Cover not available
Article In:
Linguistics of the Tibeto-Burman Area
Vol. 48:1 (2025) ► pp.133–161

The Cogtse plural marker =ɲê and its evolutionary pathway

ORCID logo | Trinity College Dublin
This paper examines the plural marker =ɲê in Cogtse Situ, a Gyalrongic language spoken in Western Sichuan, based on data from Lin (2016). Although the etymology of =ɲê suggests that it was originally a plural marker, its morphosyntax reveals that its hosts range beyond traditional nominals and further cover infinitives, clauses, and adverbs, indicating that =ɲê has a wider array of uses beyond simply expressing plurality in modern Cogtse. In this paper, I discuss the uses and the semantics of the marker =ɲê extend to honorific, associative, approximative, and intensificative. After describing the different functions of =ɲê, I propose an evolutionary pathway for these uses. The proposal of the pathway provides a possible explanation for the relationship between different uses of this =ɲê, and this paper fills the research gap in the study of the plural marker in Gyalrongic languages.
Keywords: Gyalrong, Cogtse, plural marker, grammaticalisation, semantic change
Article outline
  • 1.Introduction
    • 1.1Etymology of =ɲê ‘PL’
  • 2.Number category
    • 2.1Number applied to nouns
    • 2.2Number applied to pronoun
      • 2.2.1Personal pronoun
      • 2.2.2Demonstrative pronoun
  • 3.Cogtse =ɲê
    • 3.1Uses and morphosyntax of =ɲê
    • 3.2Additive plural use of =ɲê
    • 3.3Honorific use of =ɲê
    • 3.4Associative use of =ɲê
    • 3.5Approximative use of =ɲê
    • 3.6Intensificative use of =ɲê ‘PL’
    • 3.7=ɲê ‘pl’ occurring after adverbs
  • 4.The evolutionary pathways of =ɲê ‘PL’
    • 4.1Additive plural as the original use
    • 4.2From additive plural to honorific
    • 4.3From additive plural to associative
    • 4.4From associative to approximative
    • 4.5From approximative and honorific to intensificative
      • From approximative to intensificative
      • From honoric to intensificative
  • 5.Conclusion
  • Acknowledgements
  • Notes
  • Author queries
  • References
This content is being prepared for publication; it may be subject to changes.
References (60)
References
Bisang, Walter. 2013. 1 Numeral Classifiers with Plural Marking. A Challenge to Greenberg. In Dan Xu (ed.), Plurality and Classifiers across Languages in China 23–42. Berlin: De Gruyter Mouton.Google Scholar
Bolinger, Dwight. 1972. Degree Words. Berlin: De Gruyter Mouton. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Brown, Penelope & Stephen C. Levinson. 1987. Politeness: Some Universals in Language Usage Studies in Interactional Sociolinguistics. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Corbett, Greville G. 2000. Number Cambridge Textbooks in Linguistics. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.Google Scholar
Daniel, Michael & Edith Moravcsik. 2013. The Associative Plural (v2020.4). In Matthew S. Dryer & Martin Haspelmath (eds.), The World Atlas of Language Structures Online, Zenodo. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Denison, David. 2011. The Construction of SKT. Second Vigo-Newcastle-Santiago-Leuven International Workshop on the Structure of the Noun Phrase in English (NP2), Newcastle upon Tyne.Google Scholar
Gates, Jesse. 2021. A Grammar of Mazur Stau. Paris: École des Hautes Études en Sciences Sociales PhD dissertation.
Gong, Xun. 2014. The Personal Agreement System of Zbu Rgyalrong (Ngyaltsu Variety). Transactions of the Philological Society 112(1). 44–60. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
. 2018. Le rGyalrong Zbu, Une Langue tibéto-birmane de Chine du Sud-ouest. Une étude Descriptive, Typologique et Comparative. Paris: Université Sorbonne Paris Cité PhD dissertation.
