Grammaticalized sources of Kurtöp verbal morphology
On the development of mirativity versus egophoricity in the Himalayas
Kurtöp (Tibeto-Burman; Bhutan) has a rich set of finite verbal suffixes which encode evidentiality, mirativity,
and egophoricity. This article examines the origins of these suffixes in a typological context, showing how many of them have
developed via recent grammaticalizations. Synchronic processes of nominalization and clause-chaining have provided the ideal syntactic
contexts for these grammaticalizations to take place. Many of the grammaticalization pathways found here are shown to be
typologically common, such as ‘give’ becoming an applicative. We find one suffix, the egophoric, which is an obvious
borrowing. Based on the data presented here, this article puts forth the tentative hypothesis that due to principles of iconicity,
miratives will tend to be recent grammaticalizations. Similarly, the fact that the Kurtöp egophoric has been borrowed is also,
arguably, iconic.
Article outline
- 1.Introduction
- 2.Background
- 2.1Grammaticalization overview
- 2.2Mirativity and egophoricity
- 3.Kurtöp
- 3.1Mirativity and egophoricity in Kurtöp
- 3.2Kurtöp synchronic verbal morphology
- 3.3Clause-chaining/verb serialization
- 3.3.1Lexical final verb
- 3.3.2Auxiliary final verb
- 3.4Nominalization
- 4.Auxiliarization
- 4.1Mirative imperfective -ta
- 4.2Mirative perfective -na
- 4.3Hortative -ki
- 4.4Applicative bi
- 5.Nominalization
- 5.1Nominalizer + copula
- 5.2Nominalizer + verb ra ‘to come’
- 6.Borrowing
- 7.Summary and conclusions
- Acknowledgements
- Notes
- Abbreviations
-
References
References (63)
Aikhenvald, Alexandra
2004 Evidentiality. Oxford: OUP.
![Google Scholar](https://benjamins.com/logos/google-scholar.svg)
Aikhenvald, Alexandra
2012 The essence of mirativity.
Linguistics Typology 161: 435–485.
![Google Scholar](https://benjamins.com/logos/google-scholar.svg)
Aikhenvald, Alexandra
2014 The grammar of knowledge: a cross-linguistic view of evidentials and the expression of information source. In
Alexandra Aikhenvald &
Robert M. W. Dixon (eds.),
The grammar of knowledge: a cross-linguistic typology. Oxford: OUP.
![DOI logo](https://benjamins.com/logos/doi-logo.svg)
![Google Scholar](https://benjamins.com/logos/google-scholar.svg)
Aikhenvald, Alexandra
(ed.) 2018 The Oxford handbook of Evidentiality. Oxford: OUP.
![DOI logo](https://benjamins.com/logos/doi-logo.svg)
![Google Scholar](https://benjamins.com/logos/google-scholar.svg)
Aikhenvald, Alexandra and Robert M. W. Dixon
(eds) 2006 Serial verb constructions: a cross-linguistic typology. Oxford: OUP.
![Google Scholar](https://benjamins.com/logos/google-scholar.svg)
Anderson, Gregory
2006 Auxiliary Verb Constructions. Oxford: OUP.
![DOI logo](https://benjamins.com/logos/doi-logo.svg)
![Google Scholar](https://benjamins.com/logos/google-scholar.svg)
Andvik, Erik
2010 A Grammar of Tshangla. Leiden/Boston: Brill.
![DOI logo](https://benjamins.com/logos/doi-logo.svg)
![Google Scholar](https://benjamins.com/logos/google-scholar.svg)
Aronson, Howard
1967 The grammatical categories of the indicative in the contemporary bulgarian literary language. In
To Honor Roman Jakobson: Essays on the Occasion of His Seventieth Birthday, 11 October 1966, 11:82–98.
Janua Linguarum. The Hague: Mouton.
![Google Scholar](https://benjamins.com/logos/google-scholar.svg)
Bashir, Elena
2010 Traces of mirativity in Shina.
Himalayan Linguistics 9 (2): 1–55.
![Google Scholar](https://benjamins.com/logos/google-scholar.svg)
Bickel, Balthasar
1999 Nominalization and focus in some Kiranti languages. In
Yogendra Yadava and
Warren Glover, (eds.),
Topics in Nepalese Linguistics, 271–296. Kathmandu: Royal Nepal Academy.
