GRADUATE INSTITUTE OF APPLIED LINGUISTICS THESIS APPROVAL SHEET This thesis, entitled Yao'an Lolo Grammar Sketch Written by Judith Thomas Merrifield and submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Arts in Applied Linguistics has been read and approved by the undersigned members of the faculty of the Graduate Institute of Applied Linguistics ____________________________________ Dr. Paul Kroeger (Mentor) ____________________________________ Dr. Michael Boutin ____________________________________ Dr. Shin Ja Hwang ____________________________________ date signed YAO'AN LOLO GRAMMAR SKETCH By Judith Thomas Merrifield Presented to the Faculty of the Graduate Institute of Applied Linguistics in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Arts in Applied Linguistics Graduate Institute of Applied Linguistics December, 2010 Copyright © 2010 Judith Thomas Merrifield All Rights Reserved THESIS DUPLICATION RELEASE I hereby authorize the Graduate Institute of Linguistics Library to duplicate this thesis when needed for research and/or scholarship Agreed: _______________________________________ ABSTRACT YAO'AN LOLO GRAMMAR SKETCH Judith Thomas Merrifield Master of Arts in Applied Linguistics The Graduate Institute of Applied Linguistics, December 2010 Supervising Professor: Paul Kroeger, Ph.D. This thesis provides a grammatical sketch of Yao'an Lolo, a language of Yunnan, China. It was motivated by a deep desire to communicate effectively with the Lolo people who live among the mountains of Mayou in the prefecture of Chuxiong. The thesis focuses on explicating word classes, phrases, simple and complex clauses, sentences, and verb sequences. Special attention is given to 1) describing word formation processes, including reduplication processes, 2) explicating deictics, locative words, complex (elaborate) expressions, and certain particles, 3) explaining the structure of the noun phrase and the verb complex, 4) delineating causative and existential constructions, and 5) explaining verb serializations. DEDICATION To the One who inspired me to pursue this study, who provided insight into the Lolo language, and who sustained and encouraged me through years of language learning and analysis to Jesus Christ for His glory and to the Lolo people whose language is a masterpiece. vi ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS Many people have graciously supported me in my MA studies. I am grateful to SIL who provided scholarship funding. Without their financial assistance I would not have been able to pursue an MA. GIAL staff Sean Scott, Lynne Lamiman, Paul Setter, Dean of Students Ruth Schilberg, and librarian Barbara Thomas, cheerfully assisted with numerous logistics, thereby facilitating my MA studies, even when I was on the field. It was always a pleasure to interact with these people. Chuck Walek, Brett Shideler, and Marlin Leaders provided invaluable computer assistance. I am indebted to them for their kindness and for their sacrificial aid. Keith Slater supplied me with numerous linguistic resources. I appreciate his generosity in purchasing whatever I requested. I also want to thank my husband Scott. He developed the orthography I used throughout this thesis. He also shared his phonology article and data from his Lolo- Chinese-English lexical database. I am especially grateful to my children—Rachel, Nathan, and Philip—for sacrificing time with me, so that I could pursue these studies. I deeply appreciate the Lolo, especially members of the extended families of Esther, Asheley, and Kelly, for supplying the Lolo utterances and answering a myriad of vii questions about the Lolo language. I am indebted to them for their kind hospitality, gracious responses to endless querries, and patience with my language learning. It is a testimony to them that I have written this thesis and can communicate in their language. I offer special thanks to my committee members: Shin Ja Hwang, Michael Boutin, and Paul Kroeger. I am especially grateful for the discerning comments and abundant assistance which they freely shared with me and for the kind manner with which they always advised me. They have been a great encouragement and inspiration to me, both as linguists and as Christians. They challenged me to pursue excellence in every aspect of my research, analysis, and writing. Paul, as my chair, receives my deep admiration and appreciation. He read through numerous versions of the thesis, over several years, each time tirelessly correcting mistakes and providing insite to linguistic issues. I am indebted to him for the many hours he sacrificed to ensure that my analysis and explanations were as accurate as possible. November 18, 2010 viii TABLE OF CONTENTS Dedication ..................................................................................................................... vi Acknowledgements ...................................................................................................... vii List of Tables................................................................................................................ xii List of Maps ................................................................................................................ xiv List of Abbreviations.................................................................................................... xv Chapter 1 Introduction ................................................................................................... 1 1.1 Research Basis .................................................................................................. 1 1.1.1 Research Motivation and Objective ..................................................... 1 1.1.2 Research Method.................................................................................. 2 1.1.3 Research Premises and Limitations ..................................................... 3 1.1.4 Organization of Thesis ......................................................................... 4 1.2 Lolo Language .................................................................................................. 5 1.2.1 Location ............................................................................................... 5 1.2.2 Language Name and Usage .................................................................. 6 1.2.3 Genetic Affiliation ............................................................................... 7 1.3 Literature Review.............................................................................................. 8 1.3.1 Related Tibeto-Burman Language Research ....................................... 9 1.3.1.1 Lahu ................................................................................................ 9 1.3.1.2 Lisu ............................................................................................... 10 1.3.1.3 Lalo ............................................................................................... 11 1.3.1.4 Yongren Lolo ................................................................................ 11 1.3.1.5 Qiang ............................................................................................. 11 1.3.1.6 Kham ............................................................................................. 12 1.3.2 Related Typological Research ........................................................... 12 Chapter 2 Overview of Phonology and Morphology ................................................... 14 2.1 Phonology Overview ...................................................................................... 14 2.1.1 Phonemic Tones ................................................................................. 14 2.1.2 Syllable Structure ............................................................................... 15 2.1.3 Phonemic Vowels .............................................................................. 15 2.1.4 Phonemic Consonants ........................................................................ 16 2.2 Morphology Overview .................................................................................... 18 2.2.1 Word Formation ................................................................................. 18 2.2.2 Compound Words vs. Phrases ........................................................... 20 Chapter 3 Word Classes ............................................................................................... 23 3.1 Nouns .............................................................................................................. 23 3.1.1 Nominalizations ................................................................................. 26 3.1.2 Relator Nouns .................................................................................... 27 3.2 Pronouns ......................................................................................................... 30 ix 3.3 Deictic Demonstratives ................................................................................... 32 3.4 Numerals ......................................................................................................... 34 3.5 Classifiers ........................................................................................................ 35 3.5.1 Descriptive Classifiers ....................................................................... 36 3.5.2 Person Classifiers ............................................................................... 37 3.5.3 Number and Measure Classifiers ......................................................