Dhankute Tamang adverbs

14 Pages·2.67 MB·Nepali

by  Poudel Kedar Prasad.

DHANKUTE TAMANG ADVERBS
Kedar Prasad Poudel
[email protected]

1. Introduction
Dhankute Tamang is a dialect of Tamang that belongs to the
group of non-pronominalising languages of Tibeto-Burman
branch of the Sino-Tibetan language family. This dialect is
spoken in Dhankuta district of Nepal.
This paper deals with Dhankute Tamang adverbs focusing on
the forms and functions. It is divided into 3 major parts. First
part deals with formation of adverbs, whereas second part
describes positions of adverbs. Classification of adverbs is
mentioned in third part. Lastly, conclusion is drawn.
2. Formation of adverbs
Adverbs in Dhankute Tamang form a separate word class,
e.g.,
(1) a. lhakpa zya -na le dim - ri ni -zi.
Lhakpa good-NML-MAN Home-ALL go-Pt
'Lhakpa went home well.'
b. lhakpa audi ca- mu- la
Lhakpa much eat-be-NPt
'Lhakpa eats much.'
c. lhanan zya-ba mhi kha -ban- mu-la.
Very good–NML man come-PROG be-NPt
‘A very good man is coming.’
Adverbs zya- na- le and dim ri in (1a) modify the verb
ni zi with respect to manner and direction (place),
respectively. audi in (1b) modifies the verb group
Nepalese Linguistics, Vol. 23, 2008, pp. 221-34.
222 / Dhankute Tamang adverbs
ca -mu- la, whereas lhanan in (1c) modifies the adjective
zya- ba in a noun phrase lhanan zya-ba mhi.
Structurally, Dhankute Tamang adverbs can be categorized
into three different groups: Non-derived adverbs, derived
adverbs, adverbial phrases.
2.1 Non-derived adverbs
Non-derived adverbs in Dhankute Tamang can be categorized
into three groups: Temporal, locative and degree. Some
common non-derived adverbs are given below:
i. Temporal adverbs
(2) a. nhaar ‘tomorrow'
b. dande 'now'
c. reni 'day after tomorrow'
d. one 'day before yesterday'
e. tilma 'yesterday'
f. tini 'today'
g. sjori 'morning'
ii. Locative /directional adverbs
(3) a. kemsa 'beyond'
b. zasa 'this side'
c. phiryap 'out'
d. accha 'in front'
e. ker 'at that side'
d. lisa 'behind'
g. laccha 'behind'
iii. Degree adverbs
(4) a. lhanan 'very\ much\many'
b. alik 'a bit'
Poudel / 223
c. udidi 'a little\ a few'
d. lha-lhanan 'very\ much\many'
e. tikpe 'little'
f. tikpe -tikpe2 'so little'
All temporal and locative adverbs mentioned in (2 a-f ; 3 a-f)
are originally Tibeto-Burman words. Degree adverbs like
lha -lhanan and tikpe -tikpe contain repetition of first
syllable, and the whole word only for the emphasis. So, they
are emphatic forms of lhanan and tikpe, rather than new
adverbs. Besides, alik is borrowed from Nepali, their lingua
franca, and tikpe from Sherpa, their neighbouring language.
Phonemically and originally, lhanan and udidi are only
found as the degree adverbs in Dhankute Tamang.
2.2 Derived adverbs
Adverbs in Dhankute Tamang can be derived from
demonstratives, nouns, adjectives and verbs. Their
derivational suffixes along with the examples are illustrated in
Tables 1-2.
Table 1: Derived temporal adverbs
Derivational Derived from
suffix Word Word Derived form
class
ri syor N syor-ri 'in the morning'
di-ni N di- ni -ri 'in the day
time'
one N one ri 'in Shrawan'
dona lho char N lho-char

