Descriptive Analysis of Verbs in Maito Chaithra Puttaswamy Endangered Languages Academic Programme Department of Linguistics School of Oriental and African Studies A thesis submitted to the University of London in fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy (PhD) in Field Linguistics 2009 1 ProQuest Number: 10672930 All rights reserved INFORMATION TO ALL USERS The quality of this reproduction is dependent upon the quality of the copy submitted. In the unlikely event that the author did not send a com plete manuscript and there are missing pages, these will be noted. Also, if material had to be removed, a note will indicate the deletion. uest ProQuest 10672930 Published by ProQuest LLC(2017). Copyright of the Dissertation is held by the Author. All rights reserved. This work is protected against unauthorized copying under Title 17, United States C ode Microform Edition © ProQuest LLC. ProQuest LLC. 789 East Eisenhower Parkway P.O. Box 1346 Ann Arbor, Ml 48106- 1346 Declaration I undertake that all material presented for examination is my own work and has not been written for me, in whole or in part, by any other person(s). I also undertake that any quotation or paraphrase from the published or unpublished work of another person has been duly acknowledged in the work that I present for examination. Chaithra Puttaswamy Abstract This thesis is a Descriptive Analysis of Verbs in Malto, a poorly documented North Dravidian language with about 60,000 speakers living on the Rajmahal Hills in Eastern India. Malto is an agglutinating language with SOV word order. The finite verb word in Malto maximally carries information about valence adjusting operations, tense-aspect- mood, negation and gender-number-person agreement with the subject. The non-finite verbs take suffixes marking adverbialisation, complementation, relativisation, conjunct participialisation and relative tense. Syntactically, there is only one finite verb in a sentence and all the other verbs preceding it are non-finite. Malto has a range of multi­ verb constructions that includes explicator compound verbs, conjunct participle constructions, reduplicated adverbials, verbal complementisation, clause chaining and quotative verbal constructions. This work includes a detailed analysis of the formal structure of verbs, valence adjusting operations, tense-aspect-mood, negation and multi­ verb constructions in Malto along with a concluding chapter on the language contact and convergence situation. The synchronic data collected during fieldwork is discussed in the framework of Role and Reference Grammar and complemented by inputs from typological studies and a historical linguistic perspective in relation to Dravidian languages. 3 Acknowledgements It is often said that doing a PhD is lonely pre-occupation, but acknowledgement pages of every PhD thesis belie this suggestion. It is my pleasure to acknowledge the help, support and encouragement that I have received from everyone who has been with me on this long and eventful journey. Over the years, I have had the good fortune of being a student of outstanding linguists who have nurtured and promoted my linguistic pursuits. I would especially like to mention Prof Anvita Abbi, Prof UmaMaheshwar Rao, Prof Pramod Pandey and Dr Gail Coelho. My last lap as a student was under the able guidance of my PhD supervisor, Prof Peter Austin who has not only made invaluable contributions to my research on Malto, but has also set an example worth emulating on being a inspiring teacher, researcher and administrator. Dr Friederike Lupke, Dr Leora Bar-el and Dr Oliver Bond have also generously shared their knowledge and helped me shape my arguments in various parts of my thesis. Many thanks are due to Zara Pybus and Alison Kelly for their administrative support. The people of Angwali, Garsingla and Kerabadi villages have indulged me with their enthusiasm for my work and patience with my incessant prodding about mother tongue. I thank all my consultants for their willingness to share what they knew and also for taking time away from their work to talk to me in and about Malto. A special thanks to Pulak Mathur for keeping in touch, checking on my progress and above all responding to my several queries. My field work would have been hard to manage without the support of my friends Chandari Kumar, Madhumita and Arif. Kay, Stuart, Mary, Pete and Deepa have between them proof-read the final draft of my thesis at a very short notice and done a splendid job of it. Dorota and Shweta will always be fondly remembered for keeping the ^irl