1,720,976 research outputs found
A Comparative Field Report on Mewahang (Kiranti)
No full textMewahang is a Kiranti language spoken in the Arun and Sankhuwa valleys in eastern Nepal and is
conventionally grouped together with Lohorung and Yamphu in a hitherto empirically poorly
substantiated subgroup called ʻ Upper Arunʼ (cf. van Driem 2001: 615, 689–698). Although there are
numerous anthropological publications by Gaenszle (e.g. 1991, 2002) and some preliminary
linguistic studies (cf. Hodgson 1857, Mewāhāṅg Rāī Yā-khommā (ed.) VS 2062, Banjade 2009,
Mewāhāṅ Rāī VS 2073), the Mewahang language remains poorly described.
This talk constitutes a first field report on the language on the basis of the authorʼs own field work
on site and presents data of the western variety of Mewahang as spoken in the village of Bala in the
Sankhuwa valley. Additionally, data on the eastern varieties will be shown and a comparison of the
dialects will be undertaken, highlighting the significant linguistic divergence between the western
and eastern dialects which has already been recognised in the literature (Hanßon 1991: 68-70), but
never underpinned with empirical evidence.
Banjade, Goma (2009). Mewahang Language. An Introduction. In: Nepalese Linguistics 24. 11–20.
van Driem, George (2001). Languages of the Himalayas. An Ethnolinguistic Handbook of the Greater Himalayan Region. 2 vols. Leiden: Brill.
Gaenszle, Martin (1991). Verwandtschaft und Mythologie bei den Mewahang Rai in Ostnepal. Eine ethnographische Studie zum Problem der „ethnischen Identität“. Stuttgart: Franz Steiner Verlag. (Beiträge zur Südasienforschung, vol. 136).
Gaenszle, Martin (2002). Ancestral voices: Oral Ritual Texts and their Social Contexts among the Mewahang Rai in East Nepal. Münster: LIT Verlag.
Hanßon, Gerd (1991). The Rai of Eastern Nepal: Ethnic and Linguistic Grouping. Findings of the Linguistic Survey of Nepal. Kirtipur: Linguistic Survey of Nepal/Centre for Nepal/Asian Studies, Tribhuvan University.
Hodgson, Brian Houghton (1857). Comparative Vocabulary of the Languages of the broken Tribes of Népál. In: Journal of the Asiatic Society of Bengal 26. 317–522.
Mewāhāṅ Rāī, Gaṇeś (VS 2073). Mewāhāṅ pɨʔ līma pɨʔchen – mewāhāṅ bhāṣā prārambhik vyākara ṇ
[Elementary grammar of the Mewahang language]. Sãkhuvāsbhā: Mewāhāṅ prakāśān.
Mewāhāṅg Rā ī Yā-khommā (ed.) (VS 2062). Mewāhāṅg rāi śabdakoś [Dictionary of Mewahang Rai]. Lalitpur: Adivāsī janjāti utthān rāṣṭriya prati ṣṭhān
Lhokpu morphology: a first functional and comparative account
No full textLhokpu is a Trans-Himalayan language spoken in southwestern Bhutan in the district of Samtsi. Lhokpu, along with Gongduk and Black Mountain Mönpa, represents the oldest linguistic layer of Bhutan. Lhokpu is nowadays seriously endangered and its phylogenetic affiliation within the Trans-Himalayan phylum is unknown. This talk will present a first account on Lhokpu nominal and verbal morphology and on the phylogenetic position of Lhokpu. A discussion of selected individual morphemes and their functions will be followed by a comparative analysis of the morphological material within the Trans-Himalayan context.
Initial fieldwork was done by George van Driem in 1990, 1992 and 2002 and further by Gwendolyn Hyslop and Karma Tshering in 2012/2013. In summer 2015, a team consisting of George van Driem, Gwendolyn Hyslop, Karma Tshering, Pascal Gerber and Selin Grollmann worked with a Lhokpu speaker in Bern, Switzerland, to supplement the existing data and to write up a first grammatical description of the language
Gongduk agreement morphology in functional and diachronic perspective
No full textGongduk is a Trans-Himalayan language spoken in Monggar district in central Bhutan. The language belongs to the oldest ethnolinguistic layer of Bhutan, together with the Mönpa language of the Black Mountains and Lhokpu. The position of Gongduk within the language family is not known and it is therefore treated as an isolate (cf. van Driem 2015). A grammar of the language is currently being prepared for publication (Gerber/Grollmann/van Driem in preparation) on the basis of field notes collected by George van Driem as well as Selin Grollman and Pascal Gerber.
Gongduk is, besides Black Mountain Mönpa, the only Bhutanese language to exhibit biactantial agreement morphology, marking both the subject and the object of a verbal action on the verb. This typologically noteworthy and functionally complex feature is a characteristic feature of several other branches of the Trans-Himalayan language family. Agreement morphology of this kind is
reconstructed to the Trans-Himalayan proto-language (Bauman 1974, 1975, van Driem 1993, DeLancey 1989, 2010, 2011, Jacques 2012).
However, despite the description of the morphology by van Driem (2001, 2013), Camenisch et al. (2014) and Gerber (2015), Gongduk agreement morphology is completely disregarded in publications about agreement morphology in Trans-Himalayan, although the inclusion of Gongduk in the discussion would yield promising new insights into the reconstruction of agreement morphology and the phylogenetic position of Gongduk within Trans-Himalayan.
