Sketch of Yakkha Grammar

Aspects of Yakkha Grammar

Diana Saow(Working paper

Department of Linguistics, University of Leipzig)

May 21, 2010

Contents

1 Introduction 71.1 e Yakkha language and its speakers . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 71.2 e language name . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 81.3 Earlier work on Yakkha language and culture . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 81.4 Genetic Affiliation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9

2 Phonology 112.1 Orthography . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 112.2 Phoneme inventory and allophonic rules . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 11

3 Parts-of-spee 17

4 Nominal Morphology 194.1 Number . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 194.2 Pronouns . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 19

4.2.1 Personal pronouns . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 194.2.2 Possessive pronouns . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 204.2.3 Demonstrative pronouns . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 214.2.4 Interrogative pronouns and other interrogatives . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 22

4.3 Case system . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 23

5 Verbal Morphology 295.1 Stem formation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 295.2 Person and number agreement . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 325.3 Flexible agreement . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 365.4 Verbal negation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 365.5 Tense . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 37

5.5.1 Nonpast . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 385.5.2 Past . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 40

5.6 Mood . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 445.6.1 e subjunctive . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 445.6.2 e imperative . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 445.6.3 e optative . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 46

6 Verbal compounding 496.1 Bipartite verbs . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 49

6.1.1 Verb-Verb-compounds . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 496.1.2 Noun-verb-compounds . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 50

6.2 Grammatical compounding: valency anges, aspect, aktionsart . . . . . . . . . 50

7 Adverbs and adjectives 537.1 Adverb-building strategies . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 537.2 Spatial deixis . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 537.3 Adjectives and comparison . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 55

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Contents

7.4 Reduplication, triplication and ideophonic paerns in adverbs and adjectives . . 56

8 e structure of simple clauses 598.1 e noun phrase . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 598.2 Copulas . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 60

9 Argument structure 619.1 Valency ange . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 61

9.1.1 Detransitivisation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 619.1.2 Causatives . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 619.1.3 Applicative . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 62

9.2 Experiencer constructions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 62

10 Relative clauses and nominalisation 6510.1 Nominalisation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 65

10.1.1 e nominaliser =na ~ =ha . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6510.1.2 Nominalisation with -khuba ~ -khuwa . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 67

10.2 Corelative clauses . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 68

11 Adverbial clauses and converbs 7111.1 e supine converb . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7111.2 e simultaneous converb . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7211.3 e negation converb . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7211.4 e comitative . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 73

12 Conditional and counterfactual clauses 75

13 Complement clauses 7713.1 Nonfinite complement clauses . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7713.2 Finite complement clauses . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 78

14 More on finite clause linkage constructions 8114.1 Sequential linkage . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8114.2 Simultaneous linkage . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8214.3 Causal conjunctions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8214.4 e reportatives and text structure . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 83

15 Grammatical relations 8515.1 Coding properties . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 85

16 Particles used for information structure 87

17 Bibliography 93

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A note to the reader

is manuscript is the first outcome of my PhD resear on the Yakkha language, and as su itrepresents work in progress. e current second round of field resear will lead to new insightsand possibly also to different analyses of the data gathered in spring 2009. Any comments andsuggestions for improvement are welcome.

Although this is just a preliminary result, I already feel indebted to many people that helpedand still help me in my endeavour to understand and describe Yakkha.

First of all, I want to thank Prof. Novel Kishor Rai for suggesting this almost undocumentedlanguage to me and for establishing the contact to the Yakkha community. e Kirant YakkhaChumma (Indigenous Peoples Yakkha Organisation) welcomed me in Kathmandu and supportedmy resear in the Yakkha villages.

My supervisor Prof. Balthasar Biel read the manuscript and his comments helped mu toimprove it.

I would also like to thank my main hosts Kamala Linkha and Dhan Kumari Jimi, my assistantKamala Koyongwa and many others from the villages of Madi Mulkharka, Tamaphok, Dadagaun,Mude Saniscare and Mamling for their hospitality and their invaluable efforts in helping me tounderstand their language. I am also sincerely indebted to all Yakkha speakers who allowed meto record their voices in the form of songs, conversations, narrations and ritual language.

e PhD resear is funded by Landesstipendium des Landes Sasen. I would also like to thankthe Max Plan Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology, Department of Linguistics for financingboth of my field trips.

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Contents

Abbreviations

1,2,3 person (1>3: first acting on third person, etc.)s/d/p/ns numerus: singular, dual, plural, nonsingular (when dual and plural are not distinguished)A most agent-like argument of a transitive verbABL ablativeADD additive focusADVBL adverbialiserALL allativeAFF affirmativeBEN benefactiveCOM comitativeCOMPL complementizerCOND conditionalCOP copulaCTFT counterfactualCVB converbDEM demonstrative pronounDIST distal (spatial deixis)DOWN down (spatial deixis)ERG ergativee exclusiveFOC focus particleG most goal-like argument of a transitive verbGEN genitiveHORT hortativeIMP imperativeINF infinitiveINSTR istrumentalLEVEL same level (spatial deixis)LOC locativeNEG negationNMLZ nominaliserNOM nominativeNPST non-pastOPT optativeP most patient-like argument of a transitive verbPERF perfective aspectPOSS possessivePROX proximal (spatial deixis)PST pastQ questionREP reportativeS most subject-like argument of a transitive verbSBJV subjunctiveSIM simultaneousSUP supineT most theme-like argument of a ditransitive verbTOP topic particleTEL telicUP up (spatial deixis)

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1 Introduction

1.1 e Yakkha language and its speakers

is section deals with the historical, geographical and sociolinguistic baground of the Yakkhalanguage.

Yakkha is a Kiranti language spoken in eastern Nepal. e Yakkha-speaking villages are locatedin the southern part of the Sankhuwasawa district and in the northern part of theDhankuta district.Within the area of eastern Nepal known as ‘Kirant’, the Yakkha area belongs to the Pallo Kirant‘Far Kirant area’.

e Yakkha area is mainly surrounded by other Kiranti languages. Going clowise, startingin the east, these are Tamarkhole Limbu, Phedappe Limbu and Chathare Limbu. Athpare, Bel-hare, Chɨlɨng and Chintang follow in the south, Dungmali and Bantawa in the west, Mewahang,Lohorung and Yamphu in the north. Further north, there is the Shingsaba language, whi isalso Tibeto-Burman, but not Kiranti. is geographical classification has to be understood in anidealised sense. Most of the villages are ethnically and linguistically diverse. According to theUNESCO Working Paper No. 7 (Toba et al. 2005) and the Nepali census of 2001 there are 14.648native speakers out of about 17.000 ethnic Yakkha, whi makes up 0.07 per cent of the Nepalesepopulation (Central Bureau of Statistics 2001). One reason why the language is not spoken by allYakkha people is migration outward, but there are also whole Yakkha villages inside the originalhomeland that have swited to Nepali completely.

e main selements are the villages of the Tin um (‘e ree Regions’) known as DasMajhiya, Pan Majhiya and Pan Khapan to the east of the Arun river (Kongren 2007a:86).ese designations originate in the land system introduced in the 18th century by the King PrithiviNarayan Shah (1723-1775), whi was part of his strategy to create a uniform Nepali nation. Heenforced Hindu law and caste system to the indigenous peoples of the area that is known asNepal today. Surnames like Dewan and Jimi are also inherited from these times. Titles su asDewan and Jimindar were given to individuals and village headmen in the Yakkha area in orderto implement the Gorkha tax system, and they were later adopted as surnames because of thepower and high social status associated with them. Among the Limbu, this is what happenedwith the Nepali/Mughal title Subba, and among the Khambu, the title Rai became a commonname (Whelpton 2005:51). e name Dewan is especially common to those Yakkha who gaveup their homeland and migrated outward. Apart from these non-indigenous surnames however,ancestral clan names play a vital role in social life and in the ritual sphere. A list of the clans andsubclans (Sameʔoŋ) can be found in Kongren (2007b:168). e villages with the highest densityof speakers are, according to Kongren (2007a), Syabun, Jaljala, Siddhapokhari, Siddhakali, Wanain the Pan Khapan area, Haisudhe, Kingring, Kharang and Baneshwor in the Pan Majhiyaarea, and Madi Rambeni, Bagha, Waleng (Nep. Madi Mulkharka), Tumok (Nep. Tamaphok),Tellok, Salle, Mamling, Ankhinbhuin, Yaiten (Nep. Dandagaun) in the Das Majhiya area.

e language use is in decline, for the well-known reasons of intercaste marriage, low prestigecompared to Nepali, and the availability of education beyond the primary-sool-level exclusivelyin Nepali or English. Especially the young generation replaces Yakkha with the Himalayan LinguaFranca Nepali (own observations). According to an ethnological study of T.B. Subba, Yakkha isreplaced with Nepali even at home (Subba 1999). Im am not aware of statistical evaluations about

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1 Introduction

how many speakers are still fully competent and how many ildren still acquire the language. Itappeared to me that the general knowledge and awareness of the origins, myths and folk stories ofthe Yakkha is comparatively low in the speaker community, with an increase in knowledge amongthe elderly speakers. What is still vividly known and practised is a ri tradition of folk songs.

e traditional occupation of the Yakkha is farming and cale breeding. Another means ofsubsistence is fishing and hunting. e main crops are maize, rice and millet. A typical householdhas pigs, buffalos, ien and goats. e pig is also a major feature in the ritual design, as asacrifice to the ancestors. e Yakkha follow their own religion, in whi the worship of theancestors plays a major role. Based on the clan division, ritual specialists called Maŋhaŋwa,Chamwa or Bijuwa have to undertake the ritual activities for ea family, on occasions like birth,marriage and death, and annual festivities based on the crop cycle. e main festivals are Casowa(Nep.: Udhauli) in autumn and Yuyaŋ (Nep. ubhauli) in spring (Kongren 2007a:102ff.).

In the rituals, a special spee register is used, that is very different from colloquial spee andhas its own vocabulary and a rigid structure and formalised style. is register is usually referredto as Munthum in the Kiranti languages, and it has the function to invoke supernatural powersand the spirits of the ancestors.

1.2 e language name

e language name is tracable to the Proto-Kiranti root *rok, whi is the Kiranti autonym. Itis not found in non-Kiranti languages of the Tibeto-Burman sto. e second syllable might betraced ba to the Proto-Tibeto-Burman root for ‘language, talk’. e root *rok is also the sourcefor other Kiranti ethnonyms, su as for the Puma Rai (Southern Kiranti), who have the autonymrokhoŋ. e sound ange of /r/ to /y/ is typical for Eastern Kiranti, to whi Yakkha belongs. eneighbouring groups Lohorung, Yamphe and Yamphu also call their languages Yakkhaba1, as it ispointed out in van Driem (1994).

1.3 Earlier work on Yakkha language and culture

e material on Yakkha so far available is scarce. e oldest source on Yakkha that I could findwas a apter in the ‘Linguistic Survey of India’, with a brief introduction and some Yakkha textsthat were collected in Darjeeling (Grierson 1909). More recent works on the language are theYakkha-Nepali-English dictionary (Kongren 2007b), a synoptic glossary (Winter et al. 1996) andan article about the inflectional morphology (van Driem 1994), whi is unfortunately based onone paradigm only. Resear on cultural and political aspects was undertaken by Subba (1999)und Russell (2007, 2004, 1997).

As the language use is in decline, and as there are already whole Yakkha villages that have nosingle Yakkha speaker, Yakkhamust be considered endangered. In the recent past, with ethnic con-sciousness rising in post-monary Nepal, several steps were taken to preserve the language andthe cultural knowledge that it contains, both by the Kirant Yakkha Chumma (Indigenous PeoplesYakkha Organization) and by individuals of the broader Yakkha community in Nepal and India.Among these we can find the implementation of Yakkha language textbooks (Jimi et al. 2009) anda curriculum for first and second class, an ethnographic introduction avaible in English and Nepali(Kongren 2007a), a dictionary (Kongren 2007b), a collection of poems (Dewan et al. 2002 (VS 2059)and a collection of thematically ordered wordlists and articles on the Yakkha traditions (Linkhaand Dewan 2005 (VS 2064). For a more detailed bibliography of the works on Yakkha that werepublished in Nepali the interested reader is referred to Rapaa et al. (2008). All these publicationsand recordings were very helpful sources for my own work. Furthermore, the Global Recordings

1-ba is a nominaliser.

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1.4 Genetic Affiliation

Network offers several recordings of biblical content in Yakkha (hp://globalrecordings.net/). Al-though the nature of a translated text differs highly from natural spee and must be treated withcaution, the recordings provided useful baground for my own data.

1.4 Genetic Affiliation

Yakkha belongs to the eastern bran of the Kiranti languages, together with Limbu and severalRai languages. One feature of Eastern (and Central) Kiranti is the merger of voiced and voicelessobstruents. Concerning voice, Eastern and Central Kiranti build one group, concerning otherfeatures, they are different. A typical feature of Eastern Kiranti is the sound ange of proto */r/and */R/ to /y/ (hence yak in Eastern and rak ~ rok in others). Sometimes, the resulting /y/ alsoelided. e tree in figure 1.1 represents just one possible scenario of the genetic affiliation of theKiranti languages, based on the regular sound anges in initials (Biel 2008a).

Kiranti

Western(*ʔC → C)

Chaurasiya(* → s):

JeroWambule

Northwestern:Bahing/Bayung

HayuSunuwar/Koĩc

Upper Dūḍhkośī:KhalingDumi

Midwestern(*ʔp,*ʔt → b,d):

ulungKoyu

Central-Eastern(*voiced → voiceless;

ʔk,*ʔc → kh, )

Central(*ʔp,*ʔt → b,d)

Khambu(*ʀ→ g, hr):

KulungNairingSampang

Sam

Southern:CamlingBantawa

?DungmaliPuma

Greater Eastern(*ʔp,*ʔt → ph, th)

Upper Aruṇ(PE *ph,*th → ∅):

LohorungYamphu

Mewahang

Eastern(’Yakkha-Limbu’)

Greater Yakkha :

Yakkha?MugaliChɨlɨngChintangAthpare

Belhare (PE *th → ∅)

Limbu( → s;ʀ,r → y)

Figure 1.1: Yakkha within the Kiranti Language Family, citing Biel (2008a)

e status of Yakkha within Eastern Kiranti is controversial. e proto-pregloalized conso-nants became either aspirated consonants or zero: */ʔc/ > //, */ʔp/ > /ph/, */ʔt/ > /∅/, while inCentral Kiranti, they became voiced stops. e nontrivial question of the phonemic status ofrhotics and laterals in Yakkha is treated in apter 2 on the phonology. e table in figure 1.2 isbased on data from van Driem (1993, 1987), Biel et al. (in prep.), Kongren (2007b) and own data.

Supposedly there are several dialects, even one spoken in Ilam, but no detailed dialectal studywas undertaken yet for Yakkha.

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1 Introduction

Proto-Kiranti Dumi (west) Puma (central) Yakkha (east) Limbu (east) Gloss*/d/ deːn ten ten tɛn ‘village’*/j/ ju ca ca ca ‘eat’*/b/ bhiʔi pooŋ pik pit ‘cow’*/r/ rep rep ep yep ‘stand’*/r/ roʔdi roduŋ yakthuŋ yak ‘Kiranti Autonym’*/R/ rɨm rum yum yum ‘salt’*// apd- ep sap ‘write’*/ʔp/ puŋ buŋ phuŋ phuŋ ‘flower’*/ʔt/ tɨŋ duŋ ʔuŋ thuŋ ‘drink’*/ʔt/ dok ʔak thak ‘loom’

Figure 1.2: Comparison of sound anges in Eastern, Central and Western Kiranti

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2 Phonology

2.1 Orthography

is apter deals with the consonant and vowel inventory and allophonic rules. At first I willbriefly lay out the orthography used here. I found it most practical for my purposes to follow thecommon orthography used in other grammars on Kiranti languages. It neither represents the pho-netic level, because it is unpracticable to note down ea and every phonetic difference, especiallyas the analysis of the sound system is not the major goal of this work. Nor does it represent thephonemic level, because the reader would have to bear in mind the whole section on allophonicvariance to figure out how the words are pronounced. A second reason not to represent the phone-mic level is that there are too many dialectal and possibly individual deviations and exceptions tothe allophonic rules, so that this information would be lost in a phonemic representation. What Iemploy here is what could be called the allophonic level, including allophones that are the resultof the voicing rule for instance.

e orthography used here looks as follows: e symbol [y] is used for the palatal approximant(IPA: j), [w] is used for the bilabial approximant, [c] is used for the alveolar fricative (IPA: ts),and [] stands for its aspirated counterpart (IPA: tsʰ). In the same way, [ph], [th], [kh] and [wh]represent aspirated consonants. e signs [ʈ] and [ɖ] are used for retroflex (or postalveolar) stops,and [ŋ] is used for the velar nasal.

2.2 Phoneme inventory and allophonic rules

Charts with the vowel and consonant inventories are provided in Figures 2.1 and 2.3 below. Phonesin braets occur only in loan words, or they are questionable, as it is the case for the gloal stop.Length differences are not contrastive, they are found only on the allophonic level, as for instancein kaŋma ‘fall’ vs. paːgyam ‘old man/husband’. ere are five vowels, and there are no centralvowels like /ɨ/ or /ə/ as in other Kiranti languages. Minimal pairs for the vowel distinctions areprovided in figure 2.2.

u

o

a

e

i

Figure 2.1: Yakkha vowel phonemes

ree diphtongs /ai/, /ui/ and /oĩ/ were found, occuring marginally, as in waikapu (a tree,bot. ‘sauraja nepaulensis’), waitna ‘exists’, uimalaŋ ‘steep descent’ and ŋoĩsipma ‘feel shy’. enasalised diphtong in the last example is a stem variation of the original stem /ŋont/. e sequences/ai/ and /ya/ are sometimes reduced to [e], as in [wetna] /waitna/ ‘it exists’, [khe] /khya/ ‘go’ orthe nonpast morpheme [me] /mya/. Furthermore, the vowels of open stems or of stems ending ina gloal stop can be reduced to glides or even be elided if suffixes are following. us, /ca-wa/

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2 Phonology

Phonemes Examples/e/ vs. /i/ nema ‘sow seed’ nima ‘know, see’/e/ vs. /a/ tema ‘lay on one side’ tama ‘come’/o/ vs. /u/ okma ‘shriek’ ukma ‘bring down’/o/ vs. /a/ thokma ‘spit’ thakma ‘weigh’/u/ vs. /i/ ukma ‘bring down’ ikma ‘collect’

Figure 2.2: Minimal pairs for vowels

and /cu-wa/ can be pronounced [cwa], /kheʔ-a/ can be reduced to [khya], /piʔ-a/ can be reducedto [pya], likewise /si-a/ can be reduced to [sya]. is may result in homophonous verb forms, forinstance the bare stem khya and its ‘3s.PST/IMP’ form khya, whi is underlying /khya-a/.

bilabial dental alveolar palatal velar gloalStops p t (ʈ) k (ʔ)asp. ph th (ʈh) khStops voiced (b) (d) (ɖ) (g)asp. (bh) (dh) (ɖh) (gh)Affricates cAffr. asp. Affricates (j)Affr. asp. (jh)Fricatives s hNasals m n ŋVibrants rLaterals lGlides w yGlides asp. wh

Figure 2.3: Yakkha consonant phonemes

A typical feature of Eastern Kiranti is the merger of voiced and voiceless stops and affricates.Voiced stops and affricates only occur allophonically. Due to phonological rules of voicing andreduction, sequences like /-ka-ha/ may become [-gha], but voiced aspirated stops are not foundin phonemic status. Aspirated nasals, as they are found in other Kiranti languages, are absent inYakkha. e glide /w/ however has an aspirated counterpart /wh/, standing in phonemic opposi-tion (cf. Table 2.4).

As for rhotics in eastern Kiranti, according to van Driem (1990), [l] and [r] have a complemen-tary distribution: [l] occurs word-initially and syllable-initially aer stops, and [r] occurs betweenvowels and in Cr-clusters. At the time of this claim however, only Limbu data was available. ForYakkha, the situation is a bit different. e rhotic /r/ does not appear word-initially, as there arewords like lok ‘anger’, but no words starting with /r/, except for the ancient ritual word ren thatwas translated as ‘homeland, village, place of walking, playing, seeing’, and Nepāli loans. A placewhere only /r/ occurs is in syllable-initial consonant clusters, for instance in ikhrum-ikhrum ‘onall sides’, phuphruʔwa ‘milk’ andmakhruna ‘bla’, and suthrukpa ‘a special kind of knot’. On theother hand, only /l/ appears syllable-initially aer closed syllables, as in khaʔla ‘in this way’, andpulicakli ‘being many’. Both /r/ and /l/ may occur in intervocalic position, as in ulippa ‘old’, sala‘language’ and tarokma ‘start’ or mora ‘big’. e two sounds /l/ and /r/ are distributed over com-plementary environments, but on the other hand, they also occur in the same environment. eproblem with the explanation of this distribution is that the different syllabifications (e.g. .kr vs.k.l) were established just on acoustic impressions and need independent evidence. It is not clear

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Phonemes Examples/k/ vs. /kh/ kepma ‘come up’ khepma ‘go’/p/ vs. /ph/ pakna ‘young guy’ phak ‘pig’/t/ vs. /th/ tumma ‘understand’ thumma ‘tie’

tapma ‘receive’ thapma ‘winnow’/c/ vs. // cikma ‘age, ripen’ ikma ‘measure’

cimma ‘tea’ imma ‘ask’/y/ vs. /w/ yapma ‘become rough’ wapma ‘put on clothes’

yamma ‘disturb’ wamma ‘trap’/y/ vs. /l/ yapma ‘become rough’ lapma ‘accuse, blame’

/w/ vs. /wh/ wapma ‘put on clothes’ whapma ‘wash clothes’waŋma ‘curve, bend’ whaŋma ‘boil’

/s/ vs. /h/ sima ‘die’ hima ‘spread’somma ‘stroke gently’ homma ‘fit into’

/k/ vs. /ŋ/ pekma ‘break’ peŋma ‘peel’okma ‘shriek’ oŋma ‘aa’

/ŋ/ vs. /m/ toŋma ‘agree’ tomma ‘stand up’tuŋma ‘pour’ tumma ‘understand’

/ŋ/ vs. /n/ -ŋa (ERG) na (NMLZ.s)/m/ vs. /n/ muma ‘uproot’ numa ‘heal, get well’

Figure 2.4: Minimal pairs for consonants

yet whether two different sounds /r/ and /l/ trigger the different syllabifications or whether it isthe other way round, and different syllabification results in different realisations of one phoneme.Despite these unsolved questions, the synronic occurence of /r/ and /l/ in intervocalic environ-ment justifies calling them two phonemes. With rhotics, metathesis can be found in allophonicvariation, as in tepruki ~ tepurki ‘flea’. is might be due to Nepali influence (B. Biel, p.c.).

e stops /p/, /t/ and /k/ can all be unreleased or neutralised to a gloal stop syllable-finally.e gloal stop is also prothesised before every vowel-initial syllable, to have a minimal onset.However, it is not clear yet whether it also stands in phonemic contrast to the other stops. Mor-phophonological processes can be found in abundance in Yakkha, and more data is needed toclearly distinguish all the underlying forms.

Unaspirated stops and the affricate, but not the sibilant, may undergo postvocalic and postnasalvoicing. e voiceless counterparts can be heard in this context as well, but far less than the voicedstops. is rule applies to both lexical stems and inflectional morphemes, with the exception ofthe morpheme -ci (dual or nonsingular, depending on morphological context). e only instanceof voiced -ci is in the second person dual pronoun nciŋta ~ njiŋda. In example (1), we can seehow the locative case morpheme -pe gets voiced, but -ci does not. e domain of the voicing ruleis apparently the word.

