LEXICAL NOMINALIZATION AND THE EXTENDED
FUNCTIONS OF THE DEMONSTRATIVE kəra² IN
RERA, A NORTHERN NAGA LANGUAGE
DIPJYOTI GOSWAMI
Presented in Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree of
MASTER OF ARTS
IN
LINGUISTICS
Payap University
October 2017
Title:
Lexical Nominalization and the Extended Functions of the
Demonstrative kəra² in Rera, a Northern Naga Language
Researcher:
Dipjyoti Goswami
Degree:
Master of Arts in Linguistics
Advisor:
Audra Phillips, Ph.D.
Approval Date:
30 October 2017
Institution:
Payap University, Chiang Mai, Thailand
The members of the thesis examination committee:
1. _________________________________ Committee Chair
(Stephen Morey, Ph.D.)
2. _________________________________ Committee Member
(Assistant Professor Audra Phillips, Ph.D.)
3. _________________________________ Committee Member
(George Bedell, Ph.D.)
Copyright © Dipjyoti Goswami
Payap University 2017
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
Firstly, I would like to praise God for His Grace, for allowing me to study linguistics
in Thailand and for giving me daily strength and wisdom.
Second, I owe my deepest gratitude to Dr. Stephen Morey for his financial support
throughout the study, for providing other necessary assistance, for being my
committee chair, and for taking responsibility for me. He has been my true mentor
ever since I started working with him in 2013. In addition to sharing his knowledge,
Dr. Morey has always supported me, encouraged me, and helped me to understand the
big picture of linguistic studies and its importance in modern society.
I would like to express my deepest appreciation to my thesis supervisor, Dr. Audra
Phillips, for taking on the role of being the guide on my thesis. I am always grateful to
her for taking the time to teach me how to organize analysis and write more clearly.
Other linguistic department faculty members who provided valuable input include Dr.
Christopher P. Wilde, Dr. Robert Wyn Owen, Dr. Taeho Jang, and Dr. Phinnarat
Akharawatthanakun. Finally, I would like to thank Terry Gibbs for assisting me in the
formatting of the thesis.
I acknowledge my debt for the input of the Rera speakers. I would like to thank my
first language consultant Ms. Shatum Ronrang for helping me in collecting and
eliciting the necessary data. Secondly, I thank Mr. Mansham Shamma Ronrang for his
patience and time in transcribing the data.
I would like to extend my gratitude to Dr. Jyotiprakash Tamuli for always
encouraging me during my studies in India.
I am grateful to my colleagues Megan Davies and Tyler Davis for their wonderful
guidance. My gratitude also goes to my classmate Mark Scholl for all his moral
support during the thesis writing. I am thankful to Leah Doty for her help. I am also
thankful to all of my classmates. Finally, I would like to extend my gratitude to
i
Napajaya Tipsutthee and Suthinee Promkandorn for doing the necessary Thai
translations in the thesis.
I express my gratitude to my parents for all of their support, love, and care. I am also
very much thankful to my sweet sister for her inspiring words. Finally, my thanks go
to my fiancée for always being with me and supporting me in my ups and downs in
life.
Dipjyoti Goswami
ii
Title:
Lexical Nominalization and the Extended Functions of the
Demonstrative kəra² in Rera, a Northern Naga Language
Researcher:
Dipjyoti Goswami
Degree:
Master of Arts in Linguistics
Advisor:
Audra Phillips, Ph.D.
Approval Date:
30 October 2017
Institution:
Payap University, Chiang Mai, Thailand
Number of Pages:
108
Keywords:
Rera, Tangsa, morphosyntactic overview, lexical
nominalization, demonstrative kəra²
ABSTRACT
Rera is an undocumented, Tibeto-Burman (Bodo-Konyak, Northern Naga-Tangsa)
language of North-East India. The purpose of this thesis is to describe lexical
nominalization processes in Rera and provide an account of the extended functions of
the demonstrative kəra², which is extensively used within most of the Tangsa
varieties, and hence this thesis provides the first account of this phenomenon in Rera.
Finally, the thesis includes an overview of the core grammatical properties of Rera at
the morphosynatctic level.
To begin with, Rera exhibits basic argument structures, i.e. noun phrases, pronouns,
and determiners, as well as postpositional phrases. In addition, pronouns can be
marked for case in an ergative-absolutive case system. In this system, the intransitive
subject and the transitive object take absolutive marking, while the transitive subject
is marked by the ergative. Clause structures include both verbal and non-verbal
clauses. Verbal clauses include intransitive, transitive, and ditransitive clause
constructions. Simple sentences can include pre-clause material, such as conjunctions,
pre-clause participant reference, vocatives, and exclamations. Complex sentence
structures include coordinate clauses, quotative clauses, and subordinate plus matrix
clause combinations. The thesis includes an extensive morphosyntactic overview of
Rera, which shows various constructional and behavioral syntactic structures of the
iii
language. Given this information, this thesis first provides explanations of the lexical
nominalization processes followed by the discussion on the extended functions of the
demonstrative kəra².
This thesis provides a detailed description of lexical nominalization processes in Rera.
It discusses the use of the two prefixal nominalizers, i.e. i¹- and keʔ³-, which are used
to derive nouns from verbs, attributives, and even nouns. The use of these two
nominalizers results in event and participant nominalization. Moreover, the i¹- based
nominalization in particular can show speaker stance in narratives and these
nominalizations can be marked for tense. Classifiers can also signal a nominalized
construction, a type of substantivization strategy. Finally, the investigation of
nominalized constructions shows that nominalization can also be achieved by verb
stem alternation. At first, verb stem alternation occurs in the presence of the
nominalizer i¹-. Then, in some cases, nominalization can be achieved by the direct
changing of tones without the nominalizer i¹-.
Apart from the nominalization process in Rera, the current work demonstrates the
functions of the demonstrative kəra² in two ways, i.e. the non-extended functions and
the extended functions. The non-extended functions of the demonstrative kəra² exhibit
adnominal functions, where the placement of a noun head referent in relation to the
speaker can be indicated by the demonstrative. In addition, the demonstrative can also
occur as a demonstrative pronoun substituting for a noun phrase. The extended
functions of the demonstrative kəra² show its use as a pre-clausal marker of topical
noun phrases, vocatives, and exclamations. It is also used to indicate the nominalized
status of relative and adverbial subordinate clauses under substantivization strategy of
nominalization, where demonstratives signal nominalized constructions. Finally,
conjunction, discourse deictic marker, and speaker stance are examined.
iv
ชืไอรืไอง:
การพรรณนาครงสรຌางทางวิทยาหนวยคาละ
วากยสัมพันธ์ การทา฿หຌป็นคานาม ละการขยายหนຌาทีไ
ของคาบงชีๅ kəra² ฿นภาษารรา฿นกลุมภาษานากา
ตะวันออก
ผูຌวิจัย:
นายดิปจติ กอสวามี
ปริญญา:
ศิลปศาสตร์มหาบัณฑิต ิภาษาศาสตร์ี
อาจารย์ทีไปรึกษาวิทยานิพนธ์หลัก:
ออดรຌา ฟิลลิปส์
วันทีไอนุมัติผลงาน:
30 ตุลาคม 2017
สถาบันการศึกษา:
มหาวิทยาลัยพายัพ จังหวัดชียง฿หม ประทศเทย
จานวนหนຌา:
108
คาสาคัญ:
Rera, Tangsa, morphosyntactic overview,
nominalization, demonstrative kəra²
บทคัดย่อ
เรราซึ่งเป็ นภาษาที่ยงั ไม่มกี ารศึกษาและยังไม่เ คยมีก ารบันทึกไว้อย่างชัดเจน เป็ น
ภาษาในตระกูลภาษาย่อยทิเบต-พม่า (กลุ่มโบโด-กอนยัค ในสาขานากา-ตังซาตะวันออก) ทีพ่ ูด
ในอินเดียตะวันออกเฉียงเหนือ วิทยานิพนธ์ฉบับนี้มวี ตั ถุประสงค์ในการบรรยายเกี่ยวกับ
กระบวนการทาให้เป็นคานามในภาษาเรราและนาเสนอเกีย่ วกับการขยายหน้าทีข่ องคาว่า kəra²
ซึ่งเป็ นคาบ่งชี้ท่ีใช้กนั อย่างแพร่หลายในวิธภาษาต่าง ๆ ของภาษาตังซา วิทยานิพนธ์ฉบับนี้
นับเป็ นงานชิ้นแรกที่อธิบายปรากฏการณ์ดงั กล่าวในภาษาเรรา และยังนาเสนอลักษณะทาง
ไวยากรณ์เบือ้ งต้นในภาษาเรราในระดับไวยากรณ์ของหน่วยคาด้วย
ภาษาเรรามีโครงสร้างทางไวยากรณ์ ใ นระดับพื้นฐาน ได้แก่ นามวลี สรรพนาม ค า
นาหน้ านาม และวลีปจั ฉิมบท นอกจากนี้ยงั มีระบบการกสัมบูรณ์ -การกเกี่ยวพัน ที่มกี ารระบุ
การกของค าสรรพนามด้ว ย ในระบบดัง กล่ า ว จะมีก ารระบุ ก ารกสัม บูร ณ์ ข องประธานของ
อกรรมกริยาและกรรมของสกรรมกริยา ในขณะที่ประธานของสกรรมกริยาจะมีการระบุการก
เกีย่ วพัน ส่วนโครงสร้างอนุประโยคนัน้ จะมีทงั ้ อนุ ประโยคทีม่ กี ริยาและทีไ่ ม่มกี ริยา อนุ ประโยคที่
มีกริยาจะมีหน่ วยสร้างทีป่ ระกอบด้วยอกรรมกริยา สกรรมกริยา และกริยาทวิกรรม ในประโยค
ความเดียวจะประกอบด้วยหน่ วยนาหน้าอนุ ประโยค เช่น คาสันธาน การอ้างถึงผูแ้ สดงบทบาท
หน้าอนุประโยค คานามทีใ่ ช้เรียกขาน และคาอุทาน ส่วนโครงสร้างของประโยคความซ้อนนัน้ จะ
ประกอบด้วยอนุ ประโยคในประโยคความรวม อนุ ประโยคบอกกล่าว และการรวมกันของอนุ
v
ประโยคกับอนุ ประโยคหลัก (matrix clause) นอกจากนี้วทิ ยานิพนธ์ฉบับนี้ยงั นาเสนอเกี่ยวกับ
ไวยากรณ์ของหน่ วยคาในภาษาเรราแบบกว้าง ๆ ซึง่ ประกอบด้วยโครงสร้างทางไวยากรณ์ของ
หน่วยสร้างและโครงสร้างไวยากรณ์เชิงพฤติกรรมในภาษา หลังจากนัน้ วิทยานิพนธ์ฉบับนี้จงึ จะ
บรรยายเกี่ยวกับกระบวนการทาให้เป็ นคานามและตามด้ว ยการอภิปรายเกี่ยวกับการขยาย
หน้าทีข่ องคาบ่งชี้ kəra²
วิท ยานิ พ นธ์ฉ บับ นี้ น าเสนอรายละเอีย ดเกี่ย วกับ กระบวนการท าให้เ ป็ น ค านามใน
ภาษาเรราที่รวมถึงการอภิปรายเกี่ยวกับการใช้คาบ่งรูปแปลงเป็ นนามที่ใช้เติมหน้าคา ได้แก่
i¹- และ keʔ³- ทีใ่ ช้แปลงคาหมวดต่าง ๆ ให้เป็ นคานาม ได้แก่ คากริยา คาขยายหน้านาม หรือ
แม้แต่ คานามเอง การใช้ค าทัง้ สองค าดังกล่ าวส่ งผลให้เ กิดกระบวนการทาให้เ ป็ นค านามใน
เหตุการณ์และผู้แสดงบทบาท และกระบวนการทาให้เป็ นคานามด้วย i¹- ยังสามารถแสดง
มุมมองของผูพ้ ูดในเรื่องเล่าและใช้ระบุกาลได้ดว้ ย นอกจากนี้ ยงั มีคาลักษณนามทีแ่ สดงให้เห็น
หน่วยสร้างของการแปลงให้เป็นคานามด้วยซึง่ จัดเป็นประเภทหนึ่งของกลวิธใี นการแปลงให้เป็ น
ค านาม ในท้า ยที่สุ ด การศึก ษาหน่ ว ยสร้า งการแปลงให้เ ป็ น ค านามยัง แสดงให้เ ห็น ว่ า
กระบวนการแปลงให้เป็ นคานามปรากฏในการแปรของรูปเค้าศัพท์กริยาด้วย โดยในอันดับแรก
การแปรรูปเค้าศัพท์ก ริยาจะเกิดขึ้นเมื่อ มีค าบ่งรูปแปลงเป็ นนาม i¹และในบางกรณี
กระบวนการแปลงให้เป็ นคานามสามารถเกิดขึน้ ได้ดว้ ยการเปลีย่ นเสียงวรรณยุกต์โดยตรงโดย
ไม่มคี าบ่งรูปแปลงเป็นนาม i¹นอกเหนือจากกระบวนการแปลงให้เป็ นคานามในภาษาเรรา งานวิจยั นี้ได้แสดงให้เห็น
หน้าที่ของคาบ่งชี้ kəra² ใน 2 รูปแบบ ได้แก่ หน้ าที่เดิม (ที่ยงั ไม่มกี ารขยาย) และหน้าที่ท่ี
ขยายขึน้ เดิมคาบ่งชี้ kəra² มีหน้าทีบ่ ่งชี้คานามที่เกี่ยวข้องกับผู้พูดซึง่ จะอยู่ในตาแหน่ งหน้า
คานาม และยังมีหน้ าที่เป็ นสรรพนามบ่งชี้ท่ใี ช้แทนนามวลี ส่วนหน้ าที่ท่ขี ยายขึ้นของคาบ่งชี้
kəra² นัน
้ คือ การเป็ นหน่ วยเติมหน้าอนุ ประโยคในนามวลีเฉพาะที่ เป็ นคานามทีใ่ ช้เรียกขาน
และเป็ นคาอุทาน นอกจากนี้คาบ่งชีด้ งั กล่าวยังใช้แสดงสถานะของการแปลงเป็ นคานามของอนุ
ประโยคที่ใ ช้ข ยายและวิเ ศษณานุ ป ระโยคภายใต้ก ลวิธ ีใ นการแปลงให้เ ป็ นค านามที่ค าบ่ง ชี้
ดังกล่าวแสดงให้เห็นหน่ วยสร้างการแปลงเป็ นคานาม ท้ายทีส่ ุด งานวิจยั ยังได้ศกึ ษาคาสันธาน
ดัชนีปริจเฉท และมุมมองของผูพ้ ดู ด้วย
vi
TABLE OF CONTENTS
Acknowledgements ......................................................................................................... i
Abstract ........................................................................................................................ iii
บทคัดย่อ ........................................................................................................................... v
List of Tables ................................................................................................................ix
List of Figures ................................................................................................................ x
List of Abbreviations and Symbols...............................................................................xi
Chapter 1 Introduction ................................................................................................... 1
1.1 Background .......................................................................................................... 1
1.2 The Rera people and language ............................................................................. 2
1.2.1 Linguistic affiliation...................................................................................... 2
1.2.2 Geography and history of the Rera people.................................................... 9
1.3 Methodology ...................................................................................................... 11
1.3.1 Data collection procedure ........................................................................... 12
1.3.2 Language consultants .................................................................................. 13
1.3.3 Data types .................................................................................................... 14
1.4 Phonological inventory and transcription system .............................................. 14
1.5 Approaches to nominalization and demonstratives in the literature .................. 16
1.5.1 Nominalization in the literature .................................................................. 16
1.5.2 Demonstratives in the literature .................................................................. 18
1.6 Contributions, limitations, and composition of this study ................................. 19
Chapter 2 Morphosyntactic Overview of Rera ............................................................ 20
2.1 Overview ............................................................................................................ 20
2.2 Basic argument constructions ............................................................................ 21
2.2.1 Noun phrase structures ................................................................................ 21
2.2.2 Rera pronouns and determiners................................................................... 31
2.2.3 Postpositional phrases ................................................................................. 47
2.2.4 Summary of basic argument structures ....................................................... 52
2.3 Elaborate expressions......................................................................................... 52
2.4 Clause anatomy .................................................................................................. 54
2.4.1 Verbal clause constructions ........................................................................ 54
2.4.2 Verb agreement ........................................................................................... 56
vii
2.4.3 Non-verbal constructions ............................................................................ 61
2.4.4 Summary of clause anatomy ....................................................................... 63
2.5 Sentence constructions ....................................................................................... 63
2.5.1 Simple sentence constructions .................................................................... 63
2.5.2 Complex sentence constructions ................................................................. 65
2.6 Rera morphosyntax summarized........................................................................ 67
Chapter 3 Lexical Nominalization ............................................................................... 69
3.1 Overview ............................................................................................................ 69
3.2 Lexical nominalization strategies ...................................................................... 69
3.2.1 Morphological nominalization strategies .................................................... 70
3.2.2 Classifier nominalization ............................................................................ 73
3.2.3 Verb stem alternation nominalization ......................................................... 73
3.2.4 Rera Nominalization strategies summarized............................................... 79
3.3 The Function of lexical nominalization ............................................................. 79
3.3.1 Participant nominalization .......................................................................... 80
3.3.2 Event nominalization .................................................................................. 82
3.3.3 Stance marking............................................................................................ 84
3.3.4 Rera nominalization functions summarized ................................................ 85
3.4 Nominalization and tense marking .................................................................... 85
3.5 Rera nominalization summarized ...................................................................... 85
Chapter 4 ...................................................................................................................... 87
4.1 Overview ............................................................................................................ 87
4.2 Review of kəra² as an adnominal demonstrative and demonstrative pronoun .. 87
4.3 Extended functions of kəra² ............................................................................... 90
4.3.1 kəra² as a pre-clause marker ....................................................................... 90
4.3.2 kəra² as a marker of subordinate clauses .................................................... 96
4.3.3 kəra² as speaker’s stance ........................................................................... 103
4.4 Rera demonstrative functions summarized ...................................................... 104
Chapter 5 .................................................................................................................... 106
Bibliography .............................................................................................................. 109
Appendix A The historical narrative.......................................................................... 114
Appendix B Tangsa agreement system ...................................................................... 130
Resume....................................................................................................................... 131
viii
LIST OF TABLES
Table 1 Classification of the Tangshang varieties (Khan, 2017, p. 7) ........................... 8
Table 2 Data collection recording devices and software ............................................. 13
Table 3 The consonant phoneme inventory in Rera .................................................... 15
Table 4 The vowel phoneme inventory in Rera ........................................................... 15
Table 5 The toneme inventory in Rera ........................................................................ 16
Table 6 Demonstratives ............................................................................................... 26
Table 7 Rera cardinal numerals ................................................................................... 27
Table 8 Personal pronoun system of Rera ................................................................... 32
Table 9 Case marking in intransitive clauses ............................................................... 37
Table 10 Case marking in transitive clauses ................................................................ 37
Table 11 Rera demonstrative pronouns ....................................................................... 38
Table 12 Rera possessive determiners ......................................................................... 39
Table 13 Reflexive pronouns ....................................................................................... 42
Table 14 Interrogative pronouns .................................................................................. 46
Table 15 Rera postpositions ......................................................................................... 47
Table 16 Rera relator nouns ......................................................................................... 52
Table 17 Non-past tense verb agreement in Rera ........................................................ 57
Table 18 Past tense verb agreement in Rera ................................................................ 59
Table 19 Irrealis verb agreement in Rera ..................................................................... 60
Table 20 Summary of morphosyntactic constructions................................................. 68
Table 21 Nominalization pattern1: i¹- nominalization constructions .......................... 72
Table 22 Verb stem alternation with a nominalizer ..................................................... 75
Table 23 Examples of tone alternating strategy in Rera .............................................. 77
Table 24 Participant nominalization ............................................................................ 81
Table 25 Four core types of nominalization ................................................................ 82
Table 26 Rera nominalization patterns ........................................................................ 86
Table 27 Summary of the extended functions of kəra² .............................................. 105
ix
LIST OF FIGURES
Figure 1 Bodo-Konyak languages (Burling, 2003, p. 175)............................................ 3
Figure 2 The classification of Naga languages (Voegelin, 1977) ................................. 4
Figure 3 The position of Rera in the Eastern Naga group (Grierson, 1903) ................. 5
Figure 4 Tangsa languages (Morey, 2013, p. 3) ........................................................... 6
Figure 5 The location of the Rera people (Google, 2017) ............................................. 9
Figure 6 Verb stem alternation nominalization construction ....................................... 74
x
LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS AND SYMBOLS
1S
first-person singular
2S
second-person singular
3S
third-person singular
1P
first-person plural
2P
second-person plural
3P
third-person plural
1.POSS
first-person possessive determiner
2.POSS
second-person possessive determiner
3.POSS
third-person possessive determiner
ADJ
adjective
AGR
agreement marking
ASM
word that is borrowed from Assamese
ATTR
attributive
AUTO
self:reflexive formative
CL
classifier
COMP
complementizer
CONT
continuous
COS
change of state
CAUS
causative
DUAL
dual marker
ERG
ergative
EUPH
euphonic
EXCL
exclamation
F
feminine
HBTL
habitual
HESIT
hesitation marker
IMPV
imperfective
IRR
irrealis marker
xi
M
masculine
MC
main clause
N
noun
NEG
negative
NMLZ
nominalizer
NPAST
non-past
NUM
numeral
OBJ
object
PART
particle
PAST
past tense marker
PERF
perfective
PL
plural
POSS
possessive
PROG
progressive
PROH
prohibitive
QP
question particle
REFLX
reflexive
RL
relativizer
RSP
reported speech particle
SC
subordinate clause
SEQ
sequential
SG
singular
SUBJ
subject
TAM
tense aspect mood
TOP
topic marking
V
verb
VOC
vocative
xii
Chapter 1
Introduction
1.1 Background
The following work is a descriptive syntactic study of the Rera variety of Tangsa, a
language of the Northern Naga branch of the Tibeto-Burman language family, which
is spoken in North-East India (Morey, 2016; Khan, 2017). This thesis work presents
an overview of the morphosyntactic processes in Rera, as well as an examination of
nominalization at the lexical level, along with the extended functions of the
demonstrative kəra².1
The account of Rera morphosyntactic properties demonstrates variable ordering of a
noun phrase. The various modifiers in a noun phrase can occur optionally both in
pre- and post-head positions. Furthermore, this thesis provides analysis of explicit
behaviors of the Rera pronoun system, which includes personal, demonstrative,
possessive, reflexive, reciprocal, and interrogative pronouns. Moreover, clausal
construction and an account of sentence construction are also provided in the
examination of the morphosyntax in Rera.
Much has been written about nominalization in Sino-Tibetan languages (Genetti,
2008, Genetti, 2011; Morey, 2011); however, not much has been written about the
Northern Naga languages and there is no thorough description of nominalization
when it comes to the Tangsa languages. Therefore, this thesis work describes the
syntactic and functional dimensions of nominalization patterns in Rera.
The most typical nominalizer is the nominalizer i¹-, which derives nominals from
verbs that function as arguments with referential status within clauses (See Chapter
3). The second nominalizer is keʔ³-, with limited occurrences in the data as discussed
in Chapter 3. Other nominalization patterns include zero nominalization, classifier
nominalization, and an emerging tone-shifting nominalization construction.
1
In the demonstrative kəra² the superscript numerals represents tone categories as discussed in §1.4. In
addition, the demonstrative is first introduced in Chapter 2, and later discussed thoroughly in Chapter
4, along with its extended functions.
1
Demonstratives have multiple functions in Tibeto-Burman languages (Diessel, 2006).
They can denote distances between a person and a located object or another person.
In addition, the demonstrative kəra² exhibits extended functions such as a topic
marker, vocative expression marker, linker, exclamation marker, discourse deictic
marker, and time-adverbial marker. The demonstrative kəra² signals nominalized
constructions under substantivization strategies. Under this strategy kəra² marks
relative clause constructions, tail-head linkage constructions, and pre-clause
constructions.
The remainder of this introductory chapter introduces the Rera people and language
(§1.2). This is followed by the research methodology (§1.3), the Rera phonological
inventory (§1.4), and an account of approaches to nominalization and
demonstratives in the literature (§1.5). The chapter ends with the contributions,
limitations, and the overall organization of the thesis (§1.6).
1.2 The Rera people and language
The Rera people live in North-East India. They originally came from Myanmar and
were among the earliest Tangsa2 language speakers in North-East India, with an
estimated population of two thousand people. The speakers of the language, which
is commonly referred to by the exonyms Ronrang or Roira, currently use the
autonym Rera (rɛ²ra², rɯ²ra²) in contemporary writing and official documents
regarding their language.
The remainder of this section is structured as follows: (§1.2.1) presents the linguistic
affiliation of the Rera Tangsa languages, while (§1.2.2) discusses the geography and
history of the Rera people.
1.2.1 Linguistic affiliation
Rera is a variety of the Tangsa language group, which belongs to the greater
Northern Naga language group. The existence of the variety was first recorded by
Das Gupta (1980). Later, Burling (2003) demonstrated the classification of Tangsa in
relation to the greater Tibeto-Burman group, as in Figure 1.
2
Tangsa is also referred as Tangshang in Myanmar. However, all the Tangshang varieties do not
belong to the Tangsa sub-group of the Tibeto-Burman. For example, Nocte, Tutsa and Wancho are
considered as a Tangshang variety in Myanmar, but are considered as separate subgroups in NorthEast India and, therefore, do not belong to the Tangsa sub-group.
2
Deori
Kokborok
Tiwa
Dimasa
Bodo-Koch
Kachari
Bodo
Bodo
Mech
Garo
A‟tong
Ruga
Konyak
group
Koch
Koch
Rabha
Tangsa
Nocte
Wancho
Konyak
Phom
Chang
Khaimngan
Luish
Sak
Kadu
Andro
Sengmai
Jinghpaw
Singpho
Figure 1 Bodo-Konyak languages
(Burling, 2003, p. 175)
Figure 1 shows that the Tangsa languages belong to the Konyak group of the larger
Bodo-Konyak classification of Tibeto-Burman (Burling 2003, p. 175). In a more
detailed classification of the Naga languages, Voegelin (as cited in Hale 1982) places
Tangsa languages under the Northern Naga language group of the greater BodoNaga-Kachin group of Tibeto-Burman. See Figure 2.
3
Bodo-Naga-Kachin
Bodo
Bodo
Garo
Koch
Atong
Wanang
Naga=Northern Naga
Tangsa
[Hewa, khemsing, Longphi, Lingchang, Lungri,
moklum, Moshang, Ponthai, Rong-rang (Ronrang),
Shangge (Shanke), Namsang, Banpara, Mithan,
Tablung, Angwanku, Chang)]
Lepcha
[Rong, Rongpa, Numpa, …]
Kachin=Jinghpaw=…
Jinghpaw
Nung
Rawang
Figure 2 The classification of Naga languages
(Voegelin, 1977)
Voegelin (1977) shows that Rera (Ronrang) is a sub-variety of the Tangsa languages
under the Northern Naga language group. However, Grierson (1903) puts the
Tangsa languages under the Eastern sub-group of the Naga languages, as shown in
Figure 3.
4
Tibeto-Burman
Naga group
Naga-Kuki sub-group
Naga-Bodo subgroup
Western sub-group
Central subgroup
Eastern sub-group
[Moshang, Ponthai, Rong-rang (Ronrang), Shangee
(Sanke), Mohongia, Namsangia (Namsang), Banpara,
Changnoi, Mithun (Muthun, Mutonia), Tableng
(Tablung), Angwanku, Tamlu, Assiringia, Chingmegnu,
Chang, Machongrr (Mochumi, Mochungrr)]
Figure 3 The position of Rera in the Eastern Naga group
(Grierson, 1903)
According to Grierson (1903), the Rera-Tangsa language belongs to the Eastern Naga
language group of the Naga group within Tibeto-Burman, as shown in Figure 3.
Furthermore, Morey (2013) shows the classification of the Tangsa languages.
According to him, the Tangsa language group includes around thirty languages,
which are further divided into the Pangwa and non-Pangwa groups, as diagrammed
in Figure 4.
5
Tikhak groups
Muklom groups
Phong groups
Non-Pangwa groups
Champang groups
Tangsa
Hakhun groups
Pangwa groups
Moshang
Ngaimong
Rera
Joglei
Chamchang
Khalak
Longri
Lochhang
Shecyü
Shangte
Maitai
Ringkhu
Mungrey
Figure 4 Tangsa languages
(Morey, 2013, p. 3)
6
The Pangwa are known as the Eastern Naga group who “sing a particular cycle of
ritual and historical songs, called the Wihu song, or Sahwi song” (Morey, n.d. a). In
addition to this, Morey (2013, p. 3) demonstrates that the Pangwa varieties “have
person agreement markers on verbs that generally do not mark hierarchical
relations”, unlike non-Pangwa varieties.
Linguists, however, do not agree on the inclusion of all the Tangshang varieties
under Tangsa, whereas all the varieties that are identified as Tangsa also belong to
the Tangshang varieties (Morey, S. personal communication, 2016). In addition,
there is more conflict when it comes to the Tangshang in Myanmar, which is a name
that refers to the same languages as Tangsa. Some linguists (Voegelin, 1977, as cited
in Hale, 1982; Khan, 2017) put the Tangsa/Tangshang languages under the
Northern Naga group and, therefore, Rera is considered to be a language belonging
to these groups. However, the terms Tangshang and Tangsa are not cognate with
each other. Tangshang refers to the story of the two siblings Tang Nyuwang and
Shang Nywang (Statezni, 2013), whereas the word Tangsa is a combination of taŋ²
„mountain‟ and sa² „person‟, a name coined by Bipin Buragohain (Morey, 2017, p.
350), an Indian government officer who worked on the Northern Naga languages.
Furthermore, the classification of the Tangshang varieties, according to Khan (2017,
p. 7) are listed in Table 1.
