The study of hierarchical argument indexation systems shows that
while the ranking of both 1st and 2nd person over other arguments is
robust and reliable, it is impossible to find any compelling
crosslinguistic evidence for one or the other ranking of the two
Speech Act Participants, and rare to find a consistent ranking even
within a single language. This paper assembles and reviews
historical changes in the indexation of the “local” categories (1→2
and 2→1) in a number of Tibeto-Burman languages. We see that the
fundamental deictic ranking SAP > 3 is conservative, and inverse
marking to emphasize that ranking has been reinvented several times
in the family. Changes in the marking of local categories are more
diverse, but two phenomena recur independently in different
languages and branches: a tendency for the 1→2 form to be uniquely
marked, sometimes with forms which are not synchronically relatable
to anything else in the paradigm, and a contrasting tendency for the
2→1 form to merge with the marking of 3→1. I propose that these
tendencies reflect what I call sociopragmatic effects, i.e.
the socially delicate nature of any and all natural utterances
involving both the speaker and the addressee.
Article outline
1.Introduction
2.Problems of hierarchy
2.1The structure of hierarchical paradigms
2.2Problems of local indexation
2.3Accounts of hierarchy
2.4Sociopragmatic effects in Tibeto-Burman morphological
change
3.Deictic effects in hierarchical systems
3.1The original inverse in Rgyalrongic
3.2Innovative inverses in Northern Naga
4.Sociopragmatic effects in hierarchical indexation systems
4.1Merger of 1O forms in Kiranti
4.2The “marked scenario”
5.Deictic and sociopragmatic effects
5.1Reviewing the evidence
5.2Typology, genre, and person
5.3Patterns
5.4
Sociopragmatic just-so stories: It’s always about you
2013Patterns of alignment in verb
agreement. In Languages Across Boundaries: Studies in Memory of Anna
Siewierska, Dik Bakker & Martin Haspelmath (eds), 15–36. Berlin: De Gruyter.
Bickel, Balthasar & Gaenszle, Martin
2015First person objects, antipassives, and the
political history of the Southern Kirant. Journal of South Asian Languages and
Linguistics 2(1): 63–86.
Boro, Krishna
2017A Grammar of Hakhun Tangsa. PhD dissertation, University of Oregon.
Bynon, Theodora
1998Inverse direction and second person in
Dumi. In Typology of Verbal Categories, Leonid Kulikov & Heinz Vater (eds), 85–93. Tübingen: Max Niemeyer.
Caughley, Ross
1978Participant rank and verbal cross-reference in
Chepang. In Papers on discourse, Joseph Grimes (ed.), 163–78. Dallas TX: Summer Institute of Linguistics.
Caughley, Ross
1982The Syntax and Morphology of the Verb in
Chepang [Pacific Linguistics Series B, no. 84]. Canberra: The Australian National University.
Chhangte, Lalnunthangi
1993Mizo Syntax. PhD dissertation, University of Oregon.
2010Towards a history of verb agreement in
Tibeto-Burman. Himalayan Linguistics 9(1): 1–38. [URL] (24 April
2014).
DeLancey, Scott
2011aAgreement prefixes in
Tibeto-Burman. Himalayan Linguistics 10(1): 1–35. [URL] (24 April
2014).
DeLancey, Scott
2011bNocte and Jinghpaw: Morphological
correspondences. In North East Indian Linguistics 3, Gwendolyn Hyslop, Stephen Morey & Mark Post (eds), 61–75. New Delhi: Foundation/CUP India.
DeLancey, Scott
2013Argument indexation (verb agreement) in
Kuki-Chin. presented at the 46th International Conference on Sino-Tibetan
Languages and Linguistics, Dartmouth College. [URL] (10 November
2015).
2014The personal agreement system of Zbu Rgyalrong
(Ngyaltsu variety). Transactions of the Philological Society 112(1): 44–60.
Heath, Jeffrey
1991Pragmatic disguise in pronominal-affix
paradigms. In Paradigms: The Economy of Inflection, Frans Plank (ed.), 75–89. Berlin: Mouton de Gruyter.
Heath, Jeffrey
1998Pragmatic skewing in 1 ←→ 2 pronominal
combinations in Native American languages. International Journal of American Linguistics 64(2): 83–104.
Henderson, Eugénie Jane Andrina
1965Tiddim Chin: A Descriptive Analysis of Two
Texts. London: Oxford University Press.
Jacques, Guillaume
2004Phonologie et morphologie du japhug
(Rgyalrong). PhD dissertation, Université Paris VII.
Jacques, Guillaume
2010The inverse in Japhug Rgyalrong. Language and Linguistics 11(1): 127–157.
Jacques, Guillaume
2012Agreement morphology: The case of Rgyalrong and
Kiranti. Languages and Linguistics 13(1): 83–116.
Jacques, Guillaume
2018Generic person marking in Japhug and other
Gyalrong languages. In Typological Hierarchies in Synchrony and
Diachrony [Typological Studies in LanguageTypological Studies in Language 121], Sonia Cristofaro & Fernando Zúñiga (eds). Amsterdam: John Benjamins. (this volume)
Jacques, Guillaume & Antonov, Anton
2014Direct/inverse systems. Language and Linguistics Compass 8(7): 301–318.
