(95) *mm* *mъ-merym* *mъ-xsi* *ri, kú-wу-рtoв* *ndvre*
hurt:FACT NEG-hurt:FACT NEG-GENR:know LNK IPFV-INV-look LNK
*múj-pe* *ko.*
NEG:SENS-be.good SFP

‘I don’t know whether [leprosy] hurts or not, but in any case it does not look good indeed.’ (25-khArWm) {0003644#S53}

(96) wo, *nyki, pw-tw-cqraw* ko, *múj-tw-naχtcwy,*
INTERJ filler SENS-2-be.intelligent SFP NEG:SENS-2-be.identical
*ny-wa* *nw* *múj-tw-ntcʰuy* ko.
2SG.POSS-father DEM NEG:SENS-2-soil SFP

‘You are really intelligent, you are not a common man, you are your father’s son indeed.’ (2012 Norbzang) {0003768#S119}

Low degree of certainty on the other hand can be marked by *ma* and *matçi*.
They are particularly common with the defective verb *mъ-xsi* ‘one does not know’
(§14.3.4). Their scope is on the complement clause(s) of this verb as in (97) (see
also 157, §21.4.4).

(97) *kъ-mto a-pw-ku-cʰa* *tce numu wuma zo pe*
INF-see IRR-IPFV-GENR:S/O-can LNK DEM really EMPH be.good:FACT
*tu-ti-nu* *pu-ŋgrvl.* *tceri ŋu maw*
IPFV-say-PL SENS-be.usually.the.case LNK be:FACT not.be:FACT
*mъ-xsi* *matci.*
NEG-GENR:know SFP

‘People say that if you succeed in finding it, it is very good [against poison], but I don’t know if it is true or not.’ (22-kuwu) {0003592#S43}

Additionally, *ma* is often found with verbs in the Probabilitative (§21.7.2) or the Rhetorical Interrogative (§21.7.3) prefixes, as in (98) and (99).

(98) *pu-mbri* *umъ-ku-ŋu-ci* ma.
SENS-make.noise PROB-PEG-be-PEG SFP
'It looks like [my phone] is ringing.' (160630 aba-zh) {0006197#S95}

(99) *li wβrъ-pu-jmwt-a* ma.
again RH.Q-IPFV-forget-1SG SFP
‘I might forget again (some details of the story that I am about to tell again).’ (160704 poucet4-v2) {0006097#S1}
10 Expressive words and sentence final particles

The particle *kuma* results from the fusion of this dubitative *ma* with the inter-
rogative *ku* (§10.4.2).

It is possible that these particles originate from the causal linkers *ma* and *matçi*
‘because’ (§25.5.2), and that their use as dubitative particles arose from an elided
causal clause (‘I don’t know whether it is true or not because…’) or justification
clause (§25.5.5) (‘It looks like … since’).

10.4.5 Particules expressing speaker attitude

The particles described in this section have meanings that are not easily classifi-
able into any of the previous categories, but some of which contribute to express
modality.

The particle *nu*, sometimes realized as *nɛ*, occurs in exclamative sentences, in
particular with degree nominals (§26.1.2.1) and exclamative nouns (§5.1.2.8).

(100) *nuw u̯-tʰo̯b* *nura nuw-kʰi* *nuw ye, nu̯-tu̯-scit*
DEM 3SG.POSS-ground DEM:PL 3PL.POSS-luck SFP SFP 3PL.POSS-2-be.happy
nuw!
SFP

‘The people on earth (‘on the ground’), how lucky they are, right? How
happy there are!’ (150828 donglang) {0006312#S26}

The particle *ja* is used to express regret that the action in the clause has taken
place (101).

(101) *pyjkʰu hanumi ci* *nuw ma-tɔ̯-tu̯-fse* *pw̥-ra* *ja,*
still *a.little* *INDEF DEM NEG-IMP-2-be like PST.IPFV-be.needed SFP*
*hanumi ci* *mw̥-pw̥-mda* *ja ri*
*a.little* *INDEF NEG-PST.IPFV-be.the.time SFP LNK*
‘What a shame, if you could just have [waited] a little bit [before] doing
that, the time was not yet ready.’ (2014-kWLAG)

The function of *lo* / *loβ* is more difficult to pinpoint. It can serve as a marker of
low degree of certainty (102) and as a rhetorical interrogative (in particular the
form *loβtci*, §10.4.2)
(102) *w-m*aw *nw kwş-y-ldza* jamar *yγzu* loβ. *ma koŋla*
3SG.POSS-limb DEM six-longobject about exist:SENS SFP LNK really
*mw-ky-rtoβ-a* ri, *w-mYláyjáw* *nwra* *pwa-dyn*
NEG-AOR-look-1SG LNK 3SG.POSS-limb DEM:PL SENS-be.many
'It has about six legs, (I think...) I did not have a good look, but in any
case it has a lot of legs.' (21-mdzadi) {0003578#S7}

It is also found in enumerations (§9.2.2.1) on each of the elements (nouns or
clauses) in the list (103) with a continuative intonation, followed a pause.

(103) *w-pi* ni *yw* *fsapáw* loβ, *twjpu* loβ,
3SG.POSS-elder.sibling DU GEN cattle SFP flour.based.food SFP
*w-grýl* *kw-me* *zo* *ta-rku-nw*
3SG.POSS-order SBJ:PCP-not.exist EMPH aor:3→3'-put.in-PL
[Their parents] gave her two elder sisters cattle and food in great
quantity.' (2005 Kunbzang)
<figure><img src="image_16.png" /></figure>
# 11 The structure of the Japhug verb

## 11.1 Introduction

Japhug is a verbocentric language: nearly half of this grammar (eleven chapters) is devoted to verbal morphology.

This chapter first presents an overview of the structure of the verb in Japhug, including the prefixal (§11.2) and suffixal (§11.3, §11.4) chains. The final sections discuss the templatic structure of Japhug verbal morphology (§11.5) and word boundaries (§11.6).

## 11.2 The prefixal chain

Like other Gyalrongic languages, Japhug has a strongly prefixing verbal morphology. Inflectional and derivational prefixes constitute two different groups with almost no overlap, the latter closer to the verb root, and the former further away from it. For this reason, these two groups are referred to as ‘outer’ and ‘inner’ prefixes.<fnref n="1" />

Not all prefixes are tautosyllabic; some only comprise a consonant (for instance some allomorphs of the translocative such as ɛ-), and due to vowel contraction rules (§12.3, §14.3.2.7), some combinations of prefixes merge into a single syllable. The transcription used in this grammar however undoes the effect of vowel merger to bring clarity to the morphological analysis, and avoid a proliferation of portmanteau affixes.

### 11.2.1 Outer prefixes

The template of outer prefixes in finite verb forms is summarized in Table 11.1. It contains six slots, as compared to the four slots in the suffixal chain (§11.3). This table does not represent inner prefixes, which are contained within the ‘extended verb stem’, and discussed below in §11.2.2.

<footnote n="1">¹Previous accounts of the Japhug verbal template such as Jacques (2013b) do not clearly distinguish between these two prefixal domains.</footnote>
11 *The structure of the Japhug verb*

<table><caption>Table 11.1: The template of outer prefixes</caption><thead><tr><th>-6</th><th>-5</th><th>-4</th><th>-3</th><th>-2</th><th>-1</th><th>0</th></tr></thead><tbody><tr><td>Modal</td><td>Negation</td><td>AM</td><td>Orientation</td><td>second person</td><td>Inverse Progressive</td><td>Extended verb stem</td></tr></tbody></table>

The minimal verb form only contains the verb stem without any prefix. The only finite verb forms with empty prefixal slots are the first or third persons (§14.2.1) or 1/3→3' configurations (§14.3.2.1, §14.3.2.2) of the affirmative Factual Non-Past (§21.3.1), as in (1). All other finite verb forms require the presence of at least one prefix.

(1) *yi* / *yi-a*
*come:FACT* *come:FACT-1SG*
'He comes/will come; I (will) come.'

Slot -6 can be filled by the Irrealis *a-* (§21.4.1.1), the Rhetorical Interrogative *uβṟ-, the Polar Interrogative *u-*, the Probabilitative *umṟ- and the Proximative Aspect *juu- prefixes (§21.6.2).* These prefixes are mutually exclusive.

Slot -5 contains the negative prefixes (§13.1), which also partially encode TAME. Only one negative prefix can appear in this position; double negation must be expressed with a negative auxiliary (§13.3).

Slot -4 is restricted to the translocative *guu- and cislocative yuu- Associated Motion* prefixes (§15.2.1). These two prefixes are mutually exclusive, and also incompatible with motion or manipulation verbs with opposite deixis (§15.2.3).

Slot -3 corresponds to orientation preverbs (§15.1). It must be filled in all finite forms other than the Factual Non-Past (§21.3.1.1) and the negative Sensory (§13.1, §21.3.2.1), and only one preverb is allowed in this position. Xtokavian dialects of Japhug have an additional slot -3' containing the Inferential *a-* prefix (§15.1.1.3) and the Aorist *a-* (§14.3.2.2), but since these two prefixes have merged with the orientation preverbs in Kamnyu Japhug, this slot is not treated as different from -3 in this grammar. Although not an orientation preverb, the Apprehensive *guu- (§21.7.1)* also appears in slot -3.

Slot -2 includes indexation prefixes, including second person *tuu- (§14.2.1.2)*, the *ta- 1→2 and kuu- 2→1 portmanteau prefixes (§14.3.2.3)* and the generic S/O prefix *kuu- (§14.3.2.5).* The prefixal element *k(uu)- of the peg circumfix (§11.4)* is also located in this slot.
Slot -1 comprises the inverse -wɣ (§14.3.2.7) and the Progressive asu- (§21.6.1.1) prefixes. These two prefixes only appear on transitive verbs, since they are incompatible with morphologically intransitive verbs. This slot is the only one that can be filled by more than one prefix simultaneously, as shown by forms such as *pjɣ-k-ɣ̥<wɣ>* > z-*nɣjo-ci* ‘he was waiting for him’ in (2) where the inverse -wɣ (see §14.3.2.2 and §14.3.3.3 on the function of the inverse prefix in this example) is infixed within the -rɣz- allomorph of the Progressive (§12.3, §21.6.1.1).

(2) tce pjɣ-yi tce qala ku
LNK IFR:DOWN-come LNK rabbit ERG
pjɣ⁻³-k⁻²-ɣ̥<wɣ>z⁻¹-nɣjo-ci tce
IFR.IPFV⁻³-PEG⁻²-<INV>PROG⁻¹-wait-PEG LNK
'[The snow leopard]ᵢ came down. The rabbit was waiting for himᵢ (there).'
(140427 qala cho kWrtsAG) {0003852#S60}

In addition, since the autive *mu-* can also be infixed within the progressive (§19.1.2, §11.2.2), slot -1 actually lies at the border between the inner and outer prefixal domains.

All of these slots can be filled, as in example (3). Although there are co-occurrence restrictions across slots (for instance, some prefixes in -6 such as the Rhetorical Interrogative *uβrɣ-* are incompatible with the negative prefixes in -5; additional examples are presented in §11.5), it is possible to build verb forms with nearly any subset of the six prefixal slots of the outer domain.

(3) qapar ku nɣzo a⁻⁶-mɣ⁻⁵-yu⁻⁴-tɣ⁻³-tu̯⁻²-wɣ⁻¹-ndza
dhole ERG 2SG IRR⁻⁶-NEG⁻⁵-CISL⁻⁴-PFV⁻³-2⁻²-INV⁻¹-eat
‘(Let us hope that) the dhole will not come to eat you.’ (elicited)

The Sensory Evidential existential verbs γγzu 'exist' and maŋe 'not exist' are
only compatible with the affixes of slot -2 (the second person and generic ku-),
but in this case these appear as infixes rather than prefixes (§14.2.2). The defective
verb kγtupa 'tell' cannot take any prefix (§14.3.4).

Non-finite verb forms follow a similar but slightly different template. As shown in Table 16.1 (§16.1), participles lack the -2 slot, have strong restrictions on the other slots: in -6 only the prospective *ju-* is possible), in -5 only *mɣ-* or *mu-*, in -3 only type A and B preverbs, and in rare cases in -1 only the progressive. Participle prefixes occur between slot -1 and the extended verb stem, and in addition some participle forms take a possessive prefix before slot -6.
11 *The structure of the Japhug verb*

11.2.2 Inner prefixes

Unlike outer prefixes, inner prefixes do not follow a rigid template. The sigmatic causative, in particular, can occur recursively (§17.2.7) and its relative position vis-a-vis the facilitative (§18.9.2) and reciprocal (§18.4.1) derivations is determined by semantic scope (§17.2.8).

Figure 11.1 represents the possible ways in which most inner prefixes (exclud-
ing the autive, the denominal prefixes, the human antipassive, the distributed ac-
tion derivation and the subject-oriented facilitative) can be combined with each
other, excluding cases of lexicalized derivations.<fnref n="2" /> Examples of attested complex
forms can be found in the following sections:

• Antipassive *r̥- (APASS):* §18.6.9

• Applicative *nw(y)- (APPL):* §17.4.4

• Sigmatic causative *sw(y)- (CAUS):* §17.2.8

• Velar causative γγ- (CAUS2): §17.3.4

• Facilitative *nwuyw- (FACIL):* §18.9.2

• Passive *a- (PASS):* §18.1.6

• Proprietive *s̥- (PROP):* §18.8.6

• Reflexive *zγγ- (REFL):* §18.3.4, §18.3.6, §18.4.1.2

• Tropative *nγ(y)- (TROP):* §17.5.5

Combinations of more than two inner prefixes are very rare, and mainly in-
volve lexicalized derivations. Examples include *asymumtsʰumtsʰym* ‘inform each
other’(from *mtsʰym* ‘hear’) (4), which combines an *amu*-reciprocal, a sigmatic
causative, and a reduplicated reciprocal derivations (see further discussion in
§18.4.2.5; in 4 and following examples, inner prefixes are colored in red and outer
prefixes in blue).

(4) *yurza* kwurcat nw z-nw-a-sw-γmw-mtsʰw-mtsʰym-nw p̥w-ŋu,
hundred eight DEM TRAL-AOR-RECIP-CAUS-RECIP-hear-PL SENS-be
'[All] one hundred and eight [boys] went and informed each other.' (2005
Norbzang)

<footnote n="2">²Lexicalized derivations do not necessarily follow these ordering rules, see §17.2.3 and §19.1.6.</footnote>
<figure><img src="image_17.png" /><figcaption>Figure 11.1: The possible linear orders of inner prefixes</figcaption></figure>

A common case of non-lexicalized triple derivation is found when a doubly derived verb additionally takes the highly productive autive prefix, as in (5).

(5) **to-nʷ-ɣyʔ-cʷ-fkʷ-nʷ** ʔo ʔnʷ-ŋu.
IFR-AUTO-REFL-CAUS-be.full-PL EMPH SENS-be
‘They ate to their full.’ (huli yu shanying-zh)

The position of the autive prefix is very unusual (§19.1.2), and not easily representable in Figure 11.1. In non-contracting verb forms (§12.3), it occurs on the border between the outer and inner prefixal domain, following the inverse (as shown by example 6, with all six outer prefixal positions filled) and preceding the reflexive ʔɣyʔ- (example 5 above, see also §18.3.5).
11 *The structure of the Japhug verb*

(6) **w̥-pʷ-ra** *n, a-mɣ-ɣʷ-nʷ-tú-wy-nʷ-mbi*
QU-SENS-be.needed add IRR-NEG-CISL-PFV-2-INV-AUTO-give

‘If heᵢ needs itⱼ, then heᵢ does not have to come and give itⱼ to you (if he does not want to).’ (elicited)

In the case of contracting verbs (§12.3), the autive is however inserted after the *a*- element (§19.1.2), even in verbs such as *atɛr* ‘fall’ (7) where it is not analyzable as a prefix synchronically – the autive is thus infixed within the verb stem.

(7) **w̥z̥o pjʷ-y<nʷ>tɛr** *mɣ-cʰa.*
3SG IPFV-<AUTO>fall NEG-can:FACT

‘It cannot fall (detach) on its own (as its sticks on the clothes).’
(18-qromJoR) {0003532#S171}

In addition, the autive is infixed within the progressive *asw̥-* (§19.1.2, §14.3.2.7, §21.6.1.1), stranded between the outer and inner domain, as shown by (8). The autive is also infixed when used with the Sensory existential verbs (§14.2.2, §19.1.2).

(8) **ca č̥a zo ku-o<nʷ>sw̥-ndza-j**
meat completely EMPH PRS-PROG<AUTO>-eat-1PL

‘We are eating only meat.’ (2003 kandZislama)

While most of the prefixes in the inner domain follow a layered structure, the position of the autive, which is determined by phonology and morphology rather than semantics, is clearly templatic (Bickel & Nichols 2007: 218, §11.5).

11.2.3 Stress

Unlike most Gyalrong languages (Sun 2005, Lin 2012, Gong 2018: 69–81), Japhug lacks tonal alternations, and stress retraction is very rare. Stress is located by default on the last syllable of the verb stem (all suffixes from slots +1 to +4, are unstressed, §11.3), and stress retraction only occurs with three prefixes: the inverse -wy (slot -1, §14.3.2.7), the negative sensory *múj-* (slot -5, §13.1.1) and the interrogative *u̥-* (slot -6, §21.7.4.1).

11.2.4 Phonotactic constraints

There are very strong phonotactic contraints on prefixes in Japhug. Of the fifty consonant phonemes that are contrastive in onset position (§3.2.1), only ten are attested in inner prefixes (§11.2.2): the nasal /m/ and /n/ (but not /ŋ/ and /ɲ/),
the glides /j/ and /w/, the dental and alveolo-patalal fricatives (/s/, /z/, /ç/ and /z/), the rhotic /r/ (but not the lateral /l/) and the velar spirant /ɣ/ (but not its uvular counterpart /к/). The vowels of the inner prefixes are limited to /a/, /u/ and /ɔ/. Outer prefixes (§11.2.1) other than person indexation (§14.2.1.2) and orientation preverbs (§15.1.1.1) show the same restriction.

Person indexation prefixes (second person *tu*-, generic *ku*- and the portman-teau *ta*- and *ku*-, §14.2.1.2, §14.8.3), are exclusively built from two unvoiced unaspi-rated stops, /k/ and /t/. This characteristic is shared with a subgroup of non-finite verb forms (§16.8.1, §16.8.3).

Orientation preverbs stand out among prefixes in allowing aspirated stops, palatal and labial stops, the lateral *l*- and the palatal nasal (§15.1.1.1, §21.5.4), as well as the vowels /u/ and /o/, which suggest a more recent grammaticalization (§15.1.1.4, Jacques 2012a: 92).

11.3 The suffixal chain

Japhug has four inflectional suffixal slots, fewer than the six slots of the outer prefixal domain (§11.2.1). Table 11.2 presents the suffixal template.

<table><caption>Table 11.2: The suffixal template</caption><thead><tr><th></th><th></th><th></th><th></th><th></th></tr></thead><tbody><tr><td>0</td><td>+1</td><td>+2</td><td>+3</td><td>+4</td></tr><tr><td>verb stem</td><td>Past</td><td>First</td><td>Dual/</td><td>Peg</td></tr><tr><td></td><td>transitive</td><td>person</td><td>Plural</td><td></td></tr></tbody></table>

Slot +1 only contains the -t suffix found in 1SG→3 and 2SG→3 of the Aorist, Inferential, Past Imperfective and Apprehensive (§21.1.3) of the transitive paradigm (§14.3.2.1). It can only be added on open syllable verb stems. It can only be followed by the 1SG -a indexation suffix. The form -t is only found in the dialects of Ercha, Kamnyu and Mangi, all dialects east of Rqakyo (including all Xtokavian dialects) have -z instead. A sound change *-s → -t* seems to have occurred in Kamnyu, but its conditioning is unclear. This suffix is cognate to the suffix -z in Zbu, which also occurs in 3SG→3' forms (Gong 2018: 160–161).

Slot +2 corresponds to the first person indexation prefixes 1SG -a, 1DU -tči and 1PL -ji (§14.2.1.1, §14.3.2.1).

Slot +3 comprises the second and third person dual -ndži and plural -nw indexation suffixes (§14.2.1.2). This slot cannot be filled if a non-singular first person suffix occurs in slot +2, and only contains at most one suffix. As a result of the
11 *The structure of the Japhug verb*

second constraint, in 3↔3 and 2↔3 configurations, it is not possible to index the
number of both arguments. As shown in §14.3.2.6, these constraints are morpho-
logical and cannot be accounted for by purely phonological rules.

Slot +4 is restricted to the suffixal element -ci of the peg circumfix, which al-
ways occur in combination with the prefixal element k(w)- in slot -2, and can be
elided (§11.4).

When no stress-bearing prefix is present (§11.2.3), the stress invariably falls on the last syllable of the verb stem. The prefixal slots +2 to +4 are always unstressed, and their vowel can become unvoiced (§3.7).

Combinations of 1DU/1PL -tči/-j (slot +2) with third or second dual or plural -ndži/-nu (slot +3) suffixes are prohibited (§14.3.2.6): for instance, †puu-mto-tči-nu (AOR-see-1DU-PL, intended meaning: ‘The two of us saw them’) is categorically rejected. The only possible form is puu-mto-tči (AOR-see-1DU), with neutralization of the number of the object.

The only verb forms where slots +1, +2 and +3 are filled are the Aorist or Inferential 1SG→3DU/PL, as in (9). This is the verb form with the highest suffix-to-prefix ration (3/1).

(9) puu-mto-t⁺¹-a⁺²-ndži⁺³
AOR-see-PST:TR⁺¹-1SG⁺²-DU⁺³
'I saw the two of them.' (elicited)

The +4 slot is generally empty, except in two cases: the Inferential of contract-
ing (intransitive) verbs, as in (10), and in combination with the *umr*- and *uβrš*-
modal prefixes (§11.4). In the latter case, it is potentially compatible with transi-
tive verbs in the Aorist, and verb forms such as (11) with all four suffixal slots
filled are acceptable, though no example is found in the corpus.