7
Table 1 Classification of the Tangshang varieties (Khan, 2017, p. 7)
Subgroups
Dialects
Criterion for grouping
Upland
Shecyü, Chamchang, Mungre,
Autonym and exonym pang-va means
Pangva
Mueshaungx, Lochang, Haqcyeng,
„those who practice rituals‟; geographic
Ngaimong, Shangvan, Yukli,
location
Cholim, Longri, Jöngi, Maitai
Eastern
A: Lungkhi, Khalak, Gachai
Pangva
B: Rinkhu, Nakkhi, Rasi, Rasa,
Autonym and exonym pang-va means
„those who practice rituals‟; geographic
Rera, Kochung, Shokra, Shangti,
Shanchin, Khangchin, Khangdu,
Lawnyung, Yangbaivang, Gaqha,
location; Group A has negation after
verbs whereas Group B has negation
before verbs
Raraq, Raqnu, Kotlum, Assen, Hasa
Yungkuk-
Yungkuk, Tikhak, Longchang,
They were known as non-Pangva and are
Tikhak
Moklum, Kato, Nukyaq
slightly different from the two Pangva
groups
Nahen, Lumnu, Yangno, Kumgaq,
Geographically, they live in a connected
Haqpo, Chamkok, Champang,
area and are known by the general
Haqcyum, Tawke, Hokuq
name, Ole
Kon-
Youngkon, Chawang, Nukvuk,
Kon, Pingku, and Nansa are closely
Pingnan
Miku, Pingku, Nansa (Nyinshao)
related varieties a bit further south from
Ole
the Ole group
Haqte
Haqkhii, Haqman, Bote, Lama,
This group has mutual comprehension
Haqkhun, Nocte, Phong, Havi,
among the varieties
Tutsa
Olo
Haqsik, Lajo
Both varieties live close to each other
and are known as Olo
Ola
Kaishan
Kaishan is known as Ola and is different
from Olo and Sandzik
Sandzik
Sandzik
Sandzik is different from other groups
Cyokat
Chuyo, Gaqkat, Wancho
These varieties are a bit close to Konyak
group and geographically adjacent to
each other as well
Kunyon
Kuku, Makyam
Kuku and Makyam live to the east of
Namphuk river close to Lainong people.
They are different from other
neighboring Tangshang groups
8
Table 1 shows the 11 different Tangshang subgroups, which includes Rera under the
Eastern Pangva~Pangwa subgroup of the Northern Naga.
Further afield, Rera does not have its own ISO code. However, the language is
referred to by the ISO of the larger Tangshang ISO 639-3: nst. According to
Ethnologue (Simons & Fennig, 2017), the name „Tangsa‟, which is used in India,
refers to only the Tangshang varieties. However, the code has now been named
Tangsa on the India side and Tangshang in Myanmar.
1.2.2 Geography and history of the Rera people
The location of the Rera people is shown in the topographical map in Figure 5.
India
Myanmar
Myanmar
Northeast India
Central India
Figure 5 The location of the Rera people
(Google, 2017)
In Figure 5, the red circles show that the Rera people are located in Arunachal
Pradesh, near the Indo-Myanmar border. Figure 5 also shows that they are close to
the state of Assam.
9
According to the Rera people, they migrated in 1971 from the Patkai hills to
Manmao town, which is located in Changlang district, in the state of Arunachal
Pradesh.3
Nowadays, the majority of the Rera people live in the state of Arunachal Pradesh,
while a small group of Rera people also live in Phulbari village situated in the state
of Assam. The noted places with a majority Rera population are Manmao town and
Balinong village in Changlang district. Manmao town was their original home, while
Balinong village now has the majority of the Rera population. Since life was
challenging without adequate resources, they migrated towards the plains in search
of fertile land, with a good source of water, for wetland cultivation of paddy rice.
They were also looking for financial opportunities, such as jobs and business
opportunities. They moved down to Balinong village and spread into the
neighboring areas in the state of Assam.
Balinong is one of the largest villages among the Rera villages. According to older
Rera people, they named it “Balinong” because it is a sandy land or an island that is
situated amid the rivers, i.e. the Buri Dihing, Kharsang, Langbang, and Namchik
rivers. The Rera believe that the presence of the sandy land may be due to a vast
flood of the Buri Dihing river in earlier years. Evidence for this assumption is that
early settlers saw tree trunks and the remains of wild fruits beneath the soil during
ploughing.
Wangmon Ronrang was one of the early explorers of this new land. Later, he moved,
along with his family and a few other families, to the new land. In addition, having
more experience and knowledge about the rest of the country and state, he was
made the first “Gaon Burha” (village head) of the village. Later, many families came
one after another.
Even though the Rera people mostly farm for a living, the young people also serve in
the government sectors as well as in corporate and private jobs. Nowadays, most of
the young people are educated. However, most of the older people are not educated,
as there were not enough opportunities to study in the past. The first village
education in Balinong came in 1976 through a private English school taught by
Ganhum Ronrang. Later, in 1977, the first government Lower Primary school was
opened. In 1987, the first Anganbadi School4 was opened, and Mrs. Likdam Ronrang
3
4
I would like to acknowledge Dr. John Mansfield for providing me with some of these data.
Anganbadi Schools are government-subsidized schools, which offer free education to children along
with daily meals. The meals are offered to encourage children who are below the poverty line.
10
was appointed as the first Anganbadi teacher. In addition, a private foundation
school was opened in 1997 and most recently, in the year 2005, an industrial
training institute was established.
Due to urbanization and increasing language contact from the neighboring state,
elements of traditional culture and the degree of language vitality have been
decreasing. However, the constant awareness of the need for language revitalization
by the Rera Welfare Society and other language researchers has contributed to the
willingness of Rera society to introduce their own orthography and literacy in the
Rera-speaking areas.
In terms of religion, the early settlers were mostly animists. Later, in 1972, the
Balinong Baptist Church was established under the Tangsa Baptist Church. Most of
the Rera people have converted to Christianity and the traditional religion of the
Rera is disappearing. This has also resulted in the loss of their traditional attire as
many of them are influenced by western outlooks. However, the willingness of
translating the Bible into Rera might lead towards the documentation of the
language. The following section discusses the methodology of the research for this
thesis.
1.3 Methodology
This section deals with the methodology and the practical workflows involved in the
collection and organization of the data. The data collection process embraces
collaboration with the community members to get the best-quality data. In addition,
the process of data collection was started at the initiative of Dr. Stephen Morey in
2008, and later I started collecting data in 2013. However, for this research work,
data were collected and transcribed in 2016 over multiple fieldtrips. This research
gained the interest of the Rera Welfare Society at a later stage, though most of the
community members sought interest at an earlier stage of the research, which was
collaborative from the beginning. However, it is essential to mention that native
speakers‟ motivation for preserving their language is not always the same as other
native speakers‟, nor is it always the same as that of linguists and hence, sometimes
the data collection and elicitation process was interrupted. However, numerous
aspects of data collection and processing were enhanced due to the collaboration.
Data collection for this thesis was carried out during August – December 2016 over
three field trips. The first two trips included an approximately ten-day stay and the
11
third trip was five days.5 All of the data were collected and recorded in Balinong
village, which is in Tirap district, and in Manmao village in Changlang District.
Some data had been recorded in Manmao in 2013, which included a 300-word
wordlist and some traditional stories. Later, some of the stories were re-recorded and
transcribed again as a part of the current thesis work to improve accuracy with the
language consultants in Balinong village.
Some of the data were recorded and transcribed in earlier fieldtrips between 2014
and 2015, which were also reanalyzed during the fieldwork trips in 2016. The
previous data (two stories and an 800-word list) were recorded from Manmao town
in Changlang District from two older people, aged between 75-90. The fieldtrips also
included the collection of several stories as well as a wordlist and some context-free
sentences.
In a later stage of the research, the Rera Welfare Society provided historical and
geographic information about the community. They also shared information about
their language, and, most importantly, they encouraged community people about
the documentation of their language, as there has been no previous description.
The remainder of this section covers the data collection procedure in (§1.3.1). The
information about the language consultants are described in (§1.3.2), while (§1.3.3)
provides information about the data types.
1.3.1 Data collection procedure
Data collection began with surveys that gathered information from multiple age
groups. The information gathered included the age, literacy level, and gender of the
language consultants.
In the data collection process, careful attention was paid to capturing high quality
recordings. To that end, audio recordings were created in .wav format with a
sampling rate of 48 kHz and a bit depth of 16 (Johnson 2004, p. 147). The recording
equipment that was used includes a high definition audio-video recorder (Zoom Q3)
and a high definition audio recorder (Olympus WS-852), along with omnidirectional microphones. Most of the time, sessions were recorded both with video
and audio recorders. Table 2 summarizes the devices and software used for data
collection.
5
As an Independent researcher, it was difficult to find a way of staying for a longer period of time.
However, as mentioned above, Dr. Stephen Morey helped immensely in providing necessary data.
12
Table 2 Data collection recording devices and software
Recording device
Purpose
ZoomQ3
To record data (video & audio)
Olympus WS-852
To record data (audio)
Omni-directional microphones
To record data
Praat
To analyze speech sounds
Phonology Assistant
To analyze phonological data
SIL Fieldworks (FLEx)
To archive lexical and textual data
Different types of genres were collected and transcribed during the data collection
field trips, to serve documentary and descriptive linguistic goals.6 Textual and lexical
data was entered into FLEx, in order to be systematic and consistent with the
glossing. Two texts data are presented in Appendix A.7
1.3.2 Language consultants
Data were collected primarily from two main speakers; however, three other
speakers also helped when the main speakers faced difficulties in providing the
meaning of certain texts. Besides the main language consultants, some other people
from the community also helped in the data collection. Mr. Tanny Shamma Ronrang
(age 60) and Mr. Shamlem Shamma Ronrang (age 29) also helped in explaining the
traditional stories and in those places where the main consultants could not
remember the meanings of some words.
The two main language consultants for this project are Ms. Sahtum Ronrang (age
55) and Mr. Mansham Shamma Ronrang (age 27). Ms. Sahtum Ronrang is an expert
in traditional storytelling and has a great understanding of the language, while Mr.
Mansham Shamma Ronrang helped recheck the processed data.
6
Three of the transcribed stories that are used for this research work were recorded by Dr. Stephen
Morey in 2008 from a native speaker viz. Mr. Mohen Rera. The first translations were done by Dr.
Morey with Mr. Simon Ronrang in 2008, and later in 2016, all of the translations were rechecked by
me with Ms. Sahtum Ronrang and Mr. Mansham Shamma Ronrang. In addition, I would like to
acknowledge Dr. Morey for helping me also in revising the data in January, 2017.
7
My involvement with the Rera started in 2013 as part of Dr. Stephen Morey’s language
documentation projects. The two projects that I am involved in are (I) Australian Research Council
Future Fellowship (2010-2014), for the project entitled “A Multifaceted Study of Tangsa- A
Network of Linguistic Varieties in North-East India (ARCFT100100614); (II) Australian Research
Council Discovery Program Grant (2016-present), for the project entitled Tangsa Wihu Song: insight
into culture through language, music, and ritual (ARCDP160103061).
13
1.3.3 Data types
The data that were collected included isolated lexical items, context-free elicitation
data, and text data. Eight hundred lexical items, based on various semantic domains,
were collected, transcribed, and rechecked with community members in multiple
sessions. Elicited data was recorded in order to look at various syntactic as well as
morphological features. Finally, six different texts were recorded and transcribed.
These included four traditional stories, a folk (Wihu) song, and a procedural text
about how to weave cotton cloth.
Most of the time and effort spent in the language area was devoted to the
transcription and analysis of the speech recordings of the lexemes. Each item was
repeated three times in an interval of approximately four seconds, followed by the
word in a carrier sentence to record the data in natural speech. Later, recorded texts
were interlinearized in FLEx in order to maintain consistency and quality of the
data. The phonological inventory of Rera that is used to transcribe the data is shown
in the following section.
1.4 Phonological inventory and transcription system
Rera has 21 consonant phonemes and 8 vowel phonemes, along with three
contrastive tones. The phonemic transcriptions that are reflected in the examples in
the current work are presented in the consonant, vowel, and tone inventories in
Table 3, Table 4, and Table 5. For more information about Rera phonology, see
Goswami (2017).
The minimal Rera syllable consists of just the nucleus vowel and the maximal
syllable consists of an onset and a rhyme with a coda. Rera has monosyllabic,
disyllabic, trisyllabic, and quadrisyllabic words. Words with five and six syllables
also exist even though they are rare in the data.
The consonant phonemic inventory of Rera includes oral and nasal stops at the
bilabial, alveolar, post-alveolar, and post-palatal points of articulation. These are
listed in Table 3.
14
Table 3 The consonant phoneme inventory in Rera
plosive
labial
alveolar
b
d
t
dʒ
tʃ
p
affricate
nasal
m
n
fricative
v
z
trill
approximant
post-alveolar
g
ɲ
s
post-palatal
k
ʔ
ŋ
ʃ
h
r
w
l
In addition to the stops, /dʒ/ and /tʃ/ are the only affricates in Rera. There are two
voiced fricatives: labial /v/, alveolar /z/, and three voiceless fricatives: alveolar /s/,
post-alveolar /ʃ/, and glottal /h/. Finally, there are two approximants /w/, and /l/,
along with the trill /r/. Note that unlike some of the other Tangsa varieties aspirated
stops do not occur in Rera.
All of the consonant phonemes occur in word-initial position, except for the glottal
stop /ʔ/. All of the stops appear with almost all the vowels in both syllable-initial
and -final positions except for the front open vowel /ɛ/. This vowel only occurs with
initial /p, tʃ, l/ in the data. Sonorants can occur in both syllable-initial and syllablefinal positions, except for/ɲ/, which can only occur syllable-initially.
The Rera vowel phonemes are shown in Table 4.
Table 4 The vowel phoneme inventory in Rera
front
close
i
close-mid
e
open-mid
ɛ
open
central
back
u
ə
o
ɔ
a
15
The vowel inventory does not include diphthongs. Close vowels are produced in the
front and back positions. However, there is no close central vowel. Central vowels
are found at both mid and open positions.
The Rera toneme inventory is given in Table 5.
Table 5 The toneme inventory in Rera
Tone numbers
Tone characteristics
Tone 1
High [45]
Tone 2
Mid [33]
Tone 3
Low [21]
The tonal inventory, in Table 5, includes one mid, level tone and two contour tones.
The tone-bearing unit in Rera is the syllable, not the word. There are three tones, as
shown above, in live syllables, which have final vowels or nasals, whereas dead
syllables, which have final stop consonants, carry a low tone. Thus, tone marking is
always contrastive in the live syllables. The various approaches to nominalization
and demonstratives in the literature are discussed in (§1.5).
1.5 Approaches to nominalization and demonstratives in the
literature
One prominent characteristic of Tibeto-Burman languages is nominalization at both
lexical and clausal levels, while demonstratives are noted for their wide range of
syntactic, semantic, and pragmatic functions. The nominalization literature is
considered as it relates to this thesis, in (§1.5.1), followed by the behaviors of
demonstratives in the literature in (§1.5.2).
1.5.1 Nominalization in the literature
The serious study of nominalization in Tibeto-Burman languages began with
Matisoff‟s (1972) study on Lahu nominalization, genitivization, and relativization. In
it he discusses how a single morpheme, ve, functions as a nominalizing morpheme, a
complementizing morpheme, a relativizing morpheme, and a genitive marker. In
addition to Matisoff‟s work, similar functions of nominalization have been reported
in a range of Asian languages, including Tibeto-Burman and Austronesian languages
(Genetti, 2011; Grunow-Hårsta, 2011; Liu & Gu, 2011; DeLancey, 1986, 2002;
Morey, 2011; Post, 2011; Hsieh, 2011).
16
Grunow-Hårsta (2011) looked at derivational nominalization in Magar, a TibetoBurman language of the Central Himalayas. She identifies four suffixal nominalizers:
-ke, -mʌ, -o, and -cyo ~ -cʌ, along with one prefixal nominalizer mi- ~ me- ~ my-.
The suffixal nominalizers have a limited function, while the nominalizer mi- is much
more productive. It functions as a noun marker, possessed noun marker, and a
lexical nominalizer. The functions of the Magar nominalizer mi- are similar to the
productive functions of the Rera nominalizer i¹-, which can also be a possessive
noun marker. Furthermore, i¹- combines with the demonstrative kəra². This form
serves as a topic marker, a conjunction, and an anaphoric discourse marker.
Konnerth (2014) reports a single nominalizer ke- (with allomorphs ki-~ka-) in Karbi
(Tibeto-Burman, Bodo-Garo). She mentions that “this nominalizing velar prefix has
many apparent cognates across several branches of Tibeto-Burman both inside and
outside Northeast India,” which is “productive in deriving nouns from verbs”
(Konnerth, 2009, p. 121; 2014, p. 384). This suggests that it is a feature of ProtoTibeto-Burman. Thus, it is possible that the nominalizer keʔ- in Rera is cognate with
Proto-Tibeto Burman ke-.
Yap et al. (2011, p. 14) demonstrates the substantivization strategy, where
nominalized constructions are “identified by noun phrase markers, among them
classifiers, plural markers, possessive pronouns, demonstratives, definiteness
markers and case markers”. This phenomenon is pervasive in Rera, where classifiers
indicate the nominalized status of verbal forms.
Another much-discussed phenomenon in Tibeto-Burman literature is the referential
and non-referential uses of nominalization constructions. Nominalization
constructions often “develop extended, non-referential functions”, where
nominalization constructions “combine with lexical head nouns to form adnominal
constructions” forming part of a noun phrase and modifying that noun phrase (Yap
et al., 2011, p. 26). In Rera, the nominalized constructions formed by the
nominalizer i¹- modify the head noun within a noun phrase, functioning as an
adnominal modifier.
Morey (n.d. a), identifies two nominalizing prefixes, ə- and tɕi²-, in Mueshaungx
(Moshang), a Tangsa language spoken in India and Myanmar. The nominalizer ə-
can be “combined with both verbs and adjectives”. This finding supports the present
study, as the Rera nominalizer i¹-, cognate to the Moshang ə-, functions in the same
way, where it exhibits morphological bounding to head verbs and noun roots, to
denote nominalization constructions.
17
Finally, one of the first generalizations regarding nominalization constructions in
Tibeto-Burman states that they can frequently express the speaker‟s stance,
specifically mirativity (DeLancey, 1986). Speaker stance nominalization
constructions can be signaled by nominalizers, noun phrase markers, or
demonstratives. This issue is found in Rera, where the nominalizer i¹- and the
demonstrative kəra² is used to express speaker stance in narratives. This occurs when
calling attention or expressing amazement or surprise. The demonstrative kəra² can
also be used in a substantivization strategy as an aspect of signaling nominalized
constructions, and, therefore, the extended functions of a demonstrative in the
literature are discussed in the following section.
1.5.2 Demonstratives in the literature
Diessel (2006, p. 430) defines demonstratives as deictic expressions that “indicate
the relative distance of a referent in the speech situation vis-a-vis the deictic center,”
while the deictic center is defined by “the speaker‟s location at the time of
utterance.” Syntactically, demonstratives can co-occur with a noun in a noun phrase,
“they may occur in a copular or non-verbal clause”, and “they are used as
independent pronouns in argument positions of verbs and adpositions” (Diessel,
1999, p. 1). In Rera, demonstratives within a noun phrase indicate deictic references
between the referent and the deictic center. These same forms can behave as
demonstrative pronouns by substituting for a noun phrase.
An early document of Moshang, a variety of Tangsa, mentions the demonstrative
k rau or k r (Needham, 1897), with its distal deictic function. Morey (n.d. b)
speaks of the most frequent demonstrative kərə „that‟ in Chamchang (a Tibeto-
Burman, Tangsa language), which can appear in different forms such as ka, kəra,
kʋrʋka, etc. In addition, Morey mentions that the demonstrative has distal deictic
uses. The demonstrative, however, does not always denote distal deictic expressions
in discourse. Furthermore, Morey (n.d. a) reports the demonstrative kəkɤ¹ „that‟ as a
noun phrase marker in Moshang, which is also seen in Rera.
Furthermore, the use of demonstratives in nominalization constructions is a widely
discussed phenomenon. Yap et al. (2011, p. 16) demonstrates that “nominalization
constructions can also be signaled by demonstratives and other definiteness
markers”, which, undergo substantivization. The Rera demonstrative kəra² is used to
signal the nominalized status of subordinate clauses. In addition, Morey (n.d. a & b)
also notes that demonstratives in Moshang and Chamchang undergo
grammaticalization as substantivization markers of clauses.
18
Further afield, Morey (2011, p. 16) demonstrates the use of the definiteness marker
wa to signal nominalized constructions in Nampuk Singpho, a Tibeto-Burman, BodoKonyak-Jingphaw language. Morey (2011, p. 289) postulates that “such nominalized
clauses are usually found in combination with the definiteness marker wa”.
Nominalization by substantivization is indicated by the demonstrative kəra² in Rera,
instead of a definite marker, as in Namphuk Singpho.
In more distant Northern Pwo Karen (Tibeto-Burman, Karenic), Phillips (2017)
reports the use of the medial demonstrative nɔ as a marker of topical noun phrases,
relative clauses, and temporal adverbial and conditional adverbial clauses.
Finally, de Vries (1995, p. 514) reports that in several Papuan languages
“demonstrative forms are used both in contexts of referent identification, e.g. as
demonstrative operators in noun phrases, and in topicality contexts, e.g. as topic
markers with adverbial clauses and phrase, recapitulative clauses, new topic NPs
and given topic NPs.” de Vries (1995, p. 521) further reports that demonstratives in
tail-head linkage clauses cannot be accounted for in terms of providing deictic
expressions or referent identification. Rather, they provide new information based
on the previous expression in a tail-head linkage construction. This phenomenon is
addressed in the current thesis, which also shows the use of demonstratives in a tailhead linkage construction. The following section (§1.6) discusses the contributions,
limitations, and composition of the study.
1.6 Contributions, limitations, and composition of this study
The purpose of this thesis work is to account for nominalization at both lexical and
clausal levels. The current work looks deeply at the various uses of the two
nominalizers i¹- and keʔ³- in Rera. The extended functionality of kəra² provides
opportunities to study clause-level syntactic criteria such as clausal nominalization,
clausal coordination, etc.
As for the significance of this thesis work, this research contributes to the first
documentation of the language. This study may help others studying similar
phenomena in other or related Tangsa languages in North-East India and beyond.
Furthermore, this thesis is limited to the discussion of a detailed diachronic review
of the nominalizers along with other syntactic behaviours.
The remainder of this thesis begins with a morphosyntactic overview of Rera in
Chapter 2. Then lexical nominalization is discussed in Chapter 3. The extended
functions of the demonstrative kəra² are illustrated in Chapter 4. Finally, the thesis
ends with the conclusion in Chapter 5.
19
Chapter 2
Morphosyntactic Overview of Rera
2.1 Overview
The aim of this thesis is to account for the nominalization constructions and the
extended functions of the demonstrative kəra² „that‟. As a background to this overall
study, this chapter presents a morphosyntactic overview of Rera.
As with most Tibeto-Burman languages, word order is SOV with postpositional
phrases. However, arguments can be omitted if otherwise understood. Noun phrases
are head-medial with variable ordering of modifiers. The case alignment is ergativeabsolutive, where the subject of an intransitive clause and the direct object in a
transitive clause are marked the same, while the transitive subject is marked
differently. Furthermore, elaborate expressions denote four to six-syllable
coordinative constructions. The clause structures include verbal and non-verbal
clausal constructions, where verbal clauses include intransitive, transitive, and
ditransitive clause constructions. In contrast, non-verbal clause constructions denote
identity and static locational expressions.
The variable ordering of the modifiers in a noun phrase is a key part of the
discussion in the morphosyntactic analysis, which shows that four different
modifiers can precede the head of a noun phrase (possessors, numerals, adjectives,
and demonstratives), while three different post-head slots complete the Rera noun
phrase (eg. demonstratives, adjectives, and numerals). The clausal inventory
includes verbal, attributive, and verbless copula clauses.
This morphosyntactic overview provides a first description of Rera. The earliest
linguistic work on Tangsa is eleven pages about the Moshang or Mueshaungx and
Shecyü language varieties, which includes some lexical as well as syntactic study,
with sentences and their English glosses (Needham, 1897). Another preliminary
work is the documentation of daily used words and a basic syntactic description of
eleven Tangshang/Tangsa varieties (Das Gupta, 1980). Bandyopadhyay (1989)
provides an 868-item wordlist for a Tangsa variety which is called Jogli or Yukli.
20
Work on Northern Naga languages includes Morey‟s (n.d. a) description of the
Moshang and Chamchang varieties. Morey (n.d. b) describes various morphosyntactic features, such as argument structures, verb agreement, and clausal
structures in Moshang, a Tangsa language. Furthermore, Morey (2017) analyzes verb
stem alternation in his recent paper on the Pangwa varieties, where he describes the
verbal forms as an independent root changing into a nominal, which can be
achieved by stem alternation.
This chapter is divided into the discussion of basic argument constructions (§2.2),
elaborate expressions (§2.3), clausal constructions (§2.4), and sentence constructions
(§2.5). The chapter ends with a summary of the morphosyntactic constructions in
(§2.6).
2.2 Basic argument constructions
This section deals with the argument constructions in Rera. The three basic
argument constructions are noun phrases (§2.2.1), pronouns (§2.2.2), and
postpositional phrases (§2.2.3).
2.2.1 Noun phrase structures
The Rera noun phrase consists of an obligatory noun head which is preceded and
followed by optional modifiers, as diagrammed in (1).
(1)
Rera simple noun phrase construction
(POSS)
(DEM)
(NUM)
(ADJ)
HEAD
(ADJ)
(NUM)
(DEM)
The diagram in (1) shows that demonstratives, numerals, and adjectives can occur in
both pre- and post-head positions, while the possessor modifier only occurs
preceding the noun head.
A noun phrase example showing the pre-head modifiers is shown in (2).
(2)
Elicited data 71
kəra²
wa¹rum²
a²-nɛ²
a²-dʒɔŋ²
a²-ʃe¹kɔm²
dʒum²
that
three
ATTR-new
ATTR-big
ATTR-red
house
Lit. „those three, new, big, red house‟
„those three big new red houses‟
21
In the noun phrase in (2), the demonstrative kəra² „those‟, the numeral wa¹rum²
„three‟, the three adjectives a²nɛ² „new‟, a²dʒɔŋ² „big‟ and a²ʃe¹kɔm² „red‟ precede the
head noun dʒum² „house‟.
The post-head optional modifiers are exemplified in (3).
(3)
Elicited data 09
i²na²
[kəra² dʒum² wa¹rum²
kəra²]NP
that
that
that
house three
Lit. „that house three that‟
„those three houses‟
In (3), the numeral wa¹rum² „three‟ and the demonstrative kəra² „that‟, both follow
the head noun dʒum² „house‟. Another example of a similar kind is shown in (4).
(4)
Folktale 01.08
i¹kəra²-maʔ³
[dʒum² ʃa³.rum²
kərə-maʔ³
kəra²] a²duʔ³
that-from
house hundred.three
that-from
that
down side
ka²la² muŋ²
a²sam²
duʔ³
ka¹-o²-li²
Indian country
Assam
down side
go-COMP-CONT.1P
me²ke²
ning²khan² =na²
ŋo¹
din²
kəra²
what
cause=at
say
if
that
Lit. „After that house three hundred after that downside Indian country
Assam downside went, what cause (for what reason) say if that‟
„After that, (of) those three hundred households, for what reason were we
coming down to Assam, if it is said.‟
In (4), the different modifiers, including the numeral ʃa³.rum² „three hundred‟ and
the demonstrative kəra² „that‟, along with its variant kərəmaʔ³ „after that‟, occur
following the head noun dʒum² „house‟.
22
An example of pre- and post-head modifiers is presented in (5).
(5)
Elicited data 44
[ŋa¹
kat³
a¹-ki²
1S.POSS shirt ATTR-old
kəra²] a²-hab²
ra²-to²
that
SEQ-PAST.3
ATTR-beautiful
Lit. „My shirt be old that, beautiful had‟
„My old shirt over there was beautiful‟.
In example (5) the possessor modifier, ŋa¹ „1S.POSS‟, precedes the head. The
attributive modifier a¹-ki² modifies the noun kat³ „shirt‟ and occurs in the post-head
position. In addition, the demonstrative kəra² „that‟ also occurs in the post-head
position of the noun phrase ŋa¹ kat³ a¹-ki² „my old shirt‟. The optional modifiers in a
noun phrase are discussed thoroughly in §2.2.1.1.
2.2.1.1 Noun phrase modifiers
This section presents an overview of the modifiers in Rera. The remainder of this
section begins with the pre-head noun phrase modifier, viz. the possessors as
demonstrated in (§2.2.1.1.1), while demonstratives are reported in (§2.2.1.1.2).
(§2.2.1.1.3) presents the numerals and quantifiers, while adjectives are discussed in
(§2.2.1.1.4). Finally, the section ends with a discussion of noun phrase coordination
in (§2.2.1.1.5).
2.2.1.1.1 Possessors
Possessors are pre-posed to a noun head. In Rera, a noun phrase possessor can be
found with or without a possessive enclitic. The discussion starts with the possessive
construction without the enclitic, and then examples are shown with the possessive
enclitic.
The noun phrase without a possessor is shown in (6).
(6)
Elicited data 72
ŋa¹=Ø
jak³
ʃi¹
kəra²
1s
hand
finger this
a²-dʒɔŋ²
ATTR-big
Lit. „I, finger of hand this big‟
„My finger is big.‟
23
In (6), the possessor ŋa¹ „1.POSS‟ occurs without the possessive enclitic =rɛ². Another
example of a possessor noun phrase without the possessor enclitic is exemplified in
(7).
(7)
Folktale 02.15
ŋa¹
heʔ³tʃin²= Ø
1.POSS nest
kəkəra²
nap³kum² kətʃoŋ²
kaʔ³
je³-ra²
that
wild banana
this
fall-SEQ
ŋo¹-ra²
say-SEQ
Lit. „My nest that wild banana this fall, say‟
„“My nest in the wild banana fell (is being destroyed)”, having spoken.‟
In (7), the possessor noun phrase ŋa¹ heʔ³tʃin²= Ø „my nest‟ occurs without the
possessive enclitic =rɛ² in the subject argument, which is further modified by the
demonstrative kəkəra² „that‟. In contrast, a possessive construction in the object
position is illustrated in (8).
(8)
Folktale 02. 12
Ø
boʔ³le²= Ø
na³ki²=na²
nup³-to²
ŋo¹
SUBJ
elephant
ear=at
enter-PAST:3S say
Lit. „Elephant ear at entered say‟
„It entered into an elephant‟s ear, it is said.‟
Example (8) shows a possessive construction in the object argument boʔ³le²= Ø
„elephant‟s‟, where the object argument boʔ³le²= Ø occurs without the possessive
enclitic =rɛ².
