THIS and THAT in an undocumented dialect of Rawang
Nathan Straub
Payap University
ICSTLL47, Kunming, China
17-19 Oct 2014
Rawang
145,000 speakers in Myanmar
SOV languageLots of morphology
Standard dialect: Mvtwang
This talk: Rvmøn Dvru
Why?
• Not much written about Rawang dialects besides Standard Mvtwang
• Not much written about demonstratives in Rawang
• Unanswered questions• “Oh, that word is Mvtwang, but we don‘t have a word for that...”
Rvkwi Dvng’s stories
• 6 Folktales (FT) and one Creation Story (CS)• 2,023 unique words
• 6,334 words of running text
• Collected by Randy LaPolla in 1996
• Storyteller lived in Nokmong, Kachin State (age 88)
• Dialect: Rvmøn Dvru
Other data sources
• Interviews with Rawang speakers in Chiang Mai• Achang Chømgunggang and her parents (Rvmøn and Zewang speakers from
Nokmong area)
• Pastor Joseph Sinwal (Waqdamkong speaker from Machanbo and Putao area)
• Anang (Joseph‘s wife, Mvtwang speaker)
• Malung Pung (Malung Dvru speaker)
• Pastor Ajong (Akøpay Dvru speaker from Nam Tamai river)
• Peter (Chinlay Tangsar speaker)
• Ahkhi (Anung-Lisu from Putao)
Rvmøn Dvru Mvtwang Waqdamkong
(2014)
Waqdamkong
(1934)
Akøpay Dvru Chinlay Dvngsar Anung
This (proximal) ya ya ya ya [jɑ] (ya ) ya ya
That (medial) or
anaphora
vya (out of sight, 2nd
mention)
we kvt vya
That over there
(distal)
ku
ku ː (very far)
lu (= ku )
lu ː (very far)
ku
ku ː (very far)
ku
ku ː (very far)
hku [kʰu] (ku) ku ko
ko ː (very far)
That up there [(ku ) mvdvm taq
(vl)] (‘that above
LOC be.at’)
lo
lo ː (very far/high)
[(ku ) mvdvm taq vl]
(‘that above LOC
be.at’)
law [lɔ] mvdvm mvdvm na
That in the middle
(level)
[(ku ) rvwe yvng vl]
(‘that middle LOC
be.at’)
[(ku ) rvwe yvng vl]
(‘that middle LOC
be.at’)
That down there [(ku ) pvng taq (vl)]
(‘that below LOC
be.at’)
pvng (rare)
[ku lvngpvng taq vl]
(‘that below LOC
be.at’)
pvng (rare)
ku or kvt (common)
er [ə] pvng pa ng (rare)
ko (common)
Contrastive tvn tiq-yoq ('another
one-CLF')
wa wa wa (usu. out of
sight)
Close to addressee
or someone else;
concealed by an
object
(relative clause) (relative clause)
Rvmøn Dvru Mvtwang Waqdamkong
(2014)
Waqdamkong
(1934)
Akøpay Dvru Chinlay
Dvngsar
Anung
This
(proximal)
ya ya ya ya [jɑ] (ya ) ya ya
That (medial)
or anaphora
vya (out of
sight, 2nd
mention)
we kvt vya
That over
there (distal)
ku
ku ː (very far)
lu (= ku )
lu ː (very far)
ku
ku ː (very far)
ku
ku ː (very far)
hku [kʰu] (ku) ku ko
koː (very far)
Rvmøn Dvru Mvtwang Waqdamkong(2014)
Waqdamkong(1934)
Akøpay Dvru Chinlay Tangsar
Anung
That up there [(ku ) mvdvm
taq (v l)] (‘that
above LOC
be.at’)
lo
loː (very
far/high)
[(ku ) mvdvm
taq vl] (‘that
above LOC
be.at’)
law [lɔ] mvdvm mvdvm na
That in the
middle (level)
[(ku ) rvwe
yvng vl] (‘that
middle LOC
be.at’)
[(ku ) rvwe
yvng vl] (‘that
middle LOC
be.at’)
That down
there
[(ku ) pvng taq
(vl)] (‘that
below LOC
be.at’)
pvng (rare)
[ku lvngpvng
taq vl] (‘that
below LOC
be.at’)
pvng (rare)
ku or kvt
(common)
er [ə] pv ng pa ng (rare)
ko (common)