(1) hoŋma-ci-beriver-ns-LOC‘in the rivers’

Yakkha has several nasal prefixes that are realised as homorganic prenasalisation, i.e. they donot constitute syllables of their own. e nasal prefixes also trigger voicing stem-initially (seeexample (2)). e rule only applies at stem boundaries, so that kipa ‘tiger’ or kucuma ‘dog’ willnot be voiced. Complex words, su as compound verbs and nouns are also exempt from thisrule, for instance koncama ‘go for a walk’. e voicing is however active in the grammatical

13

2 Phonology

compounding of verbs (see example (3), cf. apter 6 on the structure and basic semantics of thecompound verbs). Several morphemes are realised by the above mentioned nasal prefixes. In theverbal domain, they code agreement with third person plural (A and S arguments) and negation.In the nominal domain, there is the possessive prefix for second person singular. In spatial andtemporal adverbs, the prefix codes distal meaning.

(2) a. m-bi-a-na3pA-give-PST-NEG‘ey did not give it to us.’ (underlying: /pi/)

b. n-ja-wa-ŋ-an=naNEG-eat-ASP-1sA-NEG=NMLZ.s‘I do not eat it.’ (underlying: /ca/)

c. m-baŋ2sPOSS-house‘your house’ (underlying: /paŋ/)

One more exception to the voicing rule has to be admied, that is shown in (3a). Stem-final /t/stays voiceless even before a vowel, so that for instance the imperatives et-u ‘Hunt fish!’ and phat-u ‘Help!’ do not undergo voicing. If the stem ends in a nasal plus /t/ however, stem-final voicingwill apply, as in (3b). To sum up, we can say that there are two exceptions to the voicing rule, onebeing the morpheme -ci, the other being stem-final /t/. e reason for the second exception mightbe that the stem-final /t/ in these verbs has its origin in an augment and was reanalysed as partof the stem (cf. section 5.1 on stem formation). In addition to the exceptions, the rule is subject toconsiderable dialectal and even individual variation. us, the orthography adapted here reflectsthe voicing as it was recorded, and not the underlying voiceless forms. e bilabial stop canalso ange to a bilabial glide /w/, via the voiced stop /b/, as for instance awa is an alternativepronounciation for aba (underlying /ap-a/) ‘Come!’.

(3) a. ekoone

ceʔyastory

lut-u-bi-citell-3P-BEN-ns

‘She told them a story.’ (underlying /pi/)b. em

songend-u-ga=na?apply-3P-2=NMLZ.s

‘Did you put on music?’ (underlying: /ent/)

Another morphophonological process is connected to the nasal prefixes. As they are unspecifiedfor the place of articulation, they assimilate in place to the subsequent consonant, thus yieldingprenasalisation. e examples above in (2) also illustrate this rule, and three more examples areprovided in (4). If the verb starts in a vowel, the default option is a velar nasal, as exemplified in(4d). e nasal prefix, if aaed to a nasal-initial stem, yields an initial nasal geminate, shownin (4e).

(4) a. ŋ-khya-n=naNEG-go-NEG=NMLZ.s‘He did not go.’

b. n-ya-ci2sPOSS-ild-ns

waiʔ=ya-ci?exist=NMLZ.ns-ns

‘Do you have ildren?’c. n-da-ya-ci

3pS-come-PST-ns‘ey came.’

d. mamhabig

wa-ci-ŋaien-ns-ERG

mimiyahsmall

wa-ciien-ns

ŋ-og-wa-ci=ha3pA-pe-NPST-ns=NMLZ.ns

14


‘e big ien pe the small ien.’e. m-ma

2sPOSS-mother‘your mother’

Plosives also undergo several assimilation processes. A stem-final plosive, if followed by a mor-pheme starting in a sibilant, will also become a sibilant. In other words: p,t,k → s/_s. Examplesare provided in (5). ere are stems that have a coronal augment aaed, whi is visible onlywhen the stem is followed by vowels, due to a restriction on complex consonant clusters. As forthese stems, they ban the assimilation to a sibilant, as shown in example (5d) 1.

(5) a. /nip-saŋ/count-SIM.CVB

→ [nissaŋ]

‘counting’b. /sop-saŋ/

wat-SIM.CVB→ [sossaŋ]

‘wating’c. /et-se/

hunt.fish-PURP.CVB→ [esse]

‘to hunt fish’d. /ept-se/

write-PURP.CVB→ [epse]

‘to write’

Stem-final /t/ will assimilate to place of articulation if it is followed by morphemes starting in/m/, i.e. t → p/_m. e infinitive of et ‘hunt fish’, thus, is epma, for phat ‘help’ it is phapma. Tofind out the stem forms, the inflected forms are always needed, for instance the imperative etu forepma or phatu for phapma.

Some sounds and clusters also assimilate in nasal quality to a subsequent nasal. e verb ‘under-stand’ for instance, with the underlying stem /tunt/ (realized as [tund]), has the infinitive tumma.e inflected form tum-meʔ-nen=na (stem-NPST-1>2=NMLZ.s) could either mean ‘I understandyou’ or ‘I meet you’, with the underlying stems /tunt/ and /tups/ respectively. e infinitive istumma for both. Not all stems undergo the nasal assimilation, and the inflectional morphologyseems to behave different from the infinitive suffix -ma. Some verbs keep a stem-final stop in theinfinitive, but assimilate to a nasal when being inflected. As a rule of thumb, verb stems withoutaugments and those ending in a stop-t-cluster (e.g. -pt, -kt), retain the stop in the infinitive, butstems ending in nasal-t or stop-s (e.g. -nt, -mt, -ps, -ks) ange their coda to a corresponding nasal.e variation of stem-final stop-s cluster and nasal (e.g. -ks/-ŋ, -ps/-m) however is also a robustpaern of stem variation in Kiranti and therefore is not neccessarily to assimilation. e dialectaland individual variation is also true for the application of the assimilation rules discussed here, sothat the orthography reflects the forms that were recorded, not the underlying structure.

1See also Chapter 5.1 on stem formation

15

2 Phonology

16

3 Parts-of-spee

Yakkha distinguishes nouns, verbs, adjectives and adverbs in the open class of parts-of-spee. Inthe closed class, there are different kinds of pronouns, adpositions, conjunctions, and one classifierfor human reference. Furthermore, there aremany particles that are used for information structure.

Yakkha nouns inflect for number, case and possession. As is usual for Kiranti and generallyTibeto-Burman, there is no gender system. e markers -ma for female reference and -pa for malereference do exist. is is particularly pronounced in the kinship system, as for instance isapameans ‘nephew’, while isama refers to ‘niece’. Sometimes, this corelation is also found in thebeginning of words refering to kinship relations, su as in paːgyam ‘husband’, maːgyam ‘wife’,(a-)pum ‘grandfather’ and (a-)mum ‘grandmother’1. As for the etymology, probably there usedto be some stem that hosted the markers and further morphology, and got lost by the time. Insome nouns, one of the two markers got lexicalised and the derived nouns simply have neutralreference, as for instance kipa means ‘tiger’ and kucuma denotes ‘dog’, regardless of their sex.

Many nouns exhibit the marker -wa. Etymologically, there are competing stories. It could berelated to the Tibeto-Burman nominaliser -pa, as in peleʔwa ‘lightning’, phaʔwa ‘pig fodder’(from phak ‘pig’), phetaŋwa ‘shaman, healer’ (pheta means ‘turban’, the typical clothing for heal-ers). But in words su as miʔwa ‘tear’ (from mik ‘eye’) it could be related to the root for waterwa. Also terms for birds, insects and plants, su as phamiyuŋwa (an insect) are built with -wa,whi could be related to the Kiranti root for bird, whi is also wa (in Yakkha now: nwak). Fur-thermore, there are also neologisms like phaniŋwa ‘constitution’.

Yakkha verbs, as Kiranti verbs in general, arearacterised by a complex interplay of person andnumber markers that cannot always be identified straightforwardly. e verbs show agreementwith S, A and P, and in ditransitive scenarios, the agreement is aligned with the primary object,that is, the goal or recipient. e verbs furthermore inflect for tense, aspect, mood and polarity.Most verbs have two stem forms that are triggered by the phonological context. Generally, verbstems are monosyllabic. Polysyllabic verb stems, su as suncama ‘it’, incama ‘sell’, yuncama‘smile’, koncama ‘walk’ and ŋoĩsipma ‘feel shy’ are compounds.

Some aspectual categories, Aktionsarten and valency anging derivations su as benefactiveand causative are constructed with a compound verb, a typical feature of South Asia. It consists oftwo verb stems of whi the second stem has grammaticalised to a marker of the above mentionedcategories. e morphology and semantics of the compound verbs will be discussed in detail inChapter 6.

Many properties that are expressed via adjectives in other languages, are covered by verbs inYakkha. ey can be used as predicates or aributively. A nominaliser2 that agrees in numberwith the head noun is aaed to the verb stem. Examples are haŋna/haŋha ‘spicy’, huna/huya‘burnt’ or cina/ciha ‘cold’, with =na as the singular form of the nominaliser, and =ha/=ya asthe plural form. Other adjectives are also tracable to verbs, but without a nominaliser aaed.Some of them look like frozen forms of inflected verbs, su as attu ‘fat’, from apma ‘spread’.Others look like bare verb roots, su as em ‘clear’ from emma ‘be clear’. Rare examples

1e prefix a- in braets is a first person singular possessive prefix. Kin terms are used with possessive prefixesobligatorily, a grammatical reflex of the concept of inalienable possession. See also apter 4.2.2 on possessivepronouns and prefixes.

2Alternative names in other descriptions of Tibeto-Burman languages are aributiviser or article, but the multiplefunctions of this particle are best covered by the term nominaliser.

17

3 Parts-of-spee

of adjectives not tracable to a verb are ikhrum ‘round’ and lukluk ‘short’. Comparison is nota defining aracteristic of adjectives in Yakkha, as the same construction also applies to verbs,yielding expressions like ‘I see/walk beer/faster than you’, where no degree adverb as in Englishis needed (cf. apter 7.3 on comparison).

We can find a range of adverbs in Yakkha, thinking of adverbs as grounding or modifying a ver-bal event in time, space, manner or degree. ere are temporal adverbs asen ‘yesterday’, locationaland directional adverbs, su as tutunne ‘far up above’, those that are exclusively directional likeyokhaʔla ‘towards over there’. Some adverbs are derived by adding the comitative case -nuŋ to anominal, verbal or adjectival root, as in (1). e domain of ideophonic adjectives and adverbs isalso very ri in Yakkha (cf. section 7.4).

(1) a. haŋsuŋ-nuŋmonary-COM‘royal’

b. ucun-nuŋnice-COM‘well’

c. khik-nuŋbe.bier-COM‘bier’

Compounds exist in nouns, verbs, adjectives and adverbs. Naturally, the etymology is notalways transparent any more. In all domains, Nepali borrowings are frequent.

Yakkha has one identificational copula for affirmative contexts om, and two negative copulasmanna for existential, and menna for identificational use (cf. apter 8).

In the field of pronouns, personal pronouns, demonstrative pronouns and interrogative pronounscan be found. Reflexive and reciprocal pronouns do not exist in Yakkha, because these valencymodifications are expressed by verbal morphology. As relativisation is done via nominalisation,Yakkha also las relative pronouns. ere is however the corelative construction, where questionpronouns and demonstrative pronouns may function as relative pronouns (cf. section 10).

Yakkha has one native classifier paŋ for human reference. For example, uŋci hippaŋ ‘these twopeople’. Other classifiers, su aswora ‘piece’ are loans from Nepali, as in bis wora khibak ‘twentyropes’. Native numerals are found upto number five: i, hic, sum, thum and ŋaŋ, but the Nepalinumerals are also used. Yakkha uses relational nouns in a possessive construction to expressspatial relations (cf. apter 4.3 on the genitive and possessive constructions). ere are someadpositions that were taken over from Nepali, like dekhi ‘since’, samma ‘until’, anusar ‘accordingto’, lagi ‘for’, the last example with a loan translation of the genitive case that it requires.

ere are some interjections, su as hoi ‘Enough!’, om ‘Yes’, menna/manna ‘No’.Furthermore, there are several conjunctions and particles for information structure, that will be

dealt with in their respective apters and sections.

18

4 Nominal Morphology

4.1 Number

Yakkha distinguishes singular, dual and plural in the verbal domain and in pronouns, and justsingular and nonsingular in nouns and third person pronouns. e nonsingular marker on nounsis -ci. e suffix applies to whole NP, aaing always to the final component. erefore, mod-ifying material does not agree in number. e number marking on nouns is not obligatory, and,impressionistically, it is more frequent in nouns denoting animates. Nonsingular marking can beinterpreted associatively, as it is done in other Kiranti languages and in Nepali also (cf. example(1)).1 e associative semantics are a feature that has reflexes in other parts of the morphosyntaxas well, for instance in the flexible agreement (cf. section 5.3).

(1) a. a-koŋma-ci-nuŋ1sPOSS-aunt-ns-COM‘with my auntie and her people’

b. LilaL.

didi-cielder.sister-ns

‘sister Lila and her folks’

4.2 Pronouns

4.2.1 Personal pronouns

e distinctions found in the personal pronouns are not as fine-grained as in the verbal inflection.An overview of the personal pronouns is provided together with the possessive pronouns in figure4.1 below. e first and second person pronouns distinguish singular, dual and plural number. emorpheme -ci conveys a dual meaning in the first and second person pronouns, as opposed to -nifor plural. In the third person, -ci simply conveys a nonsingular meaning, but the verbal inflectiondistinguishes dual number also in third person (cf. apter 5.2). e first person pronouns do notdistinguish inclusive/exclusive, but this distinction occurs in the possessive pronouns and in theverbal inflection. Hence, both inflected verb forms in (2) appear with the same pronoun. Probablythe diaronic base of the second person pronoun is the stem-initial /n/, to whi the numbermorphemes -ci and -ni were aaed. Finally, -da presumably has its origin in a topic particlethat was aaed to the pronouns and got lexicalised.2

(2) a. kaniŋwe.pl

khe-i-ŋago-1/2p-excl

‘We went.’ (adressee excluded)b. kaniŋ

we.plkhe-i=hago-1/2p=NMLZ.ns

‘We went.’ (adressee included)

1In Yakkha, kinship terms are used regularly to adress people, rather than their proper names. ey need not corre-spond to actual kinship relations. Strangers will also be adressed as ‘sister’, ‘auntie’, ‘brother’ etc., depending ontheir age and status.

2Parallel etymologies of second person pronouns and topic particles can at least be found in the Puma (also Kiranti)second person pronoun khan-na

19


personal pronoun possessive pronoun prefix pronoun plus prefix1s ka akka paŋ apaŋ akka apaŋ1di kanciŋ enciŋga paŋ enciŋpaŋ1de kanciŋ anciŋga paŋ anciŋpaŋ1pi kaniŋ eŋga paŋ embaŋ (ǃ)1pe kaniŋ aniŋga paŋ aniŋpaŋ2s nda ŋga paŋ mbaŋ nga mpaŋ2d njiŋta njiŋga paŋ njiŋpaŋ2p nniŋta nniŋga paŋ nniŋpaŋ3s uŋ ukka paŋ upaŋ ukka upaŋ3ns uŋci uŋciga paŋ uŋcipaŋ

Figure 4.1: Personal and possessive pronouns (illustrated by the head noun paŋ ‘house’)

4.2.2 Possessive pronouns

e possessive pronouns consist of the personal pronouns to whi a genitive suffix is added, withslight irregularities. ey distinguish inclusive and exclusive, a category that is absent in thepersonal pronouns. e first person possessive pronouns are aracterized by the loss of the initial/k/. e inclusive forms have no parallel in the personal pronouns. e third singular pronounshows an unusual assimilation of the velar nasal to a stop. e expected form would be uŋga,but instead we have ukka here, perhaps to distinguish the possessive pronoun beer from theergative-marked third person pronoun uŋ-ŋa.

e possessive prefixes mark the possessum, i.e. the head, indexing person and number of thepossessor. eir form is similar to the possessive pronouns, whi suggests that both have thesame etymology. e nasal in the inclusive prefix eN- and the nasal in the second person prefixN- assimilate in place to the subsequent consonant. ere are different structural options for apossessive phrase. One could either have the possessive pronoun plus the head noun, or simplythe head noun with a possessive prefix. In the singular, and only there, the possessive pronouncan occur together with the possessive prefix. is option was rejected for the nonsingular num-bers, with the explanation of sounding awkward and redundant. In the singular however, this isnot perceived ungrammatical. e heterogenous behaviour of the pronouns can be interpreted asan ongoing grammaticalization process of the pronouns to prefixes. Expectedly, as the singularpronouns are shorter compared to the nonsingular pronouns, it is easier for them to become gram-maticalised. Currently, the prefixes are in any number or person just an alternative option to thepronouns. is might ange over the time, and they might become obligatory, a development notunknown from other Kiranti languages, as for instance Puma (Sharma (Gautam) et al. 2005). Table4.1 provides an overview of the pronouns and prefixes, exemplified by possessive phrases with thehead noun paŋ ‘house’. Another irregularity that we can see here is the only partial applicationof the voicing rule that was introduced in apter 2.2.

Another remark on the possessive prefixes is in order. e category of inherent/obligatory pos-session exists, where certain concepts cannot be expressed without belonging to another entity.is is true for kinship terminology and, beyond kinship, for body parts and parts of plants. As forkinship terms, the first person singular possessive prefix is the default option. Terms like a-mum‘grandmother’, a-pum ‘grandfather’, a-na ‘elder sister’ and many more are never used withoutpossessive prefixes. Literally, they mean ‘my grandmother’ and so on.

It has to be noted that the terms for family relations acquired by marriage do not fall withinthe domain of obligatory possession, reflecting their non-consanguineous status (cf. example (3)).While the default option (e.g. for vocatives) for kin terms is the first person prefix, for other termsit is the third person singular, as for instance u-tiŋ ‘thorn’.

20

4.2 Pronouns

(3) tabaŋmale.in-law

hetnewhere

tas-wa-ga=naarrive-NPST-2=NMLZ.s

‘Where will (your) husband arrive?’

4.2.3 Demonstrative pronouns

e demonstratives pose some questions that could not be answered yet. e following sectionshall only present the data and first ideas on a possible analysis. e form and semantics ofthe demonstrative pronouns correspond to the nominalisers (cf. apter 10.1.1). For proximal(and probably also neutral) reference, there is na for singular and kha-ci for nonsingular anduncountables. Both pronouns can appear aributively (example (4a)), in predicative function andindependently as head of an NP, (see example (4b)). In non-modifying position, the nonsingularpronoun always appears with the nonsingular suffix, yielding khaci, the first naturally may not.Independent kha without plural suffix, as in kha-ga paŋ (intended: ‘their house’) was rejected asungrammatical. However, due to the plural being a phrasal suffix, phrases like *khaci yapmiciare ungrammatical. Instead, kha yapmici is used (cf example (4d)). e following examples shallillustrate the different positions in the NP. In (4a) we have the demonstrative inmodifying position,in (4b) and (4c) we have the pronouns as heads of NPs.

(4) a. naDEM

toŋbabeer

iminhow

et-u-ga=na?like-3P-2=NMLZ.s

‘How do you like this beer?’b. kha-ci

DEM-nsiminhow

et-u-g=ha?like-3P-2=NMLZ.ns

‘How do you like these?’c. na

DEMyond-a-boŋcome.out-PST-COND

yendabeer

sund-i-mya=bubecome.sour-3P-NPST=REP

‘When this one (the lizard) comes out, the beer gets sour, they say.’d. kha

DEMtoŋba-cibeer-ns

khumdu=ha-citasty=NMLZ.ns-ns

‘ese beers are tasty./e beers are tasty.’

e morpheme kha has another function that is not connected to the demonstrative, but it alsocarries plural semantics. It may be used to express a plurality of items, without specifying the exactnumber, as for instance khadalci ‘heap of lentils’ or khaphuŋci ‘bun of flowers’. eoice of theright interpretation seems to depend on the context, from the data available so far, but this issuecannot be explained satisfactorily yet. e second use also points towards a general unmarkeduse of na and kha. e addition of further morphology to yield a distal meaning supports thisassumption. Whether these bases code proximal or neutral deixis with regard to distance, theaddition of a homorganic nasal prefix turns them into distal demonstratives, translatable with‘that’ and ‘those’. e examples in (5) shall illustrate this. e proximal-distal-distinction is alsopresent in some adverbs of manner, for instance the manner adverbs khaʔla ‘in this way’, andŋkhaʔla ‘in that way’, and in the time adverbs khatniŋ ‘this time, now’, and ŋkhatniŋ ‘that time,then’.

(5) a. na-gathis-GEN

paŋhouse

‘his (this one’s) house’ (Nep.: yasko ghar)b. nna-ga

that-GENpaŋhouse

‘his (that one’s) house’(Nep.: usko ghar)c. kha-ci-ga

these-ns-GENpaŋhouse

21


‘their (these) house’ (Nep.: yiniharuko ghar)d. ŋkha-ci-ga

those-ns-GENpaŋhouse

‘their (those) house’ (Nep.: uniharuko ghar)

e etymology of kha can most probably be traced ba to Proto-Kiranti *khol ‘all/ everybody’,that has developed to different markers with plural semantics throughout the Kiranti languages:quantifiers (Yakkha khak ~ ghak , Khulung khɔlɔŋ, ulung khole) ‘all’; antipassive markers(Puma), first person patient markers (Puma, Chintang, Camling) (Biel and Gaenszle 2007).

ere is another set of demonstratives that refer to different directions and locations with respectto the speaker. ese are khe for proximal, yo for distal reference on the same level of altitude, tofor ‘up’ and mo for ‘down’. ese roots may form demonstratives or spatial adverbs, dependingon the derivational morphology that is added to them (see also apter 7). e nominaliser (=nafor singular, and =ha ~ =ya for nonsingular reference) turns them into demonstratives. Examplesare provided below. ey may also occur in predicative function (see example (6c)).

(6) a. khe=naPROX-NMLZ.s.

toŋbabeer

‘this beer’b. to=ya

UP=NMLZ.nspik-cicow-ns

‘the cows up there’c. ŋ-ga

2sPOSS-GENtoŋbabeer

yo=na,DIST-NMLZ.s,

ak-ka1sPOSS-GEN

toŋbabeer

khe=na.PROX-NMLZ.s

‘Your beer is that one, my beer is this one.’

4.2.4 Interrogative pronouns and other interrogatives

e interrogative pronouns and adverbs are mainly built by the combination of the unspecifiedinterrogative root i with case suffixes, postpositions and the nominaliser. ere is a second in-terrogative root, namely het ~ heʔ, whi may basically combine with the same morphologicalmaterial as the first-mentioned root, though sometimes with different semantic results, as i=nameans ‘what’, but het=na yields ‘whi’. All interrogatives found so far are listed in Table 4.2below.

i heti/ ina/ iya ‘what’ hetna ‘whi’ibe ‘where’ hetne ‘where’ibeʔniŋ ‘when’ hetniŋ ‘when’iphaŋ ‘where from’ hetnaŋ ‘where from’imin ‘how’ikhiŋ ‘how mu/how many’isa ‘who’ijaŋ ‘why’

Figure 4.2: e interrogative pronouns and other interrogatives

e root i usually occurs with further morphology. Depending on the number of the items inquestion, it will either take =na, the nominaliser for singular reference, or =ya ~ =ha, the nomi-naliser for plural and uncountables. For example, food is expected to consist of several different

22

4.3 Case system

items, and will be asked for with the plural form. If however not an item but en event is the focusof the question, the bare interrogative root, without further morphology, is used (see (7)).

(7) a. i=yawhat=NMLZ.ns

ca-maeat-INF

‘What to eat?’b. i

whatleks-a?happen-PST

‘What happened?’

e root can also combine with the genitive -ga and the loan postposition lāgi ‘for’ from Nepali,to ask for purpose, as shown in example (8).

(8) i-ga-lagiwhat-GEN-for

ta-ya-ga=na?come-PST-2=NMLZ.s

‘What did you come for?’

