Table Of ContentCopyright
by
Liberty A. Lidz
2010
The Dissertation Committee for Liberty A. Lidz Certifies that this is the approved
version of the following dissertation:
A Descriptive Grammar of Yongning Na (Mosuo)
Committee:
Anthony C. Woodbury, Supervisor
Nora England
Megan Crowhurst
Patience Epps
Graham Thurgood
Qing Zhang
A Descriptive Grammar of Yongning Na (Mosuo)
by
Liberty A. Lidz, B.A.
Dissertation
Presented to the Faculty of the Graduate School of
The University of Texas at Austin
in Partial Fulfillment
of the Requirements
for the Degree of
Doctor of Philosophy
The University of Texas at Austin
December, 2010
Dedication
For Lance Hahn
requiescat in pace
Acknowledgements
First, my deep thanks go to the Na for their hospitality, intellectualism,
enthusiasm, warmth, and the energy put into our research. I would like to thank Geze
Dorje for the long hours he put into all facets of this research, as well as for his acute
insight into phenomena linguistic, anthropological, and sociological. I would also like to
thank Yang Zhenhong and Lamu Gatusa, colorful and brilliant men whose work I admire
deeply, and who were extremely generous with their time and help. I also thank Hua’er
Zhao, Tseren Dorje, Erqing, Awu Daba, Dibi Daba, Mupha Daba, Yongzhutser Daba, Da
Lang, Dan Bing and Husi Chawu, and the people of Luoshui.
Wu Yinghui of Yunnan Normal University and Yang Hui of Yunnan University
provided crucial help in arranging research permission, no small matter given the number
of bureaus involved, and shared valuable insight into conducting fieldwork in Yunnan
from their own extensive research experiences. He Shaoying of Yunnan Minorities
University was instrumental in helping me to start my research in the summer of 2001.
Zhou Hua Shan was extremely helpful in sharing his knowledge of Na life gained
through his lengthy fieldwork in the region, and I thank him tremendously for providing
an introduction to my main native speaker consultant. Tami Blumenfield became an
excellent friend, and I have benefited tremendously from discussions with her, both in the
field and over the years.
I would also like to express my gratitude to the National Science Foundation, the
National Science Foundation Office of International Science and Engineering, and the
IEFS and Department of Asian Studies at the University of Texas at Austin for research
grants without which this research would not have been possible.
v
I thank my advisor, Tony Woodbury, for taking me on as an advisee. When I was
applying for graduate school in 1999, few departments considered descriptive and
documentary research a worthy scholarly pursuit. I was extremely lucky to find an
advisor and a department so fundamentally grounded in descriptive and documentary
linguistics, both in terms of training and of values. I am tremendously grateful for his
support in every way over the years, without which this research could not have
happened. I thank my committee members, Nora England, Patience Epps, Qing Zhang,
Graham Thurgood, and Megan Crowhurst, for their support over the years, their
insightful comments and discussion. Alexandra Aikhenvald, Nicholas Evans, Martin
Haspelmath, John Haviland, Nikolaus Himmelmann, and Heidi Johnson also contributed
comments, questions, and discussion which helped shape my work. I also thank faculty
at the University of Texas past and present, particularly Rajesh Bhatt, Lisa Green, Robert
Harms, Björn Lindblom, Richard Meier, Scott Myers, Carlota Smith, and Keith Walters;
my undergraduate advisors at Barnard, Joseph Malone and Dirk Obbink; and Penelope
Rainey, a remarkable teacher who first exposed me to linguistic analysis through
Classical Greek.
I have always considered that the Tibeto-Burman linguistic region seems to draw
some of the best and most interesting people. James Matisoff and Randy LaPolla in
particular have very generously given me extensive and very helpful comments. I also
thank Alexis Michaud for his detailed comments, willingness to share his phonological
acumen, and discussion over the years. Laura Bennetts, Balthasar Bickel, David Bradley,
Daniel Bruhn, Shobhana Chelliah, Katia Chirkova, Richard Cook, Alec Coupe, Scott
DeLancey, Roselle Dobbs, Jonathan Evans, Carol Genetti, Zev Handel, Inga-Lill
Hansson, Lee Hogan, Gwendolyn Hyslop, John B. Lowe, David Peterson, David Solnit,
Kenneth VanBik, Alice Vittrant, Justin Watkins, and Dominc Yu have all provided useful
comments and terrific discussions. STEDT has been a wonderful and stimulating
intellectual environment in which to finish my dissertation.
vi
I am grateful to my classmates Lynda de Jong Boudreault, Cheng-Fu Chen, Elaine
Chun, Hilaria Cruz, Shannon Finch, Taryne Hallett, Cynthia Hansen, Fred Hoyt, Anita
Huang, Susan Smythe Kung, I-Wen Lai, Chingwan Lee, Er-Xin Lee, B’alam Mateo-
Toledo, Eric McCready, Laura Mahalingappa, Sadaf Munshi, Alexis Palmer, Ginger
Pizer, Kate Shaw Points, Elias Ponvert, Fei Ren, Malavika Shetty, Aaron Shield, Jessica
White Sustaíta, Alexandra Teodorescu, and Christina Willis for many hours of useful
discussion around the lunch table and in the hallways, and for their friendship over the
years.
