(224) *nú* *u-mdoʔ* *nú* *aj* *k(-ti)* *múj-spe-a* *ma*
DEM 3SG.POSS-colour DEM 1SG INF-say NEG:SENS-be.able[III]-1SG LNK
*arŋi* *u-ŋgwz* *kumɣ* *pyi* *ku-ʃe*
be.green:FACT 3SG.POSS-inside:LOC also be-grey:FACT SBJ:PCP-be.like
'I cannot say its colour, it is somewhere between green and grey.'
(06-qaZmbri) {0003416#S50}

### 8.3.5 Temporal relator nouns

Many temporal postpositions are found in Japhug (§8.2.10, §8.2.9, §8.2.11), and temporal relator nouns are relatively fewer. The relator *u-raŋ* ‘during, the time when’ (from Tibetan *སྟེ་ rīŋ* ‘long, during, when’) is very commonly used with subordinate clauses (§25.3.4.1), but can also follow temporal adverbs and nouns, as in (§225).

(225) *x̣citka u-raŋ* *tce, tcendṿre pya ra, nũ-kɣ-ndza* *maka*
spring 3SG.POSS-during LNK LNK bird PL 3SG.POSS-OBJ:PCP-eat at.all
*cʰu-me* *pũ-ŋu* *tce, tcendṿre u-tw-mtswr*
IPFV-not.exist SENS-be LNK LNK 3SG.POSS-NMLZ:DEG-be.hungry
*pjɣ-saχaɣ* *zo* *pũ-ŋu,*
IFR.IPFV-be.extremely EMPH SENS-be

‘In spring, the birds’ food has gone out and [that crow] was extremely hungry.’ (kWjujmAlu)

The inalienably possessed noun *u-rɣy*, whose basic meaning is ‘specific (and predictable) time’ as (226) (see also §20.2.3), can be used as relator noun as in (227) to mean ‘the exact time when’.

(226) *u-rɣy* *yɣzu* *ma* *nykinu* spikuku *zo*
3SG.POSS-specific.time exist:SENS LNK filler every.day EMPH
*pũ-maɣ*
SENS-not.be

‘[The rut] occurs at a specific time, not every day.’ (27-qartshAz)
{0003702#S150}

(227) *tcendṿre u-fsaqʰe* *tce nũ u-rɣy* *tce li*
LNK 3SG.POSS-next.year LNK DEM 3SG.POSS-specific.time LNK again
*lo-yi*
IFR:UPSTREAM-come

‘It came back at exactly the same time the next year.’ (22-qomndroN)
{0003598#S40}
8 Postpositions and relator nouns

There are two relator nouns that can be used as antonyms of the preposition
*çungu* ‘before’ (§8.2.11), *u-mpʰru* ‘after, following’ (from *ɔ́ z̥* “pʰro” ‘remnant’, in
particular in expressions such as ɛ̃“rə’ ɔ̃z̥ “defi.”pʰror ‘next, after that’) and *u-qʰu*
‘after, behind’, which is also used for spatial relations (§8.3.4.2). These two nouns
are not synonymous. The former must be used in the expression *ci u-mpʰru ci* ‘one
after the other’ (228), and means ‘next’ as in (229), and can follow a subordinate
clause, expressing temporal subsequence (§25.3.3.1), though most commonly a
demonstrative pronoun such as *nu* or *numu* referring to the previous clause is
used instead, as in (230).

(228) ci u-mpʰru ci zo ko-nwpoq qʰe lo-su-ye.
one 3SG.POSS-after one EMPH IFR-kiss LNK IFR:UPSTREAM-CAUS-come
'[The mother] kissed [her children] one after the one and had them
come inside.' (160701 poucet2) {0006155#S38}

(229) tce nu u-mpʰru tce tcʰi to-ti?
LNK DEM 3SG.POSS-after LNK what IFR-say
‘What does it say next?’ (140522 Kamnyu zgo) {0004059#S103}

(230) tce tu-rdoq pjγ-sat tce tceri numu u-mpʰru tu-sla jamar
LNK one-piece IFR-kill LNK LNK DEM 3SG.POSS-after one-month about
numu tu-ci u-taɣ nwtcu u-zda nu
DEM INDEF.POSS-water 3SG.POSS-on DEM:LOC 3SG.POSS-mater DEM
lo-ce nγ cʰγ-γi, lo-ce nγ
IFR:UPSTREAM-go LNK IFR:DOWNSTREAM-come IFR:UPSTREAM-go LNK
cʰγ-γi jγ-car
IFR:DOWNSTREAM-come IFR-search
'[Someone] killed one of them, and after that, [the other one] flew along
the river searching for its mate for about one month.' (22-qomndroN)
{0003598#S38}

The locative relator *u-qʰu* ‘after, behind’ also has temporal uses, in particular
to build temporal subordinate clauses (§25.3.3.1), and it can also be used after
noun phrases as in the expression *saχsw u-qʰu* ‘after lunch, afternoon’, or simply
following a demonstrative as in *nu u-qʰu* ‘after that’.

Another originally locative relator noun has temporal functions: *u-pvrtʰvβ* ‘the middle of’, which is used after the demonstrative *nu* to mean ‘in the meantime’ (231) and also occurs with temporal clauses with the meaning ‘while’.
(231) az̥o ku-ce-a tce z-pu̥-saŋjar-a ŋu tce nʷ
1SG IPFV:EAST-go-1SG LNK TRAL-SENS-delay-1SG be:FACT LNK DEM
u̥-pγrtʰγβ tce nʷz̥o ra ku̥ c-pu̥-rla-nu̥ je tce
3SG.POSS-in.the.middle LOC 2PL PL ERG TRAL-IMP-untie-PL SFP LNK
lɣ-tswu̥m-nu̥ je
IMP:UPSTREAM-take.away-PL SFP

'I will go there and delay himᵢ, and in the meantime, you go there and untie himᵢ, and take himᵢ away.' (tWJo 2005) {0003368#S37}

### 8.3.6 Semi-grammaticalized relator nouns

#### 8.3.6.1 *tw-jaɣ* ‘hand, arm’

The noun *tw-jaɣ* ‘hand, arm’ occurs with several verbs in fixed collocation, the recipient of the action being indexed by the possessive prefix on this noun.

It is found with *kʰo* ‘give’ to express the meaning ‘hand over to’ as in (232) and (233).

(232) nɣki tγtšu nʷ a-jaɣ tγ-kʰγm!
DEM:MEDIAL lamp DEM, 1SG.POSS-hand IMP:UP-give[III]
'Hand over to me (up here) that lamp.' (140511 alading-zh) {0003953#S119}

(233) kʷki mbro ki nɣ-jaɣ pʷ-kʰo-j ŋu
DEM.PROX horse DEM.PROX 2SG.POSS-hand IPFV-give-1PL be:FACT
'(If you succeed), we will give you this horse.' (2012-qachGa)
{0004087#S60}

The collocation of *tw-jaɣ* with the intransitive verb *zyušt* ‘arrive’ means ‘receive’ or ‘obtain’, as in (234). With the causative form *sɣzyušt*, the collocation means ‘get’ (with volition and controlability) as in (235) – the recipient marked by the possessive prefix on *tw-jaɣ* is the same referent as the transitive subject of the main verb.

(234) icqʰa tγtšu nʷ a-jaɣ a-nu̥-zyušt
the aforementioned lamp DEM 1SG.POSS-hand IRR-PFV-reach
ra
be.needed:FACT
'I have to obtain this lamp.' (140511 alading-zh) {0003953#S203}
## 8 Postpositions and relator nouns

(235) tcʰi ra na-swso zo nw, w-jak
what PL AOR:3→3'-think EMPH DEM 3SG.POSS-hand
ju-nw-sw-yzyut pjy-cʰa.
IPFV-AUTO-CAUS-reach IFR.IPFV-can
'He was able to get whatever he wanted.' (140508 benling gaoqiang de si
xiongdi-zh) {0003935#S46}

The collocation of the noun *tw-jak* 'hand, arm' with the verb *yi* 'come' also means 'obtain' or 'find', as in (236).

(236) jinde tce w-kw-sat konla maje tce, nw
nowadays LNK 3SG.POSS-SBJ:PCP-kill completely notuezENS LNK DEM
qarma w-muj kwny tw-jak muj-yi wo
crossoptilon 3SG.POSS-feather also GENR.POSS-hand NEG:SENS-come SFP
'Nowadays, nobody kills them, and one cannot get crossoptilon feathers
(to use as ornaments).' (23-qapGAmtWmtW) {0003608#S152}

The noun *tw-jak* 'hand, arm' does not occur in metaphoric use outside of these collocations; it cannot be used in particular to mark any adjunct. Other noun-verb collocations where an experiencer or a recipient is marked as possessor of the noun are described in §22.4.

### 8.3.6.2 Cause and beneficiary

Two semi-grammaticalized inalienably possessed nouns can be used to express beneficiaries: *w-ndza* 'cause' as in (237), and *w-sk(211, 962, 752, 1050],

(238) pʰa kymw yw kw-pe yw w-skx t nwtcu
all TOPO GEN SBJ:PCP-be.good GEN 3SG.POSS-speech DEM:LOC
to-βzu-nw pw-ŋu.
IFR-make-PL SENS-be
'People built it there for the benefit of all of Kamyu.' (150904 tshAcim)
{0006274#S30}
## 8.3 Relator nouns

The noun *u-tʰurzi* ‘mercy’ (borrowed from Tibetan འཉུགས་རྗེ་ tʰugs.rdze ‘compassion’, also found in a collocation §22.4.3.3), occurs in a semi-grammaticalized construction meaning ‘thanks to’, in combination with the ergative *ku* as an instrumental adjunct (239), or in absolutive form as a nominal predicate (240).

(239) pw-cʰa-a nwra nyj ny-tʰurzi kw pw-cʰa-a
AOR-can-1SG DEM:PL 2SG 2SG.POSS-mercy ERG AOR-can-1SG
‘I succeeded all thanks to you.’ (2011 04-smanmi)

(240) ma jinde nwra kw-fse kx-mtsʰym maŋe tce,
LNK nowadays DEM:PL SBJ:PCP-be like INF-hear notuezSENS LNK
smyn u-tʰurzi umv-ŋu ma
medicine 3SG.POSS-mercy PROB-be:FACT LNK
‘Nowadays we do not hear about [this disease], probably thanks to the
medicine.’ (27-tWfCAI) {0003710#S48}

The noun *u-xcɣt* ‘strength’ is also often used in instrumental adjuncts with the ergative to express cause, as in (241).

(241) ty-zdway u-xcɣt kw pjw-si cti,
INDEF.POSS-toil 3SG.POSS-strength ERG/INSTR IPFV-die be:AFF:FACT
‘[The bees] die of exhaustion.’ (26 GZo) {0003668#S40}
<figure><img src="image_11.png" /></figure>
# 9 The noun phrase

## 9.1 Noun modifiers and determiners

This section discusses all noun modifiers and determiners except those involving subordinate clauses (relative and complement clauses, discussed in chapter 23 and §24.6, respectively).

### 9.1.1 Number

Japhug has two number markers, the dual *ni* and the plural *ra*. These clitics are not obligatory for non-singular arguments (even when these have human referents), and do not necessarily trigger plural or dual agreement on the verb (§14.6.1.1).<fnref n="1" />

#### 9.1.1.1 Dual

The dual *ni* is historically related to the numeral *knuz* (§7.1.1), but their relationship is synchronically opaque. It combines with the proximal and distal demonstratives *ki* and *nu* to form the dual demonstratives *kuni* and *nuni*, respectively (§6.9, §9.1.2).

There is no semantic restriction on the use of *ni*, it most often occurs with human referents (2, 5, 6, 7), but is also commonly attested with animals (3) inanimate objects (4), and placenames (1).

(1) *prvcta cʰo rgunba ni ndzi-pvrtʰyβ ri ŋu*
TOPO COMIT monastery DU 3DU.Poss-between LOC be:FACT
'It is between Prashta and the monastery.' (140522 Kamnyu zgo)
{0004059#S112}

The marker *ni* can appear with a noun phrase comprising two nouns (each with singular referents) linked by the comitative *cʰo* (§8.2.5) as in (1) and (2).

<footnote n="1">¹Cognates of these markers in Gyalrong languages and beyond are discussed in §14.8.1.</footnote>
(2) tce a-ww cʰo a-ki ni pjw-tw-sat
LNK 1SG.POSS-grandfather COMIT 1SG.POSS-younger.sibling DU IPFV-2-kill
mɣ-jɣɣ
NEG-be.possible:FACT
‘You cannot kill my grandfather and my younger brother.’
(2011-05-nyima)

The dual can follow the numeral ънвц ‘two’, as in (3). This combination is
however very rare (only 13 examples in the corpus out of hundreds of dual *ni*).
The opposite order (dual followed by numeral) is not grammatical.

(3) mbyɣru nʷ jla ънʷz ni ndʒi-tʰyβ ri
plough.beam DEM hybrid.yak two DU 3DU.POSS-between LOC
pʷ-ce tce
IPFV:WEST-GO LNK
‘The beam of the plough goes between the two hybrid yaks.’ (24-mbGo)
{0003621}

The adverb ъпавна ‘both’ commonly co-occurs with dual, as in (4). It is exterior to the noun phrase, and must thus follow *ni* and all other postnominal determiners.

(4) zaŋ cʰo raк ni ъпавна zo ьja ku-te pʷ-ŋu
copper COMIT brass DU both EMPH verdigris IPFV-put[III] SENS-be
‘Both copper and brass get verdigris.’ (30-Com) {0003736#S99}

The dual can also be used with noun dyads (§9.2.2.2), as in (5).

(5) w-mu w-wa ni kw pʷ-z-nxja-ndʒi qʰe
3SG.POSS-mother 3SG.POSS-father DU ERG IPFV-CAUS-be.a.pity-DU LNK
‘Her parents could not stand to part with her.’ (14-siblings) {0003508#S275}

The third person dual pronoun zγni is built by combining the pronominal root
-žo- with the dual ni (§6.1), and is not attested in combination with the dual. The
first and second dual pronouns tcizo and ndzizo, do occur with the dual marker
as in (6), though examples are very rare.

(6) tcizo ni wuma zo pʷ-amumi-tci tce
1DU DU really EMPH PST.IPFV-be.on.good.terms-1DU LNK
‘We were in harmony together.’ (140512 fushang he yaomo-zh)
{0003967#S78}
Noun phrases with the dual *ni* are always correlated with a dual prefix on the following noun in possessive constructions or with relator nouns, as in (1), (3) and (7). Not a single example of a noun phrase in *ni* followed by a noun with a singular or plural possessive prefix is found in the corpus.

(7) *w-pi* ni ndzi-srov ko-ri tce
3SG.Poss-elder.sibling DU 3DU.Poss-life IFR-save LNK
'He saved the life of his two brothers.' (2012-qachGa) {0004087#S136}

The marker *ni* is not obligatory with dual referents, in particular when the numeral *wnuz* ‘two’ is present. There are in particular intrinsically collective nouns referring to a pair of individuals such as *wzymi* ‘husband and wife’, which can trigger dual indexation as in (8).

(8) kwcuŋgw tce tce atu <qinghai> zngwlok nuctu tce,
in.former TIMES LNK LNK up.there ANTHR ANTHR DEM:LOC LNK
vjumbrwy wzymi ci pjy-tu-ndzi tce,
dragon husband.and.wife one IFR.IPFV-exist-DU LNK
'In former times, in Qinghai, in the Mgolog area, there was a couple of
dragons.' (150820 qaprANar) {0006246#S40}

Such examples are however rare in the corpus; dual indexation is most often
correlated with a dual marker on the corresponding noun phrase, if overt.

The numeral *wnuz* ‘two’ without the dual also triggers dual indexation, as in
(9).

(9) swŋgw zwi turme wuma zo kw-wxti wnuz tu-ndzi tce
forest LOC person really EMPH SBJ:PCP-be.big two exist:FACT-DU LNK
'In the forest, there are two giants.' (140428 yonggan de xiaocaifeng-zh)
{0003886#S160}

Dual marking on a noun phrase is not necessarily correlated with dual inde-
xation on the verb, especially, but not exclusively, with inanimate referents, as
in (10) (§14.6.1.1).

(10) w-mrak χcʰoće ni to-mto.
3SG.Poss-eye left.and.right DU AOR-have.sight
'His left and right eyes recovered sight.' (140517 mogui de jing-zh)
{0004022#S100}
9 *The noun phrase*

However, a noun phrase with *ni* is never correlated with a plural indexation
marker on the verb. Apparent exceptions are either speech errors, or cases of
ambiguous indexation, as in (11).

(11) *ny-pi* ni kw nzyo nwyi kx-suso kw wmak 2sg.poss-elder.sibling du erg 2sg come.back:fact inf-think erg soldier
χsw-txwr kw pa-z-nykʰar-nw cti tce, three-round erg aor:3→3'-caus-surround-pl be.aft:fact lnk
'Your two elder brothers, thinking that you are coming back, had [the
palace] guarded on all sides by three rows of soldiers.' (2012-qachGa)
{0004087#S154}

Example (11) is not completely straightforward, and deserves a detailed com-
ment. The form *paznykʰarnu* can be parsed either as *pu-az-nykʰar-nw* PST.IPFV-
PROG-surround-PL ‘They were guarding it’ with vowel fusion (§12.3) or as *pa-
z-nykʰar-nw* AOR:3→3’-CAUS-surround-PL ‘(He/they) had them guard it’. Context
makes it clear here that the second option is the correct one, in particular because
in the same passage in another version of the same story, we find the verb *pa-
su-lγt* (AOR:3→3’-CAUS-release) ‘he had (them) make’ with the perfective 3→3’
form of a causative verb (Jacques 2016a: 242, §17.2.1). Moreover, while the phrase
*ny-pi ni kw* ‘your two elder brothers’ could in principle belong to the infinitival
clause in *kx-suso*<fnref n="2" />, it is clear from the context and the explanations provided by
native speakers that *ny-pi ni kw* is the causer, and *wmak* χsw-txwr kw ‘three rows
of soldiers’ is the causee (also marked by the ergative, see §8.2.2.6).

We thus observe plural indexation -nw on the main verb pa-z-nykʰar-nw, while the subject ny-pi ni ku has a dual marker. However, this is neither a counterex- ample to the number indexation rule stated above, nor a speech error: rather, it is a consequence of the fact that causees rather than causers can trigger number indexation on the verb.

9.1.1.2 Plural

The plural marker *ra*, like the dual, follows the noun and most of its modifiers, and
fuses with the demonstratives *ki* and *nw* to build the plural demonstratives *kura*
and *nura*, respectively (§6.9, §9.1.2). It should not be confused with the auxiliary
verb *ra* ‘be needed’, ‘be necessary’ (§24.5.3.1), though there are cases where some
ambiguity may occur.

<footnote n="2">²Incidentally, note that this infinitival clause contains another complement in Hybrid Reported Speech (§24.2.5.2).</footnote>
Like the dual *ni*, the plural *ra* is compatible with both animate and inanimate referents, as in (12) and (13). It can be a plain marker of plurality as in (12).

(12) *kumaъ si ra cʰo nɔ-mdoъ mɔ-naχtcoŋy*
other tree PL COMIT 3PL.POSS-colour NEG-be.the同一个 FACT
'It's colour is different from that of the other trees.' ('this tree and other
trees, their colours are different') 11-qrontshom) {0003482#S52}

The marker *ra* is also often a similative plural (Mauri & Sansò 2018), under-
standable as ‘and other things’, ‘all kinds of’ as in (13).

(13) *rdɔ-staъ ra pɔ-w-tṣaβ-nɔ*   *qʰe turme tu-xtswɔ-y pɔ-w-ŋu*
stone PL IPFV-cause.to.fall-PL LNK people IPFV-hit SENS-be
'[Goats and sheep], (as they climb high) cause stones (and other things) to
fall and these hit people.' (tshAt-qaZo-kAlAG) {0003420#S3}

The plural can follow numerals (even without head noun) to express an ap-
proximative number, as in (14).<fnref n="3" />

(14) *ci ci χswm kubde ra pω-lst nω-ŋgrzl.*   *tsuku tce*
one one three four PL SENS-throw SENS-be.usually.the.case. some LNK
*wnwz jamar ma mūj-lst,*
two about apart.from NEG:SENS-throw
'Sometimes [dogs] have three or four [puppies], some only have two.'
(05-khWna) {0003398#S18}

The plural marker *ra* can also indicate approximate location, with or without locative markers. In (15), we find approximate location *ra* in *kʰa ra* ‘(everywhere) in the house, around the house’ and *tu-ji u-ŋgw ra* ‘in the fields’, and in (16) with body parts.

(15) *βzw nɔ wuma zoŋ yn*   *tce, tcendre akndwndyt zo*
mouse DEM really EMPH be.evil:FACT LNK LNK everywhere EMPH
*kʰa ra cʰw-rypw.*   *tw-ji w-ŋgw ra*
house PL IPFV-bear.young INDEF.POSS-field 3SG.POSS-inside PL
*cʰw-rypw,*
IPFV-bear.young

‘The mouse is fierce, it has pups everywhere in the house, and has pups
in the fields.’ (27-spjaNkW) {0006330#S46}

<footnote n="3">³Note that in (14) *ci ci* is the expression for ‘sometimes’ (§22.2.1), not used as a numeral.</footnote>
This use of *ra* can convey a meaning of distributed location, and is often com-
bined with the adverb *a>*yndundyt ‘everywhere’ (§6.7). It is reminiscent of plural
markers in Kirghiz and Old Japanese, which combine collective, hypocoristic and
approximate locative meanings (Antonov 2007: 195).

(16) *n<u>u</u>-b<i>ri</i> ra <u>n<u>u</u>-łok, n<u>u</u>-mke n<u>u</u>ra <u>n<u>u</u>-łok

3PL.POSS-body PL IPFV-come.out 3PL.POSS-neck DEM:PL IPFV-come.out

n<u>u</u>-r<i>ŋa</i> ra <u>bri>bry</u>b<i>γ</i> zo <u>n<u>u</u>-łok

3PL.POSS-face PL IDPH(II):covered.by.tiny.bumps EMPH IPFV-come.out

<u>n<u>u</u>-r<u>ŋu</u>.

SENS-be

'[People who suffer from this disease have little blisters] appearing on their body, on their neck and all over their face.' (27-kharwut)
{0003698#S56}

The marker *ra* even occurs with referents which are clearly singular, not only
in the approximative location function, but also in examples such as (17) where
the reason for the presence of *ra* is less immediately obvious. In (17), a sentence
taken from the translation of Rotkäppchen into Japhug (however, the presence
of *ra* cannot be due to calque since there is no plural marker in the original), the
function of the plural on the phrase *t<u>r</u>-wi *ra* ‘the grandmother’ is more subtle: it
conveys the idea that the impersonation takes on several aspects of the grand-
mother, not only her physical appearance, but also her voice, as implied by the
second clause.

(17) *qapar n<u>u</u> k<u>u</u> li, [...] t<u>r</u>-wi ra to-n<u>u</u>cp<u>r</u>wz
dhole DEM ERG again INDEF.POSS-grandmother PL IFR-impersonate
tce, tce u-skyt ra c<sup>h</sup>y-s<u>u</u>-ymtcok zo tce n<u>u</u>ra to-ti.
LNK LNK 3SG.POSS-voice PL IFR-CAUS-be.sharp EMPH LNK DEM:PL IFR-say
‘The wolf was pretending to be the grandmother, and said these [words]
with a sharp voice.’ (140428 xiaohongmao-zh) {0003884#S91}

Just like noun phrases with dual *ni* correlate with dual possessive prefixes (see
7 in §9.1.1.1), those with plural *ra* can only be coreferent with a plural possessive
prefix, as *n<u>u</u>- in (18).

(18) *sw<u>ku</u> tce t<sup>h</sup>y<i>e</i> k<u>u</u>-fse, k<u>u</u>mak si ra n<u>u</u>-mat n<u>u</u>ra

tree LNK acorn SBJ:PCP-be.like other tree PL 3PL.POSS-fruit DEM:PL

c-pj<u>u</u>-n<u>u</u>-p<sup>h</sup>u>t tce tu-ndze <u>n<u>u</u>-r<u>ŋu</u>.

TRAL-IPFV:DOWN-AUTO-pluck LNK IPFV-eat[III] SENS-be

‘On the trees, [the bear] plucks acorn or fruits from other trees to eat.’

(21-pri) {0003580#S43}
Apparent counterexamples such as (19), where *ra* is followed by a noun with the singular possessive prefix *w-*, occur when the preceding noun phrase is not the possessor of the following noun. For instance, in (19) *ra* in the locative phrase *tw-ŋga w-taк* *ra* 'on the clothes' has a vague locative function. The is a locative adjunct.<fnref n="4" />

(19) **tw-ŋga** **w-taк** **ra w-mat** **bɔbɔβ**
**INDEF.POSS-clothes** 3SG.POSS-on PL 3SG.POSS-fruit IDPH(II):in.clusters
**zo ku-ndzɔk.**
**EMPH IPFV-ANTICAUS:** attach
‘Its seeds attach in clumps to one’s clothes.’ (18-qromJoR) {0003532#S159}

The plural *ra* very commonly occurs with headless relatives, with or without a demonstrative, as in (20), where we find both relatives followed by *numura* and another one followed by *ra*.

(20) [k-ti mɔ-kw-pe ku-fse tu-kw-ti]
INF-say NEG-NMLZ.S/A-be.good NMLZ.S/A-be lik e IPFV-NMLZ.S/A-say
numura tce, [[kty-nwtsw kw-ra] ra kumy
DEM:PL LNK INF-hide NMLZ.S/A-be.needed PL also
tu-kw-ti] numura, turme ra kumy, tcayi tu-sy rmi-nw
IPFV-NMLZ.S/A-say DEM:PL people PL also parrot IPFV-call-PL
ŋgryl.
be.usually.the.case:FACT
‘Those who say things that one should not say, who say even what
should be concealed, even [if they are] people, they call them ‘parrots’.
(24-qro) {0003626#S113}

The plural *ra* also occurs between auxiliaries and the preceding complement clause with a verb in finite (21) or non-finite (22) form, with a vague implication that additional related actions are concerned.

(21) li **tw-ji** **w-ŋgw** **ra yw-ku-nwru** **ra**
again INDEF.POSS-field 3SG.POSS-inside PL CISL-IPFV-eat.crops PL
**ŋgryl.**
be.usually.the.case:FACT
‘It also usually comes to eat crops in the fields.’ (24-ZmbrWpGa)
{0003628#S35}

<footnote n="4">⁴The phrase *tw-ŋga w-taк w-mat* ‘its fruits’, otherwise the 3PL possessor prefix *nuu-* would be expected.</footnote>
## 9 The noun phrase

(22) γγmdzu tce numw kγ-nyjʌk ra mγ-sγ-nyz tce
be.thorny:FACT LNK DEM INF-touch PL NEG-PROP-dare:FACT LNK
'It is thorny and one does not dare to touch it with the hand.'
(11-qrontshom) {0003482#S85}

The marker *ra* following a locative noun or adverb can have the meaning ‘the people/things from X’, as in (23), without the need to add a demonstrative (cf 39 §9.1.2).

(23) alo ra pwn-mbyom-nw qʰe
upstream PL SENS-be.in.a.hurry-PL LNK
‘Those in the village, they [do things] in a hurry.’ (conversation140510 tshering)

### 9.1.1.3 Honorific plural

The plural marker *ra* is also used as an honorific marker on terms of address as *a-zi ra* ‘my young lady’ in (24), correlating with the plural possessive prefix *nw-* and sometimes plural indexation (§14.6.1.2).

(24) a-zi ra nwn-<bandeng> pwn-car-a ci azo
1SG.POSS-young.lady PL 3PL.POSS-seat IPFV-look.for-1SG QU 1SG
tu-ozgrwn-a ma
IPFV-bend-1SG LNK

‘Young lady, should I look for a seat for you, or bend down [for you to sit on my back]?’ (2003 Kunbzang)

The honorific function of plural number is also attested with the pronoun *nuzo* (§6.1.1).

## 9.1.2 Demonstratives

Japhug demonstrative determiners are formally identical to the demonstrative pronouns (§6.9). They distinguish between proximal and distal demonstratives with different roots, and fuse with the dual and plural markers studied in §9.1.1; the proximal *ki* undergoes change to *ku-* in those fused forms.

As with the demonstrative pronouns, there are three sets of demonstratives, the base form, the reduplicated one (obtained by reduplicating the first syllable), and the emphatic one, with added *u-* prefix. Note that the latter two sets are not attested in the dual for determiners in the corpus, but the forms exist and
are easily deducible from the corresponding plural ones. In addition, there is a medial demonstrative *nъki* which occurs in prenominal position.

<table><caption>Table 9.1: Demonstrative determiners</caption><thead><tr><th></th><th>Base form</th><th>Reduplicated</th><th>Emphatic</th></tr></thead><tbody><tr><td>PROX.SG</td><td>ki</td><td>kuki</td><td>ukuki</td></tr><tr><td>DIST.SG</td><td>nu</td><td>numu</td><td>umumu</td></tr><tr><td>PROX.DU</td><td>kuni</td><td>(kukuni)</td><td>(ukukuni)</td></tr><tr><td>DIST.DU</td><td>nuni</td><td>numuni</td><td>(umununi)</td></tr><tr><td>PROX.PL</td><td>kura</td><td>kukura</td><td>ukukura</td></tr><tr><td>DIST.PL</td><td>nura</td><td>numura</td><td>ununura</td></tr><tr><td>MEDIAL</td><td>nъki</td><td></td><td></td></tr></tbody></table>

In Japhug, as in other Gyalrong languages, demonstrative determiners can be either/both pre- and postnominal as shown by an example such as (25), with the proximal *ki* both before and after the noun *srunloьpu* 'little ring'.