As for the pronouns with the root het, their etymology is quite transparent. Hetna ‘whi’ con-sists of the root het plus the singular nominaliser =na. Hetne ‘where’ and hetnaŋ ‘where from’are built via the addition of the locative and the ablative case suffixes respectively. e bilabialsin the locative -be and in the ablative -paŋ have anged to a nasal, adapting the place of artic-ulation of the preceding /t/ in het. e ange in quality to a nasal however cannot be explainedstraightforwardly. e particle niŋ, found in hetniŋ and ibeʔniŋ means ‘while’, and is also usedin clause linkage (cf. apter 14.2). e origin of the other particles -min, -khiŋ, -sa and -jaŋ isnot transparent. ey do not exist independently.

Some of the interrogative pronouns can be duplicated to yield unspecific reference, like hetniŋhetniŋ ‘sometimes’, or iya iya ‘some things’. Some more examples for the interrogative pronounsare provided in (9). In (9f) we can see that isa may also take the plural suffix if the identity ofmore than one person is in question.

(9) a. hetnaŋwhere.from

ta-ya-ka=na,come-PST-2=NMLZ.s

mamu?girl

‘Where do you come from, daughter?’b. hetniŋ

whenta-ya-ga=na?come-PST-2=NMLZ.s

‘When did you arrive?’c. hetne

wherewa-me-ka=na,live-NPST-2=NMLZ.s

mamu?girl

‘Where do you live, daughter?’d. na

thisten-bevillage-LOC

ikhiŋhow.mu

wa-me-ka=na?live-NPST-2=NMLZ.s

‘How long will you stay in this village?’e. aniŋ-ga

1pe.POSS-GENtenvillage

iminhow

et-u-ga=na?have.opinion.about-3P-2=NMLZ.s

‘How do you like our village?’f. kha-yapmi-ci

these/unspec.pl-person-nsisa-ci?who-ns

‘Who are these people/the group of people?’

4.3 Case system

Yakkha has seven cases, namely the nominative, the ergative/instrumental, the genitive, the loca-tive, the ablative, the allative and the comitative (cf. the table in Figure 4.3).

23


case markernominative /ergative/instrumental -ŋagenitive -galocative -pe/ -geablative -paŋ/ -gaŋallative -khaʔlacomitative -nuŋ

Figure 4.3: Case markers

e unmarked nominative is used for subjects of intransitive verbs (S), objects of transitive verbs(P) (for both theme (T) and goal (G) grammatical roles), and also for subjects of transitive verbs (A),as long as they are represented by first and second person pronouns. It is also used for predicatenominals. Arguments in the A-role that are not represented by first or second person pronounsare marked by the ergative case -ŋa. is also includes nouns with second person reference (for anexample cf. section 5.3 on flexible agreement). Examples of nominative and ergative are providedin (10) below.

(10) a. ka1s[NOM]

khe-me-ŋ=nago-NPST-1s=NMLZ.s

‘I go.’b. massina=ca

small[NOM]=ADDŋ-und-wa-ci3pA-pull.out[3P]-NPST-ns

‘(ey) also pull out the small (fish)’c. ka

1s[NOM]nta2s[NOM]

cakletsweet[NOM]

pi-meʔ-nen=nagive-NPST-1>2=NMLZ.s

‘I give you the sweet.’d. uŋ-ŋa

3s-ERGka1s[NOM]

mokt-wa-ŋ=nabeat[3sA]-NPST-1s=NMLZ.s

‘He beats me.’

e ergative is also used to mark instruments or effectors, as shown in (11). Also the medium forcommunication, i.e. the language will be marked with an instrumental (cf. (11b)). Some temporaladverbs also take an ergative/instrumental marker, as in example (11c).

(11) a. luŋkhak-ŋastone-INS

laŋfoot[NOM]

lukt-i=nabump.into[3s]-PST=NMLZ.s

‘Did you hit (your) foot at the stone?’ (infl.class/exception⁇ what is -i here?)b. eŋ-ga

1pe-GENceʔya-ŋlanguage-INS

sarabcurse

pi-ci=agive[3pA,PST]-3nsP=NMLZ.ns

‘(e sun) cursed them in our language.’c. khiŋbelaʔ-ŋa

thesedays-ERG‘thesedays’

e genitive case is realised by the suffix -ka. It is used for possessive constructions, as in (12).As mentioned in Chapter 4.2.2 on possessive pronouns, the possessum may carry the possessiveprefix, as in (12a) and (12b).

(12) a. ŋ-ga2sPOSS-GEN

m-ba-ci2sPOSS.pr-father-ns

m-ma-ci2sPOSS.pr-mother-ns

‘your parents’

24

4.3 Case system

b. isa-gawho-GEN

u-cya?3sPOSS-ild

‘whose ild’c. aniŋ-ga

1pePOSS-GENliŋkha-gaa_clan-GEN

utpatiorigin

‘the origin of our Linkha clan’

Some local postpositions also require the genitive, as shown in (13a). Some of them are relationalnouns, used in a possessive construction, to whi a locative must be added, as in (13b) and (13c).Example (13a) has no locative aaed to the head noun, whi is the reason for interpreting it asa postposition.

(13) a. tebul-gatable-GEN

mobarikunder

‘under the table’b. siŋ-ga

tree-GENu-sam-be3sPOSS-boom-LOC

‘under the tree’c. tayar-ga

tyre-GENu-yum-be3sPOSS-side-LOC

‘next to the tyre’

e teknonymic genitive -gu is the respectful way to adress or refer to elder people, instead of usingtheir names. ey are referred to as father or mother of their eldestild. emore frequent optionis apparently the eldest son, but exceptions in favour of the eldest daughter’s name are possible.Etymologically, the teknonymic genitive is the result of merging the genitive suffix -ga with thethird person singular possessive prefix u-. In case the ild’s name does not end in a vowel, anepenthetic element -e is added. In this construction, the initial consonant of the head noun isgeminated. Examples are provided in (14).

(14) a. Ram-e-gu-ppaR.-EPEN-TEK.GEN-father‘Ram’s father’

b. Bal-e-gu-ppaB.-EPEN-TEK.GEN-father‘Bal’s father’

c. Sita-gu-ppaS.-TEK.GEN-father‘Sita’s father’

Yakkha has only one general locative case -pe, that is used for location as well as for direc-tion. is is exceptional for Kiranti languages, that usually exhibit four different locative cases,distributed on a vertical axis. e neighbouring closely related Athpare language however alsoexhibits only one locative -Ni (Ebert 1997). Examples are provided in (15), with (15d) exemplifyingdirectional use. According to the voicing rule, there is an allomorph -be, whi can become -wein fast spee. It might be that the ritual language still exhibits the deictic locative distinction, butthis was not eed yet.

(15) a. khorek-pebowl-LOC

cuwabeer

‘ere is beer in the bowl.’b. u-thok-pe

3sPOSS-body-LOCtoŋ-meʔ=nafit-NPST=NMLZ.s

‘It suits her.’

25


c. nwak-kabird-GEN

ohop-penest-LOC

‘in the nest of the bird’d. salle-we

Salle-LOCkhem-me-ŋ-ci-ŋa=igo-NPST-e-d[1]-e=EMPH

‘We go to Salle.’

Propriation also has to be expressed by constructing the possessor as a locative, illustrated in(16).

(16) eŋ-ka-be1diPOSS-GEN-LOC

paisamoney

mannaNEG.EXIST

‘We do not have money.’

ere is a second locative, used to express the notion ‘at X’s place’, whi is a loan translationfrom Nepali. e morpheme -ge is a combination of the genitive -ga and the locative -pe. esame combination of morphemes is found in Nepali (e.g. tapāi-ko-mā ‘at your place’, mero-mā ‘atmy place’).

(17) a. isa-ge?who-at‘at whose place?’

b. dhanu-geD.-at

ta-ya-ŋ=nacome-PST-1s=NMLZ.s

‘I came to Dhanu’s place.’

e locative is not obligatory. In colloquial language, examples like (18) can be heard. It has tobe eed yet, whether this is generally allowed, or only with inherent locations or motion verbs.

(18) tumokTamaphok

waiʔ-ŋa=nastay-e=NMLZ.s

‘I am in Tamaphok.’

Reduplication in combination with the locative is used to convey several locations, in a conti-nous movement with iterative stops, as shown in (19).

(19) paŋ-paŋ-behouse-REDUP-LOC‘from house to house’

e ablative -paŋ denotes some movement away from a source. It has the following allomorphs,some of whi are phonologically conditioned: -baŋ, -naŋ, -ndaŋ. e voiced version may simplybe accounted to the voicing rule, as shown in (20). e last allomorph is found in connection withspatial adverbs only, and might have a different etymology.

(20) a. mamliŋ-baŋMamling-ABL‘from Mamling’

b. tumok-paŋTamaphok-ABL‘from Tamaphok’

e allomorph -naŋ seems to be an assimilation to the place of the preceding stop, but theangeto a nasal cannot be explained straightforwardly. In parallel to the ablative, the locative -pe is alsorealised as [-ne] aer the interrogative root het, to yield hetne ‘where’.

26

4.3 Case system

(21) a. het-naŋwhat-ABL

tai-ka=na,come-2=NMLZ.s

mamu?girl

‘Where did you come from, girl?’b. jarman-baŋ

Germany-ABLta-ya-ŋ=nacome-PST-1s=NMLZ.s

‘I came from Germany.’

e ablative does not distinguish different levels of altitude, at least according to the data that isavailable so far. e form -paŋ is used also when the direction of the movement is upwards ordownwards.

(22) a. tumliŋ-baŋTumlingtar-ABL‘from Tumlingtar’ (lower altitude than deictic centre)

b. otemma-baŋplains-ABL‘from the Tarai’ (lower altitude)

c. himal-baŋHimalaya-ABL‘from the Himalayas’ (higher altitude)

e alternative -ndaŋ was found in the following example.

(23) a. mo-ndaŋbelow-ABL

kya-ŋ=nacome.up[PST]-1s=NMLZ.s

‘I came up from below.’

e older version of the ablative can be found thanks to the data provided in Grierson (1909).In most cases it is transcribed as -bohuŋ, as in (24).

(24) nakhokso.many

barsa-bohuŋyear-ABL

‘since so many years’

In parallel to the second locative, there is also a second ablative -gaŋ, used to express ‘from X’splace’, as illustrated in (25). It has the same composite structure as the second locative.

(25) dhanu-gaŋD.-from


‘I came from Dhanu’s place.’

ere is an allative case -khaʔla, but it is rarely used, as the locative may also express movementtowards a goal. ere is a homophonous manner adverb khaʔla, that means ‘in this way/ like this’.

(26) waleŋ-baŋWaleng-ABL

tumok-khaʔlaTamaphok-ALL

‘from Waleng to Tamaphok’

Another case is the comitative -nuŋ.

(27) a. nda-nuŋ2s-COM

ka=ca1s=ADD

loŋ-me-ŋ=nacome.along-NPST-1s=NMLZ.s

‘I will also come with you.’b. toŋba-nuŋ

beer-COMn-doŋ-me-n=naNEG-agree-NPST-NEG=NMLZ.s

‘It (the ocolate) does not go with the beer.’

27


e comitative also plays a role in the derivation of some adverbs out of adjectives, as shownin (28) (for more examples cf. apter 7.1). Furthermore, the comitative is also found in clauselinkage (cf. apter 11.4).

(28) a. sua-nuŋsour-COM

et-u-ŋ=hafeel-3P-e=NMLZ.ns

‘It tasted sour to me.’b. khumdu-nuŋ

tasty-COMna-masmell-INF

‘to smell tasty’

28

5 Verbal Morphology

5.1 Stem formation

Kiranti verb stems usually alternate between two stem forms. ere are various stem-final al-ternations and augmentations, leading to consonant clusters that will be pronounced only beforevowels in the same phonological word, i.e. before vowel-initial suffix-strings. Otherwise, theunaugmented stem form will be used. Augmented stems end in the coronal obstruents -s or -t.Some also end in -r whi might historically have come from -t as well.

e augments can be traced ba to Proto-Sino-Tibetan derivational suffixes. ey got lexi-calised and largely lost their morphological content. In Kiranti, some reflexes of this old systemcan still be found in valency-anging correspondences like in figure 5.1, but this is by no meansa regular synronic paern, and there are also many intransitive verbs with an augment. Someexamples of these correspondences in Yakkha are listed in Figure 5.1.

uks ~ uŋ ‘come down’ ukt ~ uk ‘bring down’hons ~ hom ‘be open’ hont ~ hom ‘open’poks ~ poŋ ‘explode’ pont ~ pom ‘spread out grain’phops ~ phom ‘be covered’ phopt ~ phop ‘cover, hide’si ‘die’ sis ~ si ‘kill’

Figure 5.1: Valency increase via stem augments

Due to assimilation processes many infinitives can have the same form, but they can be dis-tinguished via the inflected forms. Many verbs are also homophonous, but they have differentvalency and thus the inflectional morphology is different. In the following, the different stemtypes will be presented.

a) e first group are non-alternating stems. Open stems as well as closed stems belong to thisgroup. e alternations found here are just due to general phonological rules su as the voicingrule or the bilabial assimilation of /t/ to [p], as discussed in apter 2.2 on the various assimilationprocesses. e homophonous verbs like ‘shoot’ and ‘come’ (both apma) or ‘cough’ and ‘pri’(both hopma) are distinguished by their different valency. e verb ekma in the list below showsvariation between plosive and nasal. It might be triggered by subsequent nasals in the inflectionalsuffixes, but it is not an obligatory phonological rule, as the infinitive shows. us, I tend toperceive it as a simple exception.

stem infinitive glossap apma ‘shoot’ap apma ‘come’yep yepma ‘stand’hap hapma ‘cry’up upma ‘earn’hot hopma ‘cough’hot hopma ‘pri’at apma ‘spread’

29

5 Verbal Morphology

phat phapma ‘help’cok cokma ‘do’yok yokma ‘sear’ek ~ eŋ ekma ‘break’yak yakma ‘sele down’toŋ toŋma ‘fit, meet, agree’hiŋ hiŋma ‘survive’uŋ uŋma ‘drink’toŋ toŋma ‘get, fit, agree’yaŋ/eŋ yaŋma/eŋma ‘emanate sound’um umma ‘su’ca cama ‘eat’khi khima ‘quarrel’

b) e second stem group shows alternations of open stems and stem-final plosives. ese stopsare elided before vowels, su as in khyaŋ.na (/khek-a-ŋ=na/) ‘I went’, soŋ.na (/soʔ-a-ŋ=na/) ‘Iwated’, in contrast to soʔ.nen.na ‘I wated you’. In the infinitive, the stops always assimilateto [p], but the inflection reveals the underlying plosives /k/, /t/ and /ʔ/. is group is atypicalfor Kiranti stem variation, because the stem-final stops behave contrary to the usual augments:ey appear before consonants and they are elided before vowels. is paern might result fromreanalysing augments as belonging to the stem.

stem forms infinitive glosskhek ~ khe khepma ‘go’soʔ ~ so sopma ‘wat’haʔ ~ ha hapma ‘bite’tuʔ ~ tu tupma ‘tread with feet’piʔ ~ pi pipma ‘give’lut ~ lu lupma ‘tell sth.’

c) e stems in this group alternate between open and closed stems ending in augment -s. eaugment will never appear before a consonant, whi is why the infinitive, in contrast to the groupabove, always has open syllables. is kind of alternation is only found between open stems andstems with an augmented -s, never with -t.

stem forms infinitive glossnis ~ ni nima ‘see, know’yas ~ ya yama ‘be able to’cis ~ ci cima ‘cool down’khes ~ khe khema ‘create difficulty’us ~ u uma ‘boil, be cooked’es ~ e ema ‘defecate’us ~ u uma ‘shrink (food)’

d) e next group has closed stems ending in a plosive and augmented -t. It appears only beforevowels, su as in ka gagri ipt-u-ŋ=na ‘I filled the pot’. e last verb in this list, hokma, is specialinsofar as the shorter stem also shows variation between plosive and nasal. Although the nasal istriggered by other nasals in the inflectional morphology, it is no overall morphophonological rule,as the infinitive form shows.

30

5.1 Stem formation

stem forms infinitive glossipt ~ ip ipma ‘fill sth.’opt ~ op opma ‘correct, save’ukt ~ uk ukma ‘bring down’tupt ~ tup tupma ‘light up’yokt ~ yok yokma ‘pierce’ukt ~ uk ukma ‘be sold’cikt ~ cik cikma ‘ripen’khupt ~ khup khupma ‘carry’hokt ~ hok/hoŋ hokma ‘bark’

e) e augment -t is also found on stems ending in the nasals /m/, /n/ and /ŋ/. In infinitives,stems ending in -nt assimilate to subsequent [m], while those ending in-ŋt stay as they are.

stem forms infinitive glosseŋt ~ eŋ eŋma ‘staple, raise’haŋt ~ haŋ haŋma ‘sweat’tunt ~ tum tumma ‘understand’ent ~ em emma ‘become aware’unt ~ um umma ‘pull’hont ~ hom homma ‘fit into’umt ~ um umma ‘shrink (clothes)’imt ~ im imma ‘ask’homt ~ hom homma ‘swell’

f) e next group of stems shows variation between a final nasal and a corresponding stop-s-paern. Examples can be found for the pairs -m/-ps and -ŋ/-ks, the augmented form againsurfacing only before vowels. Some irregularities are found also here, e.g. ipma can also be foundfor ‘sleep’, pointing towards an underlying /p/. More inflected forms of the verbs listed here areneeded to distinguish between genuine stem variation of the kind described here and just anotherinstance of stop assimilation to a nasal. If the second possibility is true, we needed to establishone more stem group, namely the variation between stem-final stop and stop plus augmented -s.is stem type is not uncommon in other Kiranti languages.

stem forms infinitive glossips ~ im imma ‘sleep’tups ~ tum tumma ‘meet, find, get’ceps ~ cem cemma ‘recover’sops ~ som somma ‘stroke gently’uks ~ uŋ uŋma ‘come down’paks ~ paŋ paŋma ‘send’hiks ~ hiŋ hiŋma ‘return’kaks ~ kaŋ kaŋma ‘accept, fall down’keks ~ keŋ keŋma ‘bear fruit’hiks ~ hiŋ hiŋma ‘return’

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5 Verbal Morphology

h) One more alternation, namely that between an open or closed stem and final -r was found.is augment is not typical, and might have developed from an original -t, via -d.1 So far, thereare only three representatives of this stem type. An example of an inflected form is her-a=na ‘itdried up’.

stem forms infinitive glossher ~ he hema ‘dry up’por ~ po poma ‘fall down’pher ~ phep phepma ‘open the eyes wide’

5.2 Person and number agreement

e Yakkha verb shows a complex system of agreement markers for person and number, whi istypical for Kiranti languages. In transitive scenarios, both actants trigger agreement on the verb.In ditransitive scenarios we have primary object alignment, i.e. it is the most goal-like argument(henceforth G-argument) that triggers object agreement. e single morphemes may code justone category, like -ka for ‘2’ or -ŋ for ‘e’. Some are portmanteu morphemes combining personand number or even a specified transitive scenario, like -nen for ‘1>2’. Other morphemes areambiguous, like -ci for dual or nonsingular, but their meaning is specified via their morphologicalcontext. Due to elision of vowels to avoid a hiatus of two vowels, some morphemes are rarelyovertly realised.

e agreement affixes may have different forms depending on whi argument type they repre-sent (indicated by capital leers in the glosses). e different aligment paerns that are exhibitedby the paradigms will be treated in detail in apter 15.1 on grammatical relations. Polarity is alsomarked by verbal affixes, mostly nasals that can be copied several times throughout the inflectedverb form, basically to fulfill the function of closing open syllables. To give an example, the verbform pimecuna ‘they give it to her/him’ has the negated form mbimencunna. Other nasal mor-phemes, su as -ŋ ‘e, 1s’ and -m ‘1/2pA’ may also be copied for the same purpose. Tense, aspectand mood are expressed by verbal affixes as well, leading to a huge number of possible forms forea verb.e agreement system will be explained in the following. e table in figure 5.2 below givesan overview of the different affixes in intransitive and transitive (indicative) inflection, extractedfrom the verb forms to the exclusion of negation markers, mood and tense/aspect markers thatwill be included and discussed later. e cliticised nominalisers =na and =ha/=a are not obliga-tory, but as the table and the paradigms show, it is very common to aa them to the verb. emorphemes are listed in their underlying forms, in contrast to the examples that are presented asthey were recorded.

In general, the person and number marking has more distinctions in the S and A roles. Forinstance, the dual number for the agreement with P arguments is only there in the second person.Especially where the first and second person are involved, many forms have collapsed into one,due to the rare occurence of the respective scenarios in real life. If we look at the boxes for firstperson P, we see that a distinct form is only used if both actants have singular number. Remarkably,the form for first person nonsingular patient has no person marking at all anymore, only the verbstem and negation, tense and aspect remained. In the box for first person acting on second person,we see a nicely layered paern: As soon as one actant, no maer whi one, has dual number,

1is phonological ange is not unknown in Yakkha, as some correspondences between the more araic rituallanguage and profane spee show, e.g. ren and ten for village, place to live.

32


intransitive transitive1s 1ns 2s 2d 2p 3s 3ns

1s -ŋ=na -nen=na -nen-ci=na -nen-i=na -ŋa -ŋ-ci-ŋ=ha1di -ci=ha reflexive -c-u=na -c-u-ci=ha1de -ŋ-ci-ŋ=ha reflexive -nen-ci=na -nen-i=na -ŋ-c-u-ŋ=na -ŋ-c-u-ŋ-ci-ŋa1pi -i reflexive -m=na -m-ci-m=ha1pe -i-ŋ=ha -nen-i=na -m-ŋa=na -m-ci-m-ŋa2s -ka=na -ŋ-ka=na -ka=na -ci-ka2d -ci-ka -ka reflexive -c-u-ka=na -c-u-ci-ka2p -i-ka -m-ka=na -m-ci-m-ka3s =na -ŋ=na

-ka=na-ci-ka

=na -ci=ha3d -ci=ha - -i-ka -c-u=na -c-u-ci=ha3p N- =ha-ci N- -ka=na N- =na N- -ci=ha

Figure 5.2: Table of person and number agreement

the dual form will be used. As soon as one actant has plural number, the plural form will beused. ere was one exception though, namely for 1pe>2d, where the suffix string -nen-ci=nawas also possible for some speakers. Generally, as these nonsingular forms are not so frequent,there was considerable insecurity and discussion about the verb forms among the speakers. Notonly agreement with the patient shows syncretisms. If we look at the box for third person actingon second, we see that even singular and dual number of the agent have collapsed, and in the lastcolumn of the box, all numbers have collapsed into one form.

e verbal morphology is templatic, with clearly defined slots for ea affix. e order is shownin Figure 5.3, including the suffix copying.

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11-nen -i -ŋ~ -ŋa -ci -u/-i -m -ci -m -ka~ -ga =na ~ =ha -ci‘1>2’ ‘1/2pS/P’ ‘e’ ‘d’ ‘3P’ ‘1/2pA’ ‘3nsP’ ‘1/2pA[copy]’ ‘2’ ‘NMLZ’ ‘3pS’

-ŋ -ŋ~ -ŋa‘e[copy]’ ‘e[copy]’

Figure 5.3: Suffix slots for agreement

In the following, the morphemes and their properties will be discussed, with examples. eprefix slot can be occupied by an unspecified nasal, whi either codes agreement with thirdperson plural (in S and A roles) or a negation marker (cf. section 5.4). As it is unspecified withregard to the place of articulation, it assimilates to the place of the initial consonant of the verbstem. Before vowels and the glide /w/, it is realised as a velar nasal. e nasal prefix coding3pS/A is missing in the paradigms in combination with first person patient and second personplural patient. In general, the labels for the morphemes stand for a maximal extension. It is oenthe case that a morpheme is not found in all the expected slots. Examples for intransitive andtransitive inflection can be found in (1).