2015The person agreement system of Wobzi Lavrung
(rGyalrongic, Tibeto-Burman). Transactions of the Philological Society 113(3): 271–285.
LaPolla, Randy
2010Hierarchical person marking in the Rawang
language. In Forty Years of Sino-Tibetan Language Studies:
Proceedings of ICSTLL-40, Dai Zhaoming (ed.), 107–113. Heilongjiang: Heilongjiang University Press.
Lo, Ch’ang-p’ei
1945A preliminary study on the Trung language of Kung
Shan. Harvard Journal of Asiatic Studies 8: 343–8.
Lockwood, Hunter & Macaulay, Monica
2012Prominence hierarchies. Language and Linguistics Compass 6–7: 431–446.
Macaulay, Monica
2009On prominence hierarchies: Evidence from
Algonquian. Linguistic Typology 13(3): 357–389.
Morey, Stephen
2016The internal diversity of Tangsa: Vocabulary and
morphosyntax. In Language and Culture in Northeast India and Beyond: In
Honor of Robbins Burling, Mark Post, Stephen Morey & Scott DeLancey (eds), 23–40. Canberra: Asia-Pacific Linguistics.
Morse, Robert
1965Syntactic frames for the Rvwang (Rawang)
verb. Lingua 15: 338–69.
Mühlhäusler, Peter & Harré, Rom
1990Pronouns and People: The Linguistic Construction of
Social and Personal Identity. Oxford: Blackwell.
Opgenort, Jean
2004A Grammar of Wambule. Leiden: Brill.
Payne, Doris
1994The Tupí-Guaraní inverse. In Voice: Form and Function [Typological Studies in Language 27], Barbara Fox, & Paul Hopper (eds), 313–340. Amsterdam: John Benjamins.
Reichle, Verena
1981Bawm Language and Lore. Bern: Peter Lang.
Sharma, H Surmangol. & Singh, N. Gopendro
2011Person-marking prefixes of Purum. In North East Indian Linguistics 3, Gwendolyn Hyslop, Stephen Morey & Mark Post (eds), 61–75. New Delhi: Foundation/CUP India.
Silverstein, Michael
1976Hierarchy of features and
ergativity. In Grammatical Categories in Australian Languages, Robert M. W. Dixon (ed.), 112–171. Canberra: Australian Institute of Aboriginal Studies.
Sun, Hongkai
1982Dulong yu jianzhi (Outline of Trung). Beijing: Minzu Chubanshe.
Sun, Hongkai
1983Wo guo zang-mian yu dungci-de rencheng fanchou
(The category of personal agreement of the verb in
Tibeto-Burman languages of China). Minzu Yuwen 1983(2): 17–29.
Sun, Hongkai
1984Woguo bufen ZangMianyu zhong mingci de rencheng
lingshu fanchou (The personal possessive category of nouns
in some Tibeto-Burman languages of China). Zhongyang Minzu Xuebao 1984(1): 78–84.
Sun, Jackson Tianshin
2014Typology of generic-person marking in Tshobdun
Rgyalrong. In Studies in Chinese and Sino-Tibetan Linguistics:
Dialect, Phonology, Transcription and Text, Richard Simmons & Newell Ann Van Auken (eds), 225–248. Taipei: Institute of Linguistics, Academia Sinica.
Sun, Jackson Tianshin & Shi, Danluo
2002Caodeng Jiarongyu yu “rentong dengdi” xiangguan
de yufa xianxiang (The Empathy Hierarchy in Caodeng
rGyalrong grammar). Language and Linguistics 3(1): 79–99.
Sun, Jackson Tianshin & Qianzi, Tian
2013Huoeryu Gexihua dongci dueixie (Verb agreement in
Gexi Horpa). Bulletin of Chinese Linguistics 7(2): 221–241.
1979Khaling (Asian and African Grammatical Manual 13d).
Tokyo: Tokyo Gaikokugo Daigaku.
Watters, David
2002A Grammar of Kham. Cambridge: CUP.
Weidert, Alfons
1985Paradigmatic typology and verb agreement
analysis. In Studia Linguistica Diachronica et Synchronica: Werner
Winter Sexagenario Anno MCMLXXXIII, Ursula Pieper & Gerhard Stickel (eds), 903–936. Berlin: Mouton de Gruyter.
2008How many hierarchies, really? Evidence from
several Algonquian languages. In Scales [Linguistische Arbeits Berichte 86], Marc Richards & Andrej Malchukov (eds), 277–294. Leipzig: Universität Leipzig.
Cited by (7)
Cited by 7 other publications
DeLancey, Scott
2021. Differential innovation in 2nd person pronouns and agreement indexation in Trans-Himalayan languages. Folia Linguistica 55:s42-s1 ► pp. 155 ff.
This list is based on CrossRef data as of 26 june 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.