(25) azo γω-caβ-a ts-ηu tce, ki srunloь-pω ki
1SG INV-catch.up:FACT-1SG AOR-be LNK DEM.PROX ring-DIM DEM.PROX
pω-ctʰωz-a tce,
IPFV:WEST-turn.toward-1SG LNK

‘When [the râkshasas] are about to catch up with me, I will turn this little ring towards west [in their direction].’ (28-smAnmi) {0004063#S209}

All possible combinations of base demonstratives (B) and reduplicated demon-
stratives (R) are attested as pre- or postnominal determiners:

* BNB: *ki* N *ki*, *nu* N *nu* (25)

* RNB: *kuki* N *ki*, *numu* N *nu* (26)

* BNR: *ki* N *kuki*, *nu* N *numu* (28)

* RNR: *kuki* N *kuki*, *numu* N *numu* (27)

The types BNB and RNB, with the postnominal determiner as a base demon-
strative, are by far the most common ones in the corpus.
(26) azo kuki txpi ki lu-nykʰukʰrut-a tce
1SG DEM.PROX staff DEM.PROX IPFV:UPSTREAM-drag-1SG LNK
‘I will drag along this staff [on the ground].’ (2003 Kunbzang)

(27) icqʰa kuki <qingjiao> kuki tce, u-qa
the.aforementioned DEM.PROX plant.name DEM.PROX LNK 3SG.POSS-root
ku-wyrum pu-nyu.
SBJ:PCP-be.white SENS-be
‘This [plant that is called] qingjiao (in Chinese), its root is white (unlike
the other qingjiao whose root is red).’ (17-ndZWnW) {0003524#S75}

(28) ki rgytpu kuki ku, icqʰa, qazo nwi
DEM.PROX old.man DEM.PROX ERG the.aforementioned sheep DEM
to-mtsʰi qʰe, li tsu ku-wxti nwtcu jo-ce tce,
IFR-lead LNK again road SBJ:PCP-be.big DEM:LOC IFR-GO LNK
‘The old man, leading the sheep, went to the big road.’ (150822 laoye
zuoshi zongshi duide-zh) {0006298#S98}

The emphatic form is very rare prenominally. In (29), prenominal *ukuki* occurs to put contrastive focus on the noun to avoid potential confusion with the subject of the sentence ('*this* wife of mine, not his wife').

(29) nwi w-rzaβ nwi ku, wkwki a-rzaβ kuki,
DEM 3SG.POSS-wife DEM ERG DEM.PROX.EMPH 1SG.POSS-wide DEM.PROX
kuki ckom ki na-su-yβzu tce,
DEM.PROX muntjac DEM.PROX AOR:3→3'-CAUS-become LNK
'[My son's] wife turned this wife of mine into this muntjac.' (140512
fushang he yaomo-zh) {0003967#S173}

When the postnominal demonstrative is in plural or dual form, the prenominal
one is generally unmarked for number, as in (30).

(30) kuki tcʰeme kura nwi-rca azo tu-ce-a
DEM girl DEM:PL 3PL.POSS-following 1SG IPFV:UP-go-1SG
pu-ntsʰi ma múj-pe
SENS-have.better apart.from NEG:SENS-be.good
‘I have no other choice but to go [to heaven] with these girls.’ (31-deluge)
{0004077#S61}
However, there are also a few examples with plural marking on both pre- and postnominal demonstratives, as in (31), a remarkable phenomenon given the fact that the number markers are strictly postnominal.<fnref n="5" /> Plural marking on the prenominal demonstrative with a singular postnominal demonstrative is not attested.

(31) *numura pya nura lonba zo py-me-nu tce, kzu-nu sqaptuy*
DEM.PL bird DEM.PL all EMPH IFR-not.exist LNK young.man eleven
*py-k-ypa-nu-ci.*
IFR-PEG-become-PL-PEG
‘All those birds disappeared, and became eleven young men.’ (140520 ye
tiane-zh) {0004044#S113}

Proximal prenominal demonstratives can be combined with the postnominal *nu*, as in (32), where the latter one is used as a topic marker. The opposite combination, a distal prenominal demonstrative with proximal postnominal one, is not attested in the corpus and presumably agrammatical.

(32) *kuki* χpi *nw* pwpuŋu *n*
DEM.PROX story DEM TOP LNK
‘As far as this story goes,’ (11 examples in the corpus)

The medial demonstrative *nɔki*, used to designate referents closer to the addressee than to the speaker, is found as a pronoun (§6.9.2.1), but also occurs as a prenominal determiner, with or without postnominal demonstrative (either proximal or distal), as in (33) and (34). It is frequently used with a noun taking a second person possessive prefix – note that the first syllable *nɔ-* of the demonstrative *nɔki* itself probably originates from the second singular possessive, as proposed in §6.9.2.1.

(33) *nɔki* *nw-typi* *u-taɔ* *kɔ-ryt* *nw*
DEM: MEDIAL 2PL.POSS-staff 3SG.POSS-on OBJ: PCP-write DEM
*uβry-ku-z-nympo-a-nu*
RH.Q-2→1-CAUS-watch-1SG-PL
‘You wouldn’t show me what is written on that staff of yours, would you?’ (2003 sras)

<footnote n="5">⁵This raises the question whether *numura* should be analyzed as a prenominal demonstrative, forming a constituent with *pya nura*. There is no pause between *numura* and *pya* in the sound file, but I cannot exclude the possibility that *numura* here as a left-dislocated demonstrative (and should be followed by a comma).</footnote>
(34) *nɔki nɔ-tɔ-ri*   *nɔ uotcu pɔ-tu*
DEM: MEDIAL 2SG.POSS-INDEF.POSS-thread DEM where PST.IPFV-exist
‘That thread of yours, where is it from?’ (2005 Norbzang)

The relative position of prenominal demonstratives and other pronominal ele-
ments is not free. The aforementioned topic marker iɛqʰa (§9.1.5.2) strictly occurs
before prenominal demonstratives (as in 27), while nominal modifiers such as
χsɛr ‘gold’ in (35) appear closer to the noun.

(35) *kʷi cɔsʷr pγγtcs̥i n*   *pʷ-kʰam-a*
DEM.PROX gold bird DEM.PROX 1SG.POSS-hand IPFV-give[III]-1SG
ŋu
be:FACT
‘(If you succeed) I will give you this golden bird.’ (2012-qachGa)
{0004087#S45}

(36) *n̥tcsu a-twsra ŋu, tce n;n̥o kw [n̥w a;no a-c;rw̥**
DEM:LOC 1SG.POSS-tomb be:FACT LNK 2SG ERG DEM 1SG 1SG.POSS-bone
n̥n̥w̥ra] a-tɔ-tɔ-tcɛt tce,
DEM:PL IRR-PFV-2-take.out LNK
‘My tomb is there, if you take out my bones, ...’ (150907 niexiaoqian-zh)
{0006262#S105}

Pronouns coreferent with a possessive prefix on the head noun, however, can
be placed either after (36) or before (37) prenominal demonstratives.

(37) *kʷi, a;no [ki a-ku ki] pʷ-pʰʷt*
DEM.PROX 1SG DEM.PROX 1SG.POSS-head DEM.PROX IMP-cut
ra
be.needed:FACT
‘Please behead me!’ (140507 jinniao-zh) {0003931#S297}

The principles governing the presence and absence of the demonstrative de-
terminers, and the choice of the various patterns described above, is particularly
complex to describe and will be a topic for future research, when a larger corpus
of texts will become available. While the proximal demonstratives always have
some deictic function (although it may not always be appropriate to translate
them with a demonstrative in other languages such as English), the distal demon-
stratives clearly contribute to marking topic (§9.1.5) and definiteness (§9.1.4.3),
and disentangling these various functions is a complex matter.
The distal demonstratives *nu* and *nunu* are particularly common after relative clauses (either participial §23.2.1 or finite ones §23.2.2) and complement clauses, where arguments against analysing these forms as complementizers are provided (§24.3.3).

Following locative adverbs or locative postpositional phrases, the distal and proximal demonstratives can be used to express the meaning ‘the one/those (at) X’ as in (38) and (39). Note that the number determiner *ra* can also be used in the same way (example 23 in §9.1.1.2) even without being combined with a demon-strative.

(38) **amaŋ** *amaŋ*, *atʰi* *ki* *ku*
INTERJ: SURPRISE INTERJ: SURPRISE downstream DEM: PROX ERG
‘a-βγo m-a<nu>twu-y-a tce a-scawa’
1SG.POSS-uncle NEG-<auto>meet: FACT-1SG LNK 1SG.POSS-poor
pu-swuyu puy-u ye
SENS-think[III] SENS-be SFP
‘The one down there, he is thinking ‘Poor me, I will not meet my lama’,
isn’t he?’ (2003kandZislama) {0006147#S142}

(39) *a-pa*, *aki* *nù* *staŋlupa*
1SG.POSS-father down DEM born.in.the.year.of.the.tiger
ky-βde w-spa *nù* mɔ-y-nu-xsi ri,
OBJ: PCP-throw.away 3SG.POSS-material DEM NEG-AUTO-GENR: know LNK
‘Father, the one down there, I don’t know if he is a [boy] born in the year
of the Tiger, to be thrown [into the lake], but…’ (2011-05-nyima)

Note however that demonstratives or number markers are not absolutely nec-
essary in such a context. A few (rare) examples of locative postpositional phrases
meaning ‘the one at/in/from’ without any modifier can be found, as in (40), where
the postpositional phrase is directly followed by the dative, here used in its loca-
tive meaning ‘by (the side of), near, at’ (§8.3.1). In this example, the phrase *swkyku*
*mutcu* does not mean ‘on the treetop’, but ‘the man who is on the treetop’.<fnref n="6" />

(40) [swkyku nutcu] *u-pʰe* *nutcu* *lo-zyu̯t-ndʒi* tce
reetop DEM:LOC 3SG.POSS-DAT DEM:LOC IFR:UPSTREAM-reach-DU LNK
'[The tiger and the fox] arrived at [the place where the one who was] on
the treetop [was].' (2012-x1-khu) {0004085#S45}

<footnote n="6">⁶The story from which this example is taken is about three thieves who mistakenly steal a tiger during the night, believing it was an ox; one of the three thieves flees on the top of a tree – his manner of fleeing being here the characteristic distinguishing him from the other two thieves.</footnote>
9.1.3 Quantifiers

This section only discusses universal, mid-scalar and specifically distributive quantifiers; numerals and counted nouns, which also serve as quantifiers (in particular distributive ones), are described in chapter 7.

9.1.3.1 Universal quantifiers

The determiner *tʰamtɛrt* ‘all’, from Tibetan འཇུག་གླིང་ tʰams.cad ‘all’, is strictly post-
nominal, as in (41). It cannot be used as a pronoun, and there are no examples in
the corpus of tʰamtɛrt ‘all’ following a personal pronoun.

(41) *swəŋgw k( s e t e s i t h a m t c y t k u n u m w*
forest AOR-SBJ:PCP-be.dangerous LNK LNK tree all ERG DEM

p j u w - k u - s a t   k w - n g r y l   p w - n u .

IPFV-GENR:S/O-kill SBJ:PCP-be.usually.the.case SENS-be

‘The fierce/dangerous forest, it was (a place where) all the trees would kill
[people thrown into it].’ (28-smAnmi) {0004063#S176}

The combination of a demonstrative such as *nu* ‘that’ with *tʰamtɛrt* ‘all’ does not mean ‘all of this’, but ‘so much, so many’, as in (42). In this function, the prefixed form *stʰamtɛrt* ‘so much’ (§5.8.4) is generally used, resulting in the form *nuštʰamtɛrt* ‘that much’ (§26.1.1.3).

(42) izora tʰu·dɔ·n-i qʰe, kʰa nɔ· tʰamtɔ·rt
1PL AOR-be.many-1PL LNK house DEM all
mɔ·-pɔ·-rma·-xtcʰu·t-i qʰe
NEG-SENS-RECIP-have.enough place-1PL LNK
‘There was more of us [than before], and so many of us could not fit in
the house.’ (14-siblings) {0003508#S94}

Another universal quantifier, *kṛsufse* ‘all’, is common as a pronoun (§6.7). It
is analyzable as a determiner in examples like (43) where it follows the plural
marker *ra*, and takes the ergative *ku*. It is restricted to human referents.

(43) kxtsa ra kxswfse kw wuma zo pjx-nu-rga-nu
parents.and.children pl all erg really emph ifr.ipfV-appl-like-pl
‘Everybody in the family liked her very much.’ (140429 qingwa wangzi)
{0003890#S5}
The universal quantifier *lonba* ‘all’ (from Tibetan མགོན་པ། *lon.pa* ‘reached, enough, completed’), like *kṛsufse* ‘all’, also occurs after (never before) demonstratives and number markers as in (44).

(44) azo a-ki
nwa lonba azo kw
1SG 1SG.POSS-younger.sibling DEM:PL all 1SG ERG
ty-nywpa-t-a
AOR-take.care-PST:TR-1SG

'It was I who took care of all my younger brothers and sisters.' (140426
tApAtso kAnWBdaR4)

In (45), *lonba* follows and has scope over the complement clause of the noun of speech *kʰyctl* 'discussion' (§24.6.3.2).

(45) [a-wa
nw tcʰi kw-fse ci pw-ŋu kw] lonba
1SG.POSS-father DEM what SBJ:PCP-be like INDEF PST.IPFV-be SFP all
a-kʰycy l pw-fcyt ra
1SG.POSS-discussion IMP-tell be.needed:FACT

'Tell me all about what happened to my father.' (2005 Norbzang)

In (46), it has scope over the possessor of the head noun *nw-rmi* 'their names' redundantly with *tʰamtɛ́t*. Here *nw-rmi* *lonba* could be glossed as *nw-rmi* *nw-tɛ́ŋgut* 'their name as a whole', 'their collective name' (example 163, §9.1.8.1).

(46) nw-zda
rwda w-kw-ndza
tʰamtɛ́t nwmra
3PL.POSS-companion animal 3SG.POSS-SBJ:PCP-eat all DEM:PL
nw-rmi
lonba kwri tu-kw-ti
ŋu.
3PL.POSS-name all beast IPFV-GENR-say be:FACT

'All those that eat the other animals, their generic name is 'beast'.' (150822
kWrNi) {0006260#S7}

An alternative construction with a meaning similar to a universal quantifier is totalitative reduplication (§12.4.1.5). In particular, the totalitative participle *kuu*~*kuu-tu* ‘all who exist’ (§23.7) of the existential verb *tu* ‘exist’ commonly occurs with a preceding noun phrase (in a head-internal relative, as in 47) or on its own (as a headless relative) as a semi-lexicalized quantifier ‘all’.
(47) tce [u-zda ra kw-kw-tu] kw nw-rzaβ
LNK 3SG.POSS-companion PL TOTAL~SBJ:PCP-exist ERG 3PL.POSS-wife
na-nw-car-nw jw-ŋu
AOR:3→3'-AUTO-look.for-PL SENS-be

‘All of his companions took [other women] as their wives.’ (2005
Norbzang)

The semantic proximity between totalitative reduplication and universal quan-
tifiers such as *tʰamtɛrɛt* ‘all’ is shown by examples such as (48), where both are
used redundantly.

(48) <wangbapi> nʷ kʷ, tʷrju kʷ-kʷ-pe, kʷ-mpcɣr
ANTHR DEM ERG word TOTAL~SBJ:PCP-be.good SBJ:PCP-be.beautiful
tʰamtɛrɛt spʷ~spe zo to-ti ri
all TOTAL~be.able:FACT EMPH IFR-say LNK

‘Wang Bapi had said all the nice and pleasant words that he could [to
convince the old man].’ (150831 jubaopen-zh) {0006294#S82}

The marker *pʰa* ‘whole’ is exceptional in terms of word order, as it is the only strictly prenominal quantifier, occurring directly before the noun on which it has scope, as the following examples illustrate. It partially overlaps in meaning with the previous markers, as it can express the totality of individuals in a group as in (49) (see also for instance 85, §18.4.1.2), and also occurs with names of localities to refer to all the persons living in the place (73, §5.2.1).

(49) zara kʷ icqʰa sytcʰa γʷ u-rpu
3PL ERG the.aforementioned place GEN 3SG.POSS-king
tʰa-nʷ-ndo-nʷ ndɣre pʰa mkʰɣrmaŋ zo
AOR:3→3'-AUTO-take-PL LNK whole population EMPH
ta-sɣpe-nʷ jʷ-ŋu
AOR:3→3'-do.good-PL SENS-be

‘They became kings of this place, and treated well the whole population.’
(2005 Norbzang)

Its core meaning however is to express the entirety of an object/entity, as in
the noun phrase *pʰa u-pʰoŋbu* ‘its whole body’ in (50). If an overt possessor (for
instance, the 3SG pronoun *uwo*) is present, it occurs stranded before *pʰa* ‘whole’,
as in (51).
(50) ma pʰa w-pʰoŋbu z̥o w-mdzu tu ri,
LNK whole 3SG POSS-body EMPH 3SG POSS-thorn exist:FACT LNK
w-mat w-taɣ ző w-mdzu me,
3SG POSS-fruit 3SG POSS-on EMPH 3SG POSS-thorn not:exist:FACT
'It has thorns on its whole body, but no thorns on its fruits.' (15-babW)
{0003512#S245}

(51)    w pʰa w-i-pʰoŋbu
3SG whole 3SG POSS-body
'It's whole body' (several attestations)

### 9.1.3.2 Mid-scalar quantifier

The quantifier *tsuku* ‘some’ is generally used as a pronoun (§6.7.2), but it does occur as a prenominal determiner as in (52), or a postnominal one as in (53) and (54). It is most often used in the corpus with human referents, but is compatible with inanimate objects, as shown by (53).

(52) tsuku tWRme ra kú-wy-mtswy-nw tce múj-kDwy, tsuku tWRme
some people PL IPFV-INV-bite-PL LNK NEG.SENS-be.serious some people
ra [...] kú-wy-mtswy-nw tce tce, wuma zó cʰúw-y-z-nwymbɣ-ncw
PL IPFV-INV-bite-PL LNK LNK really EMPH IPFV-INV-CAUS-Swell-PL
qʰe púw-wy-z-nwtwfcɣl-nw qʰe ku-rŋgw-nw
LNK IPFV-INV-CAUS-have.diarrhea-PL LNK IPFV-lie.down-PL
púw-ra.
SENS-be.needed

'Some people, when they are stung (by bees) are fine, other people, when they are stung, it causes them swelling and diarrhea and they have to lie down.' (26-ndzWrnaR) {0003678#S61}

(53) ‘pju-nuβle-a pü-ra’ pü-swso tce, kuwtcʰu tsuku
IPFV-cheat[III]-1SG SENS-be.needed IFR-think LNK toy some
pü-kuʰo tce,
IFR-give LNK
‘She thought ‘Let’s cheat him’ and gave him some toys.’ (2012 Norbzang)
{0003768#S115}

(54) ri ku-murku tsuku pjx-tu-nw tce tce,
LNK SBJ:PCP-steal some IFR.IPFV-exist-PL LNK LNK
‘There were some thieves.’ (X1-khu) {0004085#S8}
## 9 The noun phrase

Note in (55) the combination of the quantifier *tsuku* ‘some’ with the counted noun *tu-rdoš* ‘one piece’, which expresses here a restrictive meaning (thirteen or fifteen children for a single person, §7.3.2.4).

(55) tsuku turme tu-rdoš yu u-rjit, sqafsum jamar, sqamu
some person one-piece GEN 3SG.POSS-offspring thirteen about fifteen
jamar tu-kuu-tu pju-tu.
about IPFV-GENR:S/A-exist IFR.IPFV-exist
'[In] some [cases], a single [woman] had thirteen or fifteen children.'
(140426 tApAtso kAnWBdaR)

### 9.1.3.3 Distributive quantifier

Although distributive meaning is generally expressed in Japhug with a counted noun (§7.3.2.2), the postnominal determiner *raŋri* ‘each’ and its variant *ruri* ‘each’ (from Tibetan ὁ εἶ ṛ *raŋ̥.re* ‘each’ and ἁ ὁ ṛ *re.re* ‘each’) can also express distributive meaning, as in (56).

(56) paek rcanw, tu-tupw raŋri ku zo pju-χsu-nu
pig UNEXP:DEG one-household each ERG EMPH IPFV-raise-PL
ra.
be.needed:FACT
‘Each single household has to raise pigs.’ (05-paR) {0003400#S4}

It can also be used with numerals, as in (57), where it refers specifically to days.

(57) sqamu raŋri zo zgo tu-ce pu-ŋu pu-ŋu,
fifteen EACH EMPH mountain IPFV:UP-go PST.IPFV-be SENS-be
‘Every fifteen days, she would go up the mountain.’ (2005 Norbzang)

When the quantifier *raŋri* ‘each’ occurs in the same sentence with a counted noun, the scope of the two quantifiers is ambiguous, as in (58).

(58) rirvβ raŋri χsw-tyxwr a-ty-tu-sw-lyt tce,
mountain each three-lap IRR-PFV-2-CAUS-throw LNK
‘Drag her three times around each mountain.’ (2005 Kunbzang)

In the predicative possessive construction (§22.5.2.1), when the possessor takes the determiner *raŋri*, its possessum is often followed by the distributive determiner *tuka* ‘each’ (and its reduplicated variant *tukaka*) as in (59).
(59) *icqʰa* *u̯-mat* *raŋri z̥o* *nʷ* *u̯-ru* *tuka*
the aforementioned 3SG.POSS-fruit each EMPH DEM 3SG.POSS-stalk own
*ntsw* *tu*.
always exist:FACT
‘Each of its fruits has its own stalk.’ (17-thowum) {0003526#S34}

The determiner *tuka* ‘each’ can also be used without a possessor in *raŋri*, for example with the distributive pronouns *zaka* ‘each his own’ and *zakastaka* ‘each his own’ (§6.7.3) as in (60).

(60) *zakaštaka* *nʷ-kʰo* *tuka pjx-tu* *tce*
each.his.own 3PL.POSS-room each IFR.IPFV-exist LNK
‘Each of them had her own room.’ (140508 shie ge tiaowu de gongzhu)
{0003937#S81}

In addition to the possessive construction, *tuka* ‘each’ also occurs in transitive constructions, following objects, with broad scope over the whole action (61).

(61) *pcax* *tuka to-βzu-nʷ* *tce jo-nʷ-ce-nʷ*.
reverence each IFR-make-PL LNK IFR-VERT-go-PL
‘Each of them made a reverence and went back.’ (28-smAnmi)
{0004063#S162}

The aspectual adverb *ntsw* ‘always’, which generally has scope over the whole sentence (§22.2.1, §22.2.7), can also be used as a distributive quantifier as in (62), where its scope is restricted to the temporal phrase *nʷ-px̥rme nɣ nʷ-px̥rme* ‘by two years’ (with the additive *nɣ*, §8.2.6).<fnref n="7" />

(62) *tce iżo kxndzibि* *ra nʷ-px̥rme nɣ nʷ-px̥rme ntsw* *ma*
*LNK 1PL COLL:sibling PL two-year* *ADD two-year* *always apart.from*
*mɣ-acʰyšt-ı*
*NEG-differ.in.age:FACT-1PL*
‘We brother and sisters were born in intervals of two years each.’ (if ranked by birth order, adjacent siblings differ in age from each other by two years each) (14-siblings) {0003508#S220}

<footnote n="7">⁷On the morphosyntax of the verb *acʰyšt* ‘be X years apart’, see §19.7.7.</footnote>
9.1.3.4 Intensifiers

The intensifier *kʰro* ‘much’ and *zimkʰym* ‘much’ can have both scope over the predicate (§26.1.1.2) or serve as postnominal modifiers meaning ‘many, a lot of’. They can undergo emphatic reduplication to *kʰu~kʰro* and *zu~zimkʰym*, respectively.

When following a noun in absolutive form as in (63), these intensifiers are syn-
tactically ambiguous, as they can be analyzed as having scope over the preceding
noun phrase, or on the whole predicate.

(63) <baisuzhen> nʷi kʷi, n, sŋaɣ pjɣ-spa tce (...)

ANTHR DEM ERG FILLER magic IFR.IPFV-be.able LNK

tw-ŋgo ra zimkʰym zo to-yɣ-mna

INDEF POSS-disease PL many EMPH IFR-CAUS-be.better

'Bai Suzhen knew magic, and healed many diseases.' (150825 baishe
zhuan-zh) {0006342#S64}

In (64) however, *kʰu~kʰro* unambiguously occurs inside of the ergative postpo-
sitional phrase, showing that it cannot be analyzed here as a clausal intensifier.

(64) [twrme kʰu~kʰro] kʷ zo yu-to-rsʰyt-nu

person EMPH~much ERG EMPH CISL-IFR-try-PL

'Many people came and tried it.' (140505 xiaohaitu-zh) {0003921#S16}

9.1.3.5 Other

In addition to the quantifiers discussed above, there are several markers which
combine quantificational function with additional specific meanings.

The marker *ciŋarwra* ‘each better than the other’ is used as postnominal at-
tribute (§9.1.8.1). In transitive constructions, it occurs between the noun and the
ergative *kʷ* as in (65). It is probably built by combining the pronoun *ɛu* ‘who’
(§6.5.2), the bound form of the copula *nyu* ‘be’ (§22.5.1.1, *ŋy- → ŋa-* due to assimi-
lation with the following *-ra*) and the plural *ra* (§9.1.1.2) in reduplicated form.

(65) rlpu ciŋarwra kʷ ta-tʰu-nu̯ cti ri,
king each.better.than.the.other ERG AOR:3→3'-ask-PL be.AFF:FACT LNK

mʷ-ty-nla-j cti tce,

NEG-AOR-agree-1SG

'[Many] kings, all better than the other, asked for [my daughters in
marriage], but we did not agree.' (2003 qachGa) {0003372#S74}
## 9.1 Noun modifiers and determiners

The adverbs *mutç'imuruz* ‘all kinds’ and *mundzamuχtcuy* ‘all kinds’ (from Tibetan *mi·aŋ* ‘all kinds’ *mi·n̥ dra.mi·gtcig* ‘diverse, different’) are also used as postnominal attributes, located closer to the noun than numerals and demonstratives (66). These forms are only found in traditional narratives.

(66) *compʰu* mündzamuχtcuy χsw-ri kwutşysqi a-pu-tu,
    tree all.kinds three-hundred sixty IRR-IPFV-exist
    w-ku zw pya mündzamuχtcuy χsw-ri kwutşysqi nw] kw
    3SG.POSS-on LOC bird all.kinds three-hundred sixty DEM ERG
    pyymbri a-ty-lst-nw p̥u-ra
    bird song IRR-PFV-release-PL SENS-be-needed

‘May there be three hundred and sixty trees of all kinds, and on them
three hundred and sixty bird of all kinds of species singing.’

(2011-04-smanmi)

The universal quantifier *rmurmi* ‘all, all kinds of’ (67), a borrowing from Situ (meaning ‘everybody’), has a very close meaning, but is very rarely attested.

(67) *maka tɣ-rɣku* rmurmi yu nʷ-rmi nʷ to-n
at.all INDEF.POSS-crops all GEN 3PL.POSS-name DEM IFR-say.name
ri *maka kwu mʷ-pjɣ-pjwu*
LNK at.all door NEG-IFR-ANTICAUS:open

‘He said the names of all kinds of crops, but the door did not open.’

(140512 alibaba-zh) {0003965#S102}

### 9.1.4 Indefinite and definite markers

#### 9.1.4.1 Indefinite determiner

The form *ci* ‘one’ has among its many functions (in addition to pronoun, numeral and adverb, see §6.6.1, §6.8, §6.7.2, §9.1.7, §7.1.1, §22.2.1, §21.7.5) that of singular indefinite determiner, as in (68) and (69). It is typically used to introduce a new referent in a story.

(68) *tcʰeme* ku-mpcux~mpcɛr ci pɣ-nu-łɔv
    girl SBJ:PCP-EMPH~beautiful INDEF IFR-AUTO-come.out

‘A very beautiful girl came [out of the skin].’ (31-deluge) {0004077#S50}

(69) *tcelo* tce tɣ-tcux ci cʰɣ-yi qʰe,
upstream LNK INDEF.POSS-son INDEF IFR:DOWNSTREAM-come LNK
‘A boy came from upstream.’ (2003-kWBRa)
## 9 The noun phrase

Although *ci* can be used as a partitive pronoun ‘one of them’ (§6.7.2), as a post-nominal determiner it does not have partitive meaning. To express a meaning such as ‘one of the boys’, a counted noun such as *tu-rdoš* ‘one piece’ is used instead (§7.3.2.1).

Note that when used as a prenominal modifier, *ci* has a completely different (definite) meaning ‘the other X’ (§9.1.7). However, the indefinite *ci* is attested in prenominal position if preceded by the prenominal identity modifier *kumaš* ‘other’, as in (70), though the exact syntactic analysis of such sentences may require more research (it is possible that *nš-rzaβ* here is an essive adjunct §8.1.7, and does not belong to the same constituent as *kumaš ci*).

(70) *nzyo kumaš ci nš-rzaβ nšu-nš-car kšu mna*
2SG other INDEF 2SG.POSS-wife IMP-AUTO-search ERG be.better:FACT
'It would be better if you looked for another wife.' (150909 xiaocui-zh)
{0006386#S150}

There are no dual or plural indefinite determiners in Japhug. The plural marker *ra* can occur after the indefinite *ci*, but with a vague similative meaning ‘and other things’ as in (71).