(1) a. ŋ-khy-a-ma-ci3pS-go-PST-PERF-ns‘ey have gone.’

b. m-bi-a-ga=na3pA-give-PST-2=NMLZ.s‘ey gave it to you.’

e first suffix slot is occupied by the portmanteau-morpheme -nen for first person acting onsecond. e second slot is occupied by -i, whi codes first and second person plural S and secondperson P arguments. It appears in agreement with the S argument in intransitive verbs, and with

33

5 Verbal Morphology

P arguments in transitive verbs. Examples can be found in (2). is analysis cannot cope with oneambiguity exemplified in (2b), where -i can also stand for agreement with plural first person Aarguments. But as mentioned above these forms are exactly those that caused discussion amongthe speakers, so that I assume this neutralisation of agreement forms to be a new development.

(2) a. pi-meʔ-nen=nagive-NPST-1>2=NMLZ.s‘I give it to you.’

b. pi-meʔ-nen-i=nagive-NPST-1>2-1/2p=NMLZ.s‘I give it to you (p).’ OR ‘We (d) give it to you (p).’ OR ‘We (p) give it to you (s/d/p).’

c. pi-i-gagive-2p-2‘He gave it to you (p).’

d. khe-i-wago-1p-NPST‘We (incl) go.’

e. khe-i-wa-gago-2p-NPST-2‘You (p) go.’

e exclusive morpheme -ŋ ~ ŋa, strictly speaking, codes the non-inclusive, because also the1s-agreement is covered by this suffix. us, though it is the morphologically marked form, it issemantically the unmarked form, defined by the exclusion of the adressee.2 e allomorph -ŋaresults from the epenthesis of /a/ to avoid complex consonant clusters. e inclusive/exclusivedistinction that we have in the inflection is not found in the personal pronouns, but it remains inthe possessive pronouns (cf. apter 4.2.2). e exclusive suffix can also be copied to build a codaof otherwise open syllables. To account for all the occurrences of -ŋa, we have to define two slots:slot 3 (cf. (3a) and (3b)) and slot 9 (cf. (3c)).

(3) a. khe-me-ŋ=nago-NPST-1s=NMLZ.s‘I go.’

b. khya-me-ŋ-ci-ŋago-NPST-[1]e-d-[1]e[copy]‘We (dual, excl) go.’

c. tund-wa-m-ci-m-ŋaunderstand-NPST-1pA-3nsP-1pA[copy]-e‘We (p, excl) understand them.’

e fourth suffix slot is for -ci ‘d’ and the fih slot is for -u/-i for third person patient (‘3P’).3

Due to the hiatus of the two vowels, both suffixes melt to -cu. In the indicative paradigm, thedistribution of -u is only ‘d>3P’, but as we will see later in the mood paradigms, it has a widerrange of application. Additionally, it is plausible that -u is underlying in the forms where it isnot audible, and is not pronounced due to the phonologically impossible sequence */-wa-u-m/.In slot 6, suffix -m, coding ‘1/2pA’, has the same distribution with respect to person and numberas -i ‘1/2pS/P’, but it appears in scenarios where first or second person plural are in the A role.Example (4c) and (4d) provide two examples. Furthermore, the slot can also be filled by a copy ofthe exclusive suffix -ŋa.

2Depending on the actual verb form, the morpheme is glossed ‘1s’ in the singular or ‘e’.3e alternative suffix -i occurs only in a handful of verbs, whi rather seem to bemarginal exceptions than indicators

for any inflectional classes (cf. (ie) and (if)).

34


(4) a. sapthaŋ-me-c-u=nalike[3A]-NPST-d-3P=NMLZ.s‘ey (dual) like it/her/him.’

b. tum-me-ŋ-c-u-ŋ=naunderstand-NPST-[1]e-d-3P-[1]e=NMLZ.s‘We (dual, excl) understand it/her/him.’

c. pi-wa-m=nagive-NPST-[3P]-1pA=NMLZ.s‘We (incl) give it to him.’

d. pi-wa-m-ga=nagive-NPST-[3P]-2pA-2=NMLZ.s‘You (pl) give it to him.’

e. mend-ifinish[IMP]-3P‘Finish it.’

f. ka1s

sabunsoap

mend-i-ŋ=nafinish[PST]-3P-1s=NMLZ.s

‘I finished the soap.’

Slot number seven is for the second -ci, whi marks nonsingular number agreement with thirdperson patient (‘3nsP’). e second -ci can also be followed by nasal copy suffixes, namely slot 8for -m and and slot 9 for -ŋ (cf. (5b)). Slot number nine also contains the second person morpheme-ka ~ -ga, whi is aligned neutrally. It makes no distinction for the argument type it agrees with.Both -ci and -ka are illustrated by example (5).

(5) a. sapthaŋ-me-c-u-ci-galike-NPST-d-3P-3nsP-2‘You (dual) like them.’

b. n-dund-wa-m-ci-m-ŋa-naNEG-understand-NPST-1pA-3nsP-1pA-e-NEG‘We (pl, excl) do not understand them.’

e third person S and A singular is zero, in parallel to other Kiranti languages. e final clitics=na (‘NMLZ.s’) and =ha ~ -a (‘NMLZ.ns’) are actually nominalisers that function as focus markershere. ey are not obligatorily, but frequently aaed to the verbs. As they always correspondto the number of the S and P arguments, they are aligned ergatively. With respect to ditransitiveverbs, they correspond to the number of the most theme-like argument (henceforth T-argument).For =na there are exceptions to its usual appearance in singular forms: In the paradigms andthe affix table above, we can see that for the scenario ‘1>2’, =na is always aaed, never =ha.Also in colloquial spee, =na seems to be the unmarked oice, because it extends its scope tononsingular forms (cf. example (6)).

ere is one peculiar thing about the inflection in the third person plural in intransitive verbs.Here, the dual/plural distinction partly seems to be expressed by the order of the morphemes -ciand =ha. In fact, the plural verb form rather looks like a nominalization with the homophonousnominal nonsingular marker -ci. But this paern is consistent and regular throughout all tense andmood forms. It is the only case so far that any inflectional affix comes aer the final nominalisers.is is in contrast to other Kiranti languages su as Chintang and Bantawa, where the order ofaffixes is freely permutable without any consequences for semantics or scope (Biel et al. 2007).Example paradigms of intransitive and transitive verbs are provided on page 38 and 39, with thenegation and the nonpast markers included.

Talking about the agreement morphology, a further feature of the paradigm has to bementioned,namely the absence of any marking for first person patient (except for the forms where agent

35

5 Verbal Morphology

AND patient have singular number). is is probably a politeness strategy of negative face, i.e.downplaying the role of oneself in patient scenarios.

5.3 Flexible agreement

As for the syntax of the agreement in Yakkha and Tibeto-Burman in general, it is mu moreflexible than in Indo-European languages. As noted earlier by Biel (2000), the purely identifi-cational agreement that is known from Indo-Aryan is accompanied by associative (appositionaland partitive) agreement types. In appositional agreement, the NP that corresponds to the agree-ment marker is semantically an apposition to the referent of the marker, but syntactically, it isthe argument. For instance, in (6a), the identity of the NP as second person is only revealed bythe agreement marker. e corresponding NP mamu gives additional information about the ref-erent, without being an appositional phrase syntactically. is kind of agreement is not found inIndo-Aryan languages.

(6) a. mamugirl[NOM]

hetnewhere

khe-i-ga=nago[PST]-2p-2=NMLZ.s

‘Where did you girls go?’b. kamniwak

friend[NOM]soritogether

yuŋ-i-yoŋsit[PST]-1p-SEQ

uŋ-u-mdrink[HORT]-3P-1pA

‘Having sat down together, let us friends drink.’c. a-koŋma-ŋa=le

1sPOSS-aunt-ERG=PTCLta-ga=nabring[PST,3P]-2=NMLZ.s

raeaMIR

‘You, auntie, really brought her!’

e second type is partitive agreement, shown in example (7). Here, the number reference ofthe NP and the number denoted by the agreement marker cannot agree, because the agreementmarker denotes a group of possible referents, while the NP denotes the subset of actual referents.e verb here agrees with plural, although the referent of the A argument has singular number.In (7b) this referential mismat even extends over the embedded and the main clause.

(7) a. niŋta2p

sum-phaŋ-bethree-CLF-LOC

isa=ŋawho=ERG

yaŋmoney[NOM]

khus-uks-u-m-kasteal-TEL-3P-2pA-2

‘Who of you three guys stole the money?’b. khatniŋ=go

while.that=TOPisa=ŋa=cawho=ERG=ADD

khus-u-m-ŋa=hasteal-3P-1pA-e=NMLZ.ns

ŋ-ka-ya-ma-nin3pA-say-PST-PERF-3pNEG

‘But none of them said:”I am the one who stole the money.”’

5.4 Verbal negation

e negation is marked by a nasal prefix and several nasal suffixes that can get copied throughoutthe inflected verb form, to provide open syllables with a coda. e unspecified nasal prefix as-similates in place to the first sound of the verb stem. Before vowels and the glide /w/, the defaultoption is the velar nasal. For some forms, especially in the blo of first person acting on secondperson (cf. paradigm table 5.5 on page 39), it is the only negation marking device (cf. example (8)).

(8) a. n-dum-meʔ-nen=naNEG-understand-NPST-1>2=NMLZ.s‘I do not understand you.’

b. tum-meʔ-nen=naunderstand-NPST-1>2=NMLZ.s‘I understand you.’

36

5.5 Tense

e negation suffix is -n, sometimes also -na. It may appear in different slots. e first negationslot must be preceding the dual marker -ci, and follow the NPST markers meʔ and wa, and thusit is the same as the slot for -ŋ ‘e’. We can see in example (9a) that in the affirmative, -ŋ buildsthe coda of the second syllable, and that in (9b), the negation marker fulfills the same function.e oice in favour of the negation marker may be conditioned by the proximity of /n/ to thesubsequent /c/. e examples in (9c) and (9d) illustrate the same point.

(9) a. tum-me-ŋ-c-u-ŋ=naunderstand-NPST-[1]e-d-3P-[1]e=NMLZ.s‘We (d,e) understand him.’

b. n-dum-me-n-c-u-ŋa-n=naNEG-understand-NPST-NEG-d-3P-[1]e-NEG=NMLZ.s‘We (d,e) do not understand him.’

c. tum-me-ŋ-c-u-ŋ-ci-ŋaunderstand-NPST-[1]e-d-3P-[1]e-3nsP-e‘We (d,e) understand them.’

d. n-dum-me-n-c-u-n-ci-ŋa-naNEG-understand-NPST-NEG-d-3P-NEG-3nsP-[1]e-NEG‘We (d,e) do not understand them.’

Two more slots for negation are aer -u ‘3P’ and aer -ka ‘2’, both exemplified in example (10):

(10) n-dum-me-n-c-u-n-ci-ga-naNEG-understand-NPST-NEG-d-3P-NEG-3nsP-2-NEG‘You (d) do not understand them.’

As mentioned before, the negation prefix is homophonous with the prefix coding ‘3pS/A’. ere isanother suffix, -nin to indicate negation in the third person plural. It is found in most, but not allverb forms that agree with 3pA, and also in the two forms of the scenario ‘1pi>3’. e occurrencein the first person verb forms cannot be explained with the homophonous prefix. It is glossed as‘p.NEG’, but this has to be understood as a maximal extension, as it is the only common featureof all the occurences of this suffix (cf. (11a) and (11b)). As we will see later, it also occurs in themood paradigms, with an allomorph -nni. It is also hard to tear apart the final negation marker-na and the nominaliser =na in the singular forms, as shown in (11c). e sequence -nna couldeither be geminated -na, or a string of negation marker -n and nominaliser =na, but it is difficultto tell. In the forms with plural patient, the final -na can only be a negation marker.

(11) a. n-dund-wa-m-ci-m-nin=haNEG-understand-NPST-1pA-3nsP-1pA-p.NEG=NMLZ.ns‘We (i) do not understand them.’

b. n-dund-wa-n-ci-nin=ha3pA-understand-NPST-NEG-3nsP-p.NEG=NMLZ.ns‘ey do not understand them.’

c. n-dund-wa-n=naNEG-understand[3s>ps]-NPST-NEG=NMLZ.ns‘He does not understand him.’

5.5 Tense

Yakkha basically distinguishes past and nonpast. As many verbs have inceptive semantics, wefind past inflection in many situations with nonpast time reference.

37

5 Verbal Morphology

5.5.1 Nonpast

e nonpast marker has two allomorphs -meʔ (~ -me ~ -mya) and -wa. ey originated mostprobably in two vector verbs (cf. Section 6 on verbal compounding) that got grammaticalisedas aspect markers and were now reanalysed as tense markers, to disambiguate the otherwisehomophonous past and nonpast forms (van Driem (1994) made the same observation). e lexicalverbs wama ‘sit, stay, live’, and metma ‘make, apply’ do exist in Yakkha as well, though metmawas only found as causative marker so far. In other Kiranti languages though, metma is still foundas a regular lexical verb.

e distribution of these two allomorphs is not random, but grammatically conditioned. Bothforms may appear in the singular forms, though -meʔ is more common. e oice might also bedue to dialectal variation, because the speaker using -wa in 1s came from Madi Mulkharka, whilethe other paradigms were collected in Tamaphok village. e dual forms always take -meʔ, andplural usually occurs with -wa, but some verbs also have -meʔ in plural, especially in the thirdperson.

e picture is slightly more complex in the transitive paradigms. e usual oice is -meʔ, but-wa occurs in the forms of third person acting on second plural (‘3>2p’), and in the forms with thirdperson patient, -wa is the default oice except for those with dual agent (cf. nonpast paradigms4

on page 38 and 39, with affirmative and negative polarity). e two allomorphs occupy differentslots in the Yakkha verbal template. While -meʔ comes immediately aer the stem and before theagreement, -wa follows the suffix -i ‘1/2pS/P’.

NPST-aff NPST-neg1s ka khemeŋna ŋkhemeʔŋanna

1di kanciŋ khemeciha ŋkhemencina1de kanciŋ khemeŋciŋa ŋkhemenciŋana1pi kaniŋ kheiwa ŋkheiwana1pe kaniŋ kheiwaŋa ŋkheiwaŋana

2s nta khemekana ŋkhemekanna2d nciŋta khemeciga ŋkhemencigana2p nniŋta kheiwaga ŋkheiwagana

3s uŋ khemeʔna ŋkhemenna3d uŋci (hippaŋ) khemecia ŋkhenmencina

3p uŋci ŋkhemeaci ŋkhemenaci

Figure 5.4: Paradigm of khepma ‘go’ (NPST, affirmative and negative)

4e non-obligatory nominalising clitics are included in the paradigm on the one hand because they are so frequentthat certain forms are never heard without them, on the other hand because sometimes one cannot tell whether thesequence /na/ is the nominaliser or the negation suffix.

38

5.5 Tense

1s1n

s2s

2d2p

3s3n

s1s

tummeʔ

nenn

atu

mmeʔ

nenc

ina

tummeʔ

nenina

tund

waŋ

atu

ndwaŋ

ciŋh

and

ummeʔ

nenn

and

ummeʔ

nenc

ina

ndum

meʔ

nenina

ndun

dwaŋ

anna

ndun

dwaŋ

ciŋa

na1d

irefle

xive

tummec

una

tummec

uciha

ndum

men

cuna

ndum

men

cunc

ina

1de

refle

xive

tummeʔ

nenc

ina

tummeʔ

nenn

ina

tummeŋ

cuŋn

atu

mmeŋ

cuŋc

iŋa

ndum

meʔ

nenc

ina

ndum

meʔ

nenina

ndum

men

cuŋa

nna

ndum

men

cunc

iŋan

na1p

irefle

xive

tund

wam

natu

ndwam

cimha

ndun

dwam

ninn

and

undw

amcimnina

1pe

tummeʔ

nenina

tund

wam

ŋana

tund

wam

cimŋa

ndum

meʔ

neninn

and

undw

amŋa

nna

ndun

dwam

cimŋa

na2s

tummeŋ

gana

tund

wag

ana

tund

wac

iga

ndum

meŋ

gann

and

undw

agan

nand

undw

anciga

na2d

refle

xive

tummec

ugan

atu

mmec

uciga

tummek

and

ummen

cuga

nna

ndum

men

cunc

igan

na2p

ndum

mek

ana

tund

wam

gana

tund

wam

cimga

ndun

dwam

gann

and

undw

amcimga

na3s

tummeŋ

natu

ndwan

atu

ndwac

iya

ndum

meŋ

anna

tummek

ana

ndun

dwan

nand

undw

ancina

3dnd

ummek

anna

tummec

iga

tund

iwag

atu

mmec

una

tummec

ucia

tummya

ndum

men

ciga

nand

undiwag

ana

ndum

men

cunn

and

ummen

cunc

ina

3pnd

ummen

nand

ummek

ana

ndun

dwan

and

undw

acia

ndum

mek

aninna

ndun

dwan

inna

ndun

dwan

cinina

Figu

re5.5:

Paradigm

oftu

mma‘und

erstan

d’(N

PST,

affirm

ativean

dne

gativ

e)

39

5 Verbal Morphology

5.5.2 Past

e past tense is marked by -a ~ -ya, as opposed to nonpast meʔ ~ wa, exemplified in (12).

(12) a. pi-a-ga=nagive[3sA]-PST-2=NMLZ.s‘he gave it to you’

b. pi-meʔ-ka=nagive[3sA]-NPST-2=NMLZ.s

(3s>2sNPST)

‘he gives it to you’

e glide /y/ is inserted in a sequence of /-a-a/ (thus, [-a-ya]). When the past morpheme collideswith other vowels, it can be elided, as we will see below in this section. In many verb forms theonly difference between nonpast and past is the nonpast morpheme. is is the case with all theforms for ‘1>2’, ‘3>2p’ and before the ‘3P’ suffix -u, to avoid a sequence of /-a-u/ (cf. paradigmtables on page 42 and 43)5. A phonological explanation for the absence of the past morphemehowever cannot hold exclusively. As we have seen in the sequence -ci-u, the vowel /i/ is elidedto avoid a hiatus, but as for the past paradigm, there are many examples, where the clash of twovowels cannot be the reason (for instance example (13)). At least for open stems and the suffixes-a and -i however, it is reasonable to suppose a phonotactic reason for the elision, because thesequence /pi-a-i-ga/ (‘3>2p’) violates the constraints on well-formed syllables in Yakkha. In formslike pi-ga=na (/pi-a-u-ga-na/, ‘2s>3s’), an elision of both -a and -u took place, seemingly becauseof the two competing constraints to delete -a before -u, and not to allow /i-u/ sequences either. InPuma, a Kiranti language of the Southern Central bran, a similar elision of these vowel-suffixesresults in vowel lengthening and low tone. In Yakka however, this cannot be reported, and theonly instance of long /ī/ in the pipma-paradigm are the forms where /-i-i/ is underlying (‘3>2p’).

(13) a. piʔ-nen=nagive-1>2=NMLZ.s

(1s>2sPST)

‘I gave it to you.’b. pi-meʔ-nen=na

give-NPST-1>2=NMLZ.s(1s>2sNPST)

‘I give it to you.’

Based on the past paradigms, two more tense forms can be constructed, namely perfect and pastperfect. ese labels are not the result of an in-depth analysis yet. ey just rely on the Nepalitranslations of the inflected verbs. e morphology is as follows : e past form serves as base towhi the suffix -ma ~ -mi for the perfect is aaed. is, in turn, serves as base to whi -ssa~ -ssi is aaed for the past perfect. e suffix -ssa might correspond to the somewhat irregularverb stem sa ‘be, was’. e slot for these suffixes is the same as the nonpast slot for -wa. e vowel/a/ of the two suffixes assimilates to /i/ when the verb form contains the suffix -i, as in ‘1/2pS/P’(cf. table 5.7). Some examples are provided in (14).

(14) a. lopnow

sak-ŋahunger-INST

n-sy-a-ma-ŋa-n=naNEG-die-PST-PERF-1s-NEG=NMLZ.s

‘I am not hungry now.’ (lit. ‘I did not get hungry.’)

5eoice of the nominalisers in this ditransitive paradigm depends on the number of the T-argument. In some forms,the grammaticality of the plural nominalisers was doubted or rejected by the speakers. I ascribe this insecurity orirregularity on the one hand to the low frequency of these forms in natural discourse, and on the other hand to theapparently unmarked status of the singular nominaliser.

40

5.5 Tense

b. enoday.before.yesterday

su-ca-ya-ma-ssa,it-STEM-PST-PERF-PST.PRF,

khatniŋgobut

hensenthese.days

n-su-ca-me-n=naNEG-it-STEM-NPST-NEG=NMLZ.s‘e day before yesterday it had ited, but thesedays it does not it any more.’

41

5 Verbal Morphology

1s1n

s2s

2d2p

3s3n

s1s

piʔn

enna

/-ha

piʔn

encina

piʔn

enina

piŋn

a/-h

apiŋc

iŋa

mbiʔn

enna

/-ha

mbiʔn

encina

mbiʔn

enina

mbiŋa

nna

mbiŋc

iŋan

na1d

irefle

xive

piac

una/-h

apiac

uciha

mbian

cunn

aha

mbian

cunc

ina

1de

refle

xive

piʔn

encina

piʔn

enina

pian

cuŋn

a/-h

apian

cuŋc

iŋa

mbiʔn

encina

mbiʔn

enina

mbian

cuŋa

nna

mbian

cuŋc

iŋan

a1p

irefle

xive

pimna

/-ha

pimcimha

mbimninn

a/-h

ambimcimninh

a1p

epiʔn

enina

pimŋa

na/-ha

pimcimŋa

mbiʔn

enina

mbimŋa

nna

mbimcimŋa

na2s

piaŋ

gana

/-ha

piga

na/-ha

piciga

mbiag

ana

mbiga

nna

mbinc

igan

na2d

refle

xive

piac

ugan

a/-h

apiac

uciga

piag

ambian

cuga

nna/-h

ambian

cunc

igan

a2p

mbiag

ana

pimga

na/-ha

pimcimga

mbimga

nna/-h

ambimcimga

na3s

piaŋ

na/-ha

pina

/-ha

piciya

mbiaŋ

anna

/-ha

piag

ana/-h

ambinn

a/-h

ambinc

ina

3dmbiag

anna

/-ha

piac

iga

piiga

piac

una

piac

uciya

piya

mbian

ciga

nambiigan

ambian

cunn

a/-h

ambian

cunc

ina

3pmbian

ambiag

ana/-h

ambina

mbiciya

mbiag

aninna

mbininn

ambinc

inina

Figu

re5.6:

Paradigm

ofpipm

a‘give’

(PST

,affirm

ativean

dne

gativ

e)

42

5.5 TensePS

TPS

T.NEG

PRF

PRF.NEG

PST.PR

FPS

T.PR

F.NEG

1skh

yaŋn

aŋk

hyaŋ

anna

khya

maŋ

naŋk

hyam

aŋan

nakh

yamas

saŋn

aŋk

hyam

assa

ŋann

a1d

ikh

yaiha

ŋkhy

ancina

khya

mac

iha

ŋkhy

aman

cina

khya

mas

saciha

ŋkhy

amas

sanc

ina

1de

khya

ŋciŋa

ŋkhy

anciŋa

nakh

yamaŋ

ciŋa

ŋkhy

aman

ciŋa

nakh

yamas

saŋc

iŋa

ŋkhy

amas

sanc

iŋan

a1p

ikh

eiha

ŋkhe

ina

kheimiha

ŋkhe

imina

kheʔ

imissiha

ŋkhe

imissina

1pe

kheiŋa

ŋkhe

iŋan

akh

eimiŋa

ŋkhe

imiŋan

akh

eʔim

issiŋa

ŋkhe

imissiŋa

na2s

khya

gana

ŋkhy

agan

nakh

yamag

ana

ŋkhy

amag

anna

khya

mas

saga

naŋk

hyam

assa

gann

a2d

khya

ciga

ŋkhy

anigan

akh

yamac

iga

ŋkhy

aman

ciga

nakh

yamas

saciga

ŋkhy

amas

sanc

igan

a2p

kheiga

ŋkhe

igan

akh

eimiga

ŋkhe

imigan

akh

eimissiga

ŋkhe

imissiga

na3s

khya

naŋk

hyan

nakh

yaman

aŋk

hyam

anna

khya

mas

sana

ŋkhy

amas

sann

a3d

khya

cia

ŋkhy

ancina

khya

mac

iya

ŋkhy

aman

cina

khya

mas

saciya

ŋkhy

amas

sanc

ina

3pŋk

hyac

iŋk

hyan

aci

ŋkhy

amac

iŋk

hyam

anac

iŋk

hyam

assa

ciŋk

hyam

assa

naci

Figu

re5.7:

Past,p

erfect

andpa

stpe

rfec

tparad

igm

ofkh

epma‘go’

43

5 Verbal Morphology

5.6 Mood

Yakkha distinguishes subjunctive, optative and imperative mood. e subjunctive is morphologi-cally unmarked (the forms consist just of the stem plus the agreement markers), the imperative ismarked by -a, and the optative is marked by -ni. Note that the nominalising focus particle =na/=ha is notorically absent in these paradigms.

