Mouton Grammar Library A Grammar of Mongsen Ao

552 Pages·2008·3.24 MB·English

Mouton Grammar Library
A Grammar of Mongsen Ao
≥
Mouton Grammar Library 39
Editors
Georg Bossong
Bernard Comrie
Matthew Dryer
Mouton de Gruyter
Berlin · New York
A Grammar
of Mongsen Ao
by
A. R. Coupe
Mouton de Gruyter
Berlin · New York
MoutondeGruyter(formerlyMouton,TheHague)
isaDivisionofWalterdeGruyterGmbH&Co.KG,Berlin.
(cid:2)(cid:2)Printedonacid-freepaperwhichfallswithintheguidelinesofthe
ANSItoensurepermanenceanddurability.
LibraryofCongressCataloging-in-PublicationData
Coupe,A.R.(AlexanderRobertson)
AgrammarofMongsenAo/byAlecCoupe.
p.cm.(cid:2)(Moutongrammarlibrary;39)
Includesbibliographicalreferencesandindex.
ISBN-13:978-3-11-019088-5(cloth:alk.paper)
1.Aolanguage(cid:2)Grammar. I.Title.
PL4001.A691C68 2007
4951.4(cid:2)dc22
2007024522
BibliographicinformationpublishedbytheDeutscheNationalbibliothek
TheDeutscheNationalbibliothekliststhispublicationintheDeutscheNationalbibliografie;
detailedbibliographicdataareavailableintheInternetathttp://dnb.d-nb.de.
ISBN 978-3-11-019088-5
ISSN 0933-7636
”Copyright2007byWalterdeGruyterGmbH&Co.KG,D-10785Berlin.
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PrintedinGermany.
Acknowledgements
This work was originally submitted at La Trobe University in December 2003
as a doctoral dissertation. Since then it has been through countless revisions and
expansions as further insights into the structure of the grammar have been
gained. Throughout this process I have enjoyed the support of a number of key
people. David Bradley oversaw my doctoral research and provided critical
comments on numerous draft chapters. The final draft has been considerably
strengthened by incorporating the comments and suggestions of my PhD
examiners Robbins Burling, Bill Foley and Martine Mazaudon. Bernard Comrie
went to the trouble of reading the entire manuscript and offered pages of
detailed criticisms and suggestions for improvements. Randy LaPolla and Carol
Genetti shared inspirational suggestions on many aspects of description and
analysis. Other people with whom I have had the benefit of fruitful discussions
include Sasha Aikhenvald, Andy Butcher, Hilary Chappell, Shobhana Chelliah,
Bob Dixon, Antoine Guillaume, Bernd Heine, Jane Hill, Ken Hill, Lars
Johanson, Nicole Kruspe, Scott DeLancey, Bill McGregor, Stephen Matthews,
Maarten Mous, Willem de Reuse, Fritz Serzisko, Janet Sharp and Tonya
Stebbins. It goes without saying that I alone am fully responsible for any
remaining errors or misinterpretations.
None of this work would have been possible without the generous support of
the Ao community. I owe a profound debt of gratitude to the Mongsen speakers
of Nagaland, and in particular, to the very obliging family of my sister-in-law
Kashila Gurung. Kashila, her sister Arenla Subong, and many of their extended
family went to great trouble to help me understand the intricacies of Mongsen
grammar, and their uncle Imdangchiba Imchen was an enthusiastic teacher of
his language. Thanks to them, I have been able to write this book. I was also
touched by the overwhelming hospitality shown by the people of Mangmetong
village, who made my visits so fruitful. I am equally indebted to other members
of my extended family in India and Australia for all they have done to ensure
that I could complete this research. In particular, I would like to acknowledge
everything that my sister-in-law Sumitra Ao did for me in negotiating
bureaucratic hurdles and procuring permits for me to enter Nagaland. Thanks
also to my wife’s family in Shillong and Nagaland for supporting and taking
care of me on my numerous visits.
La Trobe University funded the doctoral research with an Australian
Postgraduate Award and provided additional grants to cover fieldwork
expenses. Subsequent research has been made possible by a three-year
Australian Research Council postdoctoral fellowship (DP0450943: A typology
vi Acknowledgements
of adverbial subordination and clause linkage in Tibeto-Burman languages). I
am deeply grateful to both of these institutions for their support. I thank Pacific
Linguistics for granting permission to publish a map that originally appeared in
Coupe (2003a). Lastly, Jo Taylor did a brilliant job proof-reading and helping to
format the manuscript.