(71) *ndzi-tcšu ci, ndzi-me ci ra to-tu.*
3DU.POSS-SON INDEF 3DU.POSS-GIRL INDEF PL IFR-EXIST
'They*du* had a boy and a girl (etc).' (150827 tianluo-zh) {0006250#S153}

The indefinite *ci* is not obligatory for indefinite referents (whether specific or non-specific), and bare NPs can be used as *fsapaš* ‘animal’ and *qapar* ‘dhole’ in example (72).

(72) *fsapaš nšu-me, a-pšu-si qʰe, ‘nšu qapar kšu ta-ndza*
animal AOR-not IRR-PFV-die LNK DEM dhole ERG AOR:3→3'-eat
nú ma tu-ti-nšu cti ma,
be:FACT SFP IPFV-say-PL be.AFF:FACT LNK
'When an animal disappears, dies, people say ‘A dhole ate it.’ (28-qapar)
{0003720#S25}

### 9.1.4.2 Indefinite pronoun as modifier

The indefinite pronoun *tʰuči* ‘something’ (§6.6.2) has marginal uses as a prenominal indefinite modifier, as in (73), (75) and (80) below.
(73) *tʰuci* *laχci ci* *c-pu-nu-βzjoz-nu* *tce, jy-ce-nu*
something trade INDEF TRAL-IMP-AUTO-learn-PL LNK IMP-go-PL

ra

be.needed:FACT

‘Go and learn some trade!’ (140508 benling gaoqiang de si xiongdi-zh)

{0003935#S29}

This construction arose perhaps from the use of the pronoun *tʰuci* as head of a postnominal relative clause with the verb *fse* ‘be like’, as illustrated by examples like (74) or (85) in §6.6.2. Turning the verb *fse* ‘be like’ to a finite form as in (75) could cause the indefinite *tʰuci*, head of the relative in (74), to be reanalyzed as the prenominal modifier of the immediately adjacent noun in (75).

(74) *nura* [*tʰuwi* [*ky-nusaχcwiβ kw-fse]] *pwi-ŋu wo*
DEM:PL something INF-have.a.contest SBJ:PCP-be like PST.IPFV-be SFP

‘It was like a kind of contest.’ (160706 thotsi) {0006133#S16}

(75) [*tʰuwi* *u-jmŋo] *ci zo pu-fse ri*
something 3SG.POSS-dream one EMPH PST.IPFV-be like LNK

‘It looked like [he had had] some dream.’ (Lobzang2005) {0003370#S74}

### 9.1.4.3 The marking of definiteness

Japhug has no dedicated definite determiner, but *nu* and *nunu* as demonstrative determiners (§9.1.2) and as topic markers (§9.1.5) and the prenominal aforementioned topic marker *icqʰa* (§9.1.5.2) are generally used with definite referents.

Example (76) illustrates a typical example with the determiner *nu*; the indefinite determiner *ci* (§9.1.4.1) occurs in the first introduction of a new referent in the story as in the first clause of example (76), but on the following occurrence of the same noun *nu* is found.

(76) *tce qajdo ci jo-yi tce, tce qajdo nu ku 'mo laz tu,*
LNK CROW INDEF IFR-come LNK LNK CROW DEM ERG girl karma exist:FACT

*pʰo laz me* *to-ti*

boy karma not.exist:FACT IFR-say

‘A crow came. The crow said: “The girl will have chance, the boy won’t.”’

(28-qajdoskAt) {0003718#S10}

However, although noun phrases followed by *nu* and *nunu* more often than not denote definite referents, these determiners cannot be analyzed as definite
determiners, as noun phrases with *nu* or *nunuu* can in certain cases have indefinite referents.

A very clear case of use of *nu* with an indefinite referent occurs on nouns serving as heads of head-internal relative clauses. A well-attested typological generalization is that in this type of relative clauses, definiteness marking is agrammatical (see Basilico 1996). In Khroskyabs, Lai (2017: 636) reports that the definiteness marker = *tə* is indeed not accepted on the head noun of head-internal relatives. In Japhug however, *nu* does occur in such a syntactic context. For instance, in (77), the head *tx-nmaq* *nu ku* is subject of the participle *jnu-ku-nu-çar* ‘looking for’, and is embedded in the participial relative clause indicated in brackets – the presence of the ergative *ku* precludes to analyze it as a post-nominal relative (§23.4.3.1). From the meaning of the sentence the head *tx-nmaq* ‘husband’ is clearly indefinite non-specific non-generic (see Lehmann 1984: 286–291). The fact that it takes the marker *nu* shows that this marker, unlike Khroskyabs = *tə*, is not primarily marking definiteness.

(77) tceri [tɔ-nmaq
nw kw w-rzaq
kw-yntcʰu
but INDEF.POSS-husband DEM ERG 3SG.POSS-wife SBJ:PCP-be.many
pu-kw-nu-çar],
a byndu ndxt tyndyri
IPFV-SBJ:PCP-AUTO-search everywhere illegitimate.child
tu-ku-βzu
pjy-tu.
IPFV-SBJ:PCP-make IFR.IPFV-exist
‘However there were husbands who were looking for several women and
had illegitimate children.’ (140427 tAndAGri) {0003858#S4}

Other cases of indefinite noun phrase with *nu* are observed with left-dislocated topics. In example (78), we find a type of tail-head linkeage (§25.1.7) where both the noun phrase *spjaŋkw bŋuw* ‘two wolves’ and the verb *ŋu-k-ytwu-y-ci* ‘he met’ are repeated; in the second occurrence, the noun phrase is topicalized and is followed by the topic marker *nunuu*, with a slight pause of hesitation. The determiner *nunuu* in this clause, unlike *nu* in (76), does not mark definiteness: that clause cannot be understood as ‘He met the two wolves’.

(78) spjaŋkw bŋuw ŋu-k-ytwu-y-ci. spjaŋkw bŋuw nwnu, tcendyre
wolf two IFR-PEG-meet-PEG wolf two DEM LNK
ŋu-k-ytwu-y-ci tce icqʰa, ku-ry-ntcʰa
IFR-PEG-meet-PEG LNK the aforementioned SBJ:PCP-A.PASS:N.HUM-kill
nuu wuma zo ŋu-mu.
DEM really EMPH IFR-be.afraid
‘Heᵢ (i.e. the butcher) met two wolves. Heᵢ met two wolves, and the
butcherᵢ was very much afraid.’ (150902 liaozhai lang-zh) {0006340#S7}
## 9.1 Noun modifiers and determiners

The determiners *nu* or *numu* are rarely adjacent to the indefinite singular determiner *ci* in the corpus. In all cases with *ci* followed by *nu* (other than the identity pronoun in §6.8), or with *nu* followed by *ci* in the corpus, they belong to different constituents. For instance, in (79), *ci* is in adverbial use (§22.2.1) and does not belong to the preceding noun phrase.

(79) [tcʰeme nw] ci nY-zy-y-syphYr qʰe
girl DEM one IFR-REFL-shake LNK
'The girl shook herself.' (02-deluge2012) {0003376#S115}

In (80) although *numu* follows *ci*, it has scope over the both preceding phrases, which are left-dislocated and followed by a pause.

(80) k(176, 497, 832, 554],

ty-ri kw-fse kw] [laχtcʰa ci] numw], ci

INDEF POSS-thread SBJ:PCP-be.like ERG thing INDEF DEM one

kú-wy-sw-pa tce, kú-wy-xtcɛr,
IPFV-INV-CAUS-do LNK IPFV-INF-attach

“To attach” [means] ‘to put together’, ‘to attach something with something like a rope or a thread.’ (150902 kAxtCAr) {0006308#S2}

However, the indefinite determiner *ci* can be followed by *nw* as in (81).

(81) nw, kw-rzì ci nw ywzu maq kw
DEM SBJ:PCP-be.heavy INDEF DEM exist:SENS not.be:FACT SFP
'This is not a difficult thing [to do].' (divination2005)

The aforementioned topic marker *icqʰa* (§9.1.5.2) is almost always used with definite referents when prenominal, as in (78) above, and is the closest candidate to be analyzed as a definiteness marker in Japhug. However, it does occur with non-specific generic referents as in (82), including some that are very clearly indefinite as in (83); note the absence of postnominal determiner *nu* (83).

(82) icqʰa lwlymu nw tʰu-rypw tce tce
the.aforementioned female.cat DEM IPFV-bear.young LNK LNK
u-sni tce k-y-nu-rŋgw nw stʰu ci
3SG.POSS-day LNK INF-AUTO-lie.down DEM so.much
múj-tsu ma u-pw ra χse nw-ra
NEG:SENS-have.time.to LNK 3SG.POSS-young PL feed:FACT SENS-be.needed
'A/the female cat (unlike male cats), when it had had kittens, does not
have time to sleep during the day, as it has to feed its kittens.' (21-IWLU)
{0003576#S35}
## 9 The noun phrase

(83) *icqʰa* *lypwy u-ryi* *zo fse.*
the aforementioned radish 3SG.POSS-seed EMPH be like: FACT
'It looks like a radish seed.' (hist-26-qro-fourmi) {0003682#S60}

In (80), *icqʰa* also precedes two phrases involving indefinite referents, but there
is a marked pause, and this is a case of *icqʰa* in its function as speech filler (§10.3).

### 9.1.4.4 Absence of definiteness marking

Like many languages (Creissels 2006b: 130), Japhug uses bare nouns without any
definiteness marking. Bare nouns are most often non-referential, as *tɛʰheme* ‘girl’
in (84).

(84) *впавна tcʰeme tu~ty-tu* *ny, kыndzisqʰaj tu-ky-su~-βzu*
both girl COND~AOR-exist LNK COLL:sister IPFV-INF-CAUS-make
‘If both of them have girls, let them be sisters.’ (2003 zrAntCW)

Bare nouns are less common with referential nouns (except in answers to ques-
tions), but examples can be found, as *qacʰya* ‘fox’ in (85).

(85) *qacʰya ku maχtcu* *ty-tut-a* *nu mY-tu-ste*
fox ERG I.told.you.SO AOR-say[II]-1SG DEM NEG-2-do like[III]: FACT
ti *pu-ŋu*
say: FACT SENS-be
‘The fox says: “You do not do as I told you to.”’ (2003 qachGa)
{0003372#S42}

Personal names generally occur as bare nouns, without any definiteness marker
as in (86), but there are no constraints against co-occurrence of personal names
with the determiner *nu* either (see §5.3.4).

(86) *wrjыnpanma* *ku wlaŋsaŋtcʰin u-cki*
Padmasambhava ERG Gesar 3SG-DAT
‘Padmasambhava [told] Gesar.’ (Gesar)

### 9.1.5 Topic markers

#### 9.1.5.1 Delimitative topic

The delimitative topic marker *pu*~*pu-ŋu* *ny* ‘as for..., concerning...’ is transpar-
ently derived from the past imperfective of the verb ‘be’ in conditional form ‘if it
was...' (with verb-initial reduplication, §12.4.1), as other copulas such as affirma-
tive ᶜti 'be' and maš 'not be' in (87).

(87) *nwnw konla zo tycime pw~pw-maš nš
DEM really EMPH princess COND~PST.IPFV-not.be LNK
'If she was not really a princess, ...' (140519 wandou gongzhu-zh)
{0004038#S68}

The delimitative construction generally has scope over a noun phrase, which
can have an additional demonstrative *nw* as topicalizer as in (88) (see §9.1.5.4).

(88) *a-mu nš pw~pw-ŋu nš, qʰlwo kduxpakpu yu
1SG.POSS-mother DEM COND~PST.IPFV-be LNK nâga p.n
w-me stu kwo-xtci nš a-mu
3SG.POSS-daughter most SBJ:PCP-be.small DEM 1SG.POSS-mother
pw-pe,
SENS-be.good

‘As for my mother, the youngest daughter of the Nâga Gdugpa dkarpo is
good to be my mother.’ (Gesar)

In this construction, the verb is in the process of becoming grammaticalized as
a topic particle. It is possible to find examples where the verb still takes person
indexation in the delimitative construction when the topicalized element is a first
or second person pronoun, as in (89).

(89) azo pw~pw-ŋu-a nš, kyndziki kwmwu tu-j,
1SG COND~PST.IPFV-be-1SG LNK siblings five exist:FACT-1SG
‘Concerning me, we are five brothers and sisters.’ (hist140501 tshering
skyid) {0003902#S1}

However, there are also examples with first or second person pronoun with-
out indexation on the delimitative marker, as in (90), (91) and (92), where a first
person singular form *pw*~*pw-ŋu-a* nš or second person *pw*~*pw-*tu-ŋu* nš would
have been expected. Such examples show that *pupuwunš* has ceased to be ana-
lyzed as a verb form at least in these cases. Moreover, third person plural and
dual indexation is hardly ever found in the delimitative construction.
## 9 The noun phrase

(90) *nzyo púrpúŋuny, lyndzi ra yú nú-kú-βúa,*
2SG as.for demon PL GEN 3PL.POSS-SBJ:PCP-be.victorious
*nú-rjylpú twy-nyu*
3PL.POSS-king 2-be:FACT

'You, you are the king of the demons.' (hist140512 fushang he yaomo-zh)
{0003967#S60}

(91) *az̥o kú-fṣe púrpúŋuny, cungw sɣ-xtcw~xtci nútcu, χpwn*
1SG SBJ:PCP-be lik e as.for before GER-be.small DEM:LOC monk
*ly-kly-ta,*
AOR:UPSTREAM-OBJ:PCP-put

'For instance me, [I was] sent to become a monk early in my childhood.'
(160721 XpWN) {0006181#S6}

(92) *az̥o púrpúŋuny, núnw [...] az̥o yú a-ndza nú*
1SG as.for DEM 1SG GEN 1SG.POSS-reason DEM
*tu-o<nú>lwalat-a púnyu tce,*
IPFV-<AUTO>fight-1SG PST.IPFV-be LNK

As for me, I was fighting for my own sake.' (140512 abide he mogui-zh)
{0003975#S89}

A short form *ŋuny* instead of *púrpúŋu ny* is also attested, as in (93).

(93) *ma w-ŋga ra nyun, maka wuma zo ko-Nqʰi ma.*
LNK 3SG.POSS-clothes PL as.for at.all really EMPH IFR-be.dirty LNK

'As for his clothes, they had become very dirty.' (conversation 140510)

The delimitative topic construction can be used to introduce the main topic of a following discourse (as in 89 and 91), but can be used for contrastive topics, as in example (92) where the speaker expresses a contrast between his and the addressee's action ('you, you were fighting for the sake of other people').

### 9.1.5.2 Aforementioned topic

The marker iɛqʰa 'the aforementioned' is used on referents that have been previously mentioned in the same story, usually only a few sentences back. It is strictly prenominal.

Example (94) illustrates the most typical use of this marker. Sentence (94a) introduces a new referent, *kum* 'ball of thread' marked with the indefinite determiner *ci* (§9.1.4.1). Three clauses later in (94d), the same referent occurs again
as an overt noun with two topic markers, the postnominal *nw* and the prenom-
inal *icqʰa*.

(94) a. ‘razri **krtum ci** p̥w-ra, taqaβ ci p̥w-ra’ to-ti qʰe
thread ball INDEF SENS-need needle INDEF SENS-need IFR-say LNK
‘He told [Rgyabza] ‘I need a ball of thread and a needle.”

b. *tcendyre p̥y-kʰo qʰe,*
LNK IFR-give LNK
‘She gave it to him.’

c. tce u̯-ndzytsʰi ka-tsw̥-nw nutcu qʰe tce,
LNK 3SG.POSS-meal AOR:3→3'-bring-PL DEM:LOC LNK LNK
‘When they brought his meal,’

d. **icqʰa** **krtum** nw u̯zo kw ko-ndo,
the.aforementioned ball DEM 3SG ERG IFR-take
‘he took the ball of thread, and...’ (Gesar 270-272)

A systematic study of the use of the topic marker *icqʰa* in Japhug must over-
come two inherent difficulties. First, this topic marker is homophonous with (and
historically related to) the speech filler *icqʰa* (§10.3) and with the adverb *icqʰa* ‘just
now’, which can also precede noun phrases. Listening to the sound files can help
distinguishing between the three, as the speech filler is always followed by a
pause (and optionally by the demonstrative *nu*), but there are still ambiguous
sentences (see below). Second, *icqʰa* occurs on nouns designating entities that
the speaker considers to have been previously referred to in the conversation,
even if they are not present in the same recording.

For instance in (95) the noun *pyrnoš* ‘a species of fungus’ is used with *icqʰa*,
although this name does not occur before in the same text; it was however men-
tioned the day before in another recording.

(95) *nw zdumqe cʰo icqʰa*, *pyrnoš numi ndzi-tsʰwya*
DEM fungi.sp. COMIT the.aforementioned fungi.sp. DEM:DU 3DU.POSS-form
*wuma z̥o naχtcuɣ.
really EMPH be:identical:FACT
‘The zdumqe and the pyrnoš are very similar.’ (23-mbrAZim)
{0003604*S75}

The topic marker *icqʰa* transparently comes from the adverb *icqʰa* ‘just now’
(§22.2.1). The pivot constructions that allowed reanalysis from adverb to prenom-
inal topic marker are very probably headless relatives (§23.4.1) as in (96), or com-
plement clauses as in (97).
9 *The noun phrase*

(96) [icqʰa tɔ̃-tɔ̃t-a][ZWILL] nɔ̃W tú-wy-stu qʰe,
just.now IFR-say[II]-1SG DEM IPFV-INV-do like LNK
'One does as I just said, and...' (2002 tWsqar)

(97) icqʰa [z-nũ-z-mũnmu-t-a] nɔ̃w
the aforementioned TRAL-AOR-CAUS-MOVE-PST:TR-1SG DEM
mũ-pjʊ̃-pe rcama.
NEG-IFR.IPFV-be.good FSP

'It was probably not a good thing that I had [gone and] moved them (as I
said above).' (150819 kumpGa) {0006388#S41}

These sentences are still synchronically ambiguous in Japhug; in (97) the con-
text makes it clear that *icqʰa* is the topic marker (since the fact of having moved
(the eggs) had been told a few sentences back) and not an adverb ‘just now’ with
a temporal reference in the past, as the meaning would be ‘it was probably not
a good thing that I had just moved them’ (an impossible interpretation in this
context, since this sentence is an explanation why several eggs had not given
chicks, several days after they had been brought to another place). However, ex-
tracted from the context, both interpretation would be equally possible for (97),
and correspond to two different syntactic structures.

With postnominal relative clauses (§23.4.4) or head-internal relative clauses
(§23.4.3) whose head noun happens to be located on the left edge of the clause as
in (98), *icqʰa* can also be ambiguous. Since the adverb *icqʰa* ‘just now’ can occur
both before the object (99a) or before the verb (99b) in an independent clause, a
relative such as (98) can be either interpreted ‘the axe (mentioned above) that he
had whetted’ (with the topic marker *icqʰa* outside of the relative clause, having
scope over its head) and ‘the axe that he had just whetted’ with the adverb *icqʰa*
‘just now’ inside the relative clause.

(98) tcendre <luban> kũ icqʰa [turpa tʰa-fse] nwu
LNK ANTHR ERG the aforementioned axe AOR:3→3'-whet DEM
to-ndo tce,
IFR-take LNK

'Luban took the axe that he had whetted.' (150902 luban-zh)
{0006268#S89}

(99) a. icqʰa turpa tʰũ-fse-t-a
just.now axe AOR-whet-PST:TR-1SG
b. *turpa icqʰa tʰu-fse-t-a*
axe just.now AOR-whet-PST:TR-1SG
‘I just whetted a/the axe.’ (elicited)

The use of *icqʰa* as a topic marker with nouns (as in 94d above) probably took
place by reanalysis of the adverb in headless or postnominal relatives, or in com-
plement clauses as above, then generalized to all noun phrases even those with-
out a subordinate clause.

### 9.1.5.3 Adversative topic

There are two adversative topic markers in Japhug, **ьо** and *ndv̥rē*. The former is
similar in meaning to Mandarin [倒 <dào> ‘instead, on the other hand’, and occurs
in contexts with a strong adversative meaning ‘however, but, on the other hand’
as in (100).

(100) jinde ku-nu-tu ci ku:ma my-xsi ma
nowadays DUBIT-AUTO-exist QU SFP NEG-GENR:know LNK
ku:cu:ngu yo pu-tu,
in/former TIMES TOP-ADVERS IPFV.PST-exist

‘It is not clear whether it is still to be found nowadays, but it did exist in
former times.’ (23-scuz) {0003612#S27}

The marker **ьо** also occurs in two constructions meaning ‘of course’. First, it is
found in the ‘X **ьо** X’ construction meaning ‘of course (it is) X’, as in (101b), the
answer to the question in (101a) which presents two alternatives.

(101) a. ‘*a-tycime*, ny-βfu pu-car-a ci, azo tu-ozgru-a’
1SG.POSS-lady 2SG.POSS-mat IPFV-search-1SG QU 1SG IPFV-bow-1SG
nura to-ti, ‘ma ny-pi yu azo ty-azgru-a’
DEM:PL IFR-say LNK 1SG.POSS-elder.sibling GEN 1SG AOR-bow-1SG
cti’ to-ti
be.AFF:FACT IFR-say

‘He said ‘My lady, should I look for a cushion for you, or should I
bow [for you to sit on my back]’, and he said ‘Because I bowed for
your elder sister [to sit].’
b. ‘nyzo ko
nyzo ma, a-βfu
pu-tw-car
2SG TOP.ADVERS 2SG LNK 1SG.POSS-mat IPFV-2-search
kw-ytsutsu me’ to-ti.
INF.STAT-have.time not.exist:FACT IFR-say

‘Of course [I will sit on] you, there is no time to look for a mat for me.’ (2014-kWlAG)

Second, *ko* is commonly used with the adverb *luski* ‘of course’, as in (102), not necessarily with any adversative meaning.

(102) *pyypa* ky-ti ci tu tce, nypu wo luski
pheasant OBJ:PCP-say INDEF exist:FACT LNK DEM TOP.ADVERS of-course
li ny pya ny
again DEM bird be:FACT

‘There is a bird called *pyypa* (Pucrasia macrolopha), this one, of course (since its name contains *pya* ‘bird’, §5.5.5.1, Table 5.8) is also a bird (like those previously discussed).’ (23-pGAYaR) {0003606#S1}

The marker *ndyre* presents a milder adversative meaning ‘as far as X is concerned, unlike some other (people)’ as in (103).

(103) tsuku kw-rga tu, tsuku my-kw-rga tu. azo
some SBJ:PCP-like exist:FACT some NEG-SBJ:PCP-like exist:FACT 1SG
ndyre rga-a.
TOP.ADVERS like:FACT-1SG
‘Some like it, some don’t; as far as I am concerned, I like it.’ (07-tCGom2)
{0003436#S7}

In (104), the use of *ndyre* suggests the meaning ‘as opposed to other possible missions’.

(104) a a-pa, ny ndyre wuma zo nqa,
INTERJ 1SG.POSS-father DEM TOP.ADVERS really EMPH be.difficult:FACT
nyyzw.
be.dangerous:FACT

‘Ah father, this [mission on which you send me] is very difficult and dangerous indeed.’ (28-smAnmi) {0004063#S68}

In (105), *ndyre* has a clear adversative meaning ‘this evening, on the other hand’ (as opposed to the previous evenings).
(105) *jwcfcwur twrmw tce ny-pi*         *tulxt nwc*
yesterday dusk LNK 2SG POSS-elder.sibling second.sibling DEM
*wc-taB ko-NqoB-a ri mwc-tý-wy-tswm-a*   tce,
3SG POSS-ON IFR-hang-1SG LNK NEG-AOR:UP-INV-take.away-1SG LNK
*jwymwur ndyre nyz̥o tu-kwc-tswm-a*
this.evening TOP-ADVERS 2SG IPFV:UP-2→1-take.away-1SG
*ra ma tce kutcu az̥o-sti ma maje-a*
be-needed:FACT LNK LNK here 1SG-alone apart.from not.exist:SENS-1SG
tce,
LNK

‘Yesterday at dusk I clung onto your second eldest sister but she did not take me away, this evening take me away, I am all alone here.’
(07-deluge) {0003426#S56}

The phrase *nw sznw* ‘even, rather than that etc’ (§8.2.7) is also used as an adversative topic marker similar to *wo* (see in particular example 139).

### 9.1.5.4 The demonstrative *nw* as a topic marker

The postnominal determiner *nw* and its reduplicated form *numw* is one of the most common words in Japhug, and has a considerable number of functions. It is used as a demonstrative (§9.1.2), contributes to expressing definiteness (§9.1.4.3) and could be argued to be a subordinator (an analysis not adopted in the present work, see §24.3.3).

In addition, it is commonly used to mark topic: left-dislocated noun phrases generally (though not compulsorily) take this determiner. For instance, in texts presenting animals or plants, their name on first occurrence is left dislocated and followed by the determiner *nw*, as in (106).

(106) *qawwz nwc, (qawwz nwc pw-tw-mto-t, ye?) qawwz numw,*
Edelweiss DEM Edelweiss DEM AOR-2-SEE-PST:TR SFP Edelweiss DEM
*nyki, kwcuwngw tce,*
FILLER before LNK

‘The edelweiss, (you saw Edelweiss before, right?)… The edelweiss, in
former times,’ (15-babW) {0003512#S164}

It also occurs with personal pronouns, as in (107), a sentence where the narrator talks about his personal situation, as opposed to that of his parents who were mentioned in the previous lines.
## 9 The noun phrase

(107) azo n<u>u</u>, m<u>u</u>ni z<u>u</u> k<u>u</u>-r<u>y</u>-βzjoz p<u>u</u>-ce-a
1SG DEM TOPO LOC SBJ:PCP-ANTIPASS-learn IPFV:WEST-go-1SG
p<u>u</u>-η<u>u</u>.
PST.IPFV-be
‘As for me, I was going to school in Mungi.’ (2010-09)

In its function as a topicalizer, the determiner *nu* can follow a noun with post-nominal demonstratives, as in (108). However, due to the difficulty of systematically sorting out the topicalization and demonstrative functions of this marker, I do not attempt to reflect this distinction in the glosses, and use DEM everywhere.

(108) tceri k<u>u</u>ki mu<u>nto</u>k k<u>u</u>ki n<u>u</u> p<u>u</u>p<u>u</u>η<u>nu</u>y, w<u>uma</u> z<u>o</u>
LNK DEM.PROX flower DEM.PROX DEM as.for really EMPH
k<u>u</u>-zru, k<u>u</u>-pe,
SBJ:PCP-be.strong SBJ:PCP-be.good
‘But concerning this flower, so precious and nice’ (150820 meili de
meiguihua-zh) {0006286#S55}

### 9.1.5.5 The linker tce as a topic marker

The word *tce*, which originates from a locative postposition (§8.2.4.4), is mainly
used in Japhug as a linker (§25.1.6) and as a postposition (§8.2.4.3). It is one of
the most common words in the corpus.

In addition, it can serve as a topic marker, following left-dislocated noun or
postpositional phrases (109).

(109) tsuku k<u>u</u> tce l<u>p</u>w<u>y</u> ra mb<u>u</u>sw<u>it</u> c<u>h</u>k<u>u</u>-l<u>y</u>t-n<u>u</u> tce n<u>u</u>ra
some ERG LNK radish PL grating IPFV-throw-PL LNK DEM.PL
p<u>u</u>-rku-n<u>u</u> p<u>u</u>-η<u>u</u>
IPFV-put.in-PL SENS-be
‘Some people, they grate radish and use it as filling [for the sausage].’
(05-paR) {0003400#S74}

### 9.1.6 Focus markers

There are several focalization strategies in Japhug, including pseudo-cleft sentences (§23.6.1) and sentence-final copulas (§22.5.3.2), but focalized constituents are sometimes also unmarked, though they have to be overt (§22.1.2.3).

This section presents the markers used to express different types of focus on
noun phrase constituents.
### 9.1.6.1 Additive and scalar focus marker *kunry*

The additive and scalar focus marker *kunry* ‘also, even’ follows the constituent over which it has scope, which can be noun phrases, postpositional phrases but also subordinate clauses (§25.2.3.1). As with other function words with the syllable *nry* as last element (§3.7), the stress is on the first syllable (*kúnyr*) and the vowel on the second syllable is often elided (a pronunciation *kun* is often heard).

The marker *kunry* expresses both additive focus, as in (110), and scalar focus, as in (111) in affirmative sentences. It is also compatible with negative verb forms, as in (112), expressing the meaning ‘not even’ (see also *ciny* ‘(not) even one’ in §9.1.6.4).

(110) azo *kuny* staŋlupa ŋu-a tce
1SG also born.in.the.tiger.year be:FACT-1SG LNK
‘Me too (like you), I am of the Tiger year.’ (2011-05-nyima)

(111) žara žo w-ŋgwz *kuny* tu-nyndwšt-nu tce ntu
3PL EMPH 3SG.POSS-among:LOC also IPFV-fight-PL LNK DEM
kw-βwa γyzu, kw-nŋo γyzu qʰe,
SBJ:PCP-win SENS:exist SBJ:PCP-lose SENS:exist LNK
‘Even among themselves, they fight, and there are winners and losers.’
(20-sWNgi) {0003562#S59}

(112) tw-sn muntov tw-rdoč kuny ci ci tce múj-stʰušt
one-day flower one-piece also one one LNK NEG:SENS-finish
‘Sometimes one cannot finish even one pattern (on the belt) in one day.’
(2011-06-thaXtsa)

The scope of *kunry* is generally exclusively on the constituent that it immediately follows, but there are cases where the scope is more extensive. In (113), *kunry* occurs between the pronoun *azo* and the following participial verb form, which bears a 1SG possessive prefix *a-* coreferent with that pronoun (see also 118 below). The semantic scope of *kunry* here is on the whole relative *azo* *a-ky-rswso* ‘(the things) that I want’ rather than exclusively on the pronoun *azo*.