The possessor noun phrase can be marked with the possessive enclitic =rɛ², as
shown in (9).
(9)
Elicited data 14
mi²wa¹ =rɛ²
dʒum²
man=POSS
house
Lit. „Man‟s house.‟
„The man‟s house.‟
In (9), the possessive enclitic, =rɛ², marks the possessor noun phrase, mi²wa¹ „man‟,
which precedes the head noun dʒum² „house‟. Meanwhile, unlike the pre-head
24
possessors, another prominent noun modifier that can occur before or after the head
noun is the Rera demonstrative as discussed in (§2.2.1.1.2).
2.2.1.1.2 Demonstratives
Demonstratives in the Rera noun phrase can either precede, follow, or occur at both
pre- and post-head positions of the noun phrase. There are, however, significant uses
of the demonstratives, such as kəra², which is discussed in Chapter 4. A pre-head
demonstrative is illustrated in (10).
(10)
Elicited data 05
kəra²
wa¹=rɛ²
pi²-vaŋ¹-sa²
a¹-han²
that
man=POSS
3s-cousin-CL
ATTR-beautiful
Lit. „That man‟s him cousin beautiful‟
„That man‟s cousin is beautiful.‟
In (10), the use of kəra² indicates that wa¹rɛ² „man‟ is in a distant location within
sight. In addition, the third person singular pronoun pi² „3s‟ marks the possessive
vaŋ¹sa² „cousin‟.
In contrast, example (11) shows a post-head demonstrative in Rera.
(11)
Folktale 02.17
wit³
waŋ²
ask
go.up after-SEQ
ko²-ra²
kəra²
e
that
EXCL
[ŋa¹
heʔ³tʃin²
1.POSS nest
nap³kum²
kətʃoŋ²
kə¹
je³-to²
wild
banana
that
fall-PAST.3
kəra²]
that
Lit. „Ask go up after, that, eh! my nest that wild banana that fell‟
„After asking to go up, my nest in the wild banana (tree) fell.‟
In (11), the demonstrative kəra² „that‟ occurs after the head noun heʔ³tʃin² „nest‟ with
the meaning „that nest‟ in the possessive noun phrase ŋa¹ heʔchin² „my nest‟. In
addition, the allomorph of the demonstrative kəra²~ kə¹ also occurs after the head
noun nap³kum² kətʃoŋ² „wild banana‟.
In addition, demonstratives can also occur in both the pre- and post-head positions
at the same time. Consider example (12).
25
(12)
Elicited data 50
[i²na² dʒum²-zok³
kəra²]
a²-dʒɔŋ²
that
that
ATTR-big
house-PL
Lit. „That houses big‟
„Those houses are big.‟
In (12), the distal demonstrative i²na² „that‟ that precedes the head noun dʒum²zok³
„houses‟ is referring to it, while the demonstrative kəra² ‘that‟ follows the head noun.
However, the difference between the pre- and post-head demonstrative positioning
is, in fact, hard to describe and will require more research.
Rera has several demonstratives which indicate the location of the hearer in relation
to the speaker, as listed in Table 6.
Table 6 Demonstratives
Form
Hearer position
a¹ra² „this‟
Close to the speaker
i²na² „that‟
kəra² „that‟
Yonder to the speaker
Yonder to the speaker
Table 6 shows the three demonstratives used in Rera, along with their semantic
domains. The first demonstrative, a¹ra² „this‟, is illustrated in (13).
(13)
Elicited data 49
a¹ra²
dʒum² a²-dʒɔŋ²
this
house ATTR-big
Lit. „This house big‟
„This house is big.‟
In (13), the demonstrative modifier of dʒum² „house‟ is the proximal demonstrative
a¹ra² „this‟, which indicates that the house is close to the speaker. The distal
demonstrative i²na² „that‟ is exemplified in (14).
(14)
Elicited data 50
[i²na² dʒum²-zok³
kəra²] a²-dʒɔŋ²
that
that
house-PL
ATTR-big
Lit. „That houses big‟
„Those houses are big.‟
26
In (14), the demonstrative i¹na² „that‟ indicates relative distance, i.e. distal, between
dʒum²zok³ „house-PL‟ and the speaker‟s current location. In addition, the
demonstrative i¹na² „that‟ refers to the head noun dʒum²zok³ „houses-PL‟, while the
demonstrative kəra² puts more nominal elements to the head noun dʒum²zok³
„houses-PL‟ by modifying it. Furthermore, it is noticed that in most examples, the
demonstrative kəra² tends to fill the post-head position to modify the head noun
even if a specific adnominal demonstrative occurs in the pre-head position.
2.2.1.1.3 Numerals and quantifiers
Numerals and quantifiers can occur in both the pre- and post-head positions in a
noun phrase. The numerals from „one‟ to „ten‟ are listed in Table 7.
Table 7 Rera cardinal numerals
Rera Numerals
Gloss
wa¹tʃi¹
„one‟
wa¹ni³
wa¹rum²
„two‟
„three‟
„four‟
bə²li³
„five‟
bə²ŋa³
„six‟
a²rok³
„seven‟
mi²ʃi³
„eight‟
a²ʃɔt³
a²ku¹
ro²ha²tʃi¹
„nine‟
„ten‟
Example (15) shows a cardinal numeral preceding the head.
(15)
Elicited data 34
wa¹rum²
ʃə¹mɔn²
mi²-ʃa²-kuŋ³
three
good
person-child-PL
Lit. „Three good younger persons (children).‟
„The three good children.‟
Example (15) shows the cardinal numeral wa¹rum² „three‟ preceding the head noun
mi²ʃa²kuŋ³ „younger persons‟ and the attributive ʃə¹mɔn² „good‟.
Numerals can also occur post-head in a noun phrase, as in (16).
27
(16)
Elicited data 35
i¹na²
[kəra² dʒum² wa¹rum²]
that.out of sight
that
house three
Lit. „That (out of sight) that house three.‟
„Those three houses (which are across the mountain!).‟
In (16), the head noun dʒum² „house‟ is followed by the post-head numeral wa¹rum²
„three‟.
Another example of a post-head numeral is shown in (17).
(17)
Folktale 02.33
man²pan³
kaʔ³
wa¹tʃi¹
story
that
one
Lit. „story that one‟
„One story is done.‟
In (17), the numeral wa¹tʃi¹ „one‟ occurs after the head noun man²pan³ „story‟ in a
verbless copula clause construction. Furthermore, the numeral is preceded by the
demonstrative kəra² ~ kaʔ³ „that‟ in the noun phrase.
Like numerals, quantifiers can also occupy the pre- or post-head position in a noun
phrase. Example (18) shows a pre-head quantifier.
(18)
Elicited data 31
a²ʃak³maŋ²
dʒum²-zok³
many
house-PL
Lit. „Many houses.‟
„Many houses‟
In (18), the quantifier a²ʃak³maŋ² „many‟ precedes the head noun dʒum²zok³ „houses‟,
while example (19) shows a quantifier that follows the head noun.
(19)
Elicited data 32
dʒum²-zok³
ɛ²kɔm²ba³
house-PL
few
Lit. „Few houses‟
„Few houses.‟
28
In (19), the quantifier ɛ²kɔm²ba³ „few‟ follows the head noun dʒum²zok³ „houses‟.
Likewise in (20), the quantifier a²ʃak³maŋ² „many‟ follows the head noun.
(20)
Elicited data 33
kəra²
dʒum²-zok³
a²ʃak³maŋ²
that
house-PL
many
Lit. „This many houses‟
„These many houses.‟
Example (20) shows that the quantifier a²ʃak³maŋ² „many‟ occurs following the head
noun dʒum²zok³ „houses‟, which is modified by the pre-head demonstrative kəra²
„that‟. The last modifier within the noun phrase to be considered is adjectives.
2.2.1.1.4 Adjectives
As with other noun head modifiers, adjectives can either precede or follow the noun
head. Pre-head adjectives are illustrated in (21).
(21)
Elicited data 11
wa¹rum²
a¹-dʒɔŋ²
a¹-ʃe¹kɔm²
dʒum² kəra²
three
ATTR-big
ATTR-red
house TOP
Lit. „Three big red houses.‟
„Three big red houses.‟
In (21), the numeral wa¹rum² „three‟ and the adjectives a¹dʒɔŋ² „big‟ and a¹ʃe¹kɔm²
„red‟ occur before the head noun dʒum² „house‟.
Example (22) shows a series of adjectives in the pre-head position.
(22)
Elicited data 10
a¹-dʒɔŋ²
bo¹tɔ²to²
a¹-dʒɔm²
a¹-kam²kam² kɛk
wa¹rum²
ATTR-big
fat
ATTR-sweet
ATTR-hot
three
cake
Lit. „big fat sweet hot cake three‟
„The three big fat hot sweet cakes.‟
In (22), the adjectives a¹dʒɔŋ² „big‟, bo¹tɔ²to² „fat‟, a¹dʒɔm² „sweet‟, and a¹kam²kam²
„hot‟ occur before the head noun kɛk „cake‟. In addition, the attributive bo¹tɔ²to² „fat‟
does not occur with the attributive prefix a¹-, which is addressed for further
research.
29
Adjectives can also follow a head noun, as in (23).
(23)
Elicited data 51
i²pi³=rɛ²
dʒum² a²-dʒɔŋ²
3s=poss
house ATTR-big
Lit. „His house big‟
„His big house.‟
In (23), the adjective a²dʒɔŋ² „big‟ follows the head noun dʒum² „house‟.
Furthermore, sometimes this kind of construction can also form as a non-verbal
copula clause construction if the intonation of the sentence is changed, which can
produce a sentence like „his house is big‟. Noun phrase coordination is discussed in
(§2.2.1.1.5).
2.2.1.1.5 Noun phrase coordination
This section presents simple noun phrase coordination in Rera. The coordinate noun
phrase combines two or more nouns or noun phrases into a larger unit having “the
same semantic relations with other surrounding elements” (Haspelmath, 2005, p. 1).
In Rera, noun phrase coordination can be achieved with the coordinating
conjunction, as in (24).
(24)
Conjunctive coordinate noun phrase
Noun phrase1 i¹na² Noun phrase2
In (24), the conjunctive coordinate noun phrase contains two juxtaposed noun
phrases combined by the conjunctive coordinative i¹na² „and‟. In addition, the
conjunctive coordinative has the same form as one of the demonstratives showing
distal references. However, this issue needs to be addressed for further investigation.
See example (25).
(25)
Elicited data 46
[mi²wa¹sa²
i¹na²
ji¹tʃi¹ku²nu²sa² kəra²]NP
du¹
man.person.child
and
woman.child this
rice
sa¹-sa²-lo³
si¹ni²
kon²ti²-daŋ³-niŋ²
eat-CONT-NPAST
…
friends -CL.group-with
Lit. „This boy and girl eating rice with group of friends.‟
„This boy and the girl are eating rice with their friends.‟
30
In (25), the two nominals mi²wa¹sa² „boy‟ and ji¹tʃi¹ku²nu²sa² „girl‟ are coordinated by
the conjunctive conjunction i¹na² „and‟. In addition, the coordinated NP is modified
by the demonstrative kəra² „this‟. The coordinate noun phrase fills the subject
position of the clause.
The disjunctive coordinate noun phrase is diagrammed in (26).
(26)
Disjunctive coordinate noun phrase
Noun phrase1 ʃi²na³ Noun phrase2
In (26), two juxtaposed noun phrases are disjuncted by the disjunctive coordinate
ʃi²na³. Consider example (27).
(27)
Elicited data 92
mi²mi² ʃi²na³ gɛ²he²
cat
or
dog
ŋo²
QP
Lit. „Cat or dog, is it‟
„Is it a cat or a dog?‟
Example (27) shows the disjunctive coordinated noun phrases mi²mi² „cat‟ and gɛ²he²
„dog‟, which are combined by the disjunctive coordinator ʃi²na³ „or‟. Finally,
(§2.2.1.1.6) summarizes the Rera noun phrase structure.
2.2.1.1.6 Summary of Rera noun phrase structure
The internal constituents of a simple noun phrase include possessors,
demonstratives, numerals, and adjectives. Possessors occupy the pre-head slot in a
noun phrase and can be marked by a possessive enclitic =rɛ². In contrast,
demonstratives can occur in pre-, post- and both pre- and post-head slots. Finally,
numerals, quantifiers, and adjectives can occur both pre- and post-head in a noun
phrase. In addition, the noun head is always obligatory, while the modifiers are
optional. The following section (§2.2.2) describes the pronouns and determiners of
Rera.
2.2.2 Rera pronouns and determiners
Pronouns in Rera can be divided into personal (§2.2.2.1), demonstrative (§2.2.2.2),
possessive determiner (§2.2.2.3), reflexive and reciprocal (§2.2.2.4), and
interrogative (§2.2.2.5), each of which is discussed in turn.
31
2.2.2.1 Personal pronoun inventory
In Rera, the personal pronouns have singular, dual, and plural number, as well as
three persons. One notable feature of the Rera pronoun system is that it “allows
limited neutralization of person or of number” (Dixon, 2010, p. 199). In a
singular/plural paradigm, there is no distinction between plural for second- and
third- persons.
The personal pronoun system of Rera is presented in Table 8.
Table 8 Personal pronoun system of Rera
Singular
1st person
ŋa¹
2nd person
mo²
3 person
i¹pi²
rd
Dual
Plural
ni²ni²
Inclusive
Exclusive
naŋ²rum³
ni¹rum³ma²na²
ʃa¹rum³
Table 8 shows the Rera personal pronoun inventory. Personal pronouns have
singular, dual, and plural forms; however, only the first-person pronoun has a dual
form. In addition, the first-person plural pronouns have both inclusive and exclusive
forms. Furthermore, the personal pronoun inventory shows the lack of person
differences for plural forms for second- and third-person.
An example of a first person singular pronoun is shown in (28).
(28)
Folktale 01.01
ŋa¹
a¹ya²
man²pan³
kuʔ³-laŋ²
1S
here
story
tell-NPAST:1S
Lit. „I here story tell‟
„I am telling a story.‟
In (28), the first person singular pronoun ŋa¹ „1s‟ occurs as a subject argument
followed by the demonstrative pronoun a¹ya² „here‟. This simple sentence contains
the object argument man²pan³ „story‟ followed by the predicate kuʔ³laŋ² „tell‟.
Example (29) shows the first and second person singular pronouns in Rera.
32
(29)
Elicited data 53
ŋa¹
mo²
ma²-bu²-laŋ²
1S
2S
IRR-hit-NPAST.1S
Lit. „I you will hit‟
„I hit you.‟
In (29), the first-person singular pronoun ŋa¹ „1S‟ occurs in the subject position,
while the second-person singular pronoun mo² „2S‟ occurs in the object position.
Example (30) illustrates the third-person singular pronoun.
(30)
Elicited data 54
i²pi³
jup³
3S
sleep
Lit. „He sleep‟
„He sleeps.‟
Example (30) shows the third-person singular pronoun i²pi³ „3s‟ as the intransitive
subject.
An example showing the first-person plural pronoun is presented in (31).
(31)
Elicited data 55
naŋ²rum³
gɛ²he² kə
ma²-bu²-i²
1P
dog
IRR-hit-1P
that
Lit. „We dog that will hit‟
„We will hit the dog.‟
In (31), the first-person inclusive plural pronoun, naŋ²rum³, occurs in the transitive
subject position. In addition, the verb ma²-bu²-i² „IRR-hit-1P‟ in the predicate position
occurs by following the direct object argument gɛ²he² kə „that dog‟.
An example of a second-person plural pronoun is shown in (32).
(32)
Elicited data 56
ʃa¹rum² -ra²
gɛ²he² kə
bu²-lo²
2P-ERG
dog
hit-NPAST:3S
that
Lit. „You, dog that hit‟
„You (plural) hit the dog.‟
33
Example (32) shows the second-person plural pronoun, ʃa¹rum², occurring in a
transitive construction as the subject argument, which takes the ergative case
marking.
A third-person plural reference is illustrated showing that the second- and thirdperson plural forms are the same in Rera, as in (33).
(33)
Elicited data 57
ʃa¹rum²
jup³-to²
3P
sleep-PAST.3
Lit. „They slept‟
„They slept.‟
In (33), the third-person plural pronoun, ʃa¹rum², occurs as the subject argument of
the intransitive construction. In addition, even though the second- and the thirdperson plural forms are same in Rera, the verb agreement disambiguates the uses of
the pronouns, as in (33), the agreement marker -to² refers to the third-person plural
pronoun ʃa¹rum².
Meanwhile, an example of the second- and third-person plural pronouns is shown in
(34).
(34)
Folktale 01.10
i¹-kəra²
ning²kan²
na²
ni¹rum²-raʔ³ kəra²
ʃa¹rum³
NMLZ-that
cause
at
1P-ERG
that
3P
rum³
ka¹-to²
kəra²
three
go-PAST.3
that
kəra²
mi²
ʃa¹
that
person hundred
be²yaŋ²
wan³-o²-to²
all
cut-COMP-PAST.3P
Lit. „That why at (this is why), we that them that person three hundred went
(came), that all cut (killed)‟
„That is why, we killed all the three hundred of them who came.‟
In (34), the first-person plural pronoun ni¹rum²-raʔ³ ‘1P-ERG‟ and the third-person
plural pronoun ʃa¹rum³ „3P‟ occur in the main clause ni¹rum²-raʔ³ kəra² ʃa¹rum³ kəra²
mi² ʃa¹ rum³ ka¹-to² preceded by the pre-clause i¹-kəra² ning²kan² na² „that is why‟. In
addition, both the first- and the third-person plural pronouns are modified by the
demonstrative kəra² „that‟.
34
The first-person dual pronoun is illustrated in (35).
(35)
Elicited data 58
ni²ni²-ra²
i²pi³
bu²-to²
1.DUAL-ERG
3S
hit-PAST.3P
Lit. „We two, him hit‟
„We two hit him.‟
In (35), the first-person dual pronoun, ni²ni², followed by the ergative case marker ra² „ERG‟, occurs as the subject argument in a transitive construction. Furthermore,
this example raises ambiguity as to the use of verb agreement, as the predicate takes
the third-person agreement marker -to² „3P‟ instead of a first-person marker.
The Rera pronouns inflect for case marking, in an ergative-absolutive alignment. In
this system, the subject of an intransitive clause and the direct object in a transitive
clause are marked the same, whereas the subject of a transitive clause is marked
differently. However, the ergative-absolutive marking raises some irregularities as
the (S) arguments are not always marked as absolutive and all the (A) arguments are
not always marked ergative. Furthermore, the third-person subject (S) arguments
can be marked with the ergative -ra². Morey (2012, p. 1), in his discussion of the
Singpho subject marker, uses the term „agentive‟ as “it has fewer implications of
being paradigmatic than ergative.” He further states that the agentive (or ergative)
marking in Tibeto-Burman languages is “not obligatory and is used for functions
such as emphasis of agentivity and marked constituent order” (Morey, 2012, p. 1).
Following this argumentation for complexities and optionality of the ergative case
system, this thesis work provides a basic analysis of the case marking in Rera.
However, further research is needed in order to deal with the Rera case marking
patterns.
The Rera case system is diagrammed in (36), followed by relevant examples.
(36)
Rera ergative-absolutive case marking system
Intransitive
S
Transitive
A
P
35
Diagram (36) shows the ergative case marking pattern in Rera, where the
intransitive subject and the transitive object are marked for absolutive case and the
(A) arguments of a transitive clause is marked with ergative case.
An example of an ergative argument and a zero-marked absolutive is shown in (37).
(37)
Elicited data 17
i²pi³-ra²
ŋa¹-Ø bu²-taŋ²
3S-ERG
1S-Ø
hit-1S:PAST
Lit. „He hit me.‟
„He hit me.‟
In (37), the transitive subject i²pi³ „3s‟ is marked by the ergative suffix -ra² and the
transitive object ŋa¹ „1s‟ is marked by zero.
In contrast to a transitive predicate, example (38) shows a zero-marked absolutive
subject with an intransitive predicate.
(38)
Elicited data 02
ŋa¹-Ø ka¹-taŋ²
1S-Ø
go-1S:PAST
Lit. „I went.‟
„I went‟
In (38), the intransitive subject ŋa¹ „1S‟ is zero-marked with an intransitive
predicate.
As already mentioned in the beginning, this is not the whole story of case marking
in Rera. The case system has irregularities. The intransitive (S) arguments can also
be marked by the ergative case suffix -ra² in both third-person singular and plural
forms. Consider example (39).
(39)
Elicited data 65
i²pi³-ra²
jup³
3s-ERG
sleep
Lit. „He sleep‟
„He sleeps.‟
In (39), the (S) argument i²pi³ra² „3s-ERG‟ inflects for the ergative case suffix -ra²
preceding the intransitive predicate jup³ „sleep‟. This phenomenon is, however, not
36
very regular, as speakers often eliminate the ergative suffix in the third person of an
intransitive predicate. Therefore, case marking requires further research.
In addition, Rera noun phrases also inflect for case marking, as in (40).
(40)
Folktale 02.19
ŋa¹
βɔk³ŋi¹ -ra²
leʔ³-rə
ŋo¹-ra²
1s
wild.pig-ERG
push-BE
say-SEQ
Lit. „Me, wild pig push be saying.‟
„The wild pig pushed me, it is said.‟
Example (40) shows that the noun phrase βɔk³ŋi¹ „wild pig‟ takes ergative marking
which is marked by the ergative suffix -ra². This example shows the ambiguity of the
case system as the third-person (O) argument is marked by -ra² instead of zeromarked to indicate an eragtive-absolutive system.
The instances of occurrence of the case suffix -ra² are summarized in Table 9 and
Table 10.
Table 9 Case marking in intransitive clauses
Subject
1st
2nd
3rd
Singular Plural
Singular Plural
Singular Plural
-Ø
-Ø
-ra²
-Ø
-Ø
-ra²
Table 10 Case marking in transitive clauses
1st
2nd
3rd
Singular Plural
Singular Plural Singular
Plural
Subject
-Ø
-ra²
-Ø
-ra²
-ra²
-ra²
Direct object
-Ø
-Ø
-Ø
-Ø
-Ø
-Ø
Table 9 and Table 10 show that the (S) and (O) arguments are marked with a zero
absolutive suffix. The (A) argument is marked with the suffix -ra², which indicates
ergative case. However, the (A) arguments for first- and second-person singular are
not marked. This shows some optionality and complexity of understanding the case
37
system in Rera, which needs further investigation. Meanwhile, demonstrative
pronouns are discussed in the following section (§2.2.2.2).
2.2.2.2 Demonstrative pronouns
Demonstrative pronouns substitute for a noun phrase and, hence, they can “make up
a complete NP” (Dixon, 2003, p. 63). Demonstrative pronouns have the same form
as the Rera proximal and distal demonstratives. They are listed in Table 11.
Table 11 Rera demonstrative pronouns
Demonstrative Pronouns
Proximal
a¹ra²
Distal
i¹ra²
Table 11 shows the Rera demonstrative pronouns, which can be categorized by their
deictic references, such as proximal and distal.
The behavior of the proximal demonstrative pronoun is illustrated in (41).
(41)
Elicited data 23
a¹ra²
ŋa¹
this
1.POSS elder brother
a¹pu²
Lit. „This my elder brother.‟
„This is my elder brother.‟
Example (41) shows the referent of the proximal demonstrative a¹ra² „this‟ is closer
to the deictic center in a verbless copula identity construction. The verbless copula
construction contains the verbless copula subject a¹ra² „this‟ along with the verbless
copula complement ŋa¹ a¹pu² „my brother‟.
The distal demonstrative i¹ra² „that‟ indicates relative distance between the referent
and the deictic center, as in (42).
(42)
Elicited data 22
i¹ra²
ŋa¹
a¹pu²
that
1s
elder brother
Lit. „That (out of sight) my elder brother.‟
„That is my elder brother.‟
38
In (42), the demonstrative i¹ra² „that‟ indicates that a¹pu² „elder brother‟ is out of
sight from the speaker‟s position. The demonstrative pronoun fills the verbless
copula subject argument in the verbless copula construction, along with the verbless
copula complement ŋa¹ a¹pu² „my elder brother‟.
To summarize, this section shows the two demonstrative pronouns in Rera.
However, the demonstrative kəra² can also function as a demonstrative pronoun, as
discussed in Chapter 4. Meanwhile, the possessive determiners are discussed in
(§2.2.2.3).
2.2.2.3 Possessive determiners
The possessive determiners in Rera have the same form as the singular and plural
personal pronouns. They can also be marked by an optional enclitic =rɛ². The
possessive determiners are listed in Table 12.
Table 12 Rera possessive determiners
Singular
Plural
1st person
ŋa¹(=rɛ²)
ni²rum³(=rɛ²)
2nd person
mo²(=rɛ²)
mo²(=rɛ²)
3rd person
i²pi³(=rɛ²)
ʃa¹rum³(=rɛ²)
Table 12 shows the possessive pronouns in both singular and plural forms. There is
no evidence of dual possessive determiners in Rera. For the second person possessive
pronouns, the forms are the same in both singular and plural.
A first-person singular possessive determiner is illustrated in (43).
(43)
Elicited data 37
kəra²
[ŋa¹=rɛ²
jak³-ʃi¹-ka³]SUBJ
a²-dʒɔŋ²
that
1s=poss
hand-finger-CL
ATTR-big
Lit. „That my finger big‟
„My finger is big.‟
In (43) the possessive determiner, ŋa¹=rɛ², precedes the head noun jak³ʃi¹ka³ „handfinger-CL‟, which together occupy the subject position in an attributive clause.
39
The first-person possessive determiner can also occur without the enclitic =rɛ².
Consider example (44).
(44)
Elicited data 48
ŋa¹=Ø
jak³
ʃi¹
kəra²
1S.POSS
hand
finger that
a²-dʒɔŋ²
ATTR-big
Lit. „My, finger of hand this big‟
„My finger is big.‟
In (44), the possessor is encoded by ŋa¹ „1POSS‟, which occurs without the possessive
enclitic =rɛ². It modifies the noun head jak³ʃi¹ „finger‟, which occurs in a verbless
copula clause with an attributive predicate a²-dʒɔŋ² „ATTR-big‟. In addition, the
omission of the possessive enclitic in this case does not affect the meaning of
possession.
Another example of a possessive determiner without the possessive enclitic =rɛ²
occurring in a verbless copula complement is exemplified in (45).
(45)
Elicited data 73
i¹ra²
ŋa¹=Ø
a¹pu²
that
1.POSS
elder brother
Lit. „That my elder brother.‟
„That is my elder brother.‟
In (45), the possessive determiner ŋa¹ „1S‟ occurs without the possessive enclitic in a
copula object position in the verbless copula clause.
A second-person possessive determiner is illustrated in (46).
(46)
Elicited data 74
mo²=rɛ²
i²po²
kəra²
a²-hap³
2S=POSS
mother
that
ATTR-beautiful
Lit. „Your mother that beautiful‟
„Your mother is beautiful.‟
In (46), the possessive determiner mo²=rɛ² „2S.POSS‟ indicates the hearer‟s position
as the possessor of the noun head referent, i²po² „mother‟.
A third-person possessive determiner is illustrated in (47).
40
(47)
Elicited data 75
i²pi³=rɛ²
po²
kəra²
a²-hap³
3S=POSS
mother
that
ATTR-beautiful
Lit. „His mother this beautiful‟
„His mother is beautiful.‟
Example (47) illustrates the third-person possessive determiner i²pi³=rɛ², which
precedes the possessee head po² „mother‟. In both the examples (46) and (47), the
use of kəra² is optional after the nominal object i²po² „mother‟. The following section
(§2.2.2.4) demonstrates the reflexive and reciprocal pronouns in Rera.
2.2.2.4 Reflexive and reciprocal pronouns
In Rera, reflexive pronouns are formed by adding a reflexive suffix =ba¹ „self‟ to the
personal pronouns, which “share the property of referring to activities where the
participants are not all distinct from one another” (Dixon, 2012, p. 138). The
reflexive suffix is an enclitic, which attaches to a personal pronoun (PERSN PRON)
as diagrammed in (48). In addition, the predicate is marked by the reflexive
formative prefix ra²- „AUTO‟.
(48)
Reflexive pronoun
[Personal pronoun + =ba¹]REFLX
In (48), the internal structure of the reflexive pronoun is illustrated, which includes
a personal pronoun along with reflexive enclitic = ba¹. Consider example (49).
(49)
Elicited data 6
i²pi³-ra²=ba¹ ra²-lan²-pak³-to²
3s-ERG-REFLX AUTO:self-kill-PERF-PAST:3
Lit. „He killed himself.‟
„He killed himself.‟
In (49), the third person pronoun takes the reflexive =ba¹ following the ergative
marker -ra². In addition, the predicate always contains a prefix ra²- „AUTO‟.
The reflexive pronouns are summarized in Table 13.
41
Table 13 Reflexive pronouns
Singular
Plural
1st person
ŋa¹-ra²=ba¹
ni²rum³-ra²=ba¹
2nd person
mo²-ra²=ba¹
ʃa¹rum³-ra²=ba¹
3rd person
i²pi³-ra²=ba¹
ʃa¹rum³-ra²=ba¹
A reciprocal pronoun is formed with the noun mi¹ma² „person‟ as in (50).
(50)
Reciprocal pronoun
Personal pronoun + mi¹ma² + = ba¹
As shown in (50), a reflexive pronoun consists of a personal pronoun followed by
the noun mi¹ma² „person‟, along with the reflexive enclitic =ba¹. See example (51).
(51)
Elicited data 7
ni²ni²-mi¹ma²=ba¹
ra²-lan²-pak³-ti²
2.DUAL-person=REFLX
AUTO:self-kill-PERF-PAST:1
Lit. „We bit each other.‟
„We bit ourselves.‟
In (51), the second-person dual pronoun ni²ni² „2.DUAL‟ is followed by the noun
mi¹ma² „person‟, along with the reflexive marker =ba¹. In addition, the noun mi¹ma²
contains a sense of possessiveness in it as the first morpheme mi¹ is the word for
person, while ma² together with the noun contains a possessive meaning.8
Furthermore, the predicate includes the reflexive formative prefix ra²- „AUTO‟ on the
verb roots. The interrogative pronouns, among the last pronoun types, are described
in the following section (§2.2.2.5).
