910 Danvers MA 01923, USA. Fees are subject to change. printed in the netherlands CONTENTS Acknowledgements .................................................................... xvii List of Tables ............................................................................ xix List of Figures .......................................................................... xxiii Abbreviations ............................................................................ xxv Summary .................................................................................. xxvii Editorial foreword .................................................................... xxxi Introduction .............................................................................. 1 1 Aim and scope .................................................................... 1 2 The term ‘Rabha’ .............................................................. 1 3 Language area .................................................................... 1 4 Methodology ...................................................................... 5 5 The Rabha people ............................................................ 5 6 Rabha speakers and dialects .............................................. 7 7 Some scattered Róngdani speaking villages east of the river Jinari (or Bolbola) ...................................................... 9 8 Rabha in Tibeto-Burman taxonomy ................................ 13 8.1 Rabha: A Baric language ........................................ 13 8.2 Rabha in micro-taxonomic level .............................. 15 8.3 Rabha: A Sal language ............................................ 15 9 Literary activity .................................................................. 16 Chapter One Sound level analysis ...................................... 18 1.1 Phonemic inventory ........................................................ 18 1.1.1 Consonants .......................................................... 18 1.1.2 Vowels .................................................................. 18 1.1.3 Tone .................................................................... 19 1.1.4 Juncture ................................................................ 19 1.1.5 Voiced aspirated plosives .................................... 19 1.2 Illustration of contrast .................................................... 20 1.2.1 Consonants .......................................................... 20 1.2.1.1 Plosives .................................................. 20 1.2.1.1.1 Aspiration ............................ 20 1.2.1.1.2 Voicing ................................ 22 1.2.1.1.3 Places of articulation ............ 25 vi contents 1.2.1.2 Nasals ...................................................... 29 1.2.1.3 Lateral, trill and homorganic nasal ...... 31 1.2.1.4 Fricatives ................................................ 32 1.2.1.5 Contrast between palatal consonants .... 32 1.2.2 Contrast between vowels ...................................... 32 1.2.3 Contrast of tones .................................................. 37 1.3 Description of phonemes .................................................. 41 1.3.1 Consonants ............................................................ 41 1.3.1.1 Voiceless unaspirated plosives .............. 41 1.3.1.2 Voiceless aspirated plosives .................. 43 1.3.1.3 Voiced plosives ...................................... 44 1.3.1.4 Nasals ...................................................... 45 1.3.1.5 Fricatives ................................................ 47 1.3.1.6 Trill, Lateral .......................................... 48 1.3.2 Vowels .................................................................... 48 1.3.2.1 Low-toned vowels .................................. 48 1.3.2.2 High-toned vowels .................................. 53 1.3.2.3 Other tonal features .............................. 55 1.4 Complex nuclei ................................................................ 56 1.4.1 Contrast between complex nuclei ........................ 57 1.4.2 Description of complex nuclei ............................ 58 1.4.3 Resyllabification of complex nuclei .................... 63 1.4.4 Distribution of complex nuclei ............................ 64 1.5 Phonotactics ...................................................................... 66 1.5.1 Distribution of consonants .................................... 66 1.5.2 Distribution of vowels .......................................... 76 1.5.2.1 Low-toned vowels .................................. 77 1.5.2.2 High-toned vowels .................................. 80 1.5.3 Initial and final consonant clusters ...................... 83 1.5.3.1 Constraints on the vowel following an initial consonant cluster ........................ 84 1.5.3.2 Constraints on the coda of initial syllable with initial clusters .................... 87 1.5.3.3 Simple nucleus of open syllable with initial clusters .......................................... 89 1.5.3.4 Complex nucleus following initial clusters .................................................... 90 1.5.4 Medial clusters ...................................................... 92 1.5.4.1 Two-member medial clusters ................ 92 1.5.4.2 Three-member medial clusters .............. 98 contents vii 1.5.5 Vowel sequence .................................................... 101 1.5.5.1 Vowel sequence within a morpheme .... 101 1.5.5.2 Vowel sequence across morpheme boundary ................................................ 103 1.5.5.3 Sequence of complex nucleus and a vowel ...................................................... 107 1.5.5.4 Sequence of complex nuclei .................. 109 1.5.6 Phonemic structure of syllables ............................ 109 1.5.6.1 The simple nucleus as peak .................. 109 1.5.6.2 The onset ................................................ 110 1.5.6.3 The coda ................................................ 110 1.5.6.4 The complex nucleus as peak .............. 111 1.5.6.5 The canonical shape of the syllable .... 112 1.5.6.6 The syllabic structure of words ............ 112 1.5.6.7 Syllabification of polysyllabic words .... 113 Chapter Two Phonological processes and morphemics ...... 115 2.1 Phonological processes ...................................................... 115 2.1.1 Assimilation of place of articulation .................... 115 2.1.1.1 Progressive plosive-nasal assimilation of place ........................................................ 116 2.1.1.2 Progressive nasal-nasal assimilation of place ........................................................ 117 2.1.1.3 Regressive nasal-plosive assimilation of place ........................................................ 119 2.1.2 The high tone ~ final-t alternation .................... 121 2.1.3 Minor phonological processes .............................. 124 2.1.3.1 Situations involving consonants ............ 124 2.1.3.2 Situations involving vowels .................... 126 2.2 Morphemics ...................................................................... 129 2.2.1 Composition of morphemes ................................ 129 2.2.2 Types of morphemes ............................................ 129 2.2.2.1 Roots ...................................................... 129 2.2.2.2 Affixes ...................................................... 130 2.2.2.3 Particles .................................................. 130 2.2.2.4 Bound and free morphemes .................. 131 2.2.2.5 Continuous and discontinuous morphemes ............................................ 131 viii contents Chapter Three Lexical analysis ............................................ 133 3.1 Noun roots ........................................................................ 133 3.1.1 Syllabic structure of noun roots .......................... 134 3.1.1.1 Monosyllabic noun roots ...................... 134 3.1.1.2 Polysyllabic noun roots .......................... 137 (i) Bisyllabic monomorphemic noun roots ................................................ 137 (ii) Trisyllabic monomorphemic noun roots ................................................ 139 (iii) Tetrasyllabic monomorphemic noun roots .................................... 140 3.1.2 Derivation and compounding of nouns .............