Grammar of Qiang (Mouton Grammar Library).pdf

7/30/2019 Grammar of Qiang (Mouton Grammar Library).pdf

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Mouton Grammar Library 31

EditorsGeorg Bossong

Bernard ComrieMatthew Dryer

Mouton de GruyterBerlin New York


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Acknowledgments

This project was funded by the National Science Council of theRepublic of China (Grants No. NSC 85-2418-H-001-002 P2 and NSC85-2418-H-001-005), by the Chiang Ching-kuo Foundation (Grant No.RG005-D-93), and by the Project for Research on EndangeredLanguages of the Pacific Rim of the Japanese Ministry of Education,

Science, Sports, Culture and Technology. Revision of the manuscriptwas supported by a grant from the Research Committee, City Universityof Hong Kong (Grant No. 9030548). I would like to thank theseorganizations for their generous support. I would also like to thankMatthew Chen, Dean of the Facutly of Humanities and Social Sciencesat City University, and C. C. Cheng, Head of the Department of ChineseTranslation, and Linguistics, for approving a generous publication grantfor this book.

Of course this book would not have been possible without the helpand hospitality of Huang Chenglong and his family, as well as other

residents of Ronghong Village. For this I am extremely grateful.The initial project that led to this grammar being written was initiatedand organized by Ho Dah-an, now of the Institute of Linguistics,Academia Sinica. I would like to express my deep appreciation to himfor taking that initiative. I would also like to thank Alexandra Y.Aikhenvald, Bernard Comrie, R. M. W. Dixon, Jonathan Evans, PeterLester, Ying-chin Lin, James A. Matisoff, and Yoshio Nishi for takingthe time to give me extensive and very helpful comments on an earlierdraft of this book. Bernard Comrie in particular went carefully throughthree different drafts and each time sat down with me to go page bypage through the draft to explain his comments. For this I am extremely

grateful. All of these people helped improve the final outputconsiderably, but of course bear no responsibility for the remainingimperfections.


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Table of Contents

Acknowledgements vList of tables, figures, and plates xiiAbbreviations xiii

1. Introduction 1

1.1. The land 11.2. The language 21.3. The people and their culture 51.3.1. The people 51.3.2. Architecture 61.3.3. Food 71.3.4. Clothing 91.3.4.1. Mens clothing 91.3.4.2. Womens clothing 101.3.5. Family and kinship relations 111.3.6. Religion 14

1.3.7. Mobility 151.3.8. Livelihood 161.4. Previous work on Qiang 161.5. The data and their presentation 171.6. Typological profile 19

2. The phonological system 212.1. Consonants 212.2. Vowels 252.2.1. The basic inventory 252.2.2. Diphthongs and triphthongs 26

2.2.3. R-coloring 282.3. The syllable canon 302.4. Phonological processes 312.4.1. Initial weakening 312.4.2. Stress and its effects 332.4.3. Vowel harmony 352.4.4. Epenthetic vowels 36


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Contentsviii

2.4.5. Assimilation 362.4.6. Free variation 37

3. The noun phrase 393.1. Structure 393.1.1. The noun 423.1.1.1. Gender marking 483.1.1.2. Diminutive marking 493.1.1.3. The kinship prefix 493.1.2. Pronouns 50

3.1.3. Locational nouns 583.1.4. Definite, indefinite marking 593.1.5. Numerals and quantifiers 623.1.6. Classifiers and measure words 653.1.7. Number marking 693.2. Nominal relational morphology 703.2.1. Topic 713.2.2. Single direct argument of an intransitive verb 743.2.3. Actor of a transitive verb 763.2.4. Topic of a copula clause 813.2.5. Undergoer of a transitive verb 81

3.2.6. Goal or recipient of a ditransitive verb 853.2.7. Standard of a comparative construction 883.2.8. Standard of an equative comparative construction 893.2.9. Predicate noun phrases 903.2.10. Benefactive 913.2.11. Source 923.2.12. Instrument 943.2.13. Comitative, conjunction 953.2.14. Possessor in a possessive clause 973.2.15. Genitive 99

3.2.16. Whole-part relations 1013.2.17. Price, value 1023.2.18. Extent, distance 1033.2.19. Inclusion, exclusion, addition 1033.2.20. Locative, directional phrases 1063.2.21. Temporal phrases 1103.2.22. Form-function summary of relational marking 114


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Contents xi

Food preparation 343Eating and storage utensils 344Cloth and clothing 345Buildings and structures 347Furniture 349Tools 349Trade and business 351Town and road 352Travel 353Language and communication 354

Religion 355Festivals 355Games and play 356Bodyparts 357Actions involving bodyparts 360Grooming 363Life, death, and illness 364Warfare 366Kinship 366Types of people 368Verbs of interaction between people 370

Stative verbs (adjectives) 374Time phrases 379Location phrases 380Movement 382Quantifiers 383Pronouns 384Adverbs and particles 385

Index to the English glosses in the glossary 389

Notes 421

References 433

Index to the grammar 443


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Abbreviations

1 first person

2 second person

3 third person

ADJ adjective (stative

verb)

ADV adverbial marker

AGT agentive marker

ASP aspect marker

AUX auxiliary particle for

monosyllabic Chinese

loan words

BEN benefactive marker

CAUS causative suffix

Ch. Chinese

CL classifier

COM comitative marker

COMP comparative marker

CON continuative aspect

marker

COP copula

CSM change of state marker

DAT dative marker

DEF definite marker

DEM demonstrative

pronoun

DIR directional prefix

dl dualDTV directive particle

EMPH emphatic sentence-

final particle

EXC exclusion particle

EXP experiential particle

GEN genitive marker

HABIT habitual action marker

HORT hortative marker

HS hearsay marker

imp. imperative verb form

IMP imperative suffix

INDEF indefinite marker

INDTV indirect directive

marker

INF inferential/mirative

evidential marker

INT interjection,

intensifier1

INST instrumental marker

lit. literally

LOC locative marker

(includes the use of

the locative markers

to mark temporal or

other relations)

LNK clause linker

n. noun

NAR narrative (hearsay)

form made up of the

inferential and

hearsay particles

(this abbreviation is

used in the stories tosave space)

NEG negative prefix

NEG.IMP negative imperative

(prohibitive) prefix

NOM nominalizer

NUM numeral


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Abbreviationsxiv

PART clause/sentence

final particle

perf. perfective form of a

verb

PERF perfective marker

pl plural

POST postposition

PRS prospective aspect

suffix

PTB Proto-Tibeto-

Burman

Q question marker

RCA relevant condition

achieved marker

RECIP reciprocal form

REFL reflexive form

REP repetition (again)

marker

REQU request marker

RESULT this form marks a

transition in the Texts,

and was often translated

by the Chinese word

ji|eguoresult

sg singular

Tib. Tibetan

TOP topic marker

U bound non-actor

marker (e.g.2sgU

meanssecond person

singular non-actor marker)

V verbv. ambitransitive verb

vi. intransitive verb

VIS direct (usually visual)

evidential marker

vt. transitive verb

WH interrogative

pronoun

(...) a gloss that appears

in parentheses with

a dagger in front of

the parentheses

glosses a Chinese

code-mixed stretch

of text (possibly

very short). Only

clear examples of

code mixing rather

than loan words are

marked this way.

Items that have a

dagger but no

parentheses are

items that may be

either code mixing or

loans.

& allofam marker

(marks two

reconstructed forms

as being related

variants in the

protolanguage)

/ vs. In the glossary, a

slash (stroke)

between forms means

the two forms are

assumed to be different

words, whereas a tildebetween forms means

they are assumed to be

different pronunciations

for the same form.


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Plates

Plate 1: Sichuan Province, showingAba Tibetan and Qiang Autonomous Prefecture,

the Min River and Yadu Township


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xvi Plates

Plate 2: Ronghong Village


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Introduction2

The geographic features, weather conditions and soil compositionalso contribute to the abundance and peculiarities of the natural floraand fauna of the area. The mountains are heavily wooded. Gingko,camphor, Chinese hemlock, and Chinese little leaf box trees grow wildin the valleys, as do 189 types of grasses and bushes, including somerare medical herbs such as Cordyceps sinensisia,Fritillaria thunbergii(unibract fritilary bulb; chuan bei, a popular sore throat remedy), andgastrodia elata. The Qiang will pick these for their own use and to sell.Forty-one types of wild animal, among them endangered species such asthe giant panda, the small panda, the golden monkey, the wild donkey,

and the musk deer, can be found in the area.

1.2. The language

The Qiang language belongs to the Qiangic branch of the Tibeto-Burman family of the Sino-Tibetan stock. Some of the characteristics ofthe Qiangic branch include having a cognate set of direction markingprefixes; quite degenerate, though clearly cognate person markingparadigms; and radical loss of syllable final consonants, butpreservation of complex initials and clusters.2

Sun (1981a:177-78) divides the Qiang language into two majordialects, Northern Qiang and Southern Qiang (see Wen 1941 for anearlier classification into eight dialects). Qiang speakers living inHeishui County and the Chibusu district ofMao County, includingthose designated by the Chinese government as Tibetans, are said to bespeakers of the Northern dialect. Sun further subdivides the Northerndialect into the Luhua, Mawo, Cimulin, Weigu, and Yadu subdialects.Qiang speakers living in Li County, Wenchuan County, parts ofMaoCounty other than Chibusu, and Songpan County are said to beSouthern dialect speakers. The Southern dialect is also subdivided by

Sun into the Daqishan, Taoping, Longxi, Mianchi, and Heihusubdialects. Liu (1998b:17) adds Sanlong and Jiaochang to the list ofSouthern subdialects. Recent fieldwork as part of the Qiang DialectMap Project (funded by City University of Hong Kong and theResearch Grants Council of Hong Kong) has called into question someaspects of this classification. In particular, dialects in Songpan Countyand the Sanlong area ofMao County are now considered to be within


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The language 3

the Northern dialect area. The dialect situation should become clearerwith the completion of the Qiang Dialect Atlas Project.