Rvmøn Dvru Mvtwang Waqdamkong(2014)
Waqdamkong(1934)
Akøpay Dvru Chinlay Tangsar
Anung
Contrastive tvn tiq-yoq
('another one-
CLF')
wa wa wa (usu. out
of sight)
Close to
addressee or
someone else;
concealed by
an object
(relative
clause)
(relative
clause)
Ya ‘this’
• Dem+CLF
• Dem+N
• Dem+Name
• Dem+GM (GM = Gender Marker: pe (male), me (female))
• Dem+Time
• Ya-yong ‘like.this’ (Adverbial)
Vya ‘that mentioned before’
• Dem+person (8x)• Dem+GM (4x) • Dem+GM+Name (1x)• Dem+Name-GM (1x)• Dem+N+Dim+GM (1x)• Dem+N+Dim+CLF (1x)
• Dem+time (1x)
• Speakers interviewed didn‘t mention vya at first, then when I asked them, they said it was a Dvru word (not used in Mvtwang or Dvngsar)
We ‘that.medial’
• Demonstrative
• Relativizer (or nominalizer)
• Mvtwang form
• Code-switched in Rvkwi Dvng‘s Creation Story (used 10 times, all in a 4-page section out of 63 pages)
• Used in quotations from a giant in the story (a different character voice)
• These lines were sung rather than spoken, so probably memorized from a Mvtwang version of the story
Ku ‘that’
• Demonstrative (6x)• Dem+place (4x)
• Dem+time (1x)
• Dem+person (1x)
• Demonstrative pronoun (1x)
• Relativizer (or adverbializer or nominalizer) (7x)
Ku-yong (adverb)
• Ku-yo ng ‘that-like’ (or that-ADV, like.that, thus)• Adverbial
• Like Mvtwang ku -dø ‘that-way’ or ‘like.that’
• Reduplicated to mean ‘more and more‘ (LaPolla & Poa 2001:50n46)
• Uses:• Continuing motion (reduplicated, often followed by GO, ARRIVE, or DEPART) (14x)
• Continuing state (reduplicated, sometimes followed by LIVE/EXIST) (4x)
• Sequence of actions (2x)
Word frequency at beginning of sentences
94%
2%
4%
0%
Rvmøn Dvru
ya vya we ku
10%0%
90%
0%
Mvtwang
ya vya we ku
Rvmøn deictic system
yathis
ku
that
ku ː
that over there
(ku) mvdvm taq vl(that) above LOC be
(ku) pvng taq vl(that) below LOC be
Rvmøn discourse deictics
yathis
ku
that
ku ː
that over there
(ku) mvdvm taq vl(that) above LOC be
(ku) pvng taq vl(that) below LOC be
(for Person, Time in storytelling)
Nungish Lisu (Myanmar)
Lisu (China)
Lahu Na
Lahu Shi Jingpho Qiang Lai Chin
This (proximal)
x x x x x x x x
That (medial)
(x) x x x
That (distal)
x x x x x x x x
[˦˥ ˥˥ ˥˩](remote)
x x x
That (out of sight)
(x) x
That (near you)
x x x x
That (up there)
x x x x x
That (downthere)
(x) x x x x
That (contrastive)
x
Types of deictic demonstrative systems
• Distance-oriented• Nungish, most others
• Person-oriented• Lisu, Lai Chin
• Number of terms• 2-way
• Qiang, Lai Chin, Lisu (China)• Nungish: Rvmøn Dvru, Chinlay Tangsar, Waqdamkong (1934)
• 3-way• Jingpho, Lahu• Nungish: Mvtwang, Waqdamkong (2014)
Summary
• Number of distance distinctions:• Rvmøn Dvru: 2• Mvtwang: 3
• Discourse: • Non-distal (proximal or medial) Dem is preferred in storytelling• “Like that” has many uses
• Grammaticalization:• Distal or Medial as relativizer/nominalizer
• Common TB strategies:• Vowel symbolism• High tone symbolism/pragmatics
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