A grammar of Japhug
Guillaume Jacques
language science
Comprehensive Grammar Library 1
Editor: Martin Haspelmath In this series:
1. Jacques, Guillaume. A grammar of Japhug.
This series grew out of the grammars published inStudies in Diversity Linguistics, which are proudly mentioned:
4. Berghäll, Liisa. A grammar of Mauwake.
5. Wilbur, Joshua. A grammar of Pite Saami.
7. Schackow, Diana. A grammar of Yakkha.
8. Liljegren, Henrik. A grammar of Palula.
9. Shimelman, Aviva. A grammar of Yauyos Quechua.
11. Kluge, Angela. A grammar of Papuan Malay.
12. Kieviet, Paulus. A grammar of Rapa Nui.
22. Döhler, Christian. A grammar of Komnzo.
23. Yakpo, Kofi. A grammar of Pichi.
A grammar of Japhug
Guillaume Jacques
language science
Library 1). Berlin: Language Science Press.
This title can be downloaded at:
http://langsci-press.org/catalog/book/295
© 2021, Guillaume Jacques
Published under the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 Licence (CC BY 4.0):
http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/
ISBN: 978-3-96110-305-8 (Digital) 978-3-98554-001-3 (Hardcover) DOI: 10.5281/zenodo.4548232
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题献给爱妻米哈
Acknowledgments xxiii
Abbreviations xxv
1 Introduction 1
1.1 The Japhug language . . . 1
1.2 The Japhug corpus . . . 2
1.3 Structure of the grammar . . . 4
1.4 Language and culture . . . 4
2 A grammatical sketch 7 2.1 Phonology and word structure . . . 7
2.2 Parts of speech . . . 8
2.3 Nominal morphology . . . 9
2.3.1 Non-attested nominal morphological categories . . . 9
2.3.2 Number . . . 9
2.3.3 Case marking . . . 11
2.3.4 Possession . . . 12
2.3.5 Compounding . . . 15
2.3.6 Derivations . . . 15
2.4 Verbal morphology . . . 16
2.4.1 Overview . . . 16
2.4.2 Indexation . . . 17
2.4.3 Orientation preverbs and TAME . . . 21
2.4.4 Non-finite verb forms . . . 24
2.4.5 Associated motion . . . 28
2.4.6 Voice . . . 28
2.4.7 Denominal derivations . . . 33
2.5 Core and oblique arguments . . . 33
2.5.1 Neutral alignment . . . 34
2.5.2 Nominative-accusative alignment . . . 34
2.5.3 Subjecthood . . . 34
2.5.4 Objecthood . . . 35
2.5.5 Absolutive-ergative alignment . . . 36
2.5.6 Ditransitive verbs . . . 37
2.6 Word order . . . 37
2.7 Subordination . . . 38
2.7.1 Relative clauses . . . 38
2.7.2 Complement clauses . . . 38
2.7.3 Other subordinate clauses . . . 39
2.8 Remarkable features . . . 41
2.8.1 Consonant clusters . . . 41
2.8.2 Direct-inverse . . . 41
2.8.3 Inflectionalization . . . 42
2.8.4 Prefixal chain . . . 42
2.8.5 Hybrid indirect speech . . . 43
2.8.6 The expression of degree and comparison . . . 44
2.8.7 Japhug morphology and Trans-Himalayan comparative linguistics . . . 45
3 Phonology 47 3.1 Introduction . . . 47
3.2 Consonants . . . 47
3.2.1 Onsets . . . 47
3.2.2 Codas . . . 50
3.3 Vowels and rhymes . . . 52
3.3.1 Vowels . . . 52
3.3.2 Rhymes . . . 54
3.3.3 Historical phonology . . . 55
3.4 Syllabic constraints . . . 57
3.4.1 Rhotic dissimilation . . . 57
3.4.2 Uvular harmony . . . 58
3.5 Neutralization, quasi-neutralization and free variation . . . 59
3.5.1 The contrast between/-oŋ/and/-aŋ/ . . . 59
3.5.2 The contrast between/ɯ/and/i/after palatal and alveolo-palatal consonants . . . 60
3.5.3 The contrast between/ɤ/and/e/after palatal and alveolo-palatal consonants . . . 65
3.5.4 The contrast between/ɤ/and/a/. . . 65
3.6 Speech errors and self-corrections . . . 66
3.7 Suprasegmentals . . . 68
3.8 Word structure . . . 68
3.8.1 Wordhood . . . 68
3.8.2 Non-final syllables . . . 70
4 Consonant clusters and partial reduplication 71 4.1 Partial Reduplication . . . 71
4.2 Inventory of consonant clusters . . . 72
4.2.1 Preinitials . . . 72
4.2.2 Medials . . . 87
4.2.3 Summary . . . 99
4.3 Sandhi . . . 104
4.4 Tibetan script-based orthography . . . 105
5 Nominal morphology 107 5.1 Possessive prefixes . . . 107
5.1.1 Possessive paradigm . . . 107
5.1.2 Inalienably possessed nouns . . . 114
5.1.3 Indefinite vs. generic possessor . . . 132
5.1.4 Prenominal modifiers . . . 135
5.2 Unpossessible nouns . . . 137
5.2.1 Place names . . . 137
5.2.2 Colour nouns . . . 140
5.2.3 Other unpossessible nouns . . . 141
5.3 Personal names . . . 142
5.3.1 Vocative . . . 142
5.3.2 Tibetan names . . . 143
5.3.3 Alienably possessed or unpossessible nouns? . . . 144
5.3.4 Personal names and modifiers . . . 145
5.4 Bound state . . . 147
5.4.1 Vowel alternations in non-final members of compounds 147 5.4.2 Other alternations . . . 148
5.4.3 Final member of compounds . . . 151
5.5 Compound nouns . . . 153
5.5.1 Noun-Noun compounds . . . 153
5.5.2 Verb-Verb compounds . . . 156
5.5.3 Noun-Ideophone compounds . . . 158
5.5.4 Adverb-Verb compounds . . . 158
5.5.5 Noun-Verb compounds . . . 159
5.5.6 Verb-Noun compounds . . . 166
5.6 Noun class prefixes . . . 167
5.6.1 Uvular animal name prefix . . . 167
5.6.2 Velar animal name prefix . . . 167
5.6.3 Uvular plant name prefix . . . 169
5.6.4 Other uses of the uvular class prefix . . . 169
5.6.5 Body part noun prefixes . . . 169
5.7 Nominal derivations . . . 169
5.7.1 Privative . . . 170
5.7.2 Relative location . . . 171
5.7.3 Diminutive . . . 171
5.7.4 Augmentative . . . 173
5.7.5 Derogatory . . . 173
5.7.6 Gentilic . . . 173
5.7.7 Gender . . . 174
5.7.8 Collective . . . 174
5.7.9 Superlative . . . 182
5.7.10 Unattested derivations . . . 183
5.8 Denominal adverbs and postpositions . . . 183
5.8.1 Comitative adverbs . . . 183
5.8.2 Reduplicated perlative . . . 187
5.8.3 -zsuffix . . . 187
5.8.4 s-prefix . . . 187
6 Pronouns 189 6.1 Personal pronouns . . . 189
6.1.1 Honorific plural . . . 191
6.1.2 Personal pronouns as possessive markers . . . 192
6.2 Generic pronouns . . . 192
6.2.1 tɯʑo‘one’ . . . 192
6.2.2 The generic nountɯrme‘person’ . . . 194
6.3 Genitive forms . . . 195
6.4 The emphatic use of pronouns . . . 197
6.5 Interrogative pronouns . . . 198
6.5.1 tɕʰi‘what’ . . . 198
6.5.2 ɕɯ‘who’ . . . 203
6.5.3 tʰɤstɯɣ‘how many’ andtʰɤjtɕu‘when’ . . . 204
6.5.4 ŋotɕu‘where’ . . . 206
6.6 Indefinite pronouns . . . 208
6.6.1 ci‘someone’ . . . 209
6.6.2 tʰɯci‘something’ . . . 210
6.6.3 tsʰitsuku‘whatever’ . . . 213
6.6.4 ɕɯmɤɕɯ‘whoever, anybody’ . . . 214
6.6.5 ciscʰiz‘somewhere’ . . . 214
6.6.6 Interrogative pronouns used as free-choice indefinites . 215 6.7 Quantifiers . . . 217
6.7.1 Universal quantifiers . . . 217
6.7.2 Partitive pronouns . . . 218
6.7.3 Distributive pronouns . . . 219
6.8 Identity pronoun . . . 220
6.9 Demonstrative pronouns . . . 223
6.9.1 Anaphoric demonstrative pronouns . . . 223
6.9.2 Medial and cataphoric pronoun . . . 226
6.9.3 Locative forms of the demonstrative pronouns . . . 228
7 Numerals and counted nouns 233 7.1 Plain numerals . . . 233
7.1.1 Numerals 1-10 . . . 233
7.1.2 Tens . . . 235
7.1.3 Numerals 11-19 and units . . . 235
7.1.4 Hundred and above . . . 237