Until recently there was no writing system for the language. TheQiang carved marks on wood to remember events or communicate. Inthe late 1980s a team of Qiang specialists from several differentorganizations developed a writing system for the Qiang language, basedon the Qugu variety of the Yadu subdialect of the Northern dialect. In1993 the government officially acknowledged the writing system.

The writing system uses 26 Roman letters to represent the 42consonants and eight vowels in that variety of Qiang. Twenty of the

consonants are represented by single Roman letters while the remaining22 consonants are represented by double Roman letters (the letter r isnot used as a single consonant). Five of the vowels are represented bysingle letters while the other three are represented by double letters.(See Table 1, overleaf).

The promulgation of the writing system has not been successful, andone of the main reasons is the complexity of the Qiang sound systemand the concomitant complexity of the writing system. It is quitedifficult for adult villagers, especially the illiterate peasants, toremember all of the letters and combinations representing differenttypes of consonants and vowels. Another factor is the diversity of Qiang

dialects. As the writing system is based on the Qugu variety of the Yadusubdialect of the Northern dialect, those who are not Northern dialectspeakers resent learning another variety of the Qiang language in orderto read and write (ideally they would eventually be able to write theirown dialect, but would learn the script using the Qugu dialect). A thirdand very important factor is the fact that even if somebody masters thesound system and is able to read and write using the writing system,there are no reading materials available to make what they have learneduseful.

Education in the Qiang areas is all in Chinese, though in recent years

there has been a movement to implement bilingual education. Many ofthe children now can go to school, but the children often have to travelgreat distances to get to school. They will often live at the school, eitherfor one week at a time, if the school is relatively close, or for months ata time, if it is farther away. Local educators have noticed that even withthe opportunity for free education offered by the central government,there has been a continuously high drop-out rate among children from


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Introduction4

remote villages. One reason, they believe, is that most of the childrenfrom the remote villages cannot cope with the school education becauseteaching in the schools is all in Chinese and they cannot speak Chinese.The call for a bilingual approach in education mainly refers to the use ofspoken Qiang as a medium of instruction in the lower grades alongsideMandarin in order to facilitate the learning of Chinese. Another reasonfor the high drop-out rate is the fact that while schooling is technicallyfree, the schools charge various fees and the cost of room and board, soit can be prohibitively expensive for the villagers.

Table 1: The Qiang orthography

Qiang IPA Qiang IPA

A a L l l

AE ae LH lh

B b p M m m

BB bb b N n n

C c tsh NG ng

CH ch th NY ny

D d t O o o

DD dd d P p ph

DH dh d Q q th

E e RR rr

EA ea e S s s

F f f SH sh

G g k SS ss z

GG gg g T t th

GV gv q U u u

H h x V v

HH hh VH vh

HV hv h VV vv

I i i W w w

IU iu y X x

J j t XX xx JJ jj d Y y j

K k kh Z z ts

KV kv qh ZH zh t

ZZ zz dz


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Introduction6

/me/in their own language, writtenRRmea in the Qiang orthography),are but one small branch of the ancientQiang. They in fact did notthink of themselves as "Qiang" (a Chinese exonym) until the early 20thcentury. It is clear that the culture of the stone watchtowers (see Plate3), which can be identified with the modern Qiang people, has been innorthern Sichuan since at least the beginning of the present era. Being inthis area, the Qiang people are between the Han Chinese to the east andsouth and the Tibetans to the west and north. In the past fightingbetween these two larger groups often took place in the Qiang area, andthe Qiang would come under the domination of one group or the other.

At times there was also fighting between different Qiang villages. Theconstruction of the watchtowers and the traditional design of theirhouses (with thick stone walls and small windows and doors; see Plate2) give testimony to the constant threat of attack.3

The majority of Qiang speakers, roughly eighty thousand people, aremembers of the Qiang ethnicity, and the rest, approximately fiftythousand people, are a subgroup of the Tibetan ethnicity.4 These ethnicdesignations are what they call themselves in Chinese. In Qiang they allcall themselves /me/ or a dialect variant of this word. Not all membersof the Qiang ethnicity speak Qiang, and as just mentioned, not all ofthose who speak Qiang are considered members of the Qiang ethnicity.

1.3.2. Architecture

The traditional Qiang house is a permanent one built of piled stones andhas three stories. Generally one nuclear family will live in one house.The lowest floor houses the familys animals, and straw is used as aground covering. When the straw becomes somewhat rotted and full ofmanure and urine, it is used for fertilizer.5A steep wooden ladder leadsto the second floor from the back of the first floor. On the second floor

is the fireplace and sleeping quarters. Beds are wooden platforms withmats made of straw as mattresses. The third floor has more rooms forsleeping and/or is used for storage. A ladder also leads from there to theroof, which is used for drying fungi, corn or other items, and also forsome religious practices, as a white stone (flint) is placed on the roofand invested with a spirit. The fireplace, which is the central point of themain room on the second floor, originally had three stones set in a circle


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The people and their culture 9

animals are slaughtered (in mid-winter), and then the meat is preservedand hung from the rafters in the house. The amount of meat hanging inones house is a sign of ones wealth. As there are no large fish in thestreams and rivers, the Qiang generally do not eat fish. In the past theywould hunt wild oxen, wild boars, several types of mountain goat,bears, wolves (for the skin), marmots, badgers, sparrows, rabbits, andmusk deer (and sell the musk). They used small cross-bows, bows andarrows, pit traps, wire traps, and more recently flint-lock rifles to hunt.Now there are not many animals left in the mountains, and many thatare there are endangered species, and so can no longer be hunted.

The low-alcohol liquor made out of highland barley (similar toTibetan chang) or occasionally corn or other grains, called /i/ inQiang, is one of the favorite beverages of the Qiang. It plays a veryimportant role in the daily activities of the Qiang. It is an indispensabledrink for use on all occasions. It is generally drunk from large casksplaced on the ground using long bamboo straws. For this reason it iscalled zajiu sucked liquor in Chinese. Opening a cask of /i/ is animportant part of hosting an honored guest.

1.3.4. Clothing

1.3.4.1. Mens clothing

At present only a few of the older Qiang men still wear the traditionalQiang clothing except on particular ceremonial occasions. One item oftraditional clothing still popularly worn by men and women is thehandmade embroidered shoes. These are made of cloth, shaped like aboat, with the shoe face intricately embroidered. The sole is made ofthickly woven hemp. It is very durable and quite practical for climbingin the mountains. In the summer men often wear a sandal version ofthese shoes with a large pomp on the toe. These shoes are an obligatory

item of a Qiang womans dowry when she gets married. In manyvillages, embroidered shoe soles or shoe pads are still a popularengagement gift of a woman to her lover. Recently some women havetaken to selling them as tourist souvenirs as well.

Another item still popular among the Qiang men and women as wellis the goat-skin vest. The vest is reversible; in the winter it is normallyworn with the fur inside for warmth, and when worn with the fur out, it


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Clothing of those living near the Tibetan areas bear the influence ofthe Tibetan ways of clothing.

Other than the headdresses and the robes, Qiang women are alsofond of wearing big earrings, ornamental hairpins, bracelets, and othersilver jewelry. Jewelry pieces of those who are wealthier are inlaid withprecious stones like jade, agate, and coral. They often hang a needle andthread box and sometimes a mouth harp from their belt.

Babies wear special embroidered hats with silver ornaments andbronze and silver bells, and a small fragrance bag.

1.3.5. Family and kinship relations

Although in the Qiang language traditionally there are no surnames, forseveral hundred years the Qiang have been using Han Chinesesurnames. The clans or surname groups form the lowest level oforganization within the village above the nuclear family. In one villagethere may be only a few different surnames. The village will have avillage leader, and this is now an official political post with a smallsalary. Many of the traditionalnaturalvillages have now beenorganized intoadministrativevillages comprised of severalnaturalvillages. Before 1949 (as early as the Yuan dynasty13-14th century),above the village level there was a local leader (called tus in Chinese)who was enfiefed by the central government to control the Qiang andcollect taxes. This leader could also write his own laws and demand hisown taxes and servitude from the Qiang people. The Qiang had to workfor this local leader for free, and also give a part of their food to him.His position was hereditary, and many of these leaders were terribletyrants and exploiters of the people. Some of the Qiang traditionalstories are of overthrowing such tyrants.

Kinship relations are quite complex, and while generally patrilineal,

the women have a rather high status, supposedly a remnant of amatriarchal past. Only men can inherit the wealth of the parents, butwomen are given a large dowry. Marriages are monogamous, and canbe with someone of the same surname, but not within the same familyfor at least three generations. The general practice is to marry someoneof the same village but it can also be with someone outside the village.Increasingly Qiang women are marrying out of the villages to Chinese


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Introduction12

or Qiang living in the plains to have an easier life, and many of theyoung men who go out to study or work marry Han Chinese women. Inthe past marriages were decided by the parents of the bride and groom,although now the young people generally have free choice.