Behind this whole project has been my loyal, loving partner Pavitra, the
catalyst for my obsession with the languages of Nagaland. This one is for you.
Table of contents
Acknowledgements...........................................................................................v
List of maps, tables and figures....................................................................xvi
Abbreviations and conventions...................................................................xviii
1 Introduction
1.1. The Ao language................................................................................1
1.2. Organization of this grammar............................................................1
1.3. Typological overview........................................................................2
1.4. Linguistic situation in Nagaland........................................................4
1.5. Genetic classification.........................................................................7
1.6. Geographical setting..........................................................................7
1.7. Ethnographic overview......................................................................9
1.7.1. Autonym, exonyms and allonyms......................................................9
1.7.2. History..............................................................................................11
1.7.3. Village life........................................................................................13
1.7.4. Religion............................................................................................14
1.8. Ao dialects........................................................................................16
1.9. Review of literature..........................................................................17
1.10. Ao literature.....................................................................................18
1.11. Fieldwork and sources of data..........................................................18
1.12. Equipment........................................................................................20
1.13. Orthography.....................................................................................20
1.14. Theoretical orientation.....................................................................21
2 Phonology and phonological processes
2.1. Syllable structure..............................................................................23
2.1.1. Vowel Sequences.............................................................................25
2.1.2. Absence of phonemic stress.............................................................26
2.1.3. Tone.................................................................................................26
2.2. Segmental phonology.......................................................................27
2.2.1. Consonant phonemes.......................................................................27
2.2.1.1. Voice onset time contrasts...............................................................28
2.2.1.2. Stops.................................................................................................30
2.2.1.3. Affricates..........................................................................................31
2.2.1.4. Fricatives..........................................................................................31
2.2.1.5. Nasals...............................................................................................32
2.2.1.6. Approximants...................................................................................38
2.2.1.7. Limited free variation.......................................................................44
viii Table of contents
2.2.2. Vowel phonemes..............................................................................45
2.3. Segmental differences between Mongsen varieties.........................47
2.3.1. Consonants.......................................................................................47
2.3.2. Vowels.............................................................................................48
2.4. Word................................................................................................49
2.4.1. Phonological criteria........................................................................49
2.4.2. Grammatical criteria........................................................................51
2.5. Clitics...............................................................................................51
2.6. Phonological processes....................................................................52
2.6.1. Schwa deletion in prefixes...............................................................52
2.6.2. Sporadic vowel harmony.................................................................53
2.6.3. Vowel dissimilation.........................................................................53
2.6.4. Glide assimilation............................................................................54
2.6.5. Consonant assimilation....................................................................54
2.6.6. Resyllabification..............................................................................55
2.6.7. Other vowel deletions......................................................................55
3 Prosody
3.1. Tonemes...........................................................................................57
3.1.1. Lexical tones....................................................................................57
3.1.2. Methodology....................................................................................59
3.1.3. Grammatical tones...........................................................................60
3.1.3.1. Adjectives of degree.........................................................................60
3.1.3.2. Agentive case marked by a rising tone............................................64
3.2. Tonally unspecified prefixes............................................................65
3.3. Tone sandhi......................................................................................67
3.3.1. Tonal combinations in phonological words.....................................68
3.3.2. Tone sandhi generated by morpheme concatenation.......................68
3.3.3. Tone sandhi generated by tones of adjacent words..........................71
3.3.4. Tone sandhi in nominal compounds................................................72
3.4. Postlexical intonation.......................................................................73
3.4.1. Phrasal intonation.............................................................................74
3.4.2. Boundary marking intonation on dependent clauses........................75
3.4.3. Non-final postlexical intonation on matrix clauses..........................76
3.5. The glottal stop prosody...................................................................77
4 Word classes
4.1. Open word classes............................................................................79
4.1.1. Verbs................................................................................................79
4.1.2. Overview of the noun word class.....................................................81
4.1.3. Relational bound nouns....................................................................84
4.1.4. Non-relational bound nouns.............................................................86
4.1.5. Unbound nouns................................................................................87
Table of contents ix
4.2. Closed word classes.........................................................................88
4.2.1. Personal pronouns............................................................................89