![Google Scholar](https://benjamins.com/logos/google-scholar.svg)
Bickel, Balthasar
1995 Relatives à antécédent interne, nominalisation et focalisation: entre syntax et morphologie en Bélharien.
Bulletin de La Société de Linguistique de Paris XC (1): 391–427.
![DOI logo](https://benjamins.com/logos/doi-logo.svg)
![Google Scholar](https://benjamins.com/logos/google-scholar.svg)
Bickel, Balthasar
1998 review article: converbs in cross-linguistic perspective.
Linguistic Typology 2 (3): 381–97.
![Google Scholar](https://benjamins.com/logos/google-scholar.svg)
Bosch, André
2016 Language contact in Upper Mangdep: a comparative grammar of verbal constructions. Sydney: University of Sydney Honours Thesis.
![Google Scholar](https://benjamins.com/logos/google-scholar.svg)
Busch, John M.
2007 Verbal nominalization in Kurtoep. Eugene, OR: University of Oregon MA Thesis.
![Google Scholar](https://benjamins.com/logos/google-scholar.svg)
Chelliah, Shobhana, and Gwendolyn Hyslop
2011 Introduction to special issue on optional case marking in tibeto-burman.
Linguistics of the Tibeto-Burman Area 34 (2): 1–7.
![Google Scholar](https://benjamins.com/logos/google-scholar.svg)
Curnow, Timothy
2000 Why ‘first/non-first’ person is not grammaticalised mirativity. In
Keith Allan &
John Henderson (eds.),
Proceedings of ALS2k, the 2000 conference of the Australian Linguistic Society![Google Scholar](https://benjamins.com/logos/google-scholar.svg)
DeLancey, Scott
1990 Ergativity and the cognitive model of event structure in Lhasa Tibetan.
Cognitive Linguistics 1.3:289–321.
![DOI logo](https://benjamins.com/logos/doi-logo.svg)
![Google Scholar](https://benjamins.com/logos/google-scholar.svg)
DeLancey, Scott
1997 Mirativity: The grammatical marking of unexpected information.
Linguistic Typology 11: 33–52.
![DOI logo](https://benjamins.com/logos/doi-logo.svg)
![Google Scholar](https://benjamins.com/logos/google-scholar.svg)
DeLancey, Scott
1999 Relativization in Tibetan. In
Yogendra P. Yadava &
Warren W. Glover, (eds.)
Topics in Nepalese Linguistics, 231–49. Kamaldi, Kathmandu: Royal Nepal Academy.
![Google Scholar](https://benjamins.com/logos/google-scholar.svg)
DeLancey, Scott
2002 Nominalization and relativization in Bodic. In
Proceedings of the 28th Annual Meeting of the Berkeley Linguistics Society, Parasession on Tibeto-Burman languages and Southeast Asian Linguistics, 55–72. Berkeley: Berkeley Linguistic Society.
![Google Scholar](https://benjamins.com/logos/google-scholar.svg)
DeLancey, Scott
2011a ‘Optional’ ‘ergativity’ in Tibeto-Burman Languages.
Linguistics of the Tibeto-Burman Area 34 (2): 9–20.
![Google Scholar](https://benjamins.com/logos/google-scholar.svg)
DeLancey, Scott
2012 Still mirative after all these years.
Linguistic Typology 161: 529–564.
![Google Scholar](https://benjamins.com/logos/google-scholar.svg)
Denning, Keith
1987 Obligation and space: the origins of markers of the obligative modality.
Chicago Linguistic Society 231: 45–55.
![Google Scholar](https://benjamins.com/logos/google-scholar.svg)
Donohue, Cathryn, & Mark Donohue
2016 On Ergativity in Bumthang.
Language 92 (1): 179–88.
![DOI logo](https://benjamins.com/logos/doi-logo.svg)
![Google Scholar](https://benjamins.com/logos/google-scholar.svg)
Driem, George van
2015 Synoptic grammar of the Bumthang language.
Himalayan Linguistics Archive 61: 1–77.