(10) to-k-ylwšt-ndži⁺³-ci⁺⁴
IFR-PEG-fight-DU⁺³-PEG⁺⁴
‘The two of them fought.’ (140428 yonggan de xiaocaifeng-zh)
{0003886#S179}

The maximal suffixal chain as in (11) can only be built by integrating the cir-
cumfix ku-...-ci and the modal umr- prefix, so that the prefixal chain has at least
three elements (umr-puw-ku-) constituting four syllables, as compared to the suf-
fixal chain which contains four elements (-t-a-ndzi-ci) and three syllables (4/3
suffix-to-prefix ratio).
(11) *um-pw-ku-mto-t<sup>+1</sup>-a<sup>+2</sup>-ndzi<sup>+3</sup>-ci<sup>+4</sup>*
PROB-AOR-PEG-see-PST:TR<sup>+1</sup>-1SG<sup>+2</sup>-DU<sup>+3</sup>-PEG<sup>+4</sup>

‘It looks like I have seen the two of them.’ (elicited)

Stem alternation (§12.2) involves in some cases suffixal elements such as -t
in stem II (§12.2.1; see also §12.2.3) and -m in stem III ( (§12.2.2) which are not
considered as part of this suffixal template. However, even if one were to analyze
those elements as separate suffixes, they would occupy slot +1: the -t Past Tense
transitive suffix and stem III are mutually incompatible, and in any case -t can
only surface if the preceding verb stem has an open syllable. Moreover, evidence
from bipartite verbs (§11.6.3), in particular example (35) suggests that stem III is
not suffixal.

Derivational suffixes are very rare in Japhug, and only found in a handful of
lexicalized examples such as the -t applicative (§19.7.2, §19.7.3). Since applicative
suffix generates a closed syllable stem (for instance *yut* ‘bring’ from *yi* ‘come’),
this suffix and the transitive Past tense -t suffix are mutually incompatible, and
no verb form has more than four suffixes, even counting frozen morphology.

All of the suffixes presented in Table 11.2 occur in finite verb forms. Non-finite
verbs in Japhug cannot take any suffix (§16.1).

Japhug clearly is a strongly prefixing language: it is possible to reach seven to
even potentially nine prefixes in a single verb form by combining the six slots of
the outer prefixal domain (§11.2) with one to three prefixes of the inner domain
(see for instance 6), while four suffixes is the upper limit for the suffixal domain.

11.4 The peg circumfix

11.4.1 Morphology

The peg circumfix *ku*-...-*ci* comprises a prefixal element *k(uw)*- inserted in slot -2 of the outer domain (§11.2.1), and a suffixal element -*ci*, which appears last in the suffixal chain, after all indexation suffixes, as shown by (12).

(12) *ndzi-yi* *ra, nuni* *mw-*ŋv-*k-ytwy-nw-*ci
3DU.POSS-relative PL DEM:DU NEG-IFR-PEG-meet-PL-PEG

‘Their relatives did not meet them (again).’ (2003 zrAntCW tWrme)
11 *The structure of the Japhug verb*

11.4.2 Optionality of the suffixal element

The -ci element of the circumfix is not always present, and thus in some cases
only the peg prefix k- occurs.<fnref n="3" /> Example (13) with tail-head linkage (§25.1.7) for
instance shows that the Inferential of *atuy* ‘meet’ can be either *ŋr-k-ɔtuy-ci* (the
most common form) or *ŋr-k-ɔtuy* without the -ci, without change of meaning. In
the whole corpus, out of 40 examples of *atuy* ‘meet’ in the Inferential, nine lack
the -ci suffix.

(13) tcendi tcendi tce mtsʰu ci ŋv-k-ɔtuy-ci. mtsʰu
west west LOC lake INDEF IFR-PEG-meet-PEG lake
kw-ŋuw-ŋaɣ ci ŋv-k-ɔtuy-ci. tcendvre mtsʰu
SBJ:PCP-EMPH~be.black INDEF IFR-PEG-meet-PEG LNK lake
kw-ŋuw-ŋaɣ ci ŋv-k-ɔtuy tce tce,
SBJ:PCP-EMPH~be.black INDEF IFR-PEG-meet LNK LNK

‘In the west, he found a lake, he found a lake that was very black. He
found a lake that was very black, and...’ (28-smAnmi 92-94) {0004063#S87}

Forms with the simple prefixal peg k- without -ci are however never found in utterance-final contexts: they are always followed by a linker such as tce (§25.1.6), as in (13) above, where the two instances of ṛṇ- k- ṛtuy- ci have utterance final intonation and are followed by a pause, while ṛṇ- k- ṛtuy starts a new utterance group.

11.4.3 Functions of the peg circumfix

The circumfix has two different functions in the Kamnyu dialect of Japhug.

First, it occurs in contracting verbs (§12.3) to prevent vowel fusion when a D-type preverb is found before a contracting verb stem or prefix (§15.1.1.2). In (12) for instance, without the *k-* prefixal element, the inferential *n̥r-* would merge with the verb stem *atuy* as /n̥tuy/, becoming undistinguishable from the corresponding Imperfective *n̥u-rtuy* (§21.2.1). This function is not found in Xtokavian dialects of Japhug.

Second, the peg circumfix is found together with Rhetorical Interrogative uβrɣ-
and Probabilitative umrɣ- prefixes. In these configurations, the negative prefixes
cannot occur, and only type A orientation preverbs (Aorist, §15.1.1.1) are possible.

The minimal pair in (14) between uβrɣ-ŋu and uβrɣ-ku-ŋu-ci provides an il-
lustration of the semantic function of the circumfix: without it, the Rhetorical

<footnote n="3">³Elision of prefixal ku- is also found in some rare forms, see (17) below.</footnote>
Interrogative generally denotes worry/apprehension that the action could take/
have taken place (14a), while the combination of the Rhetorical Interrogative and
the circumfix has the negative epistemic modality value ‘it seems like X did/does
not Y’ (14b).

(14) a. *n-ŋga* kʷ-tu̓-nʷ-t̓ əuβ əβrʷ-ŋu ma
2SG.POSS-clothes AOR-2-AUTO-sew RH.Q-PEG-be-PEG LNK
‘You didn’t sew your garment, did you? (worried that the subject
might have sewed his/her garment)’ (elicited)

b. nʷ-ŋga kʷ-tu̓-nʷ-t̓ əuβ əβrʷ-*kʷ-ŋu-ci* ma
2SG.POSS-clothes AOR-2-AUTO-sew RH.Q-PEG-be:FACT-PEG LNK
nʷ-nu̓-spoʷ cti
SENS-AUTO-have.a.hole be.AFF:FACT
‘It looks like you haven’t sewed your garment, it still has a hole.’
(elicited)

With the Probabilitative *um-*, the use of the circumfix (15c) is associated with a lesser degree of confidence than the corresponding form without it (15a). Tshendzin explains the meaning of (15c) with the Inferential (15d).<fnref n="4" />

(15) a. *umx̄-jx̄-azyūt*
PROB-AOR-arrive

b. tšʰu̯y jx̄-azуӯt tʰaŋ
probably AOR-arrive SFP
‘He probably has already arrived.’ (elicited)

c. *umx̄-jx̄-*kʷ-zyūt-ci*
PROB-AOR-PEG-arrive-PEG

d. jo-zyūt ū-mdoʷ
IFR-arrive 3SG.POSS-colour
‘It seems that he has probably arrived.’ (elicited)

The minimal pair above shows that the circumfix is not a simple secondary
morphological exponent of the Inferential, but has a specific modal and eviden-
tial value. However, it is not obvious at this stage that the combination of the
circumfix with Rhetorical Interrogative and Possible modality prefixes can be an-
alyzed compositionally at the synchronic level in the Kamnyu dialect of Japhug,
and I therefore use the arbitrary gloss ‘peg’ for this formative.

<footnote n="4">⁴Note that the Inferential preverbs are not compatible with the Probabilitative prefix (§21.7.2).</footnote>
11 *The structure of the Japhug verb*

The *ku>-* prefixal element competes with indexation prefixes in slot -2 (§11.2.1). Since the 2→1 portmanteau *ku>-* prefix has the same shape as the peg prefix, transitive verbs can present ambiguity between 2→1 (§14.3.2.3) and 1→3 (§14.3.2.1) configurations, as in (16), a verb forms with two possible interpretations.

(16) *um-nw-* *-ku>-nw>-jmu>ut-a-ci*
PROB-AOR-PEG/2→1-AUTO-forget-1SG-PEG
'It looks I forgot about it.' (*ku>-* = PEG)
'It looks like you have forgotten me.' (*ku>-* = 2→1)

The second person *tu>-* and 1→2 portmanteau *ta>-* are dominant in slot -2, and the peg prefixal element *ku>-* disappears in 2→3 (17) and 1→2 configurations (18).

(17) *umch>-nw>-tw>-nw>-jmu>ut-ci*
PROB-AOR-2-AUTO-forget-PEG
'It looks like you have forgotten about it.' (elicited)

(18) *umch>-pw>-ta>-mto-ci*
PROB-AOR-1→2-see-PEG
'It looks like I have seen you.' (elicited)

The inverse prefix, although located in slot -1, is incompatible with the peg circumfix: both †*umch>-nú>-wy>-nw>-jmu>ut-a-ci* (PROB-AOR-INV-AUTO-forget-1SG-PEG) and †*umch>-nu>-kú>-wy>-nw>-jmu>ut-a-ci* (PROB-AOR-PEG-INV-AUTO-forget-1SG-PEG) are incorrect, and the only way to express this meaning is with the Inferential in combination with the complement-taking noun *u>-mdo>u* (19) (§21.8.3.1).

(19) *wzo ku> ch>›-wy>-nw>-jmu>ut-a w>-mdo>u*
3SG ERG IFR-INV-AUTO-forget-1SG 3SG.POSS-colour
'It looks like he has forgotten about me.' (elicited)

Although complex forms such as (15c), (16), (17) or (18) can be elicited, in the corpus the combination of circumfix with Rhetorical Interrogative or Probabilistic prefixes only occur on stative verbs in 3SG form, and mainly with copulas, existential or modal auxiliaries.

The Japhug -ci suffixal element is probably cognate with the Mediative -cə in Tshobdun (Sun 2017) and the non-egophoric *ki* in Zbu (Gong 2018), which however have a much larger distribution. The *k(uw)-* prefixal element is relatable to the non-finite *ku>-* prefixes (§16.8.1) and some related finite forms (§14.8.3).
11.5 Templatic vs. layered morphology

While the inner prefixal domain follows a layered structure (except for the autive prefix, §11.2.2), the outer prefixal chain (§11.2.1) and the suffixal chain (§11.3) are rather to be described in terms of templatic morphology. Each of the slots in these chains is rigid in the Kamnyu dialect: there is no free affix ordering as in Kiranti languages like Chitang (Bickel, Banjade, et al. 2007). We observe four specifically templatic features (Bickel & Nichols 2007: 216–218).

First, several non-adjacent dependencies (or mutual incompatibilities) are ob-
served between prefixes, suffixes and stems, reflecting the fact that some TAME
categories and person configurations are encoded by formatives in different slots.
Some conspicuous examples are listed below.

• Morphological transitivity is encoded by seven independent morphologi-
cal and redundant features in various slots (§14.3.1).

• The Aorist is marked by combining A-type orientation preverbs (slot -3, §15.1.1.1), Stem II (§12.2.1) and the past transitive -t (slot +1, §11.3).

* The Irrealis (§21.4.1.1) requires *a-* in slot -6, a type A preverb in slot -3 and stem III (§12.2.2.2) when the person configuration allows it, as in (20) below.

• The peg circumfix (slots -2 and +4, §11.4) occurs in conjunction with either some modal prefixes (slot -6) or type D preverbs (slot -3).

* Person configuration (direct vs. inverse, §14.3.2.8) is marked by the inverse prefix (slot -1, §14.3.2.7), the contrast between stem I and stem III (§12.2.2.2) and the past transitive -t (slot +1, §11.3). The former is incompatible with the latter two (which occur in complementary distribution).

Example (20) illustrates (coloured in red) the non-adjacent dependency be-
tween *a-* (-6), the type A preverb (-3) and stem III.

(20) a-yu-tx-tw-tʰe
IRR-CISL-AOR-2-ask[III]
‘Come and ask [for her hand in marriage].’ (150826 liangshanbo
zhuyingtai-zh) {0006244#S124}

Second, the position of some prefixes in the chain is independent of the se-
mantic scope of the outer prefixes between themselves, and of their scope with
## 11 The structure of the Japhug verb

regards to the inner prefixes. In particular, the causative prefix, located in the inner domain (§11.2.2), has ambiguous scope with the negative (§17.2.4.4) and associated motion prefixes (§17.2.4.5).

Third, the allomorphy of more inwards prefixes is in some cases sensitive to more outward prefixes: for instance, the allomorphy of the inverse (§14.3.2.7) in slot -1 depends on the preceding prefixes: in particular, modal prefixes in slot -6 do not select the same allomorph as the other prefixes.

Fourth, bipartite verbs (§11.6.3) offer cases of verb forms with more than one head.

## 11.6 Wordhood

### 11.6.1 Criteria for wordhood

Some languages of the Trans-Himalayan family like Bantawa or Galo present conflicting morphosyntactic and phonological domains (Post 2009; Schiering et al. 2010; Doornenbal 2009) making an unambiguous definition of ‘words’ problematic.

In Japhug, the verb presents several phonological and morphological domains, represented in Table 11.3. Each of the domains is coloured in grey; slots partially included in the domain in certain contexts are represented in light grey.

<table><caption>Table 11.3: Morphological and phonological domains in the Japhug verb</caption><thead><tr><th></th><th>-6</th><th>-5</th><th>-4</th><th>-3</th><th>-2</th><th>-1</th><th>extended<br>stem</th><th>+1</th><th>+2</th><th>+3</th><th>+4</th><th>enclitics</th></tr></thead><tbody><tr><th>A</th><td></td><td></td><td></td><td></td><td></td><td></td><td></td><td></td><td></td><td></td><td></td><td></td></tr><tr><th>B</th><td></td><td></td><td></td><td></td><td></td><td></td><td></td><td></td><td></td><td></td><td></td><td></td></tr><tr><th>C</th><td></td><td></td><td></td><td></td><td></td><td></td><td></td><td></td><td></td><td></td><td></td><td></td></tr><tr><th>D</th><td></td><td></td><td></td><td></td><td></td><td></td><td></td><td></td><td></td><td></td><td></td><td></td></tr></tbody></table>

Domain A represents non-adjacent dependencies: as argued in §11.5, the suffixal element -ci of the peg circumfix in slot +4 (§11.4) is selected by some modal prefixes in slot -6, showing that dependencies across formatives cover the whole verb complex from the beginning of the outer prefixal chain (§11.2.1) to the end of the suffixal chain (§11.3).

Domain B corresponds to the minimal obligatory free form: the suffixal element -ci is not included because it is optional (§11.4) and the dual and plural suffixes in slot +3 are also optional in specific conditions (§14.6.1.1).
Domain C indicates the slots that can receive stress. It general is found on the last syllable of the verb stem by default, but some prefixes attract stress (§11.2.3). Slot -6 receives stress when it is filled by interrogative prefix ú- followed by a monosyllabic verb form (§21.3.1), or when the other prefixes merge with the inverse -wy. Tautosyllabic suffixes are never stressed (§11.3), but 1SG suffix -a merges with the last syllabe in some cases (§3.3.1.3).

Domain D correspond to the prefixal slots selecting the allomorph -wy of the inverse prefix when directly followed by it, and able to interact with the contracting vowel of the verb stem (§12.3), either by undergoing vowel fusion or by insertion of an epenthetic -j-.

These four domains, to which the extended verb stem (including the inner prefixes, §11.2.2) can be added, are concentric: the domain boundaries do not overlap. In this grammar, **domain A** is chosen as the verbal word, because in addition to non-adjacent dependencies, all formatives contained within it have a fixed position, and no external element can be inserted.

There are no proclitic markers which could be candidates to be analyzed as prefixes in Japhug. Some enclitic linkers and particles are phonologically attached on the verb, but there is clear evidence that they cannot be analyzed as suffixes (§11.6.2). Bipartite verbs (§11.6.3) offer a more serious challenge to the definition of wordhood, but problematic forms are extremely rare and limited.

## 11.6.2 Enclitics

Some particles and linkers are cliticized on the verb stem, and could seem to behave as suffixes.

The sentence final particle wo (§10.4.1) is generally a free-standing word, but it can optionally be phonologically attached to the verb as in (21). In these cases, it bears a stress, possibly analyzable as a effect of intonation.

(21) a-χpi ci pw-fcvt=ó
1SG.POSS-story INDEF IMP-tell=SFP
'Tell me a story.' (140511 yiqianlingyiye yinzi-zh) {0003963#S30}

There are two pieces of evidence showing that =o is not a verbal suffix. First, even in cliticized form, its locus is not specifically the verb, but rather the last word of the sentence: in (22), =o cliticized on the predicative noun *u-mdoq* 'colour', 'it looks like...' (§21.8.3.1).
11 The structure of the Japhug verb

(22) ma qacʰγa yu      pjs-cti      u-mdoV=O.
LNK fox GEN 3SG.POSS-daughter IFR.IPFV-be.AFF 3SG.POSS-colour=SFP
'It looks like she (the main character of the story) was the daughter of a
fox.' (150909 xiaocui-zh) {0006386#S161}

Second, wo actually occurs last in the chain of sentence final particles. It fol-
lows for instance the hearsay particle kʰi in (23),

(23) <aizheng> pu-pʰyN      kʰi      wo
    cancer      SENS-be.efficient HEARSAY SFP
    'It can cure cancer, it is said.' (20-grWBgrWB) {0003554#S68}

This hearsay particle is never phonologically cliticized on the verb, and more-
over can be separated from the verb by the emphatic particle zo (§26.1.1), as in
(24).

(24) u-tw-yNndz̥o saχaVK z̥o kʰi.
3SG.POSS-NMLZ:DEG-be.cold be-extremely:FACT EMPH HEARSAY
'It is said that [during an eclipse], it is extremely cold.' (29-mWBZi)
{0003728#S104}

The additive linker *nr* occurs in additive repetition (§19.4) and in conditionals (§25.2.1). It is always an enclitic, as indicated by the vowel ɣ, which can never stressed in word-final position in Japhug (§3.3.1). Were *nr* analyzed as a suffix, an additional +5 slot would be necessary, since it can follow the -ci suffixal element, as in (25).

(25) to-ku-ytcʰwz-ci=nγ to-ku-ytcʰwz-ci
IFR-PEG-sneeze-PEG=ADD IFR-PEG-sneeze-PEG
'He sneezed again and again.' (140515 jiesu de laoren-zh) {0004004#S132}

In conditional constructions, this linker co-occurs with initial reduplication
(§12.4.1.2, §25.2.1). However, although *nr* is the most common linker on the pro-
tasis on conditionals, it is not required, and other linkers such as *tce* are also
attested, as in (26), and there is no strict non-adjacent dependency between *nr*
and reduplication (§11.6.1).

(26) nuy tw~ty-tw~twut tce qʰe tce rcany nyzo rdystaV
dem cond~aor-2-say[II] LNK LNK LNK UNEXP:DEG 2SG stone
puw-tw-yβzu
IPFV-2-become
'If you tell [them] about it, you will be turned into stone and...' (150902
hailibu-zh) {0006316#S81}
In additive function, *nγ* is not specific to verbs (§8.2.6), and the emphatic *zo* can be inserted between the verb and this linker (27).

(27) tcendsre jγ-ari nγ jγ-ari zo nγ
LNK AOR-go[II] ADD AOR-go[II] EMPH ADD
‘He went again and again.’ (2005 Norbzang)

For these reasons, *nγ* is not analyzed as a part of the verbal word in Japhug.

### 11.6.3 Bipartite verbs

Bipartite verbs comprise two morphologically active stems, which despite having affixes of their own are combined together in one phonological word, sharing in some cases whole prefixal or suffixal chains (Jacques 2018a). Following the Kirantological tradition (for instance Doornenbal 2009 or Schackow 2015), the first verb stem is referred to as *V*₁, and the second one as *V*₂.

The main features of bipartite conjugation can be explained using *stu* = *mbat* ‘try hard’, ‘do one’s best’, the most common bipartite verb. This verb has four possible conjugation patterns, illustrated in Table 11.4 imperative second dual form ‘try hard (the two of you)’, which contains one prefix (orientation preverb, slot -3, §11.2.1) and one suffix (indexation suffix, slot +3, §11.3).

<table><caption>Table 11.4: Four degrees of morphological integration</caption><thead><tr><th>Type</th><th>Example</th><th>V<sub>1</sub> suffix</th><th>V<sub>2</sub> prefix</th></tr></thead><tbody><tr><td>A (quasi-SVC)</td><td><i>tr-stu-ndzi tr-mbat-ndzi</i><br>IMP-V<sub>1</sub>-DU IMP-V<sub>2</sub>-DU</td><td>✓</td><td>✓</td></tr><tr><td>B (right-dominant)</td><td><i>tr-stu = tr-mbat-ndzi</i><br>IMP-V<sub>1</sub>-IMP-V<sub>2</sub>-DU</td><td></td><td>✓</td></tr><tr><td>C (left-dominant)</td><td><i>tr-stu-ndzi = mbat-ndzi</i><br>IMP-V<sub>1</sub>-DU-V<sub>2</sub>-DU</td><td>✓</td><td></td></tr><tr><td>D (quasi-compound)</td><td><i>tr-stu-mbat-ndzi</i><br>IMP-V<sub>1</sub>-V<sub>2</sub>-DU</td><td></td><td></td></tr></tbody></table>

Type A bipartite verbs are lexicalized serial verb constructions (§25.1.5): the two verb stems are not phonologically integrated, and each of them takes both prefixes and suffixes. No word can be inserted between *stu* and *mbat* in the corpus, unlike other examples of SVC in Japhug. This is however not the case with all
11 *The structure of the Japhug verb*

bipartite verbs. For instance, in the case of *fse=raŋ* ‘happen so many things’, it
is possible to repeat the subject, as in (28).