8
In some Tangsa varieties the first morpheme in mi¹ma² ‘person’ i.e. mi¹ has a glottal ending miʔ
(Morey, p.c).
42
2.2.2.5 Interrogative pronouns
There are two general bound interrogative morphemes „gu¹taŋ² and mɛ²ke²’ which
combine with other morphemes to form interrogative pronouns. They occur with
additional elements where “the additional element is still recognizable” (Konnerth
2014, p. 174). These additional elements often include the possessive enclitic =rɛ²,
the ergative suffix -ra², or an independent word, such as ŋo¹ „QP‟.
The use of the interrogative pronoun mɛ²ke² „what‟ is exemplified in (52).
(52)
Elicited data 18
mo¹
min³
mɛ²ke²
2.POSS name what
Lit. „Your name what?‟
„What is your name?‟
In (52), the interrogative pronoun mɛ²ke² „what‟ fills the copula complement position
of a verbless copula construction.
An example of the interrogative pronoun, gu¹taŋ² „who‟, is shown in (53).
(53)
Elicited data 59
mo²
gu¹taŋ²
2S
who
Lit. „you who‟
„Who are you?‟
Example (53) demonstrates the interrogative pronoun gu¹taŋ² „who‟, which occurs as
the complement in a verbless construction. Furthermore, in examples (52) and (53),
the interrogative pronoun mɛ²ke² „what‟ and gu¹taŋ² „who‟ occur in situ, while in (54)
the interrogative pronoun mɛ²ke² „what‟ occurs in the subject position.
43
(54)
Folktale 01.07
i¹kəra²ma²
mɛ²ke²
ma²-rə²ni²
muŋ²kaŋ²
gaʔ³
after that
what
IRR-BE
world
village at
yam²loʔ³
ha²-to²
kəmaʔ³
kəra²
ka²tʃu²
how long
stay-PAST:3P
after that
that
Kachu
gaʔ³
kə¹məka²
village that
rum²
kəra²
mi²
person that
yaʔ³
dʒum² kəra²
ʃa³
house that
hundred
rə²-wan²-to²
three BE-COS-PAST.3P
Lit. „After that what will world village, how long stayed after that, that Kachu
village that person three hundred existed‟
„And after that, what it will be, how long they lived in this world, there were
three hundred households of people staying at Kachu.‟
In (54), the interrogative pronoun mɛ²ke² „what‟ occurs in the subject position by
preceding the verbal predicate ma²-rə²ni² „IRR-BE‟. The whole clause, mɛ²ke² ma²-
rə²ni² „what will be‟, follows the verbless pre-clausal time adverbial i¹kəra²ma² „after
that‟. Furthermore, the whole complex sentence contains another interrogative
pronoun yam²loʔ³ „how long‟ in the second clausal expression of the sentence, which
fills the object argument in the clause by preceding the existential predicate ha²-to²
„stay-PAST:3P‟. The occurrences of the interrogative pronouns in various positions,
such as in a subject or object position, are hard to explain. However, a possible
analysis for this phenomenon could be addressed using pragmatic factors, such as
the degree of importance of the argument in speech.
The interrogative pronoun mɛ²ke²ne² „which‟ is exemplified in (55).
(55)
Elicited data 60
mɛ²ke²ne²=rɛ²
kəra²
a²-han²
which
this
ATTR-good
Lit. „Which this good‟
„Which one is good?‟
In (55), the verbless copula subject position is filled by the interrogative pronoun
mɛ²ke²ne² „which‟. Together with the demonstrative, kəra², it has the meaning „which
one‟.
44
Example (56) shows the interrogative pronoun mɛ²ke² ŋo¹ta² „why‟.
(56)
Elicited data 61
mo²
mɛ²ke²
ŋo¹-ta²
ka¹-o²
2S
what
say-PAST:2S
go-COMP
Lit. „You what said go‟
„Why do you want to go?‟
In (56), the interrogative pronoun mɛ²ke² „what‟, along with the verb ŋo¹ta² „say-SEQ‟,
denotes an interrogative pronoun phrasal expression „why‟. In addition, the
interrogative pronoun expression mɛ²ke² ŋo¹ta² occupies the intransitive
interrogative subject preceding the predicate ka¹-o² „go-COMP‟ of the clause. The
interrogative pronoun denoting the semantic category of reason „why‟ with the
ergative suffix is illustrated in (57).
(57)
Folktale 02.23
pe¹ka¹-tuʔ³
mo¹
mɛ²ke² ŋo¹-ra²
dat³-tu²
wa²
fruit-CL
2S
what
fall-PAST:2S
RL
say-ERG
Lit. „Fruit, you what say fell that‟
„Ah, peka fruit, why did you fall?‟
In (57), the interrogative phrasal expression mɛ²ke² ŋo¹-ra² „why‟, which takes the
ergative suffix -ra², precedes the intransitive predicative dat³-tu² „fall-PAST:2S‟. In
addition, the whole interrogative clause mo¹ mɛ²ke² ŋo¹-ra² dat³-tu² „why did you fall‟
follows the vocative pe¹ka¹-tuʔ³ „fruit-CL‟.
The manner interrogative pronoun, mɛ²ke² raŋ²an² „how‟, is illustrated in (58).
(58)
Elicited data 62
mo²
mɛ²ke² raŋ²an²
2s
what
sky
Lit. „You what sky‟
„How are you?‟
In (58), the interrogative pronoun expression mɛ²ke² raŋ²an² „how‟ forms as a
compound word with the roots mɛ²ke² „what‟ and raŋ²an² „sky‟. The use of raŋ² „sky‟
may be explained by the question‟s reference to a certain period of time. The reason
for this is that the word raŋ² is always associated with calendrical objects, such as
45
day and month names, where it refers to the counting of time in reference to the
atmosphere of the sky.
Finally, the interrogative pronoun of amount is illustrated in (59).
(59)
Elicited data 63
kəra²
dʒiam²=rɛ²
ŋo¹
that
how much
say
Lit. „This how much say‟
„How much is that?‟
In (59), the interrogative pronoun dʒiam²rɛ² „how much‟ occurs as part of an
expression with ŋo¹ „say‟. Together they fill the verbless complement position in a
verbless clause construction.
Table 14 summarizes the interrogative pronoun forms in the data.
Table 14 Interrogative pronouns
Semantic fields
Pro-forms
Gloss
Person
gu¹taŋ²
who
Type
gu¹taŋ²rɛ²
which
mɛ²ke²ne² rɛ²
Thing
mɛ²ke²
what
Reason
mɛ²ke² ŋo¹ta²
why (is that so)
mɛ²ke² ŋo¹ra²
mɛ²ke² ŋo¹ta² naŋ²
Manner
Amount
mɛ²ke²raŋ²an²
how
yam²loʔ
how long
dʒiam²rɛ²
how much
dʒiam²rɛm²
Finally, (§2.2.2.6) summarizes the Rera pronoun system.
46
2.2.2.6 Summary
To summarize, Rera has a personal pronoun inventory that includes singular, dual
and plural pronouns. Possessive determiners are formed by a combination of a
personal pronoun and the possessive enclitic =rɛ². Demonstrative pronouns exhibit
proximal and distal references in the same form as adnominal demonstratives.
Reflexive pronouns consist of a personal pronoun form with the reflexive suffix
=ba¹, while reciprocal pronouns are comprised of a personal pronoun with a
person-marking word mi¹ma² along with the reflexive enclitic =ba¹. Finally, the
interrogative pronouns use the two general morphemes mɛ²ke² and gu¹taŋ², which
can take additional elements, such as the verb ŋo¹ „say‟, to denote a full semantic
meaning. Postpositional phrases, the last type of argument construction, are
discussed next.
2.2.3 Postpositional phrases
As in other SOV languages, Rera exhibits postpositional phrases. These consist of the
object of the postposition, along with a postpositional enclitic. The object of the
postposition is either a noun phrase or a pronoun.
(60)
Rera postpositional phrase
Object of the postposition + Postposition
For (60), the postpositional phrase includes the object of the postposition followed
by the postposition. The Rera postpositions in the corpus are shown in Table 15.
Table 15 Rera postpositions
Semantic meaning
Postposition
Gloss
Accompaniment
=ni²
„with‟
Referential
maʔ³~ =maʔ³
Location
=na²
„from/to‟
„at‟
As is shown in Table 15, there are three postpositions in Rera. An example of a
postposition denoting accompaniment in the corpus includes =ni² „with‟ as
exemplified in (61).
47
(61)
Elicited data 99
ŋa¹
mo²=ni²
ʃkul
1S
2S=with
school go-PAST:1S
ka¹-taŋ²
Lit. „I you with school went‟
„I went to school with you.‟
In (61), the postposition =ni² „with‟ occurs as the head of the postpositional phrase
and mo² „2S‟ occurs as the object of the postposition.
An example of the postposition maʔ³ „from/to‟ is illustrated in (62).
(62)
Elicited data 21
ŋa¹
je¹tʃi¹ku²nu³-sa²
maʔ³
1s
girl-CL
from book
lik³dap³
ma²-kuʔ³-l-aŋ²
IRR-give-NPAST-1S
Lit. „I girl from book will give‟
„I gave the book to the girl.‟
In (62), the postposition maʔ³ occurs as the head of the postpositional phrase
je¹tʃi¹ku²nu³sa² maʔ³ „to the girl‟, where the object of the postposition is je¹tʃi¹ku²nu³sa² „girl‟. In addition, the postposition maʔ³ can occur as an independent word as
well as a suffix. This postposition raises ambiguity of meaning and can have the
meaning of either „from‟ (source) or „to‟ (goals, recipients), depending on the path of
the verb.
In contrast to the meaning in example (62), the postposition =maʔ³ can have the
meaning of „from‟ and can be used as an enclitic. Consider example (63).
(63)
Folktale 01.08
[i¹kəra²=maʔ³]PRECLAUSE dʒum²
that=from
ʃa³.rum²
house hundred.three
kərə=maʔ³
kəra²
that=from
that
a²duʔ³
ka²la² muŋ²
a²sam²
duʔ³
down side
Indian country
Assam
down side
ka¹- o²- li²
me²ke²
go- COMP-CONT.1P what
niŋ²kan² =na²
ŋo¹ din²
kəra²
cause=at
say if
that
Lit. „After that house three hundred that downside Indian country Assam
downside went, what cause (for what reason) say if that‟
„After that, (of) those three hundred households, for what reason were we
coming down to Assam, if it is said.‟
48
In (63), the postposition -maʔ³ „from‟ occurs in the pre-clause position. The
postposition -maʔ³ occurs with the demonstrative i¹kəra² „that‟, and these two words
together function as a temporal adverb. In addition, it occurs in the following
subordinate clause dʒum² ʃa³rum² kərəmaʔ³ kəra² „those three hundred households‟
with the adnominal demonstrative kərə „that‟, where it functions similarly to that of
the first in the pre-clause position. This ambiguity of meaning shows more
complexity of uses of the postposition -maʔ³, which need more investigation. Finally,
example (64) shows another combination of the postposition -maʔ³ in Rera.
(64)
Folktale 01.05
a²ni¹=maʔ³
ka²tʃu²=na²
ha²-to²
kə=maʔ³
ni¹rum²
long ago=from
kachu=at
stay-PAST.3
that=from
1P
ti²
ni²-wa¹
ŋo¹-ti²
kəra²
kuʔ³jaŋ²
grandfather
two-CL:M
say-PAST.1
that
festival
me²jng²
a²piu² a²liu²
festival:EUPH joy
joy:EUPH
ha²-to²
stay-PAST.3
Lit. „Long ago from Kachu at stayed then from, our grandfathers two said that
festival joyfully staying‟
„Long ago, when staying at Kachu, what we call our ancestors, stayed
joyfully celebrating festivals.‟
In (64), the postposition =maʔ³ co-occurs with the temporal adverbial a²ni¹ „long
ago‟ in the pre-clause position. Additionally, it also occurs with the demonstrative kə
~kera² „that‟ and forms a temporal adverbial meaning „when‟. Finally, an example of
the postpositional enclitic =na² is shown in (65).
(65)
Elicited data 30
ŋa¹
guahati =na²
ma²-waŋ¹wan²-taŋ²
1S
Guwahati=at
IRR-come-PAST:1S
Lit. „I came at Guwahati.‟
„I came from Guwahati.‟
In (65), the postpositional enclitic =na² marks the proper name guahati „Guwahati‟,
which shows where the located object has come from, not where he is presently
located. The path is expressed by the verb waŋ¹wan² „come‟. Another example of a
similar kind is illustrated in (66).
49
(66)
Elicited data 29
ŋa¹
a¹pu²
kəra²
1S.POSS
elder.brother that
balinɔŋ =na²
ha²-lo²
Balinong= AT
stay-NPAST:3s
Lit. „My elder brother that, lives at Balinong.‟
„My elder brother lives in Balinong.‟
In (66), the reference object, balinɔŋ „Balinong‟, is the location where the older
brother lives. It occurs with the enclitic =na² „at‟.
Furthermore, to express a specific spatial relation, a locational postpositional phrase
consists of a possessive noun phrase that consists of a noun phrase possessor and
relator noun possessee, along with the postpositional enclitic =na². This is
diagrammed in (67).
(67)
Rera relator noun phrase
Reference object noun phrase (possessor) + Relator noun (possessee) +
(=na² )
As is shown in (67), the Rera relator noun phrase consists of a reference object
(ground noun) followed by a relator noun, and the locative enclitic =na². See
example (68).
(68)
Elicited data 27
lik³dam²
kəra²
tebul
tʃak³=na²
book
that
table
upside=at
Lit. „Book that table‟s upside at.‟
„That book is on the table.‟
In (68), the object of the postposition is the possessive noun phrase tebul tʃak³ „table
upside‟. Within this noun phrase, the relator noun, tçak³ „upside (on the table‟s top)‟,
serves as the possessee noun phrase, and the reference object noun phrase, tebul
„table‟, serves as the possessor noun phrase. The spatial relation that is expressed by
this noun phrase is a coincidence superiority spatial relation.
An example of a relator noun showing a coincidence relation, as expressed in text, is
illustrated in (69).
50
(69)
Folktale 02.19
i¹-kəra²
[re²ka¹
kəra²
i¹-kəra²]
[pe¹ka¹ -tuʔ³
NMLZ-that
squirrel
that
NMLZ-that
fruit-CL
i¹-kəra²]
[pin²ʃɔŋ²
ta¹]
dat³
tʃit³-wan²-to²
NMLZ-that
tree
upside
fall
fall-COS-PAST:3
Lit. „Then, squirrel that, pe¹ka¹ fruit that (at) tree‟s upside fall fell.‟
„Then, as for that squirrel and the fruit, (he) dropped (it) from the top of the
tree.‟
In (69), the locational coincidence relation is expressed by the relator noun ta¹
„upside‟ within the noun phrase pin²ʃɔŋ² ta¹ „tree‟s upside‟, which literally means
„from the top of the tree‟. In addition, the relator noun phrase lacks the locative
enclitic =na².
An interiority spatial expression is illustrated in (70).
(70)
Elicited data 28
kɔlam
kəra²
toŋ¹ke²
moŋ²=na²
pen>ASM
that
bag
inside= at
Lit. „Pen that bag‟s inside at.‟
„That pen is inside the bag.‟
Rera encodes interiority using the relator noun moŋ² „inside‟. In (70), moŋ² „inside‟
encodes the interiority relationship between the located object kɔlam „pen‟ and the
reference object toŋ¹ke² „bag‟. The located object kɔlam „pen‟ (a borrowed word from
Assamese) is totally contained in the reference object toŋ¹ke² „bag‟.
Another interiority example is shown in (71).
(71)
Elicited data 41
pɛ²rut³
moŋ²=na²
gɛ²he² kəra²
i¹-dʒup³-sa¹-lo³
garden
inside=at
dog
NMLZ-sleep-CONT-PART
that
Lit. „Garden‟s inside at, dog that sleeping‟
„That dog is sleeping in the garden.‟
51
In (71), the locational phrase, pɛ²rut³ moŋ²na² „in the garden‟, occurs in the pre-
clause position, while gɛ²he² kəra² „that dog‟ occurs in the subject position preceding
an intransitive verb predicate i¹dʒup³sa¹lo³ „sleeping‟.
The Rera relator nouns in the data are summarized in Table 16.
Table 16 Rera relator nouns
Spatial relations
Relator nouns
Gloss
Coincidence
tʃak³ & ta¹
„upside‟
Interiority
moŋ²
„inside‟
The following section (§2.2.4) summarizes the basic argument constructions in Rera.
2.2.4 Summary of basic argument structures
This section has provided a description of the basic argument constructions, namely
noun phrases, pronouns, and locational phrases. Within the noun phrase, the noun
head is the only obligatory element and can be modified by possessors,
demonstratives, numerals, quantifiers, and adjectives. Numerals, quantifiers,
adjectives, and demonstratives can occur either before or after the noun head.
Possessors, which only occur preceding the head, can be optionally marked by the
possessor enclitic =rɛ².
Pronouns and determiners are divided into five different types: personal pronouns,
possessive determiners, demonstrative pronouns, reflexive pronouns, and
interrogative pronouns. Postpositional phrases consist of a postposition along with
the object of the postposition, which can be either a noun, noun phrase, or a
pronoun. Furthermore, a relator noun locational phrase includes a ground noun,
which expresses a location, and a relator noun, which expresses a spatial relation,
within the object of the postposition noun phrase. The object of the postposition is
followed by the postpositional locative enclitic =na². However, the postposition is
not always obligatory. One additional set of constructions, which exhibit nominal
characteristics, are elaborate expression constructions.
2.3 Elaborate expressions
Elaborate expressions are an areal feature of Asian languages, which have “idiomatic
and colorful meanings” (Hanna, 2013, p. 33). It was Mary Haas (1964) who first
used the term “elaborate expression”, while some others called them “four-syllable
52
idiomatic expressions” (Liem, 1969) or four-syllable coordinative constructions (Pan,
1972). Matisoff (1973) describes an elaborate expression as:
... a compound containing four (usually monosyllabic) elements, of which
either the first and the third or the second and fourth are identical (A-B-A-C
or A-B-C-B). (p. 81)
The most prevalent elaborate expression construction in Rera is diagrammed in (72).
(72)
Elaborate Expression construction- Type 1
[A1 + B] + [A2 + C] ∞ [NMLZ1 + B] + [NMLZ2 + C]
In this four-syllable construction, the first (A1) and the third (A2) syllables are
completely reduplicated, while the second (B) and the fourth (C) syllables are
partially reduplicated. See example (73).
(73)
Folktale 01.06
a²han² maʔ³
ha²-ra²
i¹-pak³-i¹-sat³
kəlo²-wan² -to²
good
from
stay-SEQ
NMLZ-eat-NMLZ-EUPH
prepare-COS-PAST:3
a¹ra²
i¹-nom²-i¹-na²
this
NMLZ-dance-NMLZ-EUPH
məna² rə-to²
…
BE-past:2
Lit. good staying, food were prepared, there was dancing.‟
„Staying well, foods were prepared, also there was dancing.‟
In (73), two elaborate expressions occur: i¹pak³i¹sat³ „food‟ in clause 1 and
i¹nom²i¹na² „dancing‟ in clause 2. The nominalizer i¹- always occurs in the (A1-2) slots
and the verbs occur in the (B) and (C) slots. In the elaborate expression
constructions i¹pak³ i¹sat³ „food‟ and i¹nom² i¹na² „dancing‟, the (C) slots contain a
nonsense syllable, such as sat³ and na², which are more like a euphonic expression.
The euphonic expression indicates rhyming of the syllable in (B) with (C).
A second type of elaborate expression can be found which shows a hexasyllabic
pattern, as diagrammed in (74).
(74)
Elaborate Expression Construction - Type 2
[A1 + B1 + C + A2 + B2 + D]
In this pattern, the first and second syllables (A1 + B1) and the fourth and fifth
syllables (A2 + B2) are disyllabic. Consider example (75).
53
(75)
Elicited data 12
ʃa²ni²na³ʃa²ni²-ba³
ra²-lan²-pak³-to²
each.other-RFLXV
AUTO-kill-PERF-PAST.3
Lit. „Each other, self killed they‟
„They killed each other.‟
In (75), in ʃa²ni²na³ʃa²ni²ba³, the (A + B) slots carry the meaning „each.other‟, while
the third syllable (C) -na³ does not necessarily have to carry meaning. The final
syllable is the reflexive marker -ba3. However, the -na³ could have the same root as
the locative enclitic =na², and the tone changes from Tone 2 to Tone 3 because of
the environment where the preceding and the following tones are mid tones. As a
reason of this, the pitch of the mid tone might fall to a low tone. In addition, there is
a rhythm of expression including tone rhyme (partial reduplication) going on
between (C) and (D) -na³~-ba³ and both syllables always carry the same tone. The
clause structure is described in the next section.
2.4 Clause anatomy
Rera has both verbal and non-verbal clauses. (§2.4.1) discusses verbal clause
constructions, while (§2.4.2) discusses the verb agreement in Rera. The non-verbal
clause constructions are discussed in (§2.4.3).
2.4.1 Verbal clause constructions
Verbal clauses encompass intransitive, transitive, and ditransitive clause
constructions.
The Rera simple intransitive verb clause construction is diagrammed in (76).
(76)
Intransitive clause construction
Subject + Intransitive Predicate
The intransitive clause construction includes a subject argument along with the
verbal predicate, as in (77).
54
(77)
Elicited data 02
ŋa¹
ka¹-taŋ²
1S
go-PAST:1S
Lit. „I went.‟
„I went.‟
In (77), the dynamic verb ka¹-taŋ² „go-PAST:1S‟ occurs as the predicate. It is preceded
by the subject argument, ŋa¹ „1S‟.
In (78), the clausal construction of the simple transitive is shown.
(78)
Transitive clause construction
Subject + Direct Object + Transitive Predicate
Diagram (78) illustrates the transitive clause, which includes a subject and a direct
object argument followed by the transitive predicate. Consider example (79).
(79)
Elicited data 01
ŋa¹
i²pi³
bu²-taŋ³
1S
3S
hit-PAST.1S
Lit. „I hit him.‟
„I hit him.‟
In (79), the predicate consists of a past tense form of the transitive verb bu²-taŋ³ „hitPAST.1S‟
preceded by two core arguments, i.e. the subject argument ŋa¹ „1S‟ and the
object argument i²pi³ „3S‟.
The ditransitive clausal construction is diagrammed in (80).
(80)
Ditransitive clause construction
Subject + Direct object + Indirect Object + Ditransitive Predicate
As shown in (80), the Rera ditransitive clause construction exhibits a subject
argument followed by the direct object and the indirect object, along with the
ditransitive predicate. See example (81).
55
(81)
Elicited data 21
ŋa¹
i²tʃi¹ku³nu²
kəra²
ma²
lik³dap³
ma²-ku¹-laŋ²
1S
girl
that
to
book
IRR-give-NPAST:1S
Lit. „I girl that to book, will give.‟
„I will give the book to that girl.‟
In (81) the ditransitive predicate ma²-ku¹-laŋ² „IRR-give-NPAST:1S‟ has the noun
phrase subject ŋa¹ „1S‟, while lik³dap³ „book‟ is the direct object and the locative
clause i²tʃi¹ku³nu² kəra² ma² „to that girl‟ occurs as the indirect object by preceding
the direct object lik³dap³ „book‟.
Indirect and oblique objects occur in different positions in the clause, as shown in
(82).
(82)
Folktale 02.19
i¹-kəra²
[re²ka¹
kəra²
i¹-kəra²]
[pe¹ka¹ -tuʔ³
NMLZ-that
squirrel
that
NMLZ-that
fruit-CL
i¹-kəra²]
[pin²ʃɔŋ²
ta¹]
dat³
tʃit³-wan²-to²
NMLZ-that
tree
upside
fall
CAUS-COS-PAST:3
Lit. „Then, squirrel that, the pe¹ka¹ fruit up in the tree was fallen.‟
„As for that squirrel and the fruit, it fell from the tree.‟
In (82) the transitive predicate dat³ tʃit³-wan²-to² „fall‟ has the noun phrase re²ka¹
kəra² i¹-kəra² „the squirrel‟ as subject, while pe¹ka¹-tuʔ³ i¹-kəra² „the fruit‟ is a direct
object. The locational oblique object pin²ʃɔŋ² ta¹ „in the tree‟ occurs following the
direct object.
To summarize, the first type of verbal construction is the intransitive clause
construction, which includes a subject and the predicate. In contrast, transitive
constructions, the second type, include a subject argument and a direct object
argument along with the verbal predicate. Finally, the ditransitive construction
contains a subject, a direct object, and an indirect object, along with the ditransitive
verbal predicate.
2.4.2 Verb agreement
Rera has post-verbal subject-agreement combined with tense markers but no object
agreement. The agreement markers attached to the TAM categories are divided into
56
“TAM+AGR”, where the “agreement markers can be treated as dependent affixes,
and the TAM markers are carrier affixes” (Morey, 2016). In addition, the irrealis
forms have a pre-verbal element and a post-verbal agreement marker. The postverbal agreement suffixes for non-past tense are shown in Table 17.
Table 17 Non-past tense verb agreement in Rera
Affirmative
Singular
1ST person
2ND person
Plural
√V-l-aŋ²
√V-l-i²
V-NPAST-1S
V-NPAST-1P
√V-n-u²
√V-l-an²
V-NPAST-2S
V-NPAST-2P
3RD person
V-Ø
V-NPAST-3
Negative
1ST person
2ND person
mi²-√V-l-aŋ²- be³
mi²-√V- i²-be³
NEG-V-NPAST-1S-NEG
NEG-V-NPAST-1P-NEG
mi²-√V-n-u²-be³
mi²-√V-l-an²-be³
NEG-V-NPAST-2S-NEG
NEG-V-NPAST-2P-NEG
3RD person
mi²-√V- Ø-be³
NEG-V-NPAST-3-NEG
As is shown in Table 17, the post-verbal agreement markers vary between singular
and plural in first and second persons, whereas the configuration is the same for
third-person singular and plural. The agreement alignment contains the verb root
(√V) followed by the tense and person-number agreement markers.
Morey (2017, p. 16) illustrates agreement markers in Tangsa varieties, where he also
presents the agreement system of Rera. Morey‟s analysis differs from my analysis for
tense agreement markers in the second person singular for non-past.9 He does not
record the second-person singular tense suffix -n, whereas my data and Dr. John
Mansfield‟s data display the -n as a tense marker in the second-person singular for
non-past. In addition, this study improves upon the representation of the agreement
9
Morey’s (2017, p. 16) Tangsa agreement markers are shown in Appendix (B).
57
system as it displays the tone marking in the agreement markers, along with the
verb roots, as opposed to Morey‟s presentation where he does not mark tone for the
Rera variety of Tangsa.
The structure of agreement markings in a negative sentence construction includes
the negative prefix mi²- followed by the verb and the agreement markers, along with
the negative suffix -be³.
Example (83) presents a first-person post-verbal subject-agreement marker in Rera.
(83)
Folktale 01.01
ŋa¹
a¹ya²
man²pan³
kuʔ³-l-aŋ²
1S
here
story
tell-NPAST-1S
Lit. „I here story telling‟
„I am telling a story.‟
In (83), the post-verbal subject agreement marker -aŋ² „1S‟ occurs along with the
non-past tense suffix -l.
Another example showing the first-person plural post-verbal subject-agreement is
exemplified in (84).
(84)
Elicited data 90
ni¹rum²
βaŋ³-l-i²
1P
come-NPAST-1P
Lit. „We come‟
„We come.‟
In (84), the first-person agreement marker -i² „1P‟ refers to the plural subject of the
clause.
Consider example (85) for a negative construction with the prefix mi²- in Rera.10
(85)
Elicited data 91
mo²
mi²-βaŋ³-n-u²-be³
2S
NEG-come-NPAST-2S-NEG
Lit. „You not come‟
„You are not coming.‟
10
The negative prefix mi²- can also be pronounced miʔ- by younger speakers, which I found when
rechecking the texts with a younger speaker, Mr. Mansham Shamma Ronrang.
58
The second-person subject-agreement -u² „2S‟ in a negative sentence construction
provides the subject argument mo² „2S‟ in the intransitive clause construction.
Next, Table 18 provides the post-verbal agreement markers in the past tense. Unlike
the agreement markers in the non-past tense, there is a regular -t „past‟ suffix.
Table 18 Past tense verb agreement in Rera
Singular
1st person
2nd person
Plural
√V-t-aŋ²
√V-t-i²
V-PAST-1S
V-PAST-1P
√V-t-u²
√V-t-an²
V-PAST-2S
V-PAST-2P
√V-t-o²
3rd person
V-PAST-3
Table 18 shows that the person-agreement markers remain the same, while the
grammatical past tense is marked by -t. An example of this is shown in (86).
(86)
Folktale 01.11
Ø
be²yaŋ²
lan²-o²-t-o²
SUBJ
all
kill-COMP-PAST-3P
Lit. „(They) all killed.‟
„(They) were all killed.‟
Example (86) illustrates the third-person plural agreement marker -o² „3p‟ preceded
by the past tense marker -t along with the verb lan² „kill‟. Verb agreement supplies
the only reference to the elided third-person subject argument. In addition, the -o²
suffix directly after the verb is tentatively glossed as completive, which will need
further investigation.
Verb agreement with the irrealis prefix is shown in Table 19, which includes the
non-past tense suffix. Irrealis is indicated by the prefix ma²-.
59
Table 19 Irrealis verb agreement in Rera
Singular
1st person
2nd person
Plural
ma²-√V-l-aŋ²
ma²-√V-i²
IRR-V-NPAST-1S
IRR-V-1P
ma²-√V- n-u²
ma²-√V-l-an²
IRR-V-NPAST-2S
IRR-V-NPAST-2P
3rd person
ma²-√V- Ø
IRR-V-3
As is shown in Table 19, the verb markers for unrealized situations include a preverbal irrealis marker along with the non-past tense markers -l and -n. However, the
first-person plural agreement marking does not behave the same, as it does not
include the non-past tense suffix -l.
An example of first-person agreement marking, along with the irrealis marker ma²-,
is shown in (87).
(87)
Elicited data 21
ŋa¹
je¹tʃi¹ku²nu³-sa²
maʔ³
lik³dap³
ma²-kuʔ³-l-aŋ²
1s
girl-CL
from
book
IRR-give-NPAST-1S
Lit. „I girl from book will give‟
„I will give the book to the girl.‟
Example (87) shows the first-person agreement marker -aŋ² attached to the verb kuʔ³
„give‟, along with the irrealis marker ma²- and the default non-past tense suffix -l.