5.6.1 e subjunctive

A subjunctive paradigm for first person is provided in Table 5.8, exemplified by the two intran-sitive verbs khepma ‘go’ and apma ‘come’.6 It is used for hortative contexts, i.e. the first personseeking permission to do something or encouraging others to do something together, and alsofor warnings. Examples are provided in (15). In the corresponding negative forms there is thesame negation paern as in the indicative inflection, except for the gemination, that cannot beexplained morphologically, because two underlying nasals are not reasonable here, at least not inthe nonsingular forms.

(15) a. hetnewhere

khe-i?go[SBJV]-1p

‘Where should we go?’b. ciya

tea[NOM]hops-u-m?sip[SBJV]-3P-1pA

‘Shall we have tea?’c. sori

togetherkhe-ci?go[SBJV]-[1]d

‘Shall we go together?’

Subjunctive Negation Subjunctive Negationkhepma apma

1s kheʔŋa ŋkheʔŋanna apŋa ŋapŋanna1di kheci ŋkhecinna apci ŋapcinna1de kheciŋ ŋkheciŋanna apciŋ ŋapciŋanna1pi khei ŋkheʔinna abi ŋabinna1pe kheiŋ ŋkheʔiŋanna abiŋ ŋabiŋanna

Figure 5.8: Subjunctive, intransitive verbs

5.6.2 e imperative

e imperative is coded by the morpheme -a, homophonous with the past tense. e correspon-dence of past tense and deontic morphology is also known from other Kiranti languages (Biel2003, Ebert 2003). e imperative forms are almost identical to those in the past paradigm (cf.Chapter 5.5.2), except for the missing agreement and the new plural morpheme -ni ‘2/3p’, whiis also found in the optative forms. A particle -eba can be added to the imperative forms to makethem more polite (same as the Nepali nā), as exemplified in (16). Table 5.9 shows the imperativeparadigms for the intransitive verbs khepma ‘go’ and apma ‘come’.

(16) a. ab-a-ebacome-IMP-POL.IMP

6I am aware of the fact that the mood paradigms are incomplete regarding person. ey will be completed as soon asmore data are available.

44

5.6 Mood

‘Please come.’b. ŋ-ab-a-n-eba

NEG-come-IMP-NEG-POL.IMP‘Please do not come.’

c. ŋ-khy-a-n-ci-n-ebaNEG-go-IMP-NEG-d-NEG-POL.IMP‘Please do not go.’

Imperative Prohibitive Imperative Prohibitivekhepma apma

2s khya ŋkhyan aba ŋaban2d khyaci ŋkhyancin abaci ŋabancin2p khyani ŋkhyanin abani ŋabanin

Figure 5.9: Imperative, intransitive verbs

e picture for the imperative in transitive verbs is expectably more complex, as the verb agreeswith both actants. e agreement suffixes however are the ones that we already know, withsome slight differences. e imperative morpheme -a is elided in the forms coding the ‘2s>3’-scenarios, due to the subsequent ‘3P’-marker -u. In the paradigm of pipma, the absence of thesuffixes -a and -u in the upper row is due to the open stem pi, because a sequence of /pi-a-u/ isnot licensed by the phonotactic rules of Yakkha (cf. section 5.5.2). For the first person patient,we have the same paern as in the indicative paradigms. e only scenario that is distinguishedfrom the remaining ones is the one with actants having singular number. e object marker -u,that had the distribution of dual acting on third person in the indicative, covers all scenarios witha third person undergoer involved in the imperative (hence the gloss ‘3P’). e suffix -m is alsoknown from the indicative paradigm, it stands for (first and) second person plural agent (‘1/2pA’).Figure 5.10 shows the imperative of the transitive verbs imma ‘ask’ and pipma ‘give’, with theprohibitive forms in the lower rows respectively.

1s 1ns 3s 3ns

pipma ‘give’2s pyaŋ pi pici

mbyaŋan mbin mbincin2d piacu piacuci

pya mbiancun mbiancuncin2p mbian pianum pianumcim

mbianumnin mbianumcimnin

imma ‘ask’2s imdaŋ imdu imduci

nimdaŋa nimdun nimduncin2d imdacu imdacuci

imda nimdancun nimdancuncin2p nimdan imdanum imdanumcim

nimdanumnin nimdanumcimnin

Figure 5.10: Imperative and prohibitive, transitive verbs

45

5 Verbal Morphology

5.6.3 e optative

e optative is marked by the suffix -ni, following the respective number agreement, whi isagain -ci for dual and -ni for plural. It also belongs to the irrealis mood category, expressinga general statement of interest towards the realisation of an event, while the fulfillment of theproposition is beyond the S or A argument’s rea, as in the examples in (17). e optative isalso used to express requests, but it is less direct and hence more polite than the imperative. eoptative of leŋma ‘be/become’ is also used in permissive contexts (cf. (17d) and (17e)). It is usedin a complement-like construction in these examples (with embedded infinitives), but ellipsis isfrequent, leaving the bare leŋni ‘O.K./Fine’. In the negative, the plural and the singular formsare syncretistic, due to the homophony of the nasal prefixes for negation and third person plural,but I suppose a different underlying structure. e gemination in the plural is due to a suffixstring -ni-n-ni ‘3p-NEG-OPT’, while for the singular, the plural -ni cannot apply, and thereforethe gemination must be a phonological effect (record paradigms and e again whether it wasreally there!).

(17) a. oom-besummit-LOC

tas-u-nirea[3sA]-3P-OPT

‘May she rea the top./May she be successful.’b. yakkha

Y.bhasalanguage

cekt-u-m-nispeak-3P-1p-OPT

‘May we speak Yakkha.’c. ucun

goodleŋ-nibecome[3sS]-OPT

‘May it (your work) turn out nicely.’d. lup-ma

tell.to.someone-INFleŋ-nibecome[3sS]-OPT

‘You may tell them./ It is O.K. to tell them./ Please tell them.’e. ka-ma

tell.something-INFleŋ-nibecome[3sS]-OPT

‘You may tell it./ It is O.K. to tell it./ Please tell it.’

khepma apmaOptative Negative Optative Negative

3s kheʔni ŋkheʔninni abni ŋabninni3d kheʔcini ŋkheʔcinni apcini ŋapcinni3p ŋkheʔni ŋkheʔninni ŋabni ŋabninni

Figure 5.11: Optative, intransitive verbs

e new, full list of inflectional affixes is presented in Figure 5.12.

46

5.6 Mood1

23

45

67

89

1011

1213

1415

-nen

-i-ŋ

-ci

-u/-i

-m-ci

-m-ka

=na

-ci

Agr

ee-

~-ŋ

a~-g

a~=h

amen

t‘1>2

’‘1/2pS

/P’

‘e’

‘d’

‘3P’

‘1/2pA

’‘3ns

P’‘1/2pA

’‘2’

‘NM

LZ’

‘3pS

’-n

i-ŋ

-ŋ ~-ŋ

a‘2/3p’

‘e’

‘e’

-n-n

-nNeg

a-~-(n)

natio

n‘N

EG’

‘NEG

’‘N

EG’

-nin

~-(n)

ni‘p.N

EG’

Deo

ntic

-a-n

i‘IM

P’‘O

PT’

-meʔ

-wa

~-m

yaTe

nse

‘NPS

T’‘N

PST’

-a-m

a-ssa

~-y

a~-m

i~-ssi

‘PST

’‘P

RF’

‘PST

.PRF

’

Figu

re5.12

:Suffi

xslotsfort

heYa

kkha

verb

47

5 Verbal Morphology

48

6 Verbal compounding

Yakkha exhibits two different paerns of verbal compounding. One type is lexical compounding,when a noun is incorporated into a verb, or when two verbs combine to yield a new meaning thatcannot be derived from its single components. Representatives of this group are henceforth calledbipartite verbs. e second type is the derivational and sometimes inflectional compounding of onelexical and one grammaticalised verb stem. is will be referred to as compound verb, as this termis commonly used in the literature (Pokharel 2001, Ebert 1997, Doornenbal 2009). Both bipartiteverbs and grammatical compound verbs have the same formal structure (except for the noun-verbtype, whi can only be lexical). e inflection always applies to both verbal limbs, followingcertain prosodic rules. If there are any prefixes, they aa to the first verb, and the suffix ainis aaed to the vector verb. Inbetween the two verb stems, suffix material (if available) has tobe copied from the final suffix string, because the vector verb subcategorises for a (maximally)disyllabic unit as host, and the bare verb stems are always monosyllabic. Some verbs do not allowinflectional morphology between the two stems, but the reason for the difference is not clearyet. e Kiranti paern differs from the Indo-Aryan paern of compound verbs, where the wholeinflection applies only to the vector verb, as in Hindi (Montaut 2004) and in Nepāli (Pokharel 2001).Both compound types are treated as different categories here only because of their lexical structure.While the bipartites form a newmeaning that cannot be retrieved from the single units, the secondverb in the grammatical compounds productively and transparently anges the semantics of thefirst verb, as will be shown in the following two sections.

6.1 Bipartite verbs

e lexical compounds may consist of two verbs or an incorporated noun and a verb. If a verbis the first part, both verbal limbs will host inflectional morphology. If a noun is the first part,the inflection only applies to the verb, so that prefixed material will stand between the nounand the verb. One of the incorporated nouns even takes the nominal plural marker and triggersplural agreement in the verbal part (cf. example (2) on page 50). Morphologically, the parts of thecompounds are independent, although lexically they form a unit.

6.1.1 Verb-Verb-compounds

Examples for the verb-verb-type are suntipma ‘get sour’ (cf. example (1a)), ŋoĩsipma ‘feel shy’(cf. example (1b)), himsipma ‘oke, swallow wrongly’ (cf. example (1c)), comtipma ‘dry up’(cf. example (1d)), consipma ‘be happy’ (cf. example (1e)), suncama ‘it’ (cf. example (1f)). everb sipma ~ si is frequent in lexical compounding, as is cama ‘eat’, but the origin of sipma isnot clarified yet. As for tipma, the inflected forms reveal that the root must be piʔ ~ pi, ‘give’ (cf.examples (1a) and (1d)). e infinitive forms again show the preference for syllables to be closedby a nasal, whi is aieved either via epenthesis or via the mutation of stops (e.g. [suntipma]has the underlying stems /sus ~ su/ and /piʔ ~ pi/).

(1) a. cuwabeer

sus-a-by-a-ma=haget.sour-PST-STEM-PST-PRF=NMLZ.ns

‘e beer got sour.’

49


b. ŋond-a-si-a-ŋ=nafeel.shy-PST-STEM-PST-1s=NMLZ.s‘I felt shy.’

c. cama-ŋafood-INS

hipt-a-si-a-ga=naoke-PST-STEM-PST-2=NMLZ.s

‘You oked because of the food.’d. copt-a-by-a=na

dry-PST-STEM-PST=NMLZ.s‘It is dried up’

e. cond-a-sy-abe.happy-PST-STEM-PST‘She/he was happy.’

f. sus-u-ca-ya-ma-ssait[PST]-3P-STEM-PST-PRF-PST.PRF‘It had ited.’

6.1.2 Noun-verb-compounds

e noun-verb-compounds do not show uniform morphological behaviour. e noun may be amonosyllabic stem or a disyllabic unit, because of the occurence of the nominaliser (or infinitive)-ma. Some of the compounds belong to the possessive experiencer verbs, su as luŋmatukma‘love’, sapthakma ‘like’, yupma(ci) cipma ‘have enough sleep’, yupma(ci) yuma ‘be tired’. ey aredifferent from the usual bipartites because a possessive construction is involved. eir morphologyand syntax is treated in detail in section 9.2, so that two examples shall suffice here (cf. (2)). As wecan see, both parts of the compound are morphologically independent, as they can host inflectionalmaterial. e literal translation of luŋmatukma would be ‘liver-hurt’. In (2b), the noun yupmashows plural marking and also triggers plural agreement in the verb. In contrast to luŋmatukma,yupma(ci) yuma always shows default agreement with third person.

(2) a. a-luŋma1sPOSS-love

n-duŋ-meʔ-nen=naNEG-STEM-NPST-1>2=NMLZ.s

‘I do not love you.’b. a-yupma-ci

1sPOSS-be.tiredyus-a-ciSTEM-PST-3pS

‘I am tired.’

6.2 Grammatical compounding: valency anges, aspect, aktionsart

e compound verbs of this kind consist of a lexical base and a vector verb (V2). e vector verbcan express derivational notions su as applicative, causative, reflexive or reciprocal, but alsoinflectional categories like aspect and mood in the Kiranti languages. All vector verbs originatein lexical verb stems and retain the typical augmented stem structure. e difference betweenthe grammatical and the lexical compounding becomes obvious from examples where both arecombined, as in (3). In this example, we even find two verbs added to the lexical stem /inca/ (itselfa compound), namely causative/applicative met and uks, that was tentatively interpreted as telicmarker.

(3) in-ca-met-uks-u-ŋ-niŋplay-STEM-APPL-TEL-3P-1sA-while‘while I played (fish the fish)’

50

6.2 Grammatical compounding: valency anges, aspect, aktionsart

e following section will introduce some of the vector verbs that are found in Yakkha. ereis the benefactive applicative, derived from pipma ~ piʔ ~ pi ‘give’. Another verb haŋma ~ haks‘send’ is used in similar contexts, and it may also express malefactive notions (cf. (4d), at least notaested for pipma yet). One argument position is added to the verb, so that intransitive becomestransitive and transitive becomes ditransitive. e benefactee will trigger object agreement inthe verb, following the usual paern of agreement with G arguments for ditransitive verbs (cf.example (4c)). is example also exhibits an aspiration of the voiced bilabial, that cannot beexplained yet. As a vector verb, pipma may also have a completive interpretation (cf. example(4e)).

(4) a. end-u-bi-ŋ=hapour-3P-BEN-1s=NMLZ.ns‘I poured it (the ketup) for her.’

b. ŋ-end-u-bi-ŋ-an=haNEG-pour-3P-BEN-1s-NEG=NMLZ.ns‘I did not pour it for him.’

c. ka1s

kathastory

lend-a-bhy-a-ŋexange-IMP-BEN-IMP-1s

‘Tell me a story.’d. mokt-haks-wa-ŋ=na

beat-BEN-NPST[3P]-1s=NMLZ.s‘I will give him a beating.’

e. ca-ya-bhy-a-ŋ=naeat-PST-TEL-PST-1s=NMLZ.s‘I have finished eating (i.e. the whole procedure is done, including washing one’shands).’

e vector verb khepma ~ kheʔ ~ khya ‘go’ conveys a telic meaning. Some event or action hasreaed its ultimate end, as the clauses in example (5) shall illustrate. e respective infinitivesare imkhepma ‘fall asleep’, kaŋkhepma ‘fall down’, phomkhepma ‘spill over’, somkhepma ‘slide,slip’ and hoŋkhepma ‘crumble down’. e stems in the infinitives preferably end in a nasal, alsoif another coda is underlying (cf. example (5d) and (5e)).

(5) a. ips-a-khy-a=nasleep[3s]-PST-TEL-PST=NMLZ.s‘She fell asleep.’

b. kaks-a-khy-a=nafall[3s]-PST-TEL-PST=NMLZ.s‘She fell down.’

c. phom-khem-myaspill[3s]-TEL-NPST‘It spills over.’

d. laŋthoŋelephant

uimalaŋ-besteep.slope-LOC

sos-a-khy-a=naslip[3s]-PST-TEL-PST=NMLZ.s

‘e elephant slipped at the steep slope.’e. parkhal

wallhor-a-khy-a=nacrumble[3s]-PST-TEL-PST=NMLZ.s

‘e wall crumbled down.’

A telic meaning is also conveyed by the verb uŋma ~ uks ‘come down’. e exact differencesbetween uŋma and khepma cannot be established without a deeper analysis and more data. eusual Nepali translation of uŋma as a vector verb is saknu ‘finish’. Impressionistically, in all ex-amples collected so far, except for those with ‘forget’, the lexical verbs denote events that involve

51


a movement towards the S/A argument. We have examples with soʔma ‘see/know’, tumma ‘un-derstand’, wapma ‘put on clothes’, uŋma ‘drink’. e vector verb is sometimes hard to distinguishfrom the remaining morphology, because its stem vowel can get lost, as in (6a) and (6b). is isoptional, as (6c) shows, where the sequence /di-u/ anges into [dyu]. In example (6e) a gloalstop is prothesized to uŋma, because the elision of the /a/ that belongs to the stem does not seemto be a valid option.

(6) a. so-ks-u-ga=nasee-TEL[PST]-3P-2=NMLZ.s‘Have you seen him?’

b. mun-di-ks-u-m-ŋaforget-STEM-TEL[PST]-3P-1pA-e‘We have forgoen it.’

c. mun-dy-uks-u-ŋforget-STEM-TEL[PST]-3P-1s‘I have forgoen it.’

d. nis-uks-u=naknow-TEL[PST]-3P=NMLZ.s‘He knows it.’

e. teʔclothes

wa-ʔuks-u-ŋ=haput.on-TEL-3P-1s=NMLZ.ns

‘I have put on the clothes.’

e verb heŋma ~ heks is used when the event denoted by the main verb is about to begin (Nep.:lāgnu). Its literal meaning is ‘cut/saw’ in Yakkha. Note that because of the inceptive semantics ofmany verbs, the past form is used. If the lexical verb ends in an obstruent, it will get aspirated.

(7) a. lopnow

wasikrain

ta-heks-u=nabring-be.about.to-3P=NMLZ.s

‘It is about to rain now.’b. theklup

halfleks-heks-a=nabecome-be.about.to-PST=NMLZ.s

‘Half (of the book) is about to be finished.’c. mend-heks-a

finish-be.about.to-PST‘It (the soap) is about to be finished.’

e verb emma ~ end has the lexical meaning ‘apply, insert’. In compounds, the ad-hoc inter-pretation from the few examples that are available so far, is the expression of an immediate andqui accomplishment of an event (Nepali: hālnu). In example (8c), I assume that the underlyingstems of [amd] are /ap-end/. e suffix -i however is puzzling here.

(8) a. n-lept-end-wa=na3pA-throw-TEL-NPST-NPST‘ey throw it.’ (Nep.: phālidinan)

b. khe-nd-i-me-ci-gago-TEL-2p-NPST-ns-2‘You go away suddenly/ immediately.’ (Nep.: gāihālau)

c. am-d-i-me-ŋ=nacome-TEL-?-NPST-1s=NMLZ.s‘I will come immediately/ without delay.’ (āihalu)

52

7 Adverbs and adjectives

7.1 Adverb-building strategies

Some adverbs are derived by aaing a particle -lo ~ -loʔ and the suffix -wa, that is found as anominaliser and as an adverbialiser. e adverb peklowa ‘usually’ for instance is derived frompek ~ pyak ‘many/mu’ with the two morphemes aaed to it. In other contexts, loʔa ~ loʔwais used like a postposition meaning ‘like’, as in khobek loʔa ‘like a crab’. e particle -lo ~ lok ~loʔ is also known from Belhare as a comitative (Biel 1993) and as manner suffix from Bantawa(Doornenbal 2009). In Yakkha, it is found in derivational nominal morphology, as in iplok ‘unity’,lolok ‘dress, uniform’ and numerals like oplok ‘ten thousand’.

Another strategy that derives adverbs is the aament of the comitative case -nuŋ to adjecti-val roots, su as khumdunuŋ ‘tasty’ and ucunnuŋ ‘nice, beautiful’. ese roots occur with thenominaliser =na/=ha to yield adjectives, and with the comitative to yield adverbs (cf. (1)).

(1) a. ucun-nuŋnice-COM

nam-masmell-INF

‘to smell tasty’b. khumdu=na

tasty=NMLZ.scamafood

‘the tasty food’c. su-a-nuŋ

be.sour=NMLZ.ns-COMet-u-ŋ=hataste/feel.like-3P-1s=NMLZ.ns

‘It tasted sour (to me).’d. tu-tu=nna

above-REDUP=NMLZ.scokcokistar

‘the star far up above’

e particle -niŋ, translatable with ‘while’ and otherwise used in clause linkage, may also beemployed to derive temporal adverbs, su as asenniŋ ‘long ago’, or imniŋ ‘the year before lostyear’, khatniŋ ‘this time, now’.

Another particle that is found frequently in adverbs, especially in ideophonic adverbs, is -lik,as in kakkulik-kakkulik ‘fall down slowly and flat’, cicaŋgalik ‘fall down overturned’, but also inadverbs that are derived from lexical bases, su as cuʔmaŋgalik ‘lost’, hiklik ‘turning around’,iplik-iplik ‘twisted’, siklik ‘hurt, dead’, wakulik ‘bent, crooked’. is particle is also found innominal compounding, especially for words denoting small animals, and it might be a lexicaliseddiminutive. Some of these nouns are yaŋcukulik ‘ant’, siplik ‘bed bug’, opoŋkalik ‘bug’, muŋkalik‘garden lizard’, hokalik ‘wall lizard’. Athpare and Puma have a diminutive let, whi supportsthis assumption (cf. Ebert (1997), Biel et al. (2006)).

7.2 Spatial deixis

Elaborate deictic systems in case, adverbs, demonstratives, and even in interjections (Biel 1999a)are typical for Kiranti. Yakkha is no exception to this, apart from the gap in the locative case (cf.Chapter 4.3 on the case system).

53


e set of demonstratives that make a distinction along the proximal-distal continuum wasalready introduced in Chapter 4.2.3. Table 7.1 repeats the paradigm.

singular nonsingularPROX na khaDIST nna ŋkha

Figure 7.1: e vertical dimension in motion verbs

e proximal-distal distinction is cross-cut by another deictic system that includes the verticalaxis. e forms of the deictic roots are as follows: khe ‘here’, yo ‘there, across’ (both for the samelevel), to ‘up’ and mo ‘down’. e roots can occur without further morphology. ey may alsohost the locative, the allative and the ablative case, as shown in the examples in (2). e locative-pe anged to -ne, sometimes it is geminated. e ablative -paŋ appears as -ndaŋ.

(2) a. khe-khaʔlaPROX-ALL‘(towards) here’

b. khe-ndaŋPROX-ABL‘from here’

c. yo-khaʔlaacross-ALL‘towards there’

d. mu-nnedown-LOC‘down’ - need loc. example from o-set!

ere is a second paradigm with different stem vowels for all except the proximal root, namely tu‘up’, mu ‘down’ and yu ‘across’. is might indicate a transposed system, where the deictic centreis different from the place where the speaker is, transposed to somewhere further away. is isused to express notions su as ‘that mountain up there, beyond the other mountain/beyond thatriver’. is assumption is not yet supportable by any further data. It needs a closer look and acareful analysis. It is supported however by the fact that for this set no proximal root is available.e second set of adverbs also involves the gemination of the nasal (for an overview cf. the tablein figure 7.2).

e same deictic roots may also serve as bases for demonstratives, via the aament of thenominalisers =na and =ha ~ -a ~ -ya. e demonstratives may appear independently as pronouns,but also in modifying position.

