Predication, reference and modification: Major word classes in Bumthang, a Tibeto-Burman language
type: CreativeWork
description: In this thesis, I investigate the word class system in Bumthang, a Tibeto-Burman language from central Bhutan. Word classes form a fundamental part of basic linguistic analysis, as tasks like writing phrase structure rules or positing derivational affixes require assumptions about how words in a language are organised. Recent work on word classes has been typologically orientated, with discussion surrounding crosslinguistic comparison and organisation of word class systems found worldwide. As such, my thesis will give insights into the structure of word class systems in the Himalayas and how they work. Using morphosyntactic distribution, I find that there is evidence for common crosslinguistic word classes such as nouns, verbs and adjectives in Bumthang. However, while verbs are easily definable morphologically at the word level, nouns are instead defined syntactically at the phrase level. Furthermore, adjectives are clearly derived from verbs but are more nominal in their distribution. All three classes can be further divided into subclasses, which have restricted morphosyntactic distribution. The status of the three major word classes in Bumthang allows us to uncover language-internal regularities and compare cross-linguistic coding strategies.
abstract: In this thesis, I investigate the word class system in Bumthang, a Tibeto-Burman language from central Bhutan. Word classes form a fundamental part of basic linguistic analysis, as tasks like writing phrase structure rules or positing derivational affixes require assumptions about how words in a language are organised. Recent work on word classes has been typologically orientated, with discussion surrounding crosslinguistic comparison and organisation of word class systems found worldwide. As such, my thesis will give insights into the structure of word class systems in the Himalayas and how they work. Using morphosyntactic distribution, I find that there is evidence for common crosslinguistic word classes such as nouns, verbs and adjectives in Bumthang. However, while verbs are easily definable morphologically at the word level, nouns are instead defined syntactically at the phrase level. Furthermore, adjectives are clearly derived from verbs but are more nominal in their distribution. All three classes can be further divided into subclasses, which have restricted morphosyntactic distribution. The status of the three major word classes in Bumthang allows us to uncover language-internal regularities and compare cross-linguistic coding strategies.
author: Peck, Naomi
language: en
keywords: Bumthang, Tibeto-Burman, Sino-Tibetan, linguistics, word classes, predication, modification, reference, descriptive, noun phrase, nouns, verbs, adjectives, derivation, Himalayas, morphosyntax
date published: 2017
date modified: 2026-07-24T01:07:43Z
provider: Australian Catholic University
publisher: Networked Digital Library of Theses and Dissertations
type: WebPage
source organization: Australian Catholic University

PropertyValue
property ID: Handle
value: http://hdl.handle.net/1885/139197