(28) *nwa* *pwa*-fse *nwa* *pwa*-raŋ

DEM:PL PST.IPFV-be like DEM:PL PST.IPFV-last.a.long.time

‘All these things happened.’ (many attestations of this sentence, occurs in
traditional stories typically to avoid repeating sentences when a
character tells another character what has happened previously)

In types B and C, the two conjugated verb forms merge phonologically, and
either the suffixal chain of the first verb (in the case of the right-dominant B
type, where the V₁ has a reduced form and the V₂ preserves the full form) or
the prefixal chain of the second one (left-dominant) are removed. For instance,
in (29) the right-dominant bipartite verb has only one dual suffix -ndʒi⁺³ on the
V₂, while the prefixal chain a⁻⁶-tɔ́⁻³-tuː⁻² (IRR-PFV-2) is repeated on both the V₁
and the V₂. The boundary between the V₁ and the V₂, transcribed with a clitic
sign =, does not conform to the phonological rules of word-internal morpheme
boundaries: for instance, no vowel contraction occurs between the Irrealis a- and
the preceding -u in (29), either as u-a ⇒ /o/ (§12.3) or u-a ⇒ /wa/ (§14.2.1.1). In
addition, this bipartite verb form has two stresses, one on each verb stem.

(29) *a-tx-tu-stu=a-tx-tu-mbat-ndzi*

IRR-PFV-2-try.hard(1)=IRR-PFV-2-try.hard(2)-DU

‘(While I am gone), may the two of you do your best.’ (smanmi 2003.2)

The prefixal chain must be complete: a partial copy such as †a-tɔ́-tu-stu = tu-
mbat-ndʒi with only the second person tu- prefix on the V2 is categorically re-
jected. Likewise, in left-dominant bipartite verbs, the suffixal chain has to be
complete on both the V1 and the V2. This specificity is by no means universal
even in Trans-Himalayan: in Kiranti languages for instance, the V1 generally only
preserves a sub-set of the suffixal chain, as illustrated by the Bantawa example
(30) below, where the chain -in-ka occurs in reduced form -in on the V1 kʰat- ‘go’.

(30) *kʰar-in lont-in-ka*

go-1/2PL come.out-1/2PL-EXCL

‘We shall rise again.’ (Doornenbal 2009: 254)

In type D, the two verbs come to share the same prefixal and suffixal chain,
with no intervening affix between the two verb stems.
Table 11.5 summarizes all bipartite verbs discovered up to now in Japhug. Type C conjugation is only attested with *stu = mbat*.<fnref n="5" /> Question marks indicate that the forms in question are only attested in a few non-finite forms.

The important proportion of Tibetan loanwords in this list is particularly note-
worthy: = *raŋ*, *zduŋy* = *sŋŋrl*, *ntsʰŋβ* = , *rga* = , are from ṅc̥ *riŋ* ‘long’, *sććr* *sćrćrl* ‘torment’, *aččr* *ntsʰab* ‘anxious’, *dṛgā* *dga* ‘glad’, respectively.

Bipartite verbs cannot be easily subjected to verbal derivations. The only ex-
ample that could be elicited is the tropative verb (§17.5) *nṛ-stu-mbat* ‘consider that
X tries hard’. Only the quasi-compound form of the bipartite verb can be derived.
The derivational prefix *nṛ-* cannot be repeated on the *V*₁ and the *V*₂ (a form such
as ḫ*nṛ-stu* = *nṛ-stu* is incorrect).

<table><caption>Table 11.5: Bipartite verbs in Japhug</caption>
  <thead>
    <tr>
      <th>Bipartite verb</th>
      <th>A</th>
      <th>B</th>
      <th>C</th>
      <th>D</th>
    </tr>
  </thead>
  <tbody>
    <tr>
      <td>stu = mbat 'try hard'</td>
      <td>✓</td>
      <td>✓</td>
      <td>✓</td>
      <td>✓</td>
    </tr>
    <tr>
      <td>mu = cuuy 'be terrified'</td>
      <td>✓</td>
      <td></td>
      <td></td>
      <td></td>
    </tr>
    <tr>
      <td>χcu = rnac 'thank a lot'</td>
      <td>✓</td>
      <td>✓</td>
      <td></td>
      <td></td>
    </tr>
    <tr>
      <td>ntsʰγβ = rlu 'be in a hurry'</td>
      <td></td>
      <td>✓</td>
      <td></td>
      <td>✓</td>
    </tr>
    <tr>
      <td>fse = raŋ 'happen so many things'</td>
      <td>✓</td>
      <td></td>
      <td></td>
      <td></td>
    </tr>
    <tr>
      <td>kʰru = jγβ 'be extremely dry'</td>
      <td>✓</td>
      <td></td>
      <td></td>
      <td>✓</td>
    </tr>
    <tr>
      <td>zduy = sŋŋrl 'suffer extremely'</td>
      <td>✓?</td>
      <td></td>
      <td></td>
      <td>✓</td>
    </tr>
    <tr>
      <td>rga = le 'be extremely happy'</td>
      <td>✓?</td>
      <td>✓</td>
      <td></td>
      <td></td>
    </tr>
    <tr>
      <td>rga = χi 'be extremely happy'</td>
      <td>✓?</td>
      <td>✓</td>
      <td></td>
      <td></td>
    </tr>
    <tr>
      <td>NEG + spa = NEG + rka = tu/me 'be guilty/innocent'</td>
      <td>✓</td>
      <td></td>
      <td></td>
      <td>✓</td>
    </tr>
  </tbody>
</table>

There is only one bipartite transitive verb, NEG + spa = NEG + rka = tu/me ‘be guilty/innocent’, which is actually even tripartite, since its always occur with an existential verb. It means ‘be guilty’ when used with the affirmative existential verb tu ‘exist’ and ‘be innocent’ with the negative one me ‘not exist’ (§13.1.2). The V₁ and V₂ require a negative prefix (§13.1.3). Both type A (31, 33) and type D (32) conjugations are attested. The existential verb is always an independent word, and never takes person/number indexation in this collocation.

<footnote n="5">⁵In Kiranti languages, by contrast, right-dominant bipartite verbs (with partial suffixal chain on the V₁, as in 30) are by far the most common option (Jacques 2018a).</footnote>
11 *The structure of the Japhug verb*

(31) *mɣ-tu-spe*          *mɣ-tu-rke*
NEG-2-be.innocent(1)[III]:FACT NEG-2-be.innocent(2)[III]:FACT
*me*
not exist: FACT
‘You<sub>sg</sub> are innocent.’ (elicited)

(32) *mɣ-tu-spa=rka-ndzi*          *me*
NEG-2-be.innocent(1)-be.innocent(2):FACT-DU not exist: FACT
‘You<sub>du</sub> are innocent.’ (elicited)

The verb stems *spa* and *rka* are always in finite form: only the existential verb takes non-finite prefixes. In (33) the subject participle prefix *ku-* occurs on the negative existential *me*, while *spa* and *rka* are found in Factual Non-Past. This example suggests that *spa* and *rka* are located in a subject complement clause selected by the existential verb (§22.5.1.2).

(33) [mkʰɣrmaŋ [mɣ-spa-nu*          *mɣ-rka-nu*]
people          NEG-be.innocent(1):FACT-PL NEG-be.innocent(2):FACT-PL
ku-[me]         nu* zimkʰɣm pjɣ-su*-sat pjɣ-ra
SBJ:PCP-not.exist DEM a.lot IFR-CAUS-kill IFR.IPFV-be-needed
rcanu*          turme ra ku* wuma zo pjɣ-qʰa-nu*
UNEXPECTED man  PL ERG really EMPH IFR-hate-PL
‘As he had to have many innocent people killed, people hated him.’
(hist140514 xiee de shewang-zh) {0003994#S76}

Although morphologically transitive (§14.3.1), as shown by the presence of stem III alternation in sg→3 non-past forms (§12.2.2.1), in examples (31) and (34), the direct object is dummy and cannot be overt.

(34) *mɣ-spe-a*          *mɣ-rke-a*
NEG-be.innocent(1)[III]:FACT-1SG NEG-be.innocent(2)[III]:FACT-1SG
*me*
not exist: FACT
‘I am innocent.’ (elicited)

Example (35), where both *spa* and *rka* are in stem III form (*spe* = and = *rke*, respectively) reveals two facts about type D conjugation. First, stem III alternation, although historically partially suffixal in origin (§12.2.2.1), is synchronically disjunct from the suffixal chain. Second, although type D forms could appear at first
glance to be simple compound verbs (§20.12), the presence of stem alternation
on both V₁ and V₂, instead of having †*m-tu-spa-rke* with alternation on the V₂
only, shows that the two verb roots are still morphologically active.

(35) *mχ-tu-spe=rke*          *me*
NEG-2-be.innocent(1)[III]-be.innocent(2)[III]:FACT not.exist:FACT
‘You<sub>sg</sub> are innocent.’ (elicited)
<figure><img src="image_18.png" /></figure>
# 12 Non-concatenative verbal morphology

While Japhug lacks tonal alternations like most Gyalrongic languages (Sun 2005; Lai 2017; Gong 2018; Zhang 2018), non-concatenative segmental alternations are common.

This chapter briefly presents derivation onset alternations (§12.1), and then provides a detailed account of inflectional stem alternations (§12.2), vowel contraction (§12.3) and partial reduplication (§12.4) in verbal morphology.

## 12.1 Onset alternations

While most of the prefixal derivation morphology in Japhug is fairly concatenative, a handful of prefixal morphological processes involve consonantal alternations.

Prenasalization is found in the anticausative (§18.5) and a handful of frozen verb forms (§19.7.9, §17.2.2.4). In all cases, it is probably the result of the fusion of a nasal prefix with an unvoiced stop/affricative, turning it into the corresponding voiced prenasalized obstruent (§18.5.1.2).

Another type of consonant alternation is the $β- → b-$ fortition in the causative verb *zbraš* ‘attach together’ (§17.2.2.7).

## 12.2 Stem alternations

Northern Gyalrong languages have three verbal stems, labeled I, II and III following Sun (2000a) (Situ dialects lack stem III, but some varieties have additional stems I' and II', see Zhang 2018). Stem I is the default form, stem II mainly occurs in Aorist and Past Imperfective, and stem III occurs in the Non-Past $sg→3$ direct forms of some transitive verbs (§14.3.2.1).

In Japhug, no verb has more than two different stems. Stem II is different from stem I in only a handful of irregular verbs (§12.2.1), while stem III has been regularized (§12.2.2).
## 12.2.1 Stem II

### 12.2.1.1 Morphology

Unlike in Tshobdun (Sun 2000a), Zbu (Sun 2004; Gong 2018) and Situ (Lin 2003; Zhang 2018), stem II in Japhug is very limited, and only found in three irregular verbs and in a few derivations from them (Table 12.1).

<table><caption>Table 12.1: Stem II alternations in Japhug</caption><thead><tr><th>Stem I</th><th>Stem II</th><th>Derivation</th></tr></thead><tbody><tr><td>ɛe 'go'</td><td>-ari</td><td></td></tr><tr><td>yì 'come'</td><td>-ye</td><td></td></tr><tr><td>ti 'say'</td><td>-tut</td><td></td></tr><tr><td>suxɛe 'send, let go'</td><td>-sɣyri</td><td rowspan="2">Causative</td></tr><tr><td>suti 'cause to say'</td><td>-suutut</td></tr><tr><td>nuɛe 'go back'</td><td>-anuri</td><td rowspan="2">Vertitive, Autive</td></tr><tr><td>nuyi 'come back'</td><td>-nuye</td></tr><tr><td>nyɛuɛe 'go around'</td><td>-anŋruri</td><td rowspan="2">Distributed action</td></tr><tr><td>nytuti 'tell around'</td><td>-nytutut</td></tr></tbody></table>

The *yi/ye* alternation has an exact correlate in Tshobdun (*wi/wɛʔ*, Sun 2000a: 175). The verb *ti* ‘say’ has an irregular correspondence with other Gyalrong languages, where an affricate onset is found (Tshobdun *tsə* ‘say’, Sun 2000a: 174, Situ *tsə́*, *tsis*, Zhang 2018: 318). In Zbu however, a unique alternation between affricate and stop is found in this verb (stem I *tsʰə́*, stem II *tʰit*, Gong 2018: 225). The correspondence between the Japhug stem II -*tut* and its Zbu equivalent *tʰit* is regular (apart from the aspiration). The irregular paradigm of this verb in Zbu certainly has to be reconstructed to proto-Gyalrong. Situ and Tshobdun have generalized the affricate to stem II, while Japhug has remade the stem I by generalizing the dental stop.

Suppletion is observed in the paradigm of *ɛe* ‘go’, whose stem II -*ari* is perhaps related to the stem I of the verb ‘go’ found in some dialects of Zbu (*rî*, Sun 2004: 274). Xtokavian dialects of Japhug have *tʰal* as the stem II of this verb (Lin & Luoerwu 2003), a form borrowed from Tibetan *tsaŋ tʰal* ‘go beyond, pass’.

The transitive verb *suxɛe* ‘send’, ‘let go’ is the causative of *ɛe* ‘go’, and its stem II presents an irregular vowel merger *suy + ari* → *sɣyri*, instead of expected †*sɣri* or †*asuyri* (§17.2.2.6). Other derivations from *ɛe* ‘go’ also have suppletion, but the
alternations are regular. The autive and the vertitive *nu*- prefixes (§19.1, §19.2) in *nu-çe* ‘go by oneself’/‘go back’ are predictably infixed (§11.2.2) within the stem II *ari* as *a<nu>ri* (see examples 44 in §19.1.6 and 13 in §6.2.1). the distributed action derivation *nɔ̃wuçe* ‘go around’ likewise has the expected reduplicated stem *-anɔ̃ruri*.

The verb *nuyi* ‘come back’, vertitive of *yi* ‘come’, shows the expected stem II *nuye* with vowel alternation. Its lexicalized causative *suye* ‘invite’ on the other hand, has lost stem alternation, but appears to have generalized stem II (§17.2.2.7).

### 12.2.1.2 Distribution

In Japhug, stem II is mainly found in the Aorist (§21.5.1.1) and in the Apprehensive (§21.7.1.1). The verb *ti* ‘say’ also has stem II *tut* in the irregular Progressive Sensory form *n̂u-rru-tut, n̂u-rrs-tut* ‘he is/was saying’ (§21.3.2.1). In Zbu, stem II is also found in the Progressive (Sun 2000a, Gong 2018: 196).

Unlike Stem III (§12.2.2.2), Stem II is insensitive to person and number in all known Gyalrong languages.

## 12.2.2 Stem III

### 12.2.2.1 Morphology

In the Kamnyu dialect of Japhug, stem III is fully regular, and applies to all transitive verbs with an open syllable stem ending in a non-front vowel in the expected contexts (§12.2.2.2).

As presented in Table 12.2, two types of alternations are attested: (i) vowel fronting in the case of stems in -a, -u, -u and (ii) -m suffixation with vowel unrounding for stems in -o. In Xtokavian dialects, the alternations are less predictable, as some verbs in -u and -u can take the -m suffix (Lin & Luoerwu 2003, Jacques 2008: 231–234). Kamnyu, by comparison, has regularized the alternations by analogical levelling. A cognate suffix -m in stem III is also attested in Zbu (Gong 2018: 228–229).

Stem III in -m undergoes regular vowel assimilation to -am- when followed by a 1SG -a suffix (§14.2.1.1). For instance, the 1SG→3SG Factual Non-Past of *mto* ‘see’ is *mtam-a* ‘I (will) see it/him/her’ rather than *†mtam-a*. Stem III with the fronted vowel -e change to -i when followed by -a: *ndze-a* ‘I (will) eat it’ is realized as [ndzia].

Vowel fronting in stem III originates from the fusion of the verb stem with a *-j* suffix (§3.3.3, Jacques 2004: 357, Jacques 2008: 234), cognate to the “transitivity marker” -jə in Tshobdun (Sun 2003: 496).
## 12 Non-concatenative verbal morphology

<table><caption>Table 12.2: Stem III alternations in the Kamnyu dialect of Japhug</caption><thead><tr><th>Stem I</th><th>Stem IIII</th><th>type</th></tr></thead><tbody><tr><td>-a</td><td>-e</td><td>vowel fronting</td></tr><tr><td>-u</td><td>-e</td><td></td></tr><tr><td>-u̮</td><td>-i</td><td></td></tr><tr><td>-o</td><td>-u̮m</td><td>-m suffixation</td></tr></tbody></table>

Rather than analyzing the -m suffix as a part of the stem III, it could alternatively be possible to view it as part of the suffixal chain. Under such an analysis, it would be located in slot +1 (§11.3). Bipartite verbs provide evidence against such an analysis however (§11.6.3).

### 12.2.2.2 Distribution

Stem III only occurs in finite verb forms. It is found in Factual Non-Past (§21.3.1.1), Egophoric Present (§21.3.3.1), Sensory (§21.3.2.1), Imperative (§21.4.2.1), Irrealis (§21.4.1.1) and Imperfective (§21.2.1) of transitive verbs in the 1SG→3, 2SG→3 and 3SG→3' configurations (§14.3.2.1).

Table 12.3 illustrates all five person configurations of the Factual Non-Past where stem III appears and a selection of other configurations where stem I is used instead. It has exactly the same distribution in the other TAME categories listed above.

Stem III encodes four morpholosyntactic features, comprising both TAME and person indexation: direct configuration (§14.3.2.8), singular transitive subject, third person object and Non-Past tense.

### 12.2.2.3 Backformation

An indirect consequence of the perfect regularity of stem III formation (§12.2.2.1) is that in some rare cases, the stem I has been generated from the stem III by applying the alternations backwards.

The stem I of *kʰo* ‘give’, ‘pass over’ (§14.4.1) regularly corresponds to Tshobdun ʔkʰi (as if from proto-Gyalrong *kʰaɣ̥i). On the other hand, Zbu *kʰɔ́m*, *kʰɔ̈m*, *kʰəm* ‘give’ (Gong 2018: 229) and Tangut 遠馳¹¹⁰⁵ *kʰjow*¹.⁵⁶ (Jacques 2014c: 200–201, proto-Tangut *khjVm) match the Japhug stem III *kʰym*. A possible hypothesis to account for these diverging correspondences would be that Japhug and Tshobdun have
<table><caption>Table 12.3: Stem I vs. Stem III in the paradigm of *mto* ‘see’</caption><thead><tr><th>Person configuration</th><th>Stem</th><th>Example</th></tr></thead><tbody><tr><td>1SG→3SG</td><td>III</td><td>mtam-a</td></tr><tr><td>1SG→3DU</td><td>III</td><td>mtam-a-ndzi</td></tr><tr><td>1SG→3PL</td><td>III</td><td>mtam-a-nu</td></tr><tr><td>2SG→3</td><td>III</td><td>twu-mtym</td></tr><tr><td>3SG→3'</td><td>III</td><td>mtym</td></tr><tr><td>1DU→3</td><td>I</td><td>mto-tçi</td></tr><tr><td>2DU→3</td><td>I</td><td>twu-mto-ndzi</td></tr><tr><td>3DU→3'</td><td>I</td><td>mto-ndzi</td></tr><tr><td>3'→3SG</td><td>I</td><td>yuu-mto</td></tr></tbody></table>

preserved the original verb root, and that Zbu and Tangut have generalized stem III to the whole paradigm. However, there are three reasons why such an explanation is problematic.

First, the verb 1105 kʰjow¹.⁵⁶ is highly irregular, and therefore unlikely to have been analogized. Second, Zbu is phylogenetically closer to Tshobdun and Japhug than it is to Tangut, and therefore shared features between Zbu and Tangut are more likely to be due to common retention than to common innovation. Third, there is Japhug-internal evidence that the stem I -o is secondary.

The transitive verb *fkro* ‘put in order’, *arrange*, whose stem III is *fkrym* is borrowed from the past tense of the Tibetan verb འགྲེམ་བཀྲམ་ *grem-bkram* ‘spread out’. The stem I *fkro* is clearly backformed from the stem III, by overapplication of the -o/-ym alternation. Some speakers treat this verb as having a non-alternating stem *fkrym*, showing that backformation is still an ongoing process.

The case of *fkro* offers a model to analyze Japhug *kʰo* ‘give’, ‘pass over’ and Tshobdun *kʰi* (Jacques 2014c: 201): this verb originally had a stem I *kʰvm* in proto-Gyalrong, preserved in Zbu, but underwent backformation to *kʰan* in the common ancestor of Japhug and Tshobdun, subsequently evolving to *kʰo* and *kʰi* by the application of regular sound laws. This is one piece of evidence that Tshobdun is closer to Japhug than it is to Zbu.

The regular stem III *βze* of the verb *βzu* ‘make’ does appear in some non-finite forms such as *cʰu-ku-βze* in (1) (see also 22 in §19.1.4), in the dummy transitive subject construction (§14.3.5), meaning ‘grow’ or in collocation with the noun *u-tsa* (in the meaning ‘be suitable’, §22.4.2.1) for instance.
## 12 Non-concatenative verbal morphology

(1) <hulu> nʷ si ci ʔu-ʔu, ʔ-mat cʰu-ku-βże
gourd DEM tree INDEF SENS-be 3SG.POSS-fruit IPFV-SBJ:PCP-make[III]

 ci. tce ʔ-mat nʷnʷ, ʔ-taʔ ku-ku-xtsʰuʔ,
INDEF LNK 3SG.POSS-fruit DEM 3SG.POSS-top IPFV:EAST-SBJ:PCP-be.thin

 ʔ-pa ʔu-ku-jpum ci cʰu-βże
3SG.POSS-bottom IPFV:WEST-SBJ:PCP-be.thick INDEF IPFV-make[III]

 ʔu-ʔu tce, nʷ <hulu> tu-syʔri-nʷ.
SENS-be LNK DEM gourd IPFV-call-PL

‘The gourd is a tree, one which grows fruits. It grows fruits that are thinner on the top part and thicker in the bottom, they are called “gourd”.’
(150825 huluwa-zh) {0006346#S2}

Rather than an exception to the rules described in §12.2.2.2, it is simpler to consider that a synchronic verb root βże ‘grow’ different from βzu ‘make’ has been created by backformation (§12.2.2.3) from finite imperfective forms such as cʰu-βże ‘it grows’ in (1). The stem βże however never occurs in past tenses (Inferential and Aorist), so that this verb is an example of partial and ongoing backformation.

Another possible example of the same type of backformation is discussed in §19.7.12.

