User:Wilburw/sandbox

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<Fuche Naw or Anong [ɑ˧˩nuŋ˧˥] (Derung: Vnung [ə˧˩nuŋ˥˧]),> is a language spoken in the Fúgòng County of the Nujiang Lisu Prefecture of the Yunnan Province located in southwestern China and areas of Myanmar. <It is also spoken in Kachin State, Myanmar*^{edited from existing page}.> Anong is spoken by the Anong subgroup of the Nu ethnic group. Although there is no traditional formal writing system, the Anong of Myanmar have recently developed one^{:3, footnote}, as suggested by the existence of other written texts that are almost mutually intelligible with some phonological and lexical differences.^:3,16

It is estimated that there are fewer than 400 speakers of Anong left, and the language is considered seriously endangered. Ethnologue marks Anong as a level 8a language or moribund, meaning that the only active users of the language are of the grandparent generation or older. This means that neither the parent generation nor their children know or are acquiring Anong, so the language is no longer being passed down to future generations. Many speakers of Anong are shifting away from their native language to Lisu, Chinese, and Bai <although the speakers are being classified as Nu nationality>.^:9

Anong is genetically classified as a part of the Jingpo subgroup of the Tibeto-Burman language within the larger Sino-Tibetan language family.^:8

Other names for Anong include Anoong, Anu, Anung, Fuch’ye, Fuchve, Khingpang, Kwingsang, Kwinp’ang, Naw, Nawpha, and Nu.

<Anong language is closely related to the Derung and Rawang languages.>

Demographics (section from the existing page)

(There seems to be some disagreement between different sources about which people actually constitute the Anong people and also which languages constitute the Anong language. My grammar says that there have been written texts similar to what the grammar considers Anong, but it's not completely the same, so it seems like my grammar's boundaries on the Anong language are considerably more strict than those represented in the existing Wikipedia page. However, because the statistics on Ethnologue match those of my grammar much better than the 7000+ speakers written on the current Wikipedia page, I decided to (at least in my sandbox) exclude the statistics from the current page from my sandbox. For that reason also, I didn't include the rest of the discussion on demographics either, because it discusses details that are in contradiction with my grammar.)

Phonology

Anong has maintained much of the sound structure of its original Tibeto-Burman character, although many of the more complex sounds and governing patterns are now simplified.^:19

Vowels

Anong has ten simple vowel phonemes, plus a series of nasalized vowels, and a host of complex vowel phonemes.^:23

The vowel phonemes are as follows: /i/, /y/, /u/, /ɯ/, /e/, /o/, /ɛ/, /ɑ/, /a/, and the apical vowel /ɿ/.

Several of the vowels vary slightly from their standard IPA values, as listed in the following:^:23

• The /i/ vowel is more open than the standard IPA /i/.
• The /e/ vowel is slightly lower than the standard IPA /e/, with a sound that approaches /æ/.
• The /ɛ/ vowel is slightly more center and open than the standard IPA /ɛ/.
• The /u/ and /o/ vowels are slightly more open than their standard counterparts.
• The /ɯ/ is more center and open than the standard IPA /ɯ/.

The vowels /i/, /e/, /ɛ/, /a/, /ɑ/, /ɯ/, /u/, and /o/ have nasalized counterparts, along with a few nasalized diphthongs /iɛ̃/, /iã/, /iɑ̃/, /uɛ̃/, and /uɑ̃/.^:25 Contrastive nasalized vowels are a relatively new phenomenon in Anong phonology.^:25 For example, the word 'lɑ³³' translates to 'to look for, seek', while 'lɑ̃³¹' becomes 'to swim'.^:25

Anong has an additional 22 complex vowels, 20 of which are diphthongs and two of which are triphthongs.

