Himalayan Linguistics

This paper presents a comprehensive description of non-finite verbs in Assamese, a language that belongs to the Indo-Aryan family. Non-finite verbs exist in multi-verb constructions, which include both single and multi-clausal constructions. In single clauses, they occur with different auxiliaries and carry various aspectual and modal meanings. In multi-clausal constructions, on the other hand, they occur in dependent clauses and mark various syntactic relations that they have with the main clause. This paper primarily deals with two aspects: firstly, it discusses the forms of non-finite verbs, and secondly, it analyses the syntactic functions they carry in single and multi-clausal constructions. The syntactic functions of non-finite verbs in multi-clausal constructions are examined from two perspectives – their functions within superordinate constructions, and their functions within a construction.

Many different kinds of nominal categorial prefixes are employed in the Bodo, Dimasa, Kokborok and Tiwa languages, such as classifier prefixes, class prefixes, genus prefixes, person possessive prefixes, body part prefixes, nominalizing prefixes, adjectivizer prefixes, etc. Usually, these prefixes have lexical meanings as they are exact or obsolete forms of corresponding existing lexemes. The exact forms are used as free words whereas the obsolete forms are used exclusively as bound morphemes. They may refer to respective classes, genera, species, persons, body/plant parts, etc. because they carry the corresponding meaning. Hence, it is very likely that these prefixes originally belonged to a noun category which have been incorporated to the co-occurring bases; whereas, the other types of categorial prefixes like nominalizer and adjectivizer belong to derivational category.

Abstract: This paper presents the case-marking system of Khengkha, an East Bodish language spoken in Bhutan, which employs case markers for a variety of functions. A monologue, a conversation among three native Khengkha speakers (two males, aged 27 and 41, and one female, aged 58) and an interview were audio recorded to gather data. The study found that the A argument is primarily marked with ergative markers while the S argument is unmarked. But some S arguments which are associated with emphasis and contrastive focus are seen marked. With regard to the O argument, there is one set of bivalent verbs that requires the O argument to be unmarked and there is another set of verbs which always mark the O argument. Similarly, the case marker of the instrumental, genitive, locative, allative and ablative are also discussed, followed by a detailed discussion on the case marking of the dative subject, which follows a similar process to Indo-Aryan languages.

Tawang Monpa, also known as Dakpa, is an East Bodish language spoken in Arunachal Pradesh in India, and in Trashigang in Bhutan. This article is a brief description of the main grammatical features of the language. In the section about nouns and the noun phrase the use of the case markers and a topic marker will be discussed in detail, in addition to other features related to the noun phrase. In the section about verbs and the verb phrase negation and various adverbial suffixes will be discussed in detail, as well as a set of tense, aspect, modality, evidentiality suffixes. Pronouns, adjectives, adverbs and deictic expression will also be described, in addition to sections about the structure of the simple clause and clause combination.

The present paper is an attempt to describe and analyse the structure of causatives in Hmar, a Kuki-Chin subgroup of the Tibeto-Burman language family, spoken by around 98,550 speakers as per the Census of India, 2011. This paper discusses the two types of causatives in the language: Morphological and Lexical. Hmar has two morphological causative forms, viz the prefix /sùk-/ and suffix /-tìr/, that are productively employed in the derivation of causative structures. Lexical causatives, on the other hand, are uncommon and unproductive. The language is found to have a handful of causative forms that can be considered as fragments of the historical causative morphology. However, they are discussed under lexical causatives as they are irregular and no longer productive as a morphological operation. The paper further discusses the phenomenon of double causation in the language and identifies two patterns of deriving double causative structures.

Liangmai, a Tibeto-Burman member spoken in North East India (NEI), has twenty consonant phonemes and six vowel phonemes with four contrastive tones. Three stops and three nasals permitted at the end of a syllable and all consonants occurs at the beginning of a syllable. A voiceless libio-dental fricative which is rare in other NEI languages is a major consonant. Vowel system has several diphthongs. The close central unrounded vowel /ɨ/ can appear as an allophone of close front unrounded vowel /i/ and close back rounded vowel /u/ as in dūip í n ~ dūip ɨ́ n ‘spring’ and t ū n ~ t ɨ̄ n ‘push’. With or without coda, the position nucleus of a syllable is occupied by an obligatory vowel and also by a syllabic consonant. Syllable has  CV and CVC patterns.  After resllabification, the structure of the syllable will appear like CCVC. Consonnat cluster is not permitted in a syllable except for a few idiolects. Nasal syllabic is abundantly present in the language. Total assimiliation occurs in phonological proces in the manner of progressive and regressive assimiliation. Both consonant and vowel undergoes syncope. Epenthesis does not occur at word level except for loan words. In fast speech, voiceless consonants are voiced inter-vocally across morphemes. The morpheme /jēi/ can be realized in six allomorphs depending on the envriornment they occur, which due to morphophonological process. The tonal system has four contrastive level of tone. Register tones are plenty and contour tones are rare.

Case in Lotha, (a Tibeto-Burman language spoken in Wokha District of Nagaland) is marked by suffixes that appear to the right of the noun it marks. In Lotha the ergative marker can combine with both nouns and pronouns, however, the nominative markers can only occur with pronouns. Lotha has aspectual split ergativity in which word class (noun vs. pronoun), aspect, and tense are determining factors. The ergative marker occurs mainly with the A argument of a transitive clause when it is in the past and the future. However, a highly volitional or powerful S may receive ergative marking as well. So, in Lotha, the A argument NP is generally marked distinctly from the S argument or O argument.  The nominative markers occur in perfective and imperfective clauses marking the A argument (transitive) and S argument (intransitive). The nominative markers take different shapes on pronominals where, ‑j ɔ marks exclusively first person singular, ‑n ɔ marks second person singular and first, second and third person plural, ‑ɔ marks first, second and third person dual whereas the third person singular either receives null marking or is marked by the topic marker ‑dʒ ɔ .

This paper intends to introduce a Tangsa Naga language variety, Champang, in a very detailed and descriptive manner. Champang is an undocumented, undescribed and unwritten language that belongs to the Tibeto-Burman language family. This language, therefore, doesn’t have any significant written literature. There is no work found directly relating to any of its various aspects, such as, its culture, history, religion, and the like areas. Nevertheless, many linguists have mentioned about Champang while giving a detailed description of the various Tangsa Naga varieties that are spoken along the South-East Asian belt, including Myanmar, Arunachal Pradesh, and some parts of Upper Assam.

This paper is the outcome of my first field visit to Yopakan, a remote village at the top of the Patkai mountains, in the Changlang district of Arunachal Pradesh in India. In India, besides Yopakan, there are around twelve more villages where the Champang people are found living peacefully with other tribes. However, the highest concentration of Champang population is found in Yopakan itself.

The paper begins with some background information about the language and the community. Then it goes on to illustrate the methodology adopted, and the equipment and the metadata used while undertaking this research activity. Further, the paper demonstrates the initial findings of the research by providing a detailed overview of the consonant and vowel inventory of the language, as well as its morphological and syntactic features.