### 12.2.3 Frozen -t suffix

Three verbs presented in Table 12.4 have two alternative stem forms in free variation, with an optional -t suffix. This suffix appears in all person and TAME forms without any semantic change; compare for instance the Imperfective 1PL forms ku-rɣẓit-i (IPFV-stay-1PL, example 132, §16.1.3.7) and ku-rɣẓi-j (IPFV-stay-1PL, example 23, §7.1.7), uttered by the same speaker. The two variants are freely interchangeable, but some speakers use the -t suffixed forms more frequently that others.

The optional -t is not synchronically relatable to the past tense -t, which is restricted to 1SG→3 and 2SG→3 Aorist and Inferential (§14.3.2.1), and never appears on intransitive forms, or to any of the frozen derivation -t suffixes (§19.7.2, §19.7.3).

It could be a trace of the stem II -t suffix, attested in the verb ti, tut ‘say’ in Japhug (§12.2.1), and in a handful of other verbs in Zbu (Gong 2018: 224–225). In this hypothesis, these three verbs used to have a stem II with the -t suffix, but at the present stage the two stems have ceased to be morphologically contrastive.
<table><caption>Table 12.4: Frozen -t suffix in free variation</caption><thead><tr><td>Base form</td><td>Alternative stem</td><td>Transitivity</td></tr></thead><tbody><tr><td><i>amdzu</i> ‘sit’</td><td><i>amdzuut</i></td><td>vi</td></tr><tr><td><i>rγzi</i> ‘stay’</td><td><i>rγzit</i></td><td>vi</td></tr><tr><td><i>rγci</i> ‘pull’</td><td><i>rγcit</i></td><td>vt</td></tr></tbody></table>

## 12.3 Vowel contraction

Contracting verbs have polysyllabic stems whose first syllable is *a*. All of these verbs are morphologically intransitive (§14.3.1), but some of them can have semi-objects or oblique arguments (§14.2.3). The *a*- element can be a valency-decreasing prefix (including the passive §18.1, reciprocal (§18.4 or distributed property §18.7 prefixes), a denominal prefix (the stative denominal *a*- §20.2.1 or a disyllabic denominal prefix with *a*- as its first syllable, §20.2), a deideophonic prefix (§20.9.3) or a synchronically non-analyzable element (as in *aro* ‘own’ or *amdzu* ‘sit’).

To represent vowel contraction in a straightforward way, the notation employed in this grammar separates the vowel of the preceding prefix and the contracting by a hyphen, the prefix is transcribed in its base form, and the result of the vowel contraction is indicated after the hyphen. For instance *pu-a-* is to be read as ‘prefix *pu-* merging with the contracting vowel as /pa/’, while *pu-y-* indicates merger of the preverb with the contracting vowel as /py/. This orthographic rule transcribes contracting vowels in several ways (-y-, -a- or -o-) depending on the prefix with which they merge (see Table 12.5 below). It is important to note however that there is no contrast between -a-, -y- and -o- as contracting vowels: there are simply morphologically-conditioned allomorphs.<fnref n="1" />

This convention has the advantage of disambiguating verb forms that have become identical due to vowel contraction (for instance, *tx-y-* vs. *tu-y-* , both of which surface as /tx/), and making the verb forms more easily parseable in the corpus.

In Factual Non-Past unprefixed verb forms, the *a*- element surfaces without alternation, as in (§2).

(2) *nw ma aro-a me qʰe,*
DEM apart.from possess:FACT-1SG not-existent:FACT LNK
‘I don’t have anything else.’ (2003 divination) {0003364#S114}

<footnote n="1">¹The *a*- allomorph is used as citation form of contracting verbs.</footnote>
## 12 Non-concatenative verbal morphology

The prefixes in slots -6, -5 and -4 can occur in direct contact with the contracting vowel a- only in Factual Non-Past non-second person forms (§21.3.1.1). The vowel of Rhetorical Interrogative *wβry-*, Proximative aspect *juw-* (-6) negative *mr-* (-5) and associated motion prefixes *cw-* and *yw-* (-4) merge as *a-*: *wβry-a- → /wβra-/, *juw-a- → /ja-/, *mr-a- → /ma-/, *cw-a- → /ça-/* and *yw-a- → /ɣa-/*, as shown in *cw-anbaκ-i* ‘we go and hide’ /c̥anba<i>κ</i>/ in (3), *mr-a-rγt* ‘it has not yet been written’ /mαrγt/ (example 7, §18.1.1).

(3) *rŋgw* *w-ŋgw* *nwtcu* *cw-anbaκ-i* *wmr-kw-ntsʰi-ci*
boulder 3SG.POSS-in DEM:LOC TRAL-hide:FACT-1PL PROB-PEG-be.better-PEG
*ma,*
LNK
'It looks like we should go and hide in the [hollow] boulder.' (160706
poucet6) {0006109#S61}

The interrogative *w-* in slot -6 does not merge with *a*. Rather, an epenthetic -j- consonant is inserted between the two, as in (4) with the verb *atsutsu* ‘have time’.

(4) *a-wa* *twirju* χsw-ηka *tu-ti-a* *w-j-átsutsu*
1SG.POSS-father word three-word IPFV-say-1SG QU-X-have.time:FACT
'Father, do I have time to say three sentences?' (2003 qachGa)
{0003372#S175}

In all finite verb forms other than the Factual non-Past, the slot -3 (§11.2.1) is filled, and vowel contraction occurs between the vowel of the preverb and the a- element. The rules of contraction with preverbs are detailed in §15.1.1.2, but Table 12.5 presents a summary.

Type C preverbs, which are restricted to transitive verbs, never occur with contracting verbs. In the case of type D preverbs, vowel contraction is avoided by the insertion of the peg circumfix (see §11.4, §15.1.1.2).

These rules are not purely phonological, since the outcome of the vowel fusion with type A preverbs depends on the TAME category. For instance, in the case of the contracting verb *atɛr* ‘fall’, the type A **DOWNWARDS** *puw-* preverbs merges as /pɛr-/* in the Irrealis and Imperative (for example *a-mɛr-puw-ɛtɛr* /a)mɛpɛtɛr/ in 5) and as /pa-/* in the Past Imperfective and Perfective (*puw-atɛr* /pa’tɛr/ in 6).

(5) *a-mɛr-puw-ɛtɛr* kɛr-swso kw,
IRR-NEG-PFV-fall INF-think ERG
'In order to prevent [the child] from falling down...' (140426 tApAtso
kAnWBdaR)
<table><caption>Table 12.5: Vowel contraction rules with orientation preverbs</caption><thead><tr><th>TAME</th><th>Preverb type</th><th>Vowel of the preverb</th><th>Vowel contraction</th></tr></thead><tbody><tr><td rowspan="2">Aorist</td><td rowspan="2">A</td><td>-γ</td><td>γ-a → /a/</td></tr><tr><td>-u</td><td>u-a → /a/</td></tr><tr><td rowspan="2">Irrealis, Imperative</td><td rowspan="2">A</td><td>-γ</td><td>γ-γ → /γ/</td></tr><tr><td>-u</td><td>u-γ → /γ/</td></tr><tr><td rowspan="2">Imperfective, Sensory, Egophoric Present</td><td rowspan="2">B</td><td>-u</td><td>u-o → /o/</td></tr><tr><td>-u</td><td>u-γ → /γ/</td></tr></tbody></table>

(6) *li pw-atvr njw-ŋu*
again AOR-fall SENS-be

‘He fell down again.’ (2003 tWxtsa)

In slot -2, since contracting verbs are all intransitive, only the second person *tu-* and the generic *ku-* prefixes and the prefixal element *k(u)*- of the peg circumfix can occur before the contracting vowel *a*. The outcome of vowel contraction depends on the TAME category (§14.2.1.2: *tu-a- /ta- / in Factual Non-Past (*tu-atvr* ‘you will fall’) and Aorist (*pw-tu-atvr* ‘you fell down’) and *tu-γ- /tγ- / Imperfective (*pjw-tu-γtvr* ‘you fall down’), Sensory, Egophoric Present, Irrealis, Imperative and Prohibitive (*ma-pw-tu-γtvr* ‘don’t fall down’). With the peg circumfix, which appears in the Inferential, the vowel fusion is always -k-γ- (see example 12, §11.4).

Slot -1 only contains prefixes associated with transitive verbs, which are therefore incompatible with contracting verbs.

With non-finite verb form prefixes (§16), vowel fusion is always *u-γ / γ-γ*, as summarized in Table 12.6.

With inner prefixes, vowel contraction is also straightforward and yields γ- in all cases: for instance, the sigmatic causative, applicative and tropative of contracting verbs are *su-γ- /sγ- / (§17.2.1.3)*, *nu-γ- /nγ- / (§17.4.2)* and *nγ-γ- /nγ- / (§17.5.1)*, respectively. The autive *nu-* cannot undergo vowel fusion and is rather infixed after the contracting vowel *a-* (§11.2.2, §19.1.2).

The Progressive prefix *asw-* (§21.6.1.1), located in slot -1 (§11.2.1), can undergo vowel contraction in ways similar to those of contracting verbs, summarized in Table 12.7. The non-contracting autive *nu-* and inverse *-wy* prefixes are rather infixed between the *a-* and the *-sw/z-* elements.
## 12 Non-concatenative verbal morphology

<table><caption>Table 12.6: Vowel contraction with non-finite prefixes</caption><thead><tr><th>Prefix</th><th>Vowel contraction</th></tr></thead><tbody><tr><td>S/A participle <i>ku</i>-</td><td><i>ku</i>-<sub>γ</sub> /<i>k</i><sub>γ</sub>-</td></tr><tr><td>P participle <i>k</i><sub>γ</sub>-</td><td><i>k</i><sub>γ</sub>-<sub>γ</sub> /<i>k</i><sub>γ</sub>-</td></tr><tr><td>Oblique participle <i>s</i><sub>γ</sub>-</td><td><i>s</i><sub>γ</sub>-<sub>γ</sub> /<i>s</i><sub>γ</sub>-</td></tr><tr><td>Infinitive <i>k</i><sub>γ</sub>-/<i>ku</i>-</td><td><i>k</i><sub>γ</sub>-<sub>γ</sub>, <i>ku</i>-<sub>γ</sub> /<i>k</i><sub>γ</sub>-</td></tr><tr><td>Degree nominal <i>-tu</i>-</td><td><i>-tu</i>-<sub>γ</sub> /<i>-t</i><sub>γ</sub>-</td></tr><tr><td>Action nominal / Dental infinitive <i>tu</i>-</td><td><i>tu</i>-<sub>γ</sub> /<i>-t</i><sub>γ</sub>-</td></tr></tbody></table>

<table><caption>Table 12.7: Vowel contraction of the Progressive prefix</caption><thead><tr><th></th><th>Slot</th><th>Prefix</th><th>Transcription</th><th>Contracted forms</th></tr></thead><tbody><tr><td>Past Imperfective</td><td>-3</td><td><i>pu</i>-</td><td><i>pu-asu</i>-, <i>pu-az</i>-</td><td>/<i>pa</i><sub>sw</sub>-/, /<i>p</i><sub>az</sub>-</td></tr><tr><td>Egophoric Present</td><td>-3</td><td><i>ku</i>-</td><td><i>ku-osu</i>-, <i>ku-oz</i>-</td><td>/<i>ko</i><sub>sw</sub>-/, /<i>ko</i><sub>z</sub>-</td></tr><tr><td>Sensory</td><td>-3</td><td><i>mu</i>-</td><td><i>mu-γsw</i>-, <i>mu-γz</i>-</td><td>/<i>η</i><sub>γsw</sub>-/, /<i>η</i><sub>γz</sub>-</td></tr><tr><td>Second person</td><td>-2</td><td><i>tu</i>-</td><td><i>tu-γsw</i>-, <i>tu-γz</i>-</td><td>/<i>t</i><sub>γsw</sub>-/, /<i>t</i><sub>γz</sub>-</td></tr><tr><td>2→1</td><td>-2</td><td><i>ku</i>-</td><td><i>ku-γsw</i>-, <i>ku-γz</i>-</td><td>/<i>k</i><sub>γsw</sub>-/, /<i>k</i><sub>γz</sub>-</td></tr><tr><td>peg</td><td>-2</td><td>-(<i>ku</i>)-</td><td><i>k-γsw</i>-, <i>k-γz</i>-</td><td>/<i>k</i><sub>γsw</sub>-/, /<i>k</i><sub>γz</sub>-</td></tr><tr><td>Inverse</td><td>-1</td><td><i>w</i><sub>γ</sub>-</td><td>-<i>ý</i> &lt; <i>w</i><sub>γ</sub> &gt; <i>su</i>-, <i>ý</i> &lt; <i>w</i><sub>γ</sub> &gt; <i>z</i>-</td><td>/ó(<i>γ</i>)sw-/, /ó(<i>γ</i>)z-</td></tr></tbody></table>

Vowel contraction is not restricted to the prefixal verbal template. Nominal stems in *a-* are extremely few, but do present some instances of vowel contraction (§5.1.1.1). Vowel fusion involving the first person suffixes is discussed in §14.2.1.1.

# 12.4 Partial reduplication in verbal morphology

## 12.4.1 Initial reduplication

Verb-initial reduplication has a number of morphosyntactic functions, involving clause linking (conditionals §12.4.1.2, temporal clauses (§12.4.1.3), expressing increase of degree (§12.4.1.4), totality (§12.4.1.5) or temporal resilience (§12.4.1.6). With the possible exception of its use in the protasis of conditionals, all of the functions of the initial reduplication present an iconic component typical of reduplication crosslinguistically.
12.4 Partial reduplication in verbal morphology

Initial reduplication belongs to inflectional morphology. The only cases of lexicalization involve grammaticalization of reduplicated finite verb form into a discourse marker (see §9.1.5.1 and §12.4.1.2 below).

12.4.1.1 Morphophonology

While initial reduplication follows the general rules of partial reduplication (§4.1), two additional rules have to be taken into account.

First, the outcome of the reduplication of the negative prefix *mu-* is *muu*~*my*~ with vowel alternation (§13.1.1), not distinguishable from that of the prefix *my*~.

Second, when the initial syllable of the word contains more than one morpheme, as in the case of the ɛ- or ʒ- allomorphs of the translocative prefix combined with an orientation preverb (§15.2.1.2), reduplication can disregard morpheme boundaries, resulting in a replication of the two morphemes: ɛ-*kɔ}*-*tsʰi-*t-*a (TRAL-AOR-drink-PST:TR-1SG) thus yields ɛ-*kuu*~ɛ-*kɔ}*-*tsʰi-*t-*a as in (7). Tshendzin however also accepts reduplication of the first morpheme only, reduplicated with addition of -u (ɛuu~ɛ-*kɔ}*-*tsʰi-*t-*a).

(7) cʰa ckuu-c-kɔ}*-*tsʰi-*t-*a zo lu-βzi-a
alcohol ITER~TRAL-AOR-drink-PST:TR-1SG EMPH IPFV-be.drunk-1SG
ŋu
be:FACT
‘Each time I go and drink alcohol I get drunk.’ (elicited)

Example (8) illustrates a third possible pattern, with reduplication of the orientation preverb ɛ-*tɔ}*-*ku-*tsʰɔ]*t ⇒ ɛ-*tuu*~tɔ}*-*kuu*-tsʰɔ]*t without affecting the associated motion marker.

(8) kuaki turme kuwa c-tuu~tɔ}*-kuu-tsʰɔ]*t zo nuu
DEM.PROX person DEM:PL TRAL-TOTAL~AOR-SBJ:PCP-try EMPH DEM
pjý-wý-sat-nuu.
IFR-INV-kill-PL
‘All of these men who had went and tried [to discover the princesses’
secret] were killed.’ (140508 shier ge tiaowu de gongzhu-zh) {0003937#S31}

12.4.1.2 Protasis of conditional

There are three possibilities in Japhug to mark the verbs in the protasis of conditionals (§25.2.1): Irrealis (§21.4.1.5), Interrogative *u*- (§21.7.4.2) and initial reduplication. In the latter two cases, the verb is generally followed by the additive linker *ny*, as in (9).
## 12 Non-concatenative verbal morphology

(9) a-tcwn tw~tw-ŋu nɔ, pw-ta-swxcvt nw ci nw-ndwn
1SG.POSS-son COND~2-be:FACT ADD AOR-1→2-teach DEM once IMP-read
ra
be.needed:FACT

‘If you are my son, recite [the mantra] that I have taught you.’ (2012
Norbzang) {0003768#S188}

Conditional reduplication interacts with TAME categories. For instance, reductively reduplicated Aorist can be used to refer to hypothetical future events as in (10). Without the *nɔ* linker, reduplicated Aorist can be interpreted as Iterative coincidence (§12.4.1.3).

(10) tw~tx-tw-twɔt nɔ tce pju-ta-sat ŋu
COND~AOR-2-say[II] ADD LNK IPFV-1→2-kill be:FACT
‘If you tell [people] about [it], I will kill you.’ (150901 changfamei-zh)
{0006352#S48}

The scope of the protasis can go beyond the clause containing the reduplicated verb. In (11), the protasis contains two clauses, the first one headed by the verb *mw~mɔ-pw-pe* with reduplicated conditional, and the second one with the verb *tu-ku-ŋke* without conditional marking.

(11) tceri tw-mɔpa kwnɔ, tw-xtsa mw~mɔ-pw-pe
LNK GENR.POSS-sole also GENR.POSS-shoe COND~NEG-PST.IPFV-be.good
cʰondʒre, tɔ-rʒaɣ kwr-ŋŋi tu-ku-ŋke qʰe,
COMIT INDEF.POSS-time SBJ:PCP-be.long IPFV-GENR:S/O-walk LNK
tw-mɔpa ri cimbɔrom tu-rke ŋgrɔl.
GENR.POSS-sole LOC blister IPFV-put.in[III] be.usually.the.case:FACT
‘On the soles too, if one (wears) bad shoes and walks for a long time, one
gets blisters on one’s sole.’ (27-tWfCAI) {0003710#S131}

The reduplicated conditional *pw~pw-ŋu* of the Past Imperfective of the copula *ŋu* ‘be’ has been grammaticalized as a topic marker *pupwunɔr* ‘as far as... is concerned’ (§9.1.5.1).

### 12.4.1.3 Iterative coincidence

One of the meaning of initial reduplication with verbs in Aorist form is iterative coincidence (Jacques 2014a: 295–296). In this biclausal construction, the first clause with the reduplicated verb expresses the repetition of an event ‘every time
12.4 Partial reduplication in verbal morphology

X' (§25.3.1), and the second clause (with a main verb in the Imperfective) the resulting situation, as in (12).

(12) [kwki tcʰemɛpɔi ki si w-ku-pʰuut DEM.PROX girl DEM.PROX wood 3SG.POSS-SBJ:PCP-cut tuu-tɔ-yɛ zo], nwnw rgyntɔi nɔi yu u-si ITER~AOR:UP-come[II] EMPH DEM old.woman DEM GEN 3SG.POSS-wood pwo-pʰuut, uu-uu-ci z-puu-re, IPFV-cut 3SG.POSS-INDEF.POSS-water TRAL-IPFV:WEST-fetch[III]

'Every time the girl came to cut firewood, she would cut firewood for the old woman and fetch water for her.' (150829 taishan zhi zhu-zh)

{0006350#S26}

Although the semantic relationship between the two clauses is more a matter of temporal relationship rather than strict causality (for instance in example 12), this construction is clearly a subcase of the reduplicated conditional (§12.4.1.2).

12.4.1.4 Incremental

Verb-initial reduplication with adjectival stative verbs can express a gradual increase of degree 'become more and more X'. This function occurs with TAME categories which have an inchoative meaning when used with stative verbs: the Imperfective (§21.2.6) as in (13) and (14), the Aorist (§21.5.1.3) and the Inferential (§21.5.2.4).

(13) zŋŋri mɔ-yu-tɔso tci, nwo syz hanumikwu-tɔso star NEG-SBJ:PCP-be.bright INDEF DEM COMP a.little SBJ:PCP-be.bright ci, nwo syz hanumikwu-tɔso ci, nwo syz hanumikwu-tɔso, tce kwa-de ki tu-fse tce, [...] tʰi SBJ:PCP-be.bright LNK four DEM.PROX IPFV-be like LNK downstream tʰu-ari w-jwa jwa cʰu-cʰu-tɔso zo

AOR:DOWNSTREAM-go[II] 3SG.POSS-following INCR~IPFV-be.bright EMPH pwo-yu tce,

SENS-be LNK

'[The constellation of the earthworm comprises] one non-bright star, another one slightly brighter, another one slightly brighter, another one slightly brighter, four [stars] like this (...), becoming brighter as they go downstream.' (29-mWBZi) {0003728#S30}
## 12 Non-concatenative verbal morphology

Verb-initial reduplication can be combined with verb repetition and the addi-
tive linker *n* to put emphasis on the steadiness of the increase, as in (14).

(14) *zurwzyri* tce cʰu~cʰu-m-ndzi ny cʰu~cʰu-mvci-ndzi tce
progressively LNK INCR~IPFV-be.rich-DU ADD INCR~IPFV-be.rich-DU LNK
‘They progressively became richer and richer.’ (02-deluge2012)
{0003376#S122}

The negation *mu-* of the Imperfective, reduplicated as *mu~my*-, can express
gradual decrease, as in (15).

(15) *łndzi nu rca, tw-tu-cʰa zo pjy-cti. tcendvre,*
demon DEM UNEXP:DEG INCR~IPFV-can EMPH IFR.IPFV-be.AFF LNK
*uwo numu tce zurwzyri tce, mu~my-pu-cʰa zo*
3SG DEM LNK progressively LNK INCR~NEG-IPFV-can EMPH
*pjy-cti tce*
IFR.IPFV-be.AFF LNK

‘The demon was becoming stronger and stronger, and he was weaker and weaker.’ (140513 abide he mogui-zh) {0003975#S79}

### 12.4.1.5 Totalitative

Totalitative reduplication occurs on the main verb of relative clauses (§23.3.2), expressing universal quantification (§9.1.3.1) of the relativized referent. It is attested in participial relatives (§16.1.1.2), finite relatives (§23.2.2) and also some partially lexicalized participles (§16.1.1.7).