Complex Vowels

	Instantiation
Diphthongs with /i/, /u/, /y/ Onset	/ie/, /iɛ/, /ia/, /iɑ/, /io/, /iu/, /iɯ/, /ui/, /ue/, /uɛ/, /ua/, /uɑ/, /yi/, /ye/, /yɛ/, /ɯi/, /ɿu/
Diphthongs with /i/, /u/ Coda	/ei/, /ɑi/, /ɑu/
Triphthongs	/iɑu/, /uɑi/

Complex vowels occur only with low frequency.^:27 Triphthongs only occur in Chinese loanwords, which suggests that complex vowels might be relatively new in Anong as a result of Lisu and Chinese influence.^:27

Consonants

Anong has 47 single initial consonants, including two multi-place consonants and nine affricates . There are seven places of articulation, and five manners. Single-place non-affricates are represented in the table below. The right column within each place of articulation represents a voiced constant. The ^-h mark indicates an aspirated consonant. (The consonant table below was taken from the existing page to replace the one I had.)

		Labial	Alveolar	Retroflex	Palatal	Velar	Glottal
Nasal	voiceless	m̥	n̥	ɳ̥	ɲ̥	ŋ̊
	voiced	m	n	ɳ	ɲ	ŋ
Plosive	aspirated	pʰ	tʰ	ʈʰ		kʰ
	tenuis	p	t	ʈ		k	ʔ
	voiced	b	d	ɖ		ɡ
Affricate	aspirated		tsʰ	tʂʰ	tɕʰ
	tenuis		ts	tʂ	tɕ
	voiced		dz	ɖʐ	dʑ
Fricative	voiceless	f	s	ʂ	ɕ	x	h
	voiced	v	z	ʐ	ʑ	ɣ
Lateral	voiceless		l̥
	voiced		l	ɭ
Rhotic	voiced			ɹ

The consonant /ɹ/ is an unstable semi-vowel and is realized as a voiced alveolar fricative or voiced alveolar retroflex fricative.^:20

Additionally, Anong has 23 initial consonant clusters, which are categorized based on the presence of certain phonetic units.^:22

Consonant Clusters^:22

	Instantiation
Retroflex Semi-Vowel Second	/pɹ/, /phɹ/, /bɹ/, /mɹ/, /fɹ/, /vɹ/, /khɹ/, /gɹ/, /xɹ/
Preglottalized Onsets	/ʔb/, /ʔd/, /ʔɖ/, /ʔg/, /ʔdz/, /ʔdʐ/, /ʔdʑ/, /ʔm/, /ʔn/, /ʔl/, /ʔɳ/, /ʔȵ/, /ʔŋ/
Preglottalized Onset and Retroflex-Semi-Vowel Second	/ʔbɹ/

Use of consonant clusters has decreased and only appears in the speech of elderly speakers of Anong.^{: 22}

Tone

There are five tones in Anong: 55, 33, 53, 31, and 35. The distinction between each of the tones varies, depending on surrounding tones. Tones 35 and 53 appear relatively infrequently.^:30

Tones^:30

Tone Number	Tone Description	Instantiation	Translation	Instantiation	Translation
55	high level	tɕʰuŋ55	'(earthen) jar'	lim55	'bake, roast'
53	high falling	tɕʰuŋ53	'straight; press'	lim53	'egg'
33	mid level	tɕʰuŋ33	'to play on swing'	lim33	'turn on (water)'
31	mid falling	tɕʰuŋ31	'dig up'	lim31	'bury'
35	mid rising	ɑ31tɕʰuŋ35	'to fish'	lim35	'lay (egg)'

There are no clear systematic rules for tone sandhi in Anong.

Syllable Structure

Syllables in Anong are comprised of three parts: an initial (onset), a rhyme (vowel plus the accompanying coda), and a tone. Some syllables lack initials but minimally must contain at least one sound (either a vowel or a syllabic consonant) and maximally contain five.^:31

The general syllable is as follows: (C)(C)(C)(V)V(V)(C)T. (C = consonant, V = vowel, T = tone)

Out of this general form, there are 14 possible permutations, represented in the table below.