Greenberg, Joseph H. 1990. Studies in Numerical Systems 1: Double Numeral Systems. In Keith Denning & Suzanne Kemmer (eds.), On Language 194–206. Redwood City, CA: Stanford University Press.Google Scholar
Haspelmath, Martin. 2013. Occurrence of Nominal Plurality (v2020.3). In Matthew S. Dryer & Martin Haspelmath (eds.), The World Atlas of Language Structures Online, Zenodo. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Heine, Bernd. 2002. On the Role of Context in Grammaticalization. In Ilse Wischer & Gabriele Diewald (eds.), New Reflections on Grammaticalization, 83–101. Amsterdam: John Benjamins. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Hill, Nathan. 2010. Personal Pronouns in Old Tibetan. Journal Asiatique 2981. 549–571. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
. 2013. The Emergence of the Pluralis majestatis and the Relative Chronology of Old Tibetan Texts. In Nepalica-tibetica: Festgabe for Christoph Cüppers 249–262. Andiast: International Institute for Tibetan and Buddhist Studies.Google Scholar
Hofherr, Patricia Cabredo. 2010. Verbal plurality and event plurality. Course Material, Summer School on Linguistic Typology Leipzig.Google Scholar
Honkasalo, Sami. 2019. A Grammar of Eastern Geshiza: A Culturally Anchored Description. Helsinki: Helsinki University PhD dissertation.
Hopper, Paul J. et al. 1991. On Some Principles of Grammaticization. Approaches to Grammaticalization 11. 17–35. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Jacques, Guillaume. 2004. Phonologie et Morphologie du Japhug (rGyalrong). Paris: Université Paris-Diderot-Paris VII PhD dissertation.
. 2010. The Inverse in Japhug rGyalrong. Language and Linguistics 11(1). 127–157.Google Scholar
. 2016. Le pentaglotte Mandchou-Mongol-Tibétain-Gyalrong-Ouighour. Panchronica. DOI logo, accessed 25 November 2024.Google Scholar
. 2021. A Grammar of Japhug. Berlin: Language Science Press.Google Scholar
Jacques, Guillaume, Yunfan Lai, Anton Antonov & Lobsang Nima. 2017. Stau (Ergong, Horpa). In Graham Thurgood Randy J. LaPolla (eds.), The Sino-Tibetan Languages 2nd ed., 597–613. London: Routledge.Google Scholar
Kuryłowicz, Jerzy. 1965. The Evolution of Grammatical Categories. Diogenes 13(51). 55–71. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Lai, Yunfan. 2015. The Person Agreement System of Wobzi Lavrung (Rgyalrongic, Tibeto-Burman). Transactions of the Philological Society 113(3). 271–285. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
. 2017. Grammaire du Khroskyabs de Wobzi. Paris: Université Sorbonne Paris Cité PhD dissertation.
. 2020. The Historical Development of Inverse Marking in Khroskyabs: Evidence from Two Modern Varieties — Siyuewu and Wobzi. Bulletin of the School of Oriental and African Studies 83(2). 259–281. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
. 2021. Come Is the New Go: The Evolution of Stem Alternation of Basic Motion Verbs in Khroskyabs. Language and Linguistics 22(2). 338–375.Google Scholar
. 2022. Preinitial Denasalisation and Palatal Fortition in Khroskyabs and the Gyalrongic Word for ‘Man’. Linguistics of the Tibeto-Burman Area 45(2). 211–229. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Lai, Yunfan, Xun Gong, Jesse P. Gates & Guillaume Jacques. 2020. Tangut as a West Gyalrongic language. Folia Linguistica 54(s41-s1). 171–203. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Li, Fei (李菲). 2011. 文化记忆与身体表述——嘉绒锅庄 “右旋” 模式的人类学阐释 [Cultural Memory and Body Expression: An Anthropological Interpretation of the Rightward Mode in Gyalrong Guozhuang Dance]. Ethnic Art (1). 86–93.Google Scholar
Li, Ruiyao. 2023. Yaoji unpublished fieldnotes.Google Scholar
Lin, Xiangrong (林向荣). 1993. 嘉戎语研究 [Gyarung language research]. Chengdu: Sichuan Nationalities Press.Google Scholar
Lin, Youjing. 2012. By No Means Marginal: Privative Tone in Zhuokeji rGyalrong. Language and Linguistics 13(4). 625.Google Scholar
. 2017. How Grammar Encodes Space in Cogtse Rgyalrong. Himalayan Linguistics 16(1). DOI logoGoogle Scholar
. 2020. Units in Cogtse Rgyalrong Discourse: Prosody and Grammar. Taipei: Wan Juan Lou Books.Google Scholar
Lin, You-Jing (林幼菁). 2016. 嘉戎语卓克基话语法标注文本 [Cogtse Rgyalrong Texts: Fully analyzed spontaneous narratives with an updated sketch grammar of the language]. Beijing: Social Sciences Press.Google Scholar
Matisoff, James A. 2003. Handbook of Proto-Tibeto-Burman: System and philosophy of Sino-Tibetan reconstruction. Berkeley: University of California Press.Google Scholar
Nagano, Yasuhiko. 2003. Cogtse Gyarong. In Graham Thurgood & Randy J. LaPolla (eds.), The Sino-Tibetan Languages, 469–489. London: Routledge.Google Scholar
. 2021. rGyalrong: A Comprehensive Reference Grammar. Tokyo: Fukyosha.Google Scholar
Prins, Marielle. 2016. A Grammar of rGyalrong, Jiǎomùzú (Kyom-kyo) Dialects: A web of eelations. Leiden: Brill. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Qi, Keely New Zuo. 2021. The Semantics of Plurality in Burmese. Singapore: National University of Singapore PhD dissertation.