Another example of agreement marking for an unrealized situation is shown in (88).
(88)
Folktale 02.05
i¹-kəra²
re²ka¹
kə¹kəra²
ba²
ma²-ŋut³
ŋo¹-rəʔ³
NMLZ-that
squirrel
that
only
IRR-able-Ø
say-PART
Lit. „That squirrel that only will able say‟
„“The squirrel only will be able to do it,” he said.‟
In (88), the agreement marker is zero-marked for the third-person plural pronoun.
This section describes the agreement system in Rera. The Rera verb roots carry tense
markers along with the agreement markers. However, third persons in non-past and
60
irrealis tense do not carry any tense suffixes. Furthermore, in the non-past, the
irrealis marker ma²- can occur along with the non-past tense suffixes -l and -n. Nonverbal constructions are discussed in (§2.4.3).
2.4.3 Non-verbal constructions
Rera exhibits attributive and verbless copula constructions. Verbless copula
constructions are used to express identity and static location (Dixon, 2002), while
attributive constructions carry an attributive predicate expressing attribution of the
subject argument. The attributive construction is demonstrated in (§2.4.3.1).
Verbless copula constructions are demonstrated in (§2.4.3.2).
2.4.3.1 Attributive clause construction
An adjective in Rera can act as the predicate of a clause, as diagrammed in (89).
(89)
Attributive Clause Construction
Subject + Adjective Predicate
The attributive clause construction includes a subject argument followed by the
adjective predicate. Consider example (90).
(90)
Elicited data 15
i²pi³
kəra²
Ø
3s
TOP
3.SUBJ ATTR-beautiful
a²-hab³
Lit. Her, (she) beautiful.
„As for her, (she) is beautiful.‟
In (90), a²hab³ „beautiful‟ is the adjectival predicate with i²pi³ „3s‟ in the pre-clause
position, along with the topic marker kəra². Subject reference is elided.
The attributive forms inlcude an attributive prefix (ATTR-) along with the root
adjective word. See example in (91).
(91)
Elicited data 43
ŋa¹
kat³
1.POSS shirt
kəra²
Ø
a¹-ki²
that
SUBJ
ATTR-old
Lit. „My shirt that be old.‟
„As for my shirt over there, (it) is old.‟
61
In (91), the attributive form, a¹ki² „old‟, is preceded by the possessive noun phrase
ŋa¹ kat³ „my shirt‟ along with the demonstrative kəra² „this‟.
An attributive modifier in the subject noun phrase is exemplified in (92).
(92)
Elicited data 44
ŋa¹
kat³
a¹-ki²
kəra²
a²-hab² -ra²-to²
1s.POSS
shirt
ATTR-old
that
ATTR-beautiful -BE-PAST.3
Lit. „My shirt be old that, beautiful‟
„As for that, my old shirt over there is beautiful‟.
Example (92) shows that the attributive subject noun phrase ŋa¹ kat³ a¹ki² „my shirt
ATTR-old‟
is followed by the attributive predicate a²hab³ ra²to² „ATTR-beautiful‟.
Verbless copula clause constructions are discussed in the following section.
2.4.3.2 Verbless copula clause constructions
The verbless copula clause construction in Rera consists of two juxtaposed noun
phrase constructions, as diagrammed in (93).
(93)
Verbless copula construction
Noun phrase1 + Noun phrase2
In (93), the first noun phrase is the verbless copula subject, while the second noun
phrase is the verbless copula complement. See example (94).
(94)
Folktale 01.01
ŋa¹
min³
kəra²
1S.POSS name that
mo²hen²
rɯ²ra²
Mohen
Rera
Lit. „My name that Mohen Rera.‟
„My name is Mohen Rera.‟
In (94), ŋa¹ min³ kəra² „my name that‟, the verbless copula subject, contains the
possessive first-person pronoun ŋa¹ „1S.POSS‟, the noun min³ „name‟, along with the
demonstrative kəra². The proper name mo²hen² rɯ²ra² „Mohen Rera‟ occurs as the
verbless copula complement. In this construction, the verbless copula subject, ŋa¹
min³ kəra² „my name‟ is identified by the verbless copula complement mo²hen² rɯ²ra²
„Mohen Rera‟.
62
Locative clauses are one type of verbless clause construction in Rera. A static
location construction is illustrated in (95).
(95)
Elicited data 28
kɔlam kəra²
toŋ²ke³
moŋ²=na²
pen
bag
inside=at
that
Lit. „Pen that pen bag‟s inside at.‟
„The pen is inside the bag.‟
In (95), kɔlam kəra² „this pen‟ is in the verbless copula position. The verbless copula
complement, toŋ²ke³ moŋ²=na² „bag in=at‟, denotes the static location of the
located object, i.e. the verbless copula subject referent kɔlam kəra² „that pen‟. In
addition, these types of clauses carry two noun phrases, where the first noun phrase
is the verbless copula subject and the second noun phrase is the verbless copula
complement.
2.4.4 Summary of clause anatomy
In Rera, verbal clauses are described based on their predicate types as intransitive,
transitive, or ditransitive. In contrast, non-verbal clause constructions are of two
types: attributive clause constructions, which consist of a subject argument and an
attributive predicate, and verbless copula clause constructions, which consist of two
juxtaposed noun phrases. The first noun phrase is the verbless copula subject and
the second noun phrase is a verbless copula complement. This construction is used
to express identity and static location relations. The following section (§2.5)
demonstrates sentence constructions in Rera.
2.5 Sentence constructions
Beyond the clause, a sentence can include both pre- and post-clause elements in
addition to the clausal core, consisting of the predicate and the core arguments:
subject, direct, and indirect objects. Sentences can also combine to form complex
sentence constructions. Simple sentences are described in (§2.5.1) and complex
sentences are described in (§2.5.2).
2.5.1 Simple sentence constructions
The Rera simple sentence construction includes an optional pre-clause, followed by
the clausal core and any post-core material, as diagrammed in (96).
63
(96)
Simple Sentence Construction
(Pre-Clause) + Subject + (Direct Object) + (Indirect Object) + (Oblique
Object) + Predicate
The pre-clause position can be filled by a topic noun phrase, vocative, or a
conjunction, which are often marked by the demonstrative kəra². The main clause
contains the subject argument, along with the optional object arguments, such as
direct, indirect, and oblique objects. Furthermore, the predicate can contain one or
more verbs.
A simple sentence can also contain a conjunction in the pre-clause position, as in
(97).
(97) Folktale 02. 31
i¹kəra² -re²
re²ka¹
kaʔ³
jak³
na²
ka¹-o²-to²
then
squirrel
that
hand
LOC
go-COMP-PAST:3
Lit. Then, squirrel that on hand, went.
„And, that squirrel took it away in the hand.‟
In (97), the i¹kəra²-re² „then‟ performs as a conjunction and links the main clausal
element to the previous expressions in the narrative. The subject noun phrase is
re²ka¹ kaʔ³ „that squirrel‟. It is followed by the locational phrase jak³ „hand‟, which is
marked by the locative case marker, na². The locative phrase indicates the location
of the unexpressed direct object referent that the squirrel took away.
A simple sentence construction with a conjunction and topical noun phrase is
illustrated in (98).
(98)
Folktale 02.06
[i¹-kəra²
re²ka¹
kəra²
i¹-kəra²]
Ø
NMLZ-that
squirrel
that
NMLZ-that
3.SUBJ fruit-CL
[pe¹ka¹-tuʔ³
i¹-kəra²]
[pin²ʃɔŋ²
ta¹]
dat³
tʃit³-wan²-to²
NMLZ-that
tree
upside
fall
CAUS-COS-PAST.3
Lit. „Then the squirrel, (it) that pe¹ka¹ fruit up in that tree dropped.‟
„And the squirrel dropped down a (peka) fruit from the tree.‟
In (98), the simple sentence construction contains a pre-clause conjunction i¹kəra²
„then‟ along with the topical noun phrase re²ka¹ kəra² i¹kəra² „this squirrel‟. Within
64
the clausal core, the elided subject is followed by the direct object argument,
pe¹ka¹tuʔ³ i¹kəra² „this pe¹ka¹ fruit‟. This is followed by the oblique object pin²ʃɔŋ² ta¹
„in the tree‟. The sentence ends with the predicate dat³ tʃit³wan²to² „cause to fall‟.
This section has discussed simple sentence constructions, which contain the subject
and object arguments along with the verb predicate. In addition, a simple sentence
can also include an optional pre-clausal conjunction and/or a topic-marked noun
phrase. The conjunction and the topic marking noun phrases are marked by the
demonstrative kəra². After discussing the simple sentence constructions, (§2.5.2)
discusses complex sentence construction in Rera.
2.5.2 Complex sentence constructions
Complex sentence constructions in Rera include coordinate clauses and a
subordinate clause in combination with a main clause.
2.5.2.1 Coordinate clause construction
A coordinate clause in Rera contains a series of two independent clauses, which, in
fact, has no coordinating conjunctive. An example of a coordinate clause
construction without a coordinating conjunctive is shown in (99).
(99)
Folktale 01.06
a¹han²-maʔ³
ha²-ra²
good-AGR
stay-SEQ
[a²ra²
here
[i¹-pak³-i¹-sat³
NMLZ-eat-NMLZ-eat
i¹-nom²-i¹-na²
NMLZ-dance-NMLZ-EUPH
kəlo²- wan²-to²]CL1
prepare-COS- PAST.3
mə²=na²
rə-to²]CL2
also=at
do-PAST.3
Lit. „good staying, food prepared, this dancing, also was.‟
„Staying well, foods were prepared, and there was dancing.‟
In (99), the two independent clauses i¹pak³i¹sat³ kəlo² wan²to² „food prepared‟ and
a²ra² i¹nom²i¹na² mə²na² rə²to² „there was dancing‟ occur in a coordinate
construction, which lacks the coordinating conjunction. The two clauses include two
different sets of nominalized expressions, i¹pak³i¹sat³ „food‟ in the first clause, and
i¹nom²i¹na² „dancing‟ in the second clause. Meanwhile, there are also non-verbal
constructions in Rera as demonstrated in §2.4.2.
The structure of a complex sentence construction containing a subordinate clause is
shown in (100).
65
(100)
kəra²-marked subordinate construction
Subordinate clause + kəra² + Main clause
For (100), the subordinate clause construction is marked by the demonstrative kəra²
followed by a main clause. An example of a complex sentence construction with a
kəra²-marked subordinate clause is shown in (101).
(101) Folktale 01.22
[nap³kum² kətʃoŋ²
leʔ³-ra²
kəmaʔ³
kəra²]SC
wild banana
push-SEQ
that
that
[nap³kum² kətʃoŋ² kəra²wa²
kəra²
pak³seʔ³ ha²-to²]MC
wild banana
that
bat
from
ŋo¹
stay-PAST:3 say:RSP
Lit. „Wild banana pushed that that, at wild banana that bat stayed, say.‟
„After the wild banana pushed, the wild bat stayed there in the banana tree.‟
In (101), the demonstrative kəra² „that‟ marks the subordinate clause construction
nap³kum² kətʃoŋ² leʔ³-ra² kəmaʔ³, which precedes the main clause. The main clause
occurs in the second sentence followed by a declarative form ŋo¹ „say:RSP‟.
A quotative construction is diagrammed in (102).
(102)
Quotative complex sentence construction
Main clause + Speech complement + Quotative marker
In (102), Rera quotative complex sentence contains a main clause followed by the
speech complement and a declarative predicate.
An example of a complex sentence with quotative pre-clausal expression with a
speech complement is illustrated in (103).
66
(103) Folktale 02.29
[ekəra²
he¹we²ku²]QUOTATIVE
[kəra²
woi²raŋ²-wa¹-raʔ³
EXCL
crab.F
that
Woirang-CL.M-ERG
a
kəra²
Ø
tʃum³
HESIT
this
(3.OBJ) into pieces
pak³
ka¹-laʔ³] SPEECH COMPLEMNT
cut
go-IMPV
[ŋo¹]POSTCLAUSE …
say:RSP
Lit. „Eh! Crab this Woirang… this stem into pieces cut go, say‟
„Eh, the crab (said), “That Woirang is going and cutting the (stem) into
pieces”, he said.‟
In (103), the complex sentence starts with a pre-clause exclamation e which is
marked by kəra². This is followed by the main clause, he¹we²ku², which contains an
elided quotative verb. The speech complement kəra²woi²raŋ²wa¹raʔ³ a kəra² tʃum³
pak³ ka¹laʔ³ is preceded by the post-clausal declarative form ŋo¹ „say:RSP‟.
Two types of complex sentence constructions are shown in this section: the
coordinate sentence construction, a preposed subordinate clause construction, and a
quotative construction. The coordinate construction contains two simple sentences
which are coordinated by the demonstrative kəra² that acts as a conjunctive.
Furthermore, subordinate constructions are marked by the demonstrative kəra²,
while quotative constructions include the main clause, along with speech
complement, followed by the declarative predicate.
2.6 Rera morphosyntax summarized
The preceding discussion has introduced Rera simple argument constructions,
elaborate expressions, clause anatomy, and sentence constructions. These are all
summarized in Table 20.
67
Table 20 Summary of morphosyntactic constructions
Construction name
Structure
Basic argument constructions:
Noun phrase structure
Noun phrase coordination structure
(POSS) (DEM) (NUM) (ADJ) HEAD (ADJ) (NUM) (DEM)
Conjunctive> Noun phrase1 i¹na² Noun phrase2
Disjunctive > Noun phrase1 ʃi²na³ Noun phrase2
Reflexive construction
[PERSN PRON + =ba¹]REFLX
Possessive determiner construction
Possessive.determiner=Possessee
Postpositional phrase structure
Object of the postposition + head of the postposition
Locational phrase structure
Location = Ground noun + (Relator noun) + Locative enclitic
Elaborate expressions:
Elaborate expression construction
Type1- [A1+B] + [A2+C] ∞ [NMLZ1 + B] + [NMLZ1 + C]
Type2- [A1+B1+C+A2+B2+D]
Clause constructions:
Intransitive clause construction
Subject+Intransitive Predicate
Transitive clause construction
Subject+Direct Object+Transitive Predicate
Ditransitive clause construction
Subject+Direct object+Indirect Object+Ditransitive Predicate
Attributive clause construction
Subject+ Attributive Predicate
Verbless copula construction
Noun phrase1 + Noun phrase2
Sentence construction:
Simple sentence construction
(Pre-Clause) + Subject +(Direct Object)+ (Indirect Object) +
(Oblique Object) + Predicate
Complex sentence constructions:
kəra²-marked subordinate
kəra²-marked subordinate clause + main clause
constructions
Quotative complex sentence
Quotative main clause + Speech complement + Quotative
construction
marker
Following this background on morphosyntax, the next chapter describes lexical
nominalization in Rera.
68
Chapter 3
Lexical Nominalization
3.1 Overview
This chapter examines lexical nominalization in Rera. There are only two prefixal
nominalizers in Rera, keʔ³- and i¹-.
In the literature, Yap et al. (2011) observes that:
...nominalization in its core sense refers to the process by which we derive
nominal expressions – for example, from verbs (e.g. watch > watcher) or
adjectives (e.g. narrow > narrowness, narrowing). Clauses may also be
nominalized (e.g. awaken the public conscience > awakening (of) the public
conscience). Nominalization constructions are often distinguished in terms of
the following types: participant vs. event; lexical vs. clausal; embedded vs.
non-embedded. (p. 3)
This quote defines nominalization and gives the various possible nominalization
types in a language, which is applicable to Rera, as Rera nominalized constructions
distinguish between participant and event, and lexical and clausal nominalization.
In addition, derivational nominalization figures prominently at the lexical level,
which can be achieved with the morphological binding of the nominalizers with
verb roots. This chapter discusses lexical nominalization strategies, such as
morphological nominalizaton, classifier nominalization, and verb stem alternation
nominalization. In addition, the functions of lexical nominalization are discussed.
The chapter is divided into three main sections: lexical nominalization strategies
(§3.2), the basic functions of lexical nominalization (§3.3), and nominalization and
tense marking (§3.4). Finally, the chapter is summarized in (§3.5).
3.2 Lexical nominalization strategies
This section presents an overview of the lexical nominalization strategies in Rera.
These include morphological nominalization strategies (§3.2.1), classifier
nominalization (§3.2.2), and verb stem alternation nominalization constructions
(§3.2.3).
69
3.2.1 Morphological nominalization strategies
Nominalization is core to Tibeto-Burman languages. These morphological processes
are mostly derivational rather than inflectional. To start, morphological
nominalization with the nominalizaing prefixes keʔ³- and i¹- are discussed in the
following sections.
3.2.1.1 Nominalization with keʔ³The nominalizer keʔ³- has many apparent cognates across several branches of TibetoBurman both inside and outside Northeast India (Konnerth 2009, 2012). Konnerth
(2014) further states that the Proto-Tibeto-Burman nominalizer ke- (with allomorphs
ki- ~ ka-) indicates nominalized constructions which derive nouns from verbs. There
is one instance of the keʔ³- nominalizer found in the text data, where the
nominalizer prefix keʔ³- occurs with a verb predicate, which results in the
nominalization of the verbal root (Diagram (104), as illustrated in (105).
(104)
Nominalization Pattern with keʔ³-
Nominalization
Predicate
+keʔ³-
[keʔ³-+ Verb Predicate]NOMINALIZED
The nominalizer occurs with the verb predicate to signal a nominalized construction
as presented in Diagram (104). See example (105).
(105) Folktale 03.04
kəra²
sa¹na¹ ni²
kəra²
Ø
that
sister two
that
3.SUBJ water fetch
kam²
tʃa²
keʔ³-ka¹-to²
ŋo¹
NMLZ-go-PAST:3
say:RSP
Lit. „That two sister that, (their) water fetch going, say‟
„As for those two sisters, their going to fetch water is said.‟
In (105), the verb ka¹ „go‟ is nominalized by keʔ³-, and indicates an event
nominalization. This keʔ³- derived noun has verbal features like tense and number
inflections. This is an instance of what Post (2007, p. 752) refers to as “clausal
nominalization” in which predicative clauses retain verbal features such as tense,
aspect, and mood marking. The use of keʔ³- derived lexical nouns is very restricted
in Rera. The second nominalizer i¹- is discussed in the following section.
70
3.2.1.2 Nominalization with i¹The nominalizer i¹- is a grammaticalized form of the third possessive prefix, i²„3.poss‟, with the same features except having Tone 2. All verbs have a nominalized
form with the i¹- prefix.
A nominalized verb is illustrated in (106).
(106) Folktale 02.10
pak³se³
kəra²
i¹-pu³
rə²-o²-to²
bat
that
NMLZ-fly
be-COMP-PAST:3
Lit. „Bat that flying was.‟
„That bat was flying.‟
In (106), the verb pu³ „fly‟ is nominalized by the i¹- nominalizer. The nominalized
verb i¹pu³ „flying‟ occurs as the copula complement followed by the copula rə²o²to²
„was‟.
Another example of an event nominalization is given in (107).
(107) Elicited data 77
i¹-dʒup³sa²
kəra²
a²han²
NMLZ-sleep.HABT
that
ATTR-good
Lit. „Sleeping that good‟
„Sleeping is good.‟
In (107), the nominalizer i¹- occurs with the verb dʒup³ „sleep‟ along with the suffix
-sa² „HABT‟. It functions as the subject argument of the attributive clause.
Another example of an i¹- nominalization is shown in (108).
(108) Elicited data 79
i¹-ri³
kəra²
ma²-ra²
NMLZ-die
that
IRR-BE
Lit. „Death that (it) will happen‟
„As for death, it is inevitable.‟
In (108), the nominalizer i¹- occurs with the verb ri³ „die‟. The derived noun occurs
in the pre-clause position with the meaning of „death‟.
71
Table 21 examplifies additional i¹- nominalizations in Rera.
Table 21 Nominalization pattern1: i¹- nominalization constructions
Event nominalizer
Verb
NMLZ + V
Gloss
dʒup³ „sleep‟
[i¹- + dʒup²] =i¹dʒup³
„sleeping‟
ʤɔ³ „run/ fly‟
[i¹- + ʤɔ³] =i¹ɪʤɔ³
„running/ flying‟
ni² „laugh‟
[i¹- + ni²] =i¹ni²
„laughing‟
ri³ „die‟
[i¹- + ri³] =i¹ri³
„death‟
Nominalizations with i¹- also occur in elaborate expression structures.
(109)
Nominalization pattern: Elaborate expression nominalization
Nominalization
[A1 + B] + [A2 + C] ∞ [i¹- + Verb] + [i¹- + Euphonic]
In (109), the nominalizer i¹- occurs in the elaborate expression construction in both
(A1) and (A2) positions, along with the verb in (B) and the euphonic, partiallyreduplicated element in (C). Consider example (110).
(110) Folktale 01.06
a¹han²-maʔ³
ha²-ra²
good-AGR
stay-SEQ
wan²-to²]
COS-PAST.3
[i¹-pak³-i¹-sat³
NMLZ-eat-NMLZ-eat
kə²lo²prepare-
[a²ra² i¹-nom²-i¹-na²
mə²=na²
here NOMZ-dance-NOMZ-dance
also=at
rə²-to²]
be-PAST.3
Lit. „good staying, food prepared, this dancing, also was.‟
„Staying well, foods were prepared, also there was dancing.‟
In (110), two different sets of nominalized expressions, i¹pak³i¹sat³ „food‟ in the first
clause and i¹nom²i¹na² „dancing‟ in the second clause, occur within elaborate
expressions. The nominalizer i¹- always occurs in the (A1-2) slots and the verbs occur
in (B) and (C) slots. The first (A1) and the third (A2) syllable is a complete
reduplication, where the second (B) and the fourth (C) forms are partially
reduplicated and (C) acts as a euphonic syllable. In addition, as in the second clause,
72
the (C) slots in i¹nom²i¹na² are euphonic syllables. Furthermore, the sequential
marker indicates successions and chronological order of performing the action, such
as, in this case, the omitted subject argument denotes the event of „staying well‟ and
„preparing foods‟ and „the event of dancing‟ one after another or in successions.
Meanwhile, the following section discusses the classifier nominalization construction
in Rera, shown in (§3.2.2).
3.2.2 Classifier nominalization
Nominalization constructions can be identified by noun phrase markers such as
classifiers, plural markers, possessive pronouns, demonstratives, definiteness
markers, and case markers (Yap et al., 2011). Substantivization strategies are found
in Rera using classifiers as nominalizers, as shown in (111).
(111) Elicited data 80
ŋa¹=ra²
1S=ERG
tʃe¹
…
nin²-ti²-wa³
gɛ²he² ma²-du²-sa²-laŋ²
drink-DUAL-CL:M
dog
IRR.eat.CONT.NPAST
Lit. „I, drinker‟s dog, will feeding‟
„I will feed the drinker‟s dog.‟
In (111), the classifier -wa³ „CL.M‟ serves as a noun phrase marker to indicate
participant nominalization of the verb nin² „drink‟, which inflects for the dual
agreement marker -ti². The nominalization serves as the possessor modifier of the
noun head gɛ²he² „dog‟. Finally, the last type of lexical nominalization strategy
includes verb stem alternation nominalization constructions (§3.2.3).
3.2.3 Verb stem alternation nominalization
Nominalization can also be achieved in Rera by verb stem alternation, where verbs
have an alternate stem that is indicated by tone change. There are instances where
some verbs do not have an alternate stem. These verbs, however, are nominalized by
changing the tone of the root verbs alone. This nominalization process by verb stem
alternation is common within the other Pangwa varieties of the Tangsa sub-groups.
Morey (2017) indicates that:
in many of the varieties of the Tangsa languages, there are two main forms of
the verb, a verbal form, which combines with the person marked agreement
particles, and a nominalized form, often preceded by a nominalizer. In many
cases the two forms are identical, but they may vary… (p. 1)
73
Morey‟s observation of verb-stem alternation fits with Rera as verb-stem alternation
affects nominalization at the lexical level. Furthermore, in this type of verb stem
alternation, according to Morey (n.d. a), “the nominalized root differs from the
verbal root in tone category”, where, if there “is a verb stem alternation, the
nominalized root carries Tone 3, while the verbal root may carry either Tone 1 or
Tone 2”. Consider examples (112a) and (112b).
(112) a. Elicited data 81
mo²
nin²-tu²
2s
drink-2s.PAST
Lit. „You drank‟
„You drank.‟
b. Elicited data 82
mo²-ra²
i¹-nin³
kəra²
a²-han²
2.POSS-SEQ
NMLZ-drink
that
ATTR-good
Lit. „My drink that good‟
„My drink is good (tasty).‟
The two forms of the verb nin² „drink‟ in (112a) and (112b) shows the alternate verb
stems. The verbal form in (112a) carries Tone 2, whereas the nominal form of the
same verb carries Tone 3.
The verb stem alternation nominalization construction is diagrammed in Figure 6.
Situation 1
Verb stem + Tense-person
Stem Alternation
Situation 2
NMLZ + Verb stem
Results
Nominalized Construction
Nominalized Root- Tone 3
Non-Nominalized Construction
Verbal Root - Tone 1/2
Figure 6 Verb stem alternation nominalization construction
74
Rera verb stem alternation is illustrated further in Table 22.
Table 22 Verb stem alternation with a nominalizer
No
Verb Stem + Tense
NMLZ + Verb Stem
(Non-past/Past)
1
pu²-to² „flew‟
i¹pu³ „flying‟
2
ka¹-to² „went‟
i¹ka³ ~ i¹keʔ³ „going‟
3
βəŋ²-to² „came, moved‟
i¹βəŋ³ „coming, moving‟
4
məŋ¹-laŋ² „dream (V)‟
i¹məŋ³ „dream (N)‟
5
nin²-to² „drunk‟
i¹nin³ „drinker‟
Table 22 shows examples, collected from native speakers, of verb stem alternation
with a nominalizer. The verb stems presented in Table 22 either carry Tone 1 or
Tone 2, and the tense suffixes carry Tone 2. These verbal forms are nominalized
during verb stem alternation, where the nominalized roots always carry Tone 3.
Note that the nominalized forms are more likely to be signalled by the nominalizer
i¹-, along with shifted tone (Tone 3) on the derived root forms from their verbal
roots carrying Tone 1 or 2.
However, Rera shows evidence of nominalization through verb stem alternation
alone, without the nominalizer. Consider the non-nominalized item in (113).
(113) Elicited data 87
w¹ʃeka²
kəra²
pu²-to²
bird
that
fly-PAST
Lit. „Bird that flew‟
„That bird flew away.‟
In (113), the verb pu² „fly‟ inflects for tense marking with the tense marker -to². As is
shown, the tone on the verb stem is Tone 2.
In contrast, three sentential examples of verb stem alternation are shown for the
verb pu² „fly‟. Consider examples (114), (115), and (116).
75
(114) Elicited data 85
i¹-pu³-sa²
wɛ¹ʃe²ka²
NMLZ-fly-HABT
bird
Lit. „Flying bird‟
„The flying bird.‟
In (114), the noun phrase contains the nominalized modifier i¹pu³sa² „NMLZ-fly-HABT‟
followed by the head noun w¹ʃeka² „bird‟. The nominalized verbal root carries Tone 3
occurring with the nominalizer i¹-, which is a shift from Tone 2. It is functioning as a
modifier of the head noun.
Another example (115), in a non-verbal attributive construction marked the same.
(115) Elicited data 86
i¹-pu³-sa²
kəra²
ʃəm¹ba²ta²
NMLZ-fly.HABT
that
bad
Lit. „Flying that bad‟
„That flying is bad.‟
In (115), the verb pu² „fly‟ is nominalized by the nominalizer i¹- and the tone of the
verb has shifted to Tone 3. Furthermore, in both (114) and (115), the nominalized
verbs receive habitual marking by the habitual suffix -sa².
In contrast, nominalization can take place with just a tone change, without the i¹nominalizer, as illustrated in (116).
(116) Folktale 02. 11
[kəra² ma²
Ø-pu³
rə
kəra²]
pak³seʔ³
ka¹-o²-to²
then
NMLZ-fly
be
that
bat
go-COMP-PAST:3
for
Lit. „Then for flying be that bat went‟
„After flying away, that bat went.‟
In (116), the derived noun pu³ „flying‟ does not have any nominalization marking,
but still refers to a nominalized event by changing its tone from Tone 2 to Tone 3.
The clause-final demonstrative kəra² „that‟ also indicates the nominalization of the
clause. This function of the demonstrative kəra² is examined in more detail in
Chapter 4.
76
Other instances of nominalization through verb stem alternation alone are illustrated
in Table 23.
Table 23 Examples of tone alternating strategy in Rera
Verbal form
Tone altered form
ŋo¹ „say‟
ŋo³ „saying‟
ka¹ „go‟
ka² „going‟
sum³ „be.sweet‟
sum¹ „sweetness‟
These are illustrated in context in (117 – 119).
(117) a. Elicited data 83
ŋa¹
ka¹-taŋ²
1s
go-PAST:1s
Lit. „I went‟
„I went.‟
b. Elicited data 84
i²pi³
skul=na²
3.poss school=at
ka²
kə¹
Ø
going that
a¹-han²
3.subj ATTR-good
Lit. „His/her in school going that, (it) good‟
„As for his/her going to the school, (it) is good.‟
The verb ka¹ „go‟ takes Tone 1 in (117a), and carries verbal characteristics, such as
inflection for tense and person. On the other hand, in (117b), the derived nominal
ka² „going‟ has Tone 2.
A nominalization with ŋo³ ‘saying‟ is illustrated in (118).
77
(118) a. Folktale 02. 01
woi²raŋ²-wa¹
ŋo¹
woirang-CL.M say
ra²
kəra²
jok²wi²
wa¹tʃi¹
rə-to²
SEQ
that
monkey
one
BE-PAST.3
Lit. „Woirang say, that one monkey, was‟
„The one called Woirang Father was a monkey.‟
b. Folktale 05.04
ŋo³
ra²
hu¹maŋ²-to²
kəra²
a¹kin=na²
saying
SEQ
think-PAST:3
that
now=at
βɔk³-ŋi²
rap³-wan²-to²
pig-PL
cross-COS-PAST:3
Lit. „Saying (tale) that, now thought that the pig crossed the river‟
„Saying that (that tale), while people were thinking about how to cross the
river, the wild pig crossed the river.‟
In (118a), the verb ŋo¹ „say‟ occurs as the predicate of a headless relative clause and
takes Tone 1. In contrast, in (118b), the tone of the verb ŋo¹ changes to Tone 3, and
occurs as a derived nominalized form ŋo³ „saying‟, which refers to a tale.