Syllable Structures^:31

Template	Instantiation	Translation
C	m̩31	'not'
V	o31	'carry on back' (CLF.)
VV	iɯ31	'seed'
VVV	iɑu55tɕʰɯ31	'demand'
CV	bɛ55	'white'
CVV	ɑ31xuɑ35	'go mad'
CVVV	phiɑu35	'ticket'
CCV	phɹɿ55	'dig'
CCVC	ʔdɛm55	'on credit'
CCCVC	ɕɑ55ʔbɹɯn35	'step across'
VC	in55	'to sweat'
VVC	iɑŋ31	'item (thing)', CLF.
CVC	sɑn55	'slaughter'
CVVC	giɛn35	'exist'; 'to mail'

(CLF = classifier)

Of the 14 syllabic structures, VVV and CVVV only occur in Chinese loans. CCCVC occurs extremely infrequently, while the most frequent are V, VV, CV, CVV, VC, VVC, and CVC.^:31

Anong frequently uses weakened syllables, which are short and indistinct, normally with a 31 tone, and consist of a reduced simple vowel without a coda.^:31

The Anong lexicon is becoming increasingly bi or polysyllabic.^:31

Morphology

As a member of the Tibeto-Burman language family, Anong shares many grammatical characteristics with the languages in this family, including an extensive classifier system, postposed auxiliaries, and grammatical particles.^:55

Anong has characteristics of both a polysynthetic agglutinating and a fusional language.^:55 Words in Anong can be classified as one of eleven categories: nouns, numerals, classifiers and measure words, pronouns, verbs, adjectives, adverbs, conjunctions, mood particles, interjections, and particles.

A morphological process through which words are built is affixation. Anong is particularly rich in prefixes, which are comprised exclusively of single vowels with no consonant endings.^:44 However, most prefixes meanings are difficult to identify, especially the meaning of prefixes derived from consonant cluster reduction.^:47 Suffix functions are clearer.^:47

Derivational Affixes

Affixes are a critical part of word formation in Anong.

There are ten common prefixes used, including 'p^hɯ³¹', 'bɯ³¹', 'mɯ³¹', 'sɿ³¹' (marks the causative), 'ʂɿ³¹', 'dɯ³¹' (sometimes manifested as 'di³¹'), 'ɹɯ³¹' (sometimes 'ʐɯ³¹' or 'zɿ³¹'), 'ŋ̩̩³¹' (also 'ʔo³¹' and 'ʔŋ̩³¹', one of the most productive prefixes), 'ɑ³¹' (most productive prefix), and 'i⁵⁵' (sometimes 'i⁵⁵' or 'i³¹') along with many other lower frequency prefixes, for example, 'pɯ³¹', 'ts^hɿ³¹', 'dzɿ³¹', 'tɯ³¹', 't^hɯ³¹', 'ɖɯ³¹', 'tɕ^hi³¹', 'dʑi³¹', 'ɕi³¹', 'ȵi³¹', 'kɯ³¹', 'k^hɯ³¹', and 'gɯ³¹'.^:47 No specific meanings are given for these prefixes in the grammar.^:44-47

There are seven commonly used suffixes.

Suffixes used in Word Formation^47-50

Suffix	Function	Instantiation	Translation
su55	nominalizer, derives noun referencing actor of verb, 'person'	sɿ31lɑm55su55	'teacher'
phɯ31	nominalizer, derives noun referencing actor of verb, 'person'	po31 phɯ31	'guarantor'; 'sponsor'
dɛm55	nominalizer, derives noun referencing thing that is used for a function, occurs with verb-noun (VN) compounds	mɑ33xuŋ55 (cloth) + zɑn53 (weave) + -dɛm55	'loom'
kha55	combines with nouns of places, times, directions to refer to locations and times	mɑ55ʂu31khɑ55	'in front'; 'front'
ɛ55 or ɛ31	stative adjectives	ȵɯŋ31ɛ31	'deep'
za55	occurs on human nouns, refers to young people	sɿ31lɑŋ55zɑ55	'girl'
ua31	occurs on adjectives and other words, derives adverbial expressions	kha31mã55 uɑ33	'quiet'; 'stealthily'

Note the tonal shift in the suffix in the last row.

