Situ language explained

Situ
Also Known As:Eastern rGyalrong
States:China
Region:Sichuan
Speakers:?
Familycolor:Sino-Tibetan
Fam2:Tibeto-Burman
Fam3:Qiangic
Fam4:Gyalrongic
Fam5:Gyalrong
Iso3:none
Iso3comment:(included in [jya])
Glotto:situ1238
Glottorefname:Situ

Situ is a Rgyalrong language spoken in Sichuan, China. The name "Situ", literally "four Tusi", comes from a historical name of the Ma'erkang region.[1]

Distribution

Gates (2012: 102–103)[2] lists the following locations where Zbu is spoken. It is spoken by over 35,000–40,000 people in 57 villages.

Dialects

Gates (2012: 103) lists 7 dialects of Situ.

Phonology

! rowspan="2"
LabialAlveolarRetroflexAlveolo-
palatal
PalatalVelar/
Uvular
Nasalpronounced as /link/pronounced as /link/pronounced as /link/pronounced as /link/
Plosive/
Affricate
voicelesspronounced as /link/pronounced as /link/pronounced as /link/pronounced as /link/pronounced as /link/pronounced as /link/pronounced as /link/
aspiratedpronounced as /link/pronounced as /link/pronounced as /link/pronounced as /link/pronounced as /link/pronounced as /link/pronounced as /link/
voicedpronounced as /link/pronounced as /link/pronounced as /link/pronounced as /link/pronounced as /link/pronounced as /link/
prenasalizedpronounced as /link/pronounced as /link/pronounced as /link/pronounced as /link/pronounced as /link/pronounced as /link/pronounced as /link/
Fricativevoiceless(pronounced as /link/)pronounced as /link/pronounced as /link/pronounced as /link/
voicedpronounced as /link/pronounced as /link/pronounced as /link/
Lateralpronounced as /link/
Sonorantpronounced as /link/pronounced as /link/pronounced as /link/
Vowels!!Front!Central!Back
Closepronounced as /link/pronounced as /link/
Midpronounced as /link/pronounced as /link/pronounced as /link/
Near-openpronounced as /iɛ/pronounced as /link/
Openpronounced as /link/

Grammar

Verbal agreement

Data adapted from Lin (1993).[5] Columns indicate the patient, and rows the agent. For example, the item tə-no-n in row "2sg" and column "3" means "you(singular) drive him/her/it/them.two/them".

patient
ta-no ta-no-ntʃ ta-no-ɲ no-ŋ
ta-no ta-no-ntʃ ta-no-ɲ no-tʃ
ta-no ta-no-ntʃ ta-no-ɲ no-i
kə-w-no-ŋ kə-w-no-tʃ kə-w-no-i tə-no-n
kə-w-no-ŋ kə-w-no-tʃ kə-w-no-i tə-no-ntʃ
kə-w-no-ŋ kə-w-no-tʃ kə-w-no-i tə-no-ɲ
wə-no-ŋ wə-no-tʃ wə-no-i tə-w-no tə-w-no-ntʃ tə-w-no-ɲ no-u
wə-no-ŋ wə-no-tʃ wə-no-i tə-w-no tə-w-no-ntʃ tə-w-no-ɲ no-ntʃ
wə-no-ŋ wə-no-tʃ wə-no-i tə-w-no tə-w-no-ntʃ tə-w-no-ɲ no-ɲ

Stem alternation

Some Situ dialects have rich stem changes. For example, stem alternations is quasi-ubiquitous in Brag-bar, observed in both inflectional and derivational morphology.

Inflectional stem changes

Inflectional stem alternations in Brag-bar occur in different TAME and argument indexation categories.[6] Generally speaking, stem I is used in most non-past categories as well as inferential past, and stem II in non-inferential past and egophoric present contexts. In most cases, stem II is derived from stem I by tonal inversion between a high and falling tones, sometimes with vowel alternations between the central grade (ə, ɐ, a) and non-central grade (i/u, e/o, iɛ).

Verbs with particular syllable structures distinguish stem I’ or stem II’, sensitive to phonological environment. Verbs with an open syllable and a high tone, as well as those with a closed syllable ending in a stop, distinguish stem I’ from stem I, occurring in non-suffixing non-past and inferential forms; verbs with an open syllable and a falling tone may distinguish stem II’ from stem II in non-suffixing non-inferential past and egophoric present forms. Stem I’ and stem II’ are formed by a unidirectional vowel shift to the non-central grade.

Inflectional stem alternations in Brag-bar
Citation form Stem I-suffix Stem I’-ø Stem II-suffix Stem II’-ø
ka-phô 'to flee' phô phó
ka-lát 'to release' lát liɛ̂t
ka-siɛ́t 'to kill' sát siɛ́t siɛ̂t
ka-viɛ̂ 'to do' viɛ̂ viɛ́

Derivational stem changes

Stem changes are also observed in Brag-bar derivational morphology, governed by a unidirectional tonal alternation rule, either to a high or to falling tone. Tonal alternations are often accompanied with vowel changes, of which the direction is likely to be correlated with the verb stem’s syllable structure. For open syllable verb stems, alternations to high tone happens with vowel shift to the non-central grade, whereas that to falling tone co-exists with vowel shift to the central grade.

Kinship terminology

Zhang and Fan (2020)[7] show that the Brag-bar terminology preserves indirect traces of the Omaha kinship terminology, characterized by a cross-parallel distinction and skewing rules. Omaha skewing is directly observed in the Japhug terminology and might once have existed in Tangut.[8]

References

Notes and References

  1. Web site: Jiāróng rénwén . zh:嘉绒人文 . Rgyalrong Culture . dead . Ma'erkang City Government website . 2019-09-19 . 2019-03-28 . https://web.archive.org/web/20190328071943/http://www.maerkang.gov.cn/html/about_7.html .
  2. Gates . Jesse P. . Situ in Situ: Towards a Dialectology of Jiāróng (rGyalrong) . 2012 . MA . Trinity Western University . en . Academia.edu.
  3. Zhang (2016).
  4. Zhang . Shuya . Le rgyalrong situ de Brag-bar et sa contribution à la typologie de l'expression des relations spatiales: l'orientation et le mouvement associé . 2020 . PhD . INALCO .
  5. Book: Lin, Xiangrong 林向荣 . Jiāróngyǔ yánjiū . 1993 . Sichuan minzu chubanshe . Chengdu . zh . zh:嘉戎语研究 . A Study on the rGyalrong Language.
  6. Stem alternations in the Brag-bar dialect of Situ Rgyalrong. Linguistics of the Tibeto-Burman Area. Zhang, S. . 10.1075/ltba.18009.zha. 2018. 42. 2. 294–330. 135379266 .
  7. Brag-bar kinship system in synchronic and diachronic perspectives. Bulletin of SOAS. Zhang, Shuya. Fan, Jingming . 10.1017/S0041977X2000261X. 2020. 83. 3. 479–503. 229170622 .
  8. Book: Jacques, Guillaume . Medieval Tibeto-Burman Languages IV . 2012 . Brill . Hill . Nathan . Leiden . 211–257 . en . The Tangut Kinship System in Qiangic Perspective.