Linguistics

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https://hdl.handle.net/20.500.14540/31

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The Bhujel Language
(Faculty of Linguistics, 2007) Regmi, Dan Raj
This studypresents a linguistic description of the Bhujel language within theframework of the functional-typological grammar developed mainly by Talmy Givón(2001) and further supplemented by Dixon (2004), Noonan (2003; 2005), Bhat (2004),Haspelmath (2004) andDryer (2006).Bhujel is a previously undescribed andendangered Tibeto-Burman language spoken in some limited areas in the eastern part ofTanahun District of Nepal. This is a field-based study of the form of the Bhujel language spoken mainly in theAndimul village (Anbukhaireni-1 and Bandipur-8) in Tanahun District. The main goalof the study is to analyze the forms and functions of different grammatical categories ofthe Bhujel language and compare the structural features of Bhujel revealed by thisstudy to the characteristic structural features of the Tibeto-Burman languages from thetypological perspective. This study also examineshow the morphosyntactic structureinBhujelmanifests the subtle relationship between linguistic form and linguistic functionatbothsentence and discourse levels. The study is organized into thirteen chapters. Chapter 1 mainly reviews the previousdescriptive works on the language and sets out the theoretical position underlying thedescription. It also outlines the objectives, the significance and the limitations of thestudy. Chapter 2mainlyexamines the sociolinguisticaspects such as the domains of thelanguage use, the attitudes of the speakers towards the language, and the languageendangerment. It alsodiscusses the ethnology of the Bhujel.Chapter 3 analyzes thesegmental and supra-segmental features of the language. Chapter 4 presents theacoustic analysis of the sounds of the language. Chapter 5 examines themorphophonological processes in the language. Chapter 6 proposes the Devanagariscript for the preliterate Bhujel language. Chapter 7 looks at theinflectional andderivational morphology of the nouns inBhujel.It also examines the morphology of thepronouns in the language.Chapter 8 discussesthe formation, distribution and functionsof the adjectives in the language.Chapter 9 analyzes thecategories of the verb such astense, aspectandmodality in the language. It also presentsa complexverb agreement system which isbased on the hierarchical rankingof the participants(i.e.1→2, 1→3,2→3) rather than on their semantic or grammatical relations. We argue that Bhujel presents a unique type of the marking on the verb for the direct relations of theparticipants. Besides, it shows the neutralization of the 'direct' marker and tensemarkers in the negative construction.Chapter 10 discusses the adverbs in Bhujel.Chapter 11looks at theclause structure, noun phrase, order of the elements in the verbcomplex, majorsentences and clause combiningprocesses in the language.Chapter 12deals with themorphosyntactic devices which are used in the domains of topiccontinuity, action continuity and thematic continuity at the multi-propositionaldiscourse level in Bhujel. Besides, this chapter discussessuch strategieswhich areemployed for different types of discourse functions at the atomic propositional level.Chapter 13 presents the summary andtypological implications of the study. The annexesmainlycomprise10analyzedtexts, basic vocabulary,and socio-linguisticquestionnaire, therespondentsofthe socio-linguistic questionnaire, Swadesh 100wordlist of Bhujel dialects,verb inflection paradigmsand Bhujel morphemes, theirglossing and description in the language.
Complex predicates in Maithili
(Faculty of Linguistics, 2022) Yadav, Binod Kumar
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A Computational Analysis of Nepali Morphology: A Model for Natural Language Processing
(Faculty of Linguistics, 2011) Prasain, Balaram
The main goal of this study is to present a computational analysis of morphology in Nepali for developing a model for natural language processing by applying the finite state approach. The morphological categories have been analyzed according to the principle of Two-level morphology (Koskeniemmi 1983), and these categories have been implemented using Xerox finite state tool (Beesley and Kartumnen 2003) to create the morphological analyzer. A version of finite state automaton called finite state transducer is used in this study which handles relation between two languages, namely upper language and lower language. Upper language is equivalent to lexical level and lower language is equivalent to surface level. The finite state transducer is bidirectional, i.e., moving from surface level to lexical level is analysis and from lexical level to surface level is generation. This study is organized into eight chapters. Chapter 1 presents the general morphological concepts, the objectives, methodology, the significance and limitations of the study. Chapter 2 presents the theoretical framework that is adopted for the study. Chapter 3 analyzes nouns, pronouns, adjectives, numerals and classifiers in Nepali. Chapter 4 analyzes the verbs in Nepali from computational approach in the first part and verbal inflections in the second part. Chapter 5 deals with indeclinable words in Nepali. Chapter 6 analyzes the derivational process. Chapter 7 implements the outcome of analysis in previous chapters into a finite state transducer using Xerox Finite State Tool. Chapter 8 summarizes the findings of the study. This study has identified fourteen groups of nouns, eight groups of pronouns, four groups of adjectives, one group of cardinal numerals, two groups of ordinal numerals, three groups of classifiers, ten groups of verbs, seven groups of adverbs, two groups of conjunctions, three groups of postpositions, one group of particles and fifteen groups of derivations in Nepali. The phonological rules for each group have also been identified. The finite state transducer for each group with corresponding morphological tags and phonological rules have been created; and all of them have been put together into a single transducer which can be used as a morphological analyzer for Nepali.
