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Article published In: Linguistics of the Tibeto-Burman Area
Vol. 42:1 (2019) ► pp.110–136

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Non-singular pronouns in Tibeto-Burman (Trans-Himalayan)

 | University of Oregon
Published online: 14 June 2019
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https://doi.org/10.1075/ltba.18006.del
Abstract
This paper surveys the forms of dual and plural pronouns across the Tibeto-Burman languages, and offers a reconstruction of the non-singular pronouns, and a general account of how various branches and languages have diverged from this original system. We can certainly reconstruct two, perhaps three, person-number portmanteaus: #i 1pl, or perhaps 1pl.inc, #ni 2pl, and, less certainly, #ka 1pl.exc. We also reconstruct #tsi dual which combined with singular pronouns to make dual forms. This construction was the model on which most daughter languages have innovated an analytic system of person and number marking, with distinct person and dual and/or plural morphemes combining to make the morphologically complex but semantically transparent compositional forms found in the majority of languages.
Article outline
  • 1.Introduction
  • 2.Plural pronouns
    • 2.1Simple and compositional pronoun forms
    • 2.2#i and #ni
    • 2.3Extension of #i or #ni as a general plural morpheme
    • 2.4The history of plural pronouns in Tibeto-Burman languages
  • 3.Inclusive/Exclusive
    • 3.1Patterns of clusivity marking
    • 3.2Corresponding clusivity oppositions
      • 3.2.1#i and #ka
      • 3.2.2#a and #ŋa
    • 3.3Clusivity in the ancestral paradigm?
  • 4.The dual category
    • 4.1The ancient dual #tsi
      • 4.1.1Phonological variation in the initial: #(n)tsi
      • 4.1.2Phonological variation in the coda: #tsi(ŋ)
    • 4.2The innovative dual #ni
      • 4.2.1Dual #ni
    • 4.3#tsi and #ni
    • 4.4Markedness relations between the non-singular categories
    • 4.5Distribution and historical status of #tsi
  • 5.Summary and conclusions
  • Notes
  • References
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