7.1.5 Ordinals . . . 238
7.1.6 Tibetan and Chinese numerals . . . 240
7.1.7 Use of the numerals . . . 243
7.2 Approximate numerals . . . 244
7.3 Counted nouns . . . 247
7.3.1 Numeral prefixes . . . 248
7.3.2 Counted nouns in quantifying function . . . 258
7.3.3 Counted nouns and semantic classes . . . 268
7.3.4 Counted nouns and other parts of speech . . . 270
7.4 Measures . . . 276
7.5 Counting time . . . 279
7.5.1 Temporal counted nouns . . . 279
7.5.2 Time ordinals . . . 281
7.5.3 Other derived time adverbs . . . 287
7.5.4 Clock time . . . 287
7.6 Basic arithmetic operations . . . 289
7.6.1 Fractions . . . 290
8 Postpositions and relator nouns 293
8.1 Absolutive . . . 293
8.1.1 Intransitive subject . . . 293
8.1.2 Transitive subject . . . 294
8.1.3 Object . . . 294
8.1.4 Sole argument of predicates of natural forces . . . 295
8.1.5 Semi-object . . . 296
8.1.6 Theme . . . 297
8.1.7 Essive . . . 298
8.1.8 Goal . . . 302
8.1.9 Location . . . 302
8.2 Postpositions . . . 303
8.2.1 Independent words vs. clitics . . . 303
8.2.2 Ergative . . . 304
8.2.3 Genitive . . . 313
8.2.4 Locative . . . 323
8.2.5 Comitative . . . 331
8.2.6 Additive . . . 333
8.2.7 Standard marker . . . 334
8.2.8 Exceptive . . . 336
8.2.9 Terminative . . . 337
8.2.10 Egressive . . . 338
8.2.11 Other temporal postpositions . . . 340
8.3 Relator nouns . . . 344
8.3.1 Dative . . . 345
8.3.2 Secutive . . . 348
8.3.3 Deputative . . . 349
8.3.4 Locative relator nouns . . . 351
8.3.5 Temporal relator nouns . . . 361
8.3.6 Semi-grammaticalized relator nouns . . . 363
9 The noun phrase 367 9.1 Noun modifiers and determiners . . . 367
9.1.1 Number . . . 367
9.1.2 Demonstratives . . . 374
9.1.3 Quantifiers . . . 380
9.1.4 Indefinite and definite markers . . . 387
9.1.5 Topic markers . . . 392
9.1.6 Focus markers . . . 400
9.1.7 Identity modifiers . . . 412
9.1.8 Attributes . . . 414
9.2 Noun coordination . . . 420
9.2.1 Coordination or embedded phrase . . . 420
9.2.2 Bare coordination . . . 421
9.2.3 Disjunction . . . 424
9.3 Word order in the noun phrase . . . 425
10 Expressive words and sentence final particles 427 10.1 Ideophones . . . 427
10.1.1 Ideophonic stem morphology . . . 427
10.1.2 Regular derivations . . . 428
10.1.3 Semantic categories . . . 435
10.1.4 Irregularities . . . 436
10.1.5 The phonology of ideophonic roots . . . 438
10.1.6 The genesis of ideophones . . . 442
10.1.7 Syntax of ideophones . . . 445
10.1.8 Discourse function . . . 450
10.2 Other expressive words . . . 451
10.2.1 Interjections . . . 451
10.2.2 Calling and chasing sounds . . . 454
10.2.3 Deonomatopoeic expressive nouns . . . 456
10.3 Speech fillers . . . 457
10.4 Sentence final particles . . . 458
10.4.1 Particles used in commands . . . 458
10.4.2 Particles used in polar questions . . . 460
10.4.3 Hearsay particle . . . 463
10.4.4 Particles expressing epistemic modality . . . 464
10.4.5 Particules expressing speaker attitude . . . 468
11 The structure of the Japhug verb 471 11.1 Introduction . . . 471
11.2 The prefixal chain . . . 471
11.2.1 Outer prefixes . . . 471
11.2.2 Inner prefixes . . . 474
11.2.3 Stress . . . 476
11.2.4 Phonotactic constraints . . . 476
11.3 The suffixal chain . . . 477
11.4 The peg circumfix . . . 479
11.4.1 Morphology . . . 479
11.4.2 Optionality of the suffixal element . . . 480
11.4.3 Functions of the peg circumfix . . . 480
11.5 Templatic vs. layered morphology . . . 483
11.6 Wordhood . . . 484
11.6.1 Criteria for wordhood . . . 484
11.6.2 Enclitics . . . 485
11.6.3 Bipartite verbs . . . 487
12 Non-concatenative verbal morphology 493 12.1 Onset alternations . . . 493
12.2 Stem alternations . . . 493
12.2.1 Stem II . . . 494
12.2.2 Stem III . . . 495
12.2.3 Frozen-tsuffix . . . 498
12.3 Vowel contraction . . . 499
12.4 Partial reduplication in verbal morphology . . . 502
12.4.1 Initial reduplication . . . 502
12.4.2 Verb stem reduplication as secondary exponence . . . . 508
12.4.3 Emphatic reduplication . . . 510
13 Negation 513 13.1 Negative prefixes . . . 513
13.1.1 Allomorphy . . . 513
13.1.2 Suppletive negative verbs . . . 515
13.1.3 Verbs requiring the negative prefixes . . . 516
13.1.4 Lexicalized negation . . . 517
13.2 Periphrastic negation . . . 518
13.3 Double negation . . . 519
13.4 Negation and parts of speech other than verbs . . . 521
13.4.1 Nouns . . . 521
13.4.2 Pronouns . . . 521
13.4.3 Adverbs . . . 522
14 Person indexation and argument structure 525 14.1 Introduction . . . 525
14.2 Intransitive verbs . . . 525
14.2.1 The intransitive paradigm . . . 525
14.2.2 Irregular intransitive verbs . . . 529
14.2.3 Semi-transitive verbs . . . 530
14.2.4 Intransitive verbs with oblique arguments . . . 534
14.2.5 Semi-transitive verbs with additional oblique arguments 535 14.2.6 Intrinsically non-singular subjects . . . 535
14.2.7 Invariable intransitive verbs . . . 538
14.3 Transitive verbs . . . 540
14.3.1 The morphological marking of transitivity in Japhug . . 540
14.3.2 Polypersonal indexation and direction marking . . . 543
14.3.3 The function of the direct/inverse contrast in non-local configurations . . . 564
14.3.4 Transitive irregular verbs . . . 575
14.3.5 Transitive verbs with dummy subjects . . . 577
14.4 Ditransitive verbs . . . 579
14.4.1 Indirective . . . 579
14.4.2 Secundative . . . 581
14.4.3 Causative of transitive verbs . . . 583
14.4.4 Causative of semi-transitive verbs . . . 586
14.5 Labile verbs . . . 586
14.5.1 Transitive-intransitive labile verbs . . . 586
14.5.2 Transitive-intransitive labile verbs with oblique arguments 593 14.5.3 Semi-transitive labile verbs . . . 594
14.5.4 Ditransitive-monotransitive lability . . . 595
14.6 Additional questions on the generic and number indexation . . 596
14.6.1 Agreement mismatch . . . 596
14.6.2 Generic person vs. 3pl indexation . . . 604
14.7 Person indexation on non-finite predicative words . . . 608
14.7.1 Phatic expressions . . . 608
14.7.2 Exclamative expressions . . . 610
14.8 Historical perspectives . . . 611
14.8.1 Indexation suffixes, pronouns and possessive prefixes . . 612
14.8.2 The inverse prefix . . . 615
14.8.3 The origin of portmanteau prefixes . . . 616
15 Orientation and associated motion 621 15.1 Orientation preverbs . . . 621
15.1.1 Morphology . . . 621
15.1.2 Orientable verbs . . . 632
15.1.3 The tridimensional system . . . 641
15.1.4 Extended uses of orientations . . . 652
15.1.5 Lexicalized orientations . . . 662
15.2 Associated motion . . . 682
15.2.1 AM prefixes: morphology . . . 682
15.2.2 Argument of motion . . . 688
15.2.3 Motion verbs and AM prefixes . . . 690
15.2.4 Orientation and AM . . . 691
15.2.5 Round trips . . . 693
15.2.6 The nature of the motion . . . 694
15.2.7 Goal . . . 696
15.2.8 Echo phenomena . . . 698
15.2.9 The verbru‘fetch, bring’ . . . 701