(3) a. khe=naPROX=NMLZ.s

toŋbabeer.in.small.barrel

‘this beer’b. khe=ya

PROX=NMLZ.nstoŋba-cibeer.in.small.barrel

‘these beers’c. mo=ha

DOWN=NMLZ.nspik-cipig-ns

‘the pigs below’

Via duplication of the initial CV-cluster, the adverbial roots can intensify their original meaning,su as in example (4). e reduplicated forms may function as adverbs (e.g. mumunne) or as

54

7.3 Adjectives and comparison

demonstratives in modifying position (e.g. mumunna). Table 7.2 summarises the spatial adverbsand demonstratives. Not all forms are aested yet.

(4) a. tu-tu=nnaabove-REDUP=NMLZ.s

cokcokistar

‘the star far up above’b. to-to

above-REDUPkhy-a!go-IMP

‘Go up there!’

To complicate the picture further, combinations are also possible, su as mumo ‘down there’,tuto ‘up there’ and yuyo ‘over there’ (same level), that are also used while pointing and showingsomething. us, together with the single and reduplicated forms, we arrive at five distinctionsfor ea word ‘above’, ‘below’ and ‘beyond/across’ (same level).

root + LOC + ABL + ALL Demonstrative REDUP(=NMLZ/-LOC)UP to (tone ‘above’) tondaŋ tokhaʔla tona toto(-nna/-nne)PROX khe (khene ‘this side, near’) khendaŋ khekhaʔla khenaDIST yo (yone ‘far, across’) yondaŋ yokhaʔla yona yoyo(-nna/-nne)DOWN mo (mone ‘below’) mondaŋ mokhaʔla mona momo(-nna/-nne)UP tu munne tunna tutu(-nna/-nne)DIST yu yunne yunna yuyu(-nna/-nne)DOWN mu tunne munna mumu(-nna/-nne)UP tutoDIST yuyoDOWN mumo

Figure 7.2: Summary of spatial deixis in adverbs and demonstratives

e motion verb roots have also lexicalised different directions on the vertical axis, as shownin table 7.3.

come bringNEUTRAL tama ‘come’ tapma ~ taʔ ‘bring’UP kepma ~ kya ‘come up’LEVEL apma ‘come’ (same level) apma ~ apt ‘bring’DOWN uŋma ~ uks ‘come down’ ukma ~ ukt ‘bring down’

Figure 7.3: e vertical dimension in motion verbs

7.3 Adjectives and comparison

Adjectives in Yakkha are oen tracable to verbs denoting some property. Many properties areexpressed by verbs translatable with ‘be sour’, ‘be bla’, ‘be cold’, and the adjectives are usuallybuilt by the verb stem and the nominalisers =na and =ha. Tenically, the adjectives are participles,but they seem to be perceived as lexical words by the speakers. Examples are provided in (5) (somehave been repeated from Chapter 3).

(5) a. haŋ=na/be.spicy=NMLZ.s/

haŋ=habe.spicy=NMLZ.ns

‘hot, spicy’

55


b. hu=na/burn=NMLZ.s/

hu=yaburn=NMLZ.ns

‘burnt’c. ci=na/

be.cold=NMLZ.s/ci=habe.cold=NMLZ.ns

‘cold’d. su=ha

be.sour=NMLZ.ns‘sour’

e. makhru=nabe.bla=NMLZ.s‘bla’

f. ŋo=yafry=NMLZ.ns‘fried’

Other adjectives are also derived from verbs, but without the nominaliser, and sometimes with-out any further morhology at all. Not all adjectives have a transparent etymology of course.

(6) a. att-uspread[3sA]-3P‘fat’

b. embe.clear‘clear’

Comparison is covered by a construction involving the particle -hatniŋ, that is aaed to thestandard of comparison, whi is typically a noun or pronoun. It can also be an adverb, as in (7a).Not only properties denoted by adjectives can be compared using this construction. As we seein (7), verbs frequently denote the quality that is compared, so that we cannot use comparison asdefining criterion for adjectives.

(7) a. u-laŋ-ci3sPOSS-leg-ns

eno-hatniŋsome.time.ago-COMPAR

n-sas-a-ma.3pS-be-PST-PRF

‘Her legs got stronger than last time.’b. ka

1snda-hatniŋ2s-COMPAR

keŋ-gek-ŋa=nagrow-STEM-1s=NMLZ.s

‘I am taller than you.’c. ka

1snda-hatniŋ2s-COMPAR

lam-mawalk-INF

yam-me-ŋ=nabe.able-NPST-1s=NMLZ.s

‘I can walk (beer/more) than you.’d. nda-haʔniŋ

2s-COMPARpak=na?be.young=NMLZ.s

‘Is he younger than you?’e. ka

1suŋ-haʔniŋ3s-COMPAR

tum-ŋa=nabe.ripe/be.old-1s=NMLZ.s

‘I am older than him.’

7.4 Reduplication, triplication and ideophonic patterns in adverbsand adjectives

Reduplication is a frequent means of emphasis in adjectives and adverbs. Examples are providedin (8).

56

7.4 Reduplication, triplication and ideophonic paerns in adverbs and adjectives

(8) a. lop-lopnow-RED‘just now’

b. mi-mi=yasmall-RED=NMLZ.ns‘very small’

c. iŋ-iŋtight-RED‘very tight’

d. uŋ-uŋsad-RED‘worried’

e. tum-tum-masenior-RED=NMLZ‘adult’

f. ip-lik-ip-liktwist-PTCL-RED-PTCL‘twisted’

g. elok-elokfrom.far.away-REDUP‘from very far away’

Many adjectives and adverbs are ideophonic, too. In these examples, the base for the reduplica-tion does not occur independently. e reduplication is obligatory. Reduplicated and ideophonicadverbs are provided in (9). Sometimes the initial consonant is anged in the reduplicated part,as in (9b).

(9) a. kakkulik-kakkulikIDEOPH-RED‘falling slowly and flat’

b. kaŋkulin-waŋkuliŋIDEOPH-RED‘tumbling down’

c. gaŋ-gaŋIDEOPH-RED‘feeling full aer consuming too mu food’

Triplication paerns as they are found in Bantawa and Chintang (cf. Rai (1984), Rai et al. (2005))were also found, so far only with ideophonic bases (cf. example (10)). e ange in the initialconsonant usually involves the rhotic /r/ or the labial /l/.

(10) a. hu-ru-ruIDEOPH-TRIPL-TRIPL‘wind blowing’

b. tu-ru-ruIDEOPH-TRIPL-TRIPL‘tears falling’

c. phi-li-liIDEOPH-TRIPL-TRIPL‘buerfly jiering’

d. peʔ-leʔ-leʔIDEOPH-TRIPL-TRIPL‘something heavy being bloed while pulling’

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e. tho-lok-lokIDEOPH-TRIPL-TRIPL‘boiling water’

58

8 e structure of simple clauses

is apter deals with phrase structure and constituent order. e unmarked constituent order ishead-final, but it can be modified for purposes of information structure. In clauses, the unmarkedorder is SOV. Noun phrases are optional. In ditransitive constructions, the recipient usually pre-cedes the theme. is order can be anged, due to a tendency to put thematic elements first,with rhematic increase towards the end of the clause (cf. the examples in (1)). e order is notanged in interrogative clauses. Oen, the interrogative words are found in the focus positionright before the verb (cf. examples (1c) and (1d)).

(1) a. ilenone.day

paŋtaŋpa-galandlord-GEN

u-nip-ma3sPOSS-count-NMLZ

mas-a-py-a-ma-salose-PST-TEL-PST-PERF-PST.PERF

‘One day, the landlord’s money got lost.’b. aniŋ-ga

1pPOSS.e-GENliŋkha-gaa_subclan-GEN

uhilelong.ago

utpattiorigin

mamliŋ-bea_village-LOC

leks-a=na=buhappen-PST=NMLZ.s=REP

‘Our Linkha clan’s, origin, long ago, was in Mamling, they say.’c. tabaŋ

male.in-lawhetnewhere

tas-wa-ga=naarrive-NPST-2=NMLZ.s

‘Where will (your) husband arrive?’d. na-ga

this-GENsurubeginning

iminhow

leks-a=nabe-PST=NMLZ.s

‘How did she originate?’

ere is a clause-final aerthought position, as shown in (2).

(2) liŋkha-cia_subclan-ns

nam-nuŋsun-COM

bagaribet

n-jog-a,3pS-do-PST,

bagaribet

‘e Linkas had a bet with the sun, a bet.’

8.1 e noun phrase

e NP has the same head-final structure as the clause has. e head can also be omied, as thepossessive phrase in example (3a) shows. Modifiers within the NP can be topicalised with =go (cf.(3b)). As for the order of modifiers within the NP, there is not sufficient data to make any claims.NPs are rare anyway, and there is rarely more than one modifier.

(3) a. egoone

aniŋ-ga1pePOSS-GEN

liŋkha-gaa_subclan-GEN

‘one (story) of our Linkha clan’b. uk-ka=go

3sPOSS-GEN=TOPpik-cicow-ns

‘his cows’

Any element in the NP can move behind the head noun. In example (4), it is the numeral (withclassifier) that has moved to the end. e position behind the noun is restricted to one element.

(4) nathis

ak-kamy-GEN

kamniwak-cifriend-ns

hip-paŋtwo-CLF

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8 e structure of simple clauses

‘these two friends of mine’

Noun phrases and their constituents can be coordinated just by juxtaposition. In example (5a),we have two coordinated adjectives with the same head noun. In the coordination of nouns, apossible case marker will only stand at the end of the whole conjoined phrase, because it is aphrasal affix (cf. example (5b)).

(5) a. mam=habig=NMLZ.ns

mimi=yasmall=NMLZ.ns

nasa-cifish-ns

‘big and small fish’b. m-ba

2sPOSS-fatherm-ma-ŋa2sPOSS-mother-ERG

‘your father and mother’

8.2 Copulas

Yakkha has three copulas: the affirmative copula om, and two negative copulas manna for exis-tential, and menna for identificational use (cf. example (6)). ey do not show person agreementmarkers, only a number marker can be found in some instances.

(6) a. ceʔyalanguage

ŋ-khaʔlaDIST-like.this

omCOP

‘e language is like that.’b. na

DEM.PROXkamala-gaK.-GEN

paŋhouse

om?COP

‘Is this Kamala’s house?’c. eŋ-ka-be

1diPOSS-GEN-LOCpaisamoney

mannaNEG.EXIST

‘We do not have money.’d. na

DEM.PROXpaisamoney

ak-ka1sPOSS-GEN

mennaNEG.IDENT

‘is is not my money.’

e forms of the copulas are frozen. Except for nonsingular number, they cannot host anyinflectional affixes. Only the negative copula can be inflected for nonsingular number, as in (7):

(7) na-khaʔlaDIST-like.that

manna-ci?NEG.EXIST-ns

‘ose kinds of (grindstones) are not there (in Germany)?’

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9 Argument structure

9.1 Valency ange

9.1.1 Detransitivisation

Any transitive verb can basically be inflected intransitively, whi is a typical Kiranti feature.e object is omied in the intransitive agreement morphology. e verb cokma in example (1a)is inflected transitively, while in (1b) it is inflected intransitively. e oice has to do with thereferential status of the object. If it is definite or specific, the transitive form will be used, if it isunspecific or generic, or if the maer is rather about the structure and manner of the event, theintransitive form will be used.

(1) a. cog-uks-u=nado[3sA,PST]-TEL-3P=NMLZ.s‘He did it.’

b. ekdamvery

cog-a-nuŋdo[3sS]-PST-while

cog-a-nuŋdo[3sS]-PST-while

‘while he worked hard/while he did a lot’

An option in Yakkha to be unspecific about the person and number of the agent of an event is theuse of intransitive inflection with 3s default person marking, comparable to using the indefinitepronoun one in English orman in German. eoice of the nonpast allomorphmen in (2a) showsthat the inflection is intransitive, because the transitive inflection would have the allomorph wain the 3s>3s scenario.

(2) a. i=ya=cawhat=NMLZ.ns=ADD

cok-mado-INF

n-ya-me-n=naNEG-be.able[3sS]-NPST-NEG=NMLZ.s

‘One cannot do anything (about it).’b. i=ya=ca

what=NMLZ.ns=ADDcok-mado-INF

n-yas-wa-m-nin=naNEG-be.able-NPST[3P]-1pA-NEG=NMLZ.s

‘We cannot do anything (about it).’

9.1.2 Causatives

Causatives are constructed via the compound verb construction that was introduced in section6.2. e vector verb involved here is metma ‘make’, homophonous with the nonpast marker, andprobably from the same source etymologically. Some of the causatives got lexicalised, as in yok-metma ‘tell about something, make someone curious’. As single verb, yokma means ‘sear’. evalency of the verbs is increased, as yokmetma is ditransitive, with the person told as G argumentand a noun phrase or an embedded clause as T argument (with the conditional conjunction boŋas complementiser), as shown in example (3).

(3) ak-ka1sPOSS-GEN

kamniwak-ci,friend[NOM]-ns

ka1s[NOM]

isawho[NOM]

om,COP

isawho[NOM]

om-boŋCOP-COMPL

uŋ-ci-ŋa=ca3-ns-ERG=ADD

n-yok-me-me-ka-nin3pA-sear-CAUS-NPST-2-NEG

‘My friends, they also will not tell you who I am.’

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Other examples for causatives are tameʔma ‘bring, guide’, and incametma ‘play with something’.e second example is not a canonical causative semantically, but it also increases the valency.While incama just means ‘play’, in the causative version an argument is added. is is again inparallel to the Nepali word khelnu ‘play’ and the causative khelaunu ‘play with something’.

9.1.3 Applicative

ere is a marker -naŋ that I call theme-applicative, but currently the data is restricted to oneexample (cf. (4)). e T argument of ‘give’ is promoted at the cost of the demotion of the Gargument to an oblique-marked (locative) adjunct, so that the verb agrees with A and T now.e reason here seems to be that the spee-act participant, i.e. the second person, needs to bepromoted to a status where it can trigger agreement. Note that the order of G and T argument hasanged as well.

(4) a. ka1s[NOM]

nta2s[NOM]

cakletsweets[NOM]


‘I give you the sweets.’ (agreement with A and G arguments)b. ka

1s[NOM]nta2s[NOM]

a-phu-be1sPOSS-e.B.-LOC

pi-naŋ-meʔ-nen=nagive-DETR-NPST-1>2=NMLZ.s

‘I give you to my elder brother.’ (agreement with A and T arguments)

9.2 Experiencer constructions

Experiencer constructions are particularly interesting, because their syntactic properties oen dif-fer considerably from usual argument structure (cf. Biel (2004b)). Experiencer constructions arearacterised by some core participant of the verb being emotionally or sensationally affected bythe event denoted by the verb. Some examples are provided in this section, to shortly introducethe range of possible syntactic options for the expression of experiencer events. Morphologically,the experiencer verbs are compounds of an incorporated noun and a verb. e degree of incorpo-ration varies, with respect to the possibility of intervening material and phonological integration.But in any case, the meaning is compounded by the noun and the verb, and it is different fromthe meaning of the components taken by themselves. Morphologically, both limbs are still inde-pendent, as ea takes the inflection according to its word class. e prenasalisation that codesnegation will always aa to the verbal root, never to the noun-verb-complex as a whole (see(5a)).

One possibility is a construction with the verb sima (‘die’ or ‘kill’ - distinguished by differentstem behaviour). e instrumental case or an ergative case can be aaed to the stimulus.

(5) a. sak-ŋahunger-INS

n-sy-a-ma-ŋ-an=naNEG-die-PST-PERF-1s-NEG=NMLZ.s

‘I am not hungry.’b. raksi-ŋa

spirit-ERGsis-a-ga=na-i?kill[3sA]-PST-2=NMLZ.s-PTCL

‘Are you drunk?’

Another construction is called ’possessive experiencer-construction’. Here, the experiencer isconceptualised and syntactically constructed as the possessor of a feeling or of an affected bodypart, whi is represented by a noun that is incorporated into the verb. ere are different posses-sive experiencer constructions. Either the verb agrees with the feeling or affected body part1, or

1Another interpretation is to say that the verb shows default 3s-agreement. But as we also find nonsingular-agreementwith some of the (nonsingular) incorporated nouns, the first option seems more plausible to me.

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9.2 Experiencer constructions

the verb agrees with the experiencer and the stimulus (‘you’ and ‘them’ in (6a), ‘he’ and ‘you’ in(6b)). e verb in example (6d) appears to be inflected intransitively.

(6) a. nda2s

uŋ-ci3-ns

n-luŋma2sPOSS-liver

tukt-wa-ci-gahurt-NPST-[3]ns-2

‘You love them.’b. u-sap

3sPOSS-soul(?)thaŋ-me-ka=naraise[3sA]-NPST-2=NMLZ.s

‘He likes you.’c. ka

1sdotpendotpen

a-luŋma1sPOSS-liver

kipt-wa-ŋ=nabe.greedy-NPST[3P]-1s=NMLZ.s

‘I got greedy for the dotpen.’d. tawaŋ-ga

male.in.law-GENu-lok3sPOSS-anger

ŋ-kho-me-n=na?NEG-scrat(?)[3sS]-NPST-NEG=NMLZ.s

‘Isn’t your husband angry?’

e other group of possessive experiencer verbs mentioned above shows agreement not with theexperiencer, but with the possessee, hence, the feeling or affected body part. Verbs like for instancepomma kepma ‘feel lazy’, yupma(ci) cipma ‘have enough sleep’ and yupma(ci) yuma ‘be tired’belong to this group. Example (7) illustrates this paern. Note that the noun yupma ‘sleep’ hasplural number. e plural ending at the noun is not obligatory, in contrast to the obligatory pluralagreement on the verb. Note that while yupma(ci) yuma ‘be tired’ and pomma kepma ‘feel lazy’have intransitive morphology, yupma(ci) cipma ‘have enough sleep’ has transitive morphology.In example (7d), yupma is the S-argument of the verb (at least if we take agreement as the defin-ing criterion), while in example (7e), it is the P-argument, with the experiencer as A-argument.Regarding (7a) (and (7b)), note the voicing of the initial in the verb. is was not observed for theother experiencer verbs (e.g. example (7e)), where the voicing rule does not apply.

(7) a. a-pomma1sPOSS-lazyness

ŋ-gy-a3pS-come.up-PST

‘I feel lazy.’b. m-pomma

2sPOSS-lazynessŋ-gy-a3pS-come.up-PST

‘You feel lazy.’c. ŋ-ga

2sPOSS-GENyupmasleep[N]

n-yus-a-ci?3pS-STEM[3]-PST-ns

‘Are you tired?’d. a-yupma

1sPOSS-sleep[N]n-yus-a-ci3pS-STEM[3]-PST-ns

‘I am tired.’e. a-yupma

1sPOSS-sleepcips-u-ŋ-ci-ŋ=hahave.enough.sleep-3P-1s-ns-1s=NMLZ.ns

‘I had enough sleep.’

Other verbs have intransitive morphology, and they only agree with the experiencer. Again, allof them are compounds. Examples are ŋoĩsipma ‘feel shy’ and yaŋsipma ‘feel exhausted’ (not tobe confused with the verbs containing sima).

(8) a. ŋoĩ-si-me-ŋ=nafeel.shy-STEM-NPST-1s=NMLZ.s‘I feel shy.’

b. n-yag-a-sy-a-ma-ŋa-n=naNEG-feel.exhausted-PST-STEM-PST-PRF-1s-NEG=NMLZ.s

63


‘I am not exhausted.’

Sometimes the stimulus hosts an ablative case. is was found for instance in kisipma ‘be afraid’in (9).

(9) ka1s[NOM]

nda-bhaŋ2s-ABL

kisit-aŋ=nabe.afraid-1s=NMLZ.s

‘I was afraid of you.’

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10 Relative clauses and nominalisation

10.1 Nominalisation

10.1.1 e nominaliser =na ~ =ha

Yakkha has a nominaliser that also appears in aributivising function. It exhibits a grammaticallyconditioned allomorphy, triggered by the number of the head noun. Its form is =na for singularreference, and =ha ~ =ya for plural and uncountables, i.e. for everything nonsingular. e nom-inaliser connects any modifying material, i.e. adjectives, demonstratives, question pronouns andrelative clauses, to a nominal head (cf. also section 7.3 (on adjectives), section 4.2.3 and section 7.2(on demonstratives), section 4.2 (on question pronouns)). e clausal nominalisation is also foundin independent clauses in the function of a focus particle.

Adjectives are usually based on a verbal root plus the nominaliser. Depending on the number ofthe head noun, the singular or the plural nominaliser is osen. For instance, lakna/lakha means‘salty’, derived from the verb (lakma ‘be salty’), siana means ‘dead’, derived from (sima ‘die’).Demonstrative pronouns consist of an adverbial root and the nominaliser, as in the followingexamples.

(1) a. khe=naDEM.PROX=NMLZs.

toŋbabeer

‘this beer’b. to=ya

DEM.UP=NMLZ.nspik-cicow-ns

‘the cows up there’

Also interrogative words host the nominaliser. e interrogative pronoun ina ‘what’ (s) is em-ployed if the number of the item in question is singular, while iya ‘what’ (ns) is used if it is obviousthat the answer will contain more than one item. Nominalised like this, the NPs may also hostthe nonsingular marker, as in example (2b).

(2) a. i=yawhat=NMLZ.ns

ca-maeat-INF

‘What to eat?’ (consists typically of more than one item)b. imin=ha=ci?

how=NMLZ.ns-ns‘How are they?’

c. imin=nahow=NMLZ.s

kokomek?buerfly

‘What kind of buerfly?’

Case-marked phrases may also be nominalised (cf. example (3a)). Clauses become relative clausesvia the nominalisation, as far as one can tell to date, without restrictions on the argument types.While the example in (3b) is a nominalised infinitive, the participants in (3c) are not specified. Asthe examples in (3d), (3e) and (3f) show, the head nouns need not be nominative arguments of thenominalised verbs that modify them, but can be locative or other adjuncts.

65


(3) a. u-tiŋ-nuŋ=ha-ci3sPOSS-thorn-COM=NMLZ.ns-ns‘(the fish) with the thorns’

b. nasafish

ep-ma=nacat-INF=NMLZ.s

taŋwasiŋfishing.rod

‘the fishing rod to cat fish’c. asen

yesterdayca=yaeat=NMLZ.ns

camafood

‘the food that was eaten yesterday’d. asen

yesterdaykhe-i=yago-1p=NMLZ.ns

aphisoffice[p]

‘the offices that we went to yesterday’ (plural marking in nouns denoting inanimatesis not obligatory)

e. nathis

tihara_hindu.festival

din-beday-LOC

lak-ma=nadance-INF=NMLZ.s

ceʔyamaer

n-jog-u3pS/A-do[PST]-3P

‘On this Tihar day, they decided the maer about the dance.’f. yakkha-ba

Y.-myakkha-ma-ci-gaY.-f-ns-GEN

ŋ-wa-ya=na3pS-live-PST=NMLZ.s

ten-bevillage-LOC

‘in the village where the Yakkha men and women lived’

e number allomorphy of these nominalisers parallels the two demonstrative pronouns na‘this’ and kha ‘these’ that were discussed in Chapter 4.2.3. An etymological connection is likely.

(4) a. nathis

toŋbabeer

iminhow

et-u-ga=na?like-3P-2=NMLZ.s

‘How do you like this beer?’b. kha-ci

these-nsiminhow

et-u-g=ha?like-3P-2=NMLZ.ns

‘How do you like these?’

e nominalizers are also quite frequent in inflected verbs at the end of a main clause, to signalfocus on some element within the clause. e examples in (5) illustrate the focus on a negatedverb and in a question. In Athpare, the focus is even obligatory in questions (Ebert 1997). is isnot yet eed for Yakkha.

