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e-Content Submission to INFLIBNET
Subject Linguistics
Principal Investigator Prof. Pramod Pandey
Centre for Linguistics, SLL&CS,
Jawaharlal Nehru University, New Delhi-110067
011-26741258, -9810979446
Paper Linguistic Typology and Language Universals
Paper Coordinator
Prof. Kārumūri V. Subbāro
University of Delhi (Rtd.), Delhi 110007 Postal address:
13/704 East End Apartments, MayurVihar Phase I Extension Delhi 110096
+91-11-4309-4675; 98-688-69904
Module title Tibeto-Burman Languages: A Syntactic Typology Module ID Lings_P13_M22
Content Writer Prof. Kārumūri V. Subbāro
University of Delhi (Rtd.), Delhi 110007 Email id [email protected]
Phone +91-11-4309-4675; 98-688-69904
Reviewer
Prof. Probal Dasgupta
Linguistic Research Unit, Indian Statistical Institute 203 Barrackpore Trunk Road, Kolkata 700108
2 Contents
22.1 Introduction
22.2 Word Order Universals in Tibeto-Burman languages
22.3 Evidence in support of the notion ‘India as a Linguistic Area’ 22.4 Parametric Variation in Tibeto-Burman languages
22.5 Specific Features of Tibeto-Burman languages: Agreement in Adjectives
22.6 Summary
Module 22: Tibeto-Burman Languages: A Syntactic Typology
22.1 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 languages. In Section 4 we show the parametric variation that is
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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. Another feature discussed in this module is Agreement in Adjectives.
22.2 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 object) buy (Verb)- past (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 Rini- Erg food 3sg- eat
4 “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 Parmai of house ‘Parmai’s house.’
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(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
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
6. lali lala nekin a- in- sāŋ- lem
Lali Lala than 3sg- vr- tall- -er ‘Lali is taller than Lala.’
6 Lali erg cow
IO
food
DO
3sg gave ‘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
-erg
book one give- give(light verb)
Mhase give- oben ‘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
7 ‘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. ǝtsȉ kʰisma wān ga tsǝkȉ wāŋ nei 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
8 (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)
22.3 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,
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(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 thɔh ‘work’ is a verb. The noun + verb combination hna thɔk together imparts the interpretation of the verb ‘work’, which is similar to the verb kām karnā ‘to work’ in Hindi-Urdu.
23.3.3 Reduplication
Reduplication of adjectives, verbs and participles is found in all Tibeto-Burman languages .
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In Sema (Tibeto-Burman) the verb stem is reduplicated. Adjectival Reduplication
In Mizo ”the reduplicated word mɔi ‘nice/beautiful’ , when reduplicated becomes mɔi-mɔi, 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 ‘beautiful’ 16b. zivi-vi ‘beautiful’ 17a. me.ti ‘hard’
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‘hard’
An adverb can be reduplicated in the Kuki-Chin languages .
When ziŋ –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 ziŋ -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. Mizo
1 In Indo-Aryan and Dravidian languages too this is found. Hindi-Urdu: kar-ke ‘having done’. kar kar-ke ‘having
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19. lali tsu a- kal tsak em em Lali Def 3sg- walk fast Int Int “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.
20. lali tsu muang te te- in a- kal Lali Def slow Int Int Adv 3sg walk
“Lali walks very slowly.”
Sema (TB)
21. pa- ye cu- cu- ce- ni he- nom eat- eat- imperf- pres ‘He eats and eats.’
(Achumi 2000)
Mizo presents a very interesting phenomenon, when the verb stem is reduplicated.
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When the verb stem is reduplicated with the subject agreement marker occurring only on the first occurrence of the verb, the reduplicated for imparts indefiniteness, according to Khiangte (2015). This is a feature not found in any other language family to the best of our knowledge.
22 a. lali- n a- duh duh a- la Lali Erg 3sg- want want 3sg- take “Lali takes whatever she wants.”
When both the occurrences of the verb stem carry the agreement marker, the repeated phrase carries the interpretation of insistence. 22
b.
rini- n hɔn a- duh a- duh hnu- in an- hɔ Rini Erg go
home
3sg want 3sg want after Adv 3pl go home
“They go home after Rini insists on going home.”
This phenomenon in Mizo, and possibly in other Kuki-Chin languages needs to be further studied.
14 reduplication are not presented here. 22.3. 4 Onomatopoeic expressions
Another distinguishing feature in support of the notion of India as a Linguistic Area is onomatopoeic expressions found in all South Asian languages, Mizo and Hmar are no exception to this. The onomatopoeic expression is in bold.
