Relative Clauses in Tamang: A Typological Comparison

Abstract

This study presents an analysis of relative clause structures in Tamang within the framework of (Givón, 2001). This study focuses on the analysis of the relative clauses found in Tamang and compares them with the relative clauses in Bhujel, Magar Kaike and Limbu. This study has been organized into four chapters. The first chapter deals with the introduction. It includes the background of study, objectives of the study, statement of the problem, review of the literature, methodology and significance of the study. The second chapter deals with the relative clauses in Tamang. The third chapter deals with the typological comparison of the relative clauses found in Tamang and other TB languages: Bhujel, Magar Kaike and Limbu. The fourth chapter, we present the summary and conclusion of the study. The main finding of the study is that there are two types of relative clauses in the TB languages including Tamang. Regarding the position of relative clauses with respect to the head noun Tamang has prenominal and headless relative clauses. In prenominal relative clause, the relative clause precedes the head noun and in headless relative clause the head noun is deleted or there is no head noun within the construction of the relative clause which is itself understood by different case marking. Regarding the position of relative clause there are initial, medial, and final relative construction found in Tamang. Both copying and chopping construction are common in Tamang language. The way of expressing relativized noun phrase, that is, the gap strategy, pronoun retentation strategy and relative pronoun strategy are found in this language. Regarding the grammatical relations such as subject, direct object, indirect object, oblique, adjunct, and possessor can be relativized in Tamang. In Tamang, the nominalizer <-ba> functions as a relative marker in relative clauses.