in me alive and for enjoying the delights of London’s student life with me. Working at SOAS would not have been as much fun as it has been, because of everyone who I shared the 4 work space with at R301. Thanks a ton, dear friends, you’ve have been there for me when I needed you most. Doing a PhD at SO AS would have been a distant dream but for the scholarship from Felix Trust who supported my study and stay in London. I would also like to acknowledge the contributions from Central Research Fund, University of London that awarded travel grants for my field work and the Endangered Languages Documentation Programme that awarded me a Field Trip Grant. I am indebted to the Leche Trust and the Endangered Languages Academic Programme for their financial support that saw me through the last six months of thesis-writing. My parents and Ullas have always let me follow my dream and stood by me even when they were not convinced that I had made the right career decision. Thank you amma and daddy, you have given me much more than I can ever wish for. I am also indebted to Shehsu tata and Aunty Brenda for giving me a home in the UK and spoiling me rotten during my vacations in Liverpool. Thank you Niraj, for just about everything. 5 Contents Chapter 1: Introduction 1.0 Introduction ...13 1.1 Historical and Sociolinguistic Profile ... 14 1.1.1 Related Languages ... 19 1.1.2 Malto: Language .. .20 1.1.3 People ...24 1.2 Fieldwork ...31 1.2.1 Data Collection .. .34 1.2.2 Technical Issues ... 34 1.2.3 Archiving ...36 1.2.4 Community Response .. .36 1.2.5 Consultants ...36 1.3 Previous works .. .39 1.4 Dravidian linguistics .. .40 1.4.1 Typological Profile of Dravidian Languages .. .43 1.5 The Value of Malto Data .. .46 1.6 Thesis Overview .. .48 Chapter 2: A Basic Grammar of Malto 2.0 Introduction .. .50 2.1 Typological profile .. .50 2.2 Phonetics and Phonology ...55 2.2.1 Syllable structure ...55 2.2.2 Phoneme inventory ...56 2.2.2.1 Vowels ...56 2.2.2.2 Consonants ...58 2.2.3 Phonotactics ...60 2.2.4 Borrowed Phonemes ...62 2.2.5 Orthographic conventions ...63 2.3 Morphophonemics ...63 2.3.1 Vowel Harmony ...63 2.3.2 Vowel Sandhi ...65 2.3.3 Epenthesis ...66 2.3.4 Free variation of initial /h - / .. .67 2.3.5 Enunciative V o w el/-u / ...67 2.3.6 d and h omission ...68 2.3.7 Haplology .. .68 2.3.8 Suffix allomorphy in dative and accusative .. .69 2.4 Major word classes .. .71 2.4.1 Noun verb distinction .. .71 2.4.2 Nouns ...71 2.4.2.1 Case system ...73 6 2.4.3 Demonstratives ... 80 2.4.4 Pronouns ...82 2.4.4.1 Demonstrative Pronouns ...82 2.4.4.2 Personal pronouns .. .84 2.4.4.3 Reflexive Pronoun ... 85 2.4.4.4 Interrogative Pronouns ...86 2.4.5 Adjectives ...88 2.4.6 Adverbs ...90 2.4.7 Classifiers ...91 2.4.8 Other functional categories .. .93 2.4.8.1 Postpositions ...94 2.4.8.2 Particles .. .95 2.4.8.2.1 Emphatic Particle ...95 2.4.8.2.2 Indefinite Particle .. .96 2.4.8.2.3 Additive ...96 2.4.8.2.4 Vocative ...97 2.5 Conclusion ...97 Chapter 3: Finite and Non-finite verbs and Verb classes 3.0 Introduction ...98 3.1 Formal Structure of the Verb .. .98 3.1.1 Levels of Word Formation ...100 3.1.1.1 Level One: Verb Stem Formation ...101 3.1.1.2 Level Two: Derivational Suffixes ... 105 3.1.1.3 Level Three: Inflectional Suffixes ... 106 3.2 Finite Verb ...109 3.3 Non-finite verbs ... 113 3.3.1 Conditionals ...114 3.3.2 Causal Adverbial ... 116 3.3.3 Relative Past ... 117 3.3.4 Simultaniety ... 118 3.3.5 Conjunct Participle ... 118 3.3.6 Infinitive ...119 3.3.7 Adnominals ...120 3.4 Category Changing Derivational Processes ... 121 3.4.1 Nominalisation: Deriving nouns from verbs ... 122 3.4.2 Verbalisation ... 122 3.5 Verb Classes ...124 3.5.1 Functional restrictions based on verb classes ...126 3.5.2 Copula constructions ... 128 3.6 Conclusion ... 129 Chapter 4: Valence Adjusting Operations 4.0 Introduction ... 130 4.1 Definition of Valence ...130 4.2 Transitivity and Valence ... 132 7 4.2.1 Detransitivisation ... 134 4.2.2 Transitivisation of verb stems derived from nouns and borrowed words ..135 4.3 Valence adjusting operators ... 137 4.3.1 Valence increasing operations ... 138 4.3.1.1 Causatives ...138 4.3.1.1.1 Lexical Causatives ...139 4.3.1.1.2 Morphological Causatives ...140 4.3.1.1.3 Second Causation ...144 4.3.2 Valence decreasing operations ... 146 4.3.2.1 Reflexives ...146 4.3.2.2 Reciprocal ...150 4.3.2.3 Passive ...155 4.4 Conclusion ... 159 Chapter 5: Tense Aspect and Mood 5.0 Introduction ... 160 5.1Tense ...162 5.1.1 Deictic Tense ...162 5.1.1.1 Past Tense ...163 5.1.1.2 Present Tense ...166 5.1.1.3 Future Tense ..