The traditional form of marriage in the village is characterized by aseries of rituals focused around drinking and eating. It is consists ofthree main stages: engagement, preparation for the wedding, and thewedding ceremony. The rituals start when the parents of a boy have agirl in mind for their son. The parents will start the courtship byasking a relative or someone who knows the girls family to find out

whether she is available or not. If the girl is available, they will move onto the next step, that is, to ask a matchmaker to carry a package of gifts(containing sugar, wine, noodles, and cured meat) to the girls family.This is only to convey their intention to propose a marriage. If the girlsparents accepted the gift, the boys parents will proceed to the next step,asking the matchmaker to bring some more gifts to the girls parentsand officially propose. If the girls parents agree, then a date will beset to bring the engagement wine to the girls family. On that day, thegirls parents and all the siblings will join in to drink and sing theengagement song. Once this is done, the couples are considered to beengaged, and there should be no backing out. After being engaged, the

girl should avoid having any contact with members of the groomsfamily.

Before the wedding, a member from the grooms family will beaccompanied by the matchmaker to the brides family, carrying withthem some wine which they will offer to the brides family membersand relatives of the same surname, to have a drink and decide on thedate of the wedding. Once the wedding date has been set, the groom,accompanied by the matchmaker and carrying some more wine,personally goes to the brides family to have a drink with the bridesuncles, aunts and other family members.

The wedding ceremony itself takes three days, and is traditionallyhosted by the oldest brothers of the mothers of the bride and groom. Onthe first day, the grooms family sends an entire entourage to the bridesplace to fetch the bride. The entourage usually consists of relatives ofthe groom and some boys and girls from the village whose parents areboth still living, with two people playing the trumpet. They carry withthem a sedan chair, horses (in some cases), clothing and jewelry for the


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bride. The entourage has to arrive in the brides village before sunset.They stay there overnight. The next day, the bride has to leave with thegroup to go to the grooms family. Before stepping out of her familydoor, she has to cry to show how sad she is leaving her parents andfamily members. One of her brothers will carry her on his back to thesedan chair. Once the bride steps out of her parents house she shouldnot turn her head to look back. She is accompanied by her aunts (wife ofher uncle from her mothers side, and wife of her uncle from herfathers side), sisters and other relatives. Before the bride enters thegrooms house she has to step over a small fire or a red cloth (this part

of the ceremony varies among areas). The bride enters the house and theactual wedding ceremony starts. The couple will be led to the front ofthe family altar, and, just like the wedding practice of the Chinese, thecouple will first make vows to heaven and earth, the family ancestors,the grooms parents, the other relatives, and finally vows to each other.There is a speech by the hosting uncles, and the opening of a cask ofhighland barley wine. There will then be dancing and drinking. As thecask is drunk, hot water is added to the top with a water scoop, and eachdrinker is expected to drink one scoops equivalent of liquor. If thedrinker fails to drink the required amount, he or she may be tossed upinto the air by the others in the party.

Before the couple enter the room where they are to live, two smallchildren (whose parents are both still living) will be sent in to runaround and play on the couples bed, as a way of blessing the couple tosoon have children.

On the third day the bride returns to her parents home. When sheleaves her newlywed husbands village, relatives of the husband wait attheir doorways or at the main entrance to the village to offer her wine.The brides family will also prepare wine and food to welcome thenewlywed couple. The groom has to visit and pay respects to all of thebrides relatives. The bride then stays at her parents house for a year or

so, until the birth of the first child or at least until around the time of theQiang New Year (see below). The groom will visit her there and maylive in the womans house. She returns to her husbands family tocelebrate the birth or the New Year, and stays there permanently.

In recent years there has been movement away from traditional stylemarriage ceremonies towards more Han Chinese style or Chinese-Western-Qiang mixed style marriage ceremonies.


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Introduction16

embroider, hoe the fields, spread seeds, cook most of the food, and domost of the housework. In the winter men often went down into theflatlands to dig wells for pay (this often involved a twelve-day walkdown to the Chengdu area!). Any trading was also only done by men. Inthe past the Qiang traded opium, animal skins and medicinal plants inorder to get gold, silver, coral, and ivory. These items were often madeinto jewelry for the women. Nowadays both men and women cook andgather wild plants, and it is common for men to leave the village forlong periods of time to go out to work in the flatlands or to sellmedicinal herbs, wood, vegetables, animal skins or other items in

exchange for money or rice.Although some ancient ceramics have been unearthed in the Qiang

areas, in the recent past ceramics were not made by the Qiang. MostQiang-made utensils were of wood, stone or iron. There were specialistsin metalworking. Nowadays most such items are bought from outsidethe Qiang area.

1.4. Previous work on Qiang

Fieldwork on Qiang and initial analysis was first carried out by Wen Yu

in the late 1930s (Wen 1940, 1941, 1943a, 1943b, 1943c, 1945). Wenalso did some initial comparisons and historical work on the language(1943b, 1947), and published two vocabularies of Qiang (1950, 1951).Chang Kun (1967) used Wens data for a comparative study of thesouthern Qiang dialects, and attempted to reconstruct the proto-language. In the late 1950s the Chinese Academy of Sciencesorganized teams of linguists to go to the different areas where ethnicminority peoples lived and carry out fieldwork. Two members of theteam that worked on Qiang were Sun Hongkai and Liu Guangkun.8 Anearly report drafted by them was published with Institute of

Nationalities, Chinese Academy of Sciences as the author in thejournal Zhongguo Yuwen in 1962. They have also published much ofthe material available on Qiang since then (Sun 1981a, 1981b, 1982,1983, 1985, 1988; Liu 1981, 1984, 1987, 1997, 1998a, 1998b, 1999).Huang Bufan, another member of the team, now retired from theCentral University of Nationalities, has also done important work onQiang (1987, 1991, 1994, 2000, 2002), and is now in the process of


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The data and their presentation 17

writing a grammar of the Qugu Village variety of the Yadu subdialectof the Northern dialect. These three scholars have trained a native Qianglinguist, Huang Chenglong, who has published a number of articles onhis native dialect, the Ronghong Village variety of the Yadu subdialectof the Northern dialect (1992, 1993, 1994, 1997, 1998, 2000a, 2000b,2003; Huang, Yu & Huang 1992), on which this grammar is also based.Sun Hongkai and Huang Chenglong are currently preparing amanuscript entitled Studies on Qiang Dialects that will compare 20different Qiang dialects in terms of phonology and to some extentgrammar as well. Randy LaPolla has published an overview sketch of

Ronghong Qiang (LaPolla 2003c) and a paper on the evidentials of theRonghong variety (LaPolla 2003d), as well as a lexical list and texts inthe Qugu variety (LaPolla, 2003e; LaPolla & Poa, in press). RandyLaPolla and Huang Chenglong have presented papers on adjectives(LaPolla & Huang 2002a) and copula constructions (LaPolla & Huang2002b) in Qiang. Jonathan Evans has published a monograph on theSouthern Qiang lexicon and phonology (2001a) and a paper on contact-induced tonogenesis in Qiang (2001b), and has presented a paper on thedirectional prefixes (2000). Randy LaPolla, Huang Chenglong, DoryPoa, Jonathan Evans, and Wang Ming-ke are currently collaboratingwith Zhou Facheng and a team of other Qiang linguists on the Qiang

Dialect Map Project, which will attempt to record the language andcustoms in at least fifteen Qiang villages and make the data and imagesavailable on an Internet web site (the Qiang Language and Culture WebSite: http://victoria.linguistlist.org/~lapolla/qiang/index.htm).

1.5. The data and their presentation

All data presented in the Grammar, Texts, and Glossary are of the Yadusubdialect of northern Qiang spoken in Ronghong Village, Yadu

Township, Chibusu District, Mao County (see Plates 1 and 2). The dataare from Mr. Huang Chenglong, a native ofRonghong Village, andmembers of his family. The grammatical analysis is based on naturallyoccurring texts (narratives) as well as elicited sentence patterns.Examples taken from the Texts are marked by the number of the textand the line number(s) the example appears on. For example, (T3:23-24) means the example appears in lines 23-24 of Text 3, An Orphan.


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Introduction18

Stories and lexical items were also collected from the Qugu variety ofNorthern Qiang, also of Chibusu district, from Mr. Chen Yonglin,though as the Qugu variety differs somewhat from the Ronghongvariety, those data are not presented here. The lexical data and some ofthe stories have been published separately as LaPolla, 2003e, andLaPolla & Poa, in press, respectively. All of the fieldwork was carriedout in Chinese, and the first draft of the grammar and stories had onlyChinese glosses. The glosses and free translations were then translatedinto English. The English glosses for the items in the Glossary arelargely from theHandbook of Chinese Dialect Vocabulary, which was

used as a basis for the lexical elicitation.9 For this reason the glosses arein a sense twice-removed (twice-translated) from the Qiang, and sosome ambiguities may have been introduced that were not in the firsttranslation. If readers have questions about any such items, they shouldcontact Randy LaPolla ([email protected]). The glossary is alsoavailable as a freestanding Hypercard application which includes theoriginal Chinese glosses (and the Qugu lexical data mentioned above),for those who might be able to make use of it. Again, contact RandyLaPolla. Reconstructions given for Proto-Tibeto-Burman forms arefrom Benedict 1972, except for the numerals, which are from Matisoff1997.