Unlike the verbal roots, in verb stem alternation nominalization, the attributive
roots always carry either Tone 2 or Tone 3, whereas the nominalized roots carry
Tone 1. Consider examples (119a) and (119b).
(119) a. Elicited data 88
a¹-dʒɔŋ²
bo¹tɔ²to²
a¹-dʒɔm²
a¹-kam²kam² kɛk³
ATTR-big
fat
ATTR-sweet
ATTR-hot
Lit. „Big fat sweet hot cake‟
„The big fat sweet hot cake‟
b. Elicited data 89
ŋa¹
i²pi³-ra²
lua²
dʒɔm¹
kəra²
1s
3s-ERG
love
sweetness
that
Lit. „I her love sweetness that‟
„I love her sweetness.‟
78
cake
The adjective a¹dʒɔm² „ATTR-sweet‟ carries Tone 2 in its attributive root in (119a),
and occurs as a modifier of the head noun kɛk³ „cake‟. In addition, the attributive
form also takes the attributive prefix a¹-. In contrast, the nominalized form dʒɔm¹
„sweetness‟ carries Tone 1, as in (119b), without the attributive prefix.
To summarize, two types of verb stem alternation nominalization constructions are
described. In the first construction, nominalization is signaled by the nominalizer i¹-,
along with verb stem alternation. In the second construction, nominalized
constructions can also be formed without the nominalizer i¹-, by verb stem
alternation alone, for both verbs and attributives.
3.2.4 Rera Nominalization strategies summarized
This section has demonstrated nominalization strategies, specifically morphological,
classifier, and verb stem alternation nominalization strategies. Morphological
nominalization can be achieved by the morphological binding of the nominalizers
along with the verb roots. This is accomplished by the nominalizers i¹- and keʔ³-.
Meanwhile, the instances of classifier nominalization constructions are identified by
the noun phrase marker, i.e. the classifier -wa³ „CL:M‟. It is possible to have other
types of classifier nominalized constructions in Rera, but this needs more analysis.
Finally, Rera lexical nominalization strategies include verb stem alternation
nominalization construction which is realized as tone change, for both verbs and
attributives, with or without the nominalizer i¹-. The following section discusses the
functions of lexical nominalization in Rera.
3.3 The Function of lexical nominalization
This section takes a look at how lexical nominalizations function within the clause
as participant and event nominalizations that functions as arguments in the clause.
The functions of lexical nominalization are discussed following its strategies in order
to identify which strategies result in the nominalization of participant or event
nominalization. To begin with, the nominalized constructions with keʔ³- can
function as participant nominalization, while the nominalized construction with i¹can function as either participant or event nominalization. Nominalized
constructions under classifier nominalization constructions indicate participant
nominalization. Furthermore, verb stem alternation nominalization constructions
can result in event or action nominalized constructions. Given this basic overview,
in this section, participant nominalizations are considered first (§3.3.1), followed by
79
event nominalizations (§3.3.2). This is followed by the use of nominalizations to
indicate speaker stance (§3.3.3).
3.3.1 Participant nominalization
The nominalizer i¹- is used to derive nominals from verbs that function as arguments
with referential status within clauses. These participant nominalizations refer to
subjects and objects.
A copula subject participant nominalization is illustrated in (120).
(120) Folktale 04.44
kə¹jəʔ³ kəra²
i¹-ŋam²
ni²
ŋaʔ³
kəra²
a²go¹
there that
NMLZ-flesh
and
fish
that
NEG-have
Lit. „There that, meat and fish that not have.‟
„Thus, there was neither meat nor fish.‟
In (120), the nominalizer i¹- occurs with the noun ŋam² „flesh (animal)‟, which
results in participant nominalization i¹ŋam² „meat‟. Furthermore, the demonstrative
kəra² ~ i¹kəra² can denote participant nominalized constructions. The demonstrative
pronoun i¹kəra² „that‟, acting as an argument, is illustrated in (121) (Phillips, 2017).
(121) Folktale 01.04
i¹-kəra²
tʃoŋ²
kuʔ³-wan²-laŋ²
a¹ra²
ŋa¹-raʔ³
NMLZ-that
tell
give-COS-PRES.1S
here
1S-ERG
a¹ya²
a¹ya² man²pan³
i¹-kəra²
teʔ³tʃit³-wan²-laŋ²
here
here
NMLZ-that
know-COS-NPAST.1S
story
Lit. „That tell given here, I here here story that known‟
„That one which I am telling to you, I have a story that I need to tell you.‟
In (121), the nominalized demonstrative i¹kəra² serves as the head of the noun
phrase i¹kəra² tʃoŋ² kuʔ³wan²laŋ² „that one which I am telling to you‟ and is an
instance of participant nominalization. The i¹kəra² refers to a particular object by
conveying a sense of „that one‟.
Additionally, as mentioned in the beginning of the section (§3.3), some instances of
verb stem alternation nominalization strategies can function as participant
nominalization. See example (122).
80
(122) Elicited data 82
mo²-ra²
i¹-nin³
kəra²
a²-han²
2.POSS-SEQ
NMLZ-drink
that
ATTR-good
Lit. „My drink that good‟
„My drink is good (tasty).‟
In (122), the verb nin³ „drink‟ is nominalized during stem alternation, which also
occurs with the nominalizer i¹-. In addition, the default verbal root of nin³ „drink‟
carries Tone 2, which is changed in stem alternation as a nominalization strategy.
Other participant nominalizations are illustrated in Table 24.
Table 24 Participant nominalization
Participant nominalizer
No
Verb/Adjective/Noun
NMLZ + V
Gloss
1
pak³ „eat‟
[i¹- + pak³] =i¹pak²
„food‟
2
ti² „juicy‟
[i¹- + ti²] =i¹ti²
„juice‟
3
ŋam³ „animal‟
[i¹- + ŋam³] =i¹ ŋam³
„meat‟
4
məŋ¹ „dream‟ (v)
[i¹- + məŋ¹] =i¹ məŋ¹
„dream‟ (n)
5
puŋ³paʔ³ „instrument‟
[keʔ³- + puŋ³pa]
„particular hunting
=keʔ³puŋ³paʔ³
instrument‟
Table 24 presents examples of participant nominalized construction of derived
nominals from verbs, adjectives, and nouns. There are limited examples of
participant nominalization in my corpus occurring with keʔ³-, which needs to be
addressed by further research.
To summarize, two nominalizers have been considered. The first is the nominalizer
i¹-, which nominalizes verbs, attributives, and nouns. The resulting nominalizations
function as arguments within the clause. Secondly, the nominalizer keʔ- derived
lexical nouns (II) from verbs are also found in the Rera corpus. Thirdly, the
nominalizer i¹- derived attributive nominals are discussed. Finally, the nominalizer
i¹- can mark nominal constructions to denote specific semantic categories, such as
turning „instrument‟ into „a kind of particular instrument‟ as shown in Table 24.
81
These are the four core nominalization structures in Rera, which are summarized in
Table 25.
Table 25 Four core types of nominalization
Type of structure
Applies to
Results in
Form in Rera
Derivational I
Verb or Predicate
Lexical noun
[NMLZ:i¹- V/ Predicate]
Derivational II
Verb
Lexical noun
[NMLZ:keʔ³- V]
Derivational II I
Attributive
Lexical noun
[NMLZ:i¹- Attributive]
Derivational IV
Noun
Lexical noun
[NMLZ:i¹- N]
3.3.2 Event nominalization
In Rera, as mentioned above, both i¹- and keʔ³- nominalizer prefixes occur in event
nominalizations. In addition, my corpus has a higher frequency of uses of the i¹nominalizer in comparison to the keʔ³- nominalizer. In addition, lexical
nominalizations have the same morphosyntactic characteristics as non-derived
nouns (Comrie & Thompson, 2007). This following discussion presents the
nominalization process of a second order ontological entities (Yap et al., 2011), i.e.
an event or action nominalization.
As shown in Diagram (123), an event nominalization with i¹- is shown in (124).
(123)
Nominalization Pattern: i¹-
Nominalization
Predicate
+i¹-
[i¹-+ Verb Predicate]NOMINALIZED
As is in Diagram (123), lexical nominalization inlcudes the nominalizer i¹- in
combination with the verbal predicate, resulting in derivational nominalization.
(124) Elicited data 76
ŋa¹
i¹-dʒup³-sa²
a²han²
1S.POSS
NMLZ-sleep-PROG.HBTL
ATTR-good
Lit. „My sleeping good‟
„My sleeping is good.‟
In example (124), the lexical nominalization i²dʒup³sa² „NMLZ-sleep-PROG.HBTL‟ of the
root verb dʒup³ „sleep‟ receives progressive tense and habitual marking by the suffix
82
-sa² „PROG.HBTL‟. In addition, the nominalized construction i²dʒup³sa² serves as the
head of the attributive subject argument, with a possessive determiner ŋa¹ „1S.POSS‟,
which occurs as a non-verbal copula subject to the attributive predicate a²han²
„ATTR-good‟.
Another example of event nominalization is given below in (125).
(125) Folktale 03.10
ʃaʔ³-raʔ³
jun²-raʔ³
i¹-ne²-raʔ³
ŋa¹
kəra²
jo²
tiger-ERG
chase-SEQ
NMLZ-tired-SEQ
1S
that
water
tʃe¹
=na² a
we²-raʔ ³
ŋa¹
emerge
=at
move.side.to.side-SEQ
1S
kəra²
kam²
that
water thirsty
HESIT
nin¹rak ³
a
kəra²
jo²
tʃe¹
HESIT
that
water emerge
Lit. „Tiger chase tiredness my, that water emerge in moving, I that water
thirsty, that water emerge‟
„The tiger chased (me) and despite my tiredness, I thrashed about in the
water because I was thirsty.‟
In (125), the event nominalization occurs by following the pre-clause ʃaʔ³raʔ³
jun²raʔ³ „the tiger was chasing me‟ and perhaps acts as a linker to connect the preclausal expression with the main clause, i.e. the clausal expression follows i¹ne²raʔ³
„my tiredness‟. It is significant to see that the nominalized segment i¹ne² „tiredness‟
takes the ergative form =raʔ³, which also occurs in the preceding verb jun²-raʔ³
„chase-ERG‟ and the subject argument ʃaʔ³-raʔ³ „tiger-ERG‟, which is a topic for further
investigation.
An event nominalization construction can also be achieved by the verb stem
alternation nominalization strategy. Consider example (126).
(126) Folktale 02. 11
[kəra² ma²
Ø-pu³
rə
kəra²]
pak³seʔ³
ka¹-o²-to²
then
NMLZ-fly
be
that
bat
go-COMP-PAST:3
for
Lit. „Then for flying be that bat went‟
„After flying away, that bat went.‟
83
In (126), the derived noun pu³ „flying‟ shows the nominalization of an event, which
does not have any nominalization marking. However, it still refers to a nominalized
event by changing its tone from Tone 2 to Tone 3. Meanwhile, nominalized
constructions can also be used to show speaker stance as discussed in (§3.3.3).
3.3.3 Stance marking
In Rera, nominalized constructions can also be used to express speakers‟ stance or
mood. This is illustrated in (127).
(127) Folktale 03.11
i¹-ʃi²
rə¹-i²
jo³
NMLZ-sing
be-1P
pol
Lit. „Singing should we‟
„We should be singing!‟
In (127), the nominalizer i¹- occurs with the verb ʃi² „sing‟. However, the nominalizd
form of the verb ʃi² does not really convey a regular nominalized meaning; rather it
expresses the speaker‟s mood about whether or not to sing.
Another example of speakers‟ stance is exemplified in (128), where it recieves tense
and number marking.
(128) Elicited data 78
ŋa¹
i¹-dʒup³-wan²-taŋ²
1s
NMLZ-sleep-COS-PAST:1
Lit. „I slept (change of state)‟
„I should have slept!‟
In (128), the nominalized construction with i¹-dʒup³-wan²-taŋ² „NMLZ-sleep-COSPAST:1‟
expresses speaker stance of realization of an action (sleep). In addition, the
suffix -wan² „COS‟ puts more emphasis on the aspectual meaning of changing state to
support the expression of stance in the nominalized construction.
To conclude, stance marking is not very common in Rera. However, it appears as a
tool in narratives to show the mood of a speaker as a story-telling device. This topic
needs more analysis, as it is currently limited to the above example due to a lack of
examples in the corpus. The following section summarizes the functions of lexical
nominalization in Rera.
84
3.3.4 Rera nominalization functions summarized
The Rera lexical nominalization functions exhibits three basic functions, i.e.
participant, event, and stance marking. A participant nominalized construction
indicates derive nominals from verbs that function as arguments with referential
status within clauses. Furthermore, an event nominalization construction can be
found with the nominalizer i¹- as well as in verb stem alternation strategy. Finally,
nominalized constructions also indicate speakers‟ stance in narratives. The following
section (§3.4) illustrates the tense marking in a nominalized construction.
3.4 Nominalization and tense marking
This section shows that nominalized constructions can signal tense marking. Yap et
al. (2011, p. 33) says that “the non-referential use of nominalization constructions is
their reanalysis as finite clause, with the morphological nominalizer being
reinterpreted as a tense-aspect-mood marker”. However, in Rera, this is not the
same. Instead of nominalizers being used as tense, aspect, and mood markers, lexical
nominalized constructions inflect for tense and person, as in (129).
(129) Folktale 01.09
i¹-kəra²
lum²to²
tənuk³
kəra²
kəra²
ni¹rum²
NMLZ-that
lumto
up.side.people
this
this
1P
kəra²
i¹-ʃut³-i¹-wan³-to²
this
NMLZ-pierce-nmlz-cut-PAST.3
Lit. „Then, Lumto upside people this we this piercing cutting‟
„With the whole of Lumto, there was piercing and cutting.‟
In (129), the nominalizer i¹- occurs with the verb ʃut³ „pierce‟ and wan³ „cut‟ in an
elaborate expression, which inflects for the past tense and third-person marker -to³.
The following section (§3.5) summarizes nominalization constructions in Rera.
3.5 Rera nominalization summarized
In Rera, lexical nominalizations are most likely to be coded by the nominalizer i¹-,
while keʔ³- derived nominalization can also be found. Classifier nominalization types
are formed with substantivization strategies. They serve as noun markers and
indicate nominalized constructions when they occur with verbs. Finally, verb stem
alternation can indicate nominalization. Verb stem alternation constructions are of
two types. In the first type, tones shift in the presence of the i¹- nominalizer. In the
85
second type, only the tone changes without the nominalizer i¹-. The second type is
achieved by changing the tones of the roots in isolated contexts. Furthermore,
derived attributive nominals carry Tone 1, as opposed to the other word categories,
such as nouns and verbs, which carry Tone 3 in their nominalized roots.
These nominalizations can function as participant nominalizations, event
nominalizations, and also indicate speakers‟ stance. Unlike some other Tangsa
varieties, Rera nominalized forms sometimes can inflect for tense marking, where
the nominal element is attached to an additional suffix marking tense along with the
nominalizer.
The Rera nominalization patterns are summarized in Table 26.
Table 26 Rera nominalization patterns
Lexical nominalization >Participant/ event nominalization
1
Verb/ noun
i¹- / keʔ³- + Verb predicate
2
Adjective
i¹- +Attributive predicate
3
Elaborate expression
[A1 + B] + [A2 + C] > [i¹- + Verb] + [i¹- + Euphonic]
nominalization
Verb stem alternation
4
Type 1
Verbal root =Tone 1/2 → Nominalized root = i¹-√Tone 3
5
Type 2
Verbal root =Tone 1/2 → Nominalized root = Tone 3
6
Type 3
Attributive root =Tone 2/3 → Nominalized root =Tone 1
The following chapter describes the extended functions of the demonstrative kəra² in
Rera.
86
Chapter 4
The extended functions of kəra²
4.1 Overview
This chapter presents an analysis of the extended functions of the demonstrative
kəra². kəra² „that‟ and variants kə¹ kəra², kə¹maʔkəra², kəra² kəra², kəra² kə¹ is the
most frequently used lexical item in the Tangsa ~ Tangshang language varieties.11
The function of a demonstrative within a noun phrase to indicate the distance of the
noun referent from a speaker is the most basic function of kəra². Then, its function
as a demonstrative pronoun is the next most basic function, where it occurs by
substituting for a noun phrase. In addition, the demonstrative kəra² can also occur
with the postposition maʔ³, where it functions as the object of the postposition.
Besides the general use of kəra² as a demonstrative, it has many different extended
functions in phrasal and clausal expressions in Rera. The extended functions of the
demonstrative include pre-clause marking and subordinate clause marking. Native
speakers also use it as a filler in conversational speech, replacing other
demonstratives with kəra².
This chapter first presents a review of kəra² as an adnominal demonstrative and
demonstrative pronoun in (§4.2). Then, (§4.3) discusses the extended functions of
the demonstrative kəra². Finally, the extended functions of the demonstrative kəra²
are summarized in (§4.4).
4.2 Review of kəra² as an adnominal demonstrative and
demonstrative pronoun
The deictic non-extended functions of kəra² include the indication of the placement
of a noun head referent in relation to the speaker and as a demonstrative pronoun
substituting for a noun phrase. It is, however, hard to distinguish the proximal
functions of kəra² based on the dataset, and therefore is left to be addressed in
further research. kəra² functioning as an adnominal demonstrative is shown in (130).
11
It is noticed that pronunciations with [kʰ] occur in some places as an allophonic variation with the
variation of kə¹maʔkəra² ~ kʰə¹maʔkəra².
87
(130) Elicited data 66
kəra²
wa²=rɛ²
pi²-vaŋ¹-sa²
a¹-hab²
ku²
that
man=poss
3S-cousin-CL
ATTR-beautiful
very
Lit. „That man‟s cousin very beautiful‟
„That man‟s cousin is very beautiful.‟
In (130), the demonstrative kəra² indicates the spatial distance of the wa²rɛ²
pi²vaŋ¹sa² „man‟s cousin‟ from the speaker.
In addition, if the referent is too far from the speaker, then the demonstratives i¹na²
„that‟ with the allomorph of kəra² ~ kə¹ is used, as exemplified in (131).
(131) Elicited data 20
i¹na²-kə¹
a¹nɛ²
a¹-ʃe¹kɔm²
dʒum²
that-that
new
ATTR-red
house
Lit. „That new red house.‟
„That new red house (at a great distance).‟
In (131), i¹na²kə¹ shows a greater distance of the referent a¹nɛ² a¹ʃe¹kɔm² dʒum² „a
new red house‟ from the speaker‟s deictic center. The allomorph -kə¹ „that‟,
specifically, puts focus on the greater distance of the reference object dʒum² „house‟.
Consider example (132), which shows kəra² as a distal demonstrative pronoun in
Rera.
(132) Elicited data 19
kəra² a¹-ʃe¹kɔm²
dʒum²
that
house
ATTR-red
Lit. That red house.‟
„That is a red house.‟
In (132), kəra² functions as a demonstrative pronoun by substituting for the noun
phrase slot in a verbless copula construction.
The above discussion of the demonstrative kəra² already shows its distal function as
an adnominal and demonstrative pronoun. However, native speakers sometimes also
refer to its proximal meaning, which needs further analysis. Nevertheless, the use of
the demonstrative for both distal and proximal functions could be due to native
speakers‟ tendency to replace complex or specific reference words (demonstratives in
88
this case) with kəra², as the demonstrative has multiple functions. It has been
noticed during the data collection that younger people do not always distinguish the
deictic uses of the demonstrative kəra². Example (133) shows a proximal use of the
demonstrative.
(133) Folktale 04.15
kəra² miʔ³-ho³
i¹-kəra²
ma²
i¹ka³
jo²
NMLZ-that
for
that
water this
NEG-dry
Lit. „That for that water this not dry‟
„And then, this water was not dry.‟
In (133), the demonstrative kəra² shows that the reference object jo² „water‟ is closer
to the speaker.
The demonstrative pronoun kəra² can also be used as a discourse deictic expression
in narratives. It refers to a portion of a discourse relative to the speaker‟s current
location in the discourse, as illustrated in (134a) and (134b).
(134) a. Folktale 01.03
[i¹-kəra²
ŋa¹
raŋ²wa¹-wa³
NMLZ-that
1.POSS year-CL
roʔ³
a²ku¹ ta²-wan²-to²]
ten
nine
arrive-COS-PAST.3
Lit. „That, my year ten nine arrive (change of state)‟
„And, I have arrived at ninety years.‟
b. Folktale 01.04
i¹-kəra²
tʃoŋ²
kuʔ³-wan²-laŋ²
a¹ra²
ŋa¹-raʔ³
NMLZ-that
tell
give-COS-NPAST.1S
here
1S-ERG
a¹ya²
a¹ya² man²pan³
i¹-kəra²
teʔ³tʃit³-wan²-laŋ²
here
here
NMLZ-that
know-COS-NPAST.1S
story
Lit. „That tell given here, I here here story that known‟
„That one which I am telling to you, I have a story that I need to tell you.‟
In (134), i¹kəra² refers to the previous expression in the narrative, where the speaker
says that „he was ninety years old‟ in (134a). In addition, in (134b) i¹kəra² is
functioning as a noun head, modified by a relative clause, which includes the serial
verb construction tʃong² kuʔ³wan²laŋ² a¹ra² „which I am telling you‟. Furthermore,
89
i¹-kəra² occurs as a noun modifier in the main clause in (134b), which follows the
noun man²pan³ „story‟.
To summarize, the demonstrative kəra² can function as an adnominal modifier and a
demonstrative pronoun, with either distal or proximal meaning. Next, the extended
functions of the demonstrative kəra² are discussed in the following section.
4.3 Extended functions of kəra²
The grammaticalization of the demonstrative kəra² has resulted in several extended
functions. These extended functions include pre-clause marking of topical noun
phrases, vocatives, and conjunctions. The demonstrative also signals the nominalized
status of adverbial and relative subordinate clauses. Furthermore, the demonstrative
can express speakers‟ stance. Finally, the demonstrative is used in discourse deictic
expressions in Rera.
The organization of this section starts with pre-clause marking in (§4.3.1). Then
(§4.3.2) sheds light on the discussion of kəra² as a marker of subordinate clause
constructions. (§4.3.3) discusses the speaker stance use of kəra².
4.3.1 kəra² as a pre-clause marker
This section presents the kəra² marked pre-clausal constructions. The pre-clause
position refers to “the position that immediately precedes the clausal core” (Phillips,
2017, p. xxiv). The pre-clausal expressions include topic marked noun phrases,
vocative expressions, conjunctions, adverbial phrases, and kəra² marked pre-clausal
exclamations.
4.3.1.1 kəra² as a topic marker
A topicalized expression is marked by the demonstrative kəra² within the pre-clause
construction, which often refers to the subject or/and direct object referent in the
main clause. An example showing a kəra² marked pre-clause noun phrase, which is
co-referential with the direct object referent, is illustrated in (135).
90
(135) Folktale 04. 03
i¹-kəra²
muk³ a¹-dʒɔŋ²
kəra² gormen-raʔ³
bitiʃ
NMLZ-that
peak ATTR-big
that
British
government-ERG
sahap a¹-ha²-to²
kəma²
dak³
kəra²
dak³-to²
sahib ATTR-stay-PAST:3
when
cut
that
cut-PAST:3
Lit. „Then, big peak that, government, when the British Sahib (people) were
there, cut that (the big peak) down.‟
„Then, as for the big peak, the government, from (the time) when the British
were (ruling) here, cut that big mountain peak (it) down.‟
In (135), kəra² occurs as a topic marker with muk³ a¹dʒɔŋ² „peak ATTR-big‟, which
refers to the direct object referent, which is referenced by the demonstrative
pronoun, kəra² „that‟, in the main clause.
A topic-marked participant that is co-referential with the subject in the clause is
illustrated in (136).
(136) Folktale 01.08
i¹kəra²=maʔ³ [dʒum² ʃa³
rum²
after that
three that
house hundred
kəra²maʔ³
kəra²]
that
Ø
a²duʔ³
ka²la² muŋ²
a²sam²
duʔ³
3P
downside
Indian country
Assam
downside
ka¹-o²-li²
...
go-COMP-CONT:1P
...
Lit. „That from, house three hundred that, downside Indian country Assam
downside going‟
„After that, as for those three hundred households, (they) are going down to
Assam...‟
In (136), the pre-clause phrasal expression dʒum² ʃa³ rum² kəra²maʔ³ „those three
hundred houses‟ is marked by kəra². The topicalized pre-clause expression refers to
the subject argument in the main clause, which is elided. This topicalized participant
reference is also referenced by zero in the subject. In addition, the pre-clause
construction is preceded by the conjunction i¹kəra²maʔ³ „after that‟, which is, further,
followed by the main clause construction.
91
Another example of a topic marked pre-clausal construction is illustrated in (137).
(137) Folktale 01.09
kəra²
kəra²]PRE-CLAUSE
i¹-kəra²
[lum²to²
tə²nuk³
NMLZ-that
Lumto
upside.people that
that
[ni¹rum²
kəra²
i¹-ʃut³-i¹-wan³
tan¹-to²]MC
1P
that
NMLZ-pierce-NMLZ-cut
attack-PAST:3P
Lit. „Then, Lumto upside people that that, they that piercing cutting attacked‟
„Then, as for the whole of those upside Lumto people, they attacked us,
piercing and cutting.‟
In (137), the second kəra² „that‟, in the pre-clause, marks the noun phrase lum²to²
tə²nuk³ kəra² „those upside Lumto people‟ and indicates a clausal boundary with the
main clause that follows it. The first kəra² within the pre-clause noun phrase occurs
as an adnominal demonstrative indicating distal reference to the lum²to² tə²nuk³ from
the speaker‟s current location. Furthermore, in the main clause, kəra² „that‟ modifies
the first person plural ni¹rum² „1P‟ as an adnominal demonstrative. The following
section discusses kəra² as a marker of vocative expression.
4.3.1.2 Vocative expression marker
As is the case with noun phrase topic marking, kəra² can also mark vocative
expressions, as illustrated in (138).
(138) Folktale 02.27
he¹we²ku²
kəra² me²ke² ŋo¹-ra²
sə¹nuk³-tu²
wa²
crab.F
that
order-2S.PAST
RL
what
say-SEQ
Lit. That female crab, what say, ordered?‟
„Oh female crab, what did you order?‟
In (138), kəra² occurs following the vocative he¹we²ku² „female crab‟ with the
meaning „hey female crab‟ or „oh female crab‟. In addtion, the crab is the addressee
in the conversation.
The allomorph of kəra² ~ kə¹ can also mark a vocative expression, as exemplified in
(139).
92
(139) Folktale 02.18
[nap³kum² kətʃoŋ²
kə¹]
me²ke² ŋo¹-ra²
je³-tu²
wa²
wild banana
that
what
fall-2S:PAST
RL
say-SEQ
Lit. „Wild banana that, what say, fell?‟
„Oh wild banana, why did you fall?‟
In (139), the reduced form of kəra² ~ kə¹ occurs in the pre-clause position by
following the vocative expression napkum² kətʃoŋ² „wild banana‟, who is the
addressee in a conversation.
However, it is not always necessary for vocatives to occur with kəra², as in (140).
(140) Folktale 02.20
βɔk³ŋi¹
mo¹
me²ke² ŋo¹
taʔ³
wild pig
2S
what
PART
say
Lit „Wild pig, you what say?‟
„Oh wild pig, what did you say?‟
In (140), the vocative argument βɔk³ŋi¹ „Oh wild pig‟ is not marked by the
demonstrative kəra². In addition, sometimes there is an e with a high falling pitch as
a vocative marker in some other Tangsa varieties (Morey, p.c.).
4.3.1.3 kəra² as a marker of pre-clause exclamations
kəra² can be used to mark pre-clause exclamations. Exclamations are broadly defined
as “any emotional UTTERANCE, usually lacking the grammatical structure of a full
sentence, and marked by full intonation” (Crystal, 1985, p. 177). See example (141).
(141) Folktale 02. 29
e¹
kəra² he¹we²ku²
kəra²
woi²raŋ²-wa¹-raʔ³
a²
kəra²
EXCL
that
that
Woirang-CL.M-ERG
HESIT
that
crab.F
tʃum³
pak³
ka¹
laʔ³
ŋo¹
kəra²
ka¹-taŋ²
into pieces
cut
go
IMPV
say
that
go-1S:past
Lit. „Eh! This crab Woirang, this into pieces cut going say that went‟
„Good grief! That crab (said), “That very monkey said to go cut (the stem)
and so I went”.‟
93
In (141), kəra² marks the pre-clause exclamation e¹, which shows the speaker‟s
attitude of being surprised at what the speaker he¹we²ku² „crab.F‟ says about the
action of cutting by the woi²raŋ²wa¹raʔ³ „Woirang monkey‟. Finally, the last pre-
clause function of the demonstrative kəra² ~ i¹kəra² is described in the following
section (§4.3.1.4).
4.3.1.4 kəra² as a conjunction
Although Rera has regular conjunctions (i²na² ~ a²na² „and‟), kəra² can also function
as a conjunction where it links two separate elements either at the phrase level or at
the clause level. An example showing the use of kəra² ~ kaʔ³ linking two separate
phrasal elements is shown in (142).
(142) Folktale 01.12
…i¹ka³ [niŋ²kan²
then cause
na²]
[ni¹rum²
kəra²
a²duʔ³
at
1P
that
downside
a²sam² muŋ²
duʔ³
ka¹-o²-ti²]
assam:country
downside
go-COMP-PAST:1
Lit. „Then cause at we that downside Assam country downside went.‟
„Then, that is why we came down to Assam.‟
In (142), i¹ka³ „then‟, the allomorph of kəra², functions as a conjunction, which
shows a continuity of information (action) from the previous references in the story
and occurs in the pre-clause position. In addition, a²duʔ³ ~ duʔ³ „downside‟ is used
to show remoteness and deictic references when the reference object is out of sight
from the speaker.
Another example of kəra² as a conjunction is exemplified in (143).