There are also a number of additional nominalizers. Verb nominalizers can combine with both verbs and verb-object phrases. When verb-object phrases are nominalized, the derived noun means 'the thing used to perform the verb'.^:89 One non-verb nominalizer is -u³¹, which is used to turn adjectives into nouns. For example, in the following sentence, the adjective 'soft' becomes the noun 'the soft (one)':^:97

ɐ³¹ɲɐ̃³¹

'soft'

u³¹

nominalizer

ɳɯ³¹ɐ⁵⁵

DEF

ɐ³¹ɲɐ̃³¹ u³¹ ɳɯ³¹ɐ⁵⁵

'soft' nominalizer DEF

'The light (one) is cotton'

Derivational affixes can be used in combination with other morphological processes in order to transition certain words from one part of speech to another.

Inflectional Affixes

Inflectional affixes play a wide variety of different roles in Anong, depending on the part of speech of the root. In nouns, for example, there are two pluralizing suffixes 'zɿ³¹ɳɯ³¹' (animate nouns only) and 'mɯ⁵³' (both animate and inanimate nouns).

Pluralizing Suffixes^:55

Suffix	Root	Root Translation	Instantiation	Translation
zɿ31ɳɯ31	ŋuɑ55	'fish'	ŋuɑ55zɿ31ɳɯ31	'fish (plural)'
mɯ53	ʂɿ55dzɯŋ55	'tree'	'ʂɿ55dzɯŋ55mɯ53	'trees'

Noun possession is indicated by possessive prefixes, which are different depending on the person of the possessor.

Possessive Prefixes^:56

Person	Prefix	Root	Root Translation	Instantiation	Translation
First Person	ɑ31	phɯ31	'father'	ɑ31phɯ31	'my father'
Second Person	ɳɯ31			ɳɯ31phɯ31	'your father'
Third Person	ŋ31			ŋ31phɯ31	'his father'

There is also a general possessive prefix 'k^hɑ³¹' that is supplemented by a person marker indicating the difference between first, second, and third person.^:58

For nouns, gender and diminutives are also marked off with suffixes.^:59

For verbs, affixation is used to indicate agreement in person and number with the subject. All persons (e.g. first person singular, second person dual, first person plural exclusive, etc.) have different sets of prefixes, suffixes, or both to indicate agreement.^:77-78 In some cases, when the subject is third person, and the object and modifier are first or second person, the verb matches the object/modifier, a process called inverse marking.^:78

Inverse Marking

ɳɐ³¹

2nd

phu³¹

'to blow (on a fire)'

ɳɰ³¹

2PL

ɳɐ³¹ phu³¹ ɳɰ³¹

2nd {'to blow (on a fire)'} 2PL

'To blow on a fire'

(2PL is a suffix added to a verb when the subject is third person and the object and its modifier are second person plural; the verb matches the object instead of the subject.^:80)

There are many other functions of affixations in verbs, some that occur with other morphological processes. Five aspects are marked by suffixation on verbs: future progressive, present progressive, perfect progressive, experiential, and perfective.^:80 Three voices are marked by affixation and internal verb root changes: reflexive (middle), causative, and reciprocal.

Reciprocal Causative

ɐ³¹

Reciprocal

ɕi³¹

Causative

dʑɰŋ³¹

'believe'

ɐ³¹ ɕi³¹ dʑɰŋ³¹

Reciprocal Causative 'believe'

'Cause to believe each other'

(There are several other prefixes that are used to indicate causal relationships.^:84)

Indicative, imperative, and optative moods are marked by affixation or by voicing alternations of initials on verb roots.^:85 Direction is expressed through suffixation, and emphasizes the distinction between centrifugal (motion toward the center of action, usually the place of the speech act) and centripetal directions (motion away from the center of action, usually the speech act).^:87-88 Some auxiliary verbs are also expressed as verbal suffixes, although they contain specific meanings and can occur alone in special contexts.^:92

Similar richness of affixational function exists across all other parts of speech.