(113) azo *kuny* *a-ky-rswso* ntu ty-stu-nu ra
1SG also 1SG.POSS-OBJ:PCP-think DEM IMP-do likě-PL be.needed:FACT
‘(I will do as you say, but) do also the things that I want.’
(2003kAndzwsqhaj2)
As an additive focus marker, *kunry* can be repeated on all the nouns designating the members of a group sharing a particular property, in the construction *X kunry*, *Y kunry* ‘both X and Y’, as in (114).

(114) *a-pu-ŋu tce, azo kunry taŋrdo rfitpa a-pu-ŋu-a, xpyltcin*
IRR-IPFV-be LNK 1SG also TOPO lineage IRR-IPFV-be-1SG ANTHR
*kunry taŋrdo rfitpa a-pu-ŋu, ... nw tci-rjit numi tce*
also TOPO lineage IRR-IPFV-be DEM 1DU.POSS-offspring DEM:DU LNK
*taŋrdo rfitpa ma nw ma kumaŋ rjitpa nw ky-rtsi*
TOPO lineage LNK DEM apart other lineage DEM OBJ:PCP-count
*me.*
not的存在:FACT

‘For instance suppose that both Dpalcan and I were from Taqrdo lineage,
then our two children would only count as members of the Taqrdo
lineage and no other lineage.’ (140426 rJitpa) {0003820#S11}

The focus marker *kunry* is found with nouns or pronouns in core argument function, including S (115), O (116), and semi-objects (117). Examples with transitive subjects are presented below (124 and 125).

(115) *azo kunry ny-rca yi-a cti*
1SG also 2SG.POSS-following come:FACT-1SG be.AFF:FACT
‘I am coming with you too.’ (2011-05-nyima)

(116) *ma nw-χpum kunry kʰro my-kw-fkaβ kw-fse*
LNK 3PL.POSS-knee also much NEG-SBJ:PCP-COVER SBJ:PCP-be lik e
*ku-rɣi-nuw*
IPFV-stay-PL

‘[Gentlemen] would [wear trousers that did] not cover much even their knees.’ (30-rkAsnom) {0003754#S5}

(117) *u-ru nwa laŋduŋ u-juŋ kunry my-sna, ma*
3SG.POSS-trunk DEM:PL tool 3SG.POSS-handle also NEG-be.worth LNK
*my-nguut.*
NEG-be.strong:FACT

‘[The wood from] its trunk is not even good [enough to be used to make] tool handles, as it is not strong.’ (17-xCAj) {0003528#S76}

It also occurs with all types of oblique arguments and adjuncts, including geni-
tive *yu* (118), dative *u-ɛki* (119), locational adjuncts in *tɛu* (120) or *ri* (121), temporal
adjuncts (122) or adjuncts expressing manner or cause (123).
(118) azwy kwny a-mpʰrwnw a-pw-tw-sw-re
1SG:GEN also 1SG.POSS-divination IRR-PFV-2-CAUS-look[III]
w-tú-cʰa
QU-2-can:FACT

‘Can you ask [the monk] to make a divination for me too?’ (The divination) {0003364#S31}

(119) tw-pi yu w-nmaŋ ra nwi-ki kwny
GENR.POSS-elder.sibling GEN 3SG.POSS-husband PL 3PL.POSS-DAT also
'a-pi' tu-kw-ti cti ma nwi ma
1SG.POSS-elder.sibling IPFV-GENR-say be.AFF:FACT LNK DEM apart.from
kupa kw-fse zaka w-rmi me.

Chinese SBJ:PCP-be.like each 3SG.POSS-name notuezFACT
‘One calls one’s sister’s husband [and others from his family] ‘my elder brother’, there are no other special terms as in Chinese.’ (140425 kWmdza05) {0003789}

(120) kutcu kwny nwi pw-fse, juwcwndzi ra kw-xtcw-xtci
here also DEM SENS-be.like a.few.days.ago PL SBJ:PCP-EMPH-be.small
tx-yndzo kw-fse ri, cxxco tce
AOR-be.cold SBJ:PCP-be.like LNK the.last.days LNK
kw-xtcw-xtci pw-zi kw-fse

SBJ:PCP-EMPH-be.small SENS-subside SBJ:PCP-be.like
‘It is like that here too, a few days ago the weather became a little cold, but the last days it has eased a bit.’ (conversation)

(121) maldzw nwi, nwi w-tʰycu tsa ri kwny yvzu.
plant.name DEM DEM 3SG.POSS-downstream a.little LOC also exist:SENS
qaryypyt w-rca ri kwny tu-loŋ pwo-ŋu.
plant.name 3SG.POSS-among LOC also IPFV-come.out SENS-be
‘The maldzu plant, it is also found in places of slightly lower altitude, but grows also in the same places as qaryypyt plants.’ (18-qromJoR)
{0003532#S78}

(122) kukutcu ftcyχcyl kumy <baonuanyi> tu-tw-ŋge
here mid.summer also warm.clothes IPFV-2-wear[III]
pw-cti.
PST.IPFV-be.AFF
‘Here you were wearing warm clothes even in mid summer.’
(conversation)
(123) tce n̥utcu kwny w-jaq w-ntsi txpi
LNK DEM:LOC also 3SG POSS-hand 3SG POSS-one.of.a.pair staff
pju-sytse, w-jaq w-ntsi kw tsʰitsuku
IPFV-plant[III] 3SG POSS-hand 3SG POSS-one.of.a.pair ERG whatever
p̥w-z-nyme qʰe,
IPFV-CAUS-do[III] LNK

‘Even like that [despite the pain in her legs], she supports herself with a staff in one hand, (and does all kinds of things with her other hand)’
(14-siblings) {0003508#S49}

Although *kunry* ‘also, even’ can be combined with most postpositions and relator nouns as shown by the examples above, it is however incompatible with the ergative *ku*. For instance, in (124), although the demonstrative pronoun *nura* ‘they, those’ in the second clause is the subject of the transitive verb *ndza* ‘eat’, it does not take the ergative *ku* as would be expected (§8.2.2.1). The same applies to *u̥-zda* ra ‘his companions’, subject of the transitive verb *na-nuw-ɛ̲-ar-nuw* ‘they looked for themselves’ in (125).

(124) u̥-p̥u n̥ura li ju-yi-nu qʰe, n̥ura k̥uny
3SG POSS-young DEM:PL again IPFV-come-PL LNK DEM:PL also
y̥u-tu-ndza-nu̥.
CISL-IPFV-eat-PL
‘Its cubs also come and they too eat it.’ (20-sWNgi) {0003562#S56}

(125) u̥-zda ra k̥uny n̥u-rzaβ t̥uка
3SG POSS-companion PL also 3SG POSS-wife each
na-nuw-ɛ̲-ar-nu̥ p̥u-ŋu
AOR:3→3'-AUTO-search SENS-be

‘His companions also took each a wife for himself (among the women of the island).’ (2005 Norbzang)

The combinations †ku *kunry* or †kunry ku are unattested, and not accepted by native speakers. The contrast between absolutive and ergative noun phrases is therefore neutralized in additive or scalar focus with *kunry*. Note that other focus markers, such as *ri* and *tçi* (see 127 in §9.1.6.2) differ from *kunry* in this regard.

Four pieces of evidence converge to suggest that the first syllable of *kunry* is historically related to the ergative postposition *ku*: (i) the incompatibility of co-occurrence of *kunry* and *ku*; (ii) the stress on the first syllable in *kúnry*; (iii) the similar *-ny* element in the other scalar focus marker *ciny* ‘(not) even one’ (§9.1.6.4)
(iv) the existence of the linker *nr*, possibly of Tibetan origin (§8.2.6). A detailed
examination of this topic is however impossible on the basis Japhug-internal ev-
idence, and will require extensive syntactic comparison between Gyalrong lan-
guages.

The adverb *tymtukuny* ‘specially, on purpose’ appears to be a lexicalized com-
bination of the noun *ty-mtu* ‘knot’ and the focus marker *kuny*.

### 9.1.6.2 Correlative additive focus markers *ri* and *tçi*

The additive focus markers *ri* and *tçi* are used in enumerations, repeated after each noun referring to members of a group, to focus on the fact that their referents share a common property (or properties that are semantically close enough), as in (126) (see additional examples in Jacques 2014a: 313–314).<fnref n="8" />

(126) *nqiaβ*          *tci tu-łov*          *cʰa*,
dark(side).of.the.mountain also IPFV-come.out can:FACT

*zru*             *tci tu-łov*          *cʰa*,
sunny side.of.the.mountain also IPFV-come.out can:FACT

‘It can grow in both the dark and the sunny sides of the mountains.’
(17-thowum) {0003526#S14}

The correlative focus markers *ri* and *tçi* can occur after any noun phrase or postpositional phrase, including with the ergative *kw* as shown by (127), unlike the marker *kuny* ‘also, even’ (see examples 124 and 125, §9.1.6.1).

(127) *paɣ kw tci ndze, nuya kw tci ndze, jla kw*
pig ERG also eat[III]:FACT COW ERG also eat[III]:FACT hybrid.yak ERG
tci ndze.
also eat[III]:FACT
‘Pigs eat it, cows eat it, hybrid yaks eat it.’ (18-NGolo) {0003530#S159}

They can have scope over only part of the noun/propositional phrase, and even on the relator nouns as in (128).

<footnote n="8">⁸In addition to their uses in the noun phrase presented in this section, *ri* and *tçi* can also have scope over verbs, as discussed in §25.6.2.2.</footnote>
(128) *sytcʰa u-ŋgw tci γyzu, sytcʰa u-taɣ tci*
ground 3SG.POSS-inside also exist:SENS ground 3SG.POSS-inside also
*zo γyzu*
EMPH exist:SENS
'It is found both inside the ground, and on the ground.' (25-GdAso)
{0003638#S17}

Alternatively, it is possible to enumerate several properties of the same referent using *ri* (this usage is not found with *tci*), but that marker still follows the noun phrase. In this case the referent cannot be elided, and must be repeated in both clauses, at least as a third person pronoun *uwo* as in (130).

(129) *pʰaŋrgot nwnw uwo ri pjγ-rzi, uwo ri pjγ-tsʰu tce*
boar DEM 3SG also IFR.IPFV-be.heavy 3SG also IFR.IPFV-be.fat LNK
'The boar, it was heavy and fat.' (140428 yonggan de xiaocaifeng-zh)
{0003886#S228}

This construction can be relativized with internally-headed relative clauses in apposition, keeping the third person *uwo* as a resumptive pronoun (§23.3.1).

The correlative construction can involve the possessor of an inalienably possessed noun, as in (130), where in the first clause the referent ‘the girl’ is possessor of the intransitive subject (literally ‘her age was small’) and in second it corresponds to the intransitive subject, realized as a third person pronoun *uwo* ‘she’.

(130) *tcʰeme nʷ u-luχ ri pjγ-xtci, uwo ri*
girl DEM 3SG.POSS-age also IFR.IPFV-be.small 3SG also
*pjγ-mpcγr,*
IFR.IPFV-be.beautifull
'The girl was young and beautiful.' (150909 hua pi-zh) {0006278#S10}

More complex correlations, involving different subjects and predicates related to another referent, are also possible as shown by example (131), where *ri* occurs after the intransitive subject *tu-ci* ‘water’, after the transitive subject *lulu* ‘cat’ with the ergative and after the finite verb *tu-ɛe* ‘it goes up’.

(131) <yancong> ku-ku-rsloŋ tce u-taɣ
chimney IPFV-GENR:S/O-make.a.nest LNK 3SG.POSS-on
tu-ci ri mũj-yi lulu ku ri
INDEF.POSS-water also NEG:SENS-come cat ERG also
mw-pn-wy-caβ qapri tu-ce ri múj-cʰa tce

NEG-IPFV-INV-catch snake IPFV:UP-go also NEG:SENS-can LNK

'[The sparrows] make their nest in the chimney, [because] water cannot come up there, the cats cannot catch them, and the snakes cannot go up there.' (22-kumpGatCW) {0003590#S59}

The marker *ri* is homophonous with the locative *ri* (§8.2.4), and in cases with an enumeration of locative adjuncts, there can be ambiguity between the two. In (132), *ri* is analyzed as a locative because of the position of the determiner *ci*, and also because it can be replaced with other locative postpositions.

(132) χʰa ri ci, w-ve ri ci w-jme
right LOC one 3SG.POSS-left LOC one 3SG.POSS-tail

cʰw-łɔv pɔ-ŋu.

IPFV:DOWNSTREAM-come.out SENS-be

'It has one tail on the right, and one on the left.' (26-qro) {0003682#S109}

### 9.1.6.3 Incremental additive

Three markers are used to express the meaning 'not only X, but also Y', where X and Y stand for noun phrases: **во alala ri/ma** (133), **mɔra ma** (134) and **w-tɔjw tce**.<fnref n="9" />

(133) tce numura во alala ri wɔz sɔy ku-xtci pya
LNK DEM:PL ADVERS not. only LNK 3SG COMP SBJ:PCP-be.small bird

nura kuny ku-ndym qʰe tu-ndze

DEM:PL also IPFV-take[III] LNK IPFV-eat[III]

'Apart from those, [the eagle] also catches birds that are smaller than itself and eats them.' (19-qandZGi) {0003548#S55}

The combination of these markers with the scalar focus marker *cinɛ́* ('not even one' (§9.1.6.4) on the second noun phrase means 'not even X, let alone Y', as shown by (134).

(134) w-ky-pʰaɛk mɔra ma, w-ky-skraβ cinɛ́
3SG.POSS-head-half not. only LNK 3SG.POSS-head-fine.hair not. even.one

zo mw-ja-sw-yzyut pɔ-ŋu

EMPH NEG-AOR:3SG→3-CAUS-arrive SENS-be

'[This time, the horse] did not even bring back one fine hair from the [evil woman's] head, let alone half her head.' (Kunbzang)

These three markers also occur as clausal subordinators (§25.6.2.3).

<footnote n="9">⁹The etymology of these markers is discussed in §25.6.2.3.</footnote>
9.1.6.4 Scalar focus marker *ciny*

The focus marker *ciny* ‘(not) even one’ exclusively occurs with a negative verb.
Like *kuny* ‘also, even’, this marker has stress on the first syllable *cínγ* (§3.7), which
is obviously related to the numeral *ci* ‘one’ (§7.1.1, §9.1.4.1).

The marker *ciny* has scope over the constituent that immediately precedes it,
generally a noun phrase including or consisting of a counted noun, as in (135),
but also headless participial relative clauses as in (136), and (137).

(135) *tsuku ku qʰe tw-rdoov ciny mγ-ku-mto tu.*
some ERG LNK one-piece even NEG-SBJ:PCP-see exist:FACT
‘There are some people who [cannot] even find a single one.’
(20-grWBgrWB) {0003554#S35}

(136) *ma tce jinde nw zrwy kγ-mto ciny maŋe.*
LNK LNK nowadays DEM louse OBJ:PCP-see even notuezENS
‘Nowadays there isn’t even a single louse to be seen/one cannot even
see a single louse.’ (21-mdzadi) {0003578#S67}

(137) *u-rŋa u-ku-ru cinγ zo pjγ-me*
3SG.POSS-face 3SG.POSS-SBJ:PCP-look even EMPH IPFV.IFR-not.exist
‘Not even one [of the thieves] looked at it.’ (‘The thieves did not even so
much as looked at it.’) (140426 luozi he qiangdao-zh) {0003814#S28}

It is also possible to have both a headless relative clause and the counted noun *tw-rdoov* combined with *ciny* as in (138).

(138) *tce u-ρu-ku-yγ-ρkuon nw ρu-dγn ma*
LNK 3SG.POSS-IPFV-SBJ:PCP-CAUS-be.few DEM SENS-be.many LNK
*lu-ku-pγaŋ nw tw-rdoov cinγ zo maŋe*
IPFV:UPSTREAM-SBJ:PCP-plough DEM one-piece even EMPH not.exist:SENS
‘A lot of people diminish their fields, and not a single of them opens new
fields.’ (150903 friche) {0006400#S6}

In the case of relative clauses before *ciny*, there is some ambiguity as to whether
the scope of the focus marker is on the head of the relative or on the main verb
of the relative clause. Hence the two proposed translations above for (136) and
(137).

It is not possible to use *ciny* with scope over transitive subjects, followed by
the ergative.

The form *ciny* also occurs in the expression *ciny mač ku* ‘in any case it is not’
(§21.7.5).
### 9.1.6.5 Restrictive focus

The most common way to express restrictive focus in Japhug is to combine the exceptive *ma* ‘apart from’ (and its reduplicated variant *muma* §8.2.8) with a negative predicate. This can be a verb with a negative prefix as in (139), or a negative existential verb as in (140).

(139) χsɣ-rẓaɣ ma mw-pw-tsu-a pɣ-swso ri χsw-xpa
three-day apart from NEG-AOR-pass-1SG IFR-think LNK three-year
pjɣ-tsu tce,
IFR-pass LNK

‘He thought that he had spent only three days, but three years had
passed.’ (2011-4-smanmi)

(140) rkoŋfγl nwmw, w-mi w-ntsi nw
one.legged.demon DEM 3SG.POSS-leg 3SG.POSS-one.of.a.pair DEM
ma me kʰi.
apart.from not.exist:FACT HEARSAY
‘It is said that one-legged demons only had one leg.’ (140510 rkoNJAl)
{0003943#S5}

In the case of restrictive focalization on locative or temporal phrases, the terminative *m(120, 789, 823, 904],

The restrictive focus construction implies the presence of a noun phrase with a numeral or a counted noun when the restriction bears on the quantity as in (139) and (140) above, but restriction can also be qualitative, without quantifier, as in (142).

(142) w-mat nwmw na-lγt cimuma ny
3SG.POSS-fruit DEM AOR:3→3'-throw just LNK
kw-ndw~ndwβ zo ma me, karyi zo
SBJ:PCP-EMPH~small EMPH apart.from not.exist:FACT turnip.seed EMPH
kw-fse ma me
SBJ:PCP-be like apart.from not.exist:FACT
‘When the fruit of [xanthoxyllum] has just come out, there is only
something very small, only like a turnip seed.’ (07-tCGom) {0003434#S6}
The restrictive focus construction can be combined with a scalar focus in *kuny*
(see §9.1.6.1), as in (143). In this example, *kuny* has scope over the subordinate
clause *stusti ma ku-me*, which is ambiguous between a participial headless re-
lative (§23.4.1) ‘consisting of only a female all alone’ and a manner infinitival
clause (§25.4.2; in this case the gloss of *ku-me* would be *INF:STAT-not.exist*) ‘even
(when) there is only a female all alone’.

(143) *mu ma, stusti ma ku-me kwny*
female apart.from alone apart.from SBJ:PCP-not.exist also
*cʰu-rɣŋgwu nɔu-cti.*
IPFV-lay.eggs SENS-be.AFF
‘Even only a female [hen] alone does lay eggs.’ (150819 kumpGa)
{0006388#S10}

A second possibility to express restrictive focus is the use of the adverb **Bya** 'completely', 'all' (§22.2.2.3) with scope over a noun phrase rather than the whole clause as in (145).<fnref n="10" />

(144) *alo mbroχpa ra tce tce nyki qra cʰo qambru ra*
upstream nomad PL LNK LNK FILLER female.yak COMIT male.yak PL
ɣu n-u-ɣli nwnu tce n-u tu-wu-m-nu, tu-suɣ-rom-nu
GEN 3PL.POSS-dung DEM LNK DEM IPFV-gather-PL IPFV-CAUS-be.dry-PL
mbroχpa sycʰa tce stymku kja p-u-cti ma si
nomad place LNK grassland completely SENS-be.AFF LNK tree
maŋe tce tce
not.exist:SENS LNK LNK
‘Upstream, in the nomad areas, they gather and dry yak dung, as in
nomad places there is only grassland, there are no trees.’ (05-tamar)
{0003406#S7}

The adverb **Bya** (here used rather as a noun modifier) is related to the denominal
verb **aBya** ‘be bald, be bare’ (see §20.2.1 on the **a**- derivation), which can be applied
to nouns such as **stymku** ‘grassland’ and **zgo** ‘mountain’.

(145) *qajw kja tu-nu-ndze, ma n-u ma*
bug completely IPFV-AUTO-eat[III] LNK DEM apart.from
tx-rvku ku-fse ra ndze
INDEF.POSS-harvest SBJ:PCP-be lik PL eat[III]:FACT

<footnote n="10">¹⁰The form *kja* possibly originates from the first syllable of Tibetan མགོན་པོ gja.ma ‘stone slab’, through a meaning ‘bare rock’.</footnote>
mɔ-ŋgrɔl.

NEG-be.usually.the.case:FACT

‘It only eats insects, it does not eat cultivated plants.’ (140511
qamtsWrmdzu) {0003957#S16}

While in (145) and (144) we lack decisive evidence that **ьжа** forms a syntactic constituent with the previous nouns or the following verb, in (146) the presence of the ergative makes it clear that **ьжа** is not a clausal adverb, and belongs to the postpositional phrase headed by **ku**.

(146) [ty-lu cʰo tɔkrimgo кжа ku]

INDEF.POSS-milk COMIT doughnut completely ERG

cʰu-z-y-y-wxti-nu.

IPFV-CAUS-CAUS-be.big-PL

‘They [used to] raise up [the babies] by feeding them milk and doughnuts only.’ (140426 tApAtso kAnWBdaR)

The same applies to (147), where the presence of the demonstrative *nu* after **ьжа** shows that it belongs to the same noun phrase.

(147) w-rdoк nух-me tce, [w-ru кжа nух],

3SG.POSS-grain AOR-not.exist LNK 3SG.POSS-stalk completely DEM

pw-k-y-tyβ numw, taпndzyr w-ŋgw

AOR-OBJ:PCP-thresh DEM feeding.emmer 3SG.POSS-inside

tú-wy-rku tce,

IPFV-INV-put.in LNK

‘When all the grains have been removed, the bare stalks, the one that have been threshed, one puts them in a feeding emmer.’ (140513 tWrtsi)
{0003985#S5}

A reduplicated emphatic form **кжд-кжа** is also found as in (148)

(148) χtcynzyn кжд-кжа kw zo pú-wy-nyjo cti

beast EMPH-completely ERG EMPH PST.IPFV-INV-wait be.AFF:FACT

pɔ-ŋu.

SENS-be

‘It was all wild beasts waiting for him [there].’ (2005 Norbzang)

A third option to express restrictive focus is the inalienable noun *w-jlu*, which is used in the meaning ‘uncooked’ as a property noun (§5.1.2.7), but has become
## 9 The noun phrase

grammaticalized as a restrictive marker ‘exclusively, without anything else’ (pre-
sumably from an intermediate meaning ‘plain, simple’), as in (149).

(149) srγz nū kw tcʰoz w-jlu
prince DEM ERG religion 3SG.POSS-exclusively EMPH IPFV-be.assiduous.in
pʷ-cti ma jwm nʷ mʷ-pjγ-car
PST.IPFV-be.AFF LNK wife DEM NEG-IFR.IPFV-look.for SENS-be

'The prince was focused exclusively in the study of religion, and was not
looking for a wife.' (2003 sras)

For the expression of restrictive focus with temporal noun phrases or clauses, the postposition *kóymuwz* ‘only after’ can also be used, especially with the demonstrative in the expression *nú kóymuwz nγ* ‘only then’ (§8.2.11, §25.3.3.2).

### 9.1.7 Identity modifiers

There is no specific identity modifier ‘the same’ in Japhug. The only way to express this meaning is to use the subject participle of the verb *naχtćwy* ‘be the same’ (a denumeral verb of Tibetan origin, §7.1.6.1, see also §8.2.5 and §26.3.1.1 on the syntax of this stative verb) in a relative clause, as in (150) (a possessor relative, §23.5.10). This participle competes with the borrowed identity adverb *anamana* ‘identical’ (§22.2.3).

(150) tɣ-rmi kʷ-naχtćwy pjγ-dγn wo k,
INDEF.POSS-name SBJ:PCP-be.the.same IFR.IPFV-be.many SFP TOPO
nγki kʷrʷ ra tce.
FILLER Tibetan PL LNK

‘There were many people who had identical names, in Kamnyu, among the Tibetans.’ (140522 tshupa) {0004053#S155}

There are two prenominal modifiers expressing non-identity in Japhug: *ku-маъ* ‘other’ and the numeral *ci* ‘one’, which in prenominal position means ‘the other one’ (in postnominal position, it is used as an indefinite determiner, see §9.1.4.1). Both of these words can also be used as pronouns, though *ci* requires to be combined with the demonstrative *nú* in this usage (see §6.8).

The modifier *kuмаъ* is prenominal in its meaning ‘other’, as in (151).
(151) **tw-zda** nu ma kumaq twrme a-pw-me
GENR.POSS-companion DEM apart.from other person IRR-IPFV-not.exist
tce, kʰa ra aŋynduŋdyt p̥w-y<nu>γro p̥w-ŋu p̥w-ti.
LNK house PL everywhere IPFV-<AUTO>play SENS-be SENS-say
'[Our neighbour] says that if there are no other persons apart from
family members, [the monkey] would play everywhere in the house.'
(19-GzW2) {0003538#S10}

There are apparent examples of *kumaq* ‘other’ in postnominal position, as in (152) and (153), but in such sentences *kumaq* is a preverbal adverb, not a noun modifier, with a slightly different meaning ‘anew’. In (152), the usage of *kumaq* is very similar to its Chinese equivalent 另外 <lìngwài> ‘other’ in the corresponding Chinese sentence 阿兰另外给我买了一部手机, where the preverbal position of 另外 <lìngwài> ‘other’ clearly shows that it is not a noun modifier.

(152) <alan> ku a-<dianhua> kumaq ta-χtw
ANTHR ERG 1SG.POSS-phone other AOR:3→3'-buy
'Alan bought me a new phone.' (conversation, 17-03-27)

(153) a-ki ku kʰa kumaq ta-nu-sw-βzu
1SG.POSS-younger.sibling ERG house other AOR:3→3'-AUTO-CAUS-make
'My brother made himself a new house.' (14-siblings) {0003508#S279}

The identity determiner *kumaq* ‘other’ is grammaticalized from the subject participle of the verb *maq* ‘not be’, *kuu-maq* ‘who/which is not X’ (see also §16.1.1.7), which is still widely used, as in (154) and (155).

(154) mɣzw [tcʰirtsym ku-maŋ] nwnw tce, tú-wɣ-χtci ma nũ
yet type.of.tsampa SBJ:PCP-not.be DEM LNK IPFV-INV-wash LNK DEM
ma kɣ-sqa (mɣ-ra) apart.from INF-boil NEG-be.needed:FACT
'The tsampa that is not 'chu.rtsam', one needs to wash it, but not to boil
it.' (2002 tWsqar)

(155) [u-rku wuma zo stʰu ci ku-maŋ] nuctu
3SG.POSS-side really EMPH so.much SBJ:PCP-not.be DEM:LOC
tɣ-ri ci kú-wɣ-lɣt
INDEF.POSS-thread once IPFV-INV-throw
'One sews a thread at a place which is not too much on the border [of
the patch]'. (12-kAtsxWb) {0003486#S16}
## 9 The noun phrase

The modifier *ci* differs from *kumak* in that it is necessarily definite, meaning ‘the other one’, as in (156), where it refers to an animal that is chased by lions, which was previously mentioned in the text.

(156) z̥urwzyri qʰe ci rwoa nʷ dwxpa ma
progressively LNK other.one animal DEM poor LNK
nʷ-ky-ndza w-spa pʷ-cti qʰe, qʰe
3PL.POSS-OBJ:PCP-eat 3SG.POSS-material SENS-be.AFF LNK LNK
pjuu-ndžaβ qʰe mʷ-ŋu-cʰa qʰe,
IPFV-ANTICAUS:make.fall LNK NEG-IPFV-can LNK

‘The other animal, poor him, it is their prey, progressively it falls down and cannot stand it anymore.’ (20-sWNgi) {0003562#S41}

Interestingly, the determiner *ci* does not have scope over other noun modifiers. For instance, in (157), the noun *tçʰeme* ‘girl’ occurs with an attributive adjective in participial form *ku-ŋỵn* ‘who is evil’ (a relative clause, see §9.1.8), but the meaning is not ‘the other evil woman’ as could have been expected (this interpretation is excluded since the woman who is the subject of the sentence is, by contrast, a kind person), and rather must be ‘the other woman, the evil one’. There is no pause in the recording that could lead us to suppose that *ku-ŋỵn* here is an apposition – it is rather a postnominal relative.

(157) ṇyi, tçʰeme nʷ w-cki w-kuw-syja jo-ce,
FILLER women DEM 3SG-DAT 3SG.POSS-SBJ:PCP-give.back IFR-go

*ci* tçʰeme ku-ŋỵn nʷ w-cki.
other.one woman SBJ:PCP-be.evil DEM 3SG-DAT

‘She went to give it back to the woman, the other one, the evil woman.’
(140515 jiesu de laoren-zh) {0004004#S84}

### 9.1.8 Attributes

Japhug has several sub-parts of speech which could be described as “adjectives”: stative verbs, adverbs and nouns which express properties (rather than actions or entities). Property words used as noun modifiers are collectively designated by the term *attributes*. This heterogenous class excludes the property nouns described in §5.1.2.7, which are the syntactic heads of the noun phrase.

Three types of attributes are distinguished: attributive postnominal (noun or adverb) modifiers, prenominal modifiers and participial *ku-*** relatives (mainly postnominal or head-internal). The constructions mentioned in this section are
all described in more detail elsewhere in the grammar, and for this reason the discussion is kept brief.

