Abstract
This paper presents a comprehensive analysis of relator noun constructions in Assamese, an Indo-Aryan language spoken in the eastern part of India by a majority of people living in the state of Assam. The construction consists of a relator noun that functions as a head, and a genitive case marked noun that functions as a dependent. Semantically, most of the relator nouns encode spatial relation, such as place, path. However, some other relator nouns signal other relations, such as the ‘for’, ‘about’ etc. The occurrence of relator nouns is not an unusual phenomenon in Indo-Aryan languages. It has been analyzed as adpositions in many Indo-Aryan languages. However, I argue that the syntax of Assamese does not allow this analysis. It forms a distinct syntactic category, the behaviour of which is not similar to adpositions. Further, Assamese shares some close affinity regarding the relator noun construction with the neighbouring Tibeto-Burman languages such as Boro and Dimasa, rather than with the Indo-Aryan languages. Thus, this paper further investigates whether the resemblance occurs as a result of language contact or by accident.
Acknowledgements
I would like to offer my sincere thanks to Prafulla Basumatary and Krishna Boro for providing me the Boro data, Dhrubajit Langthasa for providing the Dimasa data, and Anukampa Ghagra for providing the Kokborok data.
Abbreviations
- IA
-
Indo-Aryan
- MIA
-
Middle Indo-Aryan
- TB
-
Tibeto-Burman
- 1
-
first person
- 2
-
second person
- 3
-
third person
- abl
-
ablative
- acc
-
accusative
- add
-
additive
- adjv
-
adjectivalizer
- advl
-
adverbializer
- all
-
allative
- caus
-
causative
- clf
-
classifier
- cond
-
conditional
- contr
-
contrastive
- dat
-
dative
- dist
-
distal
- emph
-
emphatic
- erg
-
ergative
- f
-
feminine
- fam
-
familiar
- foss
-
fossilized
- fut
-
future
- gen
-
genitive
- hon
-
honorific
- imp
-
imperative
- infr
-
inferior
- ins
-
instrumental
- loc
-
locative
- m
-
masculine
- mod
-
modifier
- neg
-
negative
- nfn
-
non-finite
- nmlz
-
nominalizer
- pl
-
plural
- postp
-
postposition
- prs
-
present
- pf
-
perfect
- pfv
-
perfective
- pst
-
past
- quant
-
quantifier
- rnc
-
relator noun construction
- sg
-
singular
References
Alok, Deepak. 2012. Magahi spatial postpositions. Paper presented at the sixth students’ conference of linguistics in India (SCONLI 6), Banaras Hindu University, 17–19 February. http://www.academia.edu/download/34311275/MAGAHI_SPATIAL_POSTPOSITIONS.pdf (accessed 10 October 2020). Suche in Google Scholar
Anderson, John M. 1971. The grammar of case. Toward a localistic theory. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.Suche in Google Scholar
Bagchi, Anwesa. 2007. Postpositions in Bangla with special reference to prepositions in English. In Languages in India 7. Available at: http://www.languageinindia.com/nov2007/anwesa.html (accessed 10 October 2020).Suche in Google Scholar
Beames, John. 1875. A comparative grammar of the modern Aryan languages of India. To wit, Hindi, Panjabi, Sindhi, Gujarati, Marathi, Oriya and Bengali, vol. II. London: Trübner and Co.Suche in Google Scholar
Beames, John. 1879. A comparative grammar of the modern Aryan languages of India. To wit, Hindi, Panjabi, Sindhi, Gujarati, Marathi, Oriya and Bengali, vol. III. London: Trübner and Co.Suche in Google Scholar
Blake, Barry J. 1994. Case. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.Suche in Google Scholar
Boro, Krishna. 2017. A grammar of Hakhun Tangsa. PhD dissertation, University of Oregon, Eugene, OR.Suche in Google Scholar
Chatterji, Suniti K. 1926. The origin and development of the Bengali language, Part II. Calcutta: Calcutta University Press.Suche in Google Scholar