Particles

Particles play a role in marking different grammatical relations. There are plural particles on nouns, approximative particles on numerals, and adverbial particles on manner adverbs.^:100 All particles are postpositional and can be divided based on function into possessive, agentive, object, instrumental, temporal, locative, ablative, comparative, comitative, and definite particles.^:100

Possessive Particle

p^hɑ⁵⁵dzɑ⁵⁵mɑ³¹

older.brother

ni⁵⁵

POSS

tɕ^hɛn³¹

child

p^hɑ⁵⁵dzɑ⁵⁵mɑ³¹ ni⁵⁵ tɕ^hɛn³¹

older.brother POSS child

'Older brother's child'

Adverbial particles such as 'li³¹', 'ʂɿ³¹', and 'uɑ³³' are used to derive adverbs or adverb constructions.^:107

Mood particles are also used to indicate mood and are used at high frequency in daily conversation, normally at the end of utterances.^:108 They include the interrogative particle 'mɛ⁵³', the exhortative particle 'lɑ³⁵', the rhetorical particle 'ɖɑ⁵³', the countering particle 'le⁵³', and the supplicative particle 'lie³¹'.^:108-110

Compounding

Compounding is the primary way through which new words are formed in Anong.^:50 There are five primary compounding processes.^:50-51

1. Co-ordinate Compounds

ɐ³¹pʰɐ³¹

+

ɐ³¹mɯ³¹

→

ɐ³¹pʰɐ³¹ɐ³¹mɯ³¹

ɐ³¹pʰɐ³¹ + ɐ³¹mɯ³¹ → ɐ³¹pʰɐ³¹ɐ³¹mɯ³¹

'father' + 'mother' → 'parents'

There is no modified-modifying relationship between the two roots being compounded. The number of co-ordinate compounds in Anong is relatively small.

2. Modified-Modifying and Modifying-Modified Compounds

lɐ³¹tɕɐ⁵⁵

+

pʰɯn⁵⁵

→

lɐ³¹tɕɐ⁵⁵pʰɯn⁵⁵

lɐ³¹tɕɐ⁵⁵ + pʰɯn⁵⁵ → lɐ³¹tɕɐ⁵⁵pʰɯn⁵⁵

'tea' + 'circular' → 'bowl shaped tea leaves'

One of the roots in modified when they are combined. Most compounds in Anong are of this type. The above example is modified-modifying, though the reverse is also possible.

3. Noun-Complement Compounds

ɕɯŋ⁵⁵

+

tʰɐn⁵⁵

→

ɕɯŋ⁵⁵tʰɐn⁵⁵

ɕɯŋ⁵⁵ + tʰɐn⁵⁵ → ɕɯŋ⁵⁵tʰɐn⁵⁵

'firewood' + 'section' → 'wood'

The first element in these compounds is the noun center, and the complement is a classifier, and is technically a type of modified-modifying compound. This type of compounding is relatively productive.

4. Verb-Object Compounds

lɐ³³

+

tɕʰɯŋʔ⁵⁵

→

lɐ³³tɕʰɯŋʔ⁵⁵

lɐ³³ + tɕʰɯŋʔ⁵⁵ → lɐ³³tɕʰɯŋʔ⁵⁵

'hand' + 'bind around' → 'bracelet'

Objects precede verbs in verb phrases in Anong, which is typical of Tibeto-Burman languages. This order is reflected in verb-object compounds.

5. Subject-Verb Compounds

ʔa³¹xa³⁵

+

di³¹ʂɐ³¹

→

ʔa³¹xa³⁵di³¹ʂɐ³¹

ʔa³¹xa³⁵ + di³¹ʂɐ³¹ → ʔa³¹xa³⁵di³¹ʂɐ³¹

'foot' + 'lame' → 'lame person'

(There was a note about this on my second draft about this section needing reorganizing. I did try to address this but decided to stick with the order given in my grammar in the end.)

Four-Syllable Elaborate Expressions

Four-syllable elaborate expressions word formation processes are exclusive to Sino-Tibetan languages, and almost all Sino-Tibetan languages have them. They are very productive in Anong, as a result of expressive storytelling.^:51

There are five types of these expressions.