### 9.1.8.1 Attributive postnominal modifiers

In addition to the postnominal markers studied above (numeral and number §9.1.1, demonstratives §9.1.2, quantifiers §9.1.3, definiteness markers §9.1.4.1, topic and focus markers), there are a certain number of nouns that can serve as postnominal modifiers.

The terms *tɛʰemɛ* ‘girl’ and *tër-tɛu* ‘son’, ‘boy’ can be used as modifiers to specify the gender of a person, in particular in combination with gender-neutral kinship terms such as *tër-ftsa* ‘sister’s child’ or relative age sibling terms (§27.2.2.2).

Some compound nouns occur as postnominal modifiers, specific to a particular head-noun, for instance *tʰɛ́lwaɛ́tʃa* ‘sparing earth’ or *rnaftɔuχa* ‘whose ear has ten holes’, used as attributes of *qandze* ‘earthworm’ (example 107, §5.5.5.2) and *qala* ‘rabbit’ (§5.5.5.1), respectively. Some compounds from Tibetan such as the nouns of the twelve year cycle (such as *staaklu* ‘year of the tiger’ from ṣ]+
̣g̣+ạ- *stag.lo* ‘year of the tiger’ in 158) also occur postnominally.

(158) *tcelo* *priaanzi* *rgy*tpu *ywa* w-ye *staak-lu* ci
upstream ANTHR old.man GEN 3SG.POSS-grandchild tiger-year INDEF
*γyzu* *tce*,
exist:SENS LNK

'Up there, the old Bramze has a grandchild who is born in the year of
the tiger.' (2003nyima2)

Privative nouns in -lu ‘...less’ (§5.7.1) and nouns of relative location in maŋ- (§5.7.2) are mainly used as postnominal modifiers.

The nouns χcʰa ‘right’ and ve ‘left’ are mainly used with the noun tw-jaq ‘hand, arm’ (or with other paired body parts), and can either be used as pre- (159) or postnominal modifiers (§160).

(159) ve a-jaq tu-ntcʰoz-a nyu
left 1SG.POSS-hand IPFV-use-1SG be:FACT
'I use my left hand.' (elicited)

(160) tw-jaq χcʰa nɔu kw, taqaβ cʰo ty-ri nɔu
GENR.POSS-hand right DEM ERG needle COMIT INDEF.POSS-thread DEM
tú-wy-ndo, tw-jaq ve nɔu kw ky-cpʰyt
IPFV-INV-take GENR.POSS-hand left DEM ERG INF-patch
u̱-spa ṉu pjú̱-wy̱-su̱-stʰo̱k ŋu

3SG.POSS-material DEM IPFV-INV-CAUS-press be:FACT

‘One takes the needle and the thread with one’s right hand, and one presses the [cloth] to be patched with the left hand.’ (12-kAtsxWb)

{0003486#S32}

The word *wuma* ‘real, really’ from Tibetan ཁྲིལ་ མཐོ་མ་ ‘real, true’ (§3.3.1.4) is generally used as an intensifier, in particular with stative verbs (§26.1.1.1), but also occurs as a postnominal modifier meaning ‘real’, its original meaning, as in (161) and (162).

(161) ł̰yndži wuma nų nųzo pų-tu̱-ŋu ma azo ł̰yndži pų-ta-a

demon real DEM 2SG SENS-2-be LNK 1SG demon SENS-not.be-1SG

‘You are the real demon, not me.’ (2002 Ihandzi)

(162) u̱-qa ṉu qarŋe, tytsɔk wuma ṉu.

3SG.POSS-root DEM be.yellow:FACT silverweed real DEM

‘Its root is yellow, the real silverweed.’ (19-khWlu) {0003540#S68}

The inalienably possessed noun *nų-tyŋgut* ‘common possession’, which requires a non-singular possessor, can be used as a postnominal attribute, sharing the same possessive prefix as the preceding noun, as in *nų-rmi nų-tyŋgut* ‘their collective name’ in (163).

(163) ṉu̱ṉ tšu ṉu caŋtaš ṉu̱ṉ tcetu, (...) ṟuŋgu m̱-tu-tuɣy

DEM road DEM up.from up.there DEM pasture NEG-IPFV:UP-touch

mศต莎, ṉu̱ṉ ṯu̱-ji tʰamtcɛt zo ṉu̱-rmi ṉu̱

until dem indef.poss-field all EMPH 3PL.POSS-name DEM

ṯu̱ṯu̱rca ṉu̱-rmi ṉu̱ ṯu̱mŋu rmi. tceri ṯu̱mŋu ṉu̱ṉ,

together 3PL.POSS-name DEM TOPO beIssed:FACT LNK TOPO DEM

nų-rmi nų-tyŋgut ku̱-fse ņu̱.

3PL.POSS-name 3PL.POSS-in.common SBJ:PCP-be.like be:FACT

‘Up from that path until the pasture, all the fields in there put together, their collective name is *ṯu̱mŋu*.’ (150903 tWmNu) {0006280#S7}

In addition, some adverbs, which are more often used with scope over the whole clause, can occur as postnominal modifiers, in particular the comitative adverbs (§5.8.1) and adverbs of quantification (§9.1.3).
### 9.1.8.2 Attributive prenominal modifiers

Noun phrases serving as prenominal modifiers are not easily distinguishable from possessors, the only difference being the absence of a coreferent possessive prefix on the following noun (§5.1.1.2).

The most common type of prenominal modifiers are place-names and other unpossessible nouns (§5.2.1) and nouns expressing the material from which an object is a made, as *χsɛr* ‘gold’, *rŋuɛl* ‘silver’ and *si* ‘wood’ in (164).

(164) *a-tycime, nyzo rŋuɛl rjɛyskyt u-taɛw tɔu-ce ci, χsɛr rjɛyskyt*
1SG.POSS-lady 2SG silver stair 3SG.POSS-on 2-go:FACT QU gold stair
u-taɛw tɔu-ce ci, com rjɛyskyt u-taɛw tɔu-nu-ce?
3SG.POSS-on 2-go:FACT QU wood stair 3SG.POSS-on 2-AUTO-go:FACT
‘My lady, will you go on the silver stairs, the golden stairs or the
wooden stairs?’ (2014-KWIAG)

Prenominal modifiers can be more complex phrases. In (165), the prenominal modifier *ɛkryz* ‘oak’ takes the restrictive focus marker *ŋa* ‘completely’ (§9.1.6.5).<fnref n="11" />

(165) *nɔ[ckryz ɔŋa zo] swɔŋgw ŋu tce*
DEM oak completely EMPH forest be:FACT LNK
‘It is a forest exclusively of oaks.’ (140522 Kamnyu zgo) {0004059#S88}

In (166), the prenominal modifier of *tɔu* ‘road’ has three degrees of embedding.

(166) [[[smɔt tɔumda] rjɛlpu nɔra yɔ] nɔ-sakaβ] tɔu nɔtcu
TOPO TOPO king DEM.PL GEN 3PL.POSS-well path DEM.LOC
c-ky-ryzɔi nɔu-ŋu.
TRAL-AOR-stay SENS-be
‘He went (there) and stayed on the way to the well of the king of
Smad.mda.’ (2005 Kunbzang)

When a prenominal modifier is present, possessive prefixes on inalienably possessed head nouns can be neutralized, becoming an indefinite possessor (§5.1.4).

At least in the case of some prenominal modifiers limited to single nouns,<fnref n="12" /> possessive prefixes can either be prefixed on the head noun (167a), or on the modifier (167b) (§5.1.4).

<footnote n="11">¹¹A superficially similar construction in found in 70 (§22.2.2.3); in that example, the constituent [noun+ŋa zo] is a preposed nominal predicate. That analysis is not possible in (165), since the subject is the demonstrative *nu*, and the nominal predicate is *ɛkryz ɔŋa zo swɔŋgw*.</footnote>

<footnote n="12">¹²Attempts to test this possibility with larger prenominal phrases such as that in (165) are inconclusive.</footnote>
9 *The noun phrase*

(167) a. χςγρ a-κυμτε˙hω
    gold 1SG.POSS-toy

b. a-χςγρ κυμτε˙hω
1SG.POSS-gold toy

‘My golden toy’ (see example 64, §5.1.4)

Since in (167) no stress can be heard on the modifier χςγρ ‘gold’, it could be
possible to argue that χςγρ κυμτε˙hω in (167b) should rather be analyzed as a noun
compound (§5.5.1) χςγρ-κυμτε˙hω: this is one of the domains of Japhug grammar
in which the boundary between syntax and morphology is unclear (§3.8.1).

The adverb *koŋla* ‘really’, ‘completely’ (§22.2.4) can be used as a prenominal
modifier in the sense of ‘real’.

(168) koŋla turme ci, kw-pw~pe tce˙heme ci, ny-cya
really person INDEF SBJ:PCP-EMPH~be.good girl INDEF 2SG.POSS-age
kw-xtew~xtci kw-mpew~mpew a-nw-tw-aßzu

SBJ:PCP-EMPH~be.small SBJ:PCP-EMPH~be.beautifullrr-IPFV-2-become

smulym

prayer

‘May you become a real human, a nice, young and beautiful girl.’ (said to
a râkshasî) (2005 Norbzang)

9.1.8.3 Participial relatives

Most words expressing properties in Japhug are a subclass of stative verbs, and
cannot serve as attributes without being embedded into a relative clause. Since
intransitive subjects can only be relativized using ku- participial relative clauses
(§16.1.1.4), attributive adjectival stative verbs are always in this form, as ku-pe
‘good one, which is good’ in (169); the relative wuma zo tce˙heme ku-pe in this exam-
ple is head-internal (§23.4.3), as shown by the position of the intensifier wuma zo
(§26.1.1.1), and literally means ‘(a) woman who is/was really nice.’

(169) u-rzaβ βdaµmu nω [wuma zo tce˙heme ku-pe] ci
3SG.POSS-wife lady DEM really EMPH woman SBJ:PCP-be.good INDEF
pjy-ηu.

IFR.IPFV-be

‘His wife, the queen, was a very nice woman.’ (28-smAnmi) {0004063#S4}

In the case of shorter relative clauses it is not always clear whether we have
a head-internal, or a postnominal one (§23.4.4). Prenominal relatives with an
adjectival stative verb such as *stu ku-mna* ‘the best one, the leader’ in (170) are less common.

(170) *rjylpu nyrwßzaŋ nw ku, nyki, [stu ku-mna tcʰeme] nw*
king **ANTHR** **DEM ERG** filler most **SBJ:PCP-be.better** woman **DEM**
*ŋy-nw-car p̥w-ŋu*
**IFR-AUTO-search** **SENS-be**
‘King Norbzang chose for himself the woman leader.’ (2012 Norbzang)
{0003768#S37}

The presence of an adjunct, such as a standard marker, can disambiguate between postnominal and head-internal relatives (§23.5.1.2); in (171) for instance, the head *pya* ‘bird’ is clearly internal.

(171) *ßzar ndyre ŋn ma [uwo syzny **pya** ku-xtci] nwoa*
buzzard **LNK** be.evil:FACT **LNK** 3SG **COMP** bird **SBJ:PCP-be.small** **DEM:PL**
*ŋa zo tu-ndze p̥w-ŋu tce,*
completely **EMPH IPFV-eat[III]** **SENS-be** **LNK**
‘The buzzard is fierce, its eats all the birds that are smaller than itself.’
(24-ZmbrWpGa) {0003628#S80}

As shown in §23.3.5.1, in head-internal relative clauses the same determiner can appear on the head noun and repeated after the whole relative. The same is found with adjectival participial relatives, as in (172) with the indefinite *ci* ‘one’, though this usage is rare, in most cases only one of the two determiners is used (either the one inside the relative or the external one).

(172) *tce [qajwo ci ku-yrŋi] ci ŋu.*
**LNK** bug **INDEF** **SBJ:PCP-be.green** **INDEF** be:FACT
‘It is a green/black bug.’ (26-zrWGndza) {0003696#S6}

In prenominal position, subject relatives are almost not attested with stative verbs, but are found with some intransitive dynamic verbs. In the lexicalized expression in (173), prenominal placement of the participle *ku-rlaɣ* is required.

(173) *ku-rlaɣ kʰa*
**SBJ:PCP-disappear** house
‘An abandoned house.’
## 9.2 Noun coordination

Japhug lacks a dedicated noun coordinator. Nouns can be either coordinated by using the comitative postposition cʰo (§9.2.1), or by juxtaposition without any linking element (§9.2.2).

### 9.2.1 Coordination or embedded phrase

The closest thing to a noun coordinator in Japhug is the comitative marker cʰo; it can be used both to connect finite clauses (§25.6.2.1) or nouns as in (174).

When the constituent comprising two noun phrases connected by cʰo is in subject or object function, number indexation on the verb reflects the sum of all individuals referred to by this coordinated constituent, dual in the case of (174).

(174) [χpɣltcin cʰo alan] kw ko-ndo-ndzi tce,
n.p. COMIT n.p. ERG IFR-take-DU LNK
'Dpalcan and Alan caught [one].' (24-qro) {0003626#S94}

Number markers like ra (§9.1.1.2) have scope over the whole coordinated constituent, as in (175).

(175) [qandzyi cʰo qaliaŋ] ra kw cʰu-nu-tswu-nu
falcon COMIT eagle PL ERG IPFV:DOWNSTREAM-VERT-take.away-PL
tu-ndza-nu ngryl.
IPFV-eat-PL be.usually.the.case:FACT
'Falcons and eagles take [the moles] and eat them.' (28-qapar)
{0003720#S192}

There is however evidence that cʰo is a postposition rather than conjunction. First, while cʰo cannot be used without a preceding noun phrase or clause, the noun following it (for instance, qaliaŋ 'eagle' in 175) is optional, as illustrated by (176) and several additional examples in §8.2.5.

(176) nu cʰo to-ruštuŋmu-ndzi.
[DEM COMIT] IFR-marry-DU
'He married her.' (140511 alading-zh) {0003953#S183}

Second, the fact that the noun followed by cʰo is a constituent can be shown by the fact that it can be relativized with an oblique participle (§16.1.3.7).

For these reasons, rather than assuming a 'flat' structure as in Figure 9.1, I consider qandzyi cʰo to be a postpositional phrase used as an adnominal modifier of the noun qaliaŋ 'eagle', as in Figure 9.2.
<figure><img src="image_12.png" /><figcaption>Figure 9.1: cʰo as a coordinator</figcaption></figure>

<figure><img src="image_13.png" /><figcaption>Figure 9.2: cʰo as a postposition</figcaption></figure>

### 9.2.2 Bare coordination

#### 9.2.2.1 Enumeration

Enumerations are the listing of a series of nouns, often with a specific (rising) intonation and a pause between items, and without any coordinating element (such as the postposition cʰo seen above). In Japhug, quite lengthy enumerations are attested in the corpus, as shown by (177) with seven nouns.

(177) mbro, jla, nwaŋa, mbala, tsʰyɛt, qazo, paк, nwaра nuɛtcu
horse hybrid.yak cow bull goat sheep pig dem:pl dem:loc
кja z-пӳ-wy-lyy pш-ηu.
completely tral-ipfv-inv-graze pst.ipfv-be

'People used to graze their horses, hybrid yaks, cows, bulls, goats, sheep and pigs.' (140522 Kamnyu zgo) {0004059#S151}
## 9 The noun phrase

Enumerations are generally understood as non-exhaustive, implying the potential inclusion of other referents to the list, especially when each noun occurs with the participle *ku-fse* ‘like’ as in (178).

(178) numu tx-mu nu ku qala ku-fse, ca
dem indef.poss-mother erg rabbit sbj:pcp-be lik e deer
ku-fse, numu rwda kx-xcti nura pju-sat.
sbj:pcp-be lik e dem animal sbj:pcp-be small dem:pl ipfv-kill
‘The mother kills small animals like rabbits or deer.’ (20-sWNgi)
{0003562#S77}

However, enumerations with only two nouns and without specific intonation, as in (179), can also express exhaustive enumeration.

(179) qhe tsʰyt qaço ra yu nw-ndza nura jw-sna.
lnk goat sheep pl gen 3pl.poss-food dem:pl sens-be.good
‘It is good as fodder for goats and sheep.’ (16-RlWmsWsi) {0003520#S62}

When the order of the nouns is rigid (which is not the case in 179, since qaço tsʰyt ‘sheep and goats’ is also attested), the construction belongs to a different category: that of noun dyads (§9.2.2.2).

### 9.2.2.2 Noun dyads

Noun dyads are a pair of nouns occurring in a fixed order, without intervening linker or postposition, and sharing their number and case markers. A good example is provided by the expression ‘parents’ comprising the kinship terms *tx-mu* ‘mother’ and *tx-wa* ‘father’, as in (180). Note that while number and case markers are shared by both nouns, each of them takes its own possessive prefix, and both prefixes are coreferent.

(180) nu a-mu a-wa ni yu ŋu
dem 1sg.poss-mother 1sg.poss-father du gen be:fact
‘This is for my parents.’ (meimei de gushi)

The dyad for ‘parents’ has a honorific variant, originally used for noblemen in the traditional society. It comprises the terms *tx-pa* ‘father’ and *tx-ma* ‘mother’, which are borrowed from Tibetan ḹv-ṛ- ?a.pʰa ‘father’ and ḹv-ṛ- ?a.ma ‘mother’, respectively. Interestingly, the honorific expression follows the ‘father-mother’ order (as in example 181), while the native one reverses the order with ‘mother’ first, as in ‘mother-father’.
(181) *nʷ kuʷ-fse*   *a-pa*   *a-ma*   *ni kʷ*
DEM SBJ:PCP-be like 1SG.POSS-father 1SG.POSS-mother DU ERG
*puʷ-ti-ndzi*   *tce*
SENS-say-DU LNK
'My parents say this.' (2003nyima2)

Other common dyads referring to humans, but alienably possessed, include *rgytpu* *rgynmw* ‘old man(men) and woman(women)’, *ty-tcʷ tɛ́həme* ‘boy(s) and girl(s)’. They are most commonly used as collectives with indefinite referents as in (182), but are also attested with definite ones, as in (183), with the aforementioned topic marker *icqʰa* (§9.1.5.2).

(182) *ty-tcʷ*   *tɔ́həme tʷ-sy-ymdzʷ*   *zaka tu*
INDEF.POSS-son girl   GENR.POSS-OBL:PCP-sit each EXIST:FACT
‘Gentlemen and ladies each have [different] seating places.’ (31-khAjmu)
{0004079#S10}

(183) *ty-rjit*   *nʷ li icqʰa*   *rgytpu*
INDEF.POSS-offspring DEM again the aforementioned old.man
*rgynmw* *ni kʷ pjy-mto-ndzi*
old.woman DU ERG IFR-see-DU
‘That child, the old man and the old woman saw him.’ (140514)
huishuohua de niao-zh) {0003992#S51}

Dyads are not restricted to humans, as shown by the dyad *tyci qaj* ‘barley and wheat’ (18, §10.1.2.10).

Another type of noun dyad comprises two abstract nouns, which can be used as manner adjuncts with the ergative (see example 46 §8.2.2.5) or in the degree construction as in (184) with the dyad *ty-re ty-jaVK* ‘chatting and laughing’ (only *ty-re* ‘laugh (n)’ exists as an independent word). Some of these dyads are nominalized forms of bipartite verbs (§11.6.3).

(184) *nʷtcu rcənʷ*   *maka ty-re*   *ty-jaVK*
DEM:LOC UNEXP:DEG completely INDEF.POSS-laugh INDEF.POSS-laugh
*pjy-saxəaVK*
IFR.IPFV-be.extremely
‘There, [the râkshasi] were chatting and laughing a lot.’ (2011-05-nyima)
9.2.3 Disjunction

There is no dedicated linker for expressing inclusive and/or exclusive disjunction of noun phrases in Japhug. The clausal linker *numaъny* ‘otherwise’ can exception- ally occur between nouns as in (185), but such rare constructions are the result of the elision of the non-final verb(s) in a string of clauses sharing the same verb forms such as (186) (§25.6.4).

(185) tce azo a-rjit nw kw a-wymw w-rjit nw
LNK 1SG 1SG.POSS-child DEM ERG 1SG.POSS-brother 3SG.POSS-child DEM
tce “a-rpw” numaъny “a-łak” tu-ti kw-ra.
LOC 1SG.POSS-MB otherwise 1SG.POSS-MZ IPFV-say SBJ:PCP-be.needed
‘Then my son has to say ‘my uncle’ or ‘my aunt’ to my brother’s son.’
(140425 kWmdza04) {0003788}

(186) ty-ŋgyr lú-wy-lyt, numaъny ty-ŋkw
INDEF.POSS-fat IPFV-INV-release otherwise INDEF.POSS-pig.skinn
lú-wy-lyt, numaъny cyrw lú-wy-lyt,
IPFV-INV-release otherwise bone IPFV-INV-release
‘One puts pig fat, pig skin or bones in it.’ (140428 mtshalu) {0003878#S18}

The reduced form maъ (homophonous with the 3SG Factual non-past of maъ
‘not be’) of numaъny ‘otherwise’ is also attested to express disjunction between
nouns as in (187).

(187) numu mbov mak twwur nw tʰú-wɣ-nyqʰŋga tce
DEM square.cloth otherwise raincoat DEM IPFV-INV-put.on LNK
χcʰově nw w-jŋov nw kw kú-wy-sw-ndo.
right.and.left DEM 3SG.POSS-hook DEM ERG IPFV-INV-CAUS-take
‘When one puts on a square cloth or a raincoat (to protect oneself from
the rain), one attaches it with the hooks on the left and on the right.’
(140429 NoR) {0003888#S14}

Another way of expressing disjunction with nouns is the polar sentence final particle ᶜi (§10.4.2) but the verb is repeated in both clauses with elision, as in (188).

(188) tw-twph'u ŋu ci wn-twph'u ŋu my-xsi.
one-species be:FACT QU two-species be:FACT NEG-GENR:know
'I don't know if it is one or two species.' (23-RmWrcWftsa) {0003610#S43}
### 9.3 Word order in the noun phrase

The order of the elements in the noun phrase in Japhug is relatively rigid. Examples of complex noun phrases such as (189) and (190) illustrate the orders N(oun)-Adj(ective)-Num(eral) and Dem(onstrative)-N(oun)-Num(eral)-Dem(onstrative), respectively.<fnref n="13" />

(189) *swŋgw zɔ*, [tɔurme wuma zɔ kw-wxti bɔnwz] tu-ndzi tce
forest LOC people really EMPH SBJ:PCP-be.big two exist:FACT-DU LNK
‘In the forest, there are two giants.’ (140428 yonggan de xiaocaifeng-zh)
{0003886#S160}

(190) [wkuki cnat bɔnwz kuwi] kw,
DEM.PROX heddle two DEM.PROX:DU ERG
‘[The weaving is done] with these two heddles.’ (vid-20140429090403)
{0003776#S46}

From such examples, it can be extrapolated that the most basic word order in the noun phrase in Japhug is Dem-N-Adj-Num-Dem. Although no noun phrase in the corpus presents all five elements, it is easy to elicit such an example. This order is not unusual crosslinguistically: Cinque (2005) notes that the orders Dem-N-Adj-Num and N-Adj-Num-Dem are both widely attested.

All of the elements in the noun phrases are optional, even the nominal head.

Although the indefinite marker *ci* ‘one’ and the topic *nu* can appear between the noun and the adjective (being here a head-internal participial relative clause, §9.1.8.3), as shown by examples (172) above and (191) below, numerals are not attested in this position.

(191) yjw ci kw-mbw~mbro zo pjx-tu p̱w-ŋu
watchtower INDEF SBJ:PCP-EMPH~be.high EMPH IFR.IPFV-exist SENS-be
tce
LNK
‘There was a very big tower.’ (2012 Norbzang) {0003768#S49}

There are attributes other than adjectival stative verbs in Japhug (§9.1.8.1 and §9.1.8.2), in particular prenominal attributes as *rŋul* ‘silver’ in (192), but it is problematic to use such examples as evidence for a Adj-N-Num-Dem, given the fact that prenominal attributes are always essentially nouns used as modifiers.

<footnote n="13">¹³The term “adjective” here refers to attributive adjectival stative verbs in participial form (§9.1.8.3).</footnote>
9 *The noun phrase*

(192) *rŋu l qʰoוקqʰοוק χs<u>u</u>m n<u>u</u> pY-n<u>u</u>-tοο.
silver ingot three DEM IFR-AUTO-come.out
'The three silver ingots had come out.' (28-qajdoskAt) {0003718#S169}

The prenominal slot can be filled by demonstratives (§9.1.2) and identity mo-
difiers *kumaɣ* ‘other’ or *ci* ‘one’ (§9.1.7). These elements can be preceded by ei-
ther a comitative *cʰo* phrase (§9.2.1) or by the aforementioned topic marker *icqʰa*
(§9.1.5.2, cf. example 193), the leftmost element of a noun phrase.

(193) *r lpu u-tcu
n<u>u</u> ku, icqʰa
king 3SG.POSS-SON DEM ERG the.aforementioned other.one king
n<u>u</u>nu, <xila> r<u>jl</u>pu n<u>u</u> u-cki,
DEM TOPO king DEM 3SG.POSS-DAT
‘The king’s son [told] the other king, the king of Greece.’ (140518 huifei
de uma-zh) {0004026#S39}
# 10 Expressive words and sentence final particles

This chapter comprises four sections: §10.1 discusses ideophones, §10.2 presents expressive words lacking specific ideophonic properties (interjections and calling sounds), §10.3 and §10.4 describe sentence final particles and their contribution to the expression of modality and evidentiality.

## 10.1 Ideophones

Ideophones in Japhug constitute a particularly large part of speech, and can be unambiguously defined on the basis of morphological criteria. The present section builds on previous research (Sun & Shidanluo 2004; Jacques 2013c)), but is based on a larger corpus of ideophones.

### 10.1.1 Ideophonic stem morphology

Cross-linguistic definitions have been proposed for ideophones; for instance, according to Dingemanse (2017: 2), they are 'marked words that depict sensory imagery'. While Japhug ideophones do indeed fit this description, in this grammar a language-particular definition is adopted.

Ideophones often have specific morphology, which differs from the rest of the lexicon (Diffloth 1976 and Zwicky & Pullum 1987). This is the case in Gyalrong languages (Sun & Shidanluo 2004: 3–4), and ideophones are thus defined in this grammar (following Jacques 2013c) as words derived from monosyllabic ideophonic roots that can undergo the morphological alternations described in this section.

Table 10.1 presents the ten ideophonic patterns attested in Japhug. Since these patterns involve several types of partial reduplication, a set of symbols are used to represent the elements of the root that are targeted by reduplication: $C_i$ represents initial clusters (or single consonants), $C_f$ codas, $V$ the main vowel and $R$ the complete ideophonic root.
<table><caption>Table 10.1: Ideophonic morphology in Japhug</caption><thead><tr><th></th><th>pattern</th><th>example</th><th>meaning</th></tr></thead><tbody><tr><td>I</td><td>R</td><td>zjaŋ</td><td>semelfactive</td></tr><tr><td>II</td><td>R.R</td><td>zjaŋ.zjaŋ</td><td>stative</td></tr><tr><td>III</td><td>R.nɛ́.R</td><td>zjaŋ.nɛ́.zjaŋ</td><td>action with rhythm<br>and/or motion</td></tr><tr><td>IV</td><td>R.nɛ́.IVC<sub>f</sub></td><td>zjaŋ.nɛ́.laŋ</td><td>action in disorderly fashion</td></tr><tr><td>V</td><td>pʰu.R</td><td>pʰu.zjaŋ</td><td>semelfactive, intensive</td></tr><tr><td>VI</td><td>mɔlɛ́.R</td><td>mɔlɛ́.zjaŋ</td><td>stative, intensive</td></tr><tr><td>VII</td><td>Ru.C<sub>f</sub> i</td><td>zjaŋu.ŋi</td><td>progressive change of state</td></tr><tr><td>VIII</td><td>C<sub>i</sub>uC<sub>f</sub>u.C<sub>i</sub>aC<sub>f</sub>i</td><td>zjuŋu.zjaŋi</td><td>stative, in quantity, in disorder</td></tr><tr><td>IX</td><td>Ru.C<sub>i</sub>aC<sub>f</sub>i</td><td></td><td></td></tr><tr><td>IX</td><td>Ri.nɛ́.Ri</td><td>zjaŋi.nɛ́.zjaŋi</td><td>action with fast motion</td></tr><tr><td>X</td><td>RRR(*)</td><td></td><td>onomatopoeia</td></tr></tbody></table>

This system is not specific to Japhug: patterns I, II, III, IV and VII have direct correspondences in Tshobdun (Sun & Shidanluo 2004: 3–4). Patterns V and VI express an intensive meaning in comparison with the corresponding semelfactive (pattern I) and stative (pattern II). No equivalent pattern exists in Tshobdun. The -nɛ́- element in patterns III, IV and IX is related to the additive nɛ́ (§8.2.6).

All patterns (except X) are illustrated with an example using the root |zjaŋ| ‘tall’. Example sentences for each of these forms and more detailed accounts of their semantics are provided in §10.1.2.

## 10.1.2 Regular derivations

Although most ideophonic patterns are attested in the text corpus, it is difficult to find real examples of all regular derivations from one particular root. For ease of presentation, we cite example sentences with complex ideophones based on a single root, |zjaŋ| ‘tall’,<fnref n="1" /> and thus most of these examples are elicited.<fnref n="2" /> Ideophones are glossed by IDPH, followed by the number of the pattern, and a brief translation of the general meaning of the ideophonic root.

The basic meaning of the ideophonic root |zjaŋ| ‘tall’ was glossed by Tshendzin as (1).

