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Language Contact in Upper Mangdep a Comparative Grammar of Verbal Constructions

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Language Contact in Upper Mangdep a Comparative Grammar of Verbal Constructions Language contact in Upper Mangdep a comparative grammar of verbal constructions Image copyright © André Bosch 2016 Language contact in Upper Mangdep: a comparative grammar of verbal constructions ANDRÉ BOSCH A thesis submitted in partial fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of Bachelor of Arts (Honours) Department of Linguistics Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences The University of Sydney June 2016 Abstract Of the approximately 19 Tibeto-Burman languages spoken in Bhutan, only a handful has been closely studied. Although these represent a diverse range of subgroups, one subgroup, East Bodish, is almost completely unique to Bhutan. The national language, Dzongkha, along with a few other languages around the kingdom, is a representative of Tibetic, a widely spread clade whose members descend from Old Tibetan. East Bodish is local to the central and eastern parts of the country, and is internally divided into a Dakpa- Dzala subgroup and a Bumthangic subgroup. Two other languages, Chali and Upper Mangdep (variously known as Mangdebikha, ’Nyenkha, Henke, and Phobjip in existing literature), have an unclear relative position (Hyslop 2013a). The foundational goal of this work is to describe the structural and functional grammar of predication in Upper Mangdep. Despite the established placement of Upper Mangdep in the East Bodish group, this grammar superficially appears to share many similarities with Dzongkha (Tibetic). The existing phylogenetic placement is based on lexico-phonological study, and indeed a plurality of Upper Mangdep lexemes have an East Bodish etymology, including verb roots. Additionally, however, certain developments in Upper Mangdep and other East Bodish languages are strong evidence of a common origin. On the other hand, there are many examples of isomorphy (correspondence) between predicational constructions in Upper Mangdep and Dzongkha. That is, verbal constructions in the two languages, both transparent and opaque (non-compositional), often make use of similar structures, have similar functions, appear in similar distributions, and/or share conceptual paths to grammaticalisation. This thesis shows that these similarities arise through contact-induced convergent developments, namely replication of grammaticalisation paths, and replication of morphological structure and/or function. This is demonstrated with a number of types of evidence. Firstly, it re-affirms the place of Upper Mangdep in East Bodish, also explicitly excluding it from Tibetic. Secondly, it is argued affirmatively that the similarities between certain constructions in the two languages are the result of language contact. This is achieved through comparative description of Upper Mangdep verbal constructions in i relation to Dzongkha and other East Bodish languages, notably Kurtöp, for which the most complete description exists (Hyslop, 2011a). Finally, this is corroborated with evidence of other contact phenomena in Upper Mangdep which are consistent with these developments, such as the replication of abstract phonological patterns. This work also makes a few preliminary suggestions as to the socio-political and historical circumstances that have prompted contact-induced change in Upper Mangdep, with especial reference to differences between Upper Mangdep dialects. In particular, as this is one of very few studies demonstrating changes to grammatically-encoded epistemic modality by contact, the potential sociological impact on epistemic marking in the two major dialect groups is also discussed. It is suggested that changes in social organisation may have been partly responsible for the obsolescence of the epistemic contrast of egophoricity in the perfective aspect for speakers of the eastern dialect of the language. This thesis is consequential as undoubtedly the second-most complete descriptive and historical study of an East Bodish language, and the only significant work on the Upper Mangdep language; but also as a thorough case study of what contact-induced changes to predication look like in a Tibeto-Burman language. The attempts to place the description within a sociological context make it an ideal case study of language contact phenomena, particularly with regard to epistemic modality. ii Acknowledgements The success of this work is attributable largely to the support, in many senses, of others. Firstly, to the Upper Mangdep speakers who were so kind and so helpful in sharing their language with me. I must thank Karma Tshering for cheerily offering so much of his spare time to me and for leveraging his connections in Bhutan to set me up with other speakers. My field trip could also not have succeeded without Phuntsho Wangdi, who assisted in a great many ways. Sangay Thinley and Karma Tenzin in particular also put in an enormous amount of work helping with transcription. And of course, I thank those people in Tshangkha who hosted me despite their busy lives. I met many Bhutanese people who were willing to work so hard and enthusiastically to ensure the success of a random foreigner’s research, and for that I thank them. Secondly, to Sonam Rabgyal, who showed me his amazing country and offered much logistical support. Thirdly, to my now good friends in Bhutan who provided personal support during my stays in Thimphu, in particular Ngawang Tenzin and Ganga Ram Sharma. Fourthly, to those who gave me feedback, provided administrative assistance or other advice during my time at the University of Sydney, especially Josh Han, William Peralta, Sarah Plane, and Honours Convenor James Martin. I am also grateful to many, many people who have encouraged and emboldened me to pursue linguistics since high school; too many to name. I will mention, however, Jane Simpson and Nicholas Evans at the Australian National University who welcomed me into the linguistics community there. This thesis was also undoubtedly the largest project I’ve ever undertaken. For initiated academics, writing such a specialised work is perhaps unexceptional; but to most outside that bubble it seems to remain an exceedingly odd and quixotic task. Therefore, I thank my friends who provided personal support in one way or another during that time, especially Jay Ruttley, Brendan Wylie, Hayden Williams, and Cendel and Ken. Above all, I thank my parents, who have continued to sacrifice so much in their adopted country to see their children find happiness. Finally, but most especially, I must express my profound gratitude to my supervisor, Gwendolyn Hyslop, and her partner, Karma Tshering. I would never have been able to fulfil iii my long-standing dream of doing linguistic fieldwork abroad without their extraordinarily hard work and their investment of resources. Furthermore, Gwen has been willing to gamble so much generosity and goodwill into my development as a linguist since a field methods class in 2013, not hesitating to send me to Bhutan or to take me on as a research and teaching assistant. She was incredibly encouraging, understanding and reassuring no matter my situation. She is a paragon of advisors, and I am greatly indebted to her for her steadfast support. To all those who support me: it means a lot. iv Table of Contents 1 Introduction ............................................................................................................................. 1 1.1 Outline of the Upper Mangdep language ................................................................................................ 1 1.1.1 Internal diversity .......................................................................................................................... 2 1.2 Project background ..................................................................................................................................... 3 1.3 Social context ............................................................................................................................................... 4 1.4 Methodology ................................................................................................................................................ 6 1.4.1 Theoretical foundation ................................................................................................................ 7 1.5 Objectives ..................................................................................................................................................... 7 1.5.1 Significance ..................................................................................................................................... 9 1.6 Structure of this work .............................................................................................................................. 10 1.6.1 Presentation .................................................................................................................................. 10 2 Foundations in contact linguistics ......................................................................................... 12 2.1 Mechanisms of contact ............................................................................................................................. 12 2.1.1 The sociolinguistic environment ............................................................................................... 14 2.2 Language contact phenomena ................................................................................................................ 14 2.2.1 Language-wide changes in complexity ....................................................................................
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