Mizo (Kuki-Chin)
(23 a) Lali a-tla ri- dup- mai
Lali 3sg- fall sound ‘dup’-sound is (?) ‘Lali fell with a ‘dup’-like sound.’
(23 b) Lala a- au tuar tuar mai Lala 3sg-shout ‘taur’-sound ‘taur’- sound is (?) ‘Lala shouts with a ‘tuar’-like sound.’
Hmar (Kuki-Chin) (23 c) Lali a -tla tup el Lali 3sg- fall sound is/so ‘Lali fell with a ‘tup’-like sound.
(23 d) Khuong an vuok ri dup dup drum 3pl- beat sound sound sound
‘The drums are beating with a ‘dup’-like sound.’
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All Tibeto-Burman languages have the conjunctive participial construction like all the South Asian languages. The conjunctive participial marker (cpm) in Mizo is –in.
Mizo
24. nilēŋ- a a- thoh- hnu- in tluaŋga cu a- hā tak- zet a- ni all
day-
adv [-fin]
3sg- work- after cpm Tlunga def 3
sg- tired very much 3sg- be
‘Having worked all day, Tluanga got tired.’ (Subbarao & Lalitha Murthy, ms)
3,5 The quotative
The quotative is a participial or infinitival or stem form of the verb say in South Asian languages and it performs the function of a complementizer in addition to several other functions such as a reason marker, purpose marker in course of time . (See Subbarao 2012). The quotative invariably occurs to the right of the embedded verb, which is consistent with The position of occurrence of the quotative to the right of the embedded clause which is “ ‘consistent’ and ‘harmonic’ in terms of unmarked sentence structure of verb-final languages.” (Subbarao 2012:27).
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25. pro ‘a si’n ‘a- zo’u ti a’- hril a (he) his work 3sg- finish quot 3sg- tell- sm
‘He told that he did his duty.’ ( Dutta Baruah & Bapui 1996:147)
In the following section we discuss briefly the parametric variation found in Tibeto-Burman languages.
22.4 Parametric Variation in Tibeto-Burman languages
22.4.1 pro-drop is found in Tibeto-Burman languages. In the Kuki-Chin languages pro-drop plays a dominant role, as the verb carries subject agreement and object agreement markers of 1 and 2 person Hmar (Kuki-Chin)
26. Lalii- n proj ai- mij- hmu
Lali- erg (me) 3g- 1sg- saw/met ‘Lali met me.’
(Subbarao 2012: 122)
Note that the direct object kei ‘I’ is not overtly present in (X) and the pronominal clitic mi ‘me’ is incorporated in the verb.
4.2 Absence of Expletive Expressions
In languages such as English, French there are expressions that occupy the subject position, and they are semantically null. No
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South Asian language including Tibeto-Burman languages have any expression that corresponds to the pronoun it in English or il ‘it’ in French. English (27) It is raining. French 28. il pleut it is raining ‘It is reaining.’ Mizo 29. ruah a- Sur rain 3sg to shower ‘It is raining.’
22. 5 Specific Features of Tibeto-Burman lgs
In this section we discuss some specific features of Tibeto-Burman languages.
In most of the Burman languages tone is phonemic. Tibeto-Burman languages agglutinating.
We shall discuss some select aspects of the syntax of Tibeto-Burman languages. These include: adjectives as verbs, agreement in the
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Kuki-Chin languages, the formation of relative clauses and incorporation in Tibeto-Burman languages.
Adjectives behave like verbs in Tibeto-Burman languages. Just like verbs, they can take agreement markers, they can take a nominalizer, a postposition can be incorporated in an adjective, just as it can be incorporated in a verb. An adjective in some Kuki-Chin languages such as Hmar, Monsang can take the verbal reflexive. Further, the incorporated postposition increases the valence of the adjective by one argument. Just as verbs can be causativized, so can be adjectives.
Agreement in adjectives
The subject in(30) below is in 3 person singular, and hence, the adjective takes 3 p sg agreement marker a-. In Hmar, and Monsang adjectives take a detransitivizer which also functions like a verbal reflexive.
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30. lali- cu a- in- sāŋ Lali- def 3sg- vr/[-tr]- tall ‘Lali is tall.’
Monsang (Tibeto-Burman)
31. ama-iŋ kә lamna ŋ̩- ka:ŋ- l̥ʰa:- ne he-erg I Than vr/[-tr]-tall-er- sm ‘He is taller than me.’
Just like verbs, adjectives can take a nominalizer, just as verbs do.
32. tum ‘righteous’ tum- na ‘righteousness’ in-sāŋ ‘tall’ in-sāŋ- na ‘tallness’
Causatives
When the adjective is causativized, the detransitivizer which also functions like a verbal reflexive does not occur in Monsang and Hmar.
