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Article In:
Linguistics of the Tibeto-Burman Area
Vol. 48:1 (2025) ► pp.61–98

Preliminary study of the verbal morphosyntax of Dolpo

A Tibetic language of Nepal

ORCID logo | Charles University
The goal of this article is a description of the verbal system of Dolpo, a Tibetic language of Nepal, and to demonstrate some of its original features concerning verbal morphosyntax. Dolpo no longer reflects Old Tibetan verb inflections: instead, tense-aspect is conveyed by a system of verbal endings that are combinations of nominalizers and equative or existential verbs. Unlike Common Tibetan and other Tibetic languages, Dolpo exhibits original morphophonemic variations of verbal morphosyntax, a description of which comprises the main part of this article. Morphophonemic variations also apply to negation markers and interrogative enclitics. This complex system of morphophonemic variations is demonstrated by examples obtained during our linguistic fieldwork in Dolpo in 2022 and 2023.
Keywords: Dolpo, Nepal, Tibetic language, verbal morphosyntax, morphophonemic variation
Article outline
  • 1.Introduction
    • 1.1The Dolpo language
    • 1.2Phonological transcription
    • 1.3Dolpo orthography in Tibetan script
  • 2.Equative and existential verbs
    • 2.1Equative verbs
    • 2.2Existential verbs
  • 3.Verbal endings
    • 3.1Present and the imperfective
      • 3.1.1Egophoric present
      • 3.1.2Factual present
      • 3.1.3Sensory present
      • 3.1.4Non-visual sensory present
      • 3.1.5Sensory inferential present
    • 3.2Preterit
      • 3.2.1Egophoric intentional preterit
      • 3.2.2Factual preterit
      • 3.2.3Sensory preterit
      • 3.2.4Egophoric receptive preterit
    • 3.3Progressive present and past
    • 3.4Perfect
      • 3.4.1Egophoric perfect
      • 3.4.2Factual perfect
      • 3.4.3Sensory perfect
    • 3.5Future
      • 3.5.1Egophoric future
      • 3.5.2Factual future
      • 3.5.3Inferential future
  • 4.Verb stem alternation and verbal suppletive forms
    • 4.1Verb stem alternation
    • 4.2Suppletive verbal forms
  • 5.Morphophonemic variation of the verb
    • 5.1Morphophonemic variation of the present
    • 5.2Morphophonemic variation of the preterit
      • The variants /-win/ and /-widik/
      • The variants /-in/ and /-i(yin)dik/
      • The variants /-din/ and /-di(yin)dik/
      • The variants /-bin/ and /-bi(yin)dik/
    • 5.3Morphophonemic variation of the future
  • 6.Negation markers
  • 7.Interrogative enclitics
  • 8.Conclusion
  • Notes
  • Abbreviations
  • Author queries
  • References
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