(5) a. enoday.before.yesterday

sun-ca-ya-ma-sa,it-eat-PST-PRF-PST.PRF

khatniŋgobut

hensenthese.days

n-sun-ca-me-n=naNEG-it-eat-NPST-NEG=NMLZ.s‘Some days ago it had ited, but thesedays it does not it any more.’

b. cuŋ-ŋacold-INSTR

sy-a-ga=na?die-PST-2=NMLZ.s

‘Are you feeling cold?’

As the nominaliser agrees in number, the question must be asked whi argument of the clause itselects to agree with. e following examples will show that the nominaliser is aligned ergatively.In intransitive verbs, it agrees with the S-argument (most subject-like argument), shown in (6a).In transitive verbs, the nominaliser agrees with the P-argument (the most patient-like argument),illustrated by the examples (6b) and (6c). In ditransitive verbs, the verb agrees with the T-argument(the most theme-like argument). is is illustrated by (6d), where the most theme-like argument is‘beer’, triggering the nonsingular allomorph, because the T-argument is perceived as uncountable.us, in ditransitive verbs, agreement with all three core participants is possible, although the

66

10.1 Nominalisation

agreement with the T-argument via the nominaliser tells us only about the number, not the personof the participant.

(6) a. khe-me-ŋ=nago-NPST-1s=NMLZ.s‘I go.’ (S)

b. maŋkhugarlic

ses-wa-ŋ=napeel-NPST-1s=NMLZ.s

‘I peel the garlic (one clove).’ (P)c. mankhu

garlicses-wa-ŋ=hapeel-NPST-e=NMLZ.ns

‘I peel the garlic (many).’ (P)d. ka

1snta2s

cuwabeer.in.bowl

pi-meʔ-nen=hagive-NPST-1>2=NMLZ.ns

‘I give you the beer.’ (T)1

e. ka1s

nta2s

cakletsweet


‘I give you the sweet.’(T)

e nominalised clause can also be the complement of postpositions, as example (7) shows. epostposition is borrowed from Nepali.

(7) ka-ya=nasay[3sA]-PST=NMLZ.s

anusaraccording.to

‘according to what he promised…’

10.1.2 Nominalisation with -khuba ~ -khuwa

is nominalisation can apply to any verb, and the result is a participle or a noun that has thesemantic role of S/A with respect to the verb. e nominaliser aaes to the verb stem, withoutinflectional markers. e second syllable of the nominaliser corresponds to the common Tibeto-Burman nominaliser -pa ~ -ba, that also has the function of a male/neutral nominaliser in Yakkha.It is not an agent nominalisation, because the semantic role of the S-argument need not be ananimate or human controller of the event, as the following examples in (8) show.

(8) a. cin-khuwalearn-NMLZ

mamugirl

‘the learning girl’b. im-khuwa

sleep-NMLZ‘the sleeping one’

c. si-khuwadie-NMLZ‘the dying one’

d. cek-khuwaspeak-NMLZ‘speaker’

e. ep-khuwawrite-NMLZ‘writer’ (also instruments, like pencils)

1cuwa is perceived as uncountable mass noun, hence the marker at the verb is =ha; in contrast to the beer in a smallbarrel with a pipe called toŋba, whi is perceived as countable and whi gets the marker =na.

67


f. muʔni-khuwaforget-NMLZ

yapmiperson

‘forgetful person’g. khiʔ-khuwa

be.bier-NMLZ‘the bier one’ (e.g. fruit)

Example (9) illustrates that the nominalisation really applies to all kinds of S/A arguments, regard-less of their case marking. Here, the semantic relation is one of propriation, expressed by a locative.e only grammatical relation that was not found yet with this nominalisation is anything P-like.

(9) kai-ga-besomeone-GEN-LOC

wa-ya.exist[3s]-PST

wa-khuba-ŋaexist-NMLZ-ERG

me-wa-khubaNEG-exist-NMLZ-[NOM]

m-bi-n-ci-nin3pA-give-NEG-3nsP-NEG‘Some had (food). ose who had (food) did not give it to those who did not have (food).’

To express negation, the prefix men- ~ mi- is aaed to the verbal root. e resulting participleor noun may also denote general, time-stable properties, illustrated by and (10).

(10) a. men-ni-khuwaNEG-see=NMLZ‘blind person’

b. khep-mago-INF

mi-ya-khubaNEG-be.able=NMLZ

‘lame, not able to walk’

Non-finite relative clauses with object and modifying adverb are also possible with this kind ofnominalisation (see (11)). As the verb appears without any inflection, the reference of the argu-ments and the time reference is retrieved from the lexical context.

(11) asenyesterday

limnasweet

pi-khuwagive=NMLZ

kamniwakfriend

‘the friend who gave me the sweet yesterday’

10.2 Corelative clauses

e corelative clause construction involves a headless relative clause (as in English What I didwas wrong.), whi defines a topic about whi the second part will provide a statement. econstruction requires a pronoun in the relative clause, and another pronoun in the correspondingmain clause. e pronouns can be question pronouns or demonstrative pronouns. In the mainclause, the pronoun can also be a question pronoun, or a demonstrative pronoun. e corelativeconstruction is relatively common in South Asian languages, and it has parallels to what Biel(1999d) calls the Informational Dipty. is is a structurally similar strategy of informationmanagement in discourse, where the first part is used to announce the kind of information onewould supply, before conveying the information in the second part of the dipty. is text-structuring device is also found in Yakkha (cf. Chapter 16).

(12) a. ka1s[NOM]

ikhiŋhow.mu[NOM]

nis-u-ks-u-ŋ,know-3P-TEL-3P-1s

ikhiŋhow.mu[NOM]

ka-me-ŋ-natell-NPST-1s=NMLZ.s

‘I will tell as mu as I know.’b. na

DEMhetnewhere

camyoŋbafood

wa=yaexist=NMLZ.ns

nakhaDEM

camyoŋbafood

nak-seask.SUP.CVB

khe-igo[HORT]-1pS

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10.2 Corelative clauses

‘Let us go where the food is, to ask for food, they said.’

69


70

11 Adverbial clauses and converbs

is apter deals with converbs and the comitative clause linkage. e comitative linkage differsfrom the converbs, because it applies to a fully inflected verb. But it cannot be called coordination,because certain clause-final markers of independent clauses, su as the mirative raea and theverb-final nominalisation are not found in the comitative clause linkage. e clause linkage typesdiscussed in this apter show strong dependencies with the main clause. Despite this close clauselinkage type, they exhibit some properties that are unexpected here, su as illocutionary markingindependent of the main clause.

11.1 e supine converb

e supine converb -se is used to express the purpose of some movement and possibly also causedmovement (in analogy to other Kiranti languages one can expect that, although examples areneeded). e main verb will always be a motion verb, and the S/A-argument of the supine clauseis identical in reference to the S/A-argument of the main verb. e marker is always aaed tothe subordinate verb that does not take any agreement morphology.

(1) a. yakkhaYakkha

ceʔyalanguage

cin-selearn-SUP.CVB


‘I came to learn the yakkha language.’b. kon-ca-se

walk-STEM-SUP.CVBkhe-igo[HORT]-1p[i]

‘Let us go for a walk.’c. cama

foodca-seeat-SUP.CVB

aw-a-ebacome.LEVEL-IMP-HON

‘Please come to eat the food!’d. ciya-ga

tea-GENoomleaf

sem-seplu-SUP.CVB

khe-i-ŋago[PST]-1p-e

‘We went to plu tea.’e. paip

pipecok-sedo-SUP.CVB

khe-me-ŋ=na=igo-NPST-1s=NMLZ.s=EMPH

‘I will go to fix the water pipe.’

Asmentioned in Chapter 2.2 on the phonology, verb stems ending in stops assimilate to the sibilant,to yield a geminate. is happens only when the stem does not have a coronal augment. Forinstance, whapma in example (2) has the stem form whapt, thus bloing the assimilation. Stemslike /nip-se/ however become [nisse], /sop-se/ becomes [sosse].

Illocutionary forcemay have scope over both clauses or only over one of them. It is oen the casethat the entity in question is only the converbal clause, as in example (2). e context is two peoplemeeting at a water tap, so that the main verb ‘come’ must be part of the presupposition. Whatcannot be answered straightforwardly however is the non-trivial question whether in clauses likein example (2) really only the converbal clause is in the focus of the question or the converbalclause in relation to the main clause.

(2) tekclothes

whap-sewash-SUP.CVB

ta-ya-ga=na?come-PST-2=NMLZ.s

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‘Did you come to wash clothes?’

e converbal clause and the main clause may have intervening material between them. In (3),it is even a question word, confirming that the focus of the question may as well be on the mainclause, and the content of the converbal clause is presupposed.

(3) tukhipain

ca-seeat-SUP.CVB

iwhat

khep-mago-INF

lai?PTCL

‘Why should I go (and marry someone) to earn pains?’

11.2 e simultaneous converb

e simultaneous converb -saŋ connects two events that happen at the same time or during thesame period. e reference is not neccessarily the same between the arguments of the subordinateand the main clause, as example (4b) shows. In example (4a) the converb is duplicated. e sibilantassimilation mentioned above in section 11.1 applies here too. ere is a structural differencebetween (4a) and (4b), as in the first example the whole converbal clause is repeated, while in thesecond example one converbal marker scopes over two juxtaposed verb phrases.

(4) a. tenvillage

kos-saŋwalk-SIM.CVB

kos-saŋwalk-SIM.CVB

ta-i-ci-ŋacome-1p-ns-e

‘We came, walking from village to village.’b. em

song/jokecaeat

kusahappiness

ca-saŋeat-SIM.CVB

dinday

khe-meʔ=nago[3s]-NPST=NMLZ.s

‘Joking around, the day passes by.’c. yapmi

peoplepaŋ-paŋ-behouse-house-LOC

nak-saŋask-SIM.CVB

khep-mago-INF[OBLG]

‘e people have to go from house to house, asking (for food).’

e simultaneous converb is also used in a periphrastic aspect construction that has structuralparallels to a periphrastic continuous aspect in Nepali. e main verb khet ‘take along’ is partlygrammaticalised to a marker of continuative events, although on the surface the construction lookslike the converbal clause linkage.

(5) nhaŋand.then

pheriagain

lep-saŋthrow-SIM.CVB

ŋ-khet-wa-ci-a3pA-take.along-NPST[3P]-ns=NMLZ.ns

‘And then again keep throwing it (the fishing net).’

11.3 e negation converb

e negation converb consists of the prefix men- and the suffix -le, aaed to the bare verb stem,without any inflection. It is used to express that one event will not take place without anotherevent, as shown in example (6).

(6) a. ka1s

camafood

men-ja-leNEG.CVB-eat-NEG.CVB

ŋ-im-meʔ-ŋa-n-naNEG-sleep-NPST-1s-NEG=NMLZ.s

‘I will not go to sleep without eating.’b. ka

1septapbook

meŋ-kheʔ-leNEG.CVB-take.along-NEG.CVB

iskulsool

ŋ-khem-me-ŋa-n=naNEG-go-NPST-1s-NEG=NMLZ.s

‘I will not go to sool without taking my books.’c. keŋ

toothmen-nan-leNEG.CVB-brush-NEG.CVB

ŋ-im-meʔ-ŋa-n=naNEG-sleep-NPST-1s-NEG=NMLZ.s

‘I will not go to sleep without brushing my teeth.’

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11.4 e comitative

e focus and scope properties are still open to investigation when more data is available, butexample (7) suggests that, in line with other Kiranti languages su as Puma (cf. Saow (2008))the scope of a question may also rea over the converbal clause, or even only over the converbalclause. e event stated in the main clause was already active in discourse when the followingsentence was uered.

(7) lambuway

men-sop-leNEG.CVB-look-NEG.CVB

lam-bu-ga=na?walk-STEM-3P-2=NMLZ.s

‘Did you walk without looking at the way (that you fell into a mud hole)?’

e same negation prefix as in the negation converb can also be aaed to infinitives, as inexample (8), where the infinitive has obligative reading. e obligative scopes over the negation,yielding a prohibitive reading.

(8) i=yawhat=NMLZ.ns

i=yawhat=NMLZ.ns

men-jok-maNEG-do-INF[OBLG]

baŋniŋ,TOP,

...…

‘ As for what kinds of things he was not allowed to do, …’

11.4 e comitative

e comitative covers a wide semantic range, as long as one event is happening alongside theother. It is different from the simultaneous and the supine converb, as it aaes to fully inflectedverbs, with the exception of the final nominaliser. e marker is homophonous with the nominalcomitative, in line with a common Tibeto-Burman paern of utilising case markers as clause link-age markers. At first glance, it might appear to be an allomorph of the conjunction -niŋ ‘while’that relates simultaneous events, as it also aaes to fully inflected verbs. But, in analogy to whatwe know from neighbouring languages, I assume that there are subtle differences in syntactic andscope behaviour, that need a closer look. ere are no constraints on coreference. In (9a), thereferents of the S/A arguments are different, while in (9b) it is the same referent.

(9) a. nehere

n-nis-u-ŋ-nuŋNEG-see-3P-1s-COM

paubaold.man

sa=na.be[PST]=NMLZ.s

‘As I have not seen this place (for a long time), he (my uncle) got very old.’b. khatniŋ=go

while.that=TOPliŋkhaa_subclan

ekdamvery.mu

cog-a-nuŋdo[3s]-PST-COM

cog-a-nuŋdo[3s]-PST-COM

bistwenty

woraCLF

khibak=carope=ADD

ipt-i-ci.weave[3sA]-3P-ns

‘But the Linkha, working hard (to win the bet with the sun), wove twenty ropes.’

ere is also one example from an older stage of the language, taken from Grierson (1909). evariety documented here is about one hundred years old, and the data were collected in Darjeeling.In the two texts that can be found in this source, the comitative is found transcribed as nuhuŋ,nuŋ and nu (cf. (10)). is example also shows that the illocutionary force marker (the imperative)does not scope over the comitative clause, so that it needs imperative marking itself.1

(10) aniand

yemnu=nafat=NMLZ.s

pikcow

u-ya3sPOSS-ild

apt-a-nubring[3sP]-IMP-COM

sis-ukill[3sP]-IMP

‘Bring a fat cow and kill it.’

1An interesting detail of this example is the detransitivised verb in the comitative clause, while the main verb is notdetransitivised. is might however also be due to mistranscription. e missing genitive on the possessor in thepossessive construction is also unusual.

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12 Conditional and counterfactual clauses

e conditional conjunction is boŋ ~ bhoŋ, combining full-fledged independent clauses. On theother hand, infinitives are also exceptionally frequent in conditional constructions, but there is noexplanation for them yet. Examples can be found in (1). e proposition in the condition providesa baground for the proposition in the main clause.

(1) a. ep-ma-bhoŋwrite-INF-COND

muʔ-ni-me-n=na.forget-STEM[3s]-NPST=NMLZ.s

men-ep-ma-bhoŋNEG-write-INF-COND

muʔ-ni-myaforget-STEM[3s]-NPST‘If one writes down, one will not forget it. If one does not write it down, one willforget it.’

b. emmaraksi

uŋ-ma-boŋdrink-INF-COND

kamwork

cok-mado-INF

n-yas-aŋ-an=naNEG-be.able-1s-NEG=NMLZ.s

‘If I have to drink raksi, I cannot do my work.’ (why PST?)c. batti

electricityn-da-me-n=na.NEG-come-NPST-NEG=NMLZ.s

waniO.K.

haʔlo.by.the.way

n-da-me-n-na-boŋ,NEG-come-NPST-NEG=NMLZ.s-COND

n-da-nin-niNEG-come-NEG-OPT

haʔloǃby.the.way

‘e electricity does not come. It’s O.K., by the way. If it does not come, may it notcomeǃ’

e particle boŋ could be related to another topic marker and reportative baŋniŋ (literally ‘whilesaying’), in parallel to the Nepali markers bhʌne, bhʌnerʌ, bhʌndʌi. e morpheme boŋ ~ bhoŋ~ baŋ must have its origin in a verbal root. In other Kiranti languages (e.g. Puma), we also finda verb bʌŋma with the meaning ‘talk, say’, whi was not found yet in Yakkha (where it wouldhave to be pʌŋma or phʌŋma, according to the sound anges). Another parallel to the Nepaliconjunction bhʌne is the usage of boŋ as complementiser in embedded clauses (cf. example (2),repeated from section 9.1.2).

(2) ak-ka1sPOSS-GEN

kamniwakci,friend-ns

ka1s

isawho

om,COP

isawho

om-boŋCOP-REP


n-yokme-me-ka-ni-nNEG-tell-NPST-2-p-NEG‘My friends, they also will not tell you who I am.’

In irrealis contexts, when unfulfilled conditions are involved, the counterfactual clitic =pi isaaed to the verb of the main clause, and optionally also to the clause part that contains thecondition, where it is oen preceded by other clause linkers su as simultaneous -niŋ and se-quential -hoŋ, and by the topic particle =go. e verbs in these clauses either take subjunctive orpast inflection. is is not clarified yet. ey may also appear in the infinitive, like in conditionalclauses.

(3) a. ka1s

nis-u-ŋ=niŋ=biknow[SBJV/PST]-3P-1sA-while=CTFT

ikhiŋhow.mu

luŋ=bitell=CTFT

‘If I knew it, how mu would I tellǃ’

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12 Conditional and counterfactual clauses

b. khiŋbelaʔ-ŋa=go,this.time-ERG=TOP,

nasafish

tok-ma-ci=hoŋ=go=(bi),get-INF-ns=SEQ=TOP=(CTFT),

diana=caD.=ADD

pip-magive-INF[OBLG]

sa=bibe.PST=CTFT‘If there was fish available these days, we had to give it to Diana also.’

c. diana=caD.=ADD

pip-ma=hoŋ=go=bigive-INF[OBLG]=SEQ=TOP=CTFT

cond-a-sy-a=bi=baǃbe.happy-PST-STEM-PST=CTFT=PTCL

‘Aer giving them to Diana too, she would have been happy!’

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13 Complement clauses

13.1 Nonfinite complement clauses

Various verbs in Yakkha can embed verbal complements, and in all that are found so far it ispossible for a lower (i.e. an embedded) argument to trigger agreement in the matrix verb, hence,to be part of the argument frame of the matrix-verb. For some verbs this is obligatory, for others,I have reason to assume raising constructions. is phenomenon is also known as long-distance-agreement (henceforth LDA). It is found for instance in Romance languages, in Hindi/Urdu (Bu2008), Tsez (Polinsky and Comrie 1999), Godoberi (Haspelmath 1999), Belhare (Biel 2004a) andPuma (Saow 2008). Within the Kiranti languages, this type of agreement is not uncommon.

e complement verbs that are found so far in Yakkha are yama ‘be able’, sima ‘IPVF’, tarokma‘start’, mitma ‘like doing’, pipma ‘allow’, kaŋma ‘agree’, tokma ‘get the ance’, memma ~ ment‘finish’, cokma ‘try’ and leŋma as honorific marker, in parallel to the Nepali huna-forms. ebehaviour of the different complement verbs is far from homogenous, as was shown for Puma inSaow (2008). In Puma, some of them assimilate in valency to their embedded verb, some haveLDA only with certain embedded verbs, some have LDA only with certain argument types, e.g.with P, but not with G. e precise description and analysis of the behaviour of complement verbsis crucial for understanding the syntax of Kiranti languages. ese agreement paerns may showergative alignment, as will be shown later.

In (1) below we find some examples. In (1a), agent (‘1s’) and patient (‘2’) both trigger agreementin the matrix verb, while the embedded verb is in the infinitive form. With an embedded ditran-sitive verb, as in (1d), however, the expected agreement with the recipient (2s ‘you’) does not takeplace. e object agreement slot in the matrix verb takes the default option, third person singular(-u). is could either mean that the matrix verb does not agree with any embedded argument,or that it agrees with the theme, ‘money’, whi is however unexpected, given the usual Kirantiagreement paern of secundative alignment (i.e. with the goal argument in ditransitives). In allthe other examples, the matrix verb agrees with the embedded object.

(1) a. nda2s

ka1s

im-maask-INF

ya-me-ŋ-ga=nabe.able-NPST-1s-2=NMLZ.s

‘You can ask me.’b. sop-ma

look-INFsi-meʔ-nen=naIPFV-NPST-1>2=NMLZ.s

‘I am looking at you.’c. nasa-ci

fish-nsum-mapull-INF

ta-rokt-wa-ci=yastart[3sA]-STEM-NPST-ns=NMLZ.ns

‘He starts pulling out the fish.’d. ka

1snda2s

yaŋmoney

pip-magive-INF

ta-rokt-u-ŋ=nastart[PST]-STEM-3P-e=NMLZ.s

‘I started giving you the money.’e. sop-ma

look-INFm-mim-meʔ-nen=naNEG-like-NPST-1>2=NMLZ.s

‘I do not like looking at you.’f. emd-u-ci,

tease[PST]-3P-ns,ab-a-hoŋcome-PST-SEQ

cigik-ŋabow-INS

ap-mahunt.with.bow-INF

cog-u-cido[PST]-3P-ns

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‘She teased them, she came and tried to shoot them with an arrow.’

Aswas said before, the long distance agreement is even obligatory in some verbs. In the example(2), with tokma as matrix verb, default 3s agreement is not grammatical, i.e. this is not a raisingconstruction.

(2) a. ka1s

muŋ-cimushroom-ns

im-mabuy-INF

tokt-u-ŋ-ci-ŋget.ance[PST]-3P-1s-ns-1s

‘I got the ance to buy mushrooms.’b. *ka

1smuŋ-cimushroom-ns

im-mabuy[PST]-INF

tokt-u-ŋget.ance-3P-1s

‘Intended: I got the ance to buy mushrooms.’

Among the complement verbs, there is one special case. Syntactically, the construction behaveslike a complement construction, but the matrix verb is zero. e obligative ‘have to’ is expressedonly by an infinitive, without any matrix verb. e infitive takes nonsingular number agreementwith P-arguments, being aligned to the usual paern of primary object (hence, agreeing with thenumber of P and G). Examples are provided in (3).

(3) a. yapmipeople

paŋ-paŋ-behouse-house-LOC

nak-saŋask-SIM.CVB

khep-mago-INF[OBLG]

‘e people have to go from house to house, asking (for food).’b. ca-ma-ci

eat-INF-ns‘ey have to be eaten.’

c. wama-ciien-ns

pip-ma-cigive-INF[OBLG]-ci

‘(e fodder) has to be given to the ien.’

e complement verb leŋma (lit.: ‘be, be alright’) is interesting insofar as the whole constructionis apparently a loan translation from Nepali. In Nepali, any verb can be inflected for honorificstatus by adding huna, the third person form of the verb ‘be’ to an infinitive. For instance, garnuhuna is the honorific way of saying ‘he does’. e same is possible with leŋma in Yakkha, asshown in example (4) below.

(4) a. hetnewhere

khep-mago-INF

leks-a-ga=nabe-PST-2=NMLZ.ns

‘Where did you go?’b. hetnaŋ

where.fromta-macome-INF

leks-a-ga=nabe-PST-2=NMLZ.ns

‘Where did you come from?’

13.2 Finite complement clauses

Finite complement clauses usually occur with a complementiser. So far, only the conditionalconjunction boŋ was found in this position. e same paern is known from Nepali, where theconditional bhane is also used as complementiser in the same kind of constructions, for instancewith verbs of saying and thinking (cf. example (5)).

(5) ak-ka1sPOSS-GEN

kamniwakci,friend-ns

ka1s

isawho

om,COP

isawho

om-boŋCOP-REP


n-yokme-me-ka-ni-nNEG-tell-NPST-2-p-NEG

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13.2 Finite complement clauses

‘My friends, they also will not tell you who I am.’