The last section of this chapter is a typological overview of thelanguage. The discussion in the rest of the grammatical description isdivided into four main parts: the sound system of the language (Chapter2), the form of representation of the participants of an action or stateand the expression of their relationship to the verb and to each other(Chapter 3), the form of representation of an action or state (Chapter 4),and complex structures (Chapter 5). Following the grammaticaldescription are Qiang oral texts, presented with interlinear glosses and afree translation at the end of each text. Following the Texts is anannotated glossary of basic Qiang vocabulary organized by semantic

field, and an English alphabetical index to the glossary.The Lingua Descriptive Studies: Questionnaire (Comrie & Smith1977) was very helpful in collecting part of the data, though the modeof presentation in this grammar is not always that of the Questionnaire.The guidelines for summarizing grammatical information prepared aspart of the research project The Categories of Human Language beingcarried out by R. M. W. Dixon and Alexandra Y. Aikhenvald were also


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Typological profile 19

helpful in trying to make the information presented here as complete aspossible.

1.6. Typological profile

Qiang is a largely agglutinative language, with some phonologicalprocesses of vowel harmony, lenition, and morpheme coalescence.Nouns take only a limited number of optional suffixes with restricteddistribution, while verbs take up to three prefixes and four suffixes.

Except for nominalizing suffixes and the causative suffix, which arederivational, all other verbal affixes are inflectional. Reduplication ofverbs is of the whole root, and with active verbs it signifies reciprocalaction (and intransitivization) or an iterative sense; with stative verbs itsignifies intensification or plurality.

Qiang has a rather complex phonological system, with thirty-seveninitial consonants, including voiced and voiceless fricatives at sevendifferent points of articulation and many consonant clusters. Unlikemost Tibeto-Burman languages, Qiang has many consonant finals,including clusters, due to the collapsing of two syllables into one (thereis a tendency towards monosyllable words).

There are two open lexical classes: nouns, those forms which cantake definite marking and number marking, and verbs, those formswhich can take the negative prefix and person marking (see Chapters 3and 4 respectively). Adjectives are a subset of the verbs, and can beidentified as a set by their semantics and their morphosyntactic behavior(4.2.3). Closed lexical classes include pronouns (includingdemonstratives, interrogatives, and personal pronouns; 3.1.2),classifiers (3.1.6), postpositions (3.2), definite/indefinite markers(3.1.4), clause-final particles (4.3), and adverbs (4.4). Of these thepronouns and classifiers are subsets of the nouns.

Qiang has both head marking and dependent marking. Noun phrasescan take enclitic postpositions to show their semantic or pragmatic rolein the clause (3.2), and there is person marking of an animate actorand/or an animate non-actor on the verb (4.3.2). There is no otheragreement marking in Qiang. Qiang has not grammaticalized syntacticrelations (i.e. there are no syntactic pivotssee Van Valin & LaPolla1997, Ch. 6 on this concept); the postpositions and person marking are


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Introduction20

of the semantically based type discussed in Dixon 1994, Ch. 2. The useof the topic marker, and to some extent the non-actor person marking,are controlled by pragmatic factors. While the word order is generallyverb-final, the order of noun phrases is determined by pragmatic factors.Negation precedes the verb, while modal and aspect marking follow theverb.

Within the noun phrase, the noun head can be preceded by a genitivephrase or relative clause, and may be followed by an adjective, ademonstrative pronoun or definite marker, and a numeral plus classifierphrase, in that order.

There are intransitive, transitive, and ditransitive verbs, plus someambitransitive verbs where the single argument of the intransitive usecorresponds to the actor of the transitive use. Transitives can be formedfrom intransitives, or ditransitives from transitives, by the addition ofthe causative suffix. There is no intransitivizing marking other than thereduplication that marks the reciprocal. When a verb is part of apredicate (verb complex), it can be preceded by an adverbial, adirectional prefix, a negative marking prefix, and an aspectual prefix,and can be followed by the causative suffix, aspectual suffixes, andperson marking suffixes. This complex can be followed by clause finalparticles marking illocutionary force, modality, mood, and evidentials.


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Chapter 2The phonological system

In the context of Tibeto-Burman, the phonological system of Qiang israther complex, as there are a large number of consonants, both in initialand final position, and a large number of complex consonant clusters,also both in initial and final position. In particular, having such a varietyof consonant finals and clusters sets it apart from most other Sino-Tibetan languages. While the basic vowel inventory is not large, thereare phonemic length and r-coloring distinctions. There is also a complexsystem of vowel harmony, and there are vowel changes due todifferences in stress. We will discuss and exemplify the consonantsystem in 2.1, the vowel system in 2.2, the syllable canon in 2.3, andphonological processes in 2.4.

Sound symbolism does not seem to play a significant role in thelanguage. The only somewhat sound symbolic form found was the useof/a/ for the meaning small instead of the usual word /t/ (which is

very un-sound-symbolic!) in one example:

(2.1) mou-a-k: de-w! wind-small-INDEF:CL DIR-existThere is a light wind (blowing)!

The only iconic forms are the ideophonic adverbials, such as /uu/ the sound of water flowing (see 4.4 for examples of theseadverbial uses).

2.1. Consonants

There are thirty-seven consonant phonemes found in the Qianglanguage, as listed in Table 2:


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Consonants 23

they are clearly within the vocalic segment of the syllable and not partof the initial, and so I have not used /j/ and /w/ when they are not theintial sound in the syllable (to avoid them being confused withconsonant clusters).

All of the phonemic consonants can be initials, though // onlyappears as the initial of one of the directional prefixes and a commonlyused filler/emphatic interjection //, and // only appears as an initialbefore the vowel /u/. Many of these consonants (almost all except theaspirated stops) can be finals. The large number of finals is not due tothe preservation of Proto-Tibeto-Burman finals; all of the original

Proto-Tibeto-Burman finals were lost (cf. Liu 1984, Benedict 1983,Huang 1998). Only in Chinese loan words can the finals be said to beoriginal. After the loss of the original finals, and the destressing ofsecond syllables in two syllable compounds, the two syllables merged,with the initial of the original second syllable, or a reduced form of it,becoming the final of the original initial syllable (e.g. [sf] treefl < /s/woodfl + /ph/ forestfl, where /ph/ reduces to [f] in non-word-initialposition due to the stress on the initial syllable; see 2.3).

Following are examples of single consonant contrasts in initialposition:

p bloom (vi.)fl w stoneflph sun (clothes) (vt.)fl - INDTV prefixb oldfl t-l whereflf clothesfl th drink (1sg)flm mother (address term)fl i releaseflw (verb particle) ti bearflt wear a hatfl di brotherfls sonflth therefl andflds finish (v.)fl j ku ivoryflts herefl k go (1sg)fl

tsh-th wipefl (< Ch.) kha rice huskfl11

dz pursuefl gn khu snap buttonfl (< Ch.)s bloodfl xu fragrantflz rice ladlefl u silverfln goodfl q 1sg pronoun slipperyfl qh(q) bitterfll wolffl (< Ch.) f grassfl


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Vowels 25

q-i dicefl zu chisel (n.)fllu roll (v.)fl ds toenailflz hot (peppery); numbfl is spring (of water)flem rice gruel, congeefl pies noodlefl

qu goldfl ti:mi heartfld enoughfl bie soak (barley to

make wine)fl

Examples of some clusters in final position:

thex sip (vt.)fl dt laugh (v.)flw horse dungfl lax palm (of hand)fllz bookfl xt shade (vt.)fll uprightfl

2.2. Vowels

2.2.1. The basic inventory

There are eight vowel positions, seven of which show a phonemic

contrast in length. Table 3 gives the forms for all the Qiang vowels:

Table 3. The Qiang vowel inventory

front mid back

high i, i: y, y: u, u:mid e, e: o, o:low a, a: , :

The functional loads of the /u/-/o/ contrast and the /i/-/e/ contrast arenot very great: in many cases /o/ and /u/ are interchangeable, and /i/ and/e/ are interchangeable. Aside from this, /o/ can also be pronounced [],

and /e/ is often pronounced []. The length contrast in some cases islexical, but in many cases it is grammatical, reflecting a collapsing of alexical item and a following classifier or locative postposition, orreflecting the prospective aspect marking, as in the following examples:

(2.2) a. the thatfl + ze (CL) > the: 3sg pronounb. t wherefl + l (LOC) > t: wherefl


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Vowels 27

person suffix /-/ (when // is added to a root ending in /-e/, /-i/, or /-y/,the resulting form is generally /-a/; see 4.3.2). There is also a long-vowel form of this diphthong (/tya:/), which appears only in theprospective aspect, as the prospective aspect marker is the suffix /-:/and is subject to the same assimilatory process (see 4.3.4). Among thenative diphthongs there are both on-glides and off-glides. Some formsalso show length and r-coloring distinctions (see below, 2.2.3). Asidefrom these native forms, there are two off-glide diphthongs (/ai/, /au/)and two triphthongs (/uai/, /iu/) that appear only in Chinese loan words(see examples below). In theory, all of the native diphthongs should be

able to appear in both open and closed syllables, as originally, beforethe coalescence of two syllables into one that gave rise to the consonantfinals, all were open syllables, but no unmarked lexical examples of /i,oi, ye, eu, ui/ in closed syllables have been found. Even so, for thosediphthongs where there are no lexicalized closed syllables, closedsyllables could be formed by the addition of certain grammaticalmorphemes, such as the agentive nominalizer /-m/, the instrumentalnominalizer /-s/, the comparative standard marker /-s/, and the genitivemarker /-t/. Following are examples of each type of diphthong andtriphthong.