The Darai Language
(Faculty of Linguistics, 2011) Dhakal, Dubi Nanda
This dissertation is a description of Darai, an Indo-Aryan language, which was not adequately described before. The genetic classification of this language has not been determined yet. It is a language spoken by 10210 people in the Chitwan, Nawalparasi and Tanahun districts of central and western Nepal. The aim of this dissertation is to present a grammatical description of the Darai language. The data for this dissertation came largely from the natural texts. The text corpus was mainly obtained from the language consultants who were the inhabitants of Kathar, Chainpur, Mangalpur Village Development Committees and Bharatpur municipality of the Chitwan district. The grammatical analysis consists of phonology, morphology, syntax, sociolinguistic information and notes on discourse. The appendices include sociolinguistic questionnaire, background information of the language consultants, paradigms of verbs, indexes of grammatical morphemes and text samples. The dissertation comprises thirteen chapters in addition to five appendices. The dissertation begins with the introduction, objectives and introduction in chapter 1. The information related to the language, its name and classification as well as a sociolinguistic survey is presented in chapter 2. The Drarai people residing in Nayabeltari and Gaindakot VDCs in Nawalparasi and Gajarkot in Tanahu no longer speak their ancestral language. This chapter is an attempt to answer the current status of the Darai language. Darai is characterized as a 'definitely endangered language'. In chapter 3, synchronic description of phonology is given. Darai has 29 consonants and 6 vowels. This chapter examines the vowels and consonants, their distribution, consonant clusters, syllable structure and morphophonology. Nouns and noun morphology are analyzed in chapter 4. Nouns inflect for number, pronominal possessive marking, indefinite marking and cases. The pronominal possessive suffixes are used to mark the kinship relations as well as ownership. The indefinite marker attached to noun is also worth mentioning. Darai is characterized as a split ergative viii language which is based on nominal hierarchy. Chapter 5 analyzes the adjectives. The semantic categories and functions of adjectives are analyzed in this chapter. It is interesting to note that some adjectives which end in o in Hodgson's list (1857) are - ending at present. Chapter 6 presents an analysis of verbs and verb morphology. A classification of verb based on the stem is presented. In addition to tense, aspect and mood, Darai verbs are characterized by modality marking such as obligation, possibility, inference, mirativity, hearsay, frustative and dubitative. A Darai bitransitive verb may crossreference the actor and patient. Verb agreement is also triggered by number, gender, case, honorificity as well as pragmatic features. Verb agreement due to focus hierarchy is a striking feature in Darai. Adverbs are analyzed in chapter 7. Chapter 8 analyzes the closed word classes such as clitics, particles, onomatopoeia and echo words. Some native Darai particles are widely used in natural discourse despite the influences from neighboring languages in lexicon. Noun phrase is examined in chapter 9. Noun phrase in Darai is left-branching. Chapter 10 describes the simple sentence in Darai in addition to the modifications of simple sentences. Chapter 11 discusses combinations of clause such as complement clauses, relative clauses and adverbial clauses. Clause combining is productive because of morphosyntactic evidences seen in Darai grammar. A note on discourse is presented in Chapter 11. Chapter 12 presents the summary, typological implications of the study, proposed sub-classification of Darai and suggestions for further research. The grammatical features exhibit that Darai may be classified as an 'eastern' Indo-Aryan language closely related to Maithili, Bhojpuri and Majhi.