15.2.10 Associated motion vs. motion verb construction . . . 705
16 Non-finite verbal morphology 713 16.1 Participles . . . 713
16.1.1 Subject participles . . . 714
16.1.2 Object participles . . . 732
16.1.3 Oblique participles . . . 745
16.2 Infinitives . . . 762
16.2.1 Velar infinitives . . . 762
16.2.2 Bare infinitives . . . 774
16.2.3 Dental infinitives . . . 776
16.3 Degree nominals . . . 778
16.3.1 Polarity prefixes . . . 780
16.3.2 Argument structure . . . 780
16.3.3 Nominal predicates . . . 781
16.3.4 Degree construction . . . 782
16.3.5 Complementation . . . 782
16.4 Action nominals and abstract noun . . . 783
16.4.1 tɯ-action nominals . . . 783
16.4.2 tɤ-abstract nouns . . . 784
16.4.3 Simultaneous . . . 787
16.4.4 Denominalization of action nominals . . . 788
16.4.5 Lexicalized action nominals . . . 789
16.4.6 Inalienably possessed bare action nominals . . . 791
16.4.7 Action nominal compounds . . . 794
16.5 Other deverbal nouns . . . 797
16.5.1 Nominalization-zsuffix . . . 797
16.5.2 Nominalizationɣ-/x-prefix . . . 799
16.6 Converbs . . . 800
16.6.1 Gerund . . . 800
16.6.2 Purposive . . . 806
16.6.3 Immediate . . . 808
16.6.4 Adverb from finite verb . . . 810
16.7 Defective verbs . . . 811
16.8 Historical perspectives . . . 811
16.8.1 Velar non-finite prefixes . . . 811
16.8.2 Sigmatic non-finite prefixes . . . 814
16.8.3 Dental non-finite prefixes . . . 815
17 Valency-increasing derivations 819 17.1 Introduction . . . 819
17.2 Sigmatic causative . . . 819
17.2.1 Regular allomorphy . . . 819
17.2.2 Irregular allomorphs . . . 822
17.2.3 Lexicalized sigmatic causatives . . . 828
17.2.4 Morphosyntax . . . 830
17.2.5 Semantics of the causative . . . 838
17.2.6 Stative verbs . . . 846
17.2.7 Recursion . . . 847
17.2.8 Compatibility with other derivations . . . 848
17.3 Velar causative . . . 849
17.3.1 Irregular allomorphs . . . 851
17.3.2 Morphosyntax . . . 853
17.3.3 Semantics . . . 856
17.3.4 Compatibilities with other derivations . . . 858
17.4 Applicative . . . 859
17.4.1 The syntactic and semantic functions of the promoted argument . . . 860
17.4.2 Allomorphy . . . 866
17.4.3 Lexicalized applicatives . . . 866
17.4.4 Applicatives and other derivations . . . 868
17.5 Tropative . . . 868
17.5.1 Allomorphy . . . 870
17.5.2 Past imperfective . . . 870
17.5.3 Lexicalized tropatives . . . 871
17.5.4 Compatibility with other derivations . . . 872
17.5.5 Other tropative constructions . . . 874
18 Valency-decreasing derivations 875 18.1 Passive . . . 875
18.1.1 The interaction of the Passive derivation with Dynamicity and TAME . . . 877
18.1.2 Lexicalized passives . . . 878
18.1.3 Agent demotion . . . 880
18.1.4 Passive from ditransitive verbs . . . 884
18.1.5 Reduplicated passive . . . 884
18.1.6 Compatibility with other derivations . . . 885
18.2 Rogative . . . 887
18.3 Reflexive . . . 888
18.3.1 The reflexive prefix: form and basic function . . . 888
18.3.2 Reflexive vs. anticausative . . . 893
18.3.3 Lexicalized reflexives . . . 895
18.3.4 Reflexive causative . . . 896
18.3.5 Reflexive and autive . . . 900
18.3.6 Reflexive, tropative and applicative . . . 901
18.3.7 Historical origin . . . 902
18.4 Reciprocal . . . 903
18.4.1 Reduplicated reciprocal . . . 903
18.4.2 Reciprocalamɯ-prefix . . . 910
18.4.3 Reciprocalandʑɯ-prefix . . . 915
18.4.4 Verbs of co-participation . . . 915
18.5 Anticausative . . . 916
18.5.1 Morphology . . . 916
18.5.2 Function . . . 920
18.5.3 Anticausative and dummy subject constructions . . . . 922
18.5.4 Collocation . . . 923
18.5.5 Volitionality . . . 924
18.5.6 Compatibility with other derivations . . . 926
18.5.7 Other cases of voicing alternation . . . 929
18.6 Antipassive . . . 929
18.6.1 rɤ-antipassive . . . 929
18.6.2 sɤ-antipassive . . . 933
18.6.3 Lexicalized antipassive . . . 934
18.6.4 Antipassive forms of ditransitive verbs . . . 936
18.6.5 Reduplicated antipassive . . . 939
18.6.6 Antipassive and past imperfective . . . 940
18.6.7 The uses of the antipassive derivations . . . 941
18.6.8 Other strategies used to express indefinite patients . . . 946
18.6.9 Compatibility with other derivations . . . 948
18.7 Distributed property . . . 950
18.8 Proprietive . . . 953
18.8.1 Allomorphy . . . 955
18.8.2 Proprietive derivation and generic marking . . . 955
18.8.3 Proprietive derivations from semi-transitive verbs . . . 957
18.8.4 Proprietive derivations from transitive verbs . . . 958
18.8.5 Lexicalized proprietive . . . 959
18.8.6 Compatibility with other derivations . . . 960
18.8.7 Relationship with other derivations . . . 961
18.9 Facilitative . . . 961
18.9.1 Subject-oriented facilitative . . . 961
18.9.2 Object-oriented facilitative . . . 964
19 Other verbal derivations 967 19.1 Autive . . . 967
19.1.1 The autive prefix and verb transitivity . . . 967
19.1.2 Position in the verbal template and allomorphy . . . 968
19.1.3 Autobenefactive/self-affectedness function . . . 970
19.1.4 Spontaneous function . . . 973
19.1.5 Permansive function . . . 977
19.1.6 Lexicalized autives . . . 979
19.1.7 Historical relationship with other derivations . . . 982
19.2 Vertitive . . . 982
19.3 Abilitative . . . 984
19.3.1 Lexicalized abilitatives . . . 986
19.3.2 Historical origin . . . 986
19.4 Distributed action . . . 987
19.4.1 Lexicalized distributed action verbs . . . 992
19.4.2 Irregular partial reduplication . . . 994
19.4.3 Compatibilities with other derivations . . . 995
19.5 Auto-evaluative . . . 995
19.6 Attenuative reduplication . . . 996
19.7 Fossil affixes and marginal derivations . . . 997
19.7.1 Volitionalmɯ-prefix . . . 997
19.7.2 Applicative-tsuffix . . . 998
19.7.3 Antipassive-tsuffix . . . 1000
19.7.4 Other detransitive prefixes . . . 1002
19.7.5 rɤ-prefix . . . 1002
19.7.6 ɣɯ-/ɣɤ-prefix . . . 1004
19.7.7 a-prefix . . . 1005
19.7.8 Abilitativej-prefix . . . 1006
19.7.9 Prenasalization . . . 1006
19.7.10 Comparative derivation? . . . 1007
19.7.11 Reduplication . . . 1008
19.7.12 Vowel alternation . . . 1009
20 Denominal derivations 1011 20.1 Introduction . . . 1011
20.1.1 Morphological properties of denominal prefixes . . . 1012
20.1.2 Denominal derivations and light verb constructions . . . 1012
20.2 Contracting prefixes . . . 1014
20.2.1 Stativea-. . . 1014
20.2.2 Similativearɯ- . . . 1016
20.2.3 Proprietivearɤ- . . . 1018
20.2.4 Proprietiveaɣɯ-. . . 1019
20.2.5 Collectiveandʑi-. . . 1024
20.3 Sigmatic denominal prefixes . . . 1025
20.3.1 Proprietivesɤ-. . . 1025
20.3.2 Causative/instrumentalsV-. . . 1027
20.4 Rhotic denominal prefixes . . . 1031
20.4.1 Intransitive denominal verbs . . . 1031
20.4.2 Transitive denominal verbs . . . 1034
20.4.3 Pairing with other denominal prefixes . . . 1036
20.5 Velar denominal prefixes . . . 1038
20.5.1 Intransitive denominal verbs . . . 1038
20.5.2 Transitive denominal verbs . . . 1040