Examples of the native diphthongs and triphthong in open syllables:

mia-pi eyelidfl u outsideflphie plant (vt.)fl ua leftflei-i next yearfl ku have diarrheaflipi motherfls brotherfls wifefl gue-i nearfldooi call to, summon (vt.)fl guefi armyfltye hoe (n.)fl gue:fi roadfltu homefl dza:khui afternoonfl(ty) heu repay (debt)fl kui mountain goatfl

phi-que greyfl

Examples of the native diphthongs in closed syllables:

ji-miaq thumbfl uaq moonlightflpies meatfl dul curved knifeflstu pot luck mealfl tus carrying polefltkhue anger (vt.)fl


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The phonological system28

Examples of diphthongs and triphthongs due to Chinese borrowings:

phai playing cardsfl kui-th blame (vt.)fltu-ts dumplingsfl phiu-ts paper moneyfl

2.2.3. R-coloring

An additional aspect of the vowel system is r-coloring, which is aretroflexion of the tongue at the end of the vowel. At least four of the

basic vowels show a contrast in lexical items (i, e, , a),14 and allvowels can take r-coloring when they are the final vowel of a verb withfirst person plural marking (which is /-fi/; see 4.3.2). This r-coloring isoften lost in rapid speech, and it seems that it is being lost completelyamong the younger people, as there is variation and uncertainty aboutits use. The r-coloring also often appears on words followed by theexpression meaning allfl. This meaning is variously expressed as [wu],[le-wu], [le-wu], [lefiwu], [-efiwu], and [-fiwu]. In the case of the latterform, the final vowel of the previous word becomes r-colored, e.g.:

(2.3) a. ts-sfiwu [this:one-few (< s ):all] all theseflb. -sfiwu [one-day (< -s):all] all dayflc. -jfiwu [one-night (< -j):all] all nightfld. mifiwu [person (< mi):all] all the peoplefl

While the r-coloring is used to represent Chinese final /-fi/, /-n/ or /-/in nativizations of some Chinese loan words (e.g., /fefi/ centfl < Chinesefen;/thiukfi/ spoonfl < Chinese ti|aogeng), and may in some cases bedue to either the historical evolution of a post-initial retroflex segment(/%/ or // e.g., *phri > phifi; see Huang 1992:154, 157) or to synchronicassimilation to a following retroflex consonant, it is not treated here as a

consonantal phoneme, as it participates in the vowel harmony scheme(see 2.4.3). Following are some examples of contrasting r-colored andnon-r-colored vowels, and long and short r-colored vowels.

se sprinkle (vt.)fl khst husbandfls motherflsefi fu mourning apparelfl khfi saw (vt.)flse:fi-muju mushroomfl phi-phi digfl


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The phonological system30

2.3. The syllable canon

The coalescence of syllables resulting in the creation of new finals andclusters (discussed in 2.1) has affected the syllable canon, which isgiven in Figure 1:

(C) (Ci) (V) V (V) (C) (Cf)[fric] [glide] [glide][fric]

Figure 1. The Qiang syllable canon

The minimum syllable type is a single vowel, such as one of theforms for the word for onefl: //. While a glottal stop often appears atthe beginning of a syllable with no other consonant initial, there is nophonemic difference between glottal stop onset and vocalic onset.16

Glottal stops also often appear at the end of syllables with short vowelsand no final consonant, but again, this is not phonemic. The initialconsonant of the syllable may be any of the consonants listed in Table2, but if there is a pre-initial consonant (i.e. the first consonant of acluster), it must be a fricative.17 As the final consonant clusters derivefrom initial clusters, the same restriction applies: the first consonant ofthe two must be a fricative.18Most of the combinations of the optional

items given in parentheses in Figure 1 are possible forms in Qiang. Ihave not yet found an example where there is an off-glide and afollowing consonant cluster, though there is nothing in principle thatwould make this an impossible combination. Following are the possiblesyllable types and examples (V here is used for both full vowels andon/off glides within a single syllable):

V onefl CVVC dup thighflVV u one pilefl CCV xte louseflVC s one dayfl CCVV kue roastfl

VCC tightfl CCVVV kui mt. goatflCV p buyfl CCVC pl kidneyflCVV khu dogfl CCVCC ps ChibusuflCVVV kui-th strangefl CCVVC quap quietflCVC pq interestfl CCVVCC piex scarflCVCC bx honeyfl


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Phonological processes 31

The VC and VCC forms are generally formed from a single vowelform, such as the number onefl or the inner-directedfl directional prefix(4.3.3), plus a reduced form of a classifier or verb, respectively.

The word in Qiang is defined on phonological grounds, as a freeform with pauses at both ends within which the phonological processesdiscussed in 2.4 operate. It may include more than one grammaticalword, such as when a directional verb follows a main verb and formsone phonological word with it. While very often bimorphemic, the wordtends to reduce to a single syllable in the case of unmodified nouns andverbs. Huang (1998:64) counted 836 basic words, and found 444 were

monosyllabic and 392 were bisyllabic or polysyllabic. Even whenvarious derivational and relational affixes have been added the root maystill be monosyllabic due to processes of syllable weakening and voweldropping (see 2.4 below, and Huang 1998).19 There is no sense ofword in the Qiang language (what we would call the sociologicalword), only /s/ 'sentence'. Other than the word, we recognize the nounphrase, the verb complex, the clause, and the complex sentence as levelsof grammatical structure.

2.4. Phonological processes

In this section we will discuss the weakening of initial consonants,stress, vowel harmony and epenthesis. These phonological processesoccur within a unit that can be defined as the phonological word.

2.4.1. Initial weakening

Several types of initial consonant undergo a form of weakening when,due to derivation, they appear in non-word-initial position, particularly

in non-syllable-initial position. This occurs both in compounds andwhen the directional prefix is added to verb roots. Following are someexamples (see also Huang 1998; see 2.4.2 on the effects of the changein stress on the vowels):

(2.4) ph > f:a. - DIR + ph blowfl > blow (imperative)fl


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(2.14) a. n- DIR + ll exchangefl > nll exchangedflb. t- DIR + thth weighfl > ttth weighedfl

Another type of vowel loss often occurs in certain combinations ofdemonstrative, number, and classifier (e.g. [tsou] < tse-o-u (this-one-CL) this (child)fl) or definite marker, number and classifier (e.g. /tou/ wupu (wild) pigeonflb. m firefl + -xu smokefl > muxu smokeflc. ph forestfl + xu roe deerfl > phuxu wild animalfld. - DIR + pi unclefl > ipi unclefle. - DIR + tse look atfl > itse sawflf. h- tenfl + ti onefl22 > hati elevenflg. ji two + -su tenfl > jusu twentyfl

R-coloring is also involved in vowel harmony: if the second syllableof a compound or prefix + root form has r-coloring, in many cases thefirst syllable also takes on r-coloring. E.g.:

(2.16) a. u fivefl + khefi hundredfl > ufi-khefi five hundredfl23

b. me notfl + wefi reducefl > mefi-wefi unceasinglyfl


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T5:54), and in several tokens of the definite marker /le/ in the Textswhich were pronounced [ne], e.g. one token of [jin-ne:] (< /jin-le:/)monkfls robefl in The Story of a Lazy Man (T5:163). Vowel harmony,both in the position of articulation and the retroflexion of the vowel,discussed in Section 2.4.3, is also a kind of assimilation.

2.4.6. Free variation

Quite a number of lexical items in Qiang allow variation of the

preinitial, initial, vowel, or final consonant. Examples:

phi phi phi whitefl iq ix blackflmuxu muu smokefl fut futs incenseflquat quat stealfl xup fup furflqut qut coverfl qu qu mouthflkhesu khefisu eightyfl

The most common of these is the //-// variation. There are also caseswhere there is variation not in the form of the final, but in whether thereis a final or not, or whether there are two syllables or one, as in thefollowing:

mutu mutup skyfl qh qhq bitterfl kp kpt orphanfl


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Chapter 3The noun phrase

In Section 3.1 we discuss the syntax of the noun phrase and certainindividual elements of the noun phrase, plus modifiers of nouns withinthe noun phrase. In Section 3.2 we discuss the various roles the nounphrase can have in the clause and the different types of marking it takeswhen it has those roles.

3.1. Structure

The structure of the noun phrase is generally head-initial, though agenitive phrase or relative clause (or both) precedes the head noun. Themaximum structure of a simple noun phrase is as in Figure 2:

GEN phrase + Rel. clause + Noun + ADJ + DEM/DEF + (NUM + CL)/PL

Figure 2. The structure of the Qiang noun phrase

Any combination of the above elements is possible, as long as theyfollow the order given above, though a numeral must be followed by aclassifier. Classifiers also occur with demonstratives alone (i.e. withoutnumerals). A demonstrative plus classifier expression, or an adjectiveplus (in)definite marking and classifier, or even (in)definite markingplus classifier alone, can be used alone as a noun phrase. Some itemscan be doubled, such as the adjective (no more than two can appeartogether24). When more than one adjective appears in a noun phrase, therelative order of the adjectives in terms of type of adjective (value,shape, quality, age, or color; see Dixon 1982) is the mirror image of thatin English (i.e. HEAD^color^shape^age^quality^value), but the same ifone thinks in terms of order relative to the head. Compare the examplesin (3.1a-j).


