University of North Dakota UND Scholarly Commons Theses and Dissertations Theses, Dissertations, and Senior Projects January 2019 A Text-Based Exploration Of Topics In White Hmong Katherine Ann Birnschein Follow this and additional works at: https://commons.und.edu/theses Recommended Citation Birnschein, Katherine Ann, "A Text-Based Exploration Of Topics In White Hmong" (2019). Theses and Dissertations. 2838. https://commons.und.edu/theses/2838 This Thesis is brought to you for free and open access by the Theses, Dissertations, and Senior Projects at UND Scholarly Commons. It has been accepted for inclusion in Theses and Dissertations by an authorized administrator of UND Scholarly Commons. For more information, please contact [email protected]. A TEXT-BASED EXPLORATION OF TOPICS IN WHITE HMONG GRAMMAR by Katherine Ann Birnschein Bachelor of Arts, Bob Jones University, 1993 Master of Education, Bob Jones University, 1995 A Thesis Submitted to the Graduate Faculty of the University of North Dakota in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Arts Grand Forks, North Dakota December 2019 PERMISSION Title A text-based exploration of topics in White Hmong Grammar Department Linguistics Degree Master of Arts In presenting this thesis in partial fulfillment of the requirements for a graduate degree from the University of North Dakota, I agree that the library of this University shall make it freely available for inspection. I further agree that permission for extensive copying for scholarly purposes may be granted by the professor who supervised my thesis work or, in or his absence, by the Chairperson of the department or the dean of the School of Graduate Studies. It is understood that any copying or publication or other use of this thesis or part thereof for financial gain shall not be allowed without my written permission. It is also understood that due recognition shall be given to me and to the University of North Dakota in any scholarly use which may be made of any material in my thesis. Katherine Ann Birnschein October 30, 2019 CONTENTS List of tables . vii List of figures . ix Abbreviations . x Acknowledgments . xiii Abstract . xv CHAPTER 1. Introduction . 1 1.1. The importance of a text-based analysis . 4 1.2. The texts used . 11 1.3. Theoretical orientation . 15 2. A short description of White Hmong . 17 2.1. Genetic relationships . 17 2.2. Phonology . 18 2.3. Orthography . 19 2.4. Typology . 21 3. The noun . 29 3.1. Characteristics of nouns . 29 3.2. The order and constituents of the noun phrase . 30 3.3. Conclusions . 37 iv 4. The verb . 38 4.1. Forms of verbs . 38 4.2. Verbal TAM: A historical progression . 46 4.3. Aspect . 49 4.4. Mood . 56 4.5. Negation . 60 4.6. Reciprocal and reflexive constructions . 62 4.7. Conclusions . 63 5. Other parts of speech . 66 5.1. The indefinite article . 66 5.2. The classifier . 70 5.3. The spatial deictic . 79 5.4. The adjective . 84 5.5. The pronoun and other anaphoric devices . 87 5.6. The adverb . 106 5.7. The adposition . 108 5.8. Conclusions . 111 6. The clause . 114 6.1. The existential clause . 114 6.2. The intransitive clause . 116 6.3. The transitive clause . 120 6.4. The ditransitive clause . 121 6.5. Pragmatically altered order of constituents . 122 6.6. Questions . 122 v 6.7. Conclusions . 124 7. Event structure and discourse analysis . 126 7.1. Event structure . 126 7.2. Discourse analysis . 127 8. Contributions of the thesis . 129 8.1. Novel proposals . 129 8.2. Refinement of prior analyses . 130 8.3. Clarification of previous explanations . 130 8.4. Concerning diagrams . 131 APPENDICES . 132 A Examples of pronoun use . 133 B Text: Ar Moua’s story . 135 C Text: Everything starts with God . 147 D Text: Tzerge Yang’s story . 175 E Text: How to make Hmong eggs . 189 F Text: Kee’s story . 194 References . 213 vi LIST OF TABLES Table Page 1. The orthographic representations of the tones and phonation in Hmong . 20 2. IPA-RPA correspondence of vowels . 21 3. Tense markers tense according to Mottin (1978) . 47 4. Aspect markers according to Li (1991) . 48 5. Non-spatial setting markers according to White (2014) . 48 6. Uses of tau ....................................... 50 7. Tokens of the numerals one through nine . 68 8. Common classifiers . 71 9. Personal pronouns . 87 10. Non-referential pronouns . 