<footnote n="1">¹This root is not used to illustrate pattern X (§10.1.2.10), which is semantically restricted.</footnote>

<footnote n="2">²They are however not translated: I asked my main consultant Tshendzin to produce sentences illustrating each of the possible patterns of the root |zjaŋ|.</footnote>
(1) w-zda ra syz ku-mbro ku-fse
3SG.POSS-companion PL COMP SBJ:PCP-be.tall SBJ:PCP-be like
'Taller or higher than the others.' (elicited)

There is a series of ideophonic roots that are related to |zŋaŋ| by other type of
processes (Table 10.3, §10.1.5.3).

10.1.2.1 Pattern I

Pattern I, which consists of the bare ideophonic root, is combined with predicates
in the Aorist or Inferential to express an action occurring suddenly, as in (2). The
form zŋaŋ means that the action of the sentence resulted in the main referent
becoming taller than its surrounding.

(2) zŋaŋ zo ty-ndzur
IDPH(I):tall EMPH AOR-stand
'He stood up suddenly, and [appeared to be] very tall.' (elicited)

10.1.2.2 Pattern II

Pattern II with plain reduplication indicates a state. It is by far the most com-
mon ideophonic pattern in texts and it is attested for most ideophonic roots. It
generally describes a permanent state (as in 4 below).

When an ideophone in pattern II is used with a lexical verb, it can describe a
state resulting from the action indicated by the main verb (rmbu 'heap up' in 3).

(3) tce zjaŋzjaŋ zo ku-pa to-rmbu-nu
LNK IDPH(II):tall EMPH INF:STAT-AUX IFR-pile.up-PL
'[The villagers] had piled [the hay] up very high.' (150902 liaozhai
lang-zh)' {0006340#S24}

A handful of deideophonic verbs in a- and n̥- can be built from pattern II ideophones (§20.9.3).

The reduplicated form in pattern II is in most cases a complete reduplication.
Not only the onset, but also the vowel as well as the final consonant are copied,
even in the case of initial clusters, as in |zrjaŋ| → z「raŋz「raŋ 'bulging, swollen'.

Nevertheless, we do observe some phonetic attrition in the case of the codas
-t, -γ and -β. Final -t is generally deleted regardless of the following consonant,
as in |xςγt| → xςγxςγt 'long, thin and flexible'. An exception, which involves an
ideophone without initial cluster, is cotcot 'small and cute'.
10 Expressive words and sentence final particles

Final -β generally disappears in the reduplicated syllable when the onset of the ideophonic root contains a labial (§4.2.3.1), as in |bɣβ| → bɣbɣβ ‘stubborn, bulky’. This rule is however only optional, and bɣβbɣβ is also attested.

Final -γ is generally deleted when the onset contains a velar (§4.2.3.1) as in |gγγ| → gγgγγ ‘moving with difficulty, unstable on its feet’. This rule is also optional.

Another type of phonetic reduction optionally appears with a few ideophones with open rhymes in -i and an initial cluster with medial -l- or -r-. The medial is deleted and the rhyme is replaced by -u, following the regular process of partial reduplication common in verbal morphology (§4.1). Examples of this phenomenon include for instance |ki| → kfjwksri ‘fat, soft and wet’ and |qli| → qwqli ‘staring without moving’.

(4) w-βri nwa kú-wy-rtoq qʰe lwh-ycilaj zo qʰe, nsknw,
3SG.POSS-body DEM:PL IPFV-INV-Look LNK SENS-be.wet EMPH LNK FILLER
kfwksri zo lwh-pa.
IDHP:II:fat.soft.wet EMPH SENS-AUX
‘The body [of the gecko] looks wet, it is wet and soft.’ (28-tshAwAre)
{0003722#S37}

10.1.2.3 Pattern III

Pattern III is formed by reduplicating the ideophonic root with the additive marker *nɣ* (§8.2.6) inserted in between. It depicts a rhythmic action or a constant motion as in (5), depending on the semantics of the root.

(5) mbro w-taɣ to-ce tce zjaŋnyzjaŋ jɣ-ari-ndzi
horse 3SG-on IFR:UP-GO LNK IDPH(III):tall AOR-GO[II]-DU
‘He mounted the horse, and they went there, very tall.’ (elicited)

Deideophonic verbs in γγ- and sγ- (§20.9.1) and nu- (§20.9.2) are built from pattern III ideophones, without additive nɣ.

Pattern III also allows a variant *RR-nγ-RR* with double reduplication of the ideophonic root, with an intensive meaning. For instance *pγγlnγpyγl* ‘(walking) with big strides’ has the slightly different meaning ‘(running) with big strides’ with double reduplication (6).

(6) ‘wo a-mu ma-pw-tu-zγγ-sat tce azo
INTERJ 1SG.POSS-mother NEG-IMP-2-REFL-kill LNK 1SG
pjw-nw-γi-a ŋu’ to-ti. pγylpyγlnγpyγlpγyl
IPFV:DOWN-VERT-come-1SG be:FACT IFR-say IDPH(III):with.big.strides
pjɛ̌-nwo-yi.

IFR:DOWN-AUTO-come

‘She said “Mother, don’t commit suicide, I am coming back” and came back running in big strides.’ (2003 kAndZWsqhaj2)

### 10.1.2.4 Pattern IV

Pattern IV is formed by combining with the ideophonic root, the additive *nɛr* (§8.2.6) and a partial copy of the ideophonic root replacing the onset by *l*-, a pattern reminiscent of some distributed action verbs (§19.4.2.1). It describes an action involving motion occurring in disorderly fashion with intermittent changes of state. In (7) the form *zjaŋnylaŋ* can be used to depict a drunk person who stumbles from time to time while walking, so that he seems taller at one time and shorter at another time.

(7) zjaŋnylaŋ pwo-ηke

IDPH(IV):tall SENS-go

‘He is walking unsteadily, very tall.’ (elicited)

Deideophonic verbs in γγ- and σγ- can be built from pattern IV ideophones (§20.9.1), without insertion of the additive.

### 10.1.2.5 Pattern V

Pattern V, made of the ideophonic root prefixed with the element *pʰu-*, is similar to pattern I (§10.1.2.1) semantically, but it is more rarely used; it indicates a more sudden action and/or one carried out to a higher degree.

(8) pʰwzjaŋ zo tx-ndzur

IDPH(V):tall EMPH AOR-stand

‘He stood up suddenly, and [appeared to be] very tall.’ (elicited)

This pattern occurs in particular with onomatopoeic ideophones, such as |qʰlɒŋ| ‘splashing’ (9).

(9) nwo pʰwqʰlɒŋ zo pjɛ̌-γγrɛ̌t

DEM IDPH(V):splashing EMPH IFR-throw

‘He threw [the bag into the water], making a sudden splashing noise.’ (150824 kelaosi-zh) {0006276#S146}

The most common pattern V ideophone is *pʰuɛlɑk* from |çlɑk| ‘suddenly’, which has the γγ- and σγ- denominal forms (§20.9.1) γγpʰuɛlɑk ‘moving/working quickly, hardworking’ and *sγpʰuɛlɑk* ‘do X quickly (not lingering)’.
10 Expressive words and sentence final particles

10.1.2.6 Pattern VI

Pattern VI, with the root prefixed by *m}*r}*-, describes a state like pattern II, but
differs from it in that it expresses a higher degree. In addition, it can be used
to express the result of a change of state with the verb *a}*ß*u 'become, grow' as
in (10). It is the rarest of all ideophonic patterns, not attested in the Japhug text
corpus.

(10) a-ɣe **mylɣzjaŋ** zo tʰu-aβzu
1SG.POSS-grandson IDPH(VI):tall EMPH AOR-become
‘My grandson has become very tall.’ (elicited)

10.1.2.7 Pattern VII

In pattern VII, the coda of the root (*C*<sub>f</sub>; if no coda is present, a /w/ is inserted,
§10.1.2.8) is resyllabified as onset of a syllable with the vowel *u*, and then redu-
plicated with the vowel *i* following the pattern *C*<sub>f</sub>V.C<u>w</u>.C<sub>fi</sub>. It expresses a pro-
gressive change of state, involving in some case slow motion as in (11).

(11) zjaŋuŋi zo j
IDPH(VII):tall EMPH AOR-go[II]
'He went away slowly, looking taller than rest.' (elicited)

10.1.2.8 Pattern VIII

Pattern VIII depicts a state involving a lot of referents having the property de-
scribed by the ideophone, but spread out spatially in a disorderly fashion.

The formula *Ru.CᵢaCfᵢ* in Table 10.1 applies to ideophonic roots which do not have /a/ as their main vowel, for instance |zjɣɣ| (whose meaning is almost identical to that of |zjaŋ|) has the form *zjɣɣ.u.zjaɣ.i*. When the main vowel is /a/, the formula is *CᵢuCf<u>w</u>.CᵢaCfᵢ*. Thus, the pattern VIII of |zjaŋ| is *zj<u>w</u>.ŋ<u>w</u>.zja.ŋᵢ*. This form means that in a group of unique entities, some are tall and some are short, but they are unevenly spread (12).

(12) zjuŋuwzaŋi p<u>w</u>-xcat
IDPH(VIII):tall SENS-be.many
‘There are many [people], some taller and some shorter.’ (elicited)

Tshendzin glossed the meaning of (12) as follows (13).
(13) tsuku ku-mbro tsuku ku-mbr kw-fse
some SBJ:PCP-be.tall some SBJ:PCP-be.short SBJ:PCP-be lik e
'Some tall and some short.' (elicited)

In cases where the ideophonic root has no coda, the consonant /w/ replaces
Cf in patterns VII and VIII. For instance, /sχi/ ‘with big holes, with big nostrils’
has the pattern VIII form sχuwwsχawi ‘full of holes everywhere’ (14).

(14) numw u-ngw ri c-tu-ndze tce ku-rxzi
DEM 3SG.POSS-in LOC TRAL-IPFV-eat[III] LNK IPFV-stay
pw-cti tce, (...) numwcu ayndwndyt sχuwwsχawi
SENS-be.AFF:FACT LNK DEM:LOC everywhere IDPH(VIII):with.holes
pw-sw-spo>w tce
IPFV-CAUS-have.a.hole LNK

'[The species of ants called cymi qro] goes into wood and eats it, and stays in there, (...) and makes holes everywhere in it.' (26-qro) {0003682#S89}

10.1.2.9 Pattern IX

Pattern IX is formally similar to pattern III except that /i/ is added after each
reduplicant of the ideophonic root. Semantically, it indicates that the entity pre-
senting the property described by the ideophonic root undergoes a fast motion.

(15) mbro ta-numbrxpw tce zjaninvzjanj zo jy-cqʰlyt
horse AOR:3→3'-ride LNK IDPH(IX):tall EMPH AOR-disappear
'He mounted the horse and disappeared quickly (in the horizon), very
tall.' (elicited)

10.1.2.10 Pattern X

Pattern X involves reduplication of the ideophonic root three or more times (it
was not considered to be an ideophonic pattern in Jacques 2013c). It is the only
domain of Japhug grammar where triplication is allowed,<fnref n="3" /> unlike the Mazur va-
riety of Stau, where triplication occurs in finite verb forms (Gates 2017).

Pattern X differs from all preceding patterns in that it is semantically restricted
to onomatopoeia (16) and endopathic ideophones (ie. ideophones expressing in-
ner sensations such as cold or pain) (17), and nearly always select *ti* ‘say’ as light

<footnote n="3">³Another language in which ideophone triplication has been documented is Chintang (Rai et al. 2005).</footnote>
10 Expressive words and sentence final particles

verb (§10.1.7.2). Lexical verbs are also attested with pattern X ideophones (18), though more rarely.

(16) **tu-mbri n̥wra cutcutcut zo tu-ti p̥u-ŋu**
IPFV-call DEM:PL IDPH(X):cry EMPH IPFV-say SENS-be
‘When it calls it makes ‘cut cut cut’.’ (24-ZmbrWpGa) {0003628#S8}

(17) p̥u-k̥u-sv̥ŋo tce, n̥u n̥u-łov tce, zwrzwrzwr
IPFV-GENR:S/O-listen LNK DEM AOR-come.out LNK IDPH(X):itchy.feeling
tu-ti qʰe tcendv̥re tv̥-ndv̥r p̥u-łov cti.
IPFV-say LNK LNK pimple IPFV-come.out be:AFF:FACT
‘When it appears, one has an itchy feeling, and a pimple appears.’
(25-khArWm) {0003644#S4}

The triplication (reduplication at will) of the root expresses either repeated action like pattern III, or a continuous and unceasing state. Some pattern X ideophones are reduplicated four (18) or more (19) times.

(18) tςci qaj nω tςtςγ ω-ηgw rcwβrcwβrcwβrcwβ zo
barley wheat DEM cupboard 3SG.POSS-in IDPH(X):rustling EMPH
pjw-lςt nω, ω-zgra nω pjγ-sγ-mtsʰym.
IPFV-release DEM 3SG.POSS-noise DEM IFR.IPFV-pro-hear
‘(In the night), one could hear the rustling noise of the [one-legged
demon]ᵢ pouring barley and wheat grains into the cupboard (of the
woman with whom heᵢ was having a relationship). (140510 rkoNJAl)
{0003943#S30}

Not all onomatopoeia are realistic descriptions of natural sounds. In (19) we find an ideophonic root |že|* describing the supposed minute sound made by the quick motion of the legs of a millipede.

(19) kú-wy-rtoön tw-mpaw kw w-mslyjaäk ra múj-saxysl
IPFV-INV-Look GENR.POSS-eye ERG 3SG.POSS-Limb PL NEG:SENS-be.clear
zo ri, “zezezezezeze” zo tu-ti ju-ce qʰe,
EMPH LNK IDPH(II):sound EMPH IPFV-say IPFV-go LNK
w-tw-mbjom syre zo
3SG.POSS-NMLZ:DEG-be.quick be.ridiculous:FACT EMPH
‘(Of a type of small millipede) Looking at it, its feet are not clearly visible,
but it moves making zezezezezeze, extremely quickly.’ (28-kWpAz)
{0003714#S142}
Some of the roots used in pattern X are polysyllabic (see for instance *dudut* in §10.2.3), in which case the ideophone can only be reduplicated two times.

### 10.1.3 Semantic categories

Japhug ideophones are used for describing various features including sound, colour, shape, texture, attitude or mood, and some ideophones are multimodal, referring to combination of several types of sensory information.

Dingemanse (2012: 663) proposed the hierarchy (20) according to which, if a particular language possesses ideophones belonging to a particular class in this hierarchy, it will also present ideophones for all the lower classes. All categories are exemplified in Japhug.

(20) SOUND > MOTION > VISUAL PATTERNS > OTHER SENSORY PERCEPTIONS > INNER FEELINGS AND COGNITIVE STATES

Onomatopoeic ideophones include for instance |qʰłɒŋ| ‘splashing’ (9, §10.1.2.5) or |tɛʰuːp| ‘metal clinking’.

In addition to sounds, ideophonic roots also describe shapes (for instance *boŋ-boŋ* ‘ovoid’), specific hues of colour (*smuːysmuy* ‘fresh green’), touch (*bruːybruːy* ‘rough, covered in small pimples’), temperature (*xuːβxuːβ* ‘warm’), size (*scræːsscræː* ‘very small, close to the ground’), quantity (*zuːβzuːβ* ‘many (people, object) standing/in upright position’), attitudes (*dyːrdyːr* ‘agape, in a daze, looking stupid’, *ɛquːqu* ‘frowning’), pain (*ɛnːuy* ‘intense and sudden pain’), body position (*ɛpʰɪːβ-ɛpʰɪːβ* ‘lying on the ground, motionless’) and also cognitive states (*tɪːtɪt* ‘free from worry’).

Ideophonic roots often combine several parameters. For instance, *cʊaːkcʊaːk* ‘sharp and shiny (of fangs)’ encodes both shape and hue.

It appears that there are no ideophonic *roots* specifically dedicated to expressing motion; however, dynamic ideophonic patterns (I, III, IV, IX) applied to ideophones describing sound or shapes often add a motional imagery. For instance, the root |xuːr| means ‘round’ in pattern II, but ‘rotating, turning’ in pattern III (69, §20.9.2) and IX (21).

(21) *uː-maːw kwaːr nɔː kwaːr tu-ste qʰe tce,*
3SG.POSS-limb DEM.PROX:PL ADD DEM.PROX:PL IPFV-do likelike[III] LNK LNK
icqʰa stɑːpwrjvskʰi yuː uː-jwaːw nuː
the.aforementioned plant.name GEN 3SG.POSS-leave DEM
10 Expressive words and sentence final particles

x<u>wir><x>wiri zo tu-s<u>w-mtcwir.

IDPH(IX):round EMPH IPFV-CAUS-turn

'[There is a species of insect which] does this with its legs repeatedly, and
rotates the leaves of the *stax<u>pui>rj<u>sk'h<i> very quickly.' (18-NGolo)

{0003530#S128}

Some ideophones, however, can have an auditory interpretation competing
with many other ones. Thus, |b<u>β| in pattern II form b<u>βb<u>β can designate many
objects clustered together (like mushrooms) (93, §18.4.2.1 and 19, §9.1.1.2), a stub-
born person or a heavy and cumbersome object depending on the context.

With a dynamic pattern such as I or III, it can be interpreted as designating
the noise made by a heavy object falling from a high place as in (22), a meaning
shared with the deideophonic verbs *s<u>b<u>βb<u>β* and *n<u>bu<u>β* (see the examples in 70,
§20.9.2).

(22) mbro ku[ ... ] tcʰeme nu[ b<u>β
horse ERG girl DEM IDPH(I):heavyobject.falling EMPH
pj<u>βde qʰe
IFR:DOWN-throw LNK

'The horse (...) and threw the girl down, making 'bom' (on the ground).'
(2003 kAndZWsqhaj)

10.1.4 Irregularities

In practice, very few ideophonic roots allow the application of all the ten patterns exemplified in §10.1.2. In many cases, a particular pattern is not attested because there is no imaginable context where the situation could exist.

The meaning of some ideophonic roots can be incompatible with stative pat-
terns (II, VI and VIII). For instance, the very common |čla<b| ‘suddenly’ is only
attested in patterns I, III and V.

Even in the case of ideophonic roots which allow several different patterns,
the semantics of a particular pattern cannot always be predicted from that of the
other ones. In other words, not all ideophonic roots have a basic meaning from
which the semantics of all patterns can be regularly derived. In this section, we
provide two examples with such unpredictable semantics.

First, the root |ru<b| has a pattern III *ru<b>n<u>ru<b>* meaning ‘dripping (drop by drop) continuously’ (23).
(23) li mbal-y-pw nw yu w-qom ra
again bull-DIM DEM GEN 3SG.POSS-tear PL
rwβnyrwβ zo ny-kov cti qʰe
IDPH(III):dripping.continuously EMPH IFR-come.out be.AFF:FACT LNK
'The tears of the calf flowed, dripping without stop.' (140512 fushang he
yaomo-zh) {0003967#S127}

The regular γγ- deideophonic verb (§20.9.1) γγrwβrwoβ 'drip continuously' de-
riving from ruβnyruβ is also attested (example 62, §21.3.2.3). In addition, the com-
pound noun mcirwβrwoβ 'person whose saliva drips continuously' (§5.5.3) has the
same form with compatible semantics.

However, the pattern VIII *ruwurawi* from the same root has an entirely differ-
ent meaning ‘upset and confused’. It occurs in collocation with *tu-sum* ‘mind’
(24) and cannot be combined with nouns referring to liquids. Although it could
originally have been a metaphorical extension of the concrete meaning of this
root, the exact pathway of semantic change is by no means obvious.

(24) w-ky-nuzdwy pw-dyn tce, w-sum
3SG.POSS-OBJ:PCP-be.worried.about SENS-be.many LNK 3SG.POSS-mind
ruwurawi pw-xtsu
IDPH(VIII):confused IPFV-ferment
'He is worried about many things, and he feels upset and confused.'
(elicitcd)

Second, the root |dzonj| has a pattern II dzonjdzonj meaning ‘having bristling hair’ (25).

(25) tceri nwnw w-rme nw dzonjdzonj pw-pa
LNK DEM 3SG.POSS-hair DEM IDPH(II):bristling.hair SENS-AUX
'The hair [on the squirrel's tail] is bristling.' (28-qapar) {0003720#S129}

However, the pattern III form *dzonjzdjonj* has an entirely different meaning: it
refers to the itchy feeling one experiences when blood flows into a limb that has
fallen asleep (due to a sitting position for instance) and blood flows back into the
numb limb, as in (26).

(26) tu-ŋke-a tce a-mi dzonjzdjonj zo pw-ti
IPFV:UP-walk-1SG LNK 1SG.POSS-foot IDPH(III):feel.itchy EMPH SENS-say
ma cʰy-ndzwrput
because IFR-be.numb
'My foot feels itchy as I walk, because it was numb.' (elicitcd)
10 Expressive words and sentence final particles

These two examples are in no way exceptional; while ideophonic morphology
is productive, one should not assume that semantics is predictable.

10.1.5 The phonology of ideophonic roots

The phonological markedness of Japhug ideophones is relatively easy to assess,
as ideophonic roots (and all the form derived from them present uncommon fea-
tures from in both onsets and codas.

10.1.5.1 Onsets

Of all 423 known onsets in Japhug, 63 (including 45 two-consonant and 18 three-
consonant clusters) are exclusively attested in ideophones or ideophonic verbs.
These onsets present four types of unusual combinations which are completely
absent from the native vocabulary and/or Tibetan borrowings.

First, palatal stops can be combined with the medials /r/, /l/ in clusters such as /cr-/, /cʰr-/, /jʰr-/, /cl-/, /ɲʌl-/ (§4.2.2.3, §4.2.2.4) in ideophones. The only medial consonant compatible with palatal stops in the non-ideophonic lexicon is /ɣ/ (§4.2.2.5).

Second, dental stops are found with the medials /r/, /j/ and /w/ in clusters such as /dr-/, /dj-/, /dw-/ and /tʰj-/-/ in ideophones. In the non-ideophonic lexicon, the only attested medial after dental stops is /ɣ/ (§4.2.2.5).<fnref n="4" /> There is evidence that proto-Gyalrong *tr- became a retroflex affricate /t-/-/ (§5.4.3.2, §7.1.3), and that clusters of this type have been removed by regular sound change (§4.2.2.4).

Third, the unvoiced fricatives /š/ and /χ/ occur as preinitial consonants in clusters with voiced main consonant such as /šɣ-/-, /šɲ-/- and /χɲ-/-/ (χɲuχni ‘soft and thin (of food); dizzy, listless’). In the non-ideophonic vocabulary, [š] and [χ] as first element of clusters are in complementary distribution with their voiced counterparts [r] and [k], respectively (§4.2.1.4, §4.2.1.8).

Fourth, /l/ is common as first element of clusters in ideophonic roots, as in
lbjulbjuŋ 'soft, hanging down'. Comparison with other Gyalrongic languages re-
veals that *l- preinitial has changed to /j-/-/ in the non-ideophonic vocabulary
(§4.2.1.6).

Another conspicuous phonological feature in ideophones is the very high rela-
tive frequency of non-prenasalized voiced stops. In native (non-Tibetan and non-
deideophonic) nouns and verbs, the simple stop onsets /b/ and /g/ are extremely

<footnote n="4">⁴The noun *qumdronj* ‘crane’ also has such a cluster, but an onomatopoeic origin of the second syllable is not impossible, compare the Tibetan name of the same bird གསེ་གསེ་ kʰruŋkʰruŋ ‘crane’.</footnote>
rare (§3.2.1). The onsets /d/ and /ʒ/ are more common in the non-ideophonic vocabulary, but almost all originate from clusters containing laterals (see Jacques 2004: 313–314).

While Japhug ideophones, unlike calling/chasing sounds (§10.2.2) do not contain independent phonemes that are not found in the non-ideophonic vocabulary, they enrich the complexity of the phonological system by filling gaps in the phonological system caused by sound changes (see for instance Diffloth 1979) and by favouring rare phonemes and phoneme combinations.

### 10.1.5.2 Codas

The phonological specificities of ideophonic roots are not limited to onsets: the rhymes present also some unusual features, especially the codas.

The Kamnyu dialect of Japhug lacks a labial stop coda in the non-ideophonic vocabulary (§3.2.2), due to a sound change *-p → /-β/. However, some ideophones allow a stop final /-p/ instead of /-β/; there is considerable variation across speakers as to which ideophones allow this pronunciation. Tshendzin optionally uses final /-p/ with six ideophones in combination with the main vowel /w/: *tsʰuptsʰu:p* ‘feeling of humidity in the air’, *tɛʰuptɛʰu:p* ‘with water drops’, *zupzup* ‘many objects/persons standing upright’, *cʰu:p cʰu:p* ‘filthy’, *rsu prs u:p* ‘very hairy’ and *rkʰu:prkʰu:p* ‘knocking noise’.

Another remarkable property of ideophones is the frequency of the codas /-ŋ/, /-l/ and /-n/ (§3.2.2). These codas have been eliminated by a series of sound changes, merging with the vowels in complex ways (for instance, proto-Gyalrongic *-aŋ became Japhug /-o/, §3.3.3). They are also found in loanwords from Tibetan, but some rhymes such as /-uŋ/ are only attested in ideophones.

### 10.1.5.3 Phonological gradation and iconicity

This section focuses on *relative* iconicity (Dingemanse 2011a: 47), namely the correlation between a more or less gradient phonological feature and a semantic dimension, a phenomenon also known as sound symbolism (Boas & Deloria 1941: 16) or synesthesia (Gerner 2004: 186–187).

Japhug lacks regular patterns of consonant gradation such as the alternations described in Lakhota (Boas & Deloria 1941: 16–18). Gradation in place of articulation is attested, but specific to a particular family of ideophones. For instance, the roots in Table 10.2 have a dental – retroflex – velar – uvular gradation which does correlate with the degree of whiteness, but the same gradation is not generalizable to all ideophones with coronal fricatives.
<table><caption>Table 10.2: Example of consonant gradation in Japhug ideophones</caption><thead><tr><td>Root</td><td>Meaning</td><td>Example</td></tr></thead><tbody><tr><td>|suŋ|</td><td>white</td><td>hair of old people</td></tr><tr><td>|zuŋ|</td><td>white</td><td>hair of old people</td></tr><tr><td>|suŋ|</td><td>clear</td><td>the sky, a glance</td></tr><tr><td>|zuŋ|</td><td>clear</td><td>the sky, a room</td></tr><tr><td>|χaŋ|</td><td>slightly orange</td><td>the sky during daybreak</td></tr></tbody></table>

In addition to consonant gradation, even more puzzling phenomenon is *ideo-phonic hybridization*, namely the merger between several ideophonic families by combining rhymes and initial consonant clusters. The ‘clear, bright, white’ family (unvoiced coronal initial fricative, -u/ɑŋ rhyme) of Table 10.2 has intersections with two other ideophonic families shown in Tables 10.3 and 10.4.

<table><caption>Table 10.3: The [dental fricative/affricate+j+velar coda] ideophonic family ‘high’</caption><thead><tr><td>Root</td><td>Meaning</td><td>Example</td></tr></thead><tbody><tr><td>|sjuŋ|</td><td>white and high</td><td>a stûpa</td></tr><tr><td>|tsjaŋ|</td><td>higher than the rest</td><td>man</td></tr><tr><td>|zjaŋ|</td><td>higher than the rest</td><td>man</td></tr><tr><td>|zjɔŋ|</td><td>higher than the rest</td><td>man</td></tr></tbody></table>

Table 10.3 presents the ideophonic family of |zjaŋ| ‘tall’, the ideophone used as example in §10.1.2. The members of this family mean ‘high, lofty’, and have the shape a dental fricative initial, followed by a j+ medial and a velar coda. The root |sjuŋ| combines these phonological features with the unvoiced fricative /s/ and the rhyme -uŋ of the family ‘white’ in Table 10.2. Its meaning also combines ‘white’ and ‘high’ from both families.

The ideophonic family meaning ‘round, spherical’ (Table 10.4) is particularly rich. Its intersection with the ‘white’ family comprises four ideophones (|sluŋ|, |slag|, |clag| and |clan|), which share the initial consonant, the vowel and the coda with the ideophones in Table 10.2, and integrate both the meanings ‘white, bright, shiny’ and ‘round’.

The two ideophonic families presented in Tables 10.3 and 10.4 have intersections with yet other families; a comprehensive account of ideophones however
<table><caption>Table 10.4: The [(fricative/r)+l+(w/a/o)+dorsal coda] ideophonic family ‘round’</caption><thead><tr><th>Root</th><th>Meaning</th><th>Example</th></tr></thead><tbody><tr><td>|sluŋ|</td><td>bright and round</td><td>the sun</td></tr><tr><td>|slag|</td><td>white and round</td><td>the moon</td></tr><tr><td>|clag|</td><td>bright, shiny, spherical</td><td>a shaved head</td></tr><tr><td>|clag|</td><td>bright, shiny, spherical</td><td>a shaved head</td></tr><tr><td>|rlag|</td><td>average size, spherical</td><td>the moon</td></tr><tr><td>|rlog|</td><td>huge, bulky, vaguely spherical</td><td>a yak</td></tr><tr><td>|rlag|</td><td>round and hard</td><td>tsampa in bowl</td></tr><tr><td>|rlog|</td><td>average size, spherical</td><td>the head of a small child</td></tr><tr><td>|rwoŋ|</td><td>little, in great number spherical</td><td>peas</td></tr><tr><td>|rjoŋ|</td><td>cylindrical and with a smooth surface</td><td></td></tr><tr><td>|xplɔŋ|</td><td>small, spherical</td><td>mushroom, hat</td></tr></tbody></table>

goes beyond the scope of this grammar, as a considerable amount of elicitation will be necessary to fully reveal the structure of ideophonic vocabulary. Rather than isolated lexemes, ideophonic roots are organized in a network of similar forms, with gradual phonetic resemblances associated with gradual shades of meanings. A historical scenario accounting for how this type of pattern may have come into being is presented in §10.1.6.