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Structure 41

The noun phrase may also be followed by postpositions and/or thetopic marker (see 3.2). Following are some examples of complex nounphrases (the noun phrases are in brackets for clarity):

(3.3) [nes lu-m pe th xs-zi ]-wuyesterday come-NOM Tibetan that three-CL-AGTthets -le: de-t i-ji-t i.car-DEF:CL DIR-push-CSM-3plThose three Tibetans who came yesterday pushed the car away.fl

(3.4) [q ptsa-i z-p-t ba: iq tsa 1sg just.now-ADV DIR-buy-GEN cloth black thisi-j-t]-ui q ~u de-le tq-lu-.one-two-feet-TOP 1sg 2sg DIR-give heart-come-1sgI want to give you these few feet of black cloth that I justbought.fl

(3.5) [the:-t -t iu b the-zi] pien-l [w ba xs -zi]3sg-GEN-house old that-CL beside-LOC rock big three-CL.existThere are three big rocks beside that old house of his.fl

(3.6) [tile ns i-p-l-m tutu-le:]1pl yesterday DIR-arrive-come-NOM younger.brother-DEF:CL

umti u.(name) COPOur brother who returned yesterday was Xumti.fl

This last example has both a genitive phrase (though one not marked bythe genitive postposition) and relative clause preceding the head noun.

In some instances, an adverbial noun phrase is formed from acombination of a demonstrative and a numeral plus classifier ormeasure word. In these cases it is as if the demonstrative pronounprecedes the head, though it is the normal order for DEM + (NUM)-CL.25

(3.7) a. tse thisfl + onefl + p yearfl > tsp this yearflb. the thatfl + onefl + s dayfl > ths that dayfl


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The noun phrase42

c. tse thisfl + onefl + i timefl > tsai nowfl

It is also possible to have noun phrases in apposition to pronouns orother types of noun phrases where they specify the nature of thepronoun or first noun phrase, as in the following examples:

(3.8) a. tile sthun mi b. tile lez su-m1pl Sichuan people 1pl book learn/teach-NOMwe/us Sichuan peoplefl we/us scholars/teachersfl

(3.9) mti-le: mti-stsim jautsanemperor-DEF:CL COM emperor-wife man.eating.devildemi s-l. . . (T6:298-300)(name) DIR-lookThe emperor and his wife, the man-eating devil Demi, looked . . . fl

Kinship terms used with personal names follow this pattern as well(unlike the order found in Chinese), e.g. [upu-umti] Uncle Xumtifl.

Noun phrases can be omitted if they are recoverable from thecontext. There is no system for distinguishing more important thirdperson referents from less important ones, such as in anobviative/proximate system; there is only the topic/non-topic contrast(see 3.2.1), the person marking (see 4.3.2), and the definite/indefinitecontrast (see 3.1.4). (See also the discussion of the pronoun /qupu/ in3.1.2, below for something of an exception to this statement).

3.1.1. The noun

The noun in Qiang may be defined as a free form that can be followedby an (in)definite marker26 and a numeral-classifier phrase or number

marking, and is generally not predicative without the use of a copula.Some nouns can also take gender and diminutive marking. When actingas a noun phrase, they can be followed by the relational morphemes thatare introduced in Section 3.2, and can appear as the complement of acopula clause. Aside from being the head of a noun phrase, nouns canbe used to modify other nouns directly (appearing immediately beforethe modified noun) or in a genitive phrase (also pre-head, with or


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Structure 43

without a genitive postposition). There does not seem to be anysemantic restriction on the class of nouns (e.g. only words with concretereference). In terms of structure, a noun may be as simple as a singlemonosyllable, or it may be a complex construction consisting of twonouns, one modifying the other, two tightly coordinated nouns, anominalized verb, a noun plus classifier, or a noun plus verbcombination.

As in all Sino-Tibetan languages, in the case of compound nounswhere one noun modifies the other, the modifying noun must alwaysprecede the modified noun, as in (3.10):

(3.10) a. s-ut b. bu-zdwood-bowl plank-ladderwooden bowlfl plank ladderfl

c. pie-ns d. b-xpig-bed bee-manurepig-penfl honeyfl

In the case of tightly coordinated nouns, no mark of coordination isused, and the two nouns simply appear one after the other, as in (3.11):

(3.11) a. ep-ew b. tu-tuwafather-mother yngr.brother-older.brotherparentsfl brothersfl

Lexicalized deverbal nouns are formed using one of two types ofmarking. The nominalizing suffix /-s/ is used to form instrumental,locative, and object nouns out of verbs:

(3.12) a. n sleepfl + -s NOM > ns bedfl

b. gu wearfl + -s NOM > gus clothingflc. dz eatfl + -s NOM > dzs grainfld. susu calculatefl + -s NOM > susus abacusfl

In some cases a noun + verb combination is nominalized using the/-s/ suffix to form an instrumental noun phrase:


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The noun phrase44

(3.13) a. pies meatfl + qhua cutfl + -s >piesqhuas chopping knifefl

b. f clothingfl + jeji sewfl + -s >fjejis needle & threadfl

c. tymi childfl + bie carryfl + -s >tymi bies baby strapfl

The nominalizing suffix /-m/ (< /mi/ manfl) is added to a verb ornoun + verb combination to form an agentive noun (this term fromComrie & Thompson 1985), that is, one which refers to an animate

being, generally a person (one who . . .fl):

(3.14) a. ua helpfl + -m > uam servantflb. tiu housefl + le existfl + -m > tiulem occupantflc. ma NEG + q havefl + -m > maqm pauperfl

Comrie & Thompson (1985) divide lexical nominalizations into twomajor categories, name of activity or statefl and name of an argumentfl,and divide the latter into six sub-types: agentive nounsfl, instrumentalnounsfl, manner nounsfl, locative nounsfl, objective nounsfl, and reasonnounsfl. Qiang does not seem to have any nominalizations of the nameof activity or statefl type, and within the name of an argumentfl type haveno manner nounsfl or reason nounsfl formed by lexical nominalizationhave been found. Examples of the other types were given above.

Nouns can also be formed from adjectives (reduplicated or not) bysimply adding one of the definite markers after the adjective:

(3.15) a. iq blackfl + le: DEF:CL > iqle: the black oneflb. ba bigfl + te: DEF:CL > bate: the big oneflc. tiwi tallfl + ke: INDEF:CL > tiwike: a tall onefl

There are few clear examples of nouns formed from a noun plus aclassifier in Qiang (though this method of forming nouns is found inother Sino-Tibetan languages, e.g. Chinese; see Chao 1968:396). Oneexample is the word /tis/ roomfl, from /ti/ housefl plus /s/, theclassifier for rooms and sections.

The nouns formed from a noun plus verb combination without overtnominalization are sometimes straightforward, such as [s-ste] fire


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Structure 45

tongsfl, from firewoodfl + pick up with chopsticksfl, but often theyinvolve a verb that is uniquely used for the action involving that noun,and it isnflt clear whether the noun was formed from a monosyllabicnoun plus the verb, or the verb was formed from part of the originaldisyllabic noun. Most of the examples are natural phenomena.27

Following are some examples:

(3.16) a. mefix frostfl < me:fi rainfl + khefi fall (of frost)flb. zdqhu fogfl < zd cloudfl + qhu descend (clouds)flc. tsp icefl < ts waterfl +p form (of ice)fl

d. mefigu thunderfl < me:fi rainfl + gu thunder (v.)fle iue moonfl < i moonfl + ue brightfl28

f. l(m)p flowerfl < l(m) flowerfl +p to bloomfl29

In each case the verb can follow the combined noun plus verb form, e.g./tsp p/ to form icefl, /zdqhu do-qhu/ fog formedfl, /lmp d-p/flowers bloomedfl.

There are many nouns which include an identifiable morpheme, butthere is also an added final consonant relative to the usual form of themorpheme. This final consonant may be the result of compounding,though the rest of the original syllable has been lost, and so is no longeridentifiable. In some cases, the form with the extra final consonant hasthe same or a very similar meaning to the plain form, but in some casesthe meaning is quite different. The most common such finals are /-q/and /-p/. The final /-q/ in many cases may be a remnant of /q/ headfl.The use of a morpheme meaning headfl in forming nouns would parallelthe use of t|ou headfl in Chinese, where it also sometimes changes themeaning of the root form and sometimes doesnflt, e.g. qu|an-t|ou [fist-head] fistfl, ch-t|ou [eat-head] the quality of being good to eatfl. Thesuffix /-p/, as suggested by James A. Matisoff (p.c., 1997), may derivefrom the common Tibeto-Burman suffix *-pa. This is particularly likely

in cases where the form with /-p/ refers to a type of person, as in (3.17a)and (3.17e), below. Following are more examples of both suffixes:

(3.17) a. tip masterfl < ti houseflb. zp earth, groundfl < z ground, landflc. mutup skyfl < mutu skyfld. dup thighfl < du legfl


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Structure 47

(3.18) a. tuen-th squatfl < dun (b. -th spend (money)fl < sh (c. thu-th wash (rice)fl < t|au (d. u-th paintfl < h\ua(e. unian-p trainfl < 8x\unli\an ( )f. tetsui-p offendfl < d|ez\ui V(g. phiphan-p criticizefl < pp\an (h. pethiu-p chatfl < baiti|ao (

Even if the total phrase borrowed from Chinese involves more than one

syllable, if the verbal part of it is monosyllabic, then /-th/ is added, asin, for example, /phithi f-th/ to lose onefls temperfl (< Chinese fa

p|q\ [emit temper]. In the case of verbs with the /-th/ suffix, theborrowed verb, with the affix attached, is treated the same as a nativeverb, to the extent that it can take the directional prefixes, as in /s-phin-th/ make levelfl (< Chinesep|ng), and can take the postpositive adverb/-wa/, as in /khui-th-wa/ very fastfl (< Chinese ku\ai). In the case ofthose loan words that take the native verb /p/, the prefixes are added tothis verb, as in /thunt-t-p/ notifiedfl (< Chinese tongzh). A fewadjectives borrowed from Chinese, such as /phin/ levelfl, can be used asnouns or verbs, taking /th-/ when they are used as verbs. Another smallset of adjectives recently borrowed from Chinese, such as /ian/ rarefl(< Chinese xhan)and /thikuai/ strangefl (< Chinese q|gu\ai), are onlyused as nouns, and take the copula if used predicatively.

