Cover not available
Article published In:
Notes from the field on perspective-indexing constructions: Irregular shifts and perspective persistence
Edited by Stef Spronck, An Van linden, Caroline Gentens and María Sol Sansiñena
[Functions of Language 27:1] 2020
► pp. 55–77

Recycling through perspective persistence in Monsang (Trans-Himalayan)

Reconstructing the desiderative from a reported intentionality construction

| University of Regensburg | University of Oregon
In a reported intentionality construction, intentionality is expressed as reported speech/thought (‘s/he says/thinks, <I will go>’). The quoted clause must contain a first person form and refer to the future. Reported intentionality displays perspective persistence and an accompanying apparent form-meaning mismatch, as it structurally marks the speech-act participant perspective of the volitional agent despite idiomatically translating only from the perspective of the current speaker. While this construction has been examined in languages around the world, this is the first treatment for the Trans-Himalayan (or Sino-Tibetan/Tibeto-Burman) language family. Monsang (South-Central; Northeast India) is shown to have a reported intentionality construction of the cross-linguistic type. In addition, there is a desiderative construction in the language that does not display perspective persistence but is argued to reconstruct back to a reported intentionality construction. Further evidence from synchronic and diachronic quotative constructions in Monsang is presented that illustrates the prominence of quotative-derived expressions of intentionality in Monsang verbal morphology.
Article outline
  • 1.Introduction
    • 1.1The reported intentionality construction
    • 1.2Reported intentionality and related constructions in Trans-Himalayan
  • 2.Reported intentionality in Monsang
    • 2.1Reported speech/thought in Monsang
    • 2.2Reported intentionality construction in Monsang
  • 3.From the reported intentionality construction to desiderative marking
    • 3.1Reconstructing the Monsang desiderative to a reported intentionality construction
    • 3.2Functional difference
  • 4.Reported speech and the expression of intentionality in Monsang
    • 4.1Synchronic use of reported speech to indicate intentions and motivations
    • 4.2Future constructions derived from reported speech/thought
  • 5.Conclusion
  • Acknowledgements
  • Notes
  • References
Published online: 15 April 2020
DOI logo
https://doi.org/10.1075/fol.20002.kon
References (31)
References
Aaron, Uche E. 1996. Grammaticization of the verb ‘say’ to future tense in Obolo. Journal of West African Languages 26(2). 87–93.Google Scholar
Adelaar, Willem F. H. 1990. The role of quotations in Andean discourse. In Harm Pinkster & Inge Genee (eds.), 1–12.Google Scholar
Bradley, David. 2003. Lisu. In Graham Thurgood & Randy J. LaPolla (eds.), The Sino-Tibetan languages, 222–235. London: Routledge.Google Scholar
Bybee, Joan L., Revere D. Perkins & William Pagliuca. 1994. The evolution of grammar : Tense, aspect, and modality in the languages of the world. Chicago: University of Chicago Press.Google Scholar
Chafe, Wallace L. 1980. The pear stories: Cognitive, cultural, and linguistic aspects of narrative production. Norwood, NJ: Ablex.Google Scholar
Chelliah, Shobhana L., David A. Peterson, Tyler P. Utt & Evaline Blair. 2019. Lamkang verb conjugation. Himalayan Linguistics 18(1). DOI logoGoogle Scholar
De Vries, Lourens. 1990. Some remarks on direct quotation in Kombai. In Harm Pinkster & Inge Genee (eds.), 291–309.Google Scholar
DeLancey, Scott. 2013. Creolization in the divergence of Tibeto-Burman. In Nathan Hill & Thomas Owen-Smith (eds.), Trans-Himalayan linguistics: Historical and descriptive linguistics of the Himalayan area, 41–70. Berlin: Mouton de Gruyter. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