4.2.2. Possessive pronouns.........................................................................94
4.2.3. Demonstrative pronouns..................................................................97
4.2.4. Interrogative pronouns.....................................................................98
4.2.5. Indefinite pronouns........................................................................100
4.2.5.1. Negative indefinite pronouns.........................................................101
4.2.5.2. Specific indefinite pronouns..........................................................102
4.2.5.3. Non-specific indefinite pronouns...................................................103
4.2.5.4. Reduplicated indefinite pronouns and adverbals...........................104
4.2.6. Generic pronoun.............................................................................105
4.2.7. Nominal modifiers.........................................................................106
4.2.7.1. Nominal deictics............................................................................106
4.2.7.2. Lexical quantifiers..........................................................................111
4.2.7.3. Cardinal numerals..........................................................................112
4.2.7.4. Decimalization of the overcounting numeral system.....................117
4.2.7.5. Case marking clitics.......................................................................121
4.2.8. Time words....................................................................................122
4.2.9. Adverbs..........................................................................................124
4.2.10. Discourse connectives....................................................................124
4.2.11. Phrasal conjunction........................................................................127
4.2.12. Interjections....................................................................................129
4.2.13. Exclamations and onomatopoeia....................................................129
4.2.14. Particles and clitics.........................................................................131
4.2.14.1. Quotative particle...........................................................................131
4.2.14.2. Reportative particle........................................................................132
4.2.14.3. Topic particle.................................................................................133
4.2.14.4. Discourse focus particles...............................................................137
4.2.14.5. Illocutionary force particles...........................................................138
4.2.14.6. Optional declarative mood clitic....................................................142
5 Clause structure and grammatical functions
5.1. Simple clause structure..................................................................145
5.1.1. Declarative clauses.........................................................................147
5.1.2. Interrogative clauses......................................................................148
5.1.2.1. Disjunctive questions.....................................................................148
5.1.2.2. Polar questions...............................................................................148
5.1.2.3. Content questions...........................................................................150
5.1.3. Imperative mood categories...........................................................150
5.2. Grammatical functions...................................................................150
5.2.1. Constituent order............................................................................151
5.2.2. Core grammatical marking.............................................................154
x Tableofcontents
5.2.3. Absence of pivot............................................................................165
5.2.4. Absence of passive voice...............................................................168
5.2.5. Summary........................................................................................169
5.3. Case marking morphology.............................................................169
5.3.1. Core case marking .........................................................................173
5.3.1.1. Agentive.........................................................................................173
5.3.1.2. Formally unmarked core arguments...............................................174
5.3.2. Oblique case marking.....................................................................175
5.3.2.1. Allative...........................................................................................176
5.3.2.2. Ablative..........................................................................................177
5.3.2.3. Instrumental...................................................................................178
5.3.2.4. Dative.............................................................................................180
5.3.2.5. Benefactive.....................................................................................181
5.3.2.6. Locative..........................................................................................182
5.3.2.7. Comitative......................................................................................183
5.3.3. Nascent postpositions.....................................................................184
5.4. Valency modifying and reciprocal/collective derivations..............189
5.4.1. Morphological causative................................................................190
5.4.1.1. Causative derivation of intransitive verb stems.............................190
5.4.1.2. Causative derivation of transitive verb stems................................194
5.4.2. Analytic causative..........................................................................197
5.4.3. Reciprocal/collective derivation.....................................................198
6 The noun phrase, relative clauses and nominalizations
6.1. Basic noun phrase structure...........................................................201
6.1.1. Particles occurring within the noun phrase....................................202
6.1.2. Noun phrase constituents with a variable position.........................202
6.1.3. Overview of other noun phrase constituents..................................203
6.2. Functions of noun phrases..............................................................204
6.3. Head...............................................................................................205
6.3.1. Simple head....................................................................................205
6.3.2. Compound head.............................................................................206
6.3.3. Complex head................................................................................207
6.4. Noun phrase modifiers...................................................................208
6.4.1. Attributes........................................................................................208
6.4.2. Quantifiers......................................................................................211
6.4.3. Determiners....................................................................................212
6.4.4. Case marking clitics.......................................................................213
6.4.5. Topic particle and discourse focus particles..................................214
6.5. Recursively embedded noun phrases.............................................216
6.6. Relativization and nominalization..................................................217
6.6.1. Headed relative clauses..................................................................219