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Linguistics of the Tibeto-Burman Area
Vol. 47:2 (2024) ► pp.318–342

Phasal polarity in Suansu

ORCID logo | University of Zurich
ORCID logo | University of Zurich
This contribution provides a descriptive account of the phasal polarity domain (encompassing the concepts not yet, already, still, and no longer) in Suansu, using a corpus of naturalistic and semi-spontaneous data. It aims at filling the descriptive gap of this category in Tibeto-Burman and frames the properties of Suansu phasal polarity system within a cross-linguistic framework. Findings reveal that Suansu expresses these concepts through various means, including versatile verbs, discourse markers, aspectual markers, and dedicated forms. Results also show that Suansu phasal polarity domain revolves around an interconnected semantic network based on internal negation, polarity change, and actualization (or existence) at the reference point.
Keywords: Suansu, Tibeto-Burman, phasal polarity, semantics, pragmatics
Article outline
  • 1.Introduction
  • 2.Phasal polarity
  • 3.Suansu
  • 4.Goal of the study and data sources
  • 5.Phasal polarity in Suansu
    • 5.1Coverage
    • 5.2Pragmaticity
    • 5.3Telicity
    • 5.4Wordhood and expressibility
    • 5.5Paradigmaticity
  • 6.The structure of Suansu PhP domain
  • 7.Summary and outlook
  • Notes
  • Abbreviations
  • References
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