In this talk, Gongduk agreement morphology will be discussed from a synchronic-functional as well as a diachronic-comparative point of view. The morphology will be presented and illustrated with examples, and the sociopragmatic and syntactic factors determining the choice of the specific markers will be explained. The agreement morphemes of Gongduk will then be subjected to a comparative analysis and related to cognate morphology in other branches of Trans Himalayan. Finally, a phylogenetic assessment of Gongduk based on the comparison of the agreement morphology will be provided. Trans-Himalayan linguistics, both synchronic and diachronic, can benefit significantly from a proper, detailed consideration of the Gongduk language. This talk also
aims to show the general significance of Bhutanese languages for the field of linguistics, both Trans-Himalayan and general linguistics, and the importance of comprehensive documentation and description of the significant, but endangered linguistic diversity of the Kingdom of Bhutan
The Dene-Kusunda Hypothesis: A Critical Account
No full textThe Dene-Yenisseian hypothesis (Vajda 2010a, 2013) linking the Yenisseian languages and
the Na-Dene languages has gained some attention as the first substantial proposal of a
linguistic connection across the Bering Strait. At the same time, morphological material has
been interpreted as evidence for a genealogical relationship between Yenisseian, Burushaski
and Kusunda (van Driem 2001, 2008, 2014). The two hypotheses have been linked under the
name ‘Dene-Yenisseian’ by van Driem (2014: 80) but I hereby introduce the term ‘Dene-
Kusunda’ to designate the hypothesis of a genealogical relationship between Kusunda,
Burushaski, Yenisseian and Na-Dene. This paper aims to review the Dene-Kusunda hypothesis
by presenting a critical evaluation of the morphological data amassed as evidence in van
Driem (2001, 2008, 2014), Vajda (2010a, 2013) and Gerber (2013). The argumentation in
favour of Dene-Kusunda looks promising at first sight, but much of it can be explained by
chance or selective analysis. A more definite evaluation of this proposal must await more
studious work on the individual languages, but it is in fact likely that the putative time depth
inhibits an ultimate verification or falsification
First person singular indexation in Mewahang (Kiranti)
No full textMewahang (Kiranti, Sankhuwa and Arun valleys, Eastern Nepal) exhibits biactantial verb
agreement morphology well known to be a characteristic trait of Kiranti languages and other
branches of Trans-Himalayan. Presenting primary data from Western Mewahang as spoken in the
village of Bala in the Sankhuwa valley, this talk will give a first account on the agreement
morphology of this dialect, focussing on first person singular indexation, which evinces
morphological and morphophonological peculiarities.
This talk then assesses these peculiarities historically by undertaking a comparison of first person
singular indexation of Western Mewahang, Eastern Mewahang, Lohorung and Yamphu, which
together constitute the so far empirically unsubstantiated “Upper Arun” language family (first
established by van Driem 2001:689–698). This comparison provides diachronic explanations for the
observed synchronic peculiarities related to first person singular indexation in Western Mewahang
and enables to determine their age and phylogenetic relevance
Areal features in Gongduk, Bjokapakha and Black Mountain Mönpa phonology
No full textThis paper argues that certain phonological similarities between the three
Trans-Himalayan languages Gongduk, Bjokapakha (Tshangla) and Black
Mountain Mönpa are areal features and discusses the historical and ethno-
linguistic implications of this assumption. The similarities between Gong-
duk and Bjokapakha indicate a situation of areal convergence of recent data.
This contact scenario explains certain aberrancies of Bjokapakha with
regard to other Tshangla varieties. The attestation of some of the phonologi-
cal features in Black Mountain Mönpa is analysed as the result of early con-
tact between Gongduk and Black Mountain Mönpa, i.e. dating back to the
time before the arrival of the East Bodish peoples in Central Bhutan
Going Beyond Counting First Authors in Author Co-citation Analysis
Full text linkThe present study examines one of the fundamental aspects of author co-citation analysis (ACA) - the way co-citation
counts are defined. Co-citation counting provides the data on which all subsequent statistical analyses and mappings
are based, and we compare ACA results based on two different types of co-citation counting - the traditional type that
only counts the first one among a cited work's authors on the one hand and a non-traditional type that takes into
account the first 5 authors of a cited work on the other hand. Results indicate that the picture produced through this non-traditional author co-citation counting contains more coherent author groups and is therefore considerably clearer. However, this picture represents fewer specialties in the research field being studied than that produced through the traditional first-author co-citation counting when the same number of top-ranked authors is selected and analyzed. Reasons for these effects are discussed
Variations on the Author
Full text link“Variations on the Author” discusses two of Eduardo Coutinho’s recent films (Um Dia na Vida, from 2010, and Últimas Conversas, posthumously released in 2015) and their contribution to the general question of documentary authorship. The director’s filmography is characterized by a consistent yet self-effacing form of authorial self-inscription: Coutinho often features as an interviewer that rather than express opinions propels discourses; an interviewer that is good at listening. This mode of self-inscription characterizes him as an author who is not expressive but who is nonetheless markedly present on the screen. In Um Dia na Vida, however, Coutinho is completely absent form the image, while Últimas Conversas, on the contrary, includes a confessional prologue that moves the director from the margins to the center of his films. This article examines the ways in which these works stand out in the filmography of a director who offers new insights into the notion of cinematic authorship
Appropriate Similarity Measures for Author Cocitation Analysis
Full text linkWe provide a number of new insights into the methodological discussion about author cocitation analysis. We first argue that the use of the Pearson correlation for measuring the similarity between authors’ cocitation profiles is not very satisfactory. We then discuss what kind of similarity measures may be used as an alternative to the Pearson correlation. We consider three similarity measures in particular. One is the well-known cosine. The other two similarity measures have not been used before in the bibliometric literature. Finally, we show by means of an example that our findings have a high practical relevance.information science;Pearson correlation;cosine;similarity measure;author cocitation analysis
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