20.5.3 Pairing with other denominal prefixes . . . 1042
20.6 Labial nasal denominal prefixes . . . 1043
20.7 Dental nasal denominal prefixes . . . 1046
20.7.1 Intransitive . . . 1046
20.7.2 Transitive . . . 1050
20.7.3 Pairing with other denominal prefixes . . . 1052
20.8 Other denominal verbs . . . 1053
20.8.1 Zero-derivation or backformation? . . . 1053
20.8.2 Vowel alternation . . . 1055
20.9 Deideophonic verbs . . . 1055
20.9.1 ɣɤ-andsɤ-deideophonic verbs . . . 1056
20.9.2 nɯ-deideophonic verbs . . . 1057
20.9.3 a-andnɤ-deideophonc verbs . . . 1058
20.10 The denominal origin of voice prefixes . . . 1059
20.10.1 The origin of therɤ-antipassive prefix . . . 1060
20.10.2 The proprietive and antipassivesɤ-prefixes and their tropative counterpart . . . 1064
20.10.3 Applicative, sigmatic causative and passive . . . 1065
20.11 Loan verbs . . . 1066
20.12 Compound verbs . . . 1067
20.13 Incorporation . . . 1069
20.13.1 Incorporation and denominal derivation . . . 1070
20.13.2 Incorporation and other derivations . . . 1075
20.13.3 Syntactic function of the incorporated word . . . 1075
20.13.4 Incorporation and other constructions . . . 1078
21 Tense, aspect, modality and evidentiality 1081 21.1 Introduction . . . 1081
21.1.1 Preverbs . . . 1082
21.1.2 Stem alternation . . . 1085
21.1.3 Other affixes . . . 1086
21.1.4 Evidentiality and person . . . 1087
21.2 Imperfective . . . 1087
21.2.1 Morphology . . . 1088
21.2.2 Use in periphrastic TAME categories . . . 1089
21.2.3 Use in temporal clauses . . . 1093
21.2.4 Use in complement clauses . . . 1094
21.2.5 Hortative . . . 1095
21.2.6 Inchoative . . . 1096
21.2.7 Perception verbs . . . 1097
21.3 Non-past categories . . . 1100
21.3.1 Factual Non-Past . . . 1100
21.3.2 Sensory . . . 1104
21.3.3 Egophoric Present . . . 1112
21.3.4 Tripartite contrast . . . 1117
21.4 Modal categories . . . 1118
21.4.1 Irrealis . . . 1118
21.4.2 Imperative . . . 1126 21.4.3 Prohibitive . . . 1130 21.4.4 Dubitative . . . 1133 21.5 Past categories . . . 1134 21.5.1 Aorist . . . 1134 21.5.2 Inferential . . . 1143 21.5.3 Past Imperfective and Inferential Imperfective . . . 1152 21.5.4 Archaic form . . . 1157 21.6 Secondary Aspectual categories . . . 1158 21.6.1 Progressive . . . 1158 21.6.2 Proximative . . . 1165 21.7 Secondary Modal categories . . . 1168 21.7.1 Apprehensive . . . 1168 21.7.2 Probabilitative . . . 1172 21.7.3 Rhetorical interrogative . . . 1175 21.7.4 Interrogative . . . 1179 21.7.5 Periphrastic modal constructions . . . 1180 21.7.6 Pseudo-concessive . . . 1181 21.8 Non-verbal TAME markers . . . 1182 21.8.1 TAME adverbs . . . 1182 21.8.2 Sentence-final particles . . . 1182 21.8.3 Nouns and the expression of modality . . . 1182
22 Simple clauses 1187
22.1 Word order . . . 1187 22.1.1 Basic word order . . . 1187 22.1.2 Overt and non-overt arguments . . . 1193 22.1.3 Right dislocation . . . 1197 22.2 Sentential adverbs . . . 1199 22.2.1 Tense and aspect . . . 1200 22.2.2 Quantification . . . 1203 22.2.3 Identity . . . 1208 22.2.4 Adverbial Intensifiers . . . 1208 22.2.5 Epistemic modality . . . 1210 22.2.6 Orientation adverbs . . . 1210 22.2.7 Postverbal elements . . . 1213 22.3 Non-verbal predicates . . . 1214 22.4 Noun-verb collocations and light verb constructions . . . 1216 22.4.1 Intransitive verbs . . . 1216
22.4.2 Transitive verbs . . . 1222 22.4.3 Frozen collocations . . . 1236 22.5 Copulas and existential verbs . . . 1241 22.5.1 Basic functions . . . 1242 22.5.2 Possessive constructions . . . 1245 22.5.3 Postverbal copulas . . . 1248 22.5.4 Postverbal negative existential verb . . . 1253 22.5.5 Verb doubling . . . 1255 22.5.6 Other constructions . . . 1256
23 Relative clauses 1257
23.1 Introduction . . . 1257 23.2 Subtypes of relative clauses . . . 1257 23.2.1 Participial relative clauses . . . 1257 23.2.2 Finite relative clauses . . . 1258 23.2.3 Genitival relative . . . 1259 23.2.4 Relator nouns . . . 1260 23.2.5 Interrogative pronouns and correlative constructions . . 1261 23.3 Morphosyntactic specificities of relative clauses . . . 1263 23.3.1 Resumptive pronouns . . . 1263 23.3.2 Totalitative reduplication . . . 1264 23.3.3 Genitive possessor . . . 1265 23.3.4 Possessive prefix neutralization . . . 1266 23.3.5 Determiners . . . 1267 23.3.6 Postverbal elements . . . 1269 23.4 Position of the relativized element . . . 1270 23.4.1 Headless . . . 1271 23.4.2 Prenominal . . . 1271 23.4.3 Head-internal . . . 1271 23.4.4 Postnominal . . . 1274 23.5 Function of the relativized element . . . 1275 23.5.1 Intransitive subject . . . 1275 23.5.2 Transitive subject . . . 1277 23.5.3 Object . . . 1278 23.5.4 Quasi-objects . . . 1281 23.5.5 Goal and locative . . . 1284 23.5.6 Instrument . . . 1287 23.5.7 Comitative . . . 1288 23.5.8 Dative . . . 1289
23.5.9 Time adjuncts . . . 1289 23.5.10 Possessor . . . 1290 23.5.11 Relativization out of complement clause . . . 1294 23.5.12 Constraints on relativizability . . . 1298 23.6 Relative clauses and focalization . . . 1299 23.6.1 Pseudo-cleft constructions . . . 1299 23.6.2 Non-equative pseudo-cleft . . . 1301 23.7 Quantification . . . 1302 23.8 Relative vs. complement clauses . . . 1304 23.8.1 Ambiguity (finite clauses) . . . 1304 23.8.2 Ambiguity (non-finite clauses) . . . 1306 23.8.3 Participial clauses in core argument function . . . 1307 23.8.4 Relativized complement clauses . . . 1308
24 Complement clauses 1311
24.1 Introduction . . . 1311 24.2 Complement types . . . 1311 24.2.1 Velar infinitive clauses . . . 1312 24.2.2 Bare infinitives and dental infinitives . . . 1314 24.2.3 Finite complements . . . 1316 24.2.4 Multiclausal complements . . . 1320 24.2.5 Reported speech . . . 1322 24.3 Morphosyntactic properties of complement clauses . . . 1327 24.3.1 Word order and constituency . . . 1327 24.3.2 Case marking . . . 1327 24.3.3 Determiners . . . 1329 24.3.4 Restrictive and additive focus . . . 1330 24.3.5 Raising of preverb orientation . . . 1330 24.4 Complementation strategies . . . 1333 24.4.1 Relative clauses in core argument function . . . 1333 24.4.2 Participial clauses . . . 1334 24.4.3 Action nominals . . . 1340 24.4.4 Coordination . . . 1344 24.5 Complement-taking verbs . . . 1345 24.5.1 Causative verbs . . . 1346 24.5.2 pa‘do’ . . . 1352 24.5.3 Modal verbs . . . 1352 24.5.4 Verbs of cognition . . . 1359 24.5.5 Verbs of perception . . . 1362