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14 More on finite clause linkage constructions

14.1 Sequential linkage

e sequential clause linkage combines clauses that refer to subsequent events. ese are -yoŋ,-hoŋ and -maŋ. e first two forms can very well be allomorphs, as the [y] ~ [h] allophony isfound elsewhere in the language, for instance in the plural nominaliser. e last form howevermight be different, but the data are not sufficient to answer this question. e sequential linkeris aaed to the inflected verb. Diaronically, the sequential linker might be connected to theablative marker -paŋ. Generally, for Tibeto-Burman we oen find the same morphemes applyingto noun phrases and clauses, i.e. the same morphemes for case and for clause linkage markers.e sequential clauses found so far exhibit referential identity of the S and A arguments of bothclauses. e possessor in (1b) is regarded as A argument semantically.

(1) a. kamniwakfriend

soritogether

yuŋ-i-yoŋsit-1pS-SEQ

uŋ-u-mdrink-3P-1/2pA

‘Having sat down together, let us friends drink.’b. cama

food/ricepyakmu

ca-iŋ-hoŋeat-TEL-SEQ

a-phok1sPOSS-belly

keidrum

loʔalike

leks-a-by-a=nabecome-PST-TEL-PST=NMLZ.s

‘Aer eating mu rice, my belly became like a drum.’c. pyak

mucuwabeer

uŋ-maŋdrink-SEQ

mund-i-wa-m=haforget-3P-NPST-1pA=NMLZ.ns

‘Aer drinking mu beer, we will forget it.’d. yo

thereŋ-khem-mya-hoŋ3pS-go-NPST-SEQ

ŋ-und-wa-ci=ha3pS-pull.towards.self-NPST-ns=NMLZ.ns

‘ey go a bit further and then they pull them (the fish) out.’e. uncas

thirty-ninesal-beyear-LOC

ta-ya-ŋ=hoŋcome-PST-1s=SEQ

nehere

weʔ-ŋa=nastay[PST]-1s=NMLZ.s

‘Having come here in the year thirty-nine, I stayed here.’

e domain of the sequential is not restricted to verbs. It may aa to verbs, demonstratives andalso adverbs, as the example (2) illustrates. Here, it aaes to the distal demonstrative ŋkha (cf.section 4.2.3), yielding ŋkhoŋ. But it is never used to conjoin two nouns, whi is always donewith the comitative (cf. example (2b)) or with juxtaposition.

(2) a. pheriagain

nam=asun=ADD

lond-a-khy-a,come.out[3s]-PST-TEL-PST,

ŋkh-oŋDIST-SEQ

liŋkhaa_subclan

baji-perace-LOC

har-alose-NATIV

cog-a-khy-ado[3s]-PST-TEL-PST‘e sun rose again, and so the Lingkha lost the bet.’

b. minumacat

nuŋCOM

mimamouse

‘the cat and the mouse’

e sequential linker is frequent in narrations, where events are recalled in a linear order. epassage in example (3) illustrates this nicely, with four occurrences of the sequential marker.

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(3) nhaŋand.then

hattabattavery.quily

lukt-ab-a-hoŋrun[3s]-come.LEVEL-PST-SEQ

muok-hoŋcarrying.in.front-SEQ

paŋ-behouse-LOC

ta-ya,come-PST,

nhaŋhaand.then

paŋ-behouse-LOC

hoŋSEQ

pheriagain

lukt-ab-a-hoŋrun[3s]-come.LEVEL-PST-SEQ

sidakmedicine

end-a-bhy-aŋ-baapply[3sA]-PST-BEN-PST-1s-PTCL‘en, he came running quily, he lied me up and went into the house. And then, as (wewere) in the house, he came running again and applied medicine on my wounds.’

14.2 Simultaneous linkage

Two clauses with simultaneous time reference can be combined with the verbal suffix -niŋ ~ -niŋa. I am not aware yet whether the different forms are related to any differences in semanticsor structure. So far, they are treated as allomorphs. e suffix can be aaed to the verb, followingthe subjunctive (or past) inflection (cf. example (5)), or to infinitives of the verb, that maximallyagree with the number of the P argument of the clause (cf. (4b)). e related events may alsoproceed continuously over a period of time, as in (4a). e examples collected so far suggest thatthere is no constraint on coreference. As for the inflected example in (5), it is not clear yet whetherthe subjunctive or the past inflection are used obligatorily, or if others, like the indicative nonpastfor instance, are also possible.

(4) a. uthamlaŋsteep.up

uimalaŋsteep.down

lam-ma-niŋawalk-INF-while

laŋ-cileg-ns

n-sa-mya-ci3pS-become-NPST-ns

‘While walking up and down, the legs get stronger.’b. khamboʔmaŋ

berrysem-ma-ci-niŋ,plu-INF-ns-while

u-tiŋ-ŋa3sPOSS-thorn-INS

hot-ni-mapri-STEM[3s,PST]-PERF

‘While pluing the berries, their thorns pried me.’c. laŋgura-ci

knee-nslam-ma-niŋawalk-INF-while

n-duŋ-me-a=na-ci,NEG-ae-NPST=NMLZ.ns-NEG-ns,

yuŋ-ma-niŋasit-INF-while

n-duŋ-me-a-ci3pS-ae-NPST=NMLZ.ns-ns‘While walking, (my) knees do not ae, while siing, they ae.’1

e linker may also host the topic particle =go, whi is not surprising as the content of the linkedclause is grounding the main assertion in time (cf. (5)).

(5) plestik-be, plestik-ka jhola-be in-ca-met-uks-u-ŋ-niŋ=go, ‘inh’ cog-a-ma-ssa-ŋ wa=baplastic-LOC plastik-GEN bag-LOC play-STEM-CAUS-TEL-3P-1s-while=TOP interj do-PST-PERF-PST.PERF-1s maybe=PTCL‘While playing (with the fish) in a plastic, a plastic bag, I shrieked ”Eek!”, probably.’

14.3 Causal conjunctions

e conjunction ijaŋbaŋniŋ ‘because’ is used for causal clause linkage. It is constructed in parallelto the Nepali kina bhʌne, out of the interrogative word ‘why’ and a topic marker. An example isprovided in (6).

1e plural form is strange here, and could be due to an ongoing neutralisation in the verbal paradigms.

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14.4 e reportatives and text structure

(6) ka1s

lopnow

cakletsweets

n-ja-wa-ŋa-n=naNEG-eat-NPST-1s-NEG=NMLZ.s

ijaŋ-baŋniŋwhy-saying

toŋba-nuŋbeer-COM

n-doŋ-me-n=naNEG-agree-NPST-NEG=NMLZ.s‘I do not eat the ocolate now, because it does not go with the beer.’

14.4 e reportatives and text structure

ere are several reportative particles, employed for marking spee, but also for marking topics,and structuring the text. e first to be discussed here is baŋniŋ, whi literally means ‘whilesaying’, and it is oen used to introduce a topic of a longer passage. In (7), all examples stand atthe beginning of a longer description or enumeration. e particle is also lexicalised in the wordfor ‘because’ (cf. the previous section).

(7) a. lakt-a-niŋdance-(?)-while

iminhow

lak-madance-INF

baŋniŋwhile.saying

...…

‘While dancing, as for how to dance, …’b. na-ga

this-GENsurubeginning

iminhow

leks-a=nabe-ASP=NMLZ.s

baŋniŋ,while.saying,

...…

‘As for how she (this one) originated, …’c. i=ya

what=NMLZ.nsi=yawhat=NMLZ.ns

men-jok-maNEG-do-INF[OBLG]

baŋniŋ,while.saying,

...…

‘As for what kinds of things he was not allowed to do, …’d. haku

from.now.oninawhat

baŋniŋ,while.saying

...

‘What comes next, …’

e genuine reportative particle is =bu, with the function to disburden the speaker of the re-sponsibility for the truth value of the uerance, as is done in English by the adverb ‘allegedly’. Itwas frequently found in a narrative that was transmied orally. e particle always aaes tothe inflected (and optionally nominalised) verb.

(8) a. aniŋ-ga1pePOSS-GEN

liŋkha-gaa_subclan-GEN

uhilelong.time.ago

utpattiorigin

mamliŋ-bea_village-LOC

leks-a=na=buhappen-PST=NMLZ.s-REP‘Our Lingkha clan originated long ago in Mamling, they say.’

b. ekoone

cahiTOP

lukt-a-khy-a=na=burun-PST-TEL-PST=NMLZ.s-REP

‘One (cow), it ran away.’c. naŋ

and.thenyoŋ-be=cabamboo-LOC=ADD

meʔ-im-ma-ci=bu,NEG-sleep-INF[OBLG]-ns-REP,

liŋkha-ci-gaa_subclan-ns-GEN

‘And they are not allowed to sleep in a bamboo basket, the Linkha’s (ildren).’

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84

15 Grammatical relations

15.1 Coding properties

In this section, the alignment paerns in morphology will be summarised. For Yakkha, this in-cludes case, number marking and agreement paerns. Both ergative and accusative paerns canbe found in the morphology, and with regard to object agreement, both indirective and secunda-tive alignment paerns can be found. eir distribution is as follows: e basic cases for corearguments are the nominative and the ergative, while the ergative is not found on A argumentsthat are coded by first or second person pronouns (cf. (1)). e nominative marks the S argumentsof intransitive verbs, the first and second person A arguments (if pronouns) of transitive verbsand all types of P arguments (cf. (1c)). Hence, the case alignment is split according to person andreferential status, in line with the expectations of the referential hierary that was introduced bySilverstein (1976). ere is no particular object case in Yakkha, but the comitative and the locativemay also serve to mark oblique arguments.

(1) a. uŋci-ŋa3ns-ERG

uŋ3s[NOM]

moŋ-me-c-u=nabeat[3pA]-NPST-ns-3P=NMLZ.s

‘ey beat him.’b. ka

1s[NOM]uŋ3s[NOM]

moŋ-mya-ŋ=nabeat-NPST-1sA[>3P]=NMLZ.s

‘I beat him.’c. ka

1s[NOM]nda2s[NOM]

cokletsweet[NOM]

piʔ-nen=nagive-1>2=NMLZ.s

‘I gave you a sweet.’

e alignment of the ergative case only excludes first and second person pronouns, not firstor second person reference in general. A second person A argument not represented by a pro-noun is possible in Kiranti because the agreement here works along different parameters than inIndo-European languages. It does not always have to be identificational (cf. example (2)). Moreexamples on flexible agreement are provided in section 5.3 on page 36.

(2) a-koŋma-ŋa=le1sPOSS-aunt-ERG=PTCL

ta-ga=nabring[PST]-2[>3P]=NMLZ.s

raeaMIR


If we look at person and number agreement, we can find different alignment types that are dis-tributed according to person. e Kiranti family exhibits a very robust alignment paern foragreement, that is similar throughout the single languages. It was described and discussed inBiel (2008b) and can be aracterised basically as follows: e first person is aligned ergatively,the second person is neutrally aligned and the third person exhibits accusative alignment. Not allagreement morphemes are part of this paern in Yakkha. Naturally, the portmanteau-morphemecoding -nen ‘1>2’ cannot be part of it. e exclusive morpheme -ŋ ~ -ŋa and the dual -ci are alsoneutrally aligned (for an exhaustive list of agreement affixes cf. apter 5.2). Table (2) summarisesthe relevant morphemes. e Yakkha language is deviant from the usual Kiranti paern in thatthere is no morpheme only for first person that is ergatively aligned. e ergative paern appliesto two suffixes that code plural agreement with first and with second person. is alignment split

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15 Grammatical relations

stands in opposition to the expectations of the referential hierary as first introduced by Silver-stein (1976), if its range of application is interpreted as including not only case, but also agreementmarking.

A S P1/2 -m ‘1/2pA’ -i ‘1/2pS/P’2 -ka ‘2’3 N- ‘3pS/A’ -u ‘3P’

-ci ‘3nsP’

Figure 15.1: Alignment of agreement

As was shown earlier, the alignment of agreement in Yakkha (and Kiranti in general) is secunda-tive (agreement with the primary object, cf. apter 5.2), at least if both objects of the ditransitiveverb are marked with the nominative. I expect other valency classes, but so far, I have no datato support this claim. e nominalisers =na (for singular) and =ha ~ =ya (for nonsingular) are anexception to the secundative paern. ey aa to the verbs frequently and have the followingdistribution. ey agree with the S and P arguments, i.e. when the S or P argument is singular, =nawill be used, if nonsingular (or uncountable mass noun), =ha ~ =ya will be used. e examples in(3) shall illustrate this. e paern can also be observed in the affirmative forms in the paradigmtables in apter 5.2. e negative forms have a suffix -na, apparently in the same slot, as thenominaliser never aaes there. An exception yet unexplained are the scenarios of first personacting on second in the transitive paradigm, where exclusively =na is found, also with nonsingu-lar P arguments. It is a general observation that the singular marker is also used in nonsingularcontexts in natural spee. It seems to be the unmarked option.

(3) a. ka1s

khe-me-ŋ=nago-NPST-1s-NMLZ.s

‘I go.’b. kanciŋ

1dkhe-me-ci=hago-NPST-ns[i]-NMLZ.ns

‘We go.’c. n-dund-wa=na

3pA-understand[3P]-NPST=NMLZ.s‘ey understand him.’

d. n-dund-wa-ci=ha3pA-understand-NPST-[3]ns-NMLZ.ns‘ey understand them.’

In ditransitive scenarios, the oice of the nominalisers corresponds to the number of the Targument, and not the G argument, i.e. they follow indirective alignment, as shown in example(4). e sequence -ga=ha is contracted to a voiced aspirated velar stop [gh].

(4) a. ekoone

dotpendotpen

pi-a-ga=nagive[3sA]-PST-2=NMLZ.s

‘He gave you one dotpen.’b. cama

foodpi-a-g=hagive-PST-2=NMLZ.ns

‘He gave you the food.’

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16 Particles used for information structure

is apter shall introduce the different devices to structure the information in the uerancesand texts. It is not an analysis of these devices, but rather a description. e exact establishmentof the pragmatics and scope of all the particles treated here deserves a study in its own right.

e topic particle =go cliticises to phrases but also to any word in a phrase, whether noun, verbor adverb, as we can see in (1a) where it aaes to an entity within a noun phrase.

(1) a. uk-ka=go3sPOSS-GEN=TOP

pik-cicow-ns

wa-iʔ-sa=buexist-STEM-PERF=REP

‘As for him, he had cows.’b. ka=go

1s=TOPnalapipe

paippipe

cok-sedo-SUP.CVB

khe-me-ŋ=na=igo-NPST-1s=NMLZ.s=EMPH

‘As for me, I will go to fix the water pipe.’c. maŋcwa

watera-me=na=go,come-NPST=NMLZ.s=TOP

yamaauntie

‘It is raining though, auntie.’d. ako=go

now=TOPburaold.man

leks-a-khy-a=nabecome-PST-TEL-PST=NMLZ.s

holaprobably

‘Now he probably became an old man.’

e topic particle is also part of the lexicalised adversative expression in (2).

(2) khat-niŋ=gothat-while=TOP‘but’

Restrictive focus is expressed by the particle =se. It is aaed to whatever it has scope over.

(3) a. paŋ=sehouse=only

sop-ma=nawat-INF[OBLG]=NMLZ.s

‘Only the house has to be wated.’b. ka=go

1s=TOPnathis

mamugirl

hen=setoday=only

nis-wa-ŋ=naknow-NPST-1s=NMLZ.s

‘But I know this girl only since today!’c. hoŋkhaʔla-oŋ,

like.that-SEQhoŋkhiŋ=sethat.mu=only

‘Like that, that mu only.’

e additive focus is marked by the clitic =ca. In negation, it is oen aaed to interrogativewords to express negation to the most possible extent, as in English ‘any’ (cf. example (4a)).

(4) a. i=ya=cawhat=NMLZ.ns=ADD

cok-mado-INF

n-ya-me-n=naNEG-be.able-NPST-NEG=NMLZ.ns

‘One cannot do anything about it.’b. nda-nuŋ

2s-COMka=ca1s=ADD

loŋ-me-ŋ=nacome.along-NPST-1s=NMLZ.s

‘I will also accompany you.’

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c. mo-khaʔla=cadown-ALL=ADD

uks-a-nicome.down-IMP-p

‘Come down too.’

In clause linkage, the additive focus can be added to the sequential linker to express a concessiverelation of two propositions (cf. example (5)).

(5) marejmustard

end-a-hoŋ=caapply[3sA]-PST-SEQ=ADD

khumdutasty

sabe[PST]

‘Even though one applied mustard, it was tasty.’

e two particles to be discussed next oen occur together, when imperatives are involved.ey are =i ~ [e] and =pa ~ [ba] ~ [wa] (in fast speea). In imperatives, adding -pa makes theimperative more polite, while the aament of -i adds emphasis to it, similar to the Nepāli particle-nā:

(6) aw-a=i=wacome.LEVEL-IMP=EMPH=PTCL‘Please come.’

Both particles are also found in single usage. Particle -i is oen found aaed to questions,negated sentences and contrastive focus, as in (7) below:

(7) a. menna=i,no=EMPH,

paippipe

cok-sedo-PURP.CVB

khe-me-ŋ=na=igo-NPST-1s=NMLZ=EMPH

‘No, I will go to fix the pipe.’b. raksi-ŋa

spirit-ERGsis-a-ga=na=i?kill[3sA]-PST-2=NMLZ.s=EMPH

‘Are you drunk?’

Particle -pa, if used without -i, can also be understood emphatically. Please note the intervocalicgemination.

(8) hentoday

khiŋ=se=ppathis.mu=only=PTCL

‘Today this mu only.’

Both particles are also translatable with the Nepali emphatic particle -i ~ -ni ~ -nai. e questionwhether -i is a Nepali loan can be negated, as it has cognates in the Limbu and Belhare questionmarkers (B. Biel, p.c.). Particle -pa is also found on questions, but not on negated sentences. Inexample (9), it is aaed to a clause that contains an affirmative answer. Probably, both particlesexpress different nuances. Particle -pa carries an affirmative notion, and in questions it expressesthe expectation of the speaker to get a positive answer. It aaes to inflected verbs, but also tonoun phrases (cf. (9c)).

(9) a. na-bethis-LOC

yuŋ-masit-INF

leŋ-me=pa?be.alright-NPST=PTCL

leŋ-me=pa/be.alright-NPST=PTCL

leŋ-me-n=nabe.alright-NPST-NEG=NMLZ.s‘Is it O.K. to sit here? It is O.K./ It is not O.K.’

b. om=ba!COP=PTCL‘Yes!’

c. a-pa-ŋa1sPOSS-father-ERG

et-u-ci=ba,hunt.fish[PST]-3P-ns=PTCL

samundra-be=paocean-LOC=PTCL

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‘My father went fishing, in the ocean. ’

e particle =lai is also an emphatic marker, sometimes carrying a contrastive meaning, but notnecessarily.

(10) a. ikhiŋhow.mu

luŋma-kipt-u-a=laiǃliver-dig[3sA]-3P-PST=PTCL

‘How greedy he is!’b. om=lai!

COP=PTCL‘Yes of course!’ - ho ni!

c. hetnewhere

wei-ka=na?live-2=NMLZ.s

paŋ-be=lai.house-LOC=PTCL

tukhipains

ca=seeat-PURP.CVB

iwhat

khep-ma=lai?go-INF=PTCL

‘Where do you live? - At home, of course. Why should I go to suffer (in a marriage)?’d. n-da-ci=boŋ=go

3pA-bring-ns=COND=TOPim-m-ha-ci=laibuy-INF[OBLG]=NMLZ.ns-ns=PTCL

ca-m-ha-ciǃeat-INF[OBLG]=NMLZ.ns-ns‘If they bring some (fish), we will have to buy them and eat them.’

e. khaʔlalike.this

in-ca-met-uks-u-ŋ=niŋ=go=laiplay-STEM-CAUS-TEL-3P-1s=while=TOP=PTCL

...…

‘Just playing with the fish, like this, …’f. koi

somekhaʔla=lailike.this=PTCL

‘Some are just like this.’

Another particle is =le, translatable with Nepāli po, whi always has a contrastive notion. Aswe see in (11b), the particle also occurs together with the Nepali mirative raea, expressing theunexpectedness of the proposition.

(11) a. hakofrom.now.on

im-me-ŋ=na=lesleep-NPST-1s=NMLZ=PTCL

‘Now I will sleep.’b. a-koŋma-ŋa=le

1sPOSS-aunt-ERG=PTCLta-ga=nabring[PST]-2[>3P]=NMLZ.s

raeaMIR


e particle =le is also found in a fixed expression, a kind of filler:

(12) i=na=le=bawhat=NMLZ.s=PTCL=PTCL‘what to say/ watamacallit’

e phonological boundedness is also evidenced by a gemination that can be found in some in-stances (cf. (13)).

(13) a. yo=lleDIST=PTCL

khe-ks-a-ga=na?go-TEL-PST-2=NMLZ.s

‘So you went there?’- para po jandaiaub. khe=lle

PROX=PTCL‘here’

e Nepāli mirative rʌheʌ was borrowed into Yakkha, but the mirativity does not seem to bevery strong. In example (14b), the proposition cannot be an entirely new discovery for the speaker.

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(14) a. maŋcwawater

mi=nasmall=NMLZ.s

raheaMIR

‘e water/rain got less.’b. penaŋ-be

a_place-LOCwa-i-m-i-ŋalive[PST]-1p-PERF-1p-e

raia,MIR

kaniŋ1p

‘We lived in Singapur, we.’ (refering to times when the speaker was too young toremember)

e particle haʔlo is used frequently in colloquial spee, meaning something like ‘by the way’.It is oen reduced to =ʔlo, when it aaes to a host with open syllable structure (cf. (15)). Example(15d) shows that it is also used in questions.

(15) a. ka=go1s=TOP

jokor=le=ʔloself.deciding.person=PTCL=PTCL

‘I can decide for myself, by the way.’b. wani=haʔlo.

O.K.=by.the.wayn-da-me-nna=boŋ,NEG-come-NPST-NEG=COND

n-da-ni-ni=haʔloǃNEG-come-OPT-NEG=by.the.way

‘It is O.K., by the way. If it (the electricity) does not come, may it not come, by theway!’

c. kha=go=le=ʔlothis=TOP=PTCL=PTCL‘It is this one!’

d. hetnaŋwhere.from

ta-i-ka=na=lai=haʔlo?come-STEM-2=NMLZ.s=PTCL=by.the.way

‘Where did you come from, by the way?’e. pi-a-ks-a=ba=ʔlo

give-PST-TEL-PST=PTCL=by.the.way‘ey gave me away (in marriage), just like that.’

ere is a dialectal variety =ko of the above mentioned particle, found for instance in the dialectspoken in Ankhinbhuin village. e question in (15d) sounds like in example (16) in that variety.

(16) hetnaŋwhere.from

ta-i-ka=na=lai=ko?come-STEM-2=NMLZ.s=PTCL=by.the.way

‘Where did you come from, by the way?’

e particle =maŋ is probably a sequential linker used for emphasis. In example (17), the empha-sis lies on the fact that the speaker gives in into an undesired circumstance. e grammaticalisedexpression of this state of mind is also refered to as frustrative. As one allomorph of the Yakkha se-quential linker was also [maŋ], and the usage of sequential linkers in this sense is found in Nepālias well as other Kiranti languages, this interpretation is very plausible, though more examples areneeded.

(17) iwhat

cok-ma?do-INF

yakkhaYakkha

ten-bevillage-LOC

khaʔlo=maŋǃlike.this=FRUST

‘What to do? Aer all, it is like this in a Yakkha village!’ (referring to low infrastructure)

e expression of two alternatives is coded by the particle em. It is aaed to both of theconjoined phrases, as exemplified in (18):

(18) a. laka=emsalty=or

lima=emsweet=or

‘Is it (the tea) salty or sweet?’

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b. om=emCOP=or

men=em?COP.NEG=or

‘Yes or no?’

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Documents

Sketch of Yakkha Grammar