Hmar (Kuki-Chin)
33. pindan a-in- thieŋ
20 room 3sg-[-tr]- clean
Hmar
In (34) the adjective thieŋ ‘clean’ is transitive due to the occurrence of the causative suffix sak to its left and hence, the detranitivizer –in cannot occur .
Hmar (Kuki-Chin)
34. tluaŋi-n pindan a- suk- thieŋ/fai tluangi-erg Room 3sg- caus- clean/clean ‘Tluangi cleaned the room.’
In Monsang too, a similar pattern obtains. The [-transitive]- n̩- occurs to the left of the adjective.
Monsang
35. ka hә n̩-tʰәŋ- ne room dem vr-clean- sm ‘The room is clean.’
When the adjective is used as a transitive predicate with an object, the verbal reflexive/reciprocal does not occur.
Monsang
36. titi-iŋ ka kʰa a- min-l̥ʰәm ka
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Titi-erg room def 3sg- caus-clean pst
‘Titi cleaned the room.’
The adjective in (36) above is poŋ ‘proud’. The causative marker is mim, and it occurs to the right of the agreement marker and to the left of the verb stem, just as in the other Kuki-Chin languages.
Agreement: Languages such as Mizo, Hmar, Aimol, Thadou, Zou and Paite of the Tibeto-Burman language family are split ergative in person. Only 1 and 2 person object clitics occur with the verb, and 3 person objects are not coded in the verb. Subjects of all transitive verbs are case-marked ergative.
In Kuki-Chin languages subject, direct object and indirect object occur as pronominal clitics. In Hmar (Kuki-Chin) the verb exhibits agreement with the Possessor of a noun phrase too. The occurrence of the clitics is governed by the Principle of Pronominal Strength Hierarchy. That is, 1 Person clitics are ‘stronger than’ 2 Person clitics, and 2 Person clitics are stronger than 3 Person clitics. 1 and 2 Person subject clitics occur as object clitics, 3 Person non-subject clitics do not manifest themselves as pronominal clitics. Schematically:
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1 P > 2 P > 3 P where P stands for Person and the symbol > stands for ‘stronger than’. The Kuki-Chin languages are ‘heavy pro-drop’ languages (Subbarao2012: ).
In Mizo (Kuki-Chin) for example,
33. pro pro ka- hmu- ce
(I) (you) 1p sg (Subject)- met/saw- 2p sg (DO) ‘I met/saw you.’
1P DO is stronger than 2 P Subject, and hence, 1 P subject clitic does not show up in Mizo (34), while in Hmar (35), a sister language of Mizo, it does.
Hmar (Kuki-Chin)
35. pro pro i- mi- hmu
(you) (me) 2 P (Subject) 1 P (DO)- met/saw ‘You saw me.’
We shall now provide evidence in support of the Principle of Pronominal Strength Hierarchy.
“In sentences with a conjoined subject in Mizo and Hmar, the 1st person subject that has precedence in occurrence as a pronominal clitic over 2nd and 3nd person subjects; and 2 person over 3
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person.” (Subbarao 2012:122). Thus, when there is a conjoined subject with 3 person subject and 1 person subject, it is the 1 P plural clitic that occurs as an agreement clitic. Since it is a plural subject, the 1 person singular null subject kei ‘pro’ triggers agreement in the plural as kan ‘1 p pl’ in (36). The pro in (36) can be recovered from the verbal agreement clitic kan- in plural. The comitative object is naŋ-cou-le ‘you-only-with’. The postposition le ‘with’ is incorporated, and the incorporated form of le ‘with’ in the verb is pui ‘with’.
Hmar Kuki-Chin
36. lalii le proj naŋk- cou in- ṭšuŋ- pui- kanj+plural- ti- cek
Lali and (I) you- only vr sit- with- 1p- fut- 2s ‘Lali and I will sit only with you.’
(Subbarao 2001: 467)
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P. Hence, it is the 2 person agreement marker in plural that occurs with the verb. The 2 person subject as a conjunct does not occur at all, and in its place there occurs a null pro.
37. lalii le proj in- in- ṭšuŋ
Lali and 2p- vr- sat ‘Lali and you will sit’
Thus, we have the hierarchies in sentences (36)–(37) as follows:
38. 1p>2p>3p where > indicates ‘stronger than’ and p indicates person.
22.6 Conclusion
In this Unit we’ve briefly discussed some salient features of the languages of the Tibeto-Burman language family. We ended with a discussion of one of the specific features of the family- Adjective Agreement. We continue with the discussion of the other specific features of the Tibeto-Burman language family in Module 24.