24.5.6 Phasal verbs and other aspectual auxiliaries . . . 1364 24.5.7 Similative verbs . . . 1369 24.5.8 Complement-taking adjectival verbs . . . 1371 24.6 Complement-taking nouns . . . 1372 24.6.1 Complement-taking nouns and denominal verbs . . . . 1372 24.6.2 Adnominal complement clause and possessor . . . 1373 24.6.3 Overview of complement-taking nouns . . . 1374 24.6.4 Relative clauses as a complementation strategy . . . 1379 24.7 Syntactic errors . . . 1381 25 Other types of multiclausal constructions 1383 25.1 Classification of multiclausal constructions . . . 1383 25.1.1 Marked subordinate clauses . . . 1383 25.1.2 Correlative clauses . . . 1384 25.1.3 Periphrastic tenses and subordination . . . 1385 25.1.4 Unmarked embedded clauses . . . 1386 25.1.5 Serial verb constructions . . . 1387 25.1.6 Coordination and parataxis . . . 1387 25.1.7 Tail-head linkeage . . . 1388 25.2 Conditional constructions . . . 1389 25.2.1 Real conditionals . . . 1390 25.2.2 Necessary condition . . . 1392 25.2.3 Concessive conditional . . . 1392 25.2.4 Counterfactuals . . . 1397 25.3 Temporal clauses . . . 1398 25.3.1 Iterative coincidence . . . 1398 25.3.2 Precedence . . . 1398 25.3.3 Subsequence . . . 1401 25.3.4 Concurrence . . . 1403 25.4 Manner clauses . . . 1406 25.4.1 Serial verb construction . . . 1406 25.4.2 Manner converbs . . . 1410 25.5 Causality . . . 1411 25.5.1 Consequence . . . 1411 25.5.2 Cause . . . 1412 25.5.3 Prerequisite . . . 1415 25.5.4 Purposive clauses . . . 1415 25.5.5 Justification clauses . . . 1418 25.5.6 Precautioning clauses . . . 1419
25.6 Other constructions . . . 1420 25.6.1 Adversative . . . 1420 25.6.2 Addition . . . 1424 25.6.3 Exceptive . . . 1428 25.6.4 Disjunction . . . 1430
26 Degree and comparison 1431
26.1 Absolute degree and intensifiers . . . 1431 26.1.1 Degree adverbs . . . 1431 26.1.2 Degree nominals . . . 1436 26.1.3 Serial verb construction . . . 1440 26.1.4 Exceptive . . . 1440 26.2 Comparative . . . 1441 26.2.1 The postpositionssɤzandkɯ . . . 1441 26.2.2 Intensifiertsa‘a little’ . . . 1443 26.2.3 The negative verb neg+ʑɯ‘(not) just be’ . . . 1444 26.2.4 The egressive postpositionɕaŋtaʁ‘up from’ . . . 1445 26.2.5 Negative existential verbs . . . 1445 26.3 Equative and similative . . . 1446 26.3.1 Entity equative . . . 1446 26.3.2 Property equative . . . 1450 26.3.3 Similative . . . 1451 26.4 Superlative . . . 1453 26.4.1 Degree adverb . . . 1453 26.4.2 Possessed participle . . . 1454 26.4.3 Negative existential . . . 1455
27 Kinship 1457
27.1 Introduction . . . 1457 27.2 Kinship terms by generations . . . 1459 27.2.1 Ascending generations . . . 1459 27.2.2 Siblings . . . 1462 27.2.3 Cousins . . . 1463 27.2.4 Descending generations . . . 1465 27.2.5 Spouses and affines . . . 1469 27.3 Marriage rules . . . 1470 27.4 Lineages . . . 1471 27.5 Omaha skewing . . . 1472 27.5.1 Skewing rules and merging rules . . . 1472
27.5.2 Cross-cousin lineages . . . 1476 27.5.3 Maternal parallel cousin lineages . . . 1478 27.5.4 Application . . . 1478
References 1481
Index 1503
Name index . . . 1503 Index of Japhug forms . . . 1507 Subject index . . . 1551
This grammar has been written with the help of colleagues, friends and family. I wish to thank in particular:
• Tshendzin陈珍and Dpalcan柏尔青, who taught me Japhug.
• Andzin, Ayang/Kunbzang Mtsho, Tshering Skyid, for telling me stories in Japhug.
• Norbu 罗尔武and Pengfeng彭锋, for their help and support during my stays in Mbarkham.
• Jackson T.-S. Sun孙天心and Lin Youjing林幼菁, from whom I have learnt a lot, especially during our time together doing fieldwork in Mbarkham and Chengdu.
• Laurent Sagart, for his invaluable help for preparing my first fieldwork trip, and for teaching me Chinese historical phonology.
• Yang Dongfang杨东方and Chang Yueh-chin张月琴, for their help during my first stay in Mbarkham in 2002, and for introducing me to Tshendzin.
• My former PhD students Lai Yunfan赖云帆, Gong Xun龚勋and Zhang Shuya章舒娅, for their challenging questions and comments, and for help- ing recording some of the texts in the corpus.
• Alexis Michaud, Boyd Michailovksy and Séverine Guillaume, without whom I would not have made my Japhug texts available on the Pangloss archive.
• Céline Buret, Rémi Bonnet, Benjamin Galliot, who helped producing sev- eral versions of the Japhug-French-Chinese dictionary.
• Alexander Delaporte, for writing a program to add doi links automatically.
• Martin Haspelmath, for accepting this manuscript in the series ‘Studies in Diversity Linguistics’ and for organizing the evaluation process.
• Thomas Pellard and Sebastian Nordhoff, for their guidance with LATEX.
• Anton Antonov, Curtis Bartosik and Aimée Lahaussois, each of whom pro- vided detailed corrections on half a dozen chapters.
• the other LSP reviewers: Laura Arnold, Tom Bossuyt, Michael Daniel, Valérie Guérin, Ariel Gutman, Andreas Hölzl, Katarzyna Janic, Seppo Kittilä, Joseph Lovestrand, Lachlan Mackenzie, Bruno Olsson, Bastian Persohn, Yvonne Treis, Jeroen van de Weijer and Ye Jingting叶婧婷.
• Li Shang 李上, Theo Yeh 葉庭英, Roland Pooth and Marc Miyake, who provided useful corrections on the draft.
• Archi and Mira, for being there.
1 first person
2 second person
3 third person
[II], [III] stem II, stem III abil abilitative acaus anticausative
add additive
aff affirmative anthr anthroponym
aor aorist
apass antipassive appl applicative appr apprehensive
auto autive
aux auxiliary bare.inf bare infinitive cataph cataphoric caus causative cisl cislocative coll collective comit comitative
comp standard of comparison cond conditional
conv converb
dat dative
deg degree
dem demonstrative
du dual
dub dubitative emph emphatic
erg ergative
facil facilitative fact factual non-past gen genitive
genr generic
ger gerund
hort hortative
hum human
idph:X pattern X ideophone ifr inferential
imm immediate imp imperative indef indefinite inf infinitive inf:II dental infinitive interj interjection inv inverse ipfv imperfective irr irrealis lnk linker neg negative nmlz nominalization obj object
obl oblique
pass passive pcp participle peg peg circumfix
pl plural
poss possessive prob probabilitative prog progressive prop proprietive prox proximal
proxm proximative prs egophoric present
pst past
purp purposive
qu question
recip reciprocal
refl reflexive
rh.q rhetorical interrogative
rog rogative
sens sensory
sfp sentence final particle
sg singular
stat stative
subj subject
total totalitative reduplication
topo toponym
tr transitive
tral translocative
trop tropative
unexp.deg unexpected degree
†XXX incorrect form
*XXX reconstructed form
X* Kleene star
1.1 The Japhug language
The Japhug language (local namekɯrɯskɤt) is spoken by several thousand speak- ers in Mbarkhams county (in ChineseMaerkang马尔康), Rngaba prefecture, Si- chuan province, China, in the乡<xiāng> ‘townships’ of ʁdɯrɟɤt(གདོང་བ ད་gdoŋ.- brgʲad,龙尔甲lóng’ěrjiǎ),sarndzu(གསར་ ོང་ gsar.rdzoŋ,沙尔宗shāěrzōng) andtatsʰi (ད་ཚང་da.tsʰaŋ,大藏dàzàng), collectively calledtɕɤpʰɯortɕʰɤpʰɯ(from which the name Japhug is taken).1All speakers of Japhug are classified as ethnic Tibetans (藏族zàngzú).2
This work focuses almost exclusively on the dialect ofkɤmɲɯvillage (干木鸟 gānmùniǎo, 32° 12′ 43″ N, 101° 57′ 42″ E), henceforth written as Kamnyu.