A Sociolinguistic Study of Maithili
(Faculty of Linguistics, 2021) Yadav, Surya Prasad
This study presents a sociolinguistic description of Maithili in terms of its dialectal variations, language attitude, multilingualism, language choice and language contact. Maithili, belonging to Indo-Aryan language family, is a cross-border language spoken by a large number of people in the districts of south-eastern part of Nepal, viz., Morang, Sunsari, Saptari, Siraha, Dhanusha, Mahottari and Saralahi and, also in India. The number of Maithili speakers in Nepal is approximately 30, 92,530, which constitutes 11.7% of the country’s total population and ranks first in the Tarai and second (i.e., next to Nepali) in the national context (Census, 2011). This is a field-based study. The main goal of this study is to analyze the sociolinguistic situation of the Maithili language spoken in Nepal. It is organized into eight chapters. Chapter 1 presents major objectives of the study, literature review, significance and limitations of the study. Chapter 2 deals with the research methodology of the study. Chapter 3 and 4 look at the regional and social variations, respectively. Chapter 5 discusses the attitudes of the Maithili community towards their mother tongue and other languages. Chapter 6 analyzes multilingualism and language choice in Maithili. Chapter 7 examines language contact situation in Maithili. Chapter 8 presents summary and conclusions of the study. This study has revealed a number of interesting sociolinguistic features of the Maithili language. This language is extensively used in almost all the social domains in the Maithili speaking community. However, people sometimes switch to a language of wider communication according to their needs and contexts. Especially, they make mixed uses of Maithili, Nepali and Hindi in some contexts; however, educated speakers also tend to use English instead of mixed use of languages. Maithili shows regional and social variations. Such variations may be attested in the domains of phonology, morphology, syntax and lexicon. In Maithili, there are mainly three regional dialects, viz., eastern, central and western. But in some contexts, this study has exhibited only two regional dialects, viz., eastern and western. There is 82% to 94% lexical similarity among the three dialects. Moreover, the lexical similarity percentages of the word list gleaned in the eastern dialect range from 84% to 90%. Such similarity percentages range from 83% to 90% in the central dialect whereas in the western dialect, the similarity percentages range from 86% to 93%. Similarly, there are mainly two social varieties, viz., Brahmin and Non-Brahmin, in the language. However, in some contexts, this study has found three social varieties: Brahmin, Non-Brahmin1 and Non-Brahmin2 as well. The forms of the language spoken by the three major social groups are mutually intelligible to each other. There is 82% to 92% lexical similarity among these social groups. Language attitude is very positive in the speech community. Honorificity is very complex in the Maithili language. It is very often used in the Brahmin variety whereas it is rarely found in Non-Brahmin (except in some high educated people) variety of the language. However, this study has rarely found high honorificity in the Brahmin variety as well. In the multilingual context of the Tarai region, the findings of the study may serve as references for the long term planning and development of the Maithili language. The annexes include map of Maithili speaking area of Nepal and India, distribution of Maithili speakers in Nepal, 405 wordlist, Basic Sentences, Sociolinguistic Questionnaire ‘A’, Sociolinguistic Questionnaire ‘B’, and the Maithili analyzed texts.
Tense, Aspect and Modaliy in Nepali and Manipuri
(Department of Linguistics, 2005) Poudel, Tikaram
This dissertation explores the morpho-syntax and semantics of tense, aspect and modalityin Nepali and Manipuri. We adopt the definition of tense as the grammatical coding of an event or state in relation to the time of speech. Aspect refers to whether a particular action is completed or not and that action terminates or not at the reference time. Modality refers to the speakers’attitudes towards the proposition. The meaning of each of the three categories is described based on data collected by the researcher and from published sources. The approach that we adopt here presupposes that every sentence in a natural language consists of a proposition, the element of modality and temporal reference. Realis and irrealis arethe two semantic sub-domains of modality. This modal contrast is expressed by means of moods,modal verbs and the inherent modality meanings of lexical verbs. Nepali has mood distinction between declarative and non-declarative. The declarative sentences have tense contrast of past or non-past and aspectual contrast of perfectivity and imperfectivity. The non-declarative sentences may be potential, imperative and optative. In Manipuri the mood distinction is between realis andirrealis. Realis sentences can be aspectually perfective or imperfective. Both languages havemodal verbs to express different modal meanings such as ability, epistemic notion, possibility,necessity, etc. Different lexical verbs have different modal scopes over their complementsexpressing certainty, presupposition, doubt, etc. The approach that we adopt for aspect covers the notions such as lexical aspect,perfectivity, terminativity and sequentiality. The discussion on lexical aspect explores the effectof inherent meanings of verbal group on the aspectual distinction. The term perfectivity is limitedwithin the morphological level and includes the notions such as completives, anteriors,resultatives and past time markers. The term terminativity operates in the clausal level and has both verbal group and nominal arguments in its scope. The term sequentiality is a discourse level property and we illustrate it from the textual analysis from modern Manipuri fiction. Nepali has tense contrast between past and non-past in declarative sentences. We argued that Manipuri is a tenseless language. Hence, tense is not a universal category.

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