With a small number of adjectives (intransitive stative verbs),possibly older loans, instead of having the /-th/ suffix, the form /-ti/follows the borrowed form, e.g. /nin-ti/ fragmentary, piecemealfl ( uu curse each otherflb. zd connectfl > zdzd mutually connectflc. ua helpfl > uua help each otherfl

The verb in this construction can either take one plural argument

(which is possibly comprised of two conjoined noun phrases) or twoarguments, one of which is marked as an oblique argument by thecomitative/conjunction marker /-/. In the first of these two situations,the verb would take plural person marking, in the second, the verbwould take singular person marking.

In the case of certain verbs that involve some other referent than thetwo human referents that are mutually involved, or have only onehuman referent, the verb remains transitive with reduplication, and themeaning of reduplication can be iteration, such as with the verbs in(4.4).and (4.5).

(4.4) a. m plaster (a wall)fl > mm be plasteringflb. stue pull (weeds)fl > stuistue be pulling (weeds)flc. di climbfl > didi be climbing (a tree)fl

(4.5) the: s qhiqhi. (< qhi)3sg firewood choppingHe is chopping firewood.fl

Some verbs have a reduplicated form as their base form. In these cases,no further reduplication is necessary to express the reciprocal (e.g.

/queque/ pullfl, /lle/ insertfl). Reciprocal verbs can be nominalized,e.g. /ll-s/ (exchangefl + nominalizer > that which is exchangedfl); thenominalized form expresses the goal of the action. Reciprocal meaningcan also be emphasized by use of the adverbial expression /e:-wu e:-t/(one:CL-AGT one:CL-DAT) each otherfl. Following are some examplesof the use of reciprocals.


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The verb complex124

(4.6) a. khumtsi--umti ququ-ti. (< qu)Khumtsi-COM-Xumti fight:RECIP-3plKhumtsi and Xumti are fighting.fl

b. thizzi e:-wu e:-t f phifiphifi-ti.3dl one:CL-AGT one:CL-DAT clothing tear:RECIP-3plThe two of them tore each otherfls clothes.fl

In the negative, verbs do not require reduplication to be reciprocal, suchas /s/ to know (a person)fl in (4.7). In the positive this would be

[ss:fi].

(4.7) tile m-s:fi.1pl NEG-know:1plWe donflt know each other.fl (or We donflt know it/him/herfl)

While there is marking of the reciprocal on the verb, and there aresome verbs with an inherently reciprocal meaning, there is no markingof reflexives on the verb, and there are no verbs with an inherentlyreflexive sense. Instead, reflexive pronouns are used to express areflexive meaning (see 3.1.2). There are also no middle voice56 orpassive constructions.

Transitive verbs can be formed from intransitives using the causativeconstruction (see 4.2.2, below). It is also possible to add an obliqueargument to a transitive or ditransitive verb by using the benefactivepostposition /u-i/ (see 3.2.10).

4.2.2. Causatives

There are three types of causative marking in Qiang, though only one of

these is productive. This is the causative suffix /-()/, which increasesthe valency of intransitive, transitive, and ditransitive verbs. There is nodifference in the causative marking of these three types of verbs.Causatives derived using this suffix can be permissive or causative, andeither direct or indirect causatives. The actor person marking on theverb (4.3.2, Table 8) reflects the person and number of the causer only,and the marking is added to (follows) the causative suffix, using the


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Verb types 125

same forms as for non-causativized verbs. Non-actor person marking(4.3.2, Table 9), if there is any, marks the person and number of thecausee, not the undergoer (only animates are marked). Prospectiveaspect marking, if there is any, also appears after the causative suffix.

In terms of the marking of the noun phrases representing the causer,there is no formal difference which depends on the agentivity and/orintentionality of the causer, but there is a difference which depends onthe animacy of the causer; the noun phrase representing the causer of aderived monotransitive clause generally does not take the agentivemarker /-wu/ unless it is inanimate, e.g. windfl in the following

example:

(4.8) mou-wu q d-tu-.wind-AGT 1sg DIR-fall.over-CAUSThe wind knocked me down.fl

This clause is a causative of an intransitive, so the resulting form is amonotransitive clause, in this case with an inanimate actor/causer andanimate undergoer/causee.

The noun phrase representing the causee can take agentive marking,though, if the basic clause from which it is formed is transitive, as in(4.9).57 The use of the agentive marker is not related to the willingnessof the causee to perform the action; s/he may be willing or not.

(4.9) q the:-wu pits-e-ze z-p-. (< )1sg 3sg-AGT cup-one-CL DIR-buy-CAUS:1sgI made him/her buy a cup.fl

The noun phrase representing the causer can often be omitted, as theperson marking on the verb reflects the person and number of thecauser, but the noun phrase representing the causee cannot be omitted.

Following are some examples of causatives formed from differentbase types:


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Verb types 127

t-u-:. (< )DIR-buy-CAUS:PRS:1sgIflm going to make Xumti buy the book for Khumtsi.fl

The copula can also take the causative suffix, as in translativeconstructions:

(4.14) a. khu-le: puu h-u-.dog-DEF:CL cat DIR-COP-CAUSMake the dog replace/become the cat.fl (Treat the dog as a

cat.

b. t ile the: -stq-i linthu u-:. (< )1pl 3sg DIR-choose-ADV leader COP-CAUS:PRSWe chose him to be leader.fl

In (4.14b), the verb /stq/ choosefl appears in a manner adverbialphrase modifying the main verb of the clause, the causativized copula,to express how the causee became the leader.59

Causatives can also be used with reciprocals:

(4.15) q thizzi ll-:. (< )1sg 3dl exchange-CAUS:PRS:1sgI had the two of them exchange with each other.fl

(4.16) q thizzi ququ-:. (< )1sg 3dl hit:REFL-CAUS:PRS:1sgI had the two of them hit each other.fl

Of the two types of non-productive causative marking, one derivesfrom the Proto-Sino-Tibetan *s- prefix (LaPolla 2003a:22 and

references therein). Only one example of this has been found to date:/t/ feed (vt.)fl, from /the/ eat (rice)/drinkfl (with assimilation of theprefix to point of articulation of the initial). While this is the only suchexample found in Qiang, it matches well with forms found in closelyrelated languages and dialects; the lack of examples may simply be dueto lack of data or the obscuring of the prefix by assimilatory processes.


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The verb complex128

The second type of non-productive causative marking is a voiced-voiceless (aspirated) contrast in simplex-causative or intrasitive-transitive pairs (also a feature of Proto-Sino-TibetoLaPolla2003a:23). There is also a concomitant difference in the directionalprefix used with each type (see 4.3.3 for more on this difference).

(4.17) simplex causativea. de-pe e-phe tear (of clothes)flb. da-e a-qhe break (of bowls, etc.)flc. da-li a-i break (in two) (of tree limbs, etc.)fl

These are the only three forms we have found so far in the Ronghongsubdialect, but there are quite a few more in the Mawo dialect (see Sun1981a:192-3). This type has more of a sense of direct causation, and notpermission, than the productive causative. These causative forms cannottake a further productive causative suffix.

4.2.3. Intransitive state predicate verbs (adjectives)

In this section we will be discussing the nature of intransitive statepredicate verbs, i.e. stative verbs with only one argument. (See alsoHuang Chenglong 1994, LaPolla & Huang 2002.)

Intransitive state predicate verbs form a separate sub-class of verbdistinct from other transitive and intransitive verbs, and since they arewords for dimension, age, value, color, quality, and shape, we can usethe term adjectivesfl for this sub-class of verbs (they aremorphosyntactically unlike English adjectives, though). They can bepredicates without the use of the copula, as can verbs, and take the sameperson marking (agreement) forms, orientation/directional marking,causative marking, evidential marking, and most aspect and negation

marking as non-stative intransitive verbs, but unlike non-stative verbs,they can be nominalized using the definite and indefinite markers (see3.1.4existential verbs can also be nominalized in this way), manycan act as adverbials (taking the adverbial marker /-i/), and many cantake the postpositive adverb /-wa/ veryfl.60 Non-stative verbs can onlymodify a noun in the form of a pre-head relative clause construction,while adjectives can modify a noun directly in post-head position (as


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Verb types 131

c. patu:pat pana l-h t-l ? round.round thing DEF:one-pl where-LOC existWhere are the very round things?fl

In most cases reduplicated forms do not modify a noun, but insteadare simply nominalized by /-ke/ and used with the copula (e.g. [qhlptpt-ke: u] qhl(steamed buns) are round thingsfl).

Adjectives are generally only nominalized by the definite andindefinite markers or reduplication, although, as mentioned in Section3.1, in certain situations they can also be nominalized by /-m/ and /-t/

(see 5.2 on these nominalizers). In the case of /-m/ nominalization, thereferent is generally a person, as in the following examples:

(4.21) a. mi ba-m b. mi ti-wi-mperson big-NOM person DIR-tall-NOM(a) big personfl (a) tall personfl

In these particular examples, there are two noun phrases in apposition toeach other, something like a person, a big onefl. This contrasts with theusual form of the adjective without nominalization, e.g. mi ba[personbig] big personfl. In the case of nominalization by /-m/ or /-t/, the formwould generally be followed by the indefinite or definite marker, as inthe following example:

(4.22) f upu-t-ke: .clothing red-GEN-INDEF:CL existThere is an item of red clothing.fl

Although this form looks similar to a single noun phrase which has botha post-head adjective and indefinite marking (i.e. [f-upu-ke:](clothing-red-INDEF:CL)), it is clearly two noun phrases, as the order of

the two noun phrases could be reversed. This structure is used foremphasizing the quality of the referent in question, such as in acontrastive context.