![Google Scholar](https://benjamins.com/logos/google-scholar.svg)
Driem, George van
1998 Dzongkha. Leiden: Research CNWS, School of Asian, African, and Amerindian Studies.
![Google Scholar](https://benjamins.com/logos/google-scholar.svg)
Floyd, Simeon, Elisabeth Norcliffe, & Lila San Roque
Friedman, Victor
1977 The grammatical categories of the Mecedonian indicative. Columbus: Slavica.
![Google Scholar](https://benjamins.com/logos/google-scholar.svg)
Friedman, Victor
1986 Evidentiality in the Balkans: Bulgarian, Macedonian, and Albanian. In
Wallace L. Chafe &
Johanna Nichols (eds.),
Evidentiality: The linguistic coding of epistemology, 168–187.
Advances in Discourse Processes 20. Norwood, N.J.: Ablex Publishing Corporation.
![Google Scholar](https://benjamins.com/logos/google-scholar.svg)
Genetti, Carol, Alexander R. Coupe, Ellen Bartee, Kristine Hildebrandt, & You-Jing Lin
2008 Syntactic aspects of nominalization in five Tibeto-Burman languages of the Himalayan Area.
Linguistics of the Tibeto-Burman Area 31 (2): 97–143.
![Google Scholar](https://benjamins.com/logos/google-scholar.svg)
Grunow-Harsta, Karen
2007 Evidentiality and mirativity in Magar.
Linguistics of the Tibeto-Burman Area 30 (2): 151–194.
![Google Scholar](https://benjamins.com/logos/google-scholar.svg)
Guion, Susan G.
1998 The role of perception in the sound change of velar palatalization.
Phonetica 55(1–2). 18–52.
![DOI logo](https://benjamins.com/logos/doi-logo.svg)
![Google Scholar](https://benjamins.com/logos/google-scholar.svg)
Heine, Bernd, Ulrike Claudi, & Friederike Hünnemeyer
1991 Grammaticalization: A conceptual framework. Chicago: University of Chicago Press.
![Google Scholar](https://benjamins.com/logos/google-scholar.svg)
Heine, Bernd & Tania Kuteva
2004 World lexicon of grammaticalization. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
![Google Scholar](https://benjamins.com/logos/google-scholar.svg)
Hill, Nathan
2012 “Mirativity” does not exist: “Lhasa” ḥdug and other suspects.
Linguistic Typology 161: 289–433.
![DOI logo](https://benjamins.com/logos/doi-logo.svg)
![Google Scholar](https://benjamins.com/logos/google-scholar.svg)
Hongladarom, Krisadawan
2007 Evidentiality in Rgyalthang Tibetan.
Linguistics of the Tibeto-Burman Area 30 (2): 17–44.
![Google Scholar](https://benjamins.com/logos/google-scholar.svg)
Hopper, Paul J., & Elizabeth C. Traugott
2003 Grammaticalization. Cambridge Textbooks in Linguistics. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
![DOI logo](https://benjamins.com/logos/doi-logo.svg)
![Google Scholar](https://benjamins.com/logos/google-scholar.svg)
Hyslop, Gwendolyn
2010 Kurtöp Case: The pragmatic ergative and beyond.
Linguistics of the Tibeto-Burman Area 33 (1): 1–40.
![Google Scholar](https://benjamins.com/logos/google-scholar.svg)
Hyslop, Gwendolyn
2011 Mirativity in Kurtöp.
Journal of South Asian Linguistics 4 (1): 43–60.
![Google Scholar](https://benjamins.com/logos/google-scholar.svg)
Hyslop, Gwendolyn
2014a A preliminary reconstruction of East Bodish. In
Nathan Hill &
Thomas Owen-Smith,
Trans-Himalayan Linguistics 155–79. Berlin: Mouton de Gruyter.
![Google Scholar](https://benjamins.com/logos/google-scholar.svg)
Hyslop, Gwendolyn
2014b On the category of speaker expectation of interlocutor knowledge in Kurtöp.
Proceedings from the 40th annual meeting of the Berkeley Linguistics Society, 201–214. Berkeley: Berkeley Linguistics Society.