(143) Folktale 01.07
i¹-kəra²-ma²
me²ke²
ma²-rə²ni²
muŋ²kaŋ²
NMLZ-that-for
what
IRR-BE
world
gaʔ³
yaʔ³
yam²loʔ³
ha²-to²
village
at
how long
stay-PAST
Lit. „For that, what will be, world-village at how long lived‟
„For that, what it will be, how long they lived in this world.‟
94
In (143), a morphological bounding of the demonstrative kəra² with the nominalizer
i¹- along with the postpositional suffix -ma² „for‟ shows its use as a conjunction. The
conjunction serves to advance the narrative.
The most common use of i¹kəra² ~ i¹kəmaʔ³ is as a conjunction in narratives, as in
(144).
(144) a. Folktale 02.13
a
boʔ³le²
kəra²
i¹-koʔ³-ra²
me²ke²
rə-to²
ŋa¹
HESIT
elephant
that
NMLZ-cry-SEQ
what
BE-PAST.3
1S
wa²
ŋo¹-ra²
RL
say-SEQ
Lit. „Ah! Elephant that crying what happened‟
„Ah! The elephant having cried out, “Eh what is happening to me”.‟
b. Folktale 02.14
i¹-kə=maʔ³
kəra²
tʃoŋ²-wan²-to²-nə
kəra²
me²ke² tu²
NMLZ-that:from
that
tell-COS-PAST:3-PART
that
what:2S.PAST
wa²
ŋa¹
RL
1S
Lit. „Then that caused to tell, that what happened, say‟
Then, having told that, “what has happened to me?”‟
In (144), the previous sentence shows a situation in (144a), where the elephant
(boʔ³le²) is crying. The allomorph of i¹kəra²~i¹kəmaʔ „then‟ occurs in the initial
position of the second sentence in (144b), which connects the sequence of thoughts
and links the two sentences in the greater context of the narrative. It has been
recorded in the corpus that the i¹kəra² typically occurs in the sentence- or clauseinitial position.
The nominalizer i¹- can occur with the demonstrative kəra², and provides pragmatic
functions in doing so. An example of the nominalizer i¹- in a combination with kəra²
expressing conjunctive structure is exemplified in (145).
95
(145) Folktale 04.15
kəra²
i¹-kəra²
ma²
i¹ka³
jo²
NMLZ-that
for
that
water this
miʔ³-ho³
NEG-dry
Lit. „Then, for that, this water was not dry‟
„And then, for that, this water was not dry.‟
In (145), the clause-initial form, i¹kəra² „NMLZ-that‟ is functioning as a conjunction
which indicates temporal sequence. These occurrences of i¹kəra² are more common
in story-telling than in normal discourse, e.g. conversation, monologue, etc.
4.3.1.5 kəra² as a pre-clause marker summarized
This section has shown the extended functions of the demonstrative kəra² occuring
in a pre-clause position. First, topicalized constructions were discussed. These are
marked by the demonstrative kəra² within the pre-clause construction. Topicalized
expressions, typically, refer to the subject or/and direct object referent in the main
clause. Secondly, the use of kəra² to mark vocative expression was demonstrated.
The demonstrative kəra² occurs in vocative expressions and indicates expression of
address in narratives. Thirdly, the kəra² marked pre-clausal exclamations were also
described, where the demonstrative occurs with the exclamation particle e¹. Finally,
kəra² can function as a conjunction linking separate elements either at the clause
level or sentence level (previous expressions in a narrative). The following section
discusses kəra² as a marker of subordinate clauses in §4.3.2.
4.3.2 kəra² as a marker of subordinate clauses
Nominalization constructions can be signaled by demonstratives through a
substantivization strategy, “whereby a clause can be more readily recognized as a
nominalization construction” (Yap et al., 2011, p. 14). The demonstrative kəra² „that‟
signals nominalization constructions at the clause level for both relative (§4.3.2.1)
and adverbial clauses (§4.3.2.2).
4.3.2.1 kəra² as a marker of relative clauses
The Rera complex noun phrase construction includes a relative clause construction,
which is to be considered part of the extended functions of kəra², as diagrammed in
(146).
96
(146)
Relative clause construction
Noun head [Clause + kəra²]
As shown in (146), the relative clause occurs following the external head. This
clause is marked by the demonstrative kəra². The following example (147) illustrates
a relative clause construction.
(147) Elicited data 47
[mi²wa¹
gu¹taŋ²ra²
ŋa¹
ma²
kam²lam²
jo²
man
who
1S
for
bring
water
kəra²]RELATIVE-CLAUSE
a¹-hap²
ku²
that
ATTR-beautiful
very
Lit. „Man who me for bring water that beautiful very‟
„The man who brings my water is very beautiful.‟
In (147), the relative clause gu¹taŋ²ra² ŋa¹ ma² kam²lam² jo² kəra² „who brings my
water‟ occurs following the head, mi²wa¹ „man‟. This construction occurs in the
subject position of an attributive clause, with the attributive predicate a¹hap²
„beautiful‟ followed by the intensifier ku² „very‟.
An example of a noun phrase with a relative clause from text is exemplified in (148).
(148) Folktale 02.01
[woi²raŋ²-wa¹
ŋo¹-ra²
kəra²]
jok³wi²
wa¹tʃi¹
Woirang-CL.M
say-SEQ
that
monkey
one
rə -to²
BE-PAST:3
Lit. „Woirang say that one monkey was‟
„The one who is called Woirang was a monkey.‟
In (148), the noun phrase woi²raŋ²wa¹ ŋo¹ra² „one who is called Woirang‟ is a
headless relative clause which is marked by kəra², which is referring to the subject
woi²raŋ²wa¹ „Woirang‟ within a verbless copula clause. Woirang is identified as a
monkey in the copula complement noun phrase that follows. In addition, this kəra²marked construction shows ambiguity in marking of the relative clause. The status
of the demonstrative kəra² is ambiguous to some extent as to whether it is occuring
97
as an adnominal demonstrative to mark a zero subject, or as the head of the relative
clause construction. This issue needs to be addressed in further reserach.
Another example of a relative clause in text is shown in (149).
(149) Folktale 01.10
i¹-kəra²
niŋ²kan²
na²
ni¹rum² -raʔ³
kəra²
ʃa¹rum³
NMLZ-that
cause
at
1P-ERG
that
3P
kəra²
[mi²
ʃa³
that
person hundred
rum²
kəra²]
ka¹-to²
three go-PAST:3
be²yaŋ²
wan³-o²-to²
all
cut-COMP-PAST.3
that
Lit. „Then, cause at, we that they that three hundred of them who went
(Lumto people) that, all were cut.‟
„Then, that is why we killed all three hundred of them (Lumto people) who
came.‟
In (149), kəra² marks the relative clause that modifies the noun head mi² „person‟,
which refers to Lumto12 people. This complex noun phrase mi² ʃa³ rum² ka¹to² kəra²
refers to the object referent in the clause. The following section demonstrates the use
of the demonstrative kəra² as a marker of adverbial clauses.
4.3.2.2 kəra² as a marker of adverbial clauses
kəra² is also used to mark an adverbial subordinate clause, such as a time adverbial
clause, as shown in (150).
(150) Folktale 02.11
kəra²=ma²
pu³
rə
kəra² pak³seʔ³
ka¹-o²-to²
that=for
fly
BE
that
go-COMP-PAST.3
bat
Lit. „That for fly be that bat went‟
„And then, after flying away, the bat went.‟
In (150), the initial subordinate clause, kəra²ma² pu³ rə kəra² „after flying away‟
shows a sequence of time, where an action of flying has been carried out, which is
followed by the main clause pak³seʔ³ ka¹o²to² „the bat went‟.13 This type of time
12
13
Lumto is a specific group of the Tangsa people.
The verb pu³ ‘fly’ is pronounced as pʰu³, which is not contrastive in Rera.
98
adverbial expression is frequently used in narratives to proclaim a continuity of
events one after another, as shown in (151).
(151) Folktale 02. 07
[dat³
tʃit³-wan²-rə
kəra²]SC
fall
CAUS-COS-BE
that
[i¹-kəra²
pe¹ka¹-tuʔ³
NMLZ-that
fruit-CL
dat³-rə- kəra²]SC Ø
[βɔk³ŋi¹
rup³
kə¹duʔ³
teʔ³]
fall-BE-that
[wild.pig
nest
upside
hit]
SUBJ
Lit. „Fall (drop) cause that, that fruit, fall on pig‟s nest and hit‟
„And dropping it down, having dropped, it hit a pig‟s nest.‟
In (151), kəra² „that‟ signals the nominalized status of both the adverbial subordinate
clause dat³ tʃit³wan²rə kəra² „dropping it down‟, and the second adverbial clause
i¹kəra² pe¹ka¹tuʔ³ dat³rə kəra² „having dropped it‟.
Another example of a kəra² marked adverbial clause indicating a nominalized
construction is shown in (152).
(152) Folktale 04. 01
[jo²
lum¹-to²
water flood-PAST:3
kəra² maʔ³
i¹-kəra² =maʔ³]
am²tʃu¹
that
from
NMLZ-that=from
now
a²ja²
tʃoŋ²-lo¹
muk³
a¹-dʒɔŋ²
wa¹tʃi¹
here
tell-PRES:3
peak
ATTR-big
one
a¹-rin²
wa¹tʃi¹
a¹-ha²
ATTR-small
one
ATTR-stay
Lit. „That flooded water, now (then) as told here peak, there one big peak,
one small peak exists.‟
„And after that water flooded, as it is told now, there was a big peak and a
small peak.‟
In (152), jo² lum¹to² kəra² maʔ³ „after water flooded‟ is a kəra² marked adverbial
clause construction. The clause jo² lum¹to² kəra² maʔ³ „after water flooded‟ is formed
with the noun jo² „water‟, a verb predicate lum¹to² „flooded‟, and the demonstrative
kəra² along with maʔ³ „from‟, which nominalizes the clause.
99
kəra²-marked adverbial clauses also occur in tail-head linkage constructions, which
consist of two sentences that convey the same information. The tail presents the
mainline event, while the head recapitulates the information in the previous clause.
This is shown in (153).
(153) a. Folktale 02.08
[...nap³kum² kətʃoŋ² leʔ³]
wild banana
push
Lit. „Wild banana push‟
„The wild banana tree was pushed.‟
b. Folktale 02.09
[nap³kum² kətʃoŋ²
leʔ³-ra²
kə:maʔ ³
kəra²] napkum² kəchoŋ²
wild banana
push-SEQ
that:from
that
wild banana
kəra²wa²
kəra²
pak³seʔ ³
ha²-to²
ŋo¹
from
that
bat
stay-PAST.3
say
Lit. „Wild banana push that from that wild banana from (in) that bat
stayed, say‟
„And having pushed the wild banana tree, the bat stayed in the wild banana
tree there, it is said.‟
In (153), nap³kum² kətʃoŋ² leʔ³ kəmaʔ³ kəra² „after having pushed a wild banana tree‟
is a recapitulation of the main clause in (153a), which occurs in (153b) as a
temporal adverbial clause.
100
The tail-head linkage construction is diagrammed in (154).
(154)
Tail-head linkage construction
Sentence 1 > Previous
Sentence 2 > Later
[Main clause]
[Subordinate clause]
[N + POSTP + V]
[N + POSTP + V + kəra²]
[Verbal]
[Nominalized]
Rera Tail-Head Linkage
Diagram (154) shows that, in Rera, the expression that occurs as the tail is the main
clause. This is followed by the subordinate adverbial clause. This subordinate clause
is substantivized by kəra² and the whole clause acts as a subordinate clause
preceding the main clause in the sentence. Consider example (155a) and (155b).
(155) a. Folktale 02.02
[… pin²tʃoŋ² ta¹
… tree
upside
ha²-to²
ŋo¹]S1
stay-PAST.3
say.
Lit. „Tree upside stayed, say‟
„…(They) stayed in the top of the tree, it is said.‟
101
b. Folktale 02. 03
kəra²]
he¹
kəra²
kəra²
upside stay BE
that
crab
that
that
e
woi²raŋ²- wa¹
lei
a²mətʃu¹
məna²
EXCL
Woirang- CL.M
VOC
now
PART
[pin²tʃoŋ²
ta¹
tree
ha²
rə
mo¹-raʔ³
i¹-kəra²
pin²tʃoŋ²
kəra²
kə¹tə¹wa²
2S-ERG
NMLZ-that
tree
that
from
kəra²
dat³
tʃit³
paŋ¹
ŋo¹
kuʔ³-ra²]S2
fall
CAUS
let.1S say
a²
si¹ri¹
HESIT
gourd that
give-SEQ
Lit. „Tree upside stay be that, crab that, “Oh Woirang, now you that tree that
from that gourd (siri) that fall say giving”‟
„While staying in the tree, (said) “Hey, crab, now, I have said that I will make
the siri fruit fall down the tree for you”.‟
In (155a), pin²tʃoŋ² ta¹ ha²to² „stayed in the top of the tree‟ is an event line clause,
occurring as the tail in a tail-head linkage. In (155b), the adverbial clause, which is
marked by kəra², occurs preceding the main clause of the next sentence and repeats
the information in (155a).
Tail-head linkage construction is often achieved through adverbial clause
construction, as in (156).
(156) a. Folktale 03.04
[…
…
kam² tʃa²
keʔ³-ka¹-to²
ŋo¹]S1
water fetch
NMLZ-go-PAST.3
say
Lit. „…water fetch going say.‟
„(They) went to fetch water, it is said.‟
b. Folktale 03.05
[kam² tʃa²
ka¹
kəra²
kam²
water fetch
go
that
water that
kəra²
Lit. „Water fetch go that water that mud mix‟
boʔ³
nun²]S2
mud
mix
„When they went to fetch water, the water was mixed up with mud.‟
102
In (156) kam² tʃa² keʔ³-ka¹-to² ŋo¹ „went to fetch water‟ occurs in the tail of the tailhead linkage in (156a) at the end of the sentence, and that same expression is used
in the beginning of (156b). The clause in the head construction in the second
sentence in (156b) is marked by kəra², which indicates an adverbial construction.
Furthermore, tail-head linkage occurs most frequently in the same thematic
paragraph in Rera, rather than beyond paragraph boundaries. In addition, tail-head
linkage is an important feature of narrative discourse, particularly in the time-chain
of the story where it emphasizes main events, i.e. the meaning carried through the
main verbs. Meanwhile, the following section discusses the use of kəra² to denote
speaker stance.
4.3.3 kəra² as speaker’sstance
Nominalization in Tibeto-Burman frequently expresses speaker stance. DeLancey
(1986, p. 3) refers to this as “the expression of surprise, amazement or counterexpectation”. This is illustrated for Rera in (157).
(157) a. Folktale 02.03
pin²tʃoŋ²
ta¹
ha²
rə
kəra²
he¹
kəra²
kəra²
tree
up side
stay
BE
that
crab
that
that
e
woi²raŋ²-wa¹
lei
a²mətʃu¹
məna² mo¹-raʔ³
EXCL
Woirang-CL.M VOC
now
PART
2S-ERG
i¹-kəra²
pin²tʃoŋ²
kəra²
a
si¹ri¹
kəra²
NMLZ-that
tree
that
HESIT
siri
that
dat³
tʃit³
paŋ¹
ŋo¹
kuʔ³-ra²
fall
fall
let.1S say
give-SEQ
Lit. „Tree upside staying, that crab that, Eh! Woirang crab now we that tree
that, hesitation! Siri that fall I will, say giving.‟
„While staying in the tree, “Hey Woirang crab, now, I have said that I will
make the Siri fruit fall down from the tree for you”.‟
b. Folktale 02.04
ŋa¹-raʔ³
miʔ³
a
ŋa¹-raʔ³
miʔ³-ŋut³-laŋ¹ be²
1S-ERG
NEG
HESIT
1S-ERG
NEG-able-1S
Lit. „I, hesitate! I not able do‟
„I am not able to do it.‟
103
NEG:EMPH
c. Folktale 02.05
i¹-kəra²
re²ka¹
kəkəra²
ba²
ma²-ŋut³
ŋo¹-rəʔ³
NMLZ-that
squirrel
that
only
IRR-able
say-PART
Lit. „Attention, that squirrel will be able to do, said‟
„“Attention, the squirrel only will be able to do it,” he said.‟
In (157c), the demonstrative kəra² occurs with the nominalizer i¹-, which shows the
speaker‟s mood of counter-expectation in a narrative. The context of the speaker
stance of counter-expectation can be gathered from the previous context in the
narrative as shown in (157a) and (157b). In (157a), the squirrel (actor) is referring
to an action of dropping the Siri fruit from the tree, and later, in (157b), the squirrel
admits to his inability to perform the action. The series of actions in (157a) and
(157b) create a thrilling atmosphere to the witnesses (speakers) in the narrative,
such as the Woirang crab „woi²raŋ² he¹‟. As a result of the expectation regarding the
action of dropping down the Siri fruit, the crab in (157c), expresses his stance with
i¹-kəra² literally meaning „attention‟.
Another example showing the speaker‟s amazement of an action is illustrated in
(158).
(158) Folktale 02.22
i¹-kəra²
βɔk³ŋi¹
kəkəra²
ŋa¹
NMLZ-that
wild.pig
that
1.POSS nest=at
dat³-rə
ŋo¹-ra²
fall-BE
say-SEQ
rup³=na²
pe¹ka¹-tuʔ³
fruit-CL
Lit. „Eh (gosh)! That wild pig that my nest in fruit fall, say‟
„Gosh! And that pig said, a Peka fruit fell on my nest.‟
In (158), the speaker‟s amazement of the action of falling a fruit on the pig‟s nest is
expressed by i¹kəra². The examples of speaker stance are limited in the texts, and,
therefore, there could be more functions related to this topic.
Finally, the Rera demonstrative functions are summarized in (§4.4).
4.4 Rera demonstrative functions summarized
The preceding discussion has introduced the extended functions of the
demonstrative kəra² along with the functions of the nominalized form of kəra². It can
104
function as a marker of pre-clause topical noun phrases. The demonstrative can also
be used as a vocative case marker in Rera. The grammaticalization of the
demonstrative also includes its use as a conjunction, where it connects separate
expressions. Furthermore, the demonstrative can also substantivize relative and
adverbial clauses, where it signals nominalized constructions. Moreover, a tail-head
linkage construction includes a tail, which is, more often, an event line construction
occurring as a main clause. In addition, the head construction in a tail-head linkage
is an adverbial clause in Rera. Finally, kəra² can be used to express speaker stance in
narratives. These functions are summarised in Table 27.
Table 27 Summary of the extended functions of kəra²
Extended functions of kəra² ~ i¹kəra² ~ i¹ka³
Pre-clause participant reference
1
Topic marking construction
Noun phrase + kəra²
2
Vocative expression
Noun phrase + kəra²
3
Pre-clause exclamation
e <EXCL>+ kəra²
4
Conjunctive construction
kəra² ~ i¹ka³ (pre-clause) + clause
5
Speaker stance
kəra² + clause
Clause subordination
6
Relative clause
Noun head [clause + kəra²]
7
Adverbial pre-clause
Adverbial clause + kəra²
105
Chapter 5
Conclusion
This thesis has provided the first description of Rera morphosyntactic structures,
along with an examination of lexical nominalization, and the extended functions of
the demonstrative kəra².
The morphosyntactic examination shows basic argument constructions including
noun phrase structures, pronouns, determiners, and postpositional phrases. The
noun phrase in Rera consists of an obligatory noun head, along with optional
modifiers. These optional modifiers include possessors, demonstratives, adjectives,
numerals, and quantifiers. These modifiers can occur both pre- and post-head in a
noun phrase. In addition, the demonstratives can occur pre-, post- and in both preand post-head positions, while other modifiers can either precede or follow the head
noun. This thesis also discusses noun phrase coordination, in which two or more
nouns or noun phrases are combined into a larger unit.
Pronouns can be distinguished as personal pronouns, demonstrative pronouns,
possessive determiners, reflexive and reciprocal pronouns, and interrogative
pronouns. Morphosyntactically, personal pronouns have an ergative-absolutive case
system in which ergative is marked by the suffix -ra² and the absolutive is indicated
by zero. In addition, possessive determiners are formed by a combination of a
personal pronoun form and the possessive enclitic =rɛ², while reflexive pronouns
include the reflexive suffix =ba¹. Interrogative pronouns are a set of compound
words, while demonstrative pronouns exhibit proximal and distal references. In
addition, the demonstrative pronouns have the same form as adnominal
demonstratives. Finally, the non-extended use of kəra² shows that it can refer to a
previous expression in narratives viz-a-viz a discourse deictic expression.
Rera postpositional phrases consist of the object of the postposition, along with a
postpositional enclitic. The locational phrases include an obligatory location noun
phrase object along with an optional locational enclitic =na². To express a spatial
relation, a relator noun is used, which is the possessee of the locational noun. Both
spatial references of coincidence and interiority are found in the corpus. Finally,
elaborate expression constructions can be either four or six syllables, i.e. [A1 + B]
+ [A2 + C] or [A1 + B1 + C + A2 + B2 + D].
106
Clausal structures include both verbal and non-verbal clause constructions. A verbal
clause construction can be identified based on its predicate types, i.e. intransitive,
transitive, and ditransitive clauses. Non-verbal clause constructions are of two types,
i.e. attributive clause constructions and verbless copula clause constructions.
Attributive clauses include the attributive predicate along with the subject
argument. Verbless copula clause constructions consist of two juxtaposed noun
phrase constructions, the verbless copula subject and the verbless copula
complement.
Simple sentence constructions contain the subject and object arguments, along with
the verb predicate. In addition, a simple sentence can also include an optional preclausal conjunction, noun phrase, vocatives, or exclamations, all of which can be
marked by the demonstrative kəra². Complex sentences can include a kəra²-marked
subordinate clause construction followed by a matrix clause. The second type of
complex sentence construction is a quotative complex sentence, which includes a
main clause and a speech complement. Coordinate clause constructions are the third
type of complex sentence construction. They contain a series of two independent
clauses which have no coordinating conjunction.
Lexical nominalization constructions in Rera include nominalizers, classifier
nominalization, and verb stem alternation nominalization. There are two prefixal
nominalizers found in Rera, i.e. i¹- and keʔ³-, which nominalize non-nominals, such
as verbs, into nouns. The nominalizer i¹- is a grammaticalized form of the third
person possessive prefix, i²- „3.poss‟. Both i¹- and keʔ³- occur in event and participant
nominalization constructions. The text examples show that i¹-nominalized
constructions can be used to express speaker stance or mood. Finally, these
nominalized constructions can also inflect for tense and number marking.
In addition, nominalization construction can also be indicated by noun phrase
markers, such as classifiers. In Rera, classifiers can be used to indicate nominalized
verbs, a type of substantivization strategy.
Nominalized constructions can also be signaled by verb stem alternation. In this
alternation, the verbal root may carry either Tone 1 or Tone 2, while the
nominalized root carries Tone 3. There are two types of verb stem alternation
nominalized constructions. In the first type, the nominalizer i¹- occurs with the tonal
stem alternation. In the second type, nominalization is achieved by tone change
alone without the nominalizer i¹-. Finally, the tonal patterns with verbal and
attributive forms contrast in their tone-shifting patterns.
107
The grammaticalization of the demonstrative kəra² has developed several extended
functions. Besides the non-extended uses of kəra², such as adnominal modification
and demonstrative pronoun, kəra² can mark pre-clause noun phrases, vocatives, and
exclamations in Rera. The demonstrative kəra² also signals nominalized
constructions under a substantivization strategy (Yap et al., 2011). Under this
strategy, kəra² marks subordinate clause constructions, both relative clause
constructions and adverbial clause constructions. One pattern in which
substantivized adverbial clauses can occur is in a tail-head linkage construction. In a
tail-head linkage construction, the demonstrative marks the head of a tail-head
linkage construction, which, more often, occurs in the same thematic paragraph,
rather than beyond paragraph boundaries.
The demonstrative kəra² together with the nominalizer i¹- has various extended
functions. One prominent use of i¹kəra² is to indicate speaker stance, which shows
the speaker‟s mood or counter-expectation in narratives. In addition, i¹kəra² most
frequently occurs as a conjunction at the beginning of a sentence.
This thesis work only represents a start to an understanding of Rera morphosynatctic
behaviors, along with nominal aspects such as lexical nominalization and the
extended functions of the demonstrative kəra². Much remains to be investigated.
While transcribing and analyzing the language data, I encountered confusion as to
the gloss for kəra². Sometimes the native speaker glossed it as „this‟, rather than
„that‟. Another issue that remains to be addressed is the combination and meaning of
kəra² with the nominalizer i¹-, i.e. kəra²~ i¹kəra², and whether the presence or non-
presence of the nominalizer results in different functions. The case marking in Rera
is perplexing due to its irregularities with regard to the ergative-absolutive pattern,
which needs more analysis with appropriate data. In conclusion, further research
and data are needed to understand the grammatical patterns of the Rera variety of
Tangsa.
108
BIBLIOGRAPHY
Bandyopadhyay, S. K. (1989). A Tangsa wordlist. Linguistics of the Tibeto-Burman
Area, 12(2), 79-91.
Burling, R. (2003). The Tibeto-Burman languages of Northeastern India. In G.
Thurgood and R. LaPolla (Eds.), The Sino-Tibetan Languages (pp. 169-191).
London: Routledge.
Comrie, B., & Thompson, S. A. (2007). Lexical nominalization. In T. Shopen (Ed.),
Language typology and syntactic description (2 nd ed., Vol. 3., pp. 334-381).
Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
Crystal, D. (1985). A dictionary of linguistics and phonetics (2nd ed.). Malden:
Blackwell Publishing.
Das Gupta, K. (1980). The Tangsa language: A synopsis. Shillong: Shillong: The
Philology Section, Research Department, North East Frontier Agency.
DeLancey, S. (1986). Relativization and nominalization in Tibetan and Newari. 19th
Annual Meeting of the International Conference on Sino-Tibetan Languages and
Linguistics. Ohio State University, Columbus.
DeLancey, S. (2002). Relativization and nominalization in Bodic. Berkeley Linguistics
Society, 28, 55-72.
de Vries, L. (1995). Demonstratives, referent identification and topicality in
Wambon and some other Papuan languages. Journal of Pragmatics, 24, 513533.
Diessel, H. (1999a). Demonstratives: Form, function, and grammaticalization.
Amsterdam: John Benjamins.
Diessel, H. (1999b). The morphosyntax of demonstratives in synchrony and
diachrony. Linguistic Typology, 3, 1-49.
109
Diessel, H. (2006). Demonstratives. In K. Brown (Ed.), Encyclopedia of Language and
Linguistics (2nd ed., pp. 430-435). Amsterdam: Elsevier.
Dixon, R. M. W. (2002). Copula clauses in Australian languages: A typological
perspective. Anthropological Linguistics, 44(1), 1-36.
Dixon, R. M. W. (2003). Demonstratives: A cross-linguistic typology. Studies in
Language, 27(1), 61-112.
Dixon, R. M. W. (2010). Basic linguistic theory: Grammatical topics (Vol. 2.). Oxford:
Oxford University Press.
Dixon, R. M. W. (2012). Basic linguistic theory: Further grammatical topics (Vol. 3.).
Oxford: Oxford University Press.
Genetti, C., Bartee, E., Coupe, A., Hildebrandt, K., & Lin, Y.-J. (2008). Syntactic
aspects of nominalization in five Tibeto-Burman languages of the Himalayan
area. Linguistics of the Tibeto-Burman Area, 31(2), 97–143.
Genetti, C. (2011). Nominalization in Tibeto-Burman languages of the Himalayan
area. In Yap et al. (Eds.), Nominalization in Asian Languages: Diachronic and
typological perspectives (pp. 163-193). Amsterdam: John Benjamins.
Google Maps. (2017). Balinong village, Arunachal Pradesh. Retrieved from
https://www.google.co.th/maps/place/Balinong,+Arunachal+Pradesh+79
2122,+India/@26.8877112,93.9146745,418884m/data=!3m1!1e3!4m5!3m
4!1s0x373ee989e8de78af:0xc63ce301bfed2d8a!8m2!3d27.451912!4d95.982
452
Goswami, D. (2017). A phonological description of Rera Tangsa: A language of
North-East India. Manuscript in preparation.
Grierson, G. A. (1903). Linguistic survey of India (Vol. 3, Pt. 2). Kolkata:
Superintendent of Government Printing.
110
Grunow-Hårsta, K. (2011). Innovation in nominalization in Magar: A Tibeto-Burman
language of Nepal. In Yap et al. (Eds.), Nominalization in Asian Languages:
Diachronic and typological perspectives (pp. 215-254). Amsterdam: John
Benjamins.
Haas, M. (1964). Thai-English student’s dictionary. Stanford: Stanford University Press.
Hale, A. (1982). Research on Tibeto-Burman languages. Trends in Linguistics. State-ofthe-Art Reports 14. Berlin: Mouton.
Hanna, W. J. (2013). Elaborate expressions in Dai Lue. Linguistics of the TibetoBurman Area. 36(1), 33-56.
Haspelmath, M. (2005). Coordination. In T. Shopen (Ed.), Language typology and
syntactic description (2 nd ed., Vol. 2., pp. 1-51). Cambridge: Cambridge
University Press.
Hsieh, F. (2011). The function of –an and =ay in Kavalan. In Yap et al. (Eds.),
Nominalization in Asian Languages: Diachronic and typological perspectives (pp.
499-522). Amsterdam: John Benjamins.
Johnson, H. (2004). Language documentation and archiving, or how to build a
better corpus. In Austin, P. K (Ed.), Language documentation and description
(Vol. 2., pp. 140-153). London: SOAS.
Khan, L. (2017). A phonological comparision of Shecyü and Mungre and its
contribution to a common Tangshang Naga orthography. (Master‟s Thesis).
Konnerth, L. A. (2009). Functions of nominalization in Karbi. In Hyslop et al. (Eds.),
North East Indian Linguistics, 3. New Delhi: Cambridge University Press.
Konnerth, L. A. (2012). The nominalizing velar prefix gV- in Tibeto-Burman
languages of Northeast India. In Hyslop et al. (Eds.), North East Indian
Linguistics, 4. New Delhi: Cambridge University Press.
Konnerth, L. A. (2014). A grammar of Karbi (Doctoral dissertation). Retrieved from
https://www.academia.edu/7902799/A_Grammar_of_Karbi
111
Liem, N. D. (1969). Four-syllable idiomatic expressions in Vietnamese. Honolulu: EastWest Center.
Liu, H. & Gu, Y. (2011). Nominalization in Nuosu Yi. In Yap et al. (Eds.),
Nominalization in Asian Languages: Diachronic and typological perspectives (pp.
