September 3, 2015 5 pm pre-final e-Content Submission to INFLIBNET Subject name: Linguistics Paper number 14 Language Universals and Language & name: Typology Paper Dr Karumuri V Subbarao Coordinator Formerly: Professor, Department of Linguistics name & contact: University of Delhi, Delhi 110007 Postal address: 13/704 East End Apartments, Mayur Vihar Phase I Extension Delhi 110096 Module number Lings_P14_M20 & name Tibeto-Burman: A Syntactic Typology- I Content Writer Karumuri V Subbarao (CW) Name Email id [email protected] Phone +91-11-4309-4675 (land line),+91-98-688- 69904 (mobile) E-Text Self Self Learn Story Learn Assessment More Board 1 Contents 20.1 Introduction 20.2 Word Order Universals in Tibeto-Burman languages 20.3 Evidence in support of the notion ‘India as a Linguistic Area’ 20.4 Parametric Variation in Tibeto-Burman languages 20.5 Specific Features of Tibeto-Burman languages: Agreement in Adjectives 20.6 Summary Module 20: Tibeto-Burman Languages: A Syntactic Typology 20.1 Introduction The purpose of this Unit is to discuss the structure of the languages of the Tibeto-Burman language family. Tibeto-Burman languages are spoken in the north-eastern part of India, in Nepal and Myanmar and a few in Bangladesh. There are about 80 languages spoken in India and an equal number spoken in Nepal. This Unit is organized as follows: In Section 2 we discuss the various word order Universals that Tibeto-Burman languages manifest. In Section 3 we present evidence in support of the notion of ‘India as Linguistic Area’ with suitable examples from Tibeto-Burman 2 languages. In Section 4 we show the parametric variation that is found in Tibeto-Burman languages. Sections 5 begins the discussion of some of the syntactic phenomena that Tibeto-Burman languages have which are either different from the other language families of the subcontinent or unique to Tibeto-Burman languages. One feature discussed in this module is Agreement in Adjectives. 20.2 Word Order Universals in Tibeto-Burman languages In this section we discuss some features of the Tibeto-Burman languages which they share with the other verb-final languages such as Japanese, Korean and the Quechua group of languages . The Kokborok (Subject-Object-Verb) 1. akung laisi pai- kha Akung(Subject) book(Direct buy past object) (Verb)- (Auxiliary) ‘Akung bought a book.’ (Subbarao, Malhotra & Barua 2010:2-3) Word order is relatively free, and hence, the constituents of a clause can be scrambled. However, it is not as free as it is in Indo-Aryan and Dravidian languages. Mizo (Kuki-Chin) 2a. rini- n tsɔ a- ei 3 Rini- Erg food 3sg- eat “Rini eats food.” 2b. tsɔ rini- n a ei food Rini Erg 3sg eat “Rini eats food.” (Khiangte 2015) 2.2 All Tibeto-Burman languages are postpositional. i.e., NP + Postposition. Mizo 3. lali- hnēnah Lali to (dat) 2.3 The genitive is not overtly present in many Kuki-Chin languages as (4) shows. 4. lala hliam a thi Lala wound 3sg bleed “Lala’s wound is bleeding.” (Khiangte 2015) In those Tibeto-Burman languages that have the genitive, it precedes the head noun, as all are postpositional. Rabha 5. parmai -ni nok 4 Parmai of house ‘Parmai’s house.’ (Subbarao, Rabha & Gogoi-Dutta, ms, to appear) 2.4 The marker of comparison follows the standard of comparison. In (6) below, the marker of comparison is nekin ‘than’ in Hmar. Some languages such as Mizo, Hmar, Paite, Boro, Koborok, Sema have bound comparative and superlative morphemes (comparable to the suffixes –er and -est in English). Hmar 6. lali lala nekin a- in- sāŋ- lem Lali Lala than 3sg- vr- tall- -er ‘Lali is taller than Lala.’ Head Direction parameter: The order of Complement and Head in Tibeto-Burman languages is: Complement-Head. The Direction of case assignment is from left to right. The verb assigns accusative case to its complement (object) as in (1), and so does the postposition from right to left as in (3). 2.5 Indirect Object precedes Direct Object in the unmarked word order in all Tibeto-Burman languages. Hmar (Kuki-Chin) 7. lali- n bɔ:ŋ bu a- pek 5 Lali erg cow food 3sg gave IO DO ‘Lali gave food to the cow.’ Angami (Tenyidie) and some other Tibeto-Burman languages exhibit two distinct patterns in which the Indirect Object (IO) precedes the Direct Object (DO) like in all other verb-final languages as in (8). 8. abunɔ- e a- ki leša puo ketse šə Abuno nom I (IO) dat letter (DO) one send oben ‘Abuno sent a letter to me.’ However, the Direct Object may precede the Indirect Object as (9) illustrates. Direct Object (DO)- Indirect Object (IO) 9. abunɔ- -e lešǝda puo kha- pie mhase tsǝ- šə Abuno - book one give- give(light Mhase give- oben erg verb) ‘Abuno gave a book to Mhase.’ (cf. Kevichüsa 2007 for further details). 2.6 The Auxiliary verb follows the main verb (MV). Thus, the order of occurrence is: MV-Aux in verb-final languages. Mizo (Kuki-Chin) 10. lali sikul- ah a- kal- aŋ Lali school to 3sg- go-Verb future AUX 6 ‘Lali will go to school.’ 2.6 TIM TIME ADVERBS (T) precede PLACE ADVERBS (P). Thus, the order is TP in all Tibeto-Burman languages. LIANGMAI 11. i a ga ei my brother Christmas time PP house come FUT ‘My brother will come home during the Christmas.’ (Mataina 2015) 2.7 Another interesting feature of the word order universals is that time and place adverbs occur in the descending order in contrast to the ascending order found in non-verb-final languages. By descending order, we mean, the superordinate chunk of Place (P) or Time (T) occurs first, then a subordinate chunk and then, a chunk that is subordinate to it follows. (Subbarao 2012). Tenyidie (Angami) 12. ticie 2000 došɨ khrɨ tarik kerepeŋu year 2000 January month date fifteen theva keba thetha ki night time eight time ‘At eight o’clock at night on the fifteenth of January in the year 2000.’ 7 (Kevichüsa, ibid, D. Kuolie, p.c.) Place adverbs – Descending Order Liangmai (13) pro peren kɔnambǝ ki ga riukʰai- jei pro Peren Konambou house at stay - pst ‘(We) stayed at Konambou’s house in Peren,’ (Wicham Mataina 2015) 20.3 Evidence in support of ‘India as a Linguistic Area’ In this section we present evidence from Tibeto-Burman languages that shows Tibeto-Burman languages exhibits many features that contribute to the notion of ‘India as linguistic area’. The evidence includes: compound verbs, conjunct verbs, reduplication, echo words, conjunctive participles and the quotative as a complementizer. 3.1 Compound verbs Compound verbs are a verb 1 and verb 2 combination. Verb 1 is the main verb, and it is called a polar verb, and verb 2 is called the vector verb which adds a shade of aspectual meaning to the main verb. It “contributes to the meaning in terms of perfectivity (Hook 1991), directionality toward/away from the speaker, suddenness, 8 (Masica 1974: 143–144), inception/completion (Butt 1995) or the attitude/feeling of the speaker towards the event.” (Subbarao 2012:23). Mizo (Kuki-Chin) 14. tu emɔ tan- a hna- thɔh sak tsu a trha person some for- Adv job work Oben Def 3sg good “Doing work for somebody is good”. (Khiange 2015) 3.2 Conjunct verbs All Tibeto-Burman languages have conjunct verbs. In (14) above hna ‘work’ is a noun and hɔh ‘work’ is a verb. The noun + verb combination h a hɔ together imparts the interpretation of the verb ‘work’, which is similar to the verb ar ‘to work’ in Hindi-Urdu. 20.3.3 Reduplication Reduplication of adjectives, verbs and participles is found in all Tibeto-Burman languages . 9 In Sema (Tibeto-Burman) the verb stem is reduplicated. Adjectival Reduplication In Mizo” the reduplicated word ɔi ‘nice/beautiful’ , when reduplicated becomes ɔi- ɔi, and thus it intensifies the meaning and it also gives the plurality of the number which shows Lali is buying the nicest ones among the dresses.” (Khiangte 2015). Mizo 15. rini- n kɔr mɔi mɔi a- lei- trhin Rini Erg dress nice nice 3sg- buy- used to “Lali used to buy the nicest dresses.” In Tenyidie (Angami), Naga in compound adjectives which are disyllabic , the second part of the adjective is repeated. Tenyidie 16a v i zivi good ‘beau iful’ 16b. zivi-vi ‘beau iful’ 17a. me.ti ‘hard’ 10 17b. me-ti-ti ‘hard’ An adverb can be reduplicated in the Kuki-Chin languages . When zi –ah ‘morning-in’ is reduplicated as shown below, it gave the meaning that Lali came very early in the morning and the speaker is not very happy about it. Note further that when zi - ah‘morning-in’ is reduplicated, the fist occurrence of the postposition is be dropped, as it is a free form1. Mizo 18. ziŋ ziŋ ah lali a- lo- kal morning morning in Lali 3sg towards go “Lali comes early in the morning.” In Mizo the intensifier which occurs as a verbal particle can be reduplicated which adds to the intensification of the activity. 2.2.3.2 Intensifier reduplication Reduplication of the intensifier increases the intensifier itself. 19. lali tsu a kal tsak em em Lali Def 3sg walk fast Int Int 1 In Indo-Aryan and Dravidian languages too this is found. Hindi-Urdu: kar-ke „having done‟. kar kar-ke „having done‟. *kar ke kar ke. 11 “Lali walks very fast.” The word em em used in the above sentence indicates the fast movement of Lali whereas te te of the sentence below indicates the slow movement of Lali.