A Grammar of Khatso

A Grammar of Khatso
Author: Chris Donlay
Publisher: Walter de Gruyter GmbH & Co KG
Total Pages: 628
Release: 2019-05-06
Genre: Language Arts & Disciplines
ISBN: 3110765802

This is the first grammar in English of Khatso, an endangered language spoken in a single farming village in China by descendants of Kublai Khan’s Mongol soldiers. Based on natural language from dozens of speakers, this analysis captures the way Khatso is spoken in daily life. As a result, it is the most comprehensive description of Khatso yet, providing an in-depth look at the features, structures and systems that comprise this unique language.

A Grammar of Khatso

A Grammar of Khatso
Author: Chris Donlay
Publisher: ISSN
Total Pages: 0
Release: 2020-12-07
Genre: Language Arts & Disciplines
ISBN: 9783110735291

This is the first grammar in English of Khatso, an endangered language spoken in a single farming village in China by descendants of Kublai Khan's Mongol soldiers. Based on natural language from dozens of speakers, this analysis captures the way K

Applicative Morphology

Applicative Morphology
Author: Sara Pacchiarotti
Publisher: Walter de Gruyter GmbH & Co KG
Total Pages: 473
Release: 2022-10-03
Genre: Language Arts & Disciplines
ISBN: 3110778025

This book is about recurrent functions of applicative morphology not included in typologically-oriented definitions. Based on substantial cross-linguistic evidence, it challenges received wisdom on applicatives in several ways. First, in many of the surveyed languages, applicatives are the sole means to introduce a non-Actor semantic role into a clause. When there is an alternative way of expression, the applicative counterpart often has no valence-increasing effect on the targeted root. Second, applicative morphology can introduce constituents which are not syntactic objects and/or co-occur with obliques. Third, functions such as conveying aspectual nuances to the predicate (intensity, repetition, habituality) or its arguments (partitive P, highly individuated P), narrow-focusing constituents, and functioning as category-changing devices are attested in geographically distant and genetically unrelated languages. Further, this volume reveals that spatial-related morphology is prone to developing applicative functions in disparate languages and phyla. Finally, several contributions discuss the diachrony of applicative constructions and their (non-syntactic) attested functions, including a case of applicatives-in-the-making.

A Functional Grammar of Khatso

A Functional Grammar of Khatso
Author: Chris Donlay
Publisher:
Total Pages: 1074
Release: 2015
Genre:
ISBN: 9781339084060

Khatso (kha55tso31 [special characters omitted]; also Katso, Kazhuo [special characters omitted], Gazhuo [special characters omitted] and Yunnan Mongolian; ISO 639-3:kaf) is an endangered Ngwi (or Yi) language spoken in Xingmeng, a single farming village in Yunnan, China. Khatso speakers, who number about 5600 people, are descendants of the Mongolian soldiers Kublai Khan brought to Yunnan in the 13th century, and they still identify as Mongolian today. The language has evolved considerably through language contact, however, and is now considered part of the central branch of the Ngwi language family within the Tibeto-Burman phylum.

Inner Asia

Inner Asia
Author:
Publisher:
Total Pages: 220
Release: 2003
Genre: Asia, Central
ISBN:

Sociohistorical Linguistics in Southeast Asia

Sociohistorical Linguistics in Southeast Asia
Author:
Publisher: BRILL
Total Pages: 286
Release: 2017-07-10
Genre: Language Arts & Disciplines
ISBN: 9004350519

Sociohistorical Linguistics in Southeast Asia blends insights from sociolinguistics, descriptive linguistics and historical-comparative linguistics to shed new light on regional Tibeto-Burman language varieties and their relationships across spatial, temporal and cultural differences. The approach is inspired by leading Tibeto-Burmanist, David Bradley, to whom the book is dedicated. The volume includes twelve original research essays written by eleven Tibeto-Burmanists drawing on first-hand field research in five countries to explore Tibeto-Burman languages descended from seven internal sub-branches. Following two introductory chapters, each contribution is focused on a specific Tibeto-Burman language or sub-branch, collectively contributing to the literature on language identification, language documentation, typological analysis, historical-comparative classification, linguistic theory, and language endangerment research with new analyses, state-of-the-art summaries and contemporary applications.

A grammar of Moloko

A grammar of Moloko
Author: Dianne Friesen
Publisher: Language Science Press
Total Pages: 475
Release: 2017-07-11
Genre: African languages
ISBN: 3946234631

This grammar provides the first comprehensive grammatical description of Moloko, a Chadic language spoken by about 10,000 speakers in northern Cameroon. The grammar was developed from hours and years that the authors spent at friends’ houses hearing and recording stories, hours spent listening to the tapes and transcribing the stories, then translating them and studying the language through them. Time was spent together and with others speaking the language and talking about it, translating resources and talking to Moloko people about them. Grammar and phonology discoveries were made in the office, in the fields while working, and at gatherings. In the process, the four authors have become more and more passionate about the Moloko language and are eager to share their knowledge about it with others. Intriguing phonological aspects of Moloko include the fact that words have a consonantal skeleton and only one underlying vowel (but with ten phonetic variants). The simplicity of the vowel system contrasts with the complexity of the verb word, which can include information (in addition to the verbal idea) about subject, direct object (semantic Theme), indirect object (recipient or beneficiary), direction, location, aspect (Imperfective and Perfective), mood (indicative, irrealis, iterative), and Perfect aspect. Some of the fascinating aspects about the grammar of Moloko include transitivity issues, question formation, presupposition, and the absence of simple adjectives as a grammatical class. Most verbs are not inherently transitive or intransitive, but rather the semantics is tied to the number and type of core grammatical relations in a clause. Morphologically, two types of verb pronominals indicate two kinds of direct object; both are found in ditransitive clauses. Noun incorporation of special ‘body-part’ nouns in some verbs adds another grammatical argument and changes the lexical characteristics of the verb. Clauses of zero transitivity can occur in main clauses due to the use of dependent verb forms and ideophones. Question formation is interesting in that the interrogative pronoun is clause-final for most constructions. The clause will sometimes be reconfigured so that the interrogative pronoun can be clause-final. Expectation is a foundational pillar for Moloko grammar. Three types of irrealis mood relate to speaker’s expectation concerning the accomplishment of an event. Clauses are organised around the concept of presupposition, through the use of the na-construction. Known or expected elements are marked with the na particle. There are no simple adjectives in Moloko; all adjectives are derived from nouns. The authors invite others to further explore the intricacies of the phonology and grammar of this intriguing language.