Japhug is one of the four Core Gyalrong languages (Sun 2000a), Tshobdun, Zbu and Situ, represented in Figure 1.1. It is particularly closely related to the West Gyalrongic languages: Khroskyabs, Stau and Tangut (Sun 2000b; Jacques et al. 2017).
Core Gyalrong and West Gyalrongic form the Gyalrongic group (Sun 2000b), itself a subbranch of Burmo-Gyalrongic (Jacques & Michaud 2011) and possibly the larger Tibeto-Gyalrongic group (Sagart et al. 2019).
Japhug is in contact with both Standard Mandarin and a local variety of Si- chuanese. Since no study has focused on the Sichuan Mandarin as spoken by Gyalrong speakers in Mbarkham, the present work represents all Chinese words in Standard Mandarin and pinyin (between chevrons), except for highly nativized Chinese words, presented in IPA.
Situ Gyalrong and Amdo Tibetan used to be the two dominant languages in the area, and many speakers of Japhug also have a passive understanding of Situ,
1The township of Gdongrbyad is however not traditionally included under the nametɕɤpʰɯ, and is referred instead by the termsɤŋu.
2The language can be referred to as茶堡话chápùhuàin Chinese, reading the character堡aspù rather than the more usualbǎo. In Western languages, the ‘ph’ should be pronounced as a stop rather than labiodental fricative, and the ‘g’ read as a voiceless stop. In French for instance, I call the language[dʒapuk].
30.5 31.0 31.5 32.0 32.5 33.0
101 102 103 104
Language
Amdo Horpa Japhug Khams Khroskyabs Mandarin Qiang Situ Tshobdun Yelong Zbu Figure 1.1: A map of Gyalrong languages
and sometimes also of Tshobdun and Zbu. There is no immediate intercompre- hensibility between Gyalrong languages, and speakers of Japhug reportedly need several months to acquire basic conversational skills in Tshobdun.3
1.2 The Japhug corpus
With the exception of a chapter in Lin (1993: 468–486) on phonology and a few articles by Lin Youjing (Lin & Luoerwu 2003; Lin 2011) (all on the Tatshi dialect), the available data on Japhug are essentially from my own fieldwork, based on nine trips (July-August 2002, April-July 2003, July-August 2005, July 2010, July- August 2012, April-May 2014, July-August 2015, July-August 2016, May 2018) and constant contact by phone with my main language consultants. Some texts have been recorded with the help of my former PhD students Gong Xun and Lai Yun- fan.
A short grammar (Jacques 2008), some texts (Jacques & Chen 2010) and a dic- tionary (Jacques 2015b) have previously been made available, to which a corpus
3See for example (145) (§8.2.9), (35) (§23.3.6) and (126) (§24.5.3.1), where Tshendzin recounts her experience as a teacher in Tshobdun village, where she had to learn Tshobdun to make herself understood by the pupils’ parents.
of transcribed stories on the Pangloss archive (Michailovsky et al. 2014; Michaud et al. 2016) can be added, available on https://pangloss.cnrs.fr/corpus/Japhug.
My main consultant is Tshendzin (Chenzhen陈珍, female, born 1950), a retired schoolteacher (a native speaker of Japhug, bilingual in Sichuan Mandarin since childhood), whose speech and grammaticality judgements are taken as the norm of this grammar.
Stories have also been collected from her husbandχpɤltɕinDpalcan柏尔青, her maternal uncle Andzin, her nephew (sister’s child) Ayang/Kunbzang Mtsho, and other Kamnyu people, in particular Tshering Skyid. Most traditional stories are typical of Tibetan folklore and not specific to Japhug-speaking areas, but some procedural texts, descriptions of local plants and animals, as well as accounts of local topography, include unique insight into local culture. In addition, a few conversations have been recorded.
The majority of examples in this grammar (except in the grammar sketch in chapter 2) are taken from texts or conversations rather than elicited. Most of the texts cited are already available on Pangloss. Temporal synchronization between transcription and audio was automatically accomplished using forced alignment (Macaire 2020), and whenever available, a hyperlink to the doi of the segment (Vasile et al. 2020) is provided for each example sentence in the grammar.4
In addition, I indicate for all examples a title in ASCII characters: Hill (2017:
305) reports that this citation format is sufficient to find the relevant data.
Conversations are not included in the archive at the moment of writing, but individual sound files of the sentences quoted in this grammar are preserved in a private database. In addition, a certain number of sentences have been noted down during participant observation, and lack recordings.
Since speakers I have worked with only recount a limited number of tradi- tional stories (some of which in any case are from written sources; in particular, the story ‘The fox’{0004087}told by Kunbzang Mtsho is clearly adapted from the Grimm fairy tale ‘Der goldene Vogel’), I have resorted to translation from Chi- nese to collect a larger corpus. Tshendzin provided surprisingly idiomatic render- ings of various storybooks for children (including Grimm tales, Andersen tales, Liaozhai zhiyi聊斋志异, Arabian nights and Xiyouji西游记). These documents are not given the same value as more spontaneous texts, and are systematically indicated by adding the extension “-zh” to the document name. Systematic com- parison with the original text is offered whenever any suspicion of calque from
4The doi were semi-automatically added using the programDOI-Mercywritten by Alexander Delaporte. Only the informative part of the URL is indicated. To obtain the complete URL, the string https://doi.org/10.24397/pangloss- has to be prefixed to it.
Chinese exists. However, the immense morphosyntactic difference between Chi- nese and Japhug makes it necessary to completely rework the structure of the sentences in most cases (see for instance 263, §21.7.1.2), so that even if there is un- doubtedly influence from Chinese, even the way Chinese is adapted into Japhug is itself an interesting topic of research.
1.3 Structure of the grammar
Rather than being intended as the final word on Japhug grammar, this book is conceived as a tool for exploring the Japhug corpus and learning the language.
The reader is invited to start with the grammar sketch (chapter 2). The rest of the grammar contains two chapters on phonology (3, §4), five on nouns and noun phrases (5 to 9), eleven on verbal morphology (11 to 21), five on syntax (§22 to 26), as well as a chapter 10 on expressives and another one 27 on kinship.
In writing this grammar I have always preferred to abstain from definite judge- ment rather than provide incorrect data, and the description remains thus incom- plete in many aspects, in particular in accounting for minute semantic differences between similar constructions, or on the grammaticality of borderline sentences (about which speakers sometimes change their mind). There are many points of uncertainty in many aspects of the morphosyntax (and even in some topics of phonology), and further research on finer points of phonology, morphosyntax and historical linguistics are much needed, with additional data from different speakers.
1.4 Language and culture
This work focuses on the grammar of the language, and only contains a single chapter (27, on the kinship system) dedicated to ethnology. However, the corpus that has been collected contains many traditional stories, as well as procedural texts describing the traditional life before massive sinicization. Examples from these texts are found on nearly all the pages of this grammar, and their interest is not purely linguistic. Thus, the section on place names presents a mythological story explaining the origin of a name (79, §5.2.1), the chapter on orientation pre- verbs contains an account of the traditional living-room/kitchen (§15.1.4.4) and an introduction to weaving (§15.1.4.5), and the section on antipassive derivations includes a passage on rain-calling and mountain tutelary spirits (see example 161,
§18.6.7.3). In this sense, traditional culture permeates this grammar from begin- ning till end.
Further ethnographical work is necessary, in particular on kinship (Zhang &
Fan 2020), traditional houses (Dong 2018), weaving and ethnobotany, and it is hoped that this grammar (together with the dictionary) will make it possible to properly describe local culture through the medium of Japhug rather than Chinese.
This chapter offers a short introduction to the phonology and morphosyntax of the Japhug language. It is written for typologists and comparative linguists wanting to get a quick general picture of this language, before delving into the core of the grammar.