Types of Four-Syllable Elaborate Expressions in Anong^:51-52

Type	Instantiation	Translation
AABB	mɑŋ31mɑŋ31ȵim31ȵim31	'bumpy'; 'rough'
ABAB	bɑ31tɕhɑ55bɑ31tɕhɑ55	'whisper in someone's ear'
ABAC	kɑ31thɑŋ35kɑ31phɑŋ35	'high and low, from top to bottom'
ABCB	khɑ55gɑm55mɑ31gɑm55	describes the unhappy state of indeterminacy
ABCD	ɑ31khuɑ31ʔo55tɕho31	'each look after one's self'

Reduplication

Full reduplication is found in nouns, verbs, adverbs, and especially on adjectives in Anong but is not productive.^:52 However, it still is used for word formation, for example, with adverbials that turn adjectives into adverbs.

ɳɐ³¹

'you'

gɐ³¹

'full'

-gɐ³¹

-Reduplication

uɐ³³li³¹

ADV

pʰɯ³¹

PRT

ɛm⁵³

'eat'

ɳɐ³¹ gɐ³¹ -gɐ³¹ uɐ³³li³¹ pʰɯ³¹ ɛm⁵³

'you' 'full' -Reduplication ADV PRT 'eat'

'You eat enough'

(pʰɯ³¹ is the masculine gender affix. PRT indicates a particle. ADV is the adverbial.^:99)

Similarly:

ŋ³¹

'he'

ɐ³¹ɲɐ̃³¹

'light'

-ɐ³¹ɲɐ̃³¹

-Reduplication

uɐ³³li³¹

ADV

tʰi³¹zɿm³³

'speak'

-ɛ³¹

-IND

ŋ³¹ ɐ³¹ɲɐ̃³¹ -ɐ³¹ɲɐ̃³¹ uɐ³³li³¹ tʰi³¹zɿm³³ -ɛ³¹

'he' 'light' -Reduplication ADV 'speak' -IND

'He speaks softly'

(IND marks the indicative mood.^:85)

In these cases, when adjectives are used as adverbials, the adjective is reduplicated and the adverbial suffix ADV is added to indicate the new function. This is an instance of affixation and other morphological processes combining for one function.

Adjectives and adverbs are also reduplicated to indicate intensity, and some reduplications occur in tandem with additional modifications like tonal changes, vowel changes, or final changes.^:95,100 The adjective 'yellow', for example, 'p^hu⁵⁵' becomes 'very yellow' when reduplicated into 'p^hu⁵⁵p^hu⁵⁵'.

Imitation

Some words are created through the imitation of sounds in the real world. Some animals are named after the sounds that they make. For example, 'mã³⁵', which is the Anong word for 'moo' is also the word for 'cow'.^:53 Sounds taken from imitations of animals and motions are often used as adverbs.

Syntax

Word Order

The basic word order in Anong is SOV, as illustrated by the following three sentences.^:113

ɑ³¹bɛ⁵⁵

'goat'

ŋ³¹kʰɯ⁵⁵

'horn'

io⁵⁵

'have'

-ɛ³¹

IND

ɑ³¹bɛ⁵⁵ ŋ³¹kʰɯ⁵⁵ io⁵⁵ -ɛ³¹

'goat' 'horn' 'have' IND

'Goats have horns.'

(IND marks the indicative mood.^:85)

ŋ³¹ɳɯŋ⁵⁵

'they'

kʰɛn³³

'vegetable'

vɛn³⁵

'buy'

-ɛ⁵⁵

IND

-uɑ⁵⁵

FUT.HS‍

ŋ³¹ɳɯŋ⁵⁵ kʰɛn³³ vɛn³⁵ -ɛ⁵⁵ -uɑ⁵⁵

'they' 'vegetable' 'buy' IND FUT.HS‍

'They are going to buy vegetables (hearsay).'

(FUT.HS is future hearsay.)

ɑ³¹io³¹

'I'

ɑ⁵⁵

DEF

mi⁵³

AGT

ŋ̩³¹

'he'

kʰɑ³¹

OBJ

ɑ³¹ȵɛŋ³³

beat.1SG

-ɛ³¹

IND

ɑ³¹io³¹ ɑ⁵⁵ mi⁵³ ŋ̩³¹ kʰɑ³¹ ɑ³¹ȵɛŋ³³ -ɛ³¹

'I' DEF AGT 'he' OBJ beat.1SG IND

'I beat him.'