DeLancey, Scott. 1997. Grammaticalization and the gradience of categories: Relator nouns and postpositions in Tibetan and Burmese. In Joan Bybee, John Haiman & Sandra A. Thompson (eds.), Essays on language function and language type: Dedicated to T. Givón, 51–69. Amsterdam & Philadelphia: John Benjamins.10.1075/z.82.07delSuche in Google Scholar
DeLancey, Scott. 2005. Adpositions as a non-universal category. In Zygmunt Frajzyngier, Adam Hodges & David S. Rood (eds.), Linguistic diversity and language theories, 185–202. Amsterdam & Philadelphia: John Benjamins.10.1075/slcs.72.10delSuche in Google Scholar
den Dikken, Marcel. 2010. On the functional structure of locative and directional PPs. In Guglielmo Cinque & Luigi Rizzi (eds.), Mapping spatial PPs: Cartography of syntactic structures, vol. 6, 74–126. Oxford: Oxford University Press.10.1093/acprof:oso/9780195393675.003.0003Suche in Google Scholar
Goswami, Golockchandra. 1982. Structure of Assamese. Guwahati: Gauhati University Press.Suche in Google Scholar
Grenoble, Lenore A. 2014. Spatial semantics, case and relator nouns in Evenki. In Pirkko Suihkonen & Lindsay J. Whaley (eds.), On diversity and complexity of languages spoken in Europe and North and Central Asia (Studies in Language Companion Series 164), 109–132. Amsterdam & Philadelphia: John Benjamins.10.1075/slcs.164.04greSuche in Google Scholar
Heine, Bernd, Ulrike Claudi & Friederike Hünnemayer. 1991. Grammaticalization: A conceptual framework. Chicago: University of Chicago Press.Suche in Google Scholar
Hoernle, A. F. Rudolf. 1880. A comparative grammar of the Gaudian languages with special reference to the Eastern Hindi. London: Trübner and Co.Suche in Google Scholar
Jackendoff, Ray. 1983. Semantics and cognition. Cambridge: MIT Press, Ma.Suche in Google Scholar
Jackendoff, Ray. 1996. The architecture of the linguistic-spatial interface. In Paul Bloom, Mary A. Peterson, Lynn Nadel & Merrill F. Garrett (eds.), Language and space, 1–30. Cambridge: MIT Press, Ma.Suche in Google Scholar
Kakati, Banikanta. 1941. Assamese, its formation and development: a scientific treatise on the history and philology of the Assamese language. Gauhati, Assam: Lawyer’s Book Stall.Suche in Google Scholar
Koopman, Hilda. 2000. Prepositions, postpositions, circumpositions, and particles. In Hilda Koopman (ed.), The syntax of specifiers and heads, 204-260. London: Routledge.10.1093/acprof:oso/9780195393675.003.0002Suche in Google Scholar
Koul, Omkar. 2008. Modern Hindi grammar. Springfield, VA: Dunwoody Press.Suche in Google Scholar
Kracht, Marcus. 2002. On the semantics of locatives. Linguistics and Philosophy 25. 157–232.10.1023/A:1014646826099Suche in Google Scholar
Lestrade, Sander, Kees de Schepper & Joost Zwarts. 2011. The distribution of labor between adpositions and case within complex spatial PPs. STUF – Language Typology and Universals 64(3). 256–274. https://doi.org/10.1524/stuf.2011.0018.Suche in Google Scholar
Levinson, Stephen C. 1994. Vision, shape, and linguistic description: Tzeltal body-part terminology and object description. Linguistics 32. 791–855. https://doi.org/10.1515/ling.1994.32.4-5.791.Suche in Google Scholar
Marr, David. 1982. Vision: A computational investigation into the human representation and processing of visual information. New York: W.H. Freeman.Suche in Google Scholar
Masica, Colin P. 1991. The Indo-Aryan languages. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.Suche in Google Scholar
Nam, Seungho. 1995. The semantics of locative PPs in English. PhD dissertation, University of California, Los Angeles.Suche in Google Scholar
Pantcheva, Marina. 2006. Persian preposition classes. Nordlyd 33(1). 1–25. https://doi.org/10.7557/12.75.Suche in Google Scholar
Platts, John T. 1967. A grammar of the Hindustānī or Urdu language. Delhi: Munshiram Manoharlal Oriental Publishers and Booksellers.Suche in Google Scholar
Post, Mark. 2007. A grammar of Galo. PhD Dissertation, Research Centre for Linguistic Typology, La Trobe University, Melbourne.Suche in Google Scholar