Morphosyntactic phenomena are illustrated mainly using simplified elicited examples rather than examples gleaned from texts and conversations as in the rest of the grammar.
2.1 Phonology and word structure
Japhug has 8 vowels (§3.3.1) and 50 consonant phonemes (§3.2.1), which can be combined into more than 400 biconsonantal or triconsonantal clusters in the on- set (§4.2). Additional clusters are attested across syllable boundaries (§4.2.3.1). In coda position, only 12 consonants are found, and no clusters are possible: several phonological contrasts are neutralized (§3.2.2).
The IPA-based transcription in this grammar is a spelling system that is not strictly phonological: it uses different symbols to represent the allophones of some phonemes (in particular/w/, §3.2.1, §4.2.1.1). An alternative Tibetan-based orthography for use by native speakers (§4.4) is also provided.
Japhug is very far removed from the isolating, tonal and “monosyllabic” type once considered to be typical of Sino-Tibetan languages. Japhug lacks tonal con- trasts (§3.7), and monosyllabic and monomorphemic words are a minority (§11.6).
Words of six syllables or more are not rare in the corpus, as shown by the verb form (1) below.
(1) a-kɤ-tɯ-nɯ-rɤʑí-nɯ irr-pfv-2-auto-stay-pl
‘May you stay (here).’
Non-final syllables have strong phonotactic constraints at least in the native vocabulary (§3.8.2). The last syllable of verbal and nominal stems generally re- ceives stress (as the syllable-ʑi- in 1, §3.7) and allows the maximal number of vowel and consonant contrasts.
2.2 Parts of speech
Unlike other Trans-Himalayan languages such as Sinitic, where the identification of word classes requires extensive syntactic analysis (von der Gabelentz 1881;
Chao 1968), most parts of speech in Japhug can be straightforwardly defined on the basis of morphology.
Japhug has open and closed parts of speech. The three main open parts of speech arenouns,verbsandideophones.
Nouns can in their turn be subdivided into four classes with different morpho- logical properties. First, inalienably possessed nouns (§5.1.2) require the presence of a possessive prefix (§5.1.1). Second, alienably possessed nouns allow a posses- sive prefix, but do not require it. Third, counted noun (§7.3) take numeral prefixes (§7.3.1). Fourth, unpossessible nouns cannot be prefixed (§5.2).
Verbs are at the core of Japhug grammar, and have the richest morphology of all parts of speech – no less than nine chapters (from 11 to 21), about half of the grammar, is devoted to verbal morphology. Unlike other Trans-Himalayan languages such as Khaling, whose verbs are a closed class (Jacques et al. 2012), Ja- phug has a productive system of denominal and deideophonic morphology (§20), allowing a constant creation of new verbs. Apart from a handful of defective verbs (§14.2.2, §14.3.4), all verbs require orientation preverbs (§15.1) in most finite forms, and are the only part of speech compatible with these preverbs. Person indexation morphology (§14.2.1) is also a criterion for identifying verbs, but it is not always applicable since some verbs only occur in 3sg with no indexation affixes (§14.2.7), and since a few predicative words have adopted number indexa- tion suffixes by analogy with verbs (§14.7).
Ideophones (§10.1) can also be distinguished from other parts of speech by specific morphological patterns (§10.1.2).
There is no specific class of “adjective” in Japhug. Words describing properties belong to three different parts of speech: adjectival stative verbs, which can be distinguished from other stative verbs by their ability to undergo the tropative derivation (§17.5), ideophones, and also property nouns, a subclass of inalienably possessed nouns (§5.1.2.7).
Closed parts of speech comprise numerals (§7.1) and pronouns (chapter 6), which also have specific morphology, and invariable words including postpo- sitions (§8.2), determiners (§9.1), adverbs (§22.2, §26.1.1), linkers (§25.1.6, §9.1.5.5), interjections and calling sounds (§10.2) and sentence final particles (§10.4).
2.3 Nominal morphology
This section presents nominal inflection, derivation as well as grammatical cat- egories expressed by syntactic rather than morphological means within noun phrases and postpositional phrases.
2.3.1 Non-attested nominal morphological categories
There is no gender, definiteness, obviation, negation and tense-aspect-modality- evidential inflection or derivation on nouns in Japhug.
The whole category of gender is completely absent from Japhug grammar;
there are only suffixes for male and female animals, and even these are borrowed from Tibetan (§5.7.7).
There is no dedicated marker of definiteness (§9.1.4.3), but the aforementioned topic markeriɕqʰaonly occurs on definite referents (§9.1.5.2). Indefiniteness can be marked by the indefinite article ci (§9.1.4.1) derived from the numeral ‘one’
(§7.1.1).
While an obviative/proximative contrast is reflected by some uses of the in- verse prefix in the inflection of transitive verbs (§14.3.3.2), Japhug lacks obvia- tive morphology on nouns (§5.1.1.3), unlike Algonquian languages (for instance Valentine 2001: 183).
Polarity and Tense-aspect-modality-evidentiality, which are prominently en- coded by verbal morphology (§13.1, chapter 21), even on nominalized verb forms (§16.1.1.2), are completely absent from nominal morphology, and various types of participial clauses have to be used instead (§5.7.10).
2.3.2 Number
Number can be indicated by the dualni(§9.1.1.1) and pluralra(§9.1.1.2) determin- ers. These determiners are not mutually incompatible with numerals, as shown by (2), where the redundant ʁnɯz‘two’ can be added (these redundant forms, though grammatical, are not very common). The fact that numerals (and other postnominal modifiers, including relative clauses) can be inserted between nouns and number determiners show that they are not analyzable as number suffixes.
(2) jla
male.hybrid.yak (ʁnɯz) two
ni du
‘The two male hybrid yaks’{0003660#S7}
Table 2.1: Numeral prefixes of counted nouns
Numeral -sŋi‘day’
1 ci tɯ-sŋi ‘one day’
2 ʁnɯz ʁnɯ-sŋi ‘two days’
3 χsɯm χsɯ-sŋi ‘three days’
4 kɯβde kɯβde-sŋi,kɯβdɤ-sŋi ‘four days’
5 kɯmŋu kɯmŋu-sŋi,kɯmŋɤ-sŋi ‘five days’
6 kɯtʂɤɣ kɯtʂɤ-sŋi ‘six days’
7 kɯɕnɯz kɯɕnɯ-sŋi ‘seven days’
8 kɯrcat kɯrcɤ-sŋi ‘eight days’
9 kɯngɯt kɯngɯ-sŋi ‘nine days’
10 sqi sqɯ-sŋi ‘ten days’
Some nouns however do have an inflectional number category, expressed by a prefixal paradigm partially illustrated in Table 2.1 (§7.3.1).
This type of nouns corresponds to the category called ‘classifiers’ (Chao 1968:
518, Aikhenvald 2000) (量词<liàngcí> in Chinese) in works on the grammar of Chinese, Japanese and other languages of East Asia. However, this terminology is particularly clumsy in the case of Japhug. Unlike in languages such as Chinese or Thai, nouns in Japhug do not require a ‘classifier’ to be used with a numeral, as shown by (3)1and (4).
(3) tɕʰeme girl
ci
one/indef
‘A/one girl’
(4) tɕʰeme girl
χsɯm three
‘Three girls’
When occurring as postnominal modifiers (5), the two main functions of nouns with numerals prefixes are partitive (‘one of the𝑋’) and distributive (‘each𝑋’) depending on the constructions where they appear (§7.3.2).
(5) tɕʰeme girl
tɯ-rdoʁ one-piece
‘One of the girls’; ‘Each girl...’; ‘One girl’{0004053#S36}
1The numeralci‘one’ is grammaticalized as an indefinite marker (§9.1.4.1).
In addition, although a handful of ‘classifiers’ are indeed specific to a particular semantic category of nouns (§7.3.3), the generic ‘classifier’tɯ-rdoʁ‘one piece’ can be used as modifier with nearly all referents.
For these reasons, this grammar favours the termcounted nounbased on mor- phology, rather than “classifier” (an extremely marginal function of these words) or “quantifier” (not specific enough, since there are many quantifiers that are not counted nouns, §9.1.3) to refer to nouns with numeral prefixes such astɯ-sŋi‘one day’ ortɯ-rdoʁ‘one piece’.
2.3.3 Case marking
Japhug lacks case inflection, but has a few regular adverbializing derivations (§5.8), whose functions resemble that of oblique cases: the comitativekɤ́-(§5.8.1) and the perlative (§5.8.2).