1 Copy of the first syllable indicates much emphasis, but here it
refers to ‘very much’ or ‘too much’.
2 Copy of the complete word indicates much emphasis, and thereby
it means ‘very small quantity’.
224 / Dhankute Tamang adverbs
dona ‘ up to Lhochhar'
mhun N mhun dona 'up to
night'
kartik N kartik dona
'up to Kartik'
yam\ sjor N sjor-yam 'from the
hense morning'
tihar N tihar-yam 'from the
Tihar.'
mhun N mhun-yam 'from the
night'
Table 2: Derived directional adverbs
Derivational Derived from
suffix Word Word Derived form adverbs
class
-ri namsa N namsa-ri 'to village'
bazar N bazar-ri 'to bazaar'
hoza Dem hoza-ri
'there/to that place'
-dona yambu N yambu-dona
'up to Kathmandu'
namsa N namsa-dona
'up to village'
hoza Dem hoza-dona
'up to that place'
-yam / dim N dim-yam
-hense 'from the house'
namsa N namsa-yam
'from the village'
hoza Dem hoza-yam 'from that
place'

3 Derivational suffixes -yam and -hense are free variants.
Poudel / 225

Table 3: Derived locative adverbs
Derivational Derived from
suffix Word Word Derived form adverbs
class
-ri namsa N namsa- ri 'in the village'
thopo N thopo-ri 'on the head'
chjoi N chjoi-ri 'in the book'
cu Dem cu- ri 'here'
Dem
hoza hoza- ri 'there'
Table 4: Derived manner adverbs
Derivational Derived from
suffix Word Word Derived form adverbs
class
-le tun- ba V tun-na-le 'curtly'
chyar- ba V chyar-na-le 'sharply'
ron- ba V ro-na-le 'deliciously'
chem- ba V chem- na- le 'vigorously'
V
lep -pa lep -na- le 'hotly
V
-se ala Adj. ala-se 'immaturely'
kuki Adj. kuki-se 'twistingly'
liaa Adj. liaa-se 'nakedly'
locyur Adj. locyur-se 'timidly'
From the above-mentioned tables (1-4), the derivational
suffixes are -ri, -dona, -jam / hense, -le and -se, which
are used to derive adverbs from other word classes.
Both temporal and directional adverbs (see, Tables 1-2) share
the same suffixes -ri, -dona and -jam / -hense. They are
understood only in pragmatics.
226 / Dhankute Tamang adverbs
Locative suffix -ri is shared by the temporal and directional
adverbs (see, Tables 1-3). Manner adverbs contain
derivational suffixes -le and -se (see, Table 4).
2.3 Adverbial phrases
Functionally, even the phrases in Dhankute Tamang can
convey the adverbial sense. Such phrases can be: nominal,
postpositional, and reduplication.
i) Nominal phrases
Structurally, nouns, which can have pre-modifiers, may refer
to the adverbial meanings. Some such phrases are in Tables 5-
8.
Table 5: NPs as temporal adverbs
Pre-modifiers NPs as temporal adverbs
Word Word class Head
(N)
ik NUM din ik din 'one day'
som cha NUM lho som-cha lho 'third year'
nhi cha NUM syor nhi-cha syor 'second
morning'
cu DEM bela cu bela 'at this time'

hoza din hoza din 'that day'
DEM
hoza yase hoza yase'that evening'
DEM
Numerals and demonstratives in (Table 5) pre-modify the
nouns and mark the temporal adverbs.
Table 6: NPs as manner adverbs
Pre-modifiers NPs as manner adverbs
Word Word Head
class (NML)
Poudel / 227
dwa ‘pig’ N ra- ba dwa ra-ba 'very
‘like’ slowly\lazily'
dabra 'crow’ N dabra ra-ba ‘cleverly’
syauri ‘ant’ N syauri ra-ba '
laboriously'
More gravity of meaning is on the pre-modifier and noun
ra- ba is not a postposition. Rather, it is syntactically a
nominalizer, as -ba is added to -ra.These NPs function as
manner adverbs.
Table 7: NPs as sentential adverbs
Pre-modifiers NPs as sentential adverbs
Word Word Head (N)
class
o-la N-GEN tam o-la tam 'luckily'
syan Adj tam syan tam 'moreover'
ik NUM bicar ik bicar 'on the one hand'
Sentential adverbs4 are formed in the way as to how a noun
phrase is formed. The genitive, adjective or numeral may
modify noun.
Table 8: Nominal phrases as frequency adverbs
Pre-modifier NP as frequency
Head (N)
adverbs
Word Word class

ik NUM rem ik rem 'once'
nhi NUM rem nhi rem 'twice'
som NUM rem som rem 'thrice'
lhanan Quan rem lhanan rem 'many
times'