Sedláček, Kamil. 1969. On the Use of Plural Markers in Modern Tibetan. Central Asiatic Journal 12(4). 309–321.Google Scholar
Shibatani, Masayoshi. 1985. Passives and Related Constructions: A Prototype Analysis. Language 821–848. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Siewierska, Anna. 2004. Person. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Sonam Lhundrop, Tunzhi, Hiroyuki Suzuki & Gerald Roche. 2019. Language Contact and the Politics of Recognition amongst Tibetans in the People’s Republic of China: The rTa’u-Speaking ‘Horpa’ of Khams. Cambridge: Open Book Publishers.Google Scholar
Storch, Anne & Gerrit J. Dimmendaal. 2014. Number Constructions and Semantics: Case studies from Africa, Amazonia, India and Oceania. Amsterdam: John Benjamins Publishing Company. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Sun, Jackson T-S. 2000a. Parallelisms in the Verb Morphology of Sidaba rGyalrong and Lavrung in rGyalrongic. Language and Linguistics 1(1). 161–190.Google Scholar
2000b. Stem Alternations in Puxi Verb Inflection: Toward Validating the rGyalrongic Subgroup in Qiangic. Language and Linguistics 1(2). 211–232.Google Scholar
2004. Verb-stem Variations in Showu rGyalrong. Studies on Sino-Tibetan languages: Papers in honor of Professor Hwang-Cherng Gong on his seventieth birthday, 269–296. Taipei: Institute of Linguistics, Academia Sinica.Google Scholar
Sun, Jackson T-S. & B. Blogros. 2019. Tshobdun Rgyalrong Spoken Texts with a Grammatical Introduction. Taipei: Institute of Linguistics, Academia Sinica.Google Scholar
Sun, Jackson T-S (孙天心). 2006. 嘉戎语动词的派生形态語 [Derivational morphology in the Rgyalrong verb]. 民族语文 Minzu Yuwen 3–14.Google Scholar
Tang, Marc & One-Soon Her. 2019. Insights on the Greenberg-Sanches-Slobin Generalization: Quantitative Typological Data on Classifiers and Plural Markers. Folia Linguistica 53(2). 297–331. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Vassilieva, Maria Borisovna. 2005. Associative and Pronominal Plurality. New York: City University of New York at Stonybrook PhD dissertation.
Yang, Zhifan (杨之帆). 2021. The morphosyntax of tense, aspect, evidentiality, and modality categories in Bawang Horpa. Taipei: National Taiwan Normal University PhD dissertation.Google Scholar
Zha, Haoliang. 2024. Person Indexation in Dpal.ri Smar. Cahiers de Linguistique Asie Orientale 53(1). 1–31. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Zhang, Shuya. 2018a. Associated Motion in the Brag-dbar Dialect of Situ Rgyalrong. In Proceedings of the 51st International Conference on Sino-Tibetan Languages and Linguistics, 511, 69. Kyoto: Kyoto University.Google Scholar
. 2018b. Stem Alternations in the Brag-bar Dialect of Situ Rgyalrong. Linguistics of the Tibeto-Burman Area 41(2). 294–330. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
. 2019. From Proximate/Obvitative to Number Marking. Journal of Chinese Linguistics 47(1). 125–150. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
. 2020. Le Rgyalrong Situ de Brag-bar et sa contribution à la typologie de l’expression des relations spatiales: L’orientation et le mouvement associé: Paris: INALCO PhD dissertation.
. 2023. Towards a New Generalisation of the Tri-Axial Orientation System in Situ Rgyalrong. Transactions of the Philological Society 121(2). 203–225. DOI logoGoogle Scholar