Raza, Ghulam. 2010. Reduction of compound adpositions in Persian, Urdu, and Saraiki. Paper presented at the sixth international contrastive linguistics conference, Berlin, 30 September – 2 October. https://ling.sprachwiss.uni-konstanz.de/pages/home/pargram_urdu/main/files/rcap4.pdf (accessed 10 October 2020). Suche in Google Scholar
Raza, Ghulam & Tafseer Ahmed. 2011. Rendering spatial expressions involving axial parts in LFG. Paper presented at the thematic workshop on spatial and temporal relations in LFG, University of Debrecen, 1 April. https://ling.sprachwiss.uni-konstanz.de/pages/home/pargram_urdu/main/files/Rendering_spatial_expressions_in_LFG.pdf (accessed 10 October 2020). Suche in Google Scholar
Reinöhl, Uta. 2016. A single origin of Indo-European primary adpositions? Unveiling the Indo-Aryan branch-off. Diachronica 33(1). 95–130. https://doi.org/10.1075/dia.33.1.04rei.Suche in Google Scholar
van Riemsdijk, Henk & Riny Huybregts. 2002. Location and locality. In Marc van Oostendorp & Elena Anagnostopoulou (eds.), Progress in Grammar: Articles at the 20th Anniversary of the Comparison of Grammatical Models Group in Tilburg, 1–23. Amsterdam: Meertens Instituut. Available at: http://www.meertens.knaw.nl/books/progressingrammar/.10.1075/la.101.17rieSuche in Google Scholar
Saikia Bora, Lilabati. 2006. Asamiya Bhasar Ruptattva. Guwahati: Banalata Press.Suche in Google Scholar
Starosta, Stan. 1985. Relator nouns as a source of case inflection. In Venetta Z. Acson & Richard L. Leed (eds.), For Gordon H. Fairbanks, 111–133. Honolulu: University of Hawaii Press.Suche in Google Scholar
Svenonius, Peter. 2006. The emergence of axial parts. Nordlyd 33(1). 49–77.10.7557/12.85Suche in Google Scholar
Svenonius, Peter. 2007. Axial parts. Tromsø: CASTL, University of Tromsø.Suche in Google Scholar
Svenonius, Peter. 2012. Structural decomposition of spatial adpositions. Work. pap., Dep. Linguist., Univ. Tromsø, Nor. Available at: http://www. linguistics. rub.de/TheMeaningofP2012/Svenonius_Handout. Pdf.Suche in Google Scholar
Tisdall, William. St. Clair. 1892. A simplified grammar of the Gujarati language. London: Trübner and Co.Suche in Google Scholar
Yadav, Ramawatar. 1996. A reference grammar of Maithili (Trends in Linguistics Documentation 11). Berlin: Mouton De Gruyter.10.1515/9783110811698Suche in Google Scholar
© 2020 Walter de Gruyter GmbH, Berlin/Boston
Artikel in diesem Heft
- Frontmatter
- Articles
- The relator noun construction in Assamese
- Cape Town Gujarati and its relation to Gujarati dialectology: A study of retroflex boosting
- Predicate derivations in Thulung
- Religion and language preservation: the case of Sora
- Sanskritization in Pāli
- Book Reviews
- Philippe Swennen: Démons iraniens: Actes du colloque international organisé à l’Université de Liège les 5 et 6 février 2009 à l’occasion des 65 ans de Jean Kellens
- Natalia Chalisova, Natalia Aleksandrova & Maksim Rusanov: Ya evaṃ veda … Kto tak znaet … Pamjati Vladimira Nikolaeviča Romanova
- Khochung Okhup Aimol: Aimol Dictionary (Aimual Chongriabuk). Aimol – English Dictionary
- Obituary
- In memoriam Johanna Narten (1930–2019)
Artikel in diesem Heft
- Frontmatter
- Articles
- The relator noun construction in Assamese
- Cape Town Gujarati and its relation to Gujarati dialectology: A study of retroflex boosting
- Predicate derivations in Thulung
- Religion and language preservation: the case of Sora
- Sanskritization in Pāli
- Book Reviews
- Philippe Swennen: Démons iraniens: Actes du colloque international organisé à l’Université de Liège les 5 et 6 février 2009 à l’occasion des 65 ans de Jean Kellens
- Natalia Chalisova, Natalia Aleksandrova & Maksim Rusanov: Ya evaṃ veda … Kto tak znaet … Pamjati Vladimira Nikolaeviča Romanova
- Khochung Okhup Aimol: Aimol Dictionary (Aimual Chongriabuk). Aimol – English Dictionary
- Obituary
- In memoriam Johanna Narten (1930–2019)