Grammatical relations on noun phrases are encoded by postpositions such as the ergativekɯ(§8.2.2), the genitiveɣɯ(§8.2.3) and the comitativecʰo(§8.2.5), as well as relator nouns (§8.3) such as the dativeɯ-ɕkiorɯ-pʰe(§8.3.1). With the sole exception of the genitive forms of a few pronouns such as aʑɯɣ1sg:gen (from aʑo‘1sg’ andɣɯ, §6.3), the postpositions do not merge phonologically with the previous word. As shown by (6) and (7), they are located at the end of the noun phrase, further away from the head noun than all determiners, including number markers.
(6) [[ɯ-pi
3sg.poss-elder.sibling ni]
du kɯ]
erg pɣa bird
nɯ dem
pa-mto-ndʑi 3→3′:aor-see-du
‘His two elder siblings saw the bird.’
(7) [[tɯrme person
ra]
pl ɣɯ]
gen
nɯ-fsapaʁ 3pl.poss-cattle
‘People’s cattle’
In addition, it is possible to make a pause between the noun and the postposi- tionkɯorɣɯthat follows: the postposition can be procliticized to the following word. A considerable number of examples can be found in the corpus (§8.2.1).
While Situ Gyalrong does have locative suffixes (Lin 1993: 325–331), Japhug only uses postpositions (§8.2.4.1) and/or relator nouns (§8.3.4.5) to express loca- tion, goal and source of motion. The only traces of the proto-Gyalrong suffixes are the locative postpositionzɯ, which was degrammaticalized from a suffix*-s (§8.2.4.1), and a few isolated lexicalized forms (§8.2.4.4, §8.3.4.5).
2.3.4 Possession
The main nominal morphosyntactic category expressed by an inflectional para- digm in Japhug is possession, encoded by a series of possessive prefixes (§5.1.1).
2.3.4.1 Possessive paradigm
Table 2.2: Possessive paradigms
Person Prefix tɯ-ku‘head’ kʰa‘house’
1sg a- a-ku a-kʰa
2sg nɤ- nɤ-ku nɤ-kʰa
3sg ɯ- ɯ-ku ɯ-kʰa
1du tɕi- tɕi-ku tɕi-kʰa
2/3du ndʑi- ndʑi-ku ndʑi-kʰa
1pl ji- ji-ku ji-kʰa
2/3pl nɯ- nɯ-ku nɯ-kʰa
indefinite tɯ-/tɤ-/ta- tɯ-ku kʰa
generic tɯ- tɯ-ku tɯ-kʰa
The possessive paradigm is nearly the same for all nouns (Table 2.2), but some nouns such as tɯ-ku ‘head’ require a indefinite possessor prefix tɯ-, tɤ- or ta- when no definite possessor is present, while other nouns likekʰa‘house’ can oc- cur in bare stem form. The former areinalienably possessed nouns, comprising in particular body parts (§5.1.2.3) and kinship terms (§5.1.2.4), while the latter are alienably possessed nouns. Some inalienably possessed nouns have been gramma- ticalized as relator nouns (§8.3) marking the syntactic function of noun phrases.
Furthermore, a handful of nouns have become TAME markers (§21.8.3.1).
Possessors are obligatorily indicated by possessive prefixes. An overt posses- sor can be optionally added. For instance, the meaning ‘my cow’ can be expressed by the noun forma-nɯŋawith a simple possessive prefix, but this noun can be additionally preceded by the genitive pronounaʑɯɣ(8) or even by the absolutive aʑo.
(8) (aʑɯɣ) 1sg
a-nɯŋa 1sg.poss-cow
‘My cow’
The possessive prefix cannot be elided, even in the case of alienably possessed nouns likenɯŋa‘cow’. In (8), removing thea-prefix would result in an agram- matical form (†aʑɯɣ nɯŋa).
The phrase expressing the possessor always precedes the possessum. Genitive marking on the possessor is optional: in (9), the genitive postpositionɣɯ(§8.2.3.1) can be elided.
(9) [a-mu
1sg.poss-mother a-wa
1sg.poss-father ni]
du (ɣɯ) gen
ndʑi-nɯŋa 3du.poss-cow
‘My parents’ cow’
The person and number of the possessive prefix on the possessum is the same as that of the noun phrase or pronoun marking the possessor: in (9) for instance, the third dual possessive prefixndʑi-agrees in number with the dual possessor phrasea-mu a-wa ni. Number agreement mismatch is only attested in very re- stricted contexts (§5.1.1.2).
2.3.4.2 Alienabilization
Nouns can only take one single possessive prefix, except when inalienably pos- sessed nouns are turned into alienably possessed nouns (§5.1.2.9), by stacking a definite possessor prefix (any of the prefixes in Table 2.2 except the indefinite ones) on the indefinite possessive form. For instance, the possessed formɯ-lu (10a) of tɤ-lu‘milk’ without prefix stacking is used when the possessor is the cowproducing the milk, but the alienabilized possessive formsɯ-tɤ-lu‘his/her/
its milk, the milk for him/her/it’ (10b) ora-tɤ-lu‘my milk’ (10c), expressing the person or animaldrinkingthe milk as possessor, have a combination of two pre- fixes.
(10) a. nɯŋa cow
(ɣɯ) gen
ɯ-lu
3sg.poss-milk
‘(The/a) cow’s milk’
b. lɯlu cat
(ɣɯ) gen
ɯ-tɤ-lu
3sg.poss-indef.poss-milk
‘The milk for the cat (i.e. given to the cat to drink)’
c. (aʑo) 1sg
a-tɤ-lu
1sg.poss-indef.poss-milk
‘My milk (i.e. for me to drink)’
Stacking of two definite possessor prefixes, or of a numeral prefix with a defi- nite possessor prefix, are not grammatical.
2.3.4.3 Generic possessors
The indefinite possessor prefix has three allomorphstɯ-(as intɯ-ku‘head’),tɤ- (as intɤ-se ‘blood’) orta- (as inta-ma ‘work’). It has to be distinguished from the generic possessor prefix tɯ- (§5.1.3). Generic possessors are identical with indefinite possessors in the case of inalienably possessed nouns selecting thetɯ- prefix, for instancetɯ-kucan either mean ‘head’ or ‘one’s head’. With inalienably possessed nouns selecting thetɤ-orta-allomorphs, a contrast is found between tɤ-se‘blood’ andtɯ-se‘one’s blood’ (11) for instance.
(11) qajɯsmɤnba leech
kɯ erg
tɯ-se
genr.poss-blood ku-tsʰi ipfv-drink
ŋu be:fact
‘The leech drinks people’s (i.e. one’s) blood.’
The generic possessor prefix can also occur on alienably possessed nouns, as intɯ-kʰa‘one’s house’.
No more than one generic referent is possible per clause, so that if a noun with generic possessor prefix is found in the same clause as a verb with generic indexation, there is obligatory co-reference (§14.3.2.5), as in (12) between the pos- sessor oftɯ-rpɯ‘one’s mother’s brother’ (indefinite formtɤ-rpɯ, §5.1.2.4) and the transitive subject of the verbtu-kɯ-ti‘one says’ (§14.3.4).
(12) tɯ-rpɯ
genr.poss-mother’s.brother ɣɯ gen
ɯ-rʑaβ 3sg.poss-wife
ɯ-ɕki
3sg.poss-dat tɕe loc
“a-ɬaʁ”
1sg.poss-aunt
tu-kɯ-ti ipfv-genr-say
ŋu be:fact
‘One𝑖callsone𝑖’s mother’s brother’s wife ‘my aunt’ (i.e. one says ‘my aunt’ to one’s mother’s brother’s wife).’
2.3.4.4 Possessive existential construction
Predicative possession can be expressed by the verbaro‘own’ (§14.2.3, §22.5.2), encoding the possessor as subject, but the most frequent construction involves an existential verb (§22.5.1.2) with the possessum as subject and the possessor marked by a possessive prefix on the possessum, optionally with a genitive phrase (§22.5.2.1). The construction is the same for alienably (13a) and inalienably (13b) possessed nouns.
(13) a. kɯβʁa noble
ra pl
ɣɯ gen
nɯ-nɯŋa 3pl.poss-cow
kɯ-dɤn
sbj:pcp-be.many pjɤ-tu
ifr.ipfv-exist
‘The nobles had many cows.’