In the case of participial relatives, the reduplicated syllable is the first syllable of the verb other than the possessive prefix, either the subject participle prefix *ku-* (16), the object participle *ky-* (17) or an orientation preverb (18).

(16) *laχtcʰa γotcu ny-ky-suwo zo nupu, ny-mpa,*
thing where 2SG.POSS-OBJ:PCP-think EMPH DEM 2SG.POSS-eye
*ny-rna, ny-cna cʰo ra [ku~ku-spɔ] nu*
2SG.POSS-ear 2SG.POSS-nose COMIT PL TOTAL~SBJ:PCP-have.a.hole DEM
*uŋgw tce a-ky-tw-rke qʰe*
3SG.POSS-in LOC IRR-PFV:EAST-2-put.in[III] LNK

‘Whatever things you want (from the granary), put it in your eyes, your ears, your nose etc, all the holes in your body.’ (31-deluge) {0004077#S136}
(17) wuma zo pw-pe ndyre, [kw~ky-swso] nw pw-fse
really EMPH SENS-be.good LNK TOTAL~OBJ:PCP-think DEM SENS-be like
'It is very nice, it is like everything that [I] want.' (2011-04-smanmi)

(18) tce w-tʰycu prыscʰu ra [tw-tỳ-kw-rwкʰyrlyn]
LNK 3SG.POSS-downstream TOPO PL TOTAL~AOR-SBJ:PCP-build.house
kw nw-rdγstak nw ntsw s-cʰy-nw-ru-nw
ERG 3PL.POSS-stone DEM always TRAL-IFR:DOWNSTREAM-AUTO-fetch-PL
tce to-nw-ntcʰoz-nw.
LNK IFR-AUTO-USE-PL

'All people from Praskyu down there who built/repaired their houses went there and took stones to use for themselves.' (140522 Kamnyu zgo)
{0004059#S188}

In finite relatives, the verb lacks any overt nominalization marker other than the reduplication itself. In this construction, the relativized elements are either direct objects (as in 19 and 20 below), semi-objects or goals, but never subjects (§23.2.2).

(19) w-ro nura [icqʰa pw~pw-feat-a] nura kw tce tce
3SG.POSS-rest DEM:PL just before TOTAL~AOR-tell-1SG DEM:PL ERG LNK LNK
swjno tu-ndza-nw
grass IPFV-eat-PL
'The rest, all the [other animals] that I have told about just before eat grass.' (05-khWna, 46 {0003398#S38}

(20) nw [spw~spe] nw to-nyrmi ri tste <zhima>
DEM TOTAL~BE.ABLE.to:FACT DEM IFR-CALL.NAME LNK that IS SESAME
ky-ti nw jy-nw-jmwšt
INF-SAY DEM IFR-AUTO-FORGET
'He called the names of all [the crops] he knew, but forgot to say 'sesame.' (140512 alibaba-zh) {0003965#S103}

Finite transitive verbs with totalitative reduplication and a 1SG subject can optionally take plural indexation (§14.3.2.1) corresponding to the relativized direct object with universal quantification. Object plural indexation in this case is rare (it is absent for instance in 19 above), and only one example is attested in the corpus: *pw~pw-mto-t-a-nw* (TOTAL~AOR-SEE-PST:TR-1SG-PL) ‘all those that I have seen’ (60, §14.3.2.6).
## 12 Non-concatenative verbal morphology

The totalitative subject participle of the existential verb *tu* ‘exist’ can take a possessive prefix, which is interpreted as a possessor, as in *a-kuw~ku-tu* 1SG.POSS-TOTAL~SBJ:PCP-exist ‘everything that I have’. No other totalitative verb form allows possessor prefixation. In particular, since the subject participles of transitive verbs require a possessive prefix coreferent with the object (§16.1.1.1), totalitative reduplication is incompatible with these forms. For instance, to express the meaning ‘all those who help me’, forms such as †*a-tu~tu-kuw-qur* (1SG.POSS-TOTAL~IPFV-SBJ:PCP-help) with reduplicated orientation preverb or †*a-kuw~ku-qur* (1SG.POSS-TOTAL~SBJ:PCP-help) with reduplicated participial prefix are unacceptable, and universal quantification has to be expressed with other means, for instance *a-tu-kuw-qur* tʰamtɛrɛt (1SG.POSS-IPFV-SBJ:PCP-help all).

Totalitative reduplication of transitive subject participle is only possible if no possessive prefix is present (see 56, §23.3.2).

### 12.4.1.6 Emphatic autive

When occurring in word-initial position, the autive prefix *nu-* can be redupli-cated to express emphatic permansive ‘still *X* (regardless of whatever may hap-pen)’, and such verb form can be repeated with the additive linker *nɛr*, as in (21).

(21) tɛtʰo nɔpwoonunɛ, tce nɔo mɔ-fse tce tcoendɛre
pine DEM as.for LNK DEM NEG-be like:FACT LNK LNK
u-jwau nɔo nɔu-nɔu-tu nɛr nɔu-nɔu-tu
3SG.POSS-leaf DEM EMPH-AUTO-exist:FACT ADD EMPH-AUTO-exist:FACT
qʰe
LNK

‘As for the pine, it is not like [the other trees], [whatever happens], its leaves (needles) are still there.’ (07-tAtho) {0003432#S14}

The reduplicated autive should not be mistaken with the combination of a type A ‘westward’ orientation preverb *nu-* with the autive in spontaneous function (§19.1.4) as in (22).

(22) uwo nɔu-nɔu-me cti.
3SG AOR-AUTO-not-exist be.AFF:FACT
‘[The wart] disappeared by itself.’ (24-pGArtsAG) {0003624#S52}

### 12.4.2 Verb stem reduplication as secondary exponence

Prefixal partial reduplication of the verb stem is a secondary exponence, used in combination with a prefix, in several productive verbal forms listed in Table 12.8.
12.4 Partial reduplication in verbal morphology

Stem reduplication occurs in two converbs, the gerund (§16.6.1 and the productive converb (§16.6.2), together with a *sъ(z)*- prefix cognate to that of the oblique participle (§16.1.3).

It is also found in four regular derivations: reciprocal (§18.4.1, on the *a*- prefix see §20.10.3), distributed action (§19.4), auto-evaluative (§19.5) and attenuative (§19.6). The attenuative differs from all other cases in that the vowel of the reduced syllable is in some cases -ъ- rather than -u-.

<table><caption>Table 12.8: Productive verbal forms with stem reduplication and prefixation</caption><thead><tr><th>Function</th><th>Example</th><th></th><th>Reference</th></tr></thead><tbody><tr><td>Gerund</td><td><strong>mu</strong><br>'fear'</td><td><strong>sъ-mu</strong>~<strong>mu</strong><br>'fearing'</td><td>§16.6.1</td></tr><tr><td>Purposive<br>converb</td><td><strong>jmut</strong><br>'forget'</td><td><strong>u-mъ-ju</strong>~<strong>u-mъ-jmu</strong>~<strong>jmut</strong><br>'in order not to forget'</td><td>§16.6.2</td></tr><tr><td>Reciprocal</td><td><strong>rqov</strong><br>'hug'</td><td><strong>a-rq</strong>u~<strong>rqov</strong><br>'hug each other'</td><td>§18.4.1</td></tr><tr><td>Distributed<br>action</td><td><strong>mtsъ</strong><br>'jump'</td><td><strong>nъ-mts</strong>u~<strong>mtsъ</strong><br>'jump around'</td><td>§19.4</td></tr><tr><td>Auto-evaluative</td><td><strong>mpъъr</strong><br>'be beautiful'</td><td><strong>znъ-mpъ</strong>u~<strong>mpъъr</strong><br>'think of oneself as beautiful'</td><td>§19.5</td></tr><tr><td>Attenuative</td><td><strong>wyr</strong><br>'be white'</td><td><strong>a-yrъ</strong>~<strong>yr</strong>um<br>'be whitish'</td><td>§19.6</td></tr></tbody></table>

The locus of reduplication is the last syllable of the verb stem, disregarding indexation suffixes. When the verb stem contains more than one syllable, the reduplicated syllable is infixed. For instance, the gerund of *nъre* 'laugh' is *sъz-nъru*~*re* 'laughing': the partially replicated material -ru- occurs between the two syllables *nъ-* and -re of the verb stem. Additional reduplication is blocked on lexically reduplicated verb stems such as *ruru* 'guard' (§19.7.11) or *nuqambumbjom* 'fly': triplication is not attested in Japhug, unlike in Stau (Gates 2017).

Non-productive suffixal partial reduplication is found in a handful of antipausal (§18.6.5) and distributed action derivations (§19.4.2.1).
## 12 Non-concatenative verbal morphology

Irregular partial reduplication with -ɔv or -um in the replicated syllable instead of regular -u are also attested (for instance *nɔvšitvakv* ‘play around’ from *nɔvakv* ‘have a good time’, §19.4.2.2).

### 12.4.3 Emphatic reduplication

Emphatic reduplication is a partial reduplication in -u targeting the final syllable of the stem like other cases of verb stem reduplication (§12.4.2). This inflectional reduplication has several related functions.

With adjectival stative verbs, emphatic reduplication indicates a high degree, opposite of the attenuative reduplication (§19.6): compare for instance *qarŋu~rŋe* ‘be deep yellow’ vs. *aqarŋu~rŋe* ‘be yellowish’. Reduplicated adjectival verbs are almost always attested in participial form, as in (23).

(23) tcʰeme kw-mpcw-mpcɛr kw-pw-pe ci
Girl SBJ:PCP-EMPH~be.beautiful SBJ:PCP-EMPH~be.good INDEF
nɛ-cγa kw-xtcw-xtci ci a-nu-tu-ɣβzu
2SG.POSS-tooth/age SBJ:PCP-EMPH~be.small INDEF IRR-PFV-2-become
smwlym
prayer
‘May you become a very beautiful, nice young girl.’ (2012 Norbzang)
{0003768#S237}

Rare examples of emphatic adjectival verbs in finite form are however also found in the corpus, in (24).

(24) w-ku nwa rɛ nɛki, w-kyχcɛl nwa li
3SG.POSS-head DEM:PL LNK FILLER 3SG.POSS-top head DEM:PL again
pwo-qarŋe qʰe pwo-wyrw-wyrum kw-fse.
SENS-be.yellow LNK SENS-EMPH~be.white SBJ:PCP-be lik e
‘It is yellow and very white on the top of its head.’ (24-ZmbrWpGa)
{0003628#S24}

With the negative existential verb me ‘not exist’, emphatic reduplication indicates radical non-existence ‘not (have/exist) ... at all’, as in (25).<fnref n="2" />

<footnote n="2">²In (25), the mother of the character Padma 'Od'bar, who asked her about the identity of father, gives this answer in the hope that her son will not try to find the truth about the disappearance of his father and thereby run into a mortal danger.</footnote>
(25) *ny-wa* *pw-nnu-mu-me* *cti*
2SG.POSS-father PST.IPFV-AUTO-EMPH-not.exist
'You never had a father at all.' (2012 Norbzang) {0003768#S123}

Emphatic reduplication also occurs with modal verbs such as the semi-transitive
rga 'like' (26) and the transitive spa 'be able' (27) to express high degree.

(26) *ku-rgu-rga* *zo* *turme ra maŋe-nu* *ma*
SBJ:PCP-EMPH~like EMPH people PL not.exist:SENS-PL LNK
'There are no people who like it a lot.' (160706 thotsi) {0006133#S24}

(27) *pya k* *kw-spw-spa* *nw ku* ...
bird INF-speak SBJ:PCP-EMPH~be.able DEM ERG
'The bird who was able to speak very well (said ...).' (2012 Norbzang)
{0003768#S25}

Often in combination with the autive *nu-* (§19.1.4), emphatic reduplication oc-
curs in free-choice correlatives and in universal concessive conditional construc-
tions (§25.2.3.3) as in (28), without any constraint of the verb category.<fnref n="3" />

(28) *tw-ji* *sna* *tce*, [*tcʰi ĺ-wy-nu-ju-ji*] *zo*
INDEF.POSS-field be.good LNK what AOR-INV-AUTO-EMPH~plant EMPH
*pe*
be.good:FACT
'(The type of earth called *twtso*) is fit (to be used) as fields, whatever one
plants in it, [the planting] will be good (successful).' (25-cWXCWz)
{0003636#S61}

Although emphatic reduplication is highly productive and regular, a handful
of verbs have irregular reduplication patterns. The transitive verb *rɣtçaa* ‘tread
on’ has the emphatic form *rɣtçumtçaa* ‘trample’ (compare example 184, §18.8.2
with 180, §14.6.2) with *-um* reduplicated syllable (§19.4.2.2). The stative verb *mdi*
‘be complete’ has the emphatic form *mdoɣmdi* with *-oɣ* reduplication (§19.4.2.2),
and *tsʰu* ‘be fat’ has the suffixed *-e* reduplicated form *tsʰutsʰe* ‘be very fat’.

The verb *fse* ‘be like’ has the irregular reduplicated form *-fsɣ-}*fse* alongside *-*fsu-}*fse* in universal concessive conditionals (*tçʰi pu-*nu-*fsɣ-*}*fse* ‘in any case’, example 33, §25.2.3.3).

<footnote n="3">³In (28), the subject of the verb *pe* ‘(it) is good’ is not the crop referred to by the interrogative pronoun *tçʰi*, but the planting activity. To analyze this example as a correlative, one would have to suppose that a complement clause such as *numu kɣ-ji* ‘planting that’ has been elided before *pe* (on *pe* ‘be good’ as a complement-taking verb, see example 196 (§24.5.8)).</footnote>
<figure><img src="image_19.png" /></figure>
13 Negation

Negation in Japhug is mainly expressed by negative prefixes (§13.1). It is sym-
metrical (Miestamo 2005): the presence of these prefixes is not systematically
correlated with finiteness or TAME alternations.

In addition to negative prefixes, a periphrastic negative construction with sen-
tence-final negative auxiliary is also attested (§13.2), and it is required in partic-
ular to mark double negation (§13.3).

**13.1 Negative prefixes**

**13.1.1 Allomorphy**

Four negative prefixes are found in Japhug: *mr-*, *mu-*, *ma-* and *múj-*. Their distribution is determined by TAME and finiteness.

The *ma-* prefix is restricted to prohibitive verb forms (§21.4.3.1), and always
combined with type A orientation preverbs (§15.1.1.1).

The stress-bearing (§11.2.3) *múj-* prefix (see 1 below) is a portmanteau of nega-
tion and Sensory evidental (§21.3.2). The Sensory prefix *juu-* has the expected ne-
gative form *mu-*-*nuu-* only in the case of contracting verbs (§21.3.2.1). Otherwise,
when the prefixal sequence *mu-*-*nuu-* occurs, the *juu-* preverb marks the Imperfec-
tive (§21.2.1).

The form *mr-* is found on non-finite verbal forms without any orientation
preverb (§16.1.1.2, §16.1.2.2, §16.2.1.2, §16.3.1), in Factual Non-Past and Irrealis form
(see 3 above in §11.2.1), and also when preceded by the interrogative *u-* (§21.7.4.1)
as in (1) and the Proximative *juu-* (§21.6.2) as in (2).

(1) *tce tw-n̥ke w-m-r-ta-za, w-m-y-nw-münmu qʰe*

LNK INF:II-walk QU-NEG-AOR:3→3'-start QU-NEG-AOR-move LNK

múj-s-r-mto

NEG:SENS-PROP-see

‘If it has not started walking, if it has not moved, it is not visible.’

(26-NalitCaRmbWm) {0003676#S102}
(2) ju̯fcur ju̯-mɣ-c-tɣ-tʰu-t-a

zo

yesterday PROXM-NEG-TRAL-AOR-ask-PST:TR-1SG EMPH

'Yesterday I almost did not go and ask about it.' (elicited)

The allomorph *mu-* is found elsewhere, including non-finite verb forms with orientation preverbs (§16.1.1.2, §16.1.2.2, §16.2.1.6) and all finite verb forms with orientation preverbs other than the Prohibitive and the verbal forms where slot -6 is filled (Irrealis, Interrogative, Proximative etc).

The partial reduplication (§12.4.1) of *mu-* (which occurs in particular in the protasis of conditionals, §12.4.1.2) does not yield expected †*mu*~-*mu*~, but rather *mu*~*mɣ*~ with vowel alternation: compare for instance *mu*-*nu*-*si* ‘she did not die’ with the *mu-* prefix (as expected in the Aorist) with *mu*~*mɣ*-*nu*-*si*-a ‘if I do not die’ in (4).

(3) tɣ-mu nwh ywhpa kure mɣctṣa mu-nu-si

INDEF POSS-mother DEM this.year DEM.LOC until NEG-AOR-die

'The old woman only died this year.' ('she did not die until this year')

(14-siblings) {0003508#S318}

(4) mu~mɣ-nu-si-a nɣ, a-tɣ-ku-nuwaɣrdaβ-a

COND~NEG-AOR-die-1SG ADD IRR-PFV-2→1-hit.with.forelegs-1SG

ra

be.needed:FACT

'If [after that] I have not died [yet], hit me with your forelegs.'

(2003kAndzwsqhaj2)

The Interrogative *u-* prefix, like conditional reduplication, requires the *mɣ*-negative prefix (see 1 above), and this commonality in morphophonology is cor-
related with a similarity in function, since both the prefix *u-* and reduplication
are used to mark the verb of the protasis of conditional clauses (§25.2.1).

The -6 slot *umɣ*- prefix of possible modality (§21.7.2) has a surface form iden-
tical to the combination of the interrogative *u-* with the negative prefix *mɣ*-, as
in (5). The *umɣ*- synchronically differs from *u*-*mɣ*- (from which it historically
derives) in that it can occur with the peg circumfix (§11.4, §21.7.2.1). It is not com-
patible with a negative prefix.

(5) qajw ku-fse ra tu-ndze umx-ηu ma
bug sBJ:PCP-be lik e PL IPFV-eat[III] PROB-be:FACT LNK
'It presumably/maybe eats bugs.' (23-pGAYaR) {0003606#S28}
Negative prefixes are restricted to verb forms, and cannot be prefixed on nouns (§13.4.1). However, they occur on most non-finite verb forms, including participles (§16.1.1.2, §16.1.2.2, §16.1.3.4), infinitives (§16.2.1.2, §16.2.1.6, §16.2.3.1), degree nominals (§16.3.1), converbs (§16.6.1.2, §16.6.2), but not action nominals (§16.4) and fossilized deverbal nouns (§16.5).

### 13.1.2 Suppletive negative verbs

Negative prefixes can occur on most verbs, with the exception of copulas and existential verbs, which have suppletive negative forms (§14.2.2), as illustrated in Table 13.1.<fnref n="1" /> The contrast between the neutral copula *ŋu* ‘be’ and the Emphatic Affirmative *cti* ‘be’ is neutralized in the negative, where only one negative copula *ma* ‘not be’ is present (§22.5.1.1).

<table><caption>Table 13.1: Suppletive negative verbs</caption><thead><tr><th></th><th>Affirmative</th><th>Negative</th></tr></thead><tbody><tr><td>Copula</td><td>ŋu 'be',<br>cti 'be' (emphatic affirmative)</td><td>maɛk 'not be'</td></tr><tr><td>Existential</td><td>tu 'exist'</td><td>me 'not exist'</td></tr><tr><td>Sensory existential</td><td>ŋyzyu 'exist'</td><td>maŋe 'not exist'</td></tr></tbody></table>

For instance, the negation of *ŋu* ‘be’ and *tu* ‘exist’ can only be *maɛk* ‘not be’ (6) and *me* ‘not exist’ (7).

(6) azo maɛk-a
1SG not.be:FACT-1SG
'I am not [that girl].' (2003 sras)

(7) kuɔcungwu tce tuutsʰot puu-me tce,
former.times LOC clocks PST.IPFV-not.exist LNK
'In former times, there were no clocks.' (29-LAntshAm) {0003726#S60}

Combining *ŋu* and *tu* with negative prefixes (for instance †*mr*-*ŋu*-a instead of *maɛk*-a 'I am not/It is not me' and †*mw*-*puu*-tu instead of *puu*-me) is utterly incorrect

<footnote n="1">¹Another verb lacking negative forms is *kɔtupa* ‘tell’, though for a different reason (§14.3.4).</footnote>
## 13 Negation

and categorically rejected by all speakers. Likewise, negative copulas cannot take negative prefixes (†*my-maɣ-α* is a grammatical).

It is however possible to combine affirmative copulas or existential verbs with their negative counterparts as postverbal periphrastic negations (§13.2). The copulas *ŋu* and *maɣ* occur together in the phrase *ŋu ciny maɣ ku* ‘in any case it is not true’ (example 295, §9.1.6.4). The negative existential *me* ‘not exist’ is very commonly found with the participle of its antonym *ku-tu* to express emphasis on the non-existence, as in (8) in comparison with (7) (§22.5.1.2).

(8) *kwɔŋŋgw mkʰuŋlu ku-fse ra pw-ku-tu*
former.times machine SBJ:PCP-be like PL PST.IPFV-SBJ:PCP-exist
*me*
not exist:FACT
‘In former times, there were no machines or things like that at all.’
(140430 tWfkur) {0003898#S4}

### 13.1.3 Verbs requiring the negative prefixes

Some verbs are defective and lack affirmative forms: they only appear in conjunction with negative prefixes. Two categories can be distinguished.

First, a handful of defective verb roots are only attested with negative prefixes, listed in Table 13.2. The verb roots in this table are not found in any derived form without negation, except for *my-xsi* ‘one does not know’, a highly defective verb (§14.3.4) historically related to the transitive verb *suz* ‘know’ (whose paradigm is not defective).

The complex collocation *NEG + spa = NEG + rka = tu/me* ‘be guilty/be innocent’ contains a bipartite verb (§11.6.3) whose first component *-spa* may be related to the modal auxiliary *spa* ‘be able’ (§19.3.1, §24.5.3.4) and whose second component *-rka* is an orphan verb.

The verb *NEG + zu* ‘not just be’, ‘not be/have only’ (9) is most commonly used in one of the comparative constructions (§26.2.3) and has even been further grammaticalized as an adverb *myzu* ‘even more’ (10).