The University of Texas Linguistics Department has been blessed with fantastic
administrative staff, and I thank Leslie Crooks, Gina Pollard, Brian Price, Benjamin
Rapstine, Kathy Ross, and Andrea Truesdale, as well as Joey Walker outside the
department, for years of assistance in numerous matters big and small.
I would also like to thank Brett Bays, Kelly Bogdan, Kyra Choudhury, Arwen
Curry, David and Rosa-Maria DiDonato, Gordon Edgar, Joe Gross, Timmy Hefner, Jason
McGill, Mike McKee, Mike Millett, Adam Pfahler, Chris Pfeffer, Stacey Pridham,
Rachel Rinaldo, Joe S., Kate Short, David Uskovich, Wang Xiaokun, and Ben White for
their friendship over the years.
I thank Lance Hahn, Katharine and Victor Lidz, Adam Lidz and Sonja Pacho,
Larry Lidz, and Ruth and Theodore Lidz, for their invaluable love and support.
vii
A Descriptive Grammar of Yongning Na (Mosuo)
Publication No._____________
Liberty A. Lidz, Ph.D.
The University of Texas at Austin, 2010
Supervisor: Anthony C. Woodbury
This dissertation is a descriptive grammar of Yongning Na (Mosuo), a Tibeto-
Burman language spoken in southwestern China. The theoretical approaches taken are
functional syntax and the discourse-based approach to language description and
documentation. The aim of this dissertation is to describe the ways that the language’s
features and subsystems intersect to make Na a unique entity: analycity; zero anaphora;
OV word order; topic/comment information structure; a five-part evidential system; a
conjunct/disjunct-like system that intersects with evidentiality and verbal semantics;
prolific grammaticalization; overlap between nominalization and relativization and
associated structures; representation of time through aspect, Aktionsart, adverbials, and
context; and the Daba shamanic register.
Topics covered in the grammar include a description of the sociolinguistic
environment; the phonemic inventory; phonological processes; compounding; word
classes; the structure of noun phrases; the classifier system; types of possession; methods
for quantification; grammatical relations and non-systemic ‘ergative’ and ‘anti-ergative’
marking; the structure of verb phrases; the multiple existential verbs; the aspectual
system; evidentiality; grammaticalization; clause-combining; narrative texts; and lexicon.
viii
Table of Contents
List of Tables.............................................................................................................xxv
List of Figures........................................................................................................xxviii
Abbreviations...........................................................................................................xxxi
Index of Classifiers................................................................................................xxxiv
Chapter 1: Sociolinguistic overview........................................................................1
1.1 Classification .........................................................................................3
1.2 Methodology..........................................................................................9
1.2.1 Computing environment..........................................................12
1.3 Typological profile...............................................................................14
1.4 The people............................................................................................14
1.5 Subsistence...........................................................................................16
1.6 Tourism................................................................................................17
1.7 Language vitality.................................................................................19
Chapter 2: Segmental phonology...........................................................................21
2.1 Syllable structure ......................................................................................21
2.2 Consonant inventory.................................................................................23
2.2.1 Obstruents..................................................................................25
2.2.1.1 Stops............................................................................22
2.2.1.1.1 Bilabial stops ...................................26
/pʰ, p, b/
2.2.1.1.2 Alveolar stops ...................................27
/tʰ, t, d/
2.2.1.1.3 Velar stops .......................................27
/kʰ, k, g/
2.2.1.1.4 Uvular stops ....................................28
/qʰ, q, ɢ/
2.2.1.2 Fricatives.....................................................................29
2.2.1.2.1 Labiodental fricative ................................30
/f/
2.2.1.2.2 Alveolar fricatives and ........................31
/s/ /z/
2.2.1.2.3 Alveo-palatal fricatives and ................31
/ɕ/ /ʑ/
2.2.1.2.4 Retroflex fricatives and .......................32
/ʂ/ /ʐ/
2.2.1.2.5 Velar fricative and glottal fricative .....32
/ɣ/ /h/
ix