(DEF is the definite marker. AGT is the agentive marker. OBJ is the object marker. 1SG indicates first person singular.)

However, Anong has no passive voice, and the order of the object and subject is flexible when the subject and object are grammatically marked, although it is not necessarily the case that they are always marked.^:114 For illustration, the third example could be re-written as follows:

ŋ̩³¹

'he'

kʰɑ³¹

OBJ

ɑ³¹io³¹

'I'

ɑ⁵⁵

DEF

mi⁵³

AGT

ɑ³¹ȵɛŋ³³

beat.1SG

-ɛ³¹

IND

ŋ̩³¹ kʰɑ³¹ ɑ³¹io³¹ ɑ⁵⁵ mi⁵³ ɑ³¹ȵɛŋ³³ -ɛ³¹

'he' OBJ 'I' DEF AGT beat.1SG IND

'I beat him.'

Attributive Markers

Anong has two kinds of attributive markers.^:114 Nouns and pronouns acting as attributives occur before the head noun, usually without the possessive marker. Adjectives, numerals, and classifiers acting as attributives occur after the head noun.^:114-115

Dominant Modifier Order

ŋ³¹

'he'

pronoun

ɑ³¹k^hɑŋ³¹

'grandfather'

noun

gɑ³¹mɯ³¹

'clothes'

head noun

sɛ⁵⁵

'new'

adjective

nɑ⁵⁵

'that'

 

ɑ³¹ȵi⁵⁵

'two'

numeral

t^hɑm⁵⁵

CLF

classifier

ŋ³¹ ɑ³¹k^hɑŋ³¹ gɑ³¹mɯ³¹ sɛ⁵⁵ nɑ⁵⁵ ɑ³¹ȵi⁵⁵ t^hɑm⁵⁵

'he' 'grandfather' 'clothes' 'new' 'that' 'two' CLF

pronoun noun {head noun} adjective {} numeral classifier

'those two articles of clothing of his grandfather's'

Sometimes adjectives with two or more syllables or nominalized adjectives that are used as modifiers occur before the head noun.^:115

Adverbials

Adverbials usually occur before the predicate but can come after. Adverbials normally come after any other elements that are before the predicate. Temporal and locative adverbials have flexible word order and can come before the predicate and after the object, after the subject and before the object, or after the subject.^:116

Adverbial Order

dɛ⁵⁵ʂɿ⁵⁵k^hɑ⁵⁵

'tonight'

temporal adverbial

ŋ³¹ɳɯŋ⁵⁵

'they'

 

t^hɑ³¹luʔ⁵⁵

'maybe'

adverbial

tɕ^him³¹

'house'

 

mɑ³¹

NEG

adverbial

ʈ^hɑŋ³³iɯŋ⁵⁵

'return'

 

dɛ⁵⁵ʂɿ⁵⁵k^hɑ⁵⁵ ŋ³¹ɳɯŋ⁵⁵ t^hɑ³¹luʔ⁵⁵ tɕ^him³¹ mɑ³¹ ʈ^hɑŋ³³iɯŋ⁵⁵

'tonight' 'they' 'maybe' 'house' NEG 'return'

{temporal adverbial} {} {adverbial} {} {adverbial} {}

'Tonight they may not return home.'

(NEG marks negation.)

Adverbials occurring after predicates are rare.^:116

Sentence Structure

Simple sentences are categorized based on structure and mood. The categories of simple sentences include declarative sentences, interrogative sentences, imperative sentences, requests, exclamations, and estimations.^:117-118

Complex sentences are divided into two main categories: compound sentences and sentences with a main-subordinate clause structure. Compound sentences include contrastive compounds, relative contrast compounds, and successive compounds.^:118-121

Contrastive Compound Sentence

ɑ³¹io³¹

'I'

ɑ⁵⁵

DEF

tɑ⁵⁵-o⁵⁵

big-NOM

t^hi⁵⁵

one

nɯ³¹

CLF

vɛn³³

buy

t^hɑm⁵⁵-ɛ³¹

CONT-IND

dʑɯŋ⁵⁵

ASP

ɑ³¹

ASP

ŋ̩³¹

he

ɑ⁵⁵

DEF

tɕ^hɛm³¹-o⁵⁵

small-NOM

t^hi⁵⁵

one

nɯ³¹

CLF

vɛn³³

buy

t^hɑm⁵⁵-ɛ³¹

CONT-IND

dʑɯ³¹

ASP

ɑ³¹.