### 10.1.5.4 Emphasis

Pattern II ideophones (§10.1.2.2) have in some cases an emphatic pronunciation, in which the first member of the reduplicated ideophone receives a peak in F0 and intensity. In (§27) for instance, the first syllable of the ideophone *xtṣoŋ-* has the highest pitch (315 Hz) in the whole sentence, and there is a sharp pitch drop on the second syllable (267 Hz), as shown in Figure 10.1. There is possibly a difference in voice quality (Jacques 2013c), though this remains to be demonstrated.

(27) *xcelwi rcanw, tu-se* *nw ku-tsʰi* *nɔ ku-tsʰi,* (...) *tick* *UNEXP:DEG GENR.POSS-blood* *DEM IPFV-drink* *ADD IPFV-drink* (...) *w-xtu* *nw* **xtṣoŋ.xtṣoŋ** *zɔ* *nɔ-w-pa* *nɔ-w-ŋu.* 3SG.POSS-belly *DEM IDPH(II):bloated* *EMPH IPFV-AUX SENS-be*

‘The tick drinks one’s blood again and again, (...) so that its belly become bloated.’ (25-xCelwi) {0003664#S42} {0003664#S39}
10 Expressive words and sentence final particles

<figure><img src="image_14.png" /><figcaption>Figure 10.1: Pitch peak in (§27)</figcaption></figure>

This emphatic pronunciation is not uncommon, but in most cases the ideophones do not have any special intonation. Example (§28) illustrates the same ideophone *xtṣoŋxtṣoŋ* a few sentence later in the same text, without any emphasis.

(28) tce ma numu tu-fka xtṣoŋxtṣoŋ zo ŋu. LNK LNK DEM IPFV-be.full IDPH(II):bloated EMPH be:FULL
'[The tick] is full [from having drunk blood] and bloated.' (25-xCelwi)
{0003664#S57}

10.1.6 The genesis of ideophones

While it cannot be *a priori* excluded that some ideophones could be ancient, their phonological markedness is a sign that they are constantly renewed, using processes different from those found in non-ideophonic words. In this section, I propose a scenario account for one of the origins of ideophonic roots, and ideophonic hybridization (§10.1.5.3).
Some ideophonic roots are obviously built from Tibetan loanwords, but with slight phonetic changes. The most obvious case is |ldzyuŋ| ‘skyblue’, which originates from the first syllable of ཁྲི་ཤྲི lızǎŋ.kʰu ‘green’ (also borrowed as the unpossessible noun lızǎŋku ‘green’, §5.2.2) with a slight modification of the vowel. The semantic relationship between the ideophone and the Tibetan borrowing is not always as obvious. For instance, |zjǎŋ| and |zjraŋ|, both meaning ‘filled up, looking soft’ (of a person’s belly, a bag filled with objects) are reminiscent of the verb βrjǎŋ ‘stretch tight’ (of skin), which is borrowed from the past tense of ཤིག་ནིསྟ rgion.brgiants ‘stretch, distend’: the ideophones describe a skin or membrane that is overstretched and distended, like the result of the action expressed by the verb βrjǎŋ. The form |zjǎŋ| could either have been independently borrowed from a Tibetan variety where r- and s- merge, or directly based on βrjǎŋ with further consonant modification. The root |zjraŋ| is derived from |zjǎŋ| by insertion of -r- (see below for a possible account of these sporadic sound changes).

The Tibetan origin of some ideophones is one possible reason for the frequency of voiced stops in ideophones (§10.1.5.1), as /b/, /d/, /j/ and /g/ are common in clusters in the borrowed layer.

However, in many case the lexical origin of ideophones has been completely blurred by a variety of mechanisms which can only be hypothesized. The four synonymous ideophones dzoʔ (29), zgoʔ, goʔ and dzur (30) exclusively occur in collocation with the transitive verb tsʰoʔ ‘attach’ and the noun tu-χpum ‘knee’ (§22.4.2.8) to express both the speed of the kneeling motion and the highly differential attitude of the kneeling person.

(29) w-χpum dzoʔ zo pjv-tsʰoʔ
3SG.POSS-knee IDPH(I):kneeling EMPH IFR-attach
'[The demon] immediately knelt down.' (140513 abide he mogui-zh)
{0003975#S45}

(30) w-χpum dzur zo ta-nw-tsʰoʔ ndvre,
3SG.POSS-knee IDPH(I):kneeling EMPH AOR:3'→3-AUTO-attach LNK
ty-lu pa-nw-tcyt pw-yu
INDEF.POSS-milk AOR:3'→3-AUTO-take.out SENS-be
'She immediately knelt down and milked [the cow].' (2003 Kunbzang)

In addition to pattern I, they also occur in pattern III as in (31).
10 Expressive words and sentence final particles

(31) ts-pytso ra dwxpa-nw matci tcendyre, zgoonzyzgoon zo
INDEF.POSS-child PL poor-PL because LNK IDPH(II):kneeling EMPH
nw-χpum ta-tsʰoob-nw tce
3PL.POSS-knee AOR:3'→3-attach-PL LNK

‘The poor children, they knelt [before the ogre] one after the other.’
(160704 poucet4-v2) {0006097#S23}

I propose that one of the mechanisms of ideophone creation is by playful re-analysis from lexical verb roots. The four ideophones *dzok, zgoon, goon* and *dzur*, which have either the onset (*z*)g- or *dz-* and the rhymes -oob and -ur, originate in my opinion from the verbs *ndzok* ‘be attached’ (the anticausative of *tsʰoob* ‘attach’, §18.5.3) and *azgur* ‘bow, bend down’ (the latter borrowed from *sgur* ‘bend down’). The development of these ideophones occurred in three steps, as illustrated in Figure 10.2.

<figure><img src="image_15.png" /><figcaption>Figure 10.2: Development of the family of ideophones meaning ‘kneeling respectfully’</figcaption></figure>

First, the ideophone roots *dzok* ‘kneeling’ (with alternation to the more marked plain voiced *dz-* onset, §3.2.1) and an unattested *zgur* (perhaps ‘kneeling and bowing’) were directly created from the two verbs. The forms *zgoon* and *dzur* result from blending from the two primary ideophones *dzok* and *zgur* by exchanging rhyme and onset. Third, *goon* was derived from *zgoon* by simplification of the onset.

This process is not a derivation in the proper sense, since it is neither regular nor predictable, and involves processes such as blending which do not normally occur in the verbal and nominal morphology of the Japhug language.

In addition to native roots and Tibetan loanwords, an obvious source of ideophones are onomatopoeic imitations of natural sounds. However, given the fact
that ideophonic changes do not follow regular rules unlike the normal vocab-
ulary on the one hand, and that northern Gyalrong languages lack historical
records on the other hand, it is unlikely that the prehistory of this type of ideo-
phones can be recovered.

10.1.7 Syntax of ideophones

As pointed out by Dingemanse (2012: 660), the markedness of ideophones is not
limited to their phonology, but is also manifested in their syntactic behaviour.

Ideophones nearly always occur as verb adjuncts in Japhug. They are most
commonly found with the intransitive light verb *pa*, the quotative verb *ti* ‘say’
and the similative verb *stu* ‘do like’, following a cross-linguistically well-attested
pattern (Güldemann 2008: 280–288). They can also be used as adjunct of any
lexical verb in either nominalized or finite form, and in a handful of examples,
as noun modifiers. Ideophones commonly occur with the emphatic *zo* (§26.1.1.5),
which follows them.

10.1.7.1 The auxiliary *pa*

The intransitive verb *pa* (also attested in collocation with numerals, §22.4.1.4) is
one of the most common light verb used with ideophones. It is the labile intran-
sitive counterpart (§14.5.1.4) of the verb *pa* ‘do’, which also occurs as a light verb
in noun-verb collocations (§22.4.2.5).

It can either appear as an inflected form as in (32), or as the participle *ku- pa* as in (33) (see also 3, §10.1.2.2). It is mainly used with pattern II ideophones describing colour, shape or spatial disposition.

(32) *w-pʰoŋbu* *nɔ* *rcanw* *krɔ́ lɪkrɔ́ li* *zo* *pɔ*-*p-a*.
3SG.POSS-body DEM UNEXP:DEG IDPH(II):huge EMPH SENS-AUX
‘Its body, it is enormous.’ (20-sWNgi) {0003562#S16}

(33) azo gruβgruβ w-ftsa nu ty-ku-qawyr ma
1SG matsutake 3SG.POSS-nephew dem aor-sbj:pcp-open.cap apart.from
nu ma xploŋxploŋ ku-pa
dem apart.from idph(II):small.and.spherical sbj:pcp-aux
mw-pw-mto-t-a
neg-aor-see-pst:tr-1sg

‘(The mushroom called) ‘the matsutake’s nephew’, I have seen ones with
opened caps, but never seen one in ball shape (before the cap opens).’
(23-grWBgrWBftsa) {0003602#S5}
10 Expressive words and sentence final particles

Like other stative verbs, *pa* has an inchoative meaning in the Imperfective (§21.2.6), the Aorist (§21.5.1.3) and the Inferential (§21.5.2.4). It is attested with the UPWARDS (*tu-pa*, example 34) and the WESTWARDS (*n̥u-pa*, example §27 in §10.1.5.4) orientation preverbs.

(34) *w̥-ru* *n̥u̥ra* *n̥u-rom* *tce* *rBVβrBVβ* *tu-pa* *n̥u-ηu*
3SG.POSS-stalk DEM:PL AOR-dry LNK IDPH(II):rough IPFV-AUX SENS-be
'Once it has dried, its stalk becomes very rough.' (14-sWNgWJu)
{0003506#S21}

While *pa* is mainly found with pattern II ideophones, it is not restricted to
these, and attested in a handful of examples with other patterns, such as III (35)
and IV (36).

(35) *z̥u̥rzw̥zri* qʰe li ty-se *n̥u* to-mbat qʰe, li
progressively LNK again INDEF.POSS-blood DEM IFR-diminish LNK again
ty̥rmbyo n̥u *durnydwur* *pjy-pa*
drum DEM IDPH(III):drumming.far.away IFR.IPFV-AUX
'Progressively, the blood [in the lake] started to recede, and there was
again a drumming sound far away.' (2003-kWBRa)

(36) *ckyrnylr* zo k̥u-pa *n̥u* jo-nu-yi
IDPH(IV):limping EMPH SBJ:PCP-AUX DEM IFR-VERT-come
'He came back home limping.' (140429 jiedi-zh)

10.1.7.2 Quotative *ti* ‘say’

The verb *ti* ‘say’ occurs as a light verb with ideophones expressing sound (37, 38) and endopathic sensations (especially itching or pain as in 39), in patterns I (37, 39), III (38) and X (§10.1.2.10).

(37) *w̥-tʰoʔ* *tcu* *zjwɣ* *zo* *ti* *n̥u-ηu*
3SG.POSS-ground LOC IDPH(II):heavy(object.falling EMPH say:FACT SENS-be
'[The stone] made a loud noise [as it fell] on the ground.' (2003 tWxtsa)

(38) cʰu̥-twt *cungu̥ tce tce tú-wy-ndza tce, tcwuznytcewuz*
IPFV-be.ripe before LNK LNK IPFV-INV-eat LNK IDPH(III):crunchy-sound
tu-ti *n̥u-ηu* tʰu̥-twt *u-qʰu* tce tce tý-wy-ndza
IPFV-say SENS-be:FACT AOR-be.ripe 3SG.POSS-after LNK LNK AOR-INV-eat
tce, zwaknyzwač tu-ti pču-ču tce, nču pču-mču.

LNK IDPH(III):not.crunchy IPFV-say SENS-be LNK DEM SENS-be.tasty

‘If one eats [an apple]ᵢ before itᵢ is ripe, it makes a crunchy sound, when it is ripe, it makes a soft (i.e. not crunchy) sound, it is [more] tasty (in this case because it has become sweeter and less sour).’ (07-paXCi)
{0003430#S22}

(39) tu-ku-ti kuŋny cŋuŋy zo tu-ti tu-muŋm
IPFV-GENR:S/O-say also IDPH(I):intense.pain EMPH IPFV-say IPFV-hurt
ŋu
be:FACT

‘(When suffering from this disease), one feels intense pain even when one talks.’ (29-RzAr) {0003732#S35}

10.1.7.3 The similative verb stu ‘do like’

The transitive similative verb *stu* ‘do like’ (§14.4.2, §25.4.1.2) most commonly appears with the non-stative ideophonic patterns III (40) and IV (41). It expresses volitional actions, unlike *pa* and *ti*. The syntactic function of the ideophones when used with *stu* ‘do like’ is possibly that of semi-object, as they replace the demonstratives that usually occur with this verb (§14.4.2).

(40) u̱-s̱u̱ro lu-lyt tce łúynyłúy,
3SG.POSS-breath IPFV-release LNK IDPH(III):breathing.movement
łúynyłúy tu-ste pču-ču.
IDPH(III):breathing.movement IPFV-do lik e[III] SENS-be

‘When [the frog]ᵢ breathes, itᵢ expands and retracts [its whole body] with each breath.’ (27-qaCpa) {0003716#S3}

The ideophone can describe the action as a whole (40), or an aspect of the
action on the object of *stu* as in (41), where the root |rloč| depicts the shape of the
fly’s head (Table 10.4, §10.1.5.3), and pattern III morphology (§10.1.2.3) the motion
of the head.

(41) u̱-jač tu-tušm tce, u̱-ku ra pču-nu-χtci
3SG.POSS-hand IPFV:UP-take.away LNK 3SG.POSS-head PL IPFV-AUTO-wash
tce u̱-ku ra rločnyrloč tu-ste pču-ču
LNK 3SG.POSS-head PL IDPH(III):round IPFV-do lik e[III] SENS-be
'[The fly] stretches up its forelegs to clean its head (and the area around
it), making (at the same time) a rhythmic rolling motion [with its head,
round and minute].' (25-akWzgumba) {0003632#S46}
10 Expressive words and sentence final particles

The reflexive form *zyy-stu* (§18.3.3) is almost exclusively attested with ideophones, in particular in the manner serial verb construction (§25.4.1) with other intransitive verbs, such as *ku-rzyi* in (42). With pattern II ideophones, it means ‘make/have a X look’, generally expressing an attitude made on purpose.

(42) spyi n̥w-nu̥-te ndyre, n̥ki rfy̥lpu tu-ce
attic 3SG-inside IPFV:EAST-AUTO-put[III] LNK king IPFV:UP-go
rcanu, tu-ryjoβzur ku-fse rcanu, n̥ki,
UNEXP:DEG IPFV-clean.up INF:STAT-be like UNEXP:DEG FILLER
χtsʰyχtsʰyt zo tu-zyy-stu tce, ku-rzyi pwu-nyu,
IDPH(II):lively.small EMPH IPFV-REFL-do like LNK IPFV-stay PST.IPFV-be
βdaμμu tu-ce rcanu, pʰytciʰuχtyr zo pju-te tce,
lady IPFV:UP-go UNEXP:DEG mess EMPH IPFV-put[III] LNK
qwqlu zo tu-zyy-stu tce ku-rzyi pwu-nyu
IDPH(II):hangdog.look EMPH IPFV-REFL-do like LNK IPFV-stay PST.IPFV-be
pwu-nyu.
SENS-be

‘[The king]_i_ put [the bird]_j_ in the attic. When the king_i_ would go up there, it_j_ would clean everything up and would be lively; when the queen would go up there, it_j_ would make a mess and have a hangdog look.’
(2003 Kunbzang)

It is also compatible with pattern I (43) or III ideophones, expressing motion and/or sound.

(43) tce n̥w ku-xtcu-xtci zo pFW-wy-mbi tce ma
LNK DEM SBJ:PCP-EMPH-be.small EMPH IPFV-INV-give LNK LNK
cŋyβ zo tu-zyy-stu tce ju-nw-mje tce
IDPH(I):snapping EMPH IPFV-REFL-do like LNK IPFV-AUTO-take[III] LNK
tu-ndze pwu-nyu.
IPFV-eat[III] SENS-be

‘We would give [our turtle]_i_ a little piece_j_ [of meat], and it_i_ would grab it_j_ with a snapping noise and eat it_j.’ (140510 wugui) {0003951#S22}

10.1.7.4 Other verbs

Ideophones are not restricted in use to the light verbs cited above, and can appear with other types of verbs with compatible semantics. There are strict collocation
restrictions, and most ideophones can only be used with one one or a handful of
verbs.

With the three light verbs discussed above (§10.1.7.1, §10.1.7.2, §10.1.7.3), ideophones are strictly preverbal, but when employed with other verbs, postverbal order is common, in particular in the case of stative adjectival verbs (44).

(44) ᵃ-mtáw
wuma nš yu ᵃ-rkw
nwa ᵃw-yuwrni,
3SG.POSS-eye really DEM GEN 3SG.POSS-side DEM:PL SENS-be.red
p̂u-yuwrni tsyawtsyaw
zo
SENS-be.red IDPH(II):brilliant.red EMPH
‘The sides of its eye proper are red, brilliant red.’ (23-qapGAmtWmtW)
{0003608#S47}

Ideophones can be postverbal even in participial and finite relative clauses (§23.3.6), and can be located closer to the verb than determiners such as the indefinite *ci* (§9.1.4.1), as in (45).

(45) [kw-yuwrni zo tsyawtsyaw] ci ŋu tce
SBJ:PCP-be.red EMPH IDPH(II):brilliant.red INDEF be:FACT LNK
‘[This species of millipede] is brilliant red.’ (28-kWpAz) {0003714#S139}

When their semantic scope is more focalized on one of the arguments, the
ideophone can directly follow a noun as in (46) or (47).

(46) tu-ŋga ᵃ-taŋ ra ᵃ-mat bγbγβ
GENR.POSS-clothes 3SG-on PL 3SG.POSS-fruit IDPH(II):clumping.together
zo ku-ndzok.
EMPH IPFV-ACAUS:attach
‘When one walks among [these plants], their seeds attach in clumps to
one’s clothes.’ (18-qromJoR) {0003532#S159}

(47) rtcʰwšjw yu ᵃ-rme nš kw p̂u-kw-z-rɣza. nš
caterpillar GEN 3SG.POSS-hair DEM ERG IPFV-GENR:S/O-CAUS-itch DEM
tu-ca a-mɣ-nš-ytwɣ ra ma tγndγr
GENR.POSS-flesh IRR-NEG-PFV-touch be.needed:FACT LNK pimple
brwybrwy zo tu-tcγt p̂u-ŋu
IDPH(II):little.pimples EMPH IPFV-take.out SENS-be
‘The caterpillar’s hair itches people, it should not touch one’s flesh,
otherwise it will cause a lot of little pimples to appear.’ (25-rtchWRjW)
{0003656#S82}
10 Expressive words and sentence final particles

10.1.7.5 Noun modifier

In examples such as (46) or (47) (§10.1.7.4), the syntactic status of the ideophone
is ambiguous between a sentential adverb and a postnominal modifier.

Examples (48) and (49) are incontrovertible evidence that ideophones can serve
as noun modifier: in (48) is embedded within an exceptive (§8.2.8) postpositional
phrase which does not contain any verb, and must be analyzed as modifier of the
counted noun *tu-rdoš ‘one piece’*.

(48) ma nwnw cawurambwm tu-ti-nw tce nwnw, nykinw,
LNK DEM Shwa.ba.rwa.mbum IPFV-say-PL LNK DEM FILLER
[[tw-rdoš zo zjyzyzjy] ma] kw-me
one-piece EMPH IDPH(II):short.and.thick apart.from SBJ:PCP-not.exist
jw-ŋu kʰi
SENS-BE HEARSAY
‘People call it “Shwaba rwa’bum’, it is [a kind of deer antler] with only
one [branch], short and thick.’ (27-qartshaz) {0003702#S72}

In (49), the ideophone *ndzyrndzvr* is in the emphatic exceptive construction,
with the linker *ma* (§8.2.8).

(49) <donglang> wzo-sti nwnw, [ty-tcw tw-rdoš ndzyrndzvr]
ANTHR 3SG-alone DEM INDEF.POSS-son one-piece IDPH(II):alone
ma ntw ma kw-tu pjv-me.
LNK DEM apart.from SBJ:PCP-exist IFR.IPFV-not.exist
‘There remained only Donglang, the boy, all alone (on earth after his
family had been taken away).’ (150828 donglang) {0006312#S129}

However, ideophones as postnominal modifiers are rare, and only occur in
combination with a singular counted noun such as *tu-rdoš* in the meaning ‘alone’.

10.1.8 Discourse function

Ideophones are non-essential to communication in the sense that any sentence
containing an ideophone can be glossed with another sentence of identical truth
value without using any ideophone. The frequency of ideophones and ideophonic
verbs presents considerable variation in the corpus: some stories and procedural
texts are almost devoid of them, while some episodes of traditional narratives
are densely packed with them.
Ideophones convey rich and intricate meanings in a succinct way. In traditional stories, their use contributes to the vividness of the description. For instance, in (50), the choice of the pattern II *nd* ‘huge and imposing’ and the pattern III *псүнэгцүүт* ‘loud and moving around’ evokes a much more expressive picture than the translation provided here in plain language. Native speakers, upon hearing such a sentence, visualize the vivid picture of huge lush trees and flocks of birds flying around, tweeting and chirping.

(50) *nura* tɔ́-stu-t-a tce, *swungwnaχtɔwn* ndvndv̥r zɔ̥
DEM:PL AOR-do like-PST:TR-1SG LNK deep.forest IDPH(II):huge EMPH
nɔ́-stu-t-a, w-taк, pγa **псүнэгцүүт** zɔ̥ pɔ́-mbri tce
AOR-do like-PST:TR-1SG 3SG-on birds IDPH(III):loud EMPH SENS-call LNK
‘I acted this way, I created a huge and deep forest on the top of whose
trees birds are tweeting and chirping and flying around.’
(2011-04-smanmi)

## 10.2 Other expressive words

Two classes of words present common properties with, but are different from, real ideophones: interjections (§10.2.1) and calling sounds (§10.2.2). Although both also present phonological markedness and some degree of iconicity, they are not subject to ideophonic morphology (§10.1.1) and do not share the same syntactic properties.

In addition, we find some nouns which, unlike deideophonic verbs (§20.9.1), ideophonic counted nouns (§7.3.4.4) and nominal ideophonic compounds (§5.5.3), are directly built on an expressive root without derivational morphology (§10.2.3).

### 10.2.1 Interjections

Interjections are marked words expressing a feeling or an emotion like ideophones, but differ from them in that they cannot serve as verb adjuncts, cannot receive ideophonic morphology and are mainly used in isolation, either in their own clause or as the reported speech complements of verbs of speaking like *ti* ‘say’ (51, 52).

(51) tɔ́-γvndzɔ tce ‘wtcʰwtcʰw’ ma-tw-ti, tɔ́-svcke tce
AOR-be.cold LNK INTERJ:cold NEG:IMP-2-say AOR-PROP-burn LNK
(nvkinw) ‘atsatsa’ ma-tw-ti, kw-mvγm tɔ́-tu tce
FILLER INTERJ:pain NEG:IMP-2-say SBJ:PCP-hurt AOR-exist LNK
10 Expressive words and sentence final particles

'atsatsa' ma-tw-ti ra

INTERJ:pain NEG:IMP-2-say be.needed:FACT

‘When you feel cold, don’t say “Ah”, when you feel hot, don’t say “ouch”,
when you feel pain, don’t say “ouch”.’ (07-deluge) {0003426#S64}

(52) srútpʰu srúmw kw-fse kw-sɣ-ɣmw-ɣmu z̥o
râkshasa râkshasî SBJ:PCP-be like SBJ:PCP-PROP-EMPH-fear EMPH

ɲɣ-k-ɣtwɣ-ndʒi-ci ri, ‘wudzudzi’ mw-to-ti.

IFR-PEG-meet-DU-PEG LNK INTERJ:fear NEG-IFR-say

‘They met fearsome râkshasas and râkshasîs, but he did not say ‘how
frightful!’.’ (31-deluge) {0004077#S114}

Interjections can however be followed by full clauses, but with a pause as in
(53) (see also for instance *ja* in example 33, §24.2.5.1).

(53) *aci!* p<u>u</u>-tw-ɣvŋgi.
INTERJ:correction SENS-2-be.right

‘Of course (I take back what I have said)! You are right.’ (2003 tWxtsa)

The marker *wo* can precede without pause a noun in vocative function (54)
(see also 6, §10.1.2.3).

(54) wo a-mu a-kúm yu-t-y-ci
INTERJ 1SG.POSS-mother 1SG.POSS-door CISL-IMP-open[III]

‘Mother, come and open the door for me!’ (2012 tWJo) {0004089#S21}

Some interjections cannot form a complete utterance on their own: *χawo* ‘if
only’ introduces a clause in the Irrealis expressing a wish (see examples 120,
§21.4.1.4 and 40, §5.1.2.10). The form *tsatsatsa* is used in a correlative construction
meaning ‘one can say that X, but one can also say that ¬X, with the positive X
and negative ¬X forms of the same verb followed by the additive *nɔ*, as in (55).

(55) p<u>u</u>-tw-fse nɣ tsatsatsa, m<u>w</u>j-tw-fse nɣ tsatsatsa
SENS-2-be like ADD INTERJ NEG:SENS-2-be like ADD INTERJ

‘One can say that you look like her, but one can also say that you don’t.’
(2014-kW1AG)

Interjections can be classified into four categories (Table 10.5): involuntary re-
sponses to stimuli (interjections in the proper sense, Dingemanse 2011b), and
uninflected words expressing comments on words uttered by oneself or others,
short orders or polite expressions.
<table><caption>Table 10.5: List of interjections</caption><thead><tr><th>Category</th><th>Form</th><th>Function</th></tr></thead><tbody><tr><td rowspan="6">Involuntary response</td><td>utɛ́hutɛ́hu, wutɛ́hutɛ́hu</td><td>expresses cold</td></tr><tr><td>atsatsa</td><td>expresses pain</td></tr><tr><td>atsatsa</td><td>expresses pain</td></tr><tr><td>wudzuudzi</td><td>expresses fear</td></tr><tr><td>ama, amaŋ</td><td>expresses surprise</td></tr><tr><td>mtsʰɔri</td><td>expresses surprise</td></tr><tr><td rowspan="6">Comment</td><td>açi</td><td>taking back what one has just said</td></tr><tr><td>χawo X</td><td>'If only X'</td></tr><tr><td>Xtsatsatsa ¬Xtsatsatsa</td><td>'One can say that X, but one can also say that ¬X'</td></tr><tr><td>maχtɛ̃u</td><td>'I told you so!'</td></tr><tr><td>ɛ̃arja</td><td>'It serves you right!'</td></tr><tr><td>woja</td><td>confirmation</td></tr><tr><td rowspan="4">Orders</td><td>cʰe, pɛkʰije</td><td>'wait!'</td></tr><tr><td>kuz</td><td>'go!'</td></tr><tr><td>ja</td><td>'come on'</td></tr><tr><td></td><td>speech filler (§10.3)</td></tr><tr><td rowspan="6">Phatic</td><td>kʰɔβzaŋ</td><td>'here I am'</td></tr><tr><td>kʰatɔsu</td><td>'thanks'</td></tr><tr><td>wortɛ́h (wojɛ́r)</td><td>'please'</td></tr><tr><td>γa</td><td>'yes'</td></tr><tr><td>wowe</td><td>response to words meaning 'goodbye'</td></tr><tr><td>woja</td><td>confirmation</td></tr></tbody></table>

Among these forms, *pɛkʰije* ‘wait’ is the only one with a clear internal etymology (from *pɛjkʰu je*, §22.2.1). Some interjections are from Tibetan, including the polite expressions and *mtsʰɔri* ‘how strange’ (§21.3.2.4), which is originally a uniflected predicate borrowed from *ɔ· mtsʰar* ‘feel strange’.

Although interjections lack morphological alternation, the additive *nr* can be inserted within *wortɛ́h* *i wojɛ́r* (which is borrowed from *ɔfɔ· fior.tɛ́h* ‘thanks’) to express repeated action as in (56) (see also 57, §22.2.1), a use reminiscent of the Ideophonic patterns III (§10.1.2.3) and IV (§10.1.2.4)
10 Expressive words and sentence final particles

(56) *ty-tcw* *nɔ* *kɔ* “*wortcʰi n* *wojɛr zo*” *to-ti* *pɔ-yu*
**INDEF POSS-BOY** DEM ERG please ADD please EMPH IFR-say SENS-be
‘The boy said ‘please’ several times.’ (2012-qachGa) {0004087#S79}

The phatic expressions and *sɛrma* ‘good night’ and *kɔŋryβdi* ‘take care’, though originally non-inflecting, can take number indexation suffixes (§14.7.1) and have become quasi-verbs, though they are highly anomalous and defective. The interjection *wɔwe* can be used as a response to these expressions.

The expression *kʰyβzaŋ* ‘here I am’ is uttered by the guest when he arrives at someone else’s home; the hosts invites the guest inside by saying *nɔ-tsu* ‘your way’.

The interjection *woja* ‘yes, right’ occurs to confirm the validity of a previous statement, sometimes assertive as in (57) but also with interrogative markers such as *ye* (see 76, §10.4.2). It can be used whether the addressee had a vocal reaction or not.