. 2015. The historical dynamics of morphological complexity in Trans-Himalayan. Linguistic Discovery 13(2). 60–79. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Gentens, Caroline, María Sol Sansiñena, Stef Spronck & An Van linden. 2019. Irregular perspective shifts and perspective persistence, discourse-oriented and theoretical approaches. Journal of Pragmatics 29(2). 155–169. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Güldemann, Tom. 2008. Quotative indexes in African languages: A synchronic and diachronic survey. Berlin: de Gruyter Mouton. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Haokip, Pauthang. 2018. Agreement in Kuki-Chin languages of Barak Valley. Journal of South Asian Languages and Linguistics 5(2). 159–210. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Konnerth, Linda. 2014. A grammar of Karbi. Eugene, OR: University of Oregon PhD thesis.Google Scholar
Konnerth, Linda & Chikari Tisso. 2018. Karbi texts: A fully glossed corpus of different genres. Himalayan Linguistics Archive 17(2). 117–472.Google Scholar
. 2019. Karbi texts: Original recordings of a corpus of different genres. London: SOAS, Endangered Languages Archive. [URL]. DOI logo
Konnerth, Linda & Koninglee Wanglar. 2019. Person indexation in Monsang from a diachronic perspective. Himalayan Linguistics 18(1). DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Matisoff, James A. 1986. Hearts and minds in South-East Asian languages and English: An essay in the comparative lexical semantics of psycho-collocations. Cahiers de Linguistique Asie Orientale 15(1). 5–57. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
2003. Handbook of Proto-Tibeto-Burman: System and philosophy of Sino-Tibetan reconstruction. Berkeley, CA: University of California Press.Google Scholar
McGregor, William B. 1994. The grammar of reported speech and thought in Gooniyandi. Australian Journal of Linguistics 14(1). 63–92. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
2007. A desiderative complement construction in Warrwa. In Jeff Siegel, John Lynch & Diana Eades (eds.), Language description, history and development: Linguistic indulgence in memory of Terry Crowley, 27–40. Amsterdam: Benjamins. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Noonan, Michael. 2006. Direct speech as a rhetorical style in Chantyal. Himalayan Linguistics Journal 61. 1–32.Google Scholar
Ozerov, Pavel. 2019. Person indexation in Anal. Himalayan Linguistics 18(1). 26–53. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Post, Mark W. 2013. Person-sensitive TAME marking in Galo: Historical origins and functional motivation. In Tim Thornes, Joana Jansen, Erik Andvik & Gwendolyn Hyslop (eds.), Functional-historical approaches to explanation: In honor of Scott DeLancey, 107–130. Amsterdam: Benjamins. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Reesink, Ger P. 1993. ‘Inner speech’ in Papuan languages. Language and Linguistics in Melanesia 24(2). 217–225.Google Scholar
Rumsey, Alan. 2001. On the syntax and semantics of trying. In Jane Simpson, David Nash, Mary Laughren, Peter Austin & Barry Alpher (eds.), Forty years on: Ken Hale and Australian languages, 353–363. Canberra: Pacific Linguistics.Google Scholar
Saxena, Anju. 1988. On syntactic convergence: The case of the verb ‘say’ in Tibeto-Burman. Annual Meeting of the Berkeley Linguistics Society 141. 375–388. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
. 1995. Unidirectional grammaticalization: Diachronic and cross-linguistic evidence. STUF-Language Typology and Universals 48(4). 350–372. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Serzisko, Fritz. 1987. The verb ʻto sayʼ in Ik (Kuliak). Afrikanistische Arbeitspapiere 111. 67–92.Google Scholar
Singh, Naorem Saratchandra. 2006. A grammar of Paite. New Delhi: Mittal Publications.Google Scholar
Spronck, Stef. 2015. Reported speech in Ungarinyin: Grammar and social cognition in a language of the Kimberley Region, Western Australia. Canberra: Australian National University PhD thesis.Google Scholar
Cited by (1)

Cited by one other publication

Spronck, Stef & Daniela Casartelli
2021. In a Manner of Speaking: How Reported Speech May Have Shaped Grammar. Frontiers in Communication 6 DOI logo

This list is based on CrossRef data as of 4 july 2024. Please note that it may not be complete. Sources presented here have been supplied by the respective publishers. Any errors therein should be reported to them.