ASP

ɑ³¹io³¹ ɑ⁵⁵ tɑ⁵⁵-o⁵⁵ t^hi⁵⁵ nɯ³¹ vɛn³³ t^hɑm⁵⁵-ɛ³¹ dʑɯŋ⁵⁵ ɑ³¹ ŋ̩³¹ ɑ⁵⁵ tɕ^hɛm³¹-o⁵⁵ t^hi⁵⁵ nɯ³¹ vɛn³³ t^hɑm⁵⁵-ɛ³¹ dʑɯ³¹ ɑ³¹.

'I' DEF big-NOM one CLF buy CONT-IND ASP ASP he DEF small-NOM one CLF buy CONT-IND ASP ASP

‘I bought a big one and he bought a small one.’

Relative Contrast Compound Sentence

mo³¹guŋ⁵⁵dʑɑŋ³¹

'Mùgǔjiǎ'

iɛ⁵⁵k^hɑ³¹

'here'

k^hɯŋ³¹ne⁵⁵

ABL

tʂ^hɿ⁵⁵

'relative'

t^hi³¹ɹɯm³³

'far'

ɛ³¹,

IND

mo³¹guŋ⁵⁵dʑɑŋ³¹

'Mùgǔjiǎ'

k^hɯŋ³¹ne⁵⁵

ABL

duŋ³⁵ɕuɑ⁵⁵

'Gòng Mt.'

k^hɑ³¹

LOC

bɑ³¹ʂɿ³¹

'very'

t^hi³¹ɹɯm⁵⁵

'far'

ɛ³¹.

IND

mo³¹guŋ⁵⁵dʑɑŋ³¹ iɛ⁵⁵k^hɑ³¹ k^hɯŋ³¹ne⁵⁵ tʂ^hɿ⁵⁵ t^hi³¹ɹɯm³³ ɛ³¹, mo³¹guŋ⁵⁵dʑɑŋ³¹ k^hɯŋ³¹ne⁵⁵ duŋ³⁵ɕuɑ⁵⁵ k^hɑ³¹ bɑ³¹ʂɿ³¹ t^hi³¹ɹɯm⁵⁵ ɛ³¹.

'Mùgǔjiǎ' 'here' ABL 'relative' 'far' IND 'Mùgǔjiǎ' ABL {'Gòng Mt.'} LOC 'very' 'far' IND

‘It is relatively far from here to Mùgǔjiǎ, and it is even farther from Mùgǔjiǎ to the Gòngshān area.’

Successive Compound Sentence

ŋ̩³¹

'he'

sɑŋ⁵⁵

'strength'

bɑ³¹ʂɿ³¹

'very'

ɑ³¹nɛ⁵⁵,

'have',

t^hi³¹

'one'

ɕɑ⁵⁵

'hundred'

gɑm⁵⁵

'catty'

dɑ³¹ʈ^hɑŋ⁵⁵

'excess'

gɯ⁵⁵

'also'

zɿ³⁵

carry.on.back

dʑo³¹

can

ɛ³¹.

IND

ŋ̩³¹ sɑŋ⁵⁵ bɑ³¹ʂɿ³¹ ɑ³¹nɛ⁵⁵, t^hi³¹ ɕɑ⁵⁵ gɑm⁵⁵ dɑ³¹ʈ^hɑŋ⁵⁵ gɯ⁵⁵ zɿ³⁵ dʑo³¹ ɛ³¹.

'he' 'strength' 'very' 'have', 'one' 'hundred' 'catty' 'excess' 'also' carry.on.back can IND

'He is very strong, and can carry over a hundred catties (= 50 kilograms) on his back.'

Main-subordinate clause sentences include transitional, cause-and-result, conditional, concessive, temporal sequence, and complex relation sentences.^:118-121