(9) *kʰyjmu nwtcu my-zu ma, tyrnso tu tce,*
kitchen DEM:LOC NEG-be.just LNK shelf exist:FACT LNK
‘In the kitchen, there are not just [the aforementioned objects], there is also a shelf (to store the cooking implements).’ (2011-11-kha2)
<table><caption>Table 13.2: Verb roots requiring a negative prefix</caption><thead><tr><th>Root</th><th>Verb</th><th>Factual Non-Past 3SG</th></tr></thead><tbody><tr><td>-zu</td><td>NEG + zu 'not just be'</td><td>m<u>z</u>-zu</td></tr><tr><td>-tç<sup>h</sup>yz</td><td>NEG + tç<sup>h</sup>yz 'be contrary to religion'</td><td>m<u>z</u>-tç<sup>h</sup>yz</td></tr><tr><td>-rka</td><td>NEG + spa = NEG + rka = tu/me 'be guilty be innocent'</td><td>m<u>z</u>-spe m<u>z</u>-rke me</td></tr><tr><td>-(x)si</td><td>NEG-xsi 'it is not known'</td><td>m<u>z</u>-xsi</td></tr></tbody></table>

(10) numu pa<u>kw</u> tu-ndze tce, m<u>z</u>u zo c<sup>h</sup>u-ts<sup>h</sup>u c<sup>h</sup>a DEM pig ERG IPFV-eat[III] LNK even.more EMPH IPFV-be.fat can:FACT 'When the pig eats it [acorns], it can grow even fatter.' (08-CkrAz) {0003444#S43}

Second, most *su-/z-* abilitative verbs (§19.3) are only found in negative forms. For instance the abilitative *z-n<u>y</u>jo from *n<u>y</u>jo 'wait' only occurs with a negation in the meaning 'cannot wait to' (due to hurry/impatience) as in (11).

(11) spja<u>ŋ</u>kw n<u>u</u> kw ju-z<u>y</u>u<u>t</u> m<u>u</u>-p<u>j</u><sup>h</sup><u>y</u>-z-n<u>y</u>jo zo tce, wolf DEM ERG IPFV-arrive NEG-IFR.IPFV-ABIL-wait EMPH LNK 'The wolf could not wait [for the fox] to arrive.' (140516 huli de baofu-zh) {0004010#S39}

This constraint is also observed with the lexicalized abilitative *sp<u>h</u>u<u>t</u> 'can cut' (from *p<u>h</u>u<u>t</u> 'take out, cut', §19.3.1) as in (12).

(12) ts<u>u</u>ntu kw u-ndzru m<u>u</u>-sp<u>h</u>u<u>t</u> ma scissors ERG 3SG.POSS-nail NEG:SENS-can CUT LNK u-tu-rko u-tu-ja<u>kw</u> 3SG.POSS-NMLZ:DEG-be.hard 3SG.POSS-NMLZ:DEG-be.thick p<u>u</u>-sy<u>re</u> zo SENS-be.ridiculous EMPH 'The scissors cannot cut through her nails, as they are extremely hard and thick.' (2012, heard in context)

### 13.1.4 Lexicalized negation

Some verb roots have negative forms with unpredictable lexicalized meanings. Three subtypes can be distinguished.
## 13 Negation

First, the negative form of the underived form of the root can have an extended meaning. For instance, the verb *rkaŋ* ‘be strong’, ‘be in good physical condition’ can mean ‘be pregnant’ in the negative as in (13).

(13) ki tcʰeme ki mʷ-ŋy-rkaŋ
DEM.PROX girl DEM.PROX NEG-IFR-be.in.good.shape
‘This woman became pregnant.’ (elicited)

Second, the special meaning of the negation appears in derivations: for instance, the stative verb *ftsʰi* ‘feel better’ has a negative causative *NEG* + *suftsʰi* ‘force’, ‘coerce’ (§17.2.3) and a lexicalized negative participle *mftsʰi* ‘forcibly’ used as an adverb (§16.2.1.8).

Third, some lexicalized noun-verb collocations require a negative prefix on the verb (§22.4.1.5), for instance *tw-skʰru* = *NEG-βdi* ‘be pregnant’ from *tw-skʰru* ‘body’ and *βdi* ‘be well’ as in (14).

(14) ndżi-rzaβ впавна zo ndżi-skʰru mʷ-ŋy-βdi
3DU.POSS-wife both EMPH 3DU.POSS-body NEG-IFR-be.well
‘Both of their wives got pregnant.’ (2005 Lobzang) {0003370#S2}

## 13.2 Periphrastic negation

Aside from negative prefixes (15a), negation can be expressed by the negative copula *ma* ‘not be’ (15b) and the negative existential verb *me* ‘not exist’ (15c) in postverbal position.

(15) a. mʷ-pw̥-mto-t-a
NEG-AOR-see-PST:TR-1SG
‘I have not seen it.’ (several examples)

b. pʷ-mto-t-a maɣ
AOR-see-PST:TR-1SG not.be:FACT
‘I have not seen it, (but rather...).’

c. pʷ-mto-t-a me
AOR-see-PST:TR-1SG not.exist:FACT
‘I have seen none/I haven’t seen anything.’ (several examples)

The negative copula *maɣ* ‘not be’ occurs postverbally in Periphrastic TAME categories requiring a copula (§21.2.2), or to express emphatic negation, contrasting with an assertative postverbal copula (§22.5.3.1) as in (16b).
(16) a. tcʰiindz̥a p̥u-tw-yɣwu ŋu?

why SENS-2-cry be:FACT

‘Why are you crying?’

b. p̥u-yɣwu-a maɣ

nɣ, tw-muɣ

p̥u-lɣt

SENS-cry-1SG not.be:FACT SFP INDEF.POSS-sky IPFV-release

p̥u-cti ma

SENS-be.AFF LNK

‘It is not that I am crying, [I look like I am crying because] it has been raining.’ (2005-stod-kunbzang)

The postverbal negative existential *me* (§22.5.1.2) has a universal negative meaning ‘nothing’ or negative indefinite ‘none, not any’ as in (15c) (§22.5.4).

(17) tce w-mdoɔk

tcʰi zo fse

mɣ-xsi,

LNK 3SG.POSS-colour what EMPH be like:FACT NEG-GENR:know

a-kɣ-ti

me

ma mw-pwu-mto-t-a.

1SG.POSS-OBJ:PCP-say notuez:FACT LNK NEG-AOR-see-PST:TR-1SG

w-ndz̥i

kwnc pwu-mto-t-a

me

3SG.POSS-skin also AOR-see-PST:TR-1SG not.exist:FACT

‘I don’t know which colour it_i_ has, I can’t say because I have not seen it_i_, I have not even seen any of its_i_ hides.’ (27-kikakCi) {0003700#S21}

It is also found in one of the superlative constructions, illustrated by example
(18) (§26.4.3).

(18) βzw kuw-fse

tu-qʰe-a

me

mouse SBJ:PCP-be like IPFV-hate[III]-1SG not.exist:FACT

‘Mice is what I hate most.’ (‘there is nothing that I hate like a mouse’)

(140427 bianfu yu huangshulang-zh) {0003838#S13}

13.3 Double negation

Since negative prefixes are not recursive, there are only two ways to express
double negation in Japhug: either is by combining a negative verb form with a
negative auxiliary (*me* ‘not exist’ or *maŋe* ‘not exist’), or a negative verb form in
a complement clause with a negative complement-taking verb.

Double negation with existential verbs can indicate universal quantification,
in particular when the verb taking the negative prefix is transitive (or semi-
transitive) and no overt object (or semi-object) is present as in (19) (see also
§22.5.4).
(19) paq aywyli ma rcanu mɣ-ndze zo
pig produce.a lot.of.manure:FACT LNK UNEXP:DEG NEG-eat[III] EMPH
me
not exist:FACT

'Pigs produce a lot of manure, as they eat everything (there is nothing
they don't eat).' (05-paR) {0003400#S27}

Negative participial forms with a negative auxiliary express mild assertion, as in
(20) and (21).

(20) azwy mɣ-ku-pe me
1SG:GEN NEG-SBJ:PCP-be.good not-existent:FACT
'I am fine (I don't have any particular problem).' (140506 shizi he
huichang de bailingniao-zh) {0003927#S70}

(21) mɣ-ku-kʰu me
NEG-SBJ:PCP-be.possible not-existent:FACT

‘There is nothing wrong with it.’ (common in metalinguistic judgments
about the grammaticality of sentences)

Another type of double negation construction is observed when both the com-
plement-taking verb and the verb in the complement clause take a negative prefix.
The most common verb in this type of configuration is the modal verb kʰu ‘be
possible’ (§24.5.3.1), either with finite complements (§24.2.3) as in (22), or with
negative infinitival complements (example 146, §16.2.1.2), expressing the meaning
‘have no choice but to X’.

(22) nɣ-rca mɣ-yi-a mɣ-kʰu qʰe
2SG.Poss-together.with NEG-come:FACT-1SG NEG-be.possible:FACT LNK
'It have no other choice but to go with you/follow you.' (Nyima Wodzer
2003.2)

Other verbs attested in this type of construction include *nɣz* ‘dare’ (§24.5.3.5)
as in (23) and *cʰa* ‘can’ (with the meaning ‘cannot help but’ as in 241, §15.2.10.4).

(23) r宋ylpu fka cti tce, mɣ-kyi mɣ-nvz-i ri
king order be.AFF:FACT LNK NEG-INF-come NEG-dare:FACT-1PL LNK
'It is the king's order, we do not dare not to come.' (2005 Norbzang)
## 13.4 Negation and parts of speech other than verbs

Verbs are the only part of speech that can take negative prefixes. This section describes the constructions used in Japhug to express meaning corresponding to that of negative nouns or pronouns, and also discusses negative intensifiers adverbs.

### 13.4.1 Nouns

Although there is a privative nominal derivation in Japhug (§5.7.1), there is no way of building a negative noun like English ‘non-X’ or ‘un-X’ meaning ‘which is not X’ (rather than X-less). The only way to express such a meaning is build using a participial relative (§16.1.1) with the negative copula *X ku-MA* ‘something/ someone who/that is not X’ (§22.5.1.1), for instance *tx-rjit ku-MA* ‘someone who is not a child’ in (24).

(24) w̥z̥ora nʷ-rjit zo cʰu-βri-nu̥ qʰe ku̥ma ra
3PL 3PL.POSS-offspring EMPH IPFV-protect-PL LNK other PL
nʷ-rjit nʷ pʷpʷuny [ty-rjit ku-MA]
3PL.POSS-offspring DEM TOP INDEF.POSS-child SBJ:PCP-not.be
tú-wy-su̥pa qʰe
IMPF-INV-consider LNK

‘(At school), [some parents] protect their own children, and as for the children of other people, they consider them as if they were not children (‘as non-children’).’ (140501 01)

### 13.4.2 Pronouns

Japhug lacks negative pronouns (§6.6), and headless relative clauses (§23.7) combined with a negative existential copula (§13.1.2) are used to express the meanings ‘nothing’, ‘nobody’ (25, 27) or ‘nowhere’ (26).

(25) n-kw-caβ me
2SG.POSS-SBJ:PCP-catch.up not.exist:FACT
‘Nobody will [be able] to catchup with you.’ (2003 qachGa) {0003372#S112}

(26) tʷmʷrkʰa tce w-sv-rŋgw maŋe
evening LOC 3SG.POSS-OBL:PCP-lie.down not.exist:SENS
‘In the evening, it has no place to stay.’ (26-NalitCaRmbWm)
{0003676#S37}
## 13 Negation

In negative existential constructions, the headless relative can also mean 'not any of' as *k-mto* 'any (amadou) to be seen' in (27).

(27) *jinde tce nʷ [u̯-kʷ-ntcʰoz] maŋe qʰe, [kʷ-mto]*
nowadays LNK DEM 3SG.POSS-SBJ:PCP-use notuezSENS LNK OBJ:PCP-see
kʷny maŋe
also notexistSENS
'Nowadays nobody uses [amadou], there isn't even any to be seen.'
(15-babW) {0003512#S214}

### 13.4.3 Adverbs

Japhug lacks an all-purpose negative adverb, but there a few negative intensifiers.

The adverb *maka* is generally used with negative verb forms to express emphatic negation ‘not ... at all’ as in (28), in particular with negative existential verbs (§22.5.4).

(28) *tcʰeme kʰɣckʰɣr ku-kʷ-ce maka*
girl man.seating/place IPFV:EAST-GENR:S/O-go at.all
mʷ-pʷ-jɣɣ
NEG-PST.IPFV-be.allowed
'Ladies were not allowed to go to the men's seating place.' (31-khAjmu)
{0004079#S39}

It is however attested in non-negative sentences as in (29), in adversative contexts.

(29) *jxxtsʰi ndɣre maka nʷ-n ra*
this.time ADVERS at.all IMP-endure[III] be.needed:FACT
'This time (unlike the previous times), you have absolutely to bear [the
cold of the moon and the heat of the sun without making a word,
otherwise we will not succeed].' (tWxtsa)

This adverb is built from the root -ka found in the distributive determiner *tuka* 'each' (§9.1.3.3) and the distributive pronoun *zaka* 'each his own' (§6.7.3). The first syllable *ma-* resembles the negative prefix *mʷ-* (§13.1), but given the fact that negative prefixes (§13.1) are strictly restricted to verb forms, it is not likely that the first syllable of *maka* is from a negative prefix.
13.4 Negation and parts of speech other than verbs

Rather, it is from the intensifier *mu*,<fnref n="2" /> also attested as intensifier ‘not… at all’ in negative contexts (30), in bound state form *my*- (§5.4.1), followed by vowel assimilation with the following syllable -ka.

(30) *nuw ma kuu-ra mu zo me*
DEM apart.from SBJ:PCP-be.needed at.all EMPH notuezFACT
'I don't need anything else at all.' (2003 tWxtsa)

We find in addition the compound form *mucin* ‘not even one at all’ (31) from *mu* and *ciny* ‘(not) even one’ (§9.1.6.4).

(31) *kudmdza ra mucin zo my-arEXT-tcI*
relative PL at.all EMPH NEG-have.a.kinshipSUP relationship:FACT-1DU
‘We don’t have any kinship relationship at all.’ (12-BzaNsa) {0003484#S52}

<footnote n="2">²This form is related to the denominal verb *mymu* ‘be the most important’.</footnote>
<figure><img src="image_20.png" /></figure>
# 14 Person indexation and argument structure

## 14.1 Introduction

In Japhug, person indexation is the defining feature of finite verbs, as opposed to non-finite verbs (§16) and other parts of speech. Japhug finite verb forms index one or two arguments, depending on the transitivity of the verb, using a combination of prefixes, suffixes and stem alternation. No verb indexes more than two arguments. The indexation system is very close to a canonical direct-inverse system (§14.3.2.8).

This chapter first presents intransitive and transitive conjugations, investigates the issue of agreement mismatch, and then discusses the origin of person indexation affixes. In addition, it documents the analogical extension of person indexation suffixes to non-finite verb forms in some specific contexts.

## 14.2 Intransitive verbs

Intransitive verbs comprise dynamic, stative and semi-transitive verbs. All of the verbs have in common the property of indexing one argument, the intransitive subject, which when overt is in absolutive form (§8.1.1).

### 14.2.1 The intransitive paradigm

Table 14.1 illustrates the paradigm of intransitive verbs in Kamnyu Japhug, using the verb *cɛ* ‘go’ in the Factual non-past<fnref n="1" /> as an example. Other Japhug dialects have slightly different indexation suffixes, a question discussed in §14.8.1 with comparative evidence from other Gyalrong languages.

<footnote n="1">¹This TAM category is chosen to illustrate the paradigms due to the fact that it does not bear any orientation preverb, but at the same time presents stem alternation in the transitive paradigm.</footnote>
## 14 Person indexation and argument structure

There is no stem alternation related to person indexation in the intransitive paradigm in any Japhug dialect. The invariable stem is represented with the symbol Σ in Table 14.1.<fnref n="2" />

<table><caption>Table 14.1: The intransitive conjugation in Japhug</caption><thead><tr><th>Person</th><th>Form</th><th>če 'go' (Factual non-past)</th></tr></thead><tbody><tr><td>1SG</td><td>Σ-a</td><td>če-a</td></tr><tr><td>1DU</td><td>Σ-tči</td><td>če-tči</td></tr><tr><td>1PL</td><td>Σ-ji</td><td>če-j</td></tr><tr><td>2SG</td><td>tuu-Σ</td><td>tuu-če</td></tr><tr><td>2DU</td><td>tuu-Σ-ndži</td><td>tuu-če-ndži</td></tr><tr><td>2PL</td><td>tuu-Σ-nu</td><td>tuu-če-nu</td></tr><tr><td>3SG</td><td>Σ</td><td>če</td></tr><tr><td>3DU</td><td>Σ-ndži</td><td>če-ndži</td></tr><tr><td>3PL</td><td>Σ-nu</td><td>če-nu</td></tr><tr><td>generic</td><td>kuu-Σ</td><td>kuu-če</td></tr></tbody></table>

With a few well-identified exceptions, the indexation suffixes agree in person and number with the intransitive subject in Japhug. There is no indexation with possessors or oblique arguments, unlike closely related languages like Khroskyabs (Lai 2015) or Tangut (Jacques 2016e).

In the intransitive paradigm, five suffixes and two prefixes are found. The stress is always on the last syllable of the verb stem (§11.3, except in a handful of forms, §3.7), and all person indexation suffixes, including -a, are unstressed and sometimes are even devoiced (§3.7). Unlike other languages of the Trans-Himalayan, such as Khaling (where the dual inclusive and the third dual are homophonous, see Jacques et al. 2012: 1113), in Japhug all slots in the intransitive paradigm are distinct, without ambiguity.

### 14.2.1.1 First person

First person subjects are indexed by a set of three suffixes marking both person and number: -a, -tči and -ji for first singular, dual and plural, respectively. As in the pronominal paradigms (§6.1), there is no inclusive/exclusive distinction in Japhug; inclusive first+second person is indexed as 1DU or 1PL, as shown by

<footnote n="2">²This notation follows the Kirantological tradition (for instance van Driem 1993a).</footnote>
examples such as (1) where the 1<u>DU indexation corresponds to the sum of the 2<u>SG and 1<u>SG pronouns in the phrase *nyzo cʰo azo ni*. Equivalent examples with exclusive meaning (1<u>SG</u>+3<u>SG</u>) can be found in the corpus, for instance (23) below in §14.2.6.<fnref n="3" />

(1) nyzo cʰo azo ni, nyki, r宋mtsʰu u-taɣ nuctu χsw-sŋi
2<u>SG</u> COMIT 1<u>SG</u> DU FILLER sea 3<u>SG</u>.POSS-ON DEM:LOC three-day
cw-nykaɣ-tci, cw-nympole-tci.
TRAL-have.a.good.time:FACT-1<u>DU</u> TRAL-do.sightseeing:FACT-1<u>DU</u>
‘You and I will go on a three day tour on the sea.’ (150827
mengjiangnv-zh) {0006290#S213}

The 1<u>SG</u> -a suffix is the only suffix in Japhug with a vowel other than u (or i after palatal and alveolo-palatal consonants, §3.5.2), and is the only indexation suffix that can be followed by another indexation suffix in the transitive paradigm (§14.3.2.6). The -a 1<u>SG</u> person index is among the suffixes revealing the underlying form of the codas: -β, -γ, -κ, -ζ, which become unvoiced in some contexts (§3.2.2) are realized as voiced (see for instance in Table 14.2 below; -β is realized [-w-] in this context, since it becomes an onset, §3.2.1), but the coda -t remains unvoiced (for instance *scit-a* be.happy-1<u>SG</u> ‘I am happy’). The codas are resyllabified; for instance *scit-a* is syllabified as *sci/ta*).

Some verb stems (independently of transitivity) undergo predictable phono-
logical alterations when followed by -a. With verb stems whose last syllable is
an open syllable, the -a suffix merges its vowel. With closed syllable verb stem
in -ɛc (C representing a coda), the 1SG suffix causes vowel assimilation. These
phonological rules are presented in Table 14.2.

When the verb stem ends in -a, the 1<u>SG</u> suffix merges with the stem as [a] in Kamnyu Japhug, resulting in homophony between the 1<u>SG</u> and the 3<u>SG</u> forms. The surface form [rga] corresponds to both 1<u>SG</u> *rga-a* ‘I like it’ and 3<u>SG</u> *rga* ‘he likes it’. The fused and invisible suffix is systematically indicated in the orthography used in this grammar. In the Sarndzu of Japhug, a long vowel occurs in the 1<u>SG</u>, which thus remains different from the 3<u>SG</u>.

When the verb stem ends in vowels other than -a, these vowels undergo synize-
sis with the -a suffix (§3.3.1.3), merging into one syllable. In addition, the mid-high
vowels -e and -o become the corresponding high vowels -i and -u in this context.

These vowel mergers are obligatory in the Kamnyu dialect. However, there
are not attested in all Japhug dialects, which may favor hiatus.

<footnote n="3">³In the transitive paradigm, the inclusive/exclusive distinction is not present either, but note
the case of inclusive semi-reflexive configurations (§14.3.2.4).</footnote>
14 Person indexation and argument structure

With verb stem ending in -r̥t, -r̥n, -r̥β, -r̥m, -r̥r, -r̥l and -r̥z, the 1SG suffix causes non-optional vowel assimilation -r̥C-a ⇒ /-aCa/ (§3.3.1.2). Table 14.2 provides examples for all rhymes of this type. In the orthography employed in this grammar, these forms are transcribed as aC-a rather than the underlying r̥C-a (jy̥at-a rather than jy̥r̥t-a), to indicate the fact that r̥ ⇒ a assimilation is obligatory in this context.