(57) *nwnwn tcendi <wazi> nɔ* *u-mdoβ* *wuma zo* *pɔ-ysw-ndo*.
DEM west socks DEM 3SG.POSS-colour really EMPH SENS-PROG-take
woja, *nwnu* kw-fse *pɔ-yu*.
INTERJ DEM SBJ:PCP-be lik e SENS-be
‘It has the colour of the socks over there. Yes, it is like that.’
(23-grWBgrWBftsa) {0003602#S44}

10.2.2 Calling and chasing sounds

Calling and chasing sounds, also referred to as ‘summons’ and ‘dispersals’ (Ai-khenvald 2010: 318–319) are sounds used by people to interact with animals.<fnref n="5" /> They are used either to incite the animals to come forward in the direction of the speaker (calling sounds, as in 58a) or to advance or go away (chasing sounds, as in 58b).

(58) a. *lɔlu* pú-*wy-nu-*ykʰyzyŋga *qʰe* tcítei tcítei nwa
    cat IPFV-INV-APPL-shout LNK CALL:cat DEM:PL
tu-ku-ti *qʰe* ju-yi *nyu*
IPFV-GENR-say LNK IPFV-come be:FACT
‘When one calls a cat, one says *tcítçi* *tcítçi* *tcítçi* and it comes.’
(06-huchements1) {0003412}

<footnote n="5">⁵French has the more colorful term *huchement de berger* to designate this class of utterances.</footnote>
b. *lulu* jú-wy-no tce “tcʰa” tu-ku-ti ŋu cat IPFV-INV-chase LNK CHASE:cat IPFV-GENR-say be:FACT ‘When one chases a cat, one says tcʰa.’ (06-huchements2)

In Japhug, nearly all farm animals and pets, whether mammals or birds, have special dedicated calling sounds, a list of which is provided in Table 10.6. In addition, a click sound for which no IPA symbol exists is used to call puppies.

<table><caption>Table 10.6: Calling and chasing sounds in Japhug</caption><thead><tr><th></th><th>animal</th><th>order</th></tr></thead><tbody><tr><td>tcʰa<br/>tcɛ́tçi tçítçi tçítçi</td><td>lulu ‘cat’</td><td>chasing<br/>calling</td></tr><tr><td>wule<br/>aßleßle</td><td>nuŋa ‘cow’</td><td>chasing<br/>calling</td></tr><tr><td>buwo<br/>abobo</td><td>mbala ‘bull’</td><td>chasing<br/>calling</td></tr><tr><td>tsaʔ tsaʔ, tsotsa<br/>soŋ</td><td>kʰuna ‘dog’</td><td>calling<br/>chasing</td></tr><tr><td>tšutšutšutšutšutšu<br/>kçut</td><td>kumpγa ‘fowl’</td><td>calling<br/>chasing</td></tr><tr><td>χaj<br/>a a a a</td><td>mbro ‘horse’</td><td>chasing<br/>calling</td></tr><tr><td>zwozwozwozwo<br/>acʰocʰo</td><td>ftsɔk ‘female hybrid yak’<br/>jla ‘male hybrid yak’</td><td>calling<br/>calling</td></tr><tr><td>tcʰγt<br/>anininini, ʔwan, ʔwan ʔwan<br/>anininini ||||||</td><td>paɣ ‘pig’<br/>pig (adult)<br/>pig (little)</td><td>chasing<br/>calling<br/>calling</td></tr><tr><td>alolo<br/>titititi<br/>kʰuɛw</td><td>qaẓo ‘sheep’<br/>tsʰγt ‘goat’<br/>goat, sheep</td><td>calling<br/>calling<br/>chasing</td></tr></tbody></table>

Given the rudimentary nature of man-animal interactions, it is not surprising that these sounds cannot be subjected to any morphological operation other than reduplication. They cannot be used with any light verbs or occur as adjuncts.
## 10 Expressive words and sentence final particles

However, if the animal has a name, it can be added after the calling/chasing sound (59).

(59) tce wzo ku-ysku
a-pu-ŋu qʰe
LNK 3SG SBJ:PCP-having.white.colour.on.the.back IRR-IPFV-be LNK
"aMBleBle rgusku" tu-ku-ti qʰe tce wzo tso
CALLING:cow cow.name IPFV-GENR-say LNK LNK 3SG understand:FACT
cti qʰe ju-nu-yi cti
be.AFF:FACT LNK IPFV-AUTO-come be.AFF:FACT

'If [the cow] has white colour on the back (and is given the name rgusku), one says aMBleBle rgusku and she understands, and comes by herself.'
(06-huchements1) {0003412}

Phonologically, these words contain very unusual sounds: they make use of consonants and vowel that are not found at all in the standard lexicon: the dental click /|/, the glottal stop in a cluster /?w/ or as a coda and breathy voice.

Only one of these words appears to have an identifiable etymology: soŋ 'chasing sound for dogs' is possibly related to Tibetan ṣoŋ 'go'. However, there is a striking resemblance between some of the chasing/calling sounds in Japhug and Khroskyabs (Lai 2017: 227), as illustrated by Table 10.7. It is unlikely that these resemblances are due to common inheritance.

<table><caption>Table 10.7: Calling/chasing sounds in Japhug and Khroskyabs</caption><thead><tr><td>Japhug</td><td>Meaning</td><td>Khroskyabs</td><td>Meaning</td></tr></thead><tbody><tr><td>aMBleBle</td><td>calling a cow</td><td>vlê:vlevle</td><td>calling a hybrid yak</td></tr><tr><td>tsa? tsa?</td><td>calling a dog</td><td>tsâ</td><td>calling a dog</td></tr><tr><td>soŋ</td><td>chasing a dog</td><td>sôŋ</td><td>chasing a dog</td></tr><tr><td>tşutşutşutşutşutşu</td><td>calling a fowl</td><td>tşû:tşutşu</td><td>calling a fowl</td></tr></tbody></table>

### 10.2.3 Deonomatopoeic expressive nouns

A certain number of bird names are based on onomatopoeia imitating their song. For instance, *qusput* 'cuckoo' (example 55, §22.2.1) and *tsuksot* 'pheasant' (60) are described as making a sound identical to their Japhug name.
(60) tsuškot pʰu nw tu-mbri tce, “tsuškot tsuškot tsuškot” ntsw
pheasant male DEM IPFV-make.sound LNK IDPH(X):cry always
tu-ti ŋu.
IPFV-say be:FACT
‘When the male pheasant sings, it says tsuškot tsuškot tsuškot.’ (24-kWmu)
{0003618#S104}

In the case of *dudut* ‘turtle dove’, its calling sound is described as being slightly different from its name, with various interpretations (61).<fnref n="6" />

(61) tce dudut kɣ-ti ci tu tce, tce “dudut dudut” ntsw
LNK turtle.dove OBJ:PCP-say INDEF exist LNK LNK onomatopoeia always
tu-ti. tsuku kw “dudut cungluy” tu-ti ŋu ra
IPFV-say some ERG onomatopoeia mortar IPFV-say be:FACT pl
tu-ti-nw ri, nw mɣ-xsi ri, “dudu wu” kw-fse
IPFV-say-PL LNK DEM NEG-GENR:know LNK onomatopoeia SBJ:PCP-be like
tu-ti ngryl.
IPFV-say be.usually.the.case:FACT
‘There is [a bird] called turtle-dove, it always makes *dudut dudut*. Some people say that it makes *dudut cungluy*, I don’t know [if it is true], [in any case] it makes *dudut wu*.’ (22-CAGpGa) {0003586#S24}

The bird name *тасовсок* is based on the onomatopoeia describing its song (see example 134, §21.4.2.2), but with the addition of a *ta-* prefix, which may or may not be related to the action nominal *tu-* prefix (§16.4).

## 10.3 Speech fillers

In Japhug speech fillers, rather than a central vowel, are used to mark pause during speech either due to hesitation, or to give the speaker more time to reflect on what he or she is about to say.

The cataphoric demonstrative *nyki*, used both as a pronoun (§6.9.2.2) and as a noun modifier (§9.1.2), is the most frequent speech filler (examples in this grammar include 24 in §12.4.3, 63 in §9.1.3.4 and 121 in §15.1.5.5). It can be combined with the determiner *nw* (§9.1.5.4) as *nykinw* (6, §15.1.1.2) or with the indefinite *ci* (§9.1.4.1) as *nyki ci nw*.

<footnote n="6">⁶In Tshobdun, ‘pheasant’ and ‘turtle-dove’ are called *tsəkot* and *dudut*, respectively (Sun & Blogros 2019: 137). These words cannot be inherited from the common ancestor of Japhug and Tshobdun however, since Tshobdun -ot should correspond to either -rт or -ut.</footnote>
## 10 Expressive words and sentence final particles

The aforementioned anaphoric topic marker *icqʰa* (§9.1.5.2), which derives from the adverb *icqʰa* ‘just now’, also occurs as speech filler (example 217, §15.2.8.2), likewise frequently followed by the determiner *nu* (25, §15.1.2.2 and 205, §15.2.7).

(62) *nwnw tce, PCI ku-rɣzi cti tce, nɣki nw, icqʰa nw,
DEM LNK outside IPFV-stay be.AFF:FACT LNK FILLER DEM FILLER DEM
kʰa w-ŋgw ju-yi mɔ-ŋgrɔl
house 3SG.POSS-in IPFV-come NEG-be.usually.the.case:FACT

‘That one (the wild cat), it stays outside, it does not come inside houses (unlike the domestic cat).’ (21-IWLU) {0003576#S5}

The interjection *ja* (§10.2.1) is used as speech filler by persons listening to traditional stories, as a sign that they are following the narrative of the storyteller. Traditional storytellers require their audience to respond in this way, as shown by (63).

(63) “ja” *ty-ti* ma tce *múj-kʰu*. FILLER IMP-say LNK LNK NEG:SENS-be.possible
‘Say ‘ya’, otherwise [I] can’t [tell the story].’ (160720 kandZislama) {0006147#S3}

## 10.4 Sentence final particles

Japhug has a rich system of sentence final particles, which combine with verbal morphology to express modality, evidentiality, interrogation and the attitude of the speaker.

Given the fact that the meaning of most sentence final particles is rather difficult to pinpoint with precision, the non-specific gloss SFP is used for all of them.

### 10.4.1 Particles used in commands

The particle *je* conveys a milder tone to orders expressed with Imperative (§21.4.2), Irrealis (§21.4.1) and Prohibitive (§21.4.3), as shown by (64) (see also 131 in §21.4.2.2 and §21.4.2.3 in §135).

(64) *pɔkʰije tce* <guan> *ma-kɔ-tɔ-βze* je!
wait LNK turn.off NEG-IMP-2-make[III] SFP
‘Wait, don’t hang up [your phone].’ (conversation, 2015-07-05)
It combines with first person Imperfective verb forms to express hortative
meaning (§21.2.5) as in (65).

(65) azo cʰu-yi-a
je ma mıy-pʰan-a
ny
1SG IPFV:DOWNSTREAM-come-1SG SFP LNK NEG:be.efficient:FACT-1SG ADD
mıy-bduy-a
tʰay ny
NEG-harm:FACT-1SG SFP SFP
‘Let me come along, even if I am of no use, I will not do any harm.’
(several occurrences) {0003368#S20}

It is also used with 2→1 Imperfective forms to express commands with a first person object as in (66), since Imperative lacks 2→1 forms (§21.4.2).

(66) a-wi
tcʰorzi u-ŋgw
pju-ku-rku-a
je
1SG.POSS-grandmother jar 3SG.POSS-in IPFV:DOWN-2→1-put.in-1SG SFP
‘Grandmother, put me in the jar, and...’ (2005 Kunbzang)

In addition, the particle *je* is often added to phatic expressions such as *ty-ystu*
‘goodbye’, *srrma* ‘good night’ and *knyβdi* ‘take care’ (§14.7.1) as in (67).

(67) knyβdi je a-mu!
take.care SFP 1SG.POSS-mother
‘Take care, mother!’ (Gesar,54)

Other postverbal elements used with Modal categories include the noun *smu-lɔm* 'prayer' which occurs with the Irrealis (§21.8.3.2) and the softened command particle *wo* (originally an interjection) as in (68). This particle can be cliticized to the verb stem (§11.6.2).

(68) kʰu nw ko nw-βde wo, a-me nw χtanx
tiger DEM ADVERS IMP-throw SFP 1SG.POSS-daughter DEM COMP
a-ftsaɣ uβry-yi ma
1SG.POSS-roof.leak RH.Q-come SFP
‘My daughter, don’t worry about the tiger, [I am more worried] that my
[house] could have a roof leak.’ (khu 2005) {0004085#S4}

The *je* and *wo* particles are curiously similar to the Imperative and Hortative suffixes -(j)e and -(w)θ in the Kiranti language Khaling (Jacques et al. 2012: 1114–1123), though it is extremely unlikely that this could reflect common inheritance, and is rather a pure coincidence.<fnref n="7" />

<footnote n="7">⁷In any case, Proto-Gyalrong *-o yields Japhug *-u* (§3.3.3).</footnote>
10 Expressive words and sentence final particles

10.4.2 Particles used in polar questions

In addition to the interrogative prefix *u*- (§21.7.4), and interrogative pronouns
(§6.5), questions can be marked by a series of several interrogative particles.

The particle *ci* is the most common way of expressing a polar question, in
combination with a verb in assertive form as in (69) and (70). In this function, it
is equivalent to the prefix *u*- (§21.7.4).

(69) *kwki* *li* *pju-mnat-a* *ci*?
DEM.PROX again IPFV-repeat-1SG QU
‘Do I tell [the story] again?’ (150908 menglang-zh) {0006320#S1}

(70) *ny-zwβ* *ŋw-ɣi* *ci*?
2SG.POSS-sleep SENS-come QU ?
‘Are you feeling sleepy?’ (09-stoR, 65) {0003470#S60}

It can be used to express an alternative between two possibilities (71), often
with an assertive verb form followed by the corresponding negative one (72).

(71) *nwzora smi cʰw-tw-nw-βlw-nw ŋu ci, <dian>*
2PL fire IPFV-2-AUTO-burn-PL be:FACT QU electricity
cʰw-tw-nwmbjwm-nw ŋu?
IPFV-2-get.warm-PL be:FACT
‘Do you burn a fire, or do you get warm with an electric [radiator]?’
(conversation, 2013-12-13)

(72) kwki a-χp̩i ki ſnw-mpɛ́yr ci
DEM.PROX 1SG.POSS-story DEM.PROX SENS-be.beautful QU
múj-mpɛ́yr?
NEG:SENS-be.beautful
‘Is this story of mine beautiful or not?’ (140512 fushang he yaomo-zh)
{0003967#S176}

Furthermore, *ci* can indicate a disjunction between more than two options. In this function, it is repeated after each clause in the disjunction, except the last one, as in (73) (see also 141, §25.6.4).

(73) χsɛ́r kʰri ŋ-taɔ
 Gold seat 3SG.POSS-on 2-<AUTO>sit:FACT QU
    tw-ɣ<nw>mdzwn ci, rŋɔl kʰri ŋ-taɔ
    (...) com kʰri ŋ-taɔ tw-γ<nw>mdzwn ci,
    2-<AUTO>sit:FACT QU iron seat 3SG.POSS-on 2-<AUTO>sit:FACT QU
si kʰri ŋ-taɣ tɔ̃-ɣ<nɔ̃>mdzɔ̃?

wood seat 3SG.POSS-on 2-<AUTO>sit:FACT

‘Will you sit on the golden seat, the silver seat, the iron seat or the wooden seat?’ (2005 Kunbzang)

The apprehensive prefix ɛu- is likely to have been grammaticalized from this particle (§21.7.1.3).

The particle ku occurs in questions to oneself (74), rhetorical questions and confirmation-seeking questions (79, §21.3.2.7). Unlike ɛi, it occurs together with either an interrogative pronoun or in combination with an interrogative verb form.<fnref n="8" /> It is particularly common with the Dubitative (§21.4.4).

(74) a-rcɔ́mbe-ŋga nɔ̃ notcu nɔ̃-a<nɔ̃>ri ku?

1SG.POSS-old.jacket-wear DEM where AOR:WEST-<AUTO>go[II] QU

‘Where did my beggar (‘wearer of an old jacket”) of a husband vanish?’
(2005 Kunbzang)

It can be combined with the particles ma (§10.4.4) and ye (see below) as kuma
(75) and kuye.

(75) mɔ̃zw teʰi mɔ̃-pɔ̃-fɔ̃t-tci kuma?

even-more what NEG-AOR-tell-1DU QU

‘Which [trees] are there which we have not yet told [a story] about?’
(13-tApWpjoR) {0003494#S60}

Several particles mark a question inviting the addressee to confirm what the speaker has said: ye, which even resembles an interjection in that it can be preceded by a pause as in (76), nétçi (77, 78) and loβtçi (79).

(76) kuβdesqafsum-pa to-tsu, ye? woja, nɔ̃ to-tsu
43-year IFR-pass SFP INTERJ DEM IFR-pass

‘(How many years have passed since 1969?), 43 years have passed, right?
Yes, that many years have passed.’ (12-BzaNsa) {0003484#S13}

(77) hehe ku-lɣ acyβ, ku-sat-a pɔ̃-ŋu nétci?

INTERJ SBJ:PCP-herd ANTHR 2→1-kill:FACT-1SG SENS-be SFP

‘Shepherd Askyabs, you are preparing to kill me, right?’ (2003 Kunbzang)

<footnote n="8">⁸Example (74) could be translated into French using the marker *donc* as ‘Mais où est donc passé mon mendiant (de mari)?’</footnote>
10 Expressive words and sentence final particles

(78) “tsʰa mbuz pwo-ny” to-ti-a ny nɛ́ tɛ́ ci?
tea spill.overt:FACT SENS-be IFR-say-1SG be:FACT SFP
‘I said ‘The tea is abouyt to spill over’, didn’t I?’ (26-tAGe) {0003686#S14}

(79) nyzo ny-tcw tw-sla to-mtsʰy t loþtci?
2SG 2SG.POSS-son one-month IFR-full SFP
‘Your son is now more than one month old, right? (conversation
2013-12-02)

The particle ra mak also invites the addressee to give a positive answer to
the speaker's suggestion like aforementioned markers, but with an additional
overtone 'How about ...?' (80).

(80) tw-rdoV tsa ryi-j tce tú-wy-qur-nw ra mak
one-piece a.little stay:FACT-1PL LNK IPFV-INV-help-PL SFP
‘How about only one of us staying [here] and helping them?’ (180503
xiyouji 12-zh) {0006189#S74}

It can be used to express supplication, as in (81) (see also the nearly identical
example 188, §8.3.3).

(81) a-rjit a-nmak zo nw ty-tw-stu-nw
1SG.POSS-offspring 1SG.POSS-husband EMPH DEM AOR-2-do like-PL
cti tce, azo w-tsʰyt tsa
be.AFF:FACT LNK 1SG 3SG.POSS-proper measure a.little
pwo-kwo-nyctsaabli-a-nw ra mak ma
IPFV-2→1-torture-1SG-PL SFP SFP
‘Rkangrang, you dealt with my son in the same way as you did with my
husband (i.e. had him killed), don’t go over the top in your torturing of
me (torture me with proper measure), please?’ (2012 Norbzang)
{0003768#S185}

The second syllable -mak in raьтмак probably originates from the negative co-
pula maк ‘not be’ (§13.1.2, §22.5.1.1) as postverbal negation (§22.5.3; perhaps from
an interrogative form úu-maк ‘is it not ...’). The source of the first syllable raк- is
less clear, but may be from the auxiliary ra ‘be needed’ (§24.5.3.1), the original
meaning being ‘is it not the case that X have/has to ...’
10.4.3 Hearsay particle

The particle *kʰi* expresses hearsay, and often occurs when the original narrator is left unidentified by the speaker (82).

(82) *w-jawmu* ra to-tcýt *kʰi, wo, tcendyre kw-yγwak nɔ*
3SG.POSS-thumb PL IFR-take.out SFP INTERJ LNK SBJ:PCP-hunt DEM
kw ky-nwcymwydɔ mu-pjγ-cʰa kʰi.
ERG INF-shoot NEG-IFR-can SFP
'[They say that the monkey mother] stuck out her thumb (as a sign
meaning 'now you can shoot'),<fnref n="9" /> but the hunter could not shoot.'
(19-GzW) {0003536#S71}

Sentences marked with this particle (83a) can be reformulated using a reported speech clause with the complement-taking noun *w-fcýt* ‘story’ (§24.6.3.2), as in (83b).

(83) a. izo ji-sytcʰa kʰu pjγ-tu kʰi
1PL 1PL.POSS-place tiger IFR.IPFV-exist SFP
b. izo ji-sytcʰa kʰu pjγ-tu w-fcýt tu.
1PL 1PL.POSS-place tiger IFR.IPFV-exist 3SG.POSS-story exist:FACT
'People say that there used to be tigers in our place.' (elicited)

The particle *kʰi* can be treated as an afterthought, and undergo right-dislocation (§22.1.3) together with an auxiliary verb as in (84), or with a full pause and the beginning of a new sentence as in (85), when the speaker realizes as *s/he* is speaking that *s/he* only knows this information from second-hand sources, as explicitly stated in (85).

(84) kw-dɔŋ tsa tutwurca ku-rγzi-nw p̥u-ŋu, p̥u-ŋu kʰi
SBJ:PCP-be.many a.little together IPFV-stay-PL SENS-be SENS-be SFP
‘They stay together in great number (on remote cliffs), it is said’
(20-IdWGi) {0003558#S12}

(85) ki kw-fse kw-yrymbwmbri zo kw-fse
DEM.PROX SBJ:PCP-be like SBJ:PCP-spread.in.patches EMPH SBJ:PCP-be like
tu-4ok p̥u-ŋu. p̥u-ŋu kʰi ma, aj mw-pw-mto-t-a
IPFV-come.out SENS-be SENS-be SFP LNK 1SG NEG-AOR-see-PST:TR-1SG
'[The mushroom *Hericium erinaceus*] grows in patches (i.e. not spread
evenly). So they say, I have not seen it.' (23-mbrAZim) {0003604#S172}

<footnote n="9">⁹For the context of this example, see (205) (§24.6.3.2).</footnote>
10 Expressive words and sentence final particles

In the immense majority of examples, *kʰi* occurs with verbs in the Inferential (82) or Sensory (84 and 85) (§21.5.2, §21.3.2). However, this not a morphosyntactic constraint, and *kʰi* can in principle be combined with verbs in other TAME categories, such as the Factual (§21.3.1) in (86) (*cʰa* rather than the Sensory *nuw-cʰa*), confirming Tournadre and LaPolla’s (2014) insight of the necessity of distinguishing *source* and *access* to information when describing evidential systems.

(86) pyγkʰu nuw ku qapi ky-sat wuma zo cʰa kʰi.
owl DEM ERG mole INF-kill really EMPH can:FACT SFP
‘The owl is very good at killing moles, it is said.’ (28-qapar)
{0003720#S196}

The archaic inferential *kʰu-ti* ‘s/he said’ found in a handful of stories may result from the fusion of this particle with the prefixless stem of the verb *ti* ‘say’ (§21.5.4).

In addition, the noun *kʰicʰo* ‘rumour, hearsay’ is a delocutive noun derived from the particle *kʰi* and the comitative *cʰo* (§8.2.5). The etymological relationship between *kʰicʰo* and *kʰi* is made clear by examples like (87), where *kʰicʰo* is glossed as ‘saying *pjγ-ŋu kʰi*’, i.e. using the hearsay particle and the Inferential to insist on the fact that one has only heard this information from second-hand sources.

(87) tceri u-pu-ku-mto tci pjγ-me wo ma, kʰicʰo
LNK 3SG.POSS-AOR-SBJ:PCP-see also IFR.IPFV-not-existent SFP SFP rumour
ma nuw ma u-ku-swaz maŋe. “pjγ-ŋu
LNK DEM apart-from 3SG.POSS-SBJ:PCP-know not-existent SENS IFR.IPFV-be
kʰi, ... pjγ-ŋu kʰi” nwa tu-ti-nuw ma nuw ma
SFP IFR.IPFV-be SFP DEM:PL IPFV-say-PL LNK DEM apart-from
u-ku-ti pu-me.
3SG.POSS-SBJ:PCP-say PST.IPFV-not-existent
‘Nobody has ever seen [one-legged demons], there are only rumours, apart from that nobody knows about them. People used to say ‘it was [allegedly] ...’, but apart from that nobody said anything.’ (140510
rkoNJAI) {0003943#S80}

The hearsay particle can be followed by other sentence final particles (such as wo, §11.6.2), but there are no examples of it being preceded by other particles.

10.4.4 Particles expressing epistemic modality

In addition to verbal morphology (§21.4, §21.7), epistemic modality is expressed in
Japhug by sentence final elements, including the grammaticalized noun *u-mdoɔ*
‘colour’ (§21.8.3.1) and the particles *tʰaŋ, rca* and *ma*.

The particle *tʰaŋ* is borrowed from Amdo Tibetan, where it appears in the complex ending *na.tʰaŋ.gi* expressing possibility (translated as ……かもしれない ‘maybe …’ in Ebihara 2019: 306–307).

Semantically *tʰaŋ* is close to the possible modality prefix (§21.7.2), as illustrated by (88a) and (88b) (see also 15b and 15a in §11.4). It is often followed by the exclamative *nɛ́* (allomorph of *nuw*, §10.4.5).

(88) a. *qapri kw yu-mtswy-a* tʰaŋ ny!
snake ERG INV-bite:FACT-1SG SFP SFP

b. *qapri kw umý-wy-mtswy-a*
snake ERG PROB-INV-bite:FACT-1SG
‘The snake will perhaps bite me.’ (elicited)

In the overwhelming majority of cases, *tʰaŋ* follows a verb in the Factual Non-Past (§21.3.1) to indicate either a probable future event (88a and 90; see also 48, §21.3.1.2) or a general statement of uncertain truth value (89).

(89) *si w-mat ra tu-ndze p̥w-cti. xcaŋ nw*
*tree 3SG.POSS-fruit PL IPFV-eat[III] SENS-be.AFF grass DEM*
*mɔ-yndze tʰaŋ ny. nyj w-tú-swz?*
*NEG-eat[III]:FACT SFP SFP 2SG QU-2-know:FACT*
‘[The monkey] eats fruits. It probably does not eat grass. Do you know [whether it does or not]?’ (19-GzW) {0003536#S6}

It can also express uncertain result in the apodosis of conditional constructions (with a protasis in the Irrealis (§21.4.1.5, §25.2.1), as in (90)<fnref n="10" /> (see also 129, §21.4.1.7).

(90) *nw a-tɔ-y-se tce tceth’a, lyndʒi nw kw t’a “izora”*
*DEM IRR-PFV-be like LNK later demon DEM ERG later 1PL*
*u-me p̥w-ŋu” a-nw-suvs̥m tce, mý-wy-ndza-j tʰaŋ*
*3sg.POSS-daughter SENS-be IRR-PFV-think[III] LNK NEG-INV-eat-1PL SFP*
‘[If we do it] this way, the ogre_i will think that we are his_i daughters and maybe he_i will not eat us. (160705 poucet5-v2) {0006163#S31}'

It can also express a possibly undesirable result as in (91) (§25.5.6).

<footnote n="10">¹⁰In addition, (90) is an interesting example of hybrid indirect speech (§24.2.5.2), with the verb form *p̥w-ŋu* reflecting the point of view of the ogre, while the 1PL pronoun *izora* and the 3SG possessive *u-me* ‘his daughters’ represent that of the children.</footnote>
10 Expressive words and sentence final particles

(91) tcetʰa tu-ce-a ma kʰapa ri ku-ny̥kwn̥ke-a tcetʰa, ny̥kinw,
later IPFV:UP-go-1SG LNK yard LOC PRS-DISTR:walk-1SG later FILLER
<zayin> tu tʰaŋ
noise exist:FACT SFP

'I will go up [to my house] because [now] I am walking in the yard, there could be noise (so that we won't hear each other on the phone).' (conversation 2016-02-21)

Other TAME categories are also compatible with tʰaŋ, including the Past Im-
perfective (92) and the Aorist (examples 15b in §11.4 and 13 in §22.1.1.2).

(92) tce nwaŋa dwxpa ma (...) w-tu-mu nw
LNK cow poor LNK 3SG.POSS-NMLZ:DEG-fear DEM
pw-saxaɣ zo tʰaŋ pw-susam-a ny.
PST.IPFV-be.extrremely EMPH SFP IPFV-think[III] be:FACT

'I am thinking that the poor cow, she probably was extremely afraid (after escaping from a flood and losing a horn in the process).' (160715 nWNa) {0006067#S14}

The particle rca, which is probably related to the secutive relator noun w-rca
'following' (§8.3.2) and the unexpected focus marker rcanu (§26.1.1.4), occurs
with verbs in the Sensory or Inferential (93, 94), expressing high probability 'pre-
sumably, probably'.

(93) jinde kyntcʰu-sŋi ky-mto pw-me tce, pjy-si rca
nowadays several-day OBJ:PCP-see PST.IPFV-not.exist LNK IFR-die SFP
'[We] haven't seen him for several days, he probably died.' (150827
mengjiangnv-zh) {0006290#S154}

(94) tce kwcwoŋw tce, nyki, tw-twpu raŋri yu nw-kʰa
LNK former.times LNK FILLER one-household each GEN 3PL.POSS-house
nwtcu kʰybya pjy-tu rca.
DEM:LOC hand.mill IFR.IPFV-exist SFP

'In former times, there used to be handmills in every house, presumably (now they have disappeared).' (160705 khABGa) {0006207#S23}

High degree of certainty can be indicated by ko, which can be translated as
‘indeed, certainly’ (95, 96).