4 Sentential adverbs modify the whole clause or sentence.
228 / Dhankute Tamang adverbs
Numerals like ik, nhi and som or quantifiers like
lhanan are compounded to nouns to form frequency
adverbial phrases.
Structurally, pre-modifiers may be numeral, adjective,
demonstrative and noun, whereas the head word may be noun
or verb + NML (Tables 5-8).
ii) Postpositional phrases
Dhankute Tamang NPs may have postpositions and thereby
they are functionally adverbials, e.g.,
(5) sarpa ik dim- nha mu-la.
snake one home-inside be-NPt
'A snake is inside the house.'
- nha in (5) is a postposition, which changes the noun dim
into adverbial one. Such postpositions in Dhankute Tamang
are:
-nha, -u, -thori, -diri, -zasa, -kemsa, -phiryap, -li
sa,-acha,-asa, -licha, -ker and -whana. Such N+
Postposition phrases may function as temporal, locative and
directional adverbs, e.g.,
(6) a. nhi baze lisa b. dim lisa
two o'clock-PP house-PP
‘after two o'clock.' ‘behind the house'
c. dim asa
house-PP
‘in front of the house'
nhi baze lisa in (6a) is time adverbial, whereas
dim lisa and dim asa in (6 b-c) are place (locative and
directional) adverbials.
iii) Reduplication
Adverbs can be formed by reduplication, e.g.,
Poudel / 229
(7) a. syo-syo b. din -din
morning-RED day-RED
'early morning.' 'always'
c. dim- dim
home- RED
‘door to door’
Nouns are reduplicated in (7a-c).
Adjectives may be changed into adverbials by reduplication,
e.g.,
(8) a. olche- olche b. yona -yona
slow-RED quick-RED
'slowly' 'quickly'
Adjectives olche and yona in (8a-b) are reduplicated to
form adverbials.
3. Positions of adverbs
Dhankute Tamang adverbs are placed immediately before an
adverb, adjective or a verb, e.g.,
(9) a. pemba olche-se ni-la.
Pemba slow-MAN go-NPt
‘Pemba will go slowly.'
b. phurba nikai yona-n bra-la.
Phurba very fast-EMP walk-NPt
'Phurba will walk very fast.'
c. choisa udidi mla-ba mu-la.
Chhoisang a bit black-NML be-NPt
'Chhoisang is a bit black.'
230 / Dhankute Tamang adverbs
olche -se, nikai,and udidi in (9a-c) precede the verb
ni- la, adverb yona-n and adjective
mla- ba, respectively.
4. Classification of adverbs
Dhankute Tamang Adverbs can be categorized into temporal,
locative, directional, manner, degree and frequency.
4.1 Temporal adverbs
Two calendar terms in Dhankute Tamang refer to past and
future as in Table 9.
Table 9: Temporal calendar adverbs
Time DAY YEAR
PAST onema nyu
'day before yesterday' ‘2 years before'
tilma 'yesterday' tuyu 'last year'
NOW tini 'today' cu di 'this year'

FUTURE nhaar ’tomorrow’ kha-ba-di'next year'
rai-nu/ren '2days later' rai-di '2 years later'
Temporal adverbs may refer to both definite and indefinite
time, e.g.,
(10) a dande ni-la.
I now go-NPt
'I am going now.'
(11) a lisa ni-la.
I later go-NPt
'I will go later.'

5 In Dhankute Tamang most adverbs contain verb (Infinitive) marker
-ba