<table><caption>Table 14.2: Predictable phonological alternations on the verb stem caused by the -a 1SG suffix in Kamnyu Japhug</caption><thead><tr><th>Rhyme of the last syllable of the verb stem</th><th>Result of fusion with the 1SG suffix</th><th>Examples</th></tr></thead><tbody><tr><td>-e</td><td>[-ia]</td><td>če-a ⇒ [çia] 'I will go there'</td></tr><tr><td>-o</td><td>[-ua]</td><td>tso-a ⇒ [tsua] 'I understand it'</td></tr><tr><td>-a</td><td>[-a]</td><td>rga-a ⇒ [rga] 'I like it'</td></tr><tr><td>-r̥β</td><td>[-awa]</td><td>tʰu-rdγβ-a ⇒ [tʰuwdáwa] 'I lost money'</td></tr><tr><td>-r̥m</td><td>[-ama]</td><td>mtsʰrγm-a ⇒ [mtsʰáma] 'I hear it'</td></tr><tr><td>-r̥t</td><td>[-ata]</td><td>jyγt-a ⇒ [jyáta] 'I will come back'</td></tr><tr><td>-r̥n</td><td>[-ana]</td><td>tu-nušmγn-a ⇒ [tunušmána] 'I will treat it'</td></tr><tr><td>-r̥r</td><td>[-ara]</td><td>pu-αr-r-a ⇒ [patára] 'I fell down'</td></tr><tr><td>-r̥l</td><td>[-ala]</td><td>nu-nuwtuſcγl-a ⇒ [nunuwtuſcála] 'I had diarrhea'</td></tr><tr><td>-r̥z</td><td>[-aza]</td><td>mkʰzγz-a ⇒ [mkʰáza] 'I am expert at it'</td></tr></tbody></table>

The first dual -tçi suffix (-tsə in some dialects of Japhug, §14.8.1) only causes regular devoicing assimilation on the coda of the verb stem: -z, -r, -y, -χ are realized as -s, -ṣ, -x, -χ when followed by -tçi (for instance mkʰzγz-tçi is pronounced [mkʰɛ́stçi]). The labial coda -β is not affected.

The first plural -ji has two allomorphs, -j and -i. The first one occurs on verb stems ending in open syllables, for instance če-j 'we (will) go', and the second follows verb stems in closed syllables, such as scit-i 'we are happy', with resyllabification of the coda (sci/ti). Like the -a suffix discussed above, the suffix -i reveals the underlying form of the codas. The contrast between -u and -i is neutralized as [i] when followed by the 1PL suffix: for instance, the last syllable of smi tʰu-βlu-j 'we made a fire' and lypwy pu-βli-j 'we planted radish' is considered to be homophonous (the last syllable is realized as [βlij]) by Tshendzin (§3.3.2).
### 14.2.1.2 Non-first person

Second and third person forms have the same set of suffixes (zero, -ndʒi and -nu for singular, dual and plural, respectively) and only differ by the presence of a *tu-* prefix in second person forms. Unlike in Situ (Lin 1993: 197–208), there is no second person suffix in the 2sg.

The non-first person dual and plural suffixes -ndʒi and -nu (some Japhug di-alects have -ndzə in the dual instead, see §14.8.1) nasalize the coda -t to [n], which is not audible before -ndʒi and results in a geminate in the plural. For instance, *scit-ndʒi* and *scit-nu* are realized as [scíndʒi] and [scínnu], respectively. The vowel -i and -u is often elided, resulting in apparent -n codas. The contrast between the codas -n and -t is neutralized in these forms: the last two syllables of both *tu-* *n̥vndut-nu* IPFV-fight-PL ‘they fight (over it)’ and *pju-ndun-nu* IPFV-read-PL ‘they read/recite it’ are thus realized as [ndvʌnnu].

By contrast, the codas -β, -γ and -κ are *not* nasalized to [m], [ŋ] and [ɲ] when followed by the suffixes -ndʒi and -nu, respectively.

The second person *tu-* prefix fuses with the initial *a-* of contracting verbs (§12.3). The result of vowel fusion is *tu-a-* ⇒ [ta] in the Factual Non-past (*tu-αtir* ‘you will fall down’) or the Aorist (*jir*-**tu-ari** ‘you went there’), but *tu-γ-* ⇒ [tγ] in Irrealis, Imperative, Imperfective or Prohibitive (*ma-tir*-**tu-γcqʰe** ‘don’t cough’) forms. Some irregular verbs have unpredictable second person forms (§14.2.2). The generic intransitive subject prefix *ku-* (also used for the object of transitive verbs, see §14.3.2.5) follows the same rules of vowel fusion as the second person prefix.

### 14.2.2 Irregular intransitive verbs

In comparison with Zbu (Gong 2018), Japhug only has very few irregular verbs. Irregularities related to person marking in Japhug all involve the prefixes.

The second person forms of Sensory Evidential existential verbs γγẓu ‘exist’ and *maŋe* ‘not exist’ (§21.3.2.1) are infixed rather than prefixed. The infixed forms are γγtγẓu and *maṭaŋe*, as in (2) (from Jacques 2012a: 91) and (3). These two verbs lack non-finite morphology (§16.7) and do not occur in other tenses (§15.1.1.5) and can be considered to be suppletive forms of the existential verbs *tu* ‘exist’ and *me* ‘not exist’ (§13.1.2).

(2) icqʰa turme ra nu-rca γγ<tγ>ẓu
the aforementioned person PL 3PL.POSS-following <2sg>exist:SENS
'[I saw] you among these people.' (elicited)
14 Person indexation and argument structure

(3) kʷ-mtsʰym maka ma<ta>ŋe tce, n-kʷ-mŋm
INF-hear at.all <2SG>notuez:SENS LNK 2SG.POSS-SBJ:PCP-hurt
tu ʷbrγ-ŋu ma, mγ-kʷ-pe tu
exist:FACT RH.Q-be:FACT SFP NEG-SBJ:PCP-be.good:FACT exist:FACT
 wbrγ-ŋu ma nʷra nʷ-s/so-t-a.
RH.Q-be:FACT SFP DEM:PL AOR-think-PST:TR-1SG

[I] have not heard at all about you [for some time], I was wondering
whether you have some disease, whether something bad happened to
you.' (phone conversation, 16-12-28)

These are not the only infixed forms in the paradigm of these verbs: the generic person ku- is also infixed (yγkγžu, makaje) as is the autive nu- (§11.2.1).

The verb *zyut* ‘arrive’ has in part of its paradigm forms that are identical to those of contracting verbs (§12.3). In the Aorist, it has two alternative second person forms in free variation, the regular *jγ-tu-zyut* and the form *jγ-tu-azyut* with an additional *a-*, illustrated by (5) and (4), coming from two versions of the same story by the same speaker.

(4) a-rkʷ mʷ-jγ-tu-azyut mγctša mʷ-pu-ta-mtsʰym tce
1SG.POSS-side NEG-AOR-2-arrive until NEG-AOR-1→2-hear LNK
‘I did not feel your [presence] until you arrived near me.’ (2012 Norbzang)
{0003768#S224}

(5) jγ-tu-zγut tce, nγki, azo a-kʰa a-jγ-tu-z-mγke
AOR-2-arrive LNK FILLER 1SG 1SG.POSS-house IRR-PFV-2-CAUS-be.first[III]
ma nγj nγ-kʰa a-mγ-jγ-tu-z-mγke ra
LNK 2SG 2SG.POSS-house IRR-NEG-PFV-2-CAUS-be.first[III] be.needed:FACT
mʷ-tγ-tu-tušt
NEG-AOR-2-say[III]

‘You did not say “When you arrive, don’t go first to your house, come to my house first.”’ (2005 Norbzang)

The paradigm of this verb otherwise includes non-optional contracting (*jγ-azyut* ‘he arrived’) and non-contracting forms (the immediate converb *ju-tu-zyut* ‘as soon as X arrived’, §16.6.3).

14.2.3 Semi-transitive verbs

Semi-transitive verbs have the same paradigm as plain intransitive verbs, and
lack the morphological properties of transitive verbs (§14.3.1). Their intransitive
subject is in absolutive form. However, they take a semi-object (§8.1.5), also in ab-
solutive form, as *paχci* ‘apple’ in (6). These semi-objects do present some objectal
properties (§8.1.5, §23.5.4.1).

(6) tce azo tʰam kuki, paχci ci ty-aro-a tce tcendre, [...]
LNK 1SG NOW DEM.PROX apple INDEF AOR-have-1SG LNK LNK
nwzora kwny ta-sw-yke-nw ra
2PL also 1→2-CAUS-be.needed.eat:FACT-PL be.needed:FACT
‘Now that I have (i.e. was given) this apple, I will give it to you also to eat.’
(150904 zhongli-zh) {0006348#S32}

Unlike transitive verbs, which can index the number of the object if the subject is 1SG (§14.3.2.6), semi-transitive verbs cannot add a person index after the 1SG -a. For instance, in (7), although the object is plural, a form such as †aroa-a-nu with the -nu plural prefix is strictly prohibited.

(7) azo ty-rjit χswm aro-a
I INDEF.POSS-child three have:FACT-1SG
‘I have three children.’ (elicited)

The subject of some semi-transitive verbs, in particular *tso* ‘know, understand’ and *zγyρa* ‘pretend’, can optionally be marked with the ergative like a transitive subject (§8.2.2.3), as *ty-mu nu kw* in (8) and *βda{mu nu kw* in (9).

(8) tcendre [ty-mu nw kw] cw ηu nw maka
LNK INDEF.POSS-mother DEM ERG who be:FACT DEM at.all
mw-pjy-tso tceri
NEG-IFR.IPFV-know LNK
‘The old woman did not realize who it was.’ (2002 qaCpa)

(9) icqʰa βdaʌmu nw kw [wuma zo w-swm
the.aforementioned lady DEM ERG really EMPH 3SG.POSS-mind
kw-sna] to-zγyρa
SBJ:PCP-be.good IFR-pretend
‘The lady pretended to be a good person.’ (140520 ye tiane-zh)
{0004044#S41}

Some semi-transitive verbs can take both nominal semi-objects and comple-
ment clauses. For instance, *tso* (which can be translated as ‘know’, ‘understand’
or ‘realize’ depending on the context) occurs with nouns referring to speech or
meaning as semi-object (as in 10), finite relative clauses (11) and also participial
clauses (12, §24.5.4.2).
14 Person indexation and argument structure

(10) pja mundz̥amw̥tcwɣ nɔ̥-skvṭ a-pw-tu̥-tso smulɔ̥m
bird all.kinds 3PL.POSS-speech IRR-IPFV-2-understand prayer
‘May you understand the speech of all species of birds!’
(2003kandZislama)

(11) ci kɣ-pa-tci, nɔ̥stʰuːci tɣ-nyrzaː ri, [nɔ̥stʰuːci nɣ-ku
one AOR-do-1DU so.much AOR-pass(time) LNK so.much 2SG.POSS-head
zru rcanw] mɔ̥-kɣ-tso-a
be.strong:FACT UNEXP:DEG NEG-AOR-know-1SG
‘So much time has passed since we have married, I did not realize that
your hair was so long.’ (2003 Kunbzang)

(12) tce [tceʰi w̥-skvṭ ku-ŋu ra] ku-tso-a
LNK what 3SG.POSS-speech SBJ:PCP-be PL IPFV-understand-1SG
ŋu-ra ma tu-tu̥-ti stuːsti, múj-cuːftaː-a p̥u-ti
SENS-be-needed LNK IPFV-2-say alone NEG:SENS-remember-1SG SENS-say
‘He says: “I need to understand what it is about (what objects these words
refer to), otherwise if you only speak (if you only explain orally) I won’t
remember.”’ (conversation 14-05-10)

Among semi-transitive verbs, we find the following subclasses:

• Verbs of cognition and perception: *tso* ‘know, understand’, ‘know’ *sɔŋo* ‘listen’

• Verbs of evaluation: *rga* ‘like’, *stu* ‘believe’, *duɣ* ‘have enough of’

• Modal verbs: cʰa ‘can’

• Verbs of possession: aro ‘own’

• Copulas: ɣu ‘be’, maɣ ‘not be’, apa ‘become’ (§22.5.1.1)

• Verbs of assignation: rmi ‘be called’, artsi ‘be counted as’, fse ‘be like’

• Verbs requiring an argument expressing time: acʰvṭ ‘be X years apart’, tsu ‘pass (of time)’

• Verbs of pretence: zγvpa ‘pretend’

• Verbs of obtaining (§15.1.5.6): ake ‘have to eat/drink’, βγvṭ ‘obtain’
• Some adjectival stative verbs: *mkʰɔ̃z̥* ‘be expert’, *pʰɔ̃n* ‘be efficient”

The Tshobdun verbs *cʰɔ* ‘can, be able’ and *rge* ‘like’, cognates of the Japhug semi-transitive verbs *cʰa* ‘can’ and *rga* ‘like’, are fully transitive, as shown by the forms *mv-koɣ-cʰv-aj* (NEG-2→1-can-1SG) ‘you cannot (kill) me’ (Sun & Blogros 2019: 634) and *ne-tn-rge* (IPFV-1→2-like) ‘I love you’ (Sun & Blogros 2019: 674), which occur with local portmanteau prefixes (§14.3.2.3).

Most semi-transitive verbs are underived bare roots. The only obviously derived verbs are *zyypa* ‘pretend’, which comes from the reflexive of the verb *pa* ‘do’ (§18.3.3) and *artsi* ‘be counted as’, passive of *rtsi* ‘count’. The verb *aro* ‘own’ is possibly analyzable as a denominal verb historically derived from *tɔ-ro* ‘surplus, leftover’ (§16.4.6, §20.2.1).

Most semi-transitive verbs do not usually take a human semi-object, so that sentences with a first or second person semi-object are generally clumsy to build. For some of the verbs above, applicative forms are used when a first or second person object is needed, for instance *nurga* ‘like’ and *nrstu* ‘believe’ (§17.4.1). The verbs *stu* ‘believe’ and *nrstu* ‘believe’ differ in that the semi-object of the former refers to words (in general, a complement clause; ‘believe that X’) while the object of the latter is a person (‘believe him’).

However, examples with subjects and semi-objects both either first or second person are attested. For instance, (13) shows a very spontaneous use of a 2SG semi-object with a 1SG subject with the verb *fse* ‘be like’. Only the subject is indexed (with the suffix -a) and the use of the transitive *ta-* 1→2 portmanteau prefix (§14.3.2.3) here would be nonsensical.

(13) *a-ki*, *nyzo w-riu-fse-a?*
1SG.Poss-younger.sibling 2SG QU-SENS-be lik e-1SG
'Sister, do I look like you?' (2014-kWlAG)

The same is observed with the copulas *ŋu* ‘be’, *maŋ* ‘not be’ and also *apa* ‘be-
come’ as in (14) and (15). (see also §22.5.1.1) The copulas always index the subject,
never the semi-object, independently of any person hierarchy (see 66 in §14.3.2.8
below), and cannot take the *ta-* 1→2 and *kuu-* 2→1 portmanteau prefixes.

(14) *nyzo nwi-apa-a*
2SG AOR-become-1SG
'I became you.' (elicited)

(15) *azo nwi-tn-apa*
1SG AOR-2-become
'You became me.' (elicited)
14 Person indexation and argument structure

Some semi-transitive verbs are labile; some have a transitive counterpart, while others have a plain intransitive one (§14.5.3). The meaning of the verb also slightly changes depending on transitivity (for instance, *rga* means ‘like’ when semi-transitive, and ‘be happy’ when stative intransitive).

The antipassive form of secundative verbs (§14.4.2.2), such as *rъmbi* ‘give to someone’ have a status intermediate between semi-transitive and monotransitive verbs: they lack most transitive features (§14.3.1), but can index first and second person objects (§14.4.2, §18.6.4).

14.2.4 Intransitive verbs with oblique arguments

Semi-transitive verbs have to be distinguished from motion verbs (or perception verbs) with a goal (§8.1.8), such as *ce* ‘go’, *yi* ‘come’ or *ru* ‘look at’. These verbs are morphologically intransitive, lacking the morphological characteristics of transitive verbs (§14.3.1).

With these verbs, the goal can occur in absolutive form, and superficially resembles a semi-object, as *swъgw* ‘forest’ in (16). Indexation obligatorily occurs with the subject (for example, the 3<u>DU</u> form in 16), never with the goal. As in the case of semi-transitive verbs, number stacking on the 1<u>SG</u> -*a* is not possible (§14.2.3, example 7).

(16) *ъnwъz ni, [swъgw] jo-ce-ndzi.
    two DU forest IFR-go-DU
    ‘Two [men] went into the forest.’ (26-tAGe) {0003686#S1}

However, unlike semi-objects, these goals can optionally take locative postpo-
sitions, such as *zu* in (17).

(17) *ty-pъtso numu li [swъgw zu] jo-ce.
INDEF POSS-child DEM again forest LOC IFR-go
‘The child went again into the forest.’ (140428 yonggan de xiaocaifen-zh)
{0003886#S217}

Dative marking on the goals is also well-attested, as in (18) – with motion
verbs, it translates as ‘towards X’.

(18) tcʰem(wu nu ku u-wa cʰo u-pi nwa
girl DEM ERG 3SG.POSS-father COMIT 3SG.POSS-elder.sibling DEM:PL
np-βde tce, swŋgw u-cki tce jo-ce.
IFR-leave LNK forest 3SG.POSS-DAT LOC IFR-go
‘The girl left her father and her brothers, and went toward the forest.’
(140506 shizi he huichang de bailingniao) {0003927#S72}
The subject of intransitive verbs with goals is in absolutive form, except when
shared with a transitive verb in another clause, as *tɛʰemɛ́rpu nu ku* in (18), which
owes its ergative marking to the transitive verb *ŋr-βde* ‘She left them’. The verb
*rpu* ‘bump into’ (which takes as goal the surface of physical contact) however can
take ergative subjects, as it is labile and can be conjugated transitively (§14.5.2).
Transitive verbs of manipulation can optionally take goals that are formally sim-
ilar to those of *ɛe* ‘go’ and *yi* ‘come’ (§14.5.4).

Some intransitive verbs of speech, *ruɛmi* ‘speak’ and *akʰu* ‘call’, can optionally
take a dative argument, as in (19).

(19) *turme u-cki*   *tu-ruœmi-a*   *cti*   *wo*
person 3SG.POSS-DAT IPFV-speak-1SG be.AFF:FACT SFP
‘I am talking to someone [else].’ (phone conversation, 2013-12-02)

Other than locative and dative, some intransitive verbs select oblique argu-
ments with the genitive (§8.2.3) the relator noun *u-taɣ* ‘on, above’ (§8.3.4.3) and
verbs with intrinsically non-singular subjects often occur with comitative post-
positional phrases in *cʰo* (§14.2.6).

Some intransitive verbs which cannot take semi-objects do occur with counted nouns (in particular, *ruemí* ‘speak’); these counted nouns however have scope over the whole sentence, and are not arguments of these verbs, as argued in §7.3.2.5.

14.2.5 Semi-transitive verbs with additional oblique arguments

Some semi-transitive verbs can have up to three arguments, and are therefore
trivalent.<fnref n="4" /> This is the case of rogative verbs (§18.2) such as *symbi* ‘ask for’ (derived
from the secundative verb *mbi* ‘give’), which have both a dative argument and a
semi-object, as shown by (20), but are yet conjugated intransitively (the generic
subject is marked by *ku-*, §14.3.2.5).

(20) <guojia> *u-pʰe* <piaozhi> *pu-kuu-s-mbi*
country 3SG.POSS-DAT money IPFV-GENR:S/O-ROG-give
‘Ask the government for money.’ (2010)

14.2.6 Intrinsically non-singular subjects

Some intransitive verbs have an intrinsic reciprocal meaning, and do not occur
in singular form. This category includes most derived reciprocal verbs (§18.4),

<footnote n="4">⁴This shows that trivalent verbs in Japhug are not necessarily ditransitive (§14.4).</footnote>
but also some historical reciprocal verbs that are synchronically non-analyzable
such as *amumi* ‘be on good terms’, and denominal verbs in *a-* like *anumqaj* ‘fight’
or *acya* ‘be the same age’ (§20.2.1). Example (21) provides some examples of verbs
of this type. In the corpus, these verbs only occur in dual or plural form.

(21) tce a-pi a-ъи ra kutcu
LNK 1SG.POSS-elder.sibling 1SG.POSS-younger.sibling PL here
a-nu-tu-ynwuro-nu, ci ci a-ty-tu-ynwmqaj-nu, ci ci
IRR-PFV-2-<AUTO>play-PL once once IRR-PFV-2-fight-PL once once
a-ty-tu-ymwumi-nu qʰe a-ky-tu-nu-r-yzi-nu,
IRR-PFV-2-be.on.good.terms-PL LNK IRR-PFV-2-AUTO-stay-PL

‘Brothers, stay here and play, fight from time to time, reconcile with each other from time to time.’ (2003kandzwsqhaj)

The subject of these verbs can be a noun phrase comprising a comitative post-
positional phrase in *cʰo* (see §8.2.5 and §9.2.1), in particular with reciprocal verbs
(§18.4.1); number indexation on the verb reflects the addition of the added num-
ber of all nominals in the noun phrase. For example, in (22) and (23), the verbs
have dual indexation, referring to the total number of individuals in the subject
noun phrase connected by the comitative *cʰo*.

(22) <maerjina> nu cʰo <alibaba> ni wuma zo
ANTHR DEM COMIT ANTHR DU really EMPH
pjx-k-ymwumi-ndzi tce
PST.IFR-PEG-be.on.good.terms-DU LNK

‘Maerjina and Alibaba were in very good terms.’ (140512 alibaba-zh)
{0003965#S291}

(23) nyj ny-mu cʰo azo ni acya-tci
2SG 2SG.POSS-mother COMIT 1SG DU be.of.the在同一.age:FACT-1DU

‘I have the same age as your mother.’ (‘You mother and I have the same age’) (elicited)

The verb *acʰyšt* ‘be X years apart’ has an intrinsically non-singular subject, and
is at the same time semi-transitive (§14.2.3), taking as semi-object a temporal
noun phrase expressing the age difference between the members of the group
referred to by the subject (§19.7.7).