313-342). Amsterdam: John Benjamins.
Matisoff, J. A. (2003). Handbook of Proto-Tibeto-Burman. Los Angeles: University of
California Press.
Matisoff, J. A. (1973). The grammar of Lahu. Berkeley: University of California Press.
Matisoff, J. A. (1972). Lahu nominalization, relativization, and genetivization. In J.
P. Kimball (Ed.), Syntax and Semantics, 1. New York/London: Seminer Press.
Morey, S. (n.d. a). Mueshaungx grammatical sketch. Unpublished manuscript.
Morey, S. (n.d. b). Chamchang grammatical sketch. Unpublished manuscript.
Morey, S. (2012). The Singpho agentive. Functions and meanings. Linguistics of the
Tibeto-Burman Area, 35(1), 1-14.
Morey, S. (2013). Tone in Tangsa languages. A comparative study. Himalayan
Languages Symposium 19. Canberra, Australia.
Morey, S. (2014). Studying tones in Northeast India: Tai, Singpho and Tangsa.
Language Documentation and Conservation, 8, 637-671.
Morey, S. (2016). Verbal agreement marking in the Tangsa/Tangshang languages
[Powerpoint slides]. Retrieved from
https://www.academia.edu/32017611/Verbal_Agreement_marking_in_the_Ta
ngsa_Tangshang_languages
Morey, S. (2017). Verb stem alternation in Pangwa Tangsa. North East Indian
Linguistics, 8. Manuscript submitted for publication.
Morey, S. (2016). Tangsa. In G. Thurgood & R. LaPolla (Eds.), The Sino-Tibetan
Languages (2nd ed., pp. 350-368). New York: Routledge.
Morey, S. (2011). Nominalization in Namphuk Singpho. In Yap et al. (Eds.),
Nominalization in Asian Languages: Diachronic and typological perspectives (pp.
289-311). Amsterdam: John Benjamins.
112
Needham, F. J. (1897). A collection of a few Moshang Naga words. Shillong: Assam
Secretariat Printing Department.
Pan, Y. (1972). Four-syllable coordinative constructions in the Miao language of E.
Kweichow. In H. Purnell (Ed.), Miao and Yao linguistic studies (pp. 211-234).
Ithaca: Cornell University.
Phillips, A. E. (2017). Entities and the expression of grounding and referential
coherence in Northern Pwo Karen narrative discourse (Doctoral dissertation).
Retrieved from
https://www.academia.edu/32432422/Entities_and_the_expression_of_ground
ing_and_referential_coherence_in_Northern_Pwo_Karen_narrative_discourse
Post, M. W. (2011). Nominalization and nominalization-based constructions in Galo.
In Yap et al. (Eds.), Nominalization in Asian Languages: Diachronic and
typological perspectives (pp. 255-287). Amsterdam: John Benjamins.
Post, M. W. (2007). A grammar of Galo (Doctoral dissertation). Retrieved from
https://www.academia.edu/197280/Post_M._2007_._A_Grammar_of_Galo._Ph
D_Dissertation._Melbourne_La_Trobe_University_Research_Centre_for_Linguisti
c_Typology
Simons G. F., & Fenning, C. D. (Eds.). (2017). Ethnologue: Languages of the world,
(20th ed.). Dallas, Texas: SIL International. Retrieved from
http://www.ethnologue.com.
Statezni, N. D. (2013). Fifty-five dialects and growing-literacy and comprehension of
vernacular literature among the Tangshang Naga in Myanmar (Master‟s
thesis).
Voegelin, C. F., & Voeglin, F. M. (1977). Classification and index of the world’s
languages. New York: Elsevier.
Yap, F. H., Grunow-Hårsta, K., & Wrong, J. (Eds.). (2011). Nominalization in Asian
languages: Diachronic and typological perspectives. Amsterdam: John
Benjamins.
113
APPENDIX A
THE HISTORICAL NARRATIVE
[*Please note that the text numbers (e.g. Folktale xx.xx) in the body of the thesis do
not correspond to the example numbering given here. The numbering of the
examples in the body of the thesis corresponds to the author‟s FLEx database.]
1
ŋa¹
a¹ya²
man²pan³
kuʔ³laŋ²
1S
here
story
tell-NPAST:1S
Lit. „I here story tell‟
„I am telling a story‟
2.
ŋa¹
min³
kəra²
1S
name that
mo²hen²
rɯ²ra²
mohen
rera
Lit. „My name that mohen Rera‟
„My name is Mohen Rera‟
3.
[i¹-kəra²
ŋa¹
raŋ²wa¹-wa³
NMLZ-that
1.POSS year-CL
roʔ³
a²ku¹ ta²-wan²-to²]
ten
nine
arrive-COS-PAST.3
Lit. „That, my year ten nine arrive (change of state)‟
„And, I have arrived at ninety years.‟
4.
i¹-kəra²
NMLZ-that
tʃoŋ²
kuʔ³-wan²-laŋ²
a¹ra²
ŋa¹-raʔ³
tell
give-COS-NPAST.1S
here
1S-ERG
a¹ya²
a¹ya² man²pan³
i¹-kəra²
teʔ³tʃit³-wan²-laŋ²
here
here
NMLZ-that
know-COS-NPAST.1S
story
Lit. „That tell given here, I here here story that known‟
„That one which I am telling to you, I have a story that I need to tell you.‟
114
5.
a²ni¹=maʔ³
ka²tʃu²=na²
ha²-to²
kə=maʔ³
ni¹rum²
long ago=from
kachu=at
stay-PAST.3
that=from
1P
-ti²
ni²-wa¹
ŋo¹-ti²
kəra²
kuʔ³jaŋ²
grandfather
two-CL:M
say-PAST.1
that
festival
me²jng²
a²piu² a²liu²
festival:EUPH joy
ha²-to²
joy:EUPH
stay-PAST.3
Lit. „Long ago from Kachu at stayed then from, our grandfathers two said that
festival joyfully staying‟
„Long ago, when staying at Kachu, what we call our ancestors, stayed
joyfully celebrating festivals.‟
6.
a²han² maʔ³
ha²-ra²
i¹-pak³-i¹-sat³
kəlo²-wan² -to²
good
from
stay-SEQ
NMLZ-eat-NMLZ-EUPH
prepare-COS-PAST:3
a¹ra²
i¹-nom²-i¹-na²
this
NMLZ-dance-NMLZ-EUPH
məna² rə-to²
…
BE-past:2
Lit. good staying, food were prepared, there was dancing.‟
‘Staying well, foods were prepared, also there was dancing.’
7.
i¹kəra²ma²
me²ke²
ma²-rə²ni²
muŋ²kaŋ²
gaʔ³
after that
what
IRR-BE
world
village at
yam²loʔ³
ha²-to²
kəmaʔ³
kəra²
ka²tʃu²
how long
stay-PAST:3P
after that
that
Kachu
gaʔ³
kə¹məka²
village that
rum²
mi²
kəra²
person that
yaʔ³
dʒum² kəra²
ʃa³
house that
hundred
rə²-wan²-to²
three BE-COS-PAST.3P
Lit. „After that what will world village, how long stayed after that, that Kachu
village that person three hundred existed‟
„And after that, what it will be, how long they lived in this world, there were
three hundred households of people staying at Kachu.‟
115
8.
[i¹kəra²=maʔ³]PRECLAUSE dʒum²
that=from
ʃa³.rum²
house hundred.three
kərə=maʔ³
kəra²
that=from
that
a²duʔ³
ka²la² muŋ²
a²sam²
duʔ³
down side
Indian country
Assam
down side
ka¹- o²- li²
me²ke²
go- COMP-CONT.1P what
niŋ²kan² =na²
ŋo¹ din²
kəra²
cause=at
say if
that
Lit. „After that house three hundred that downside Indian country Assam
downside went, what cause (for what reason) say if that‟
„After that, (of) those three hundred households, for what reason were we
coming down to Assam, if it is said.‟
9.
i¹-kəra²
lum²to²
tənuk³
kəra²
kəra²
ni¹rum²
NMLZ-that
lumto
up.side.people
this
this
1P
kəra²
i¹-ʃut³-i¹-wan³-to²
this
NMLZ-pierce-nmlz-cut-PAST.3
Lit. „Then, Lumto upside people this we this piercing cutting‟
„With the whole of Lumto, there was piercing and cutting.‟
10.
i¹-kəra²
ning²kan²
na²
ni¹rum²-raʔ³
kəra²
ʃa¹rum³
NMLZ-that
cause
at
1P-ERG
that
3P
rum³
ka¹-to²
kəra²
three
go-PAST.3
that
kəra²
mi²
ʃa¹
that
person hundred
be²yaŋ²
wan³-o²-to²
all
cut-COMP-PAST.3P
Lit. „That why at (this is why), we that them that person three hundred went
(came), that all cut (killed)‟
„That is why, we killed all the three hundred of them who came.‟
116
11.
Ø
be²yaŋ²
lan²-o²-t-o²
SUBJ
all
kill-COMP-PAST-3P
Lit. „(They) all killed.‟
„(They) were all killed.‟
12.
i¹-kaʔ³
[kəra²
for
NMLZ-that
that
ma²-raʔ
miʔ³-toʔ³
noʔ³
i¹
be²]
avenge for-ERG
NEG-pay
can
1P
emph
[i¹-kəra²kaʔ³
hit³
ma²]PRECLAUSE
NMLZ-that
fear
i¹-toʔ³tʃin³
NMLZ-
i¹ka³
[ning²khan²
na²]
[ni¹rum²
kəra²
a²duʔ
then
cause
LOC
1P
that
down side
a²sam² muŋ²
duʔ³
ka¹-o²-ti²]
assam:country
down side
go-COMP-PAST:1
Lit. „Then, due to fear of that revenge, we could not pay, then because of
that, we came downside to the Assan country.‟
„Due to fear of revenge, since we could not repay (for the killing of the three
hundred people), and so that is why we came down to Assam.‟
117
13.
i¹kəjuk³
kəra²
tʃoŋ²
kuʔ³-laŋ¹
all this
that
tell
give-NPAST:1S that
Assam
yaʔ³
kəra²
ha²-ti²
kam²maʔ³
məna² a²piu²
country at
that
stay-PAST.1
time
PART
a²liu²
ba²
ha²-ti²
ni¹rum²
muŋ²kaŋ² gaʔ³
joy.EUPH
only
stay-PAST.1
1P
world
muŋ²
i¹kəma²
a²sam²
joy
village
a¹ya²
ha²-ti²
kəma²
kəra²
man²pan³
wa¹tʃi¹
here
stay-PAST.1
like that
that
story
one
a²ha² i¹-kə¹ra²
man²pan³
kə¹ra² me²ke²
man²pan³
have
story
that
what
story
NMLZ-that
wan²-to²-wa²
ŋo¹
din²
nin²
i¹-kəra²
COS-PAST.3-RL
say
if
EUPH
NMLZ-that
tʃoŋ²
kuʔ³
paŋ¹
tell
give
let.1S
Lit. „all this that tell give that Assam country at that stayed time joyfully only
stayed we world here stayed like that, that story one is that story that what
story caused say if then tell give I‟
„All this that I am telling, the time that we are staying in Assam being
joyful, we staying in this world, the one story, that story, whatever it
is, I told you.‟
118
THE MONKEY STORY
1.
woi²raŋ²-wa¹
ŋo¹
woirang-CL.M say
ra²
kəra²
jok³wi²
wa¹tʃi¹
rə-to²
SEQ
that
monkey
one
BE-PAST.3
Lit. „Woirang say, that one monkey, was‟
„The one called Woirang Father was a monkey.‟
2.
ni¹rum²
ti²
ni²-wa¹
i¹kəra²
maʔ³
man²pan³
1p
grandfather
two-CL.M
NMLZ-that
from
story
kəra²
woi²raŋ²-wa¹-raʔ³
kəra²
woi²raŋ²-wa¹
ŋo¹-ti²
that
Woirang-CL.M-ERG
that
Woirang-CL.M
say-PAST
kəra²
pin²tʃoŋ²
ta¹
ha²to²
ŋo¹
that
tree
upside
stay-PAST.3
say:RSP
Lit. „Our grandfather two that from story that Woirang that Woirang said that
tree upside stayed say‟
„From the story of our grandfathers, the Woirang, the one called Woirang,
was staying in the top of the tree, it is said.‟
3.
kəra²] he¹
kəra²
kəra²
upside stay BE
that
crab
that
e
woi²raŋ²- wa¹
lei
a²mətʃu¹
məna²
EXCL
Woirang- CL.M
VOC
now
PART
[pin²tʃoŋ²
ta¹
tree
ha²
rə
that
mo¹-raʔ³
i¹-kəra²
pin²tʃoŋ²
kəra²
kə¹tə¹wa²
2S-ERG
NMLZ-that
tree
that
from
kəra²
dat³
tʃit³
paŋ¹
ŋo¹
kuʔ³-ra²]S2
fall
CAUS
let.1S say
a²
si¹ri¹
HESIT
gourd that
give-SEQ
Lit. „Tree upside stay be that, crab that, “Oh Woirang, now you that tree that
from
that gourd that fall say giving‟
„While staying in the tree, (said) “Hey, crab, now, I have said that I will make
the siri fruit fall down the tree for you”.‟
119
4.
ŋa¹-raʔ³
miʔ³
a
ŋa¹-raʔ³
miʔ³-ŋut³-laŋ¹ be²
1S-ERG
NEG
HESIT
1S-ERG
NEG-able-1S
NEG:EMPH
Lit. „I, hesitate! I not able do‟
„I am not able to do it.‟
5.
i¹-kəra²
re²ka¹
kə¹kəra²
ba²
ma²-ŋut³
ŋo¹-rəʔ³
NMLZ-that
squirrel
that
only
IRR-able-Ø
say-PART
Lit. „That squirrel that only will able say‟
"The squirrel only will be able to do it," he said.
6.
[i¹-kəra²
re²ka¹
kəra²
i¹-kəra²]
Ø
NMLZ-that
squirrel
that
NMLZ-that
3.SUBJ fruit-CL
[pe¹ka¹-tuʔ³
i¹-kəra²]
[pin²ʃɔŋ²
ta¹]
dat³
tʃit³-wan²-to²
NMLZ-that
tree
upside
fall
CAUS-COS-PAST.3
Lit. „Then the squirrel, (it) that pe¹ka¹ fruit up in that tree dropped.‟
„And the squirrel dropped down a fruit from the tree.‟
7.
[dat³
tʃit³-wan²-rə
kəra²]SC
fall
CAUS-COS-BE
that
[i¹-kəra²
pe¹ka¹-tuʔ³
NMLZ-that
fruit-CL
dat³-rə- kəra²]SC Ø
[βɔk³ŋi¹
rup³
kə¹duʔ³
teʔ³]
fall-BE-that
[wild.pig
nest
upside
hit]
SUBJ
Lit. „Fall (drop) cause that, that fruit, fall on pig‟s nest and hit‟
„And dropping it down, having dropped, it hit a pig‟s nest.‟
8.
βɔk³ŋi¹
rup³=na²
teʔ³-ra²
βɔk³ŋi¹
kəra²
joʔ³-ra²
wild pig
nest=at
hit-SEQ
wild pig
that
run-SEQ
nap³kum² kətʃoŋ²
leʔ³
wild banana
push
Lit. „Wild pig nest at hit wild pig that run wild banana push‟
„And having hit in the pig's nest, the pig having run out, pushed a wild
banana tree.‟
120
9.
[nap³kum² kətʃoŋ²
leʔ³-ra²
kə:maʔ ³
kəra²] nap³kum² kətʃoŋ²
wild
banana
push-SEQ
that:from
that
kəra²wa²
kəra²
pak³seʔ ³
ha²-to²
ŋo¹
from
that
bat
stay-PAST.3
say:RSP
wild banana
Lit. „Wild banana push that from that wild banana from (in) that bat
stayed, say‟
„And having pushed the wild banana, the bat stayed in the wild banana tree
there, it is said.‟
10.
pak³se³
kəra²
i¹-pu³
rə²-o²-to²
bat
that
NMLZ-fly
be-COMP-PAST:3
Lit. „Bat that flying was.‟
„That bat was flying.‟
11.
[kəra² ma²
Ø-pu³
rə
kəra²]
pak³seʔ³
ka¹-o²-to²
then
NMLZ-fly
be
that
bat
go-COMP-PAST:3
for
Lit. „Then for flying be that bat went‟
„After flying away, that bat went.‟
12.
Ø
boʔ³le²= Ø
na³ki²=na²
nup³-to²
ŋo¹
SUBJ
elephant
ear=at
enter-PAST:3S say
Lit. „Elephant ear at enetred say‟
„It entered into an elephant‟s ear, it is said.‟
13.
a
boʔ³le²
kəra²
i¹-koʔ³-ra²
me²ke²
rə-to²
ŋa¹
HESIT
elephant
that
NMLZ-cry-SEQ
what
BE-PAST.3
1S
wa²
ŋo¹-ra²
RL
say-SEQ
Lit. „Ah! Elephant that crying what happened‟
„Ah! The elephant having cried out, "Eh what is happening to me".‟
121
14.
i¹-kə=maʔ³
kəra²
tʃoŋ²-wan²-to²-nə
kəra²
me²ke² tu²
NMLZ-that:from
that
tell-COS-PAST:3-PART
that
what:2S.PAST
wa²
ŋa¹
RL
1S
Lit. „Then that caused to tell, that what happened, say‟
„Then, having told that, "what has happened to me.‟
15.
ŋa¹
heʔ³tʃin²= Ø
kəkəra²
nap³kum² kətʃoŋ²
kaʔ³
je³-ra²
1s
nest
that
wild banana
this
fell-SEQ
ŋo¹-ra²
say-SEQ
Lit. „My nest that wild banana this fell, say‟
„“My nest in the wild banana being destroyed”, having spoken.‟
16.
nap³kum² kətʃoŋ²
me²ke²
ŋo¹ra²
je³to²
wa²
wild banana
what
say-SEQ
fall-PAST.3
RL
ŋo¹ra²
wit³
waŋ²
say-SEQ
ask
go up
Lit. „Wild banana what say fell that say ask go up‟
„And he went up to ask, "why was this wild banana fallen down?"‟
17.
wit³
waŋ²
ask
go.up after-SEQ
ko²-ra²
kəra²
e
that
EXCL
[ŋa¹
heʔ³tʃin²
1.POSS nest
nap³kum²
kətʃoŋ²
kə¹
je³-to²
wild
banana
that
fall-PAST.3
kəra²]
that
Lit. „Ask go up after, that, eh! my nest that wild banana that fell‟
„After asking to go up, my nest in the wild banana fell.‟
18.
[nap³kum² kətʃoŋ²
kə¹]
me²ke² ŋo¹-ra²
je³-tu²
wa²
wild banana
that
what
fall-2S:PAST
RL
say-SEQ
Lit. „Wild banana that, what say, fell?‟
„Oh wild banana, why did you fall?‟
122
19.
ŋa¹
βɔk³ŋi¹ -ra²
leʔ³-rə
ŋo¹-ra²
1s
wild.pig-ERG
push-BE
say-SEQ
Lit. „Me, wild pig push be saying.‟
„The wild pig pushed me, it is said.‟
20.
βɔk³ŋi¹
mo¹
me²ke² ŋo¹
taʔ³
wild pig
2S
what
PART
say
Lit „Wild pig, you what say?.‟
„Oh wild pig, what did you say?‟
21.
nap³kum² kətʃoŋ²
ŋoʔ³-tu²
wa²
wild banana
break-PAST.2S
RL
Lit. „Wild banana broke that‟
You broke the wild banana.
22.
i¹-kəra²
NMLZ-
that
βɔk³ŋi¹
kəkəra²
ŋa¹
wild.pig
that
1.POSS nest=at
dat³-rə
ŋo¹-ra²
fall-BE
say-SEQ
rup³=na²
pe¹ka¹-tuʔ³
fruit-CL
Lit. „Eh (gosh)! That wild pig that my nest in fruit fall, say‟
„Gosh! And that pig said, a Peka fruit fell on my nest.‟
23.
pe¹ka¹tuʔ³
mo²
me²ke²
ŋo¹-ra²
dat³-tu²
wa²
peka-CL
2S
what
say-SEQ
fall-PAST.2S
RL
Lit. „Peka fruit you what say fell that‟
Ah, Peka fruit why did you fall?
24.
ŋa¹
re²ka¹
kəra²
tʃum³
pak³ra²
1S
squirrel
that
into pieces
cut-SEQ
Lit. „Me squirrel that into pieces cut‟
he squirrel having cut me off into pieces.
T
123
25.
re²ka¹
mo²
me²ke² ŋo¹ra²
tʃum³
pak³-tu²
squirrel
2S
what
into pieces
cut-PAST.2S
say-SEQ
wa²
pe¹ka¹tuʔ³
kəra²
RL
peka-CL
that
Lit. „Squirrel you what say into pieces cut that Peka fruit that‟
„S
quirrel, and why did you break the branch?‟
26.
he¹we²ku²-raʔ³
sə¹nuk³-ra²
crab.F-ERG
order-SEQ
Lit. „Crab order‟
’The crab ordered.‟
27.
he¹we²ku²
kəra²
me²ke² ŋo¹-ra²
sə¹nuk³-tu²
wa²
crab.F
that
what
order-2S.PAST
RL
say-SEQ
Lit. That female crab, what say, ordered?‟
„Oh female crab, what did you order?‟
28.
me²ke² me²ke²
ŋo¹-ra²-tu² -wa²
ŋo¹-ra²
what
say-SEQ-PAST.2S-CL
say-SEQ
what
Lit. „What what said say‟
„Why was your need to say like that?‟
29.
[ekəra²
he¹we²ku²]QUOTATIVE
[kəra²
woi²raŋ²-wa¹-raʔ³
EXCL
crab.F
that
Woirang-CL.M-ERG
a
kəra²
Ø
tʃum³
HESIT
this
(3.OBJ) into pieces
pak³
ka¹-laʔ³] SPEECH COMPLEMNT
cut
go-IMPV
[ŋo¹]POSTCLAUSE …
say:RSP
Lit. „Eh! Crab this Woirang… this stem into pieces cut go, say‟
„Eh, the crab (said), “That Woirang is going and cutting the (stem) into
pieces, he said.‟
124
30.
i¹ra² ŋa¹
kəʔ³ kəra²
pe¹ka¹tuʔ³
kəra² tʃum³
that 1S
that that
peka-CL
that
into pieces
pak³-o²-taŋ²
cut-COMP-PAST.1
Lit. „That I that that Peka fruit that into pieces cut‟
„T
hus, I cut the stem of that peka fruit away.‟
31.
i¹kəra² -re²
re²ka¹
kaʔ³
jak³
na²
ka¹-o²-to²
then
squirrel
that
hand
LOC
go-COMP-PAST:3
Lit. Then, squirrel that on hand, went.
„And , that squirrel took it away in the hand.‟
32.
kəra² nə
re²ka¹
squirrel that PART
kəra² pe¹ka¹tuʔ³
kaʔ³
tʃum³
pak³-rə
that
peka-CL
that
into pieces
cut-SEQ
kəra²
i¹kəra²
wak³ŋi¹
rup³=na²
dat³-rə kaʔ³
that
NMLZ-that
wild pig
nest=at
fall-be that
βɔk³ŋi¹
kaʔ³
joʔ³
tʃit³
kəra²
wild pig
that
run
fall
that
Lit. „Squirrel that that Peka fruit that into pieces cut that then wild pig nest
at fall that wild pig that run fall that‟
„The squirrel havng cut it, dropped it on the pig's nest and made the pig to
run away.‟
33.
man²pan³
kaʔ³
wa¹tʃi¹
story
that
one
Lit. „story that one‟
„One story is done.‟
125
THE TWO SISTERS
1.
i¹-kəma²
wa¹tʃi¹ kəra²
me²ke²
ma²
rə¹
NMLZ-that
one
what
for
be
that
Lit. „Then one that what for be‟
„A
fter that one, what will happen?‟
2.
sa¹na¹ ni²
e
kam²
a²-go¹
sister two
EXCL
water
NEG-have
Lit. „Sister two, eh! water not have‟
„Two sisters had no water.‟
3.
tʃa²
i²-po²-ra²
kam²
3.POSS-mother-ERG
water fetch
ka¹-laʔ³
ŋo²-ra²
go-IMPV
say-SEQ
Lit. „Their mother water fetch going say‟
„Their mother said, „Go and fetch water‟.‟
4.
kəra²
sa¹na¹ ni²
kəra²
Ø
that
sister two
that
3.SUBJ water fetch
kam²
tʃa²
keʔ³-ka¹-to²
ŋo¹
NMLZ-go-PAST:3
say:RSP
Lit. „That two sister that, (there) water fetch going, say‟
„As for those two sisters, there going to fetch water is said.‟
5.
kam²
tʃa²
water fetch
ka¹
kəra²
kam²
kəra²
go
that
water that
boʔ³
nun²
mud
mix
Lit. „Water fetch go that water that mud mix‟
„H
aving gone to get water, it was muddy water, mixed up with mud.‟
6.
boʔ³
nun²
kəra²
mɛ²ke²
ŋo¹-ra²
nun²-to²
wa²
mud
mix
that
what
say-SEQ
mix-PAST.3
RL
Lit. „Mud mix that what saying mix‟
„Why was the water muddy?‟
126
7.
o
βak²
ŋi¹-ra²
we²-ra²
jo²
EXCL
pig
wild-ERG
move.side.to.side-SEQ
water water
tʃe¹
ta¹
jo²
emerge upside
Lit. „Oh wild pig, moving side to side water water emerge‟
„O
h, the wild pig, thrashing where the river spring emerges.‟
8.
jo²
tʃe¹
water emerge
ta¹-ra²
βak²
ŋi¹
mo¹-ra²
mɛ²ke²
upside-SEQ
pig
wild
2S-ERG
what
ŋo¹-ra²
we²-tu²
wa²
say-SEQ
move.side.to.side-PAST.2S
RL
Lit. „Water emerge upside wild pig you what say move side to side
(thrashed)‟
„And pig, why were you thrashing about at the place where the river spring
emerges?‟
9.
e
ʃaʔ³-ra²
jun²-ra²
ŋa¹
kəra²
EXCL
tiger-ERG
chase-SEQ
1S
that
Lit. „Eh! tiger chase me that‟
„Ah, the tiger was chasing me.‟
10.
ʃaʔ-ra²
jun²-ra²
i¹-ne²-ra²
ŋa¹
kəra²
jo²
tiger-ERG
chase-SEQ
NMLZ-tired-ERG
1S
that
water
ŋa¹
kəra²
kam²
tʃe¹=na²
a
we²-ra²
emerge=at
HESIT
move.side.to.side-SEQ 1S
that
water
nin¹rak
a
kəra²
jo²
wa²
rəbo²-ra²
thirsty
HESIT
that
water emerge
RL
be-SEQ
tʃe¹
Lit. „Tiger chase tiring me that water emerge at, ah! move side by side
(thrashed) I that water thirsty, ah! that water emerge be‟
„And because the tiger was chasing me, I was tired, so I thrashed about in
the water because I was thirsty, so the water became muddy.‟
127
11.
ŋo³-ra²
ŋo³-ra²
i¹kəra²
tʃɔŋ²-wan²-to²
say-SEQ
say-SEQ
NMLZ-that
tell-COS-PAST
Lit. „Say say then told‟
„And saying, he then told like that.‟
12.
i¹-kə
niŋ²kan² =na² kəra²
i¹-kə
sa¹na² ni¹
kəra²
NMLZ-that
caus=at
NMLZ-that
sister two
that
that
kam² tʃa
ka¹-ra²
kəra²
i¹po²-ra²
kəra²
me²kɛ²
water
go-SEQ
that
mother-ERG
that
what
ŋo²-ra²
boʔ³
nun²
kam²
kəra²
say-SEQ
mud
mix
water that
tʃa²-wan²-tan²
tell-COS-PAST:2P
Lit. „That cause that those two sisters that water go that mother that what say
mud mix water that told‟
„And because of that, those two sisters, having gone to fetch water, their
mother said why was the water that you went to fetch muddy?‟
13.
e
boʔ³
nun²
niŋ²kan²=na² kəra² boʔ³
nun²=na²
kəra²
EXCL
mud
mix
caus =at
mud
mix=at
that
jo²
ki¹-ra²
miʔ³-re²
ŋut³
i²
a²po²
river
clean-SEQ
NEG-search
able
1P
mother VOC
that
le³
Lit. „Eh mud mix cause that mud mix at that river cleaning not search able
we mother‟
„Eh, because that was muddy, we could not search for clean water, oh
mother.‟
14.
a²mətʃu¹
məna
a²po²
le³
nak³
rin¹
now
also
mother
VOC
PROH
heart PROH
Lit. „Now also mother not heart not‟
„Now, mother, do not be discouraged.‟
128
ka³
kə
PRT
15.
i¹-kəra²
boʔ³
nun²
kam²
tʃa¹-wan²-ti²
kəra²
he²
maʔ³
NMLZ-that
mud
mix
water fetch-COS-1P
that
slow
with
he²
maʔ³
i¹-ki¹
ma²-rə-wan²
ŋo¹-ra²
i²pi²
slow
with
NMLZ-clear
FUT-be-COS
say-SEQ
3S
po²
maʔ³
tʃɔŋ²
ŋo²-to²
ŋo²
mother
from
tell
say-PAST.2
say:RSP
Lit. „Then mud mix water fetch that slow with slow with cleaning will say he
mother from tell say say‟
„Although we fetched muddy water, slowly, slowly it will settle down, they
said to their mother.‟
16.
i¹-kəra²
i²po²
i²wa²-ra²
mɛ²ke²
ma²-rə
du³
NMLZ-that
mother
father-ERG
what
FUT-be
PRT
Lit. „Then mother father what will be‟
And then, father and mother are (saying) „what will happen?‟
129
APPENDIX B
TANGSA AGREEMENT SYSTEM14
130
14
Morey (2017, p. 16).
130
RESUME
Name:
Dipjyoti Goswami
Date of Birth:
04 November 1989
Place of Birth:
Assam, India
Institutions Attended:
2007-2010, Bachelor of English, Nirmal Haloi College,
Assam, India.
2010-2012, Master of Arts in Linguistics, Gauhati
University, Assam, India.
2015-2017, Master of Arts in Linguistics, Payap
University, Chiang Mai, Thailand.
131