Some adjectives are formed from noun + verb combinations withmetaphorical meanings. Following are some examples using the noun/ti:(mi)/ heartfl:


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The verb complex132

(4.23) a. ti:mi-di sadfl < heartfl + painfulflb. ti:mi-ba bravefl < heartfl + ti-ku -nc. ti-ku -n happyfl < heartfl + basefl + goodfl

If a prepositional adverb modifies the verb, it appears after the noun andbefore the verb, e.g. [ti-ku kn n] very happyfl.

With adjectives, the expression of change of state requires adirectional prefix (see 4.3.3), e.g. /ba/ bigfl, /twa/ become bigfl (herewith change of initial, see 1.3.1).

Following are some examples of the use of adjectives in modifying

nouns, as deverbal noun phrases, and as predicates, with prospectiveaspect marking and with person marking:

Modifying a noun:

(4.24) q f-xs tupu-.1sg clothes-new like-1sgI like new clothes.fl

Nominalized:

(4.25) q phi-le: gu:. (< gu)1sg white-DEF:CL wear:PRS:1sgI want to wear the white one.fl

With prospective aspect marking:62

(4.26) m ta-qa:. (< qa)sky CON-clear:PRSThe sky is still going to be clear.fl

With person marking:

(4.27) a. q ti-wia. b. t ile ti-wi fi. (< tiwi)1sg DIR-tall:1sg 1pl DIR-tall:1plI am tall/taller.fl We are tall/taller.fl


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Verb types 133

c. ~u ti-wi-n d. ile ti-wi-i.2sg DIR-tall-2sg 2pl DIR-tall-2plYou are tall/taller.fl You(pl) are tall/taller. fl

Some adjectives can appear in a serial verb structure where theymodify another verb, e.g. /tse-n/ (lookfl + goodfl) good lookingfl, /dzun/ (sitfl + goodfl) good to sit, there is room to sitfl (see also examples(4.269)-(4.272) in 4.4.3 below). In this structure, while the adverbsemantically seems to function as an adverbial, it is syntactically themain verb, and so if the clause is negated or is in the continuative

aspect, the negative and/or continuative aspect prefix is affixed to theadjective, not the verb, e.g. /tse-m-n/ (lookfl + NEG + goodfl) notgood lookingfl, /tse-t-n/ (lookfl + CON + goodfl) still good lookingfl.The adjective can also take the adverb /-wa/, e.g. /tse-n-wa/ (lookfl +goodfl + veryfl) very good lookingfl.

4.2.4. Existential/locative verbs

There are five existential/locative verbs, the use of which depends onthe semantics of the referent being located or shown to exist, or on thenature of its location: // and /xu/ for inanimate referents that are not incontainers or immovable or inalienably connected to some larger entity,/le/ for a referent located in a containment of some type, /i/ foranimate referents, and /we/ for immovable referents, referentsinalienably connected to a larger entity, and happenings. This last formis also used to express the possession of qualities. (See also Section3.2.14 on possession.) Following are examples of the various types:

(4.28) tuts-mq-t lz-e-pen . (inanimate)table-top-LOC book-one-CL exist

There is a book on the table.fl

(4.29) ku-t pi--l xu. (inaminate)floor-LOC pen-one-CL existThere is a pen on the floor.fl


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Verb types 135

(4.34) dz-s -tu q-t -z z-le.eat-NOM exist-LNK 1sg-DAT one-CL DIR-takeIf there is something to eat, bring me a little.fl

bl-s xu-tu the: t:-bl-k.do-NOM exist-LNK 3sg DIR:INDTV-do-goIf there is something to be done, have him/her go do it.fl

Because the nominalized verb refers to an inanimate referent orsituation, only the /-s/ nominalizer can be used; the /-m/ and /-t/

nominalizers cannot be used in the /xu tu/ construction (see 5.2-5.3).An existential verb can also be used in an imperative with an adverb,

to tell someone, for example, to be quiet, as in (4.36).

(4.35) (-z) hama he-i-(n). (animate)one-little quiet DIR-exist-2sg(Please) be quiet.fl

The existential/locative verbs have many of the definitionalproperties of adjectives (see 4. 2.3 and LaPolla & Huang, in press, onadjectives), in that they are intranstive stative verbs that can be

nominalized by the (in)definite markers, as in example (3.45), above,and can take the intensifying adverbs [gn kn], /wa/, and /qusu/, andin the negative can take the adverb /tsan/ 'too', as in examples (4.36a-b),but differ from adjectives in that they cannot directly modify a noun andthe meaning of reduplication is different. With adjectives, reduplicationhas the sense of intensification, but with existential verbs, reduplicationcan transitivize the verb, at least in some cases, as in (4.36c-d).

(4.36) a. ts mi i-wa.here person exist-very

'There are many people here.'

b. ts mi tsan me-i.here person too NEG-exist'There are not too many people here.'

c. le 'exist (inside)' > lle 'put inside'


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The verb complex136

d. 'exist (inanimate)' > 'put (someplace)'

Unlike in some other Tibeto-Burman languages (e.g. Tibetan), theexistential/locative verbs have not grammaticalized into any sort ofconstruction marking tense, aspect, or evidentials.

4.2.5. Come and go

Comefl and gofl are somewhat irregular verbs.... Gofl has the following

third person forms: /----q/ prefixed perfective (e.g. /q/ went downfl),/k/ unprefixed,64 /-/ prefixed imperfective or prospective (e.g. /d/go outfl). Comefl has the following forms: /lu/ imperfective, /-l/prefixed perfective, /lu-:/ prospective aspect. (See 4.3.3 for discussionof the directional prefixes.) Both these verbs function as main verbs,and as directional auxiliary verbs, following other verbs. When used asauxiliary verbs, they form a single nucleus with the preceding verb, andso do not take prefixes separately. For example, in [stuh :-t k](food/rice INDTV:3sg-eat go) Let (him/her) go eat!fl, the indirectdirective prefix appears on the verb meaning eatfl, not on gofl. Withcertain verbs comefl and gofl appear very regularly as auxiliaries, andthis has led to the situation where the vowel of comefl and gofl has beenlost, and the initial has fused with the preceding verb, forming a newverb, e.g. /pl/ come backfl < /p/ arrivefl + /lu/ comefl; /pk/ go backfl
/ arrivefl + /k/ gofl. In the case of these compound verbs and someothers like this, they have lexicalized to the point that they are no longerseen as including the verbs comefl and gofl by the Qiang speakers./pp4.2.6. Auxiliary verbs/ppAuxiliary verbs follow the (semantically) main verb, often in acomplement-matrix structure (see 5.3 for the structure), generally withno nominalizing, adverbial or other marking between the two verbs. Ifthere is person marking, the marking appears on the auxiliary or finalparticle of the verb complex, though aspect marking may appear on theembedded (main) verb. If there is negation of the auxiliary, the negativeprefix appears on the auxiliary verb. There is no requirement that the/pp//lili itemprop="text"p7/30/2019 Grammar of Qiang (Mouton Grammar Library).pdf/pp 155/463/ppVerb types 137/pptwo verbs agree in transitivity (such as is found, for example, inRawang [LaPolla 2000a])./ppThe potential to perform an action is expressed by use of theauxiliary verbs // for learned ability, /d/ or /qe/ for natural(physical) ability, and /gu/ for ability to fit into something else. SeeSection 4.3.6.4 for examples of their use./ppWillingness to perform an action or to allow others to perform anaction is expressed by using the auxiliary verb /u/. This verb can alsobe used for possibility, either directly following a verb or in aconstruction with a nominalized verb./pp(4.37) a. the: th-i k u.3sg there-exist thus willing/allow/ppS/he might be there.fl/ppb. ps m ma-qa, tshi t-i u.today weather NEG-clear prickly.ash.peel DIR-black willToday the weather is not good, the prickly ash peel willbecome black.fl/ppThe auxiliary verb /xu/ is used to express the idea to darefl to do anaction./pp(4.38) the: e-ze stu n mo-xu.3sg one-CL alone sleep NEG-dareS/he doesnflt dare sleep alone.fl/ppIn some expressions, /xu/ can be used alone:/pp(4.39) khu-t mo-xu, pie-t xu.dog-DAT NEG-dare pig-DAT dare/ppBully the weak and fear the strong.fl(lit.: Doesnflt dare X to a dog, but will to a pig.fl)/ppThe auxiliary verb /ze/ ought tofl can be used in some contexts toexpress obligation (physical or moral) to perform an action. There is noperson marking when using this auxiliary verb, so even if a first orsecond person pronoun were added to, for example, (4.40a) or (4.40b),/pp//lili itemprop="text"p7/30/2019 Grammar of Qiang (Mouton Grammar Library).pdf/pp 156/463/ppThe verb complex138/ppspecifying who must or must not go, there would be no change in theverb./pp(4.40) a. k ze-ji! go must-CSMItfls time to go!fl (I/we/you must go!fl)/ppb. k ma-t i-ze!65/ppgo NEG-CON-must(You/we) neednflt / shouldnflt go yet!fl/pp(4.41) a. stuh th ze-ji.rice/food eat must-CSMItfls time to eat!fl (I/you/we must eat!fl)/ppb

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