TIMEORDINALSINNGWILANGUAGES

DavidBradleyLaTrobeUniversity,Australiad.bradley@latrobe.edu.au

3rdWorkshoponSino‐TibetanLanguagesofSichuanCNRSParis,2September2013

WHATARETIMEORDINALS?

Inalllanguages,therearewaystorefertothepresentday,previousdaysandfollowingdays,alsootherpresent,pastandfutureSmeunits:weeks,months,yearsetc.

yesterday  last week  last month   last year 

today    this week  this month   this year 

tomorrow  next week  next month  next year 

LEXICALISATIONOFTIMEORDINALS

TheSmeunitslexicalisedandthenumberofstepsoflexicalisaSonpriortocomposiSonalformsdiffersbetweenlanguages

Englishlexicalisestheunitofdays,forthepresentday,thepreviousdayandthenextday

Beyondthat,andforotherunits,theformsarecomposiSonalandrecursivetosomedegree,orformedwithnumerals

day before yesterday/2 days ago day before day before yesterday/3 days ago?day before day before day before yesterday/4 days ago 

INSTABILITYOFTIMEORDINALS

Inmanylanguages,Smeordinalsundergorapidchange:

Irregularsoundchangesduetotheircompoundstatus: this day > today

Lexicalreplacement

SemanScshiZ: yesterdayvs.yesteryear 

ConservaSveformsalongsideinnovaSveforms:

auc<on this day

ROMANCETIMEORDINALS

0(zero)dayordinal(‘today’)LaSn hodie<hic dies‘thisday’

Italian oggi(noteabsenceofgraphich‐)

Spanishhoy 

French aujourd’hui (aujourd’hui)

‘onthedayoftoday’

COGNACYINTIMEORDINALS

Duetosuchrapidchanges,evenquitecloselyrelatedlanguagesmayhavedifferentSmeordinalforms

Conversely,sharedINNOVATIONSinSmeordinalsarealikelyindicaSonofextremelyclosegeneScrelaSonship

HISTORICALPROCESSESINTIMEORDINALS

ThismeansthatSmeordinalsareNOTusuallyincludedinreconstructedvocabuary

Nouns,Verbs,etc.aremorestableandshowregularsoundcorrespondences

Timeordinalsdonot

TIBETO‐BURMANTIMEORDINALS

MostTibeto‐Burman(TB)languageshavelexicalisedSmeordinalsfordaysandyears(butnotusuallymonths,weeks,etc.)

ThesemaydifferenSateupto8stepsinthepastandinthefuture(Chepang,centralNepal)

NotethatforsomeChepangwordsthereareseveralalternaSveforms

STABILITYOFFORMSWITHINTBTIMEORDINALS

InmanyTBlanguages,thelexicalisedSmeordinalscontainTBcognateformsfordayandyearwhichhavebeenreplacedinthenormaltermfordayoryear 

InChepang,eventheinnovaSvedayandyear formshavenowbeenreplacedbydominant‐languageloanwords

INNOVATIONINORDINALS

DATAONTIBETO‐BURMANTIMEORDINALS

InmanysourcesonTBlanguagescompiledbyspeakersoflanguageswithsmallerinventoriesoflexicalSmeordinals,thefullrangeofSmeordinalsisnotincluded(Bradley2007)

TBDAYANDYEARCOGNATES

NUMERALSINTBTIMEORDINALS

InsomeTBlanguages,numeralsoccurinSmeordinals(oZenwithphonologicallyirregularforms)

SomeofthesearemoreconservaSvethanthemodernnumeralforms,andsomeshowirregularphonologicalinnovaSons

SeeMichailovsky(2003:240‐244)forextensivedatafromKiranSlanguages(easternNepal)showingSmeordinalsupto6days/years

BURMICTIBETO‐BURMAN

PartofEasternTB (Qiangic+Burmic)

1)BurmishlanguagessuchasBurmese

2)Ngwi(Loloish,YiBranch)languagessuchasLisu,Lipo,Lolo,Lahu,Kazuo,Sadu,Nusuetc.

3)Gonglanguage

INNOVATIONSINBURMESETIMEORDINALS

Burmesehasbeenwrilenforover900years,duringwhichSmeSmeordinalshaveundergonevariouschanges

SomemodernLiteraryBurmeseformsreflectanearlierstageofthesystem

FormscombinedemonstraSves,Smeadverbsanddayoryearinvariousways

BURMESETIMEPERIODS

BURMESETIMEWORDS

ZEROTIMEORDINALS

+1DAYORDINALS

‐1TIMEORDINALS

JudsondicSonary(1820‐1850)

MyanmarLanguageCommission

MODERNSPOKENCORPUS(Ozerov)

FOSSILISED‘YEAR’COGNATESINEASTERNTB

FormsreflecSngthe‘year’cognate*s‐nikoccurasnormalwordforyearinBurmish,someQiangiclanguages

fossilisedinSmeordinalsfor±yearsinmanyCentralandsomeNorthernNgwilanguages Lisu,Lipo,Lolo,Lalo,Nusu,Kazuo,Sadu,Sani NasuNuosu(Suondi)

ABSENTfromSouthernNgwilanguages

LISUANDLAHUYEARORDINALS

LISUANDLAHUDAYORDINALS

LISUANDLAHU

NotethatLisu+3day/yeariscognatewithLahu+2day:semanScshiZswithinSmeordinalparadigm;reconstructedform*CphakL

Noteparallelcompletelylexicalisedformof+1year

NotepreservedcognateofTB*s‐nikinLisuyearordinals(butnotinLahuyearordinals!)