94 11. Frequency of zero anaphora of subject in Text: Ar Moua’s story . 103 12. Frequency of zero anaphora of object in Text: Ar Moua’s story . 103 vii 13. Frequency of zero anaphora of subject in Text: How to make Hmong eggs . 103 14. Frequency of zero anaphora of object in Text: How to make Hmong eggs . 103 viii LIST OF FIGURES Figure Page 1. SVO constituent order in (13) . 22 2. SVO constituent order with full noun phrases in (14) . 23 3. Sentence (55) with a cotemporal SVC . 42 4. Sentence (56) with a pivotal SVC . 43 5. Sentence (57) with a disposal SVC . 44 6. Sentence (58) with an attainment SVC . 45 7. Ratliff’s (1997:318) representation of the spatial deictics in White Hmong. 80 8. Sentence (211) with an existential verb . 115 9. Sentence (214) with an intransitive verb . 117 10. Sentence (215) with a nominal complement . 118 11. Sentence (222) with a transitive verb . 121 12. Sentence (223) with an oblique prepositional phrase . 122 ix ABBREVIATIONS 1 first person 2 second person 3 third person abst abstract anmt animate art article asp aspect clf classifier comp complementizer cplt1 completeness one cplt2 completeness two cptv comparative dgnc diligence dt distal du dual dur durative evnt event gnrl general gnrl1 general one gnrl2 general two grp1 group one grp2 group two hbtl habitual hshd household x imp imperative impf imperfective indf indefinite int intensifier irr irrealis lngth length md medial mgtd magnitude neg negation, negative nmlz nominalizer/nominalization nspc nonspecific opst opposite pfv perfective pl plural pltns politeness pos positive prf perfect prog progressive pron pronoun prsn person px proximal q question marker recp reciprocal refl reflexive rltvzr relativizer seq sequence sg singular sht sheet spkr speaker xi sprt spirit sptv superlative srfc surface stck stack tag1 tag question 1 tag2 tag question 2 tl tool top topic trth truth ynq yes no question xii ACKNOWLEDGMENTS A number of people deserve my thanks for their contribution to my accomplishment in writing this thesis. First of all I want to thank my primary language consultant, Ar Moua. She has spent many hours with me over the last two years, patiently helping me understand her language and checking my glossing and translation. She and I began with an academic relationship and now have a deep friendship. It was her joy to contribute to scholarly research about her language, but it was also her joy to help me succeed in my endeavor. I appreciate her help and her friendship very much. Two other language consultants, Gaoyeeng Vang, a bilingual speaker of English and White Hmong, and Pa Xiong, a bilingual speaker of English and Green Hmong, both ea- gerly contributed their expertise. Pa in particular became fascinated with the grammar of her language and extended the analysis beyond what I could have known to ask. Pa began helping me for love of her language, but soon our friendship was her primary motivation. I wish to thank the members of my committee, Dr. Stephen Marlett, Dr. Robert Fried, and Dr. John Clifton, for their willing, expert evaluation of my thesis and their personal encouragement. In particular, I have deep gratitude to Steve Marlett for his investment in me far beyond what his role as my advisor would require of him. As much as he has rigorously corrected my drafts, he has taught me principled thought patterns. He has had insight into how to lead me to the next level and how to keep me encouraged to press forward when I have felt overwhelmed. The administration and students along with my fellow faculty members at Baptist College of Ministry, Baptist Theological Seminary, and Falls Baptist Academy have been my greatest source of encouragement through the whole thesis writing process. I thank them for their support, understanding, and deep personal interest in my accomplishment, considering both my pressures and my success their own. xiii My family has united behind my effort and encouraged me to succeed when Iim- mersed myself in research and writing. I thank them for their patience and understanding. My supreme thanks is to my Savior, the Lord Jesus, who not only called me to write this thesis but also enabled me. Writing a thesis is a humbling experience; I have felt ignorant, incapable, and incompetent on a regular basis. Yet I.