This paper offers new evidence from Stau, Geshiza, and Khroskyabs to address the question of directionality in valency-changing derivations in Sino-Tibetan. Examining Stau, Geshiza, and Khroskyabs causative and anticausative verb stem pairs adds to the evidence that in Proto-Sino-Tibetan, a number of intransitive stems are derived from transitive stems, in some cases as the result of *N‑ prefixation, and in other cases from voicing alternation independent of *N‑ prefixation. In addition, the proto-sigmatic prefix (*s-) does not cause devoicing in Stau, Geshiza, and Khroskyabs, but rather often undergoes voicing assimilation, and has more than just a causativization function. Furthermore, by looking at Gyalrong, Minyag, Tangut, Middle Chinese, and Old Chinese we emphasize that there is no synchronic evidence to support devoicing induced by *s‑, nor is there historical evidence to support the claim that *s‑ caused devoicing in Proto-Gyalrongic, or even at genetically deeper stages.
Based on argument indexation properties, this paper offers a model of four verb classes for Geshiza and Stau, two closely related and endangered Horpa lects spoken in Sichuan. Despite increased awareness and interest in Horpa, no exhaustive classification of verbs from the viewpoint of argument indexation has been offered. Even though argument indexation itself has been discussed in previous scholarship, the striking diversity of argument indexation patterns has not been addressed. It is shown that both Geshiza and Stau, the two lects chosen as the sample for this study, share the same verb classes, even though the class assignment of individual cognate verbs occasionally varies. The paper also describes how semantic and animacy features inherent in verbs, most prominently compatibility with human S and P arguments resulting in compatibility with speech act participants, play a crucial role in verb class assignment. Establishing a framework for Horpa verb classes helps in the ongoing descriptive work of these languages. In addition, it offers new material for typological studies of argument indexation.
Guillaume Jacques's grammar offers a comprehensive description of Japhug, one of the Core Gyalrong languages of the Tibeto-Burman (Trans-Himalayan, Sino-Tibetan) language family spoken in Sichuan Province, China. The grammar is based on oral texts and conversations rather than on elicited material, the data being recorded over nine fieldtrips (2002)(2003)(2004)(2005)(2006)(2007)(2008)(2009)(2010)(2011)(2012)(2013)(2014)(2015)(2016)(2017)(2018) and supplemented by constant phone contact with the consultants. Taken together, the amount of data, extensive and long-lasting contact with the language community, and reliance on non-elicited materials archived in Pangloss, mean that the grammatical description rests on particularly solid ground and makes credible claims that can be independently verified. Readers benefit from the hyperlinks in the digital edition of the grammar that connect the examples to the Pangloss archive that hosts the recordings of the original narrations. While archiving at least a part of the original data to a publicly available database has become common practice in grammar writing of less-researched languages, Jacques's interactive approach offers a great illustration of how information technology can and should be used to enhance grammatical descriptions in the digital era.Descriptive grammars show a decades-long trend towards longer and more in-depth descriptions of their target languages. While the trend is partly due to advances in linguistic research, such as the "epistemicity boom" of recent decades that has benefitted descriptions of evidential systems in languages of the world, the trend also reflects changes in the genre of descriptive grammars, "comprehensive grammars" gaining ground as a prominent subgenre. Jacques's detailed grammar fits neatly into this trend in grammatography and in many ways epitomizes it. With a meticulous and systematic treatment of Japhug grammar, the description not only synthesizes the author's previous work on the language that has appeared in various articles and monographs, but also offers many new contributions, which makes A Grammar of Japhug not only the most comprehensive documentation of a Tibeto-Burman minority language, but also one of the most comprehensive monographic grammatical descriptions of any language in existence. This is all the more remarkable an achievement, since prior to the author's first steps in Japhug research approximately two decades ago, very little was known about the language, and more broadly, many breakthroughs of Gyalrongic scholarship were still to take place.From the viewpoint of users, comprehensive grammatical descriptions present their own challenges distinct from those of shorter grammars. For instance, while typologists looking for source materials concerning specific grammatical phenomena often lament
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