BUTalsonotedifferentformsfor0day(today)andmanyothers

OTHERNGWI+2DAYCOGNATES

NGWITIMEORDINALTYPES

days alllanguagesyears alllanguages

evenings someCentralandNorthernNgwi languages restrictedsubset

relatedverb*mi1‘getdark’

Months someNorthernNgwilanguages

relatednoun*s‐la3‘moon’

LISUDAYORDINALS

LISUEVENINGORDINALS

LISUYEARORDINALS

LOLODAYORDINALS

LOLOEVENINGORDINALS

LOLOYEARORDINALS

KAZUOANDSADU

NUOSUDAYORDINALS

! ! "#$%&'(!)*+,-.! ! )/(&$0(&.! ! ! ! "01&,+!

,($! ¯i™¡ ¯i™¡ ¯i™¡ 23! ! ®o££o££mo££tsæ!™¡¯i™¡ ®o££®o££mo££tsæ!™¡¯i™¡ ®o££o™¡®o™™o™¡¯i™¡ 24! ! ®o££mo££tsæ!™¡¯i™¡ ®o££mo££tsæ!™¡¯i™¡ ®o££¯i™¡ 25! ! a™¡ndi¢¢ a™¡ndi¢¢ a™¡ndz!££¯i££ 6! ! i™¡¯i™¡ i™¡¯i™¡ i™¡¯i™¡ 75!! m££®¥££¯i™¡ m££®¥££d"¢¢ mo™¡x"££¯i™¡ 74!! tsæa££pæo##¯i™¡ tsæa££pæo##¯i™¡ pæi##ndz!££¯i™¡ 73!! tsæa££t˚扣£¯i™¡ tsæa££t˚扣£¯i™¡ t˚æ‰##ndz!££¯i™¡ 78!! tsæa££¬"¢¢¯i™¡ tsæa££¬"¢¢¯i™¡ - +5 tsæa££tsæa££¬"¢¢¯i™¡ tsæa££tsæa££¬"¢¢¯i™¡ - one tsæ!™¡ tsæ!™¡ tsæ!™¡

NUOSUYEARORDINALS

! ! "#$%&'(!)*+,-.! ! ! )/(&$0(&.! ! "01&,+!

$-('! kæu!! kæu!! kæo!! 23! ! ®o££o££mo££tsæ"™¡kæu££ - ®o££o™¡®o££o™¡kæo!! 24! ! ®o££mo££tsæ"™¡kæu££ ®¥££¯i™¡tsæ"™¡kæu££ ®e££¯i!!kæo!! 25! ! a™¡~h‰!!d‰££kæu!! a™¡~h‰!!d‰££kæu!! a™¡¯i!!ndz"££kæo!! 6! ! ®u££kæu!! a™¡m££®u££kæu!! (a™¡#££)®u££kæo!! 75!! ¯‰!!d‰££kæu!! ¯‰!!d‰££kæu!! ¯‰!!ndz"££kæo!! 74!! ¯‰££~ha™¡d‰££kæu!! ¯‰™¡~ha™¡d‰££kæu!! ¯‰££ndz"££kæo!! +3 - - ¯‰!!lo££¯‰££ndz"££kæo!! now a™¡m££ a™¡m££ a™¡#££

NUOSUEVENINGORDINALS

! ! ! "#$%&'(!)*+,-.! ! ! )/(&$0(&.! ! "01&,+!

-2-&+&3! -mi££/-mi¢¢ -mi££/-mi¢¢ -mi££ -1 a™¡ndo™¡~ho!! a™¡ndo™¡~ho!! a™¡mi££ndz"!! ~hi££ 0 i™¡mi££ i™¡mi££ i™¡mi££ +1 m!!®¥££mi¢¢ m!!®¥££mi¢¢ mo™¡®¥££mi££

GONG(THAILAND)TIMEORDINALS

CONCLUSION

TBlanguageshavecomplexSmeordinalsystemsTimeordinalschangedifferently

irregularsoundchange

intra‐paradigmshiZsofmeaningandform

archaicformssporadicallypreserved

CognatesforSmeordinalsinTBarefoundonlyinverycloselyrelatedlanguages;nocross‐TBcognatesproposedinMaSsoff(2003)

CONCLUSION2

NgwilanguageshavecomplexSmeordinalsystems

TherearevariousinnovaSvesharedNgwiSmeordinalcognateforms,suchas*C‐phakLfor+2dayamongothers

CognatepalernsreflecttheinternalsubgroupingofNgwi

Restrictedto±day,±year;alsoNorthernNgwi±month,CentralandNorthernNgwi±evening

THANKYOU!

RecentpublicaSonscanbefoundon<academia.edu>

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