Aspect in Burmese

Meaning and function

Author

Nicoletta Romeo | University of Sydney/University of New South Wales

Hardbound – Available

ISBN 9789027231079 | EUR 110.00 | USD 165.00

e-Book –

ISBN 9789027291349 | EUR 110.00 | USD 165.00

The book presents an overview of the aspectual system of Burmese, and it focuses on the analysis and description of the meaning and function of some aspectual markers which are among the most commonly used in the language. The analysis highlights a few important facts. Firstly, these markers, which typically follow the main verb within the verbal complex, derive from lexical verbs which are still in use in Burmese. This is an important descriptive factor, since the function of these markers can only be fully understood by looking at the interplay between the semantics of their lexical sources and the semantics of the verbs they modify. Secondly, it is the semantics of the aspectual markers that determines both their order vis-à-vis the main verb and their order vis-à-vis the other markers within the verbal complex. The interplay between the semantics and the syntax of these markers is analysed by adopting Role and Reference Grammar.

[Studies in Language Companion Series, 96] 2008. xv, 289 pp.

Publishing status: Available

https://doi.org/10.1075/slcs.96

Table of Contents

Acknowledgements | pp. xi–xii

List of abbreviations | p. xiii

Figures and tables | p. xv

Chapter 1: Introduction | pp. 1–8

Part I. A descriptive overview of Burmese

Chapter 2: The structure of Burmese independent clauses | pp. 11–40

Chapter 3: Verbal operators | pp. 41–84

Part II. Aspect in Burmese

Chapter 4: The post-VN operator ne 'CONTINUOUS' (CONT) | pp. 87–128

Chapter 5: The directional post-VN operators la 'COME' and thwà 'GO' | pp. 129–175

Chapter 6: The post-VN operator thà 'RESULTATIVE' (RES) | pp. 177–207

Chapter 7: The post-VN operator pì 'PERFECTIVE' (PFV) | pp. 209–228

Chapter 8: The sentential post-VN operator pi 'CURRENTLY RELEVANT STATE' (CRS) | pp. 229–255

Chapter 9: Conclusion | p. 257

Appendix | p. 267

Little frog, where are you? | pp. 269–281

Index | pp. 283–289

“This study is a significant contribution to linguistic typology: first, in the domain of aspect, by identifying several forms that express aspectual notions rarely reported cross-linguistically (such as the marker of ‘CONTINUOUS’ aspect), and for general typology on the other hand, by offering new data on a major language of South-East Asia. Indeed, the many examples, the detailed syntactic and semantic analyses of the verbal operators, and the presence of a complete narrative text in the appendix, make this book a source of important knowledge and information on Burmese, which we hope will pave the way for further typological studies of this language.”

Alice Vittrant, University of Provence, in Studies in Language Vol. 33:3 (2009)

Cited by

Cited by 5 other publications

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Borchers, Dörte

2016. Marking anteriority, perfect and perfectivity in languages of mainland Southeast Asia – concepts, linguistic area. In Conceptualizations of Time [Human Cognitive Processing, 52], ► pp. 243 ff.

Chirkova, Katia & Dehe Wang

2022. 甘洛爾蘇話動詞的體貌範疇. Language and Linguistics. 語言暨語言學 ► pp. 355 ff.

Fortuin, Egbert

2023. Unbounded repetition, habituality, and aspect from a comparative perspective. Folia Linguistica 57:1 ► pp. 135 ff.

Kalyanee Makarabhirom, Benjamas Prathanee & Ampika Rattanapitak

2023. Myanmar Articulation, Resonation, Nasal Emission, and Nasal Turbulence Test: A Preliminary Study. Archives of Plastic Surgery 50:05 ► pp. 468 ff.

Ozerov, Pavel

2015. Telling a story with (almost) no tenses: The structure of written narrative in Burmese. Linguistics 53:5

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