![Google Scholar](https://benjamins.com/logos/google-scholar.svg)
Hyslop, Gwendolyn
2014c The grammar of knowledge in Kurtöp: evidentiality, mirativity, and expectation of knowledge. In
Alexandra Aikhenvald &
Robert M. W. Dixon (eds.),
The grammar of knowledge: a cross-linguistic typology. Oxford: OUP.
![DOI logo](https://benjamins.com/logos/doi-logo.svg)
![Google Scholar](https://benjamins.com/logos/google-scholar.svg)
Hyslop, Gwendolyn
2017 A grammar of Kurtöp. (
Languages of the Greater Himalayan Region 18). Leiden: Brill.
![DOI logo](https://benjamins.com/logos/doi-logo.svg)
![Google Scholar](https://benjamins.com/logos/google-scholar.svg)
Hyslop, Gwendolyn, and Karma Tshering
2017 An overview of some epistemic categories in Dzongkha. In
Lauren Gawne &
Nathan W. Hill (eds.),
Evidential systems of Tibetan languages, 352–365. Berlin: Mouton de Gruyter.
![DOI logo](https://benjamins.com/logos/doi-logo.svg)
![Google Scholar](https://benjamins.com/logos/google-scholar.svg)
Lehmann, Christian
1995 Thoughts on grammaticalization.
Revised and expanded version, 1.
publ. edn. (LINCOM Studies in Theoretical Linguistics 1). München: LINCOM Europa.
![Google Scholar](https://benjamins.com/logos/google-scholar.svg)
Matisoff, James
1972 Lahu nominalization, relativization, and genitivization. In
John P. Kimball (ed.),
Syntax and Semantics 1, 237–57. New York: Seminar Press.
![Google Scholar](https://benjamins.com/logos/google-scholar.svg)
Matisoff, James
2003 Handbook of Proto-Tibeto-Burman: system and philosophy of reconstruction. Berkeley: University of California Press.
![Google Scholar](https://benjamins.com/logos/google-scholar.svg)
McDonald, M. & Stephen Wurm
1979 Basic materials in Waŋkumara (Galal̪i): Grammar, sentences, and vocabulary. Canberra: Pacific Linguistics.
![Google Scholar](https://benjamins.com/logos/google-scholar.svg)
Noonan, Michael
1997 Versatile nominalizations. In
John Haiman,
Joan Bybee, &
Sandra Thompson (eds.),
Essays on Language Function and Language Type: Dedicated to T. Givón, 373–94. Amsterdam: John Benjamins.
![DOI logo](https://benjamins.com/logos/doi-logo.svg)
![Google Scholar](https://benjamins.com/logos/google-scholar.svg)
Poudel, Kedar P.
2006 Dhankute Tamang Grammar. Munich: Lincom.
![Google Scholar](https://benjamins.com/logos/google-scholar.svg)
Sandman, Erika
2018 Egophoricity in Wutun. In
Elisabeth Norcliffe,
Simeon Floyd &
Lila San Roque (eds.),
Egophoricity, 173–196. Amsterdam: John Benjamins.
![DOI logo](https://benjamins.com/logos/doi-logo.svg)
![Google Scholar](https://benjamins.com/logos/google-scholar.svg)
Shimada, Masaharu, & Akiko Nagano
Sun, Jackson T. S.
1993 Evidentials in Amdo Tibetan.
Bulletin of the Institute of History and Philology, Academia Sinica 63 (4): 945–1001.
![Google Scholar](https://benjamins.com/logos/google-scholar.svg)
Tournadre, Nicolas
2008 “
Against the Concept of ‘Conjunct’/‘Disjunct’ in Tibetan.” In
Chomolangma, Demawend Und
Kasbek, Festschrift Für
Roland Bielmeier, edited by
Brigitte Huber,
Marianne Volkart,
Paul Widmer, and
Peter Schwieger, 281–308. Halle: International Institute for Tibetan and Buddhist Studies GmbH.
![Google Scholar](https://benjamins.com/logos/google-scholar.svg)
Watters, David
2002 A Grammar of Kham. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
![DOI logo](https://benjamins.com/logos/doi-logo.svg)
![Google Scholar](https://benjamins.com/logos/google-scholar.svg)
Cited by (1)
Cited by 1 other publications
This list is based on CrossRef data as of 5 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.