SIZANG (SIYIN) GRAMMAR THESIS SUBMITTED TO MANIPUR UNIVERSITY IN PARTIAL FULFILMENT FOR THE AWARD OF THE DEGREE OF DOCTOR OF PH ILOSOPHY IN LINGUISTICS BY BOBITA SARANGTHEM Ph. D. Regn. No. 2024 of 2004 1 Dr. P. Madhubala MANIPUR UNIVERSITY Professor Canchipur, Imphal -795003 Department of Linguistics CERTIFICATE This is to certify that the thesis entitled “Sizang (siyin) Grammar” submitted by Ms. Bobita Sarangthem , Department of Linguistics, Manipur University, Canchipur, Imphal for the award of Degree of Doctor of Philosophy is an original work and has not been published or not submitted so far in any part or full for any other Degree or Diploma in any University. The thesis may be placed before the examiners for evaluation for the award of the Degree of Doctor of Philosophy. Dated: The 25 th November 2010. (P.Madhubala) Supervisor 2 ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS I feel great pleasure in expressing my deepest sense of gratitude to my guide Professor P. Madhubala for her constant encouragement and meticulous guidance during the progress of the research work. I am sincerely grateful to Prof. Ch. Yashawanta Singh, who has contributed much to the background necessary for successfully realizing the work I am immensely thankful to Dr. S. Imoba Singh, Dr. N. Pramodini Devi and to Dr. H. Surmangol Sharma for their valuable suggestions. I wish to express my profound gratitude to Michael Suantak, Rev. S. Prim Vaiphei and Thangboi for their generous efforts to meet all the requirements during the course of investigation. My special and sincere thanks are due to Max Vaipum and U Khampum (informants) for their co- operation and help during my field work. It is beyond words to express my heartfelt gratitude to my brothers, S. Prafullo singh and S. Jugindro singh, and to my sister-in-laws, sisters, nieces and nephews for their love, support, encouragement and blessing to me in all the undertakings. I am immensely thankful to my brother, S. Jugindro singh for accompanying me during the trip to Tamu (Myanmar). 3 My sincere thanks and appreciation are due to Dr. Th. Nabakumar and Dr .S. Kananbala for their valuable help and encouragement in my research work from time to time. I feel also thankful to Dr. L. Sarbajit, E. Sharat, Sh.Dhanapati and all my well wishers for their cheerful cooperation. Last but not the least; I am grateful to my husband L. Lokendro for constant source of inspiration and help without which my work would have been very difficult. My heartfelt thanks and love to Aditya, my beloved son, for his moral support and constant prayer. Imphal, Dated 25 th November 2010. (Bobita Sarangthem) 4 Table of Contents Page Acknowledgements………………………………………………….. i List of Tables……………………………………………………….. vi List of Figures………………………………………………………. vii Symbols and Abbreviations………………………………………… viii Map indicating Chin State of Myanmar (Burma)……………… x Classification of Kuki-Chin language…………………………… xi Chapter 1 Introduction 1 1.1 The Land 1 1.2 The Sizang People 2 1.3 Custom 5 1.4 Overview on the present analysis 6 Chapter 2 Phonology 8 2.1 General Statement 8 2.2 Consonants 8 2.2.1 Consonant Contrasts 9 2.2.2 Distribution of Consonants 19 2.2.3 Consonant Sequence 28 5 2.2.4 Medial Gemination 30 2.3 Vowels 31 2.3.1 Vowel Contrasts 32 2.3.2 Distribution of Vowels 33 2.3.3 Vowel Sequence 37 2.3.4 Diphthongs 39 2.4 Syllable 42 2.5 Tones 45 2.5.1 Juncture 47 Chapter 3 Morphophonemics 48 3.1 Phonologically conditioned morphophonemic Changes 48 Chapter 4 Morphology 54 4.1 General Statement 54 4.2 Affixes 54 4.2.1 Prefixes 54 4.2.2 Suffixes 58 4.3 Nouns 64 4.3.1 Kinds of Noun 64 4.3.1.1 Simple noun 64 6 4.3.1.2 Derived noun 64 4.3.1.3 Compound noun 66 4.3.2 Number 69 4.3.3 Gender 70 4.3.4 Case 71 4.4 Numerals 76 4.5 Pronouns 80 4.5.1 Types of pronouns 81 4.6 Verbs 87 4.6.1 Pronominal verbal agreement prefixes/suffixes 87 4.6.2 ‘be’ Verb 89 4.6.3 Final particle ‘hi’ 89 4.6.4 Auxiliary verb 90 4.6.5 Classification of verbs 92 4.6.6 Derivation of verbal bases 95 4.7 Aspects 100 4.8 Mood 104 4.9 Adverbs 7 106 4.10 Adjective 110 Chapter 5 Syntax 113 5.1 Constructions and constituents 113 5.2 Sentence Type I 120 5.2.1 Simple sentence 121 5.2.2 Compound sentence 121 5.2.3 Complex sentence 122 5.3 Sentence Type II 123 5.3.1 Declarative sentences (Statements) 124 5.3.2 Interrogative sentences 126 5.3.3 Imperative sentences 131 8 5.3.4 Negative sentence 137 5.4 Conjunction 139 Chapter 6 Social Grammar 145 6.1 General statement 145 6.2 Kinship terms of address 145 6.3 Address by name 147 6.4 Naming system 147 6.5 Terms of reference 149 6.6 Taboo 150 Chapter 7 