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A Grammar of Lalo

Björverud, Susanna LU (1998)
Abstract
The thesis is a descriptive reference grammar of the present-day Lalo language as spoken in Longjie township in Yunnan province of Southwestern China. It constitutes a presentation of empirical data collected during field work in Longjie township, and includes as survey of the phonology, morphology and syntax of the language. A word-list as well as text samples are appended to the thesis.



Lalo is genetically classified as a Burmese-Yipho language (and in extension a Sino-Tibetan language), more specifically a Central Yipho language, i.e., it belongs to the same subgroup of Yipho as the more well-known languages Lahu and Lisu. It is spoken in Yunnan by approximately 500 000 speakers. Lalo may be subdivided into the West... (More)
The thesis is a descriptive reference grammar of the present-day Lalo language as spoken in Longjie township in Yunnan province of Southwestern China. It constitutes a presentation of empirical data collected during field work in Longjie township, and includes as survey of the phonology, morphology and syntax of the language. A word-list as well as text samples are appended to the thesis.



Lalo is genetically classified as a Burmese-Yipho language (and in extension a Sino-Tibetan language), more specifically a Central Yipho language, i.e., it belongs to the same subgroup of Yipho as the more well-known languages Lahu and Lisu. It is spoken in Yunnan by approximately 500 000 speakers. Lalo may be subdivided into the West mountain and East mountain subdialects, and the variety treated in the thesis belongs to the West mountain sub-dialect.The language is still the everyday vehicle of communcation in Lalo areas, but Chinese influence is growing rapidly. The Lalo phonology is based on the syllable, which has tonal and phonation type distinctions. The language is rich in initials, and the vowel system is not insignificant in size. Consonant combinations do not occur, nor may any syllable end in a consonant.



Morphemes are usually monosyllabic, but words, especially nouns, are mostly disyllabic. The basic word order is SOV, nouns are counted through classifiers, verbs and adjectives are chained into complex predicates, propositions are interrogated through juxtaposition of the verb or adjective and a negated copy of it etc. All of these traits may be considered typical for Yipho-languages, and many of them are typical for the linguistic area as a whole.



The thesis exclusively deals with the present-day language of one specific variant of the Lalo language, but the data has been presented so as to facilitate comparative work. The thesis is intended to present the language rather than the applicability of any given syntactic theory, and usually a quite traditional terminology is used. (Less)
Abstract (Swedish)
Popular Abstract in Swedish

Avhandlingen beskriver fonologin, morfologin och syntaxen för Lalo-språket, närmare bestämt som detta talas i Longjie landsortskommun i provinsen Yunnan i Kina.



Lalo är ett språk som talas av ca 500 000 människor i sydvästra Kina. Språket tillhör burmesisk-yipho-språken, och har SOV-ordföljd, toner, fonationstyp, klassmärken m m.



Avhandlingen är baserad på fältdata, insamlade av författaren under flera perioder på sammanlagt ca 1 år.
Please use this url to cite or link to this publication:
author
supervisor
opponent
  • Bradley, David
organization
publishing date
type
Thesis
publication status
published
subject
keywords
minority languages, Philology, descriptive linguistics, Sino-Tibetan, Tibeto-Burman, Lolo-Burmese, Burmese-Lolo, Central Yipho, Burmese-Yipho, Western Yi, Lalo, Språkvetenskap
pages
193 pages
publisher
Department of East Asian Languages, Lund University
defense location
Stora Sammanträdesrummet, Sparta
defense date
1998-10-05 10:15:00
external identifiers
  • other:ISRN: LUHSDF/HSOK--98/1002--SE+193
ISBN
91-628-3138-0
language
English
LU publication?
yes
id
00a3c596-d8d1-4438-a7fa-abe79ceead0a (old id 18677)
date added to LUP
2016-04-04 10:50:22
date last changed
2018-11-21 21:01:04
@phdthesis{00a3c596-d8d1-4438-a7fa-abe79ceead0a,
  abstract     = {{The thesis is a descriptive reference grammar of the present-day Lalo language as spoken in Longjie township in Yunnan province of Southwestern China. It constitutes a presentation of empirical data collected during field work in Longjie township, and includes as survey of the phonology, morphology and syntax of the language. A word-list as well as text samples are appended to the thesis.<br/><br>
<br/><br>
Lalo is genetically classified as a Burmese-Yipho language (and in extension a Sino-Tibetan language), more specifically a Central Yipho language, i.e., it belongs to the same subgroup of Yipho as the more well-known languages Lahu and Lisu. It is spoken in Yunnan by approximately 500 000 speakers. Lalo may be subdivided into the West mountain and East mountain subdialects, and the variety treated in the thesis belongs to the West mountain sub-dialect.The language is still the everyday vehicle of communcation in Lalo areas, but Chinese influence is growing rapidly. The Lalo phonology is based on the syllable, which has tonal and phonation type distinctions. The language is rich in initials, and the vowel system is not insignificant in size. Consonant combinations do not occur, nor may any syllable end in a consonant.<br/><br>
<br/><br>
Morphemes are usually monosyllabic, but words, especially nouns, are mostly disyllabic. The basic word order is SOV, nouns are counted through classifiers, verbs and adjectives are chained into complex predicates, propositions are interrogated through juxtaposition of the verb or adjective and a negated copy of it etc. All of these traits may be considered typical for Yipho-languages, and many of them are typical for the linguistic area as a whole.<br/><br>
<br/><br>
The thesis exclusively deals with the present-day language of one specific variant of the Lalo language, but the data has been presented so as to facilitate comparative work. The thesis is intended to present the language rather than the applicability of any given syntactic theory, and usually a quite traditional terminology is used.}},
  author       = {{Björverud, Susanna}},
  isbn         = {{91-628-3138-0}},
  keywords     = {{minority languages; Philology; descriptive linguistics; Sino-Tibetan; Tibeto-Burman; Lolo-Burmese; Burmese-Lolo; Central Yipho; Burmese-Yipho; Western Yi; Lalo; Språkvetenskap}},
  language     = {{eng}},
  publisher    = {{Department of East Asian Languages, Lund University}},
  school       = {{Lund University}},
  title        = {{A Grammar of Lalo}},
  year         = {{1998}},
}