A Grammar of Kurtöp (Brill's Tibetan Studies Library / Languages of the Greater H)

A grammar of Kurtöp presents the phonology, morphology, syntax, and semantics of Kurtöp, a Tibeto-Burman language of northeastern Bhutan. When possible, data are presented in a comparative light, lending insight into the development of phenomena such as tonogenesis and nominalizations. Contents 7 Acknowledgements 11 List of Figures, Illustrations, and Tables 12 Chapter 1 Introduction 17 1.1 The Name of the Language 18 1.2 The Kurtöp Language Area 20 1.3 The Speech Community 22 1.4 Historical Development of the Language 25 1.5 Methodology 43 Chapter 2 Contrastive Phonology 46 2.1 Consonant Phonemes 46 2.2 Complex Onsets 53 2.3 Codas 55 2.4 Vowel Phonemes 57 2.5 Suprasegmental Features 59 2.6 Orthography 68 Chapter 3 Non-contrastive Phonology 71 3.1 Syllable Shape 71 3.2 Word-level Stress 72 3.3 Morphophonological Alternations 73 3.4 Phonological Words 88 Chapter 4 Word Classes and Word-formation Processes 89 4.1 Nouns 89 4.2 Numerals 90 4.3 Verbs 90 4.4 Adjectives 97 4.5 Adverbs 97 4.6 Smaller Elements 98 4.7 Affixation 99 4.8 Compounding 99 4.9 Reduplication 100 Chapter 5 Lexicon 102 Chapter 6 Syntactic Overview 106 6.1 Word Order 106 6.2 Typological Profile 107 6.3 Alignment 108 6.4 Sentence Types 113 Chapter 7 The Noun Phrase 115 7.1 Determiners 115 7.2 Genitive Phrases 116 7.3 Nouns 118 7.4 Quasi-nominal Suffix 134 7.5 Post-head Modifiers 136 7.6 Phrasal Clitics 136 Chapter 8 Post-head Nominal Modifiers 148 8.1 Adjectives 148 8.2 Quantifiers 149 8.3 Possible Classifier Genesis 164 8.4 Particles 165 8.5 Comparisons 169 Chapter 9 Proforms 171 9.1 Personal Pronouns 171 9.2 Deictic Demonstratives 177 9.3 Question Words 182 Chapter 10 Case-Marking 185 10.1 Case Marking on A and S Arguments 186 10.2 Case Marking on O Arguments 203 Chapter 11 The Verbal Complex 210 11.1 Clause Types 210 11.2 Verbs 212 11.3 Verbal Affixes 219 11.4 Verbal Clitics 240 11.5 Verbal Particles 244 Chapter 12 Copulas and Non-verbal Predication 255 12.1 Verbal Copulas 255 12.2 Copular Particles 270 12.3 Functional Properties of the Copulas 271 12.4 Copulas in Main Clause Grammar 273 Chapter 13 Nominalization 276 13.1 Derivational Nominalization 277 13.2 Clausal Nominalization 279 13.3 The Role of Nominalizaton in the Development of Main Clause Grammar 296 Chapter 14 Tense/Aspect 299 14.1 Tense 299 14.2 Aspect 302 14.3 Summary 313 Chapter 15 Evidentiality, Mirativity, and Related Categories 315 15.1 Perfective Aspect 315 15.2 Imperfective Aspect 322 15.3 Copulas 325 15.4 Particles and Clitics 333 15.5 Putting it Together 337 Chapter 16 Multi-clause Constructions 341 16.1 Relative Clauses 341 16.2 Complement Clauses 345 16.3 Adverbial Clauses 348 16.4 Clause-chaining and Serial Verbs 358 Chapter 17 Negation and Non-declarative Speech Acts 384 17.1 Negation 384 17.2 Imperatives 386 17.3 Question Formation 389 Chapter 18 Rhetorical Devices 399 18.1 tshe 399 18.2 Exclamations 400 18.3 Syntactic Constructions 401 References 403 Appendices 421 Appendix A: Texts 423 The Origins of Dungkar Chöje 423 Sormi Threngwa 431 Santa Barbara Conversation 448 Appendix B: Abbreviations and Typological Features 456 Appendix C: A Guide to the Examples 460 Appendix D: Database of Recordings and Speakers from which Examples are drawn 462 Index 464 A grammar of Kurtöp is the first descriptive grammar of Kurtöp, a threatened language of Bhutan, and the only reference grammar of any East Bodish language. The East Bodish languages are a relatively unstudied branch of the larger Tibeto-Burman family, situated in Bhutan and neighbouring regions in Tibet and Arunachal Pradesh. The chapters introduce the language and the people who speak in a historical context and then go on to detail the synchronic and diachronic phonology, discuss word classes and cause structure, morphosyntax and syntax, and illustrate rich system of evidentiality and related categories. The book will be of interest to Tibeto-Burmanists, historical linguists and those interested in the prehistory of the eastern Himalayas, and to typologists. A grammar of Kurtop' is the first descriptive grammar of Kurtop, a threatened language of Bhutan, and the only reference grammar of any East Bodish language. The East Bodish languages are a relatively unstudied branch of the larger Tibeto-Burman family, situated in Bhutan and neighbouring regions in Tibet and Arunachal Pradesh. The chapters introduce the language and the people who speak in a historical context and then go on to detail the synchronic and diachronic phonology, discuss word classes and cause structure, morphosyntax and syntax, and illustrate rich system of evidentiality and related categories. The book will be of interest to Tibeto-Burmanists, historical linguists and those interested in the prehistory of the eastern Himalayas, and to typologists