Conclusion 152 Appendix I Vocabulary 157 9 Appendix II Bibliography 198 *** 10 List of Tables Tables Page 1. Table 2.1 Table showing the consonant phonemes 9 2. Table 2.2 Table showing the vowel phonemes 31 3. Table 2.3 Table showing types of tones 46 4. Table 3.1 Table showing verbal stem alterations 51 5. Table 4.1 Table showing different classes of personal pronouns 82 6. Table 4.2 Table showing the pronominal prefixes of the three persons 82 7. Table 4.3 Table showing the pronominal suffixes of the three persons 84 *** 11 List of Figures Figures Page 1. Fig 2.1 Diagram showing classification of phonemes 8 2. Fig 4.1 Diagram showing classification of pronoun 81 3. Fig 5.1 Diagram showing constituent structure of sentence in example 16 117 4. Fig 5.2 Diagram showing constituent of sentence in example 16 118 5. Fig 5.3 Diagram showing constituent of sentence in example 17 118 6. Fig 5.4 Diagram showing types of sentences 124 *** 12 Symbols and Abbreviations / / Phonemic [ ] Phonetic > Becomes/change to / ΄ / Rising tone / ̀ / Falling tone * unacceptable/non-meaningful/non-grammatical II Verb stem II adv.M. Adverb marker asso. Associative aug. Augmentative aux. Auxiliary be Verb ‘be’ caus. Causative conj. Conjunction deic. Deictic derv. Derived noun 13 det. Determiner excl. Exclusive Form part Formative particle FP. Final particle imp. Imperative incl. Inclusive int. Intensive loc. Locative marker nom. Nominative pl. Plural pref. Prefix pro.p. Pronominal particle prog. Progressive QM. Question marker rec. Reciprocal marker redp. Reduplicating sg. Singular suff. Suffix unasp. Unaspirated unre. Unrealized aspect marker 14 1pp First person pronominal prefix 2pp Second person pronominal prefix 3pp Third person pronominal prefix 1ps First person pronominal suffix 2ps Second person pronominal suffix *** 15 Manipur State North . Imphal . Tamu East * MYANMAR (Burma) Map Indicating Chin State of Myanmar 16 Classification of Kuki Chin Languages (Based on Grierson (1904), Reprint 1967 .) Kuki Chin Old Kuki Southern Chin Central Chin Northern Chin Aimol Khami Tashon Siyin (Sizang) Anal Yindu Lushei Sokte CHiru Kyang/Sho Banjogi Ralte Kom Chinbok Lai Paite 17 CHAPTER 1 Introduction Sizang is a Kuki-Chin language of the Tibeto-Burman family. Thuavum or Kenedy peak in the Chin state of Burma (Myanmar) is the land of their heritage. The word Sizang may be translated as Si means ‘salt water’; Zang means ‘the northern side’ which indicates people, who live at the northern part of the ‘spring of salt water’. Siyin is the transliteration of standard Burmese (Stern, 1963). But the later generation and offspring who continued to live on adopted “Sizang” as their ethnic identity. According to Grierson (1904: Vol. III. Part III) Siyin belongs to northern Chin subgroups under Kuki-Chin group. Sizang language shares a mutually intelligible language with Vaiphei, Paite or Tedim Chin. 1.1 The land:- Sizang live in Sizang valley or Thuavum which is situated in the present day Chin State of Burma (Myanmar). They moved away from their original home of Chimnuai, the Garden of Eden of the Zomi (Chin) people and establish Sizang valley near Kenedy peak. The Chin State lies in the west of Myanmar, between 24 o and 21.45 o north latitude and between 92 o and 94.5 o east longitude as shown in the enclosed map. The area of Chin State is 13, 367 square miles. The Chin hills are a series of generally north-south oriented mountain ranges, but south of 22 o north latitude there is a large region in which this pattern is interrupted by cross 18 cutting local ridges, valleys, and other irregularities( Lehman, 1963). The main rivers in Chin State are the Manipur, Bawinu, Kaladan and Tio rivers. The climate is chiefly influenced by monsoon winds, but owing to the latitude, the weather is often cold. There are three seasons viz., hot, wet and cold season. Up-to-date official demographic information for Chin State is not available. Referring to the 1931 census of India, Luce (1959) gives the total population of Chin speaker in Burma (Myanmar) is nearly 344,000 with 44 different tribes. In the Chin population the Sizang are a minority, about ten thousand in number. According to Vumson (1986), the Zomi or Chin people live collectively in Chimnuai, for a long period of time until they experienced population explosion. Thus finding new settlements were essential for their continued survival in terms of cultivation, in the hope of getting sufficient foods from fertile soils for each community, consequently they scattered throughout the mountains, dales and valleys within and surrounding the present Chin State.