The verb *alulšt* ‘fight’, historically the reciprocal of *št* ‘release’ (§18.4.1.3), almost always has non-singular indexation, either with a non-singular intransitive subject as in (24), or with a comitative phrase (25) as in examples (22) and (23) above.
(24) tceki qro ni pw-ylwlyt-ndzi
down ant DU SENS-fight-DU
'Down there two ants are fighting.' (conversation140501-01)

(25) bdwkpakyrpu w-tcw cʰondvre a-tcw ni to-k-ylwlyt-ndzi
ANTHR 3SG.POSS-SON COMIT 3SG.POSS-SON DU IFR-PEG-fight-DU
'The son of Gdugpa Dkarpo fought with my son.' (2011-04-smanmi)

However, examples with singular indexation are also attested, for instance (26) and (27) with 2SG form. Both are from texts translated from Chinese, but were not considered infelicitous by Tshendzin. While direct Chinese influence on indexation is unlikely, the use of alu't 'fight' with the person one fights against left unexpressed (as in 26) or marked in the dative (as in 27), is not attested elsewhere.<fnref n="5" />

(26) ki cwŋgw ki pwpuŋun, nyzo kw icqʰa mkʰyrmay yw
DEM.PROX before DEM.PROX TOP 2SG ERG FILLER people GEN
nw-ndza kw ty-tw-alwlyt pw-ŋu tce,
3PL.POSS-reason ERG AOR-2-fight PST.IPFV-be LNK
'The previous time, you fought for the sake of the people.' (140512 abide
he mogui-zh) {0003975#S86}

(27) tce nyzo ny-rpw w-cki, nykinw, tu-tw-ylwlyt ndvre
LNK 2SG 2SG.POSS-MB 3SG.POSS-DAT FILLER IPFV-2-fight LNK
my-pe
NEG-be.good:FACT
'It is not good for you to fight with your uncle.' (150826 baoliandeng-zh)
{0006370#S178}

The verb *naxtɛwy* ‘be the same’, although requiring the comparison of at least two entities, most often occurs with singular indexation, as shown by examples like (28) and (29). This may be due to the fact *naxtɛwy* ‘be the same’ is commonly used with inanimate referents (§14.6.1.1), and also because it commonly takes degree nominals (§16.3) as subjects in the equative construction (§26.3.1.1). These degree nominals can take non-singular possessors (dual in 29), but remain themselves singular arguments.

<footnote n="5">⁵The Chinese original sentences of examples (26) and (27) are 你是为众人的利益而战 <nǐ shì wèi zhòngrén de liyì érzhàn> ‘You were fighting for the interest of the people’ and 你不该和 舅舅动手 <nǐ bùgǎi hé jiùjiù dòngshǒu> ‘You should not get into a fight with your uncle’.</footnote>
14 Person indexation and argument structure

(28) tce nwnw qazo w-yli nw li tsʰy̥t yw w-yli
LNK DEM sheep 3SG.POSS-dung DEM again goat 3SG.POSS-dung COMIT
cʰo naχtcwy zo tce,
be.the same: FACT EMPH LNK
'Sheep dung is similar to goat dung.' (05-qaZo) {0003404#S90}

(29) ndzi-tu-wxti pwo-naχtcwy
3DU.POSS-NMLZ:DEG-be.big SENS-be.the same
'They have the same size.' ('Their size is the same.') (24-ZmbrWpGa)
{0003628#S3}

14.2.7 Invariable intransitive verbs

A non-negligible amount of intransitive verbs are only attested in 3SG form. Four categories must be distinguished.

First, we find intransitive auxiliary verbs taking complement clauses as intransitive subjects (§24.5.3.1), for instance *jɣɣ* ‘be allowed’, which has 3SG indexation regardless of the person of the subject or the object in the complement clause, as shown by example (30). For verbs of this type, the indexation restriction is structurally determined and independent of semantics.

(30) aẓo a-me nw [nɣzwɣ ny-rzaβ pwo-kʰam-a]
1SG 1SG.POSS-daughter DEM 2SG:GEN 2SG.POSS-wife SENS-give-1SG
jɣɣ, [nɣ-rzaβ a-ky-βze] jɣɣ
be. allowed: FACT 2SG.POSS-wife IRR-PFV-make[III] be. allowed: FACT
'(If you succeed), I will agree to give my daughter to you in marriage, she
can become your wife (140518 huifei de uma-zh) {0004026#S66}

A second type of invariable verbs are those exclusively attested in noun-verb collocations where the noun is the intransitive subject. For instance, the intransitive verbs *mbi* and *ŋgu* are only found<fnref n="6" /> in collocation with *ty-mbru* ‘anger’ and the orphan noun *tw-kyo*, meaning ‘be angry’ and ‘be discouraged be frustrated, lose heart’, respectively. The person and number of the experiencer are marked by the possessive prefix on the nouns, as in (31), and since these nouns are always singular, the verb indexation is also always in 3SG form.

<footnote n="6">⁶There are homophonous verbs such as the transitive *mbi* ‘give’ and the adjectival stative verb *ŋgu* ‘be poor’ but these are synchronically and even historically unrealted (*mbi* is an anti-causative verb, see §18.5.4).</footnote>
(31) *nʷ-mbrʷ* *a-m-ty-ŋgw*, *a*
2SG.POSS-be.angry(1) IRR-NEG-PFV-be.angry(2) INTERJ
*nʷ-ко* *a-my-nʷ-mbi*
2SG.POSS-be.discouraged(1) IRR-NEG-PFV-be.discouraged(2)
'Don't be angry, don't feel frustrated.' (2003kAndzwsqhaj2)

This constraint on indexation is also found in collocations (§22.4.1) in cases when the verb is elsewhere attested, for instance *tʷ-кijiz* + *yi* ‘wish’, with the motion verb *yi* ‘come’ (§16.5.1, §24.6.3.3). The verb *yi* is compatible with all person indexation affixes, but in this collocation it is only found in 3SG, regardless of the person of the possessive prefix on *tʷ-кijiz*, as shown by (32).

(32) *nʷ a-кijiz* *yi* *cti*
DEM 1SG.POSS-wish come:FACT be.AFF:FACT
'I want that.' (140520 xiaoyida de huar-zh) {0004042#S60}

A third type of verbs with restricted 3SG indexation are verbs which pragmatically require an inanimate subject, such as *rpjw* ‘turn sour’, which can only apply with *ty-lu* ‘milk’, as in (33) and would be nonsensical in first or second person.

(33) *ty-lu* *to-rpjw*
INDEF.POSS-milk IFR-turn.sour
'The milk turned sour.' (elicited)

Fourth, meteorological verbs such as *yutsʰyduy* ‘hot’ or *qanu* ‘be dark’ occur with a dummy intransitive subject, as in (34) and (35). In these examples, *qʰaqʰu* ‘behind the house’ and *cyr* ‘night’ are locative and temporal absolutive adjuncts, respectively (§8.1.9), not the subjects of these sentences.

(34) *qʰaqʰu* *myzw* *pyu-yuutsʰydwy*
behind.the.house even-more SENS-be.hot
'It feels even hotter behind the house.' (conversation 14-05-10)

(35) *tce cyr wuma zo kʷ-qanu* *tce*
LNK night really EMPH AOR-be.dark aboutLNK
'In the night, when it has become very dark.' (23-qapGAmtWmtW)
{0003608#S129}

The noun *tʷ-mu* ‘sky, weather’ occurs in a few cases as subject of intransitive meteorological verbs in the corpus, in examples such as (36), but only in
14 Person indexation and argument structure

texts translated from Chinese. These sentences are rejected by Tshendzin, and
the presence of *tu-mu* ‘sky, weather’ is a calque from Chinese 天气 <tiānqì>
‘weather’.<fnref n="7" />

(36) tcendyre tuu-muu w-tuu-yuutsʰydiduy
LNK INDEF.POSS-sky 3SG.POSS-NMLZ:degree-be.hot
pjγ-syre zo tce,
IFR.IPFV-be.ridiculous EMPH LNK
(140512 fushang he yaomo-zh) {0003967#S6}

Some verbs may appear to be invariable only because the non-3SG forms are rare. For instance, the auxiliary verb *ra* ‘be needed’ resembles *jγy* ‘be allowed’ in taking complement clauses as intransitive subject (§24.5.3.1), and it is almost always used in 3SG form. However, in the meaning ‘need, want’, it can take a human as subject, and (37) provides an example of 2SG indexation with this verb.

(37) tʰu-nuu-ce ma, mγ-tuu-ra
IMP:DOWNSTREAM-VERT-GO LNK NEG-2-need:FACT
‘Go back, [I] don’t need you.’ (2002 qaCpa)

14.3 Transitive verbs

14.3.1 The morphological marking of transitivity in Japhug

Transitivity in Japhug can be defined exclusively on the basis of verbal morphol-
ogy. Transitive verbs have the following six common properties.

First, the Aorist 3SG→3' (§21.5.1.1, §21.1.1.1),<fnref n="8" /> a form that is attested on all transi-
tive verbs except for one (§14.3.4) requires a C-type orientation preverb (§15.1.1.1)
in Kamnyu Japhug. This test can always be applied to distinguish a transitive verb
from an intransitive one. For instance, the Aorist 3SG→3' of *ndza* ‘eat’ is *ta-ndza*
‘he ate it’ with the C-type prefix *ta-*, while an A-type prefix *tr-* would be expected
if the verb were intransitive (the incorrect form †*tr-ndza*). A potential problem
with this test is the fact that the result of the merger of A-type orientation pre-
verbs with the initial *a-* of contracting verbs (which are always intransitive, see
§12.3) is formally identical to a C-type prefix, for instance the Aorist 3SG *tr-ala*

<footnote n="7">⁷Example (36) corresponds to 由于天气太热 <yóuyú tiānqì tài rè> ‘Because it was too hot’ in the Chinese original.</footnote>

<footnote n="8">⁸The notation 3SG→3' means 'third singular subject with another third person object', see §14.3.2.</footnote>
‘it boiled up’ is realized /tala/, the first syllable /ta-/ being homophonous with that of *ta-ndza* ‘he ate it’. It is therefore necessary to take into consideration the Factual Non-Past form (§21.3.1.1) to determine whether the stem has initial *a*. A contrast similar to the one between A-type and C-type orientation preverbs is also found on the apprehensive prefix *cwu-*, which has a form *ca-* in the 3SG→3' Past form of transitive verbs (§21.7.1).

Second, verbs with open-syllable stems allowing stem III alternation (-a, -o, -u and -u, §12.2.2.1) have stem III in all SG→3 non-past finite forms (§12.2.2.2). For instance, the Factual Non-Past 3SG→3' of *ndza* ‘eat’ has the stem III form *ndze* ‘he will eat it’. If this were intransitive, the stem I *ndza* would be found instead. This alternation is an effective test to determine if a verb is transitive or not, but its applicability depends on the form of the stem.

Third, transitive verbs require a bare infinitive (§16.2.2) when occurring in specific complement clauses, while intransitive verbs select dental infinitives (§16.2.3). In (38) for example, *ndza* ‘eat’ occurs in a complement clause governed by the phasal verb *tu-za-nu* ‘they start’ in bare infinitive form. If it were an intransitive verb, a dental infinitive (†*tu-ndza* *tu-za-nu*) would be found instead. This criterion is not applicable to all verbs, since some of them cannot occur in the subtype of complement clauses where bare infinitives are found for semantic reasons.

(38) *claš*

pjuš-si cwungw qʰe w-ca

IDPH(I):immediately IPFV-die before LNK 3SG.POSS-meat

w-ndza tu-za-nu.

3SG.POSS-BARE.INF:eat IPFV-start-PL

‘They start eating its flesh just before it dies.’ (20-sWNgi) {0003562#S54}

Fourth, the subject participles of transitive verbs require a possessive prefix coreferent with the object, unless another inflectional prefix (marking orientation, polarity or associated motion) precedes the participle prefix *ku-* (§16.1.1.1). The subject participle of *ndza* ‘eat’ is thus *u-ku-ndza* ‘the one who eats it’, and the prefix *u-* cannot be removed.<fnref n="9" />

Fifth, transitive verbs with open-syllable stems require the past tense *-t* suffix (§11.3, §14.3.2.1, §21.1.3) in Aorist and Past Imperfective 1SG→3 and 2SG→3 forms. For example, *tɔ-ndza-t-a* ‘I ate it’ has this past suffix; if this verb were intransitive, a form such as †*tɔ-ndza-a* would be found instead. This criterion only applies to open-syllable transitive verbs allowing first and second person subjects.

<footnote n="9">⁹In the negative form /mɔ-ku-ndza/ (NEG-PCP: SBJ-eat) ‘the one who does not eat it’, by contrast, the possessive prefix *u-* is optional.</footnote>
14 Person indexation and argument structure

Sixth, the Progressive *asu-* (§21.6.1.1) is only found on transitive verbs. For instance, the transitive verb *ndza* ‘eat’ has a Progressive Sensory 3SG→3’ form *juu-ysuu-ndza* ‘He is eating it’, which would not exist if this verb were intransitive.

Seventh, only transitive verbs<fnref n="10" /> can take the inverse *wy-* (§14.3.2.7) and the portmanteau *kuu-2→1* and *ta-1→2* prefixes (§14.3.2.3). The portmanteau prefixes are only found on verbs allowing human subjects and objects.

These seven criteria are almost completely congruent. With the exception of a handful of defective verbs (§14.3.4), the dummy transitive subject construction (§14.3.5), and the antipassive forms of some secundative verbs (§14.4.2, §18.6.4), if a verb satisfies one of these criteria, it will satisfies them all. This excludes cases when particular tests are not applicable, in particular criteria 2 and 5 if the verb has a closed-syllable stem or 3, 5, 6 and 7 due to semantic incompatibility. Only criteria 1 and 4 apply to all verbs.

Intransitive verbs, including semi-transitive verbs (§14.2.3) do not satisfy any of these seven criteria, as can be exemplified with the verb *tso* ‘know, understand’ (Table 14.3 and example 39 illustrating test 3).

<table><caption>Table 14.3: Transitivity tests with the semi-transitive verb *tso* ‘know, understand’</caption><thead><tr><th>Test</th><th>Attested Form</th><th>Expected form if transitive</th></tr></thead><tbody><tr><td>1 3SG Aorist (C-type preverb)</td><td>kɔ̃-tso</td><td>†ka-tso</td></tr><tr><td>2 Factual 3SG (Stem III)</td><td>tso</td><td>†tsɔ̃m</td></tr><tr><td>3 Dental infinitive</td><td>tuu-tso (kɔ̃-zɑ-t-a) (39)</td><td>†uu-tso (kɔ̃-zɑ-t-a)</td></tr><tr><td>4 Subject participle</td><td>kuu-tso</td><td>†uu-kuu-tso</td></tr><tr><td>5 Past tense 1/2SG</td><td>kɔ̃-tso-a</td><td>†kɔ̃-tso-t-a</td></tr><tr><td>6 Progressive</td><td>–</td><td>†asu-tso</td></tr><tr><td>7 Inverse or portmanteau prefix</td><td>–</td><td>†yuu-tso</td></tr></tbody></table>

(39) azo tuu-tso kɔ̃-zɑ-t-a
1SG INF:II-understand AOR-start-PST:TR-1SG
‘I began to understand.’ (elicited)

<footnote n="10">¹⁰Antipassive secundative verbs such as *rɔmbi* ‘give to someone’ are the only exception, see §14.4.2.2, examples (114a) and (114b).</footnote>
The morphosyntactic specificities of transitive verbs are not limited to inflec-
tional verbal morphology. Some derivational processes, such as antipassivization
(§18.6) and anticausativization (§18.5.1.2) can only be applied to transitive verbs,
and conversely other derivations (such as the applicative, §17.4) are only attested
on intransitive verbs. Since derivational morphology however, is not as produc-
tive as inflectional morphology and can be sometimes ambiguous, these charac-
teristics cannot be used to define transitivity in Japhug.

Another distinction between transitive and intransitive verbs is the fact that transitive subjects require ergative marking (§8.2.2.1), whereas intransitive subjects are generally in absolutive form (§8.1.1). This is not an absolute criterion to distinguish between transitive and intransitive verbs, however, since some transitive verbs have a dummy subject (§14.3.5), and since intransitive verbs with ergative marking are attested in specific contexts (§8.2.2.3, §8.2.2.2).

**14.3.2 Polypersonal indexation and direction marking**

In Japhug, as in other Gyalrongic languages, transitive verbs index two argu-
ments, the transitive subject and the object. This section provides a detailed anal-
ysis of the transitive indexation paradigm in comparison with the intransitive
conjugation.

The transitive conjugation comprises 31 different forms for each TAME cate-
gory, as listed in Table 14.6 on p.545. Table 14.7 exemplifies this paradigm using
the Factual Non-Past of the verb *mto* ‘see’. These two-dimensional tables (and
all other such tables in this chapter) list the subjects as rows and the objects
as columns. The polypersonal configurations are represented using the notation
*A*→*P*, where *A* stands for the person and number of the transitive subject, and
*P* for that of the object; for instance 1sg→3du means ‘first singular subject with
third du object’. 3' represents obviative third person, a concept described in more
detail in §14.3.2.2. The shaded cells 1→1, 2→2, 3→3 and 3'→3' correspond to re-
flexive forms, which are not transitive in Japhug, and are expressed by deriving
an intransitive verb using the prefix *zγr-* (§18.3). Generic person (§14.3.2.5) is not
included in Table 14.6.

One of the most fundamental features of the Japhug indexation system is the
fact that the affixes found in the intransitive paradigm also occur in the transitive
conjugation, and can index either the subject (intransitive S or transitive A) or the
object (O) (depending on the presence or absence of direction marking, §14.3.2.8)
as illustrated in Table 14.4 with the suffix -a and the prefix *tu*-. In other words,
the indexation affixes reflect neutral alignment.
14 Person indexation and argument structure

<table><caption>Table 14.4: Neutral alignment</caption><thead><tr><th></th><th>S</th><th>A</th><th>O</th></tr></thead><tbody><tr><td>1SG -a</td><td><strong>yi-a</strong><br>'I will come'</td><td><strong>mtam-a</strong><br>'I will see it'</td><td><strong>yu-mto-a</strong><br>'he will see me'</td></tr><tr><td>2SG tu-</td><td><strong>tuu-yi</strong><br>'You will come'</td><td><strong>tuu-mtym</strong><br>'You will see it'</td><td><strong>túu-wy-mto</strong><br>'he will see you'</td></tr></tbody></table>

When studying indexation systems of this type, it is useful to divide the space of bipersonal indexation into three domains (Zúñiga 2006; Jacques & Antonov 2014): the **LOCAL** domain (when both subject and object are first or second person), the **NON-LOCAL** domain (when both subject and object are third person) and the **MIXED** domain (one argument is first or second person and the other one is third person). Table 14.5 represents these three domains in blue, red and green, respectively.

<table><caption>Table 14.5: The three domains of the transitive paradigm</caption><thead><tr><th></th><th>1</th><th>2</th><th>3</th></tr></thead><tbody><tr><th>1</th><td></td><td>1→2</td><td>1→3</td></tr><tr><th>2</th><td></td><td>2→1</td><td>2→3</td></tr><tr><th>3</th><td></td><td>3→1</td><td>3→2</td></tr><tr><th>INTR</th><td>1</td><td>2</td><td>3</td></tr></tbody></table>

In the following sections, we first present the forms of the transitive paradigm in each of the three domains, then discuss some specific issues (generic and double number indexation) and then analyze the structure of the Japhug indexation system in a typological perspective.
<table><caption>Table 14.6: Japhug transitive and intransitive paradigms</caption><thead><tr><th></th><th>1SG</th><th>1DU</th><th>1PL</th><th>2SG</th><th>2DU</th><th>2PL</th><th>3SG</th><th>3DU</th><th>3PL</th><th>3'</th></tr></thead><tbody><tr><td>1SG</td><td></td><td></td><td></td><td></td><td></td><td></td><td>Σ<sub>3</sub>-a</td><td>Σ<sub>3</sub>-α-ndzi</td><td>Σ<sub>3</sub>-α-nw</td><td></td></tr><tr><td>1DU</td><td></td><td></td><td></td><td></td><td></td><td></td><td></td><td>Σ<sub>1</sub>-tči</td><td></td><td></td><td></td></tr><tr><td>1PL</td><td></td><td></td><td></td><td></td><td></td><td></td><td></td><td>Σ<sub>1</sub>-ji</td><td></td><td></td><td></td></tr><tr><td>2SG</td><td>kw-Σ<sub>1</sub>-a</td><td></td><td></td><td></td><td></td><td></td><td></td><td></td><td></td><td></td><td></td></tr><tr><td>2DU</td><td>kw-Σ<sub>1</sub>-a-ndzi</td><td></td><td></td><td></td><td></td><td></td><td></td><td></td><td></td><td></td><td></td></tr><tr><td>2PL</td><td>kw-Σ<sub>1</sub>-a-nw</td><td></td><td></td><td></td><td></td><td></td><td></td><td></td><td></td><td></td><td></td></tr><tr><td>3SG</td><td>wyú-Σ<sub>1</sub>-a</td><td></td><td></td><td></td><td></td><td></td><td></td><td></td><td></td><td></td><td>Σ<sub>3</sub></td></tr><tr><td>3DU</td><td>wyú-Σ<sub>1</sub>-a-ndzi</td><td></td><td></td><td></td><td></td><td></td><td></td><td></td><td></td><td></td><td>Σ<sub>1</sub>-ndzi</td></tr><tr><td>3PL</td><td>wyú-Σ<sub>1</sub>-a-nw</td><td></td><td></td><td></td><td></td><td></td><td></td><td></td><td></td><td></td><td>Σ<sub>1</sub>-nw</td></tr><tr><td>3'</td><td></td><td></td><td></td><td></td><td></td><td></td><td></td><td></td><td></td><td></td><td></td></tr><tr><td>INTR</td><td>Σ<sub>1</sub>-a</td><td>Σ<sub>1</sub>-tči</td><td>Σ<sub>1</sub>-ji</td><td>tw-Σ<sub>1</sub></td><td>tw-Σ<sub>1</sub>-ndzi</td><td>tw-Σ<sub>1</sub>-nw</td><td>wyú-Σ<sub>1</sub></td><td>wyú-Σ<sub>1</sub>-ndzi</td><td>wyú-Σ<sub>1</sub>-nw</td><td></td></tr></tbody></table>

<table><caption>Table 14.7: The paradigm of the verb mto ‘see’ in the Factual non-past</caption><thead><tr><th></th><th>1SG</th><th>1DU</th><th>1PL</th><th>2SG</th><th>2DU</th><th>2PL</th><th>3SG</th><th>3DU</th><th>3PL</th><th>3'</th></tr></thead><tbody><tr><td>1SG</td><td></td><td></td><td></td><td></td><td></td><td></td><td>mtam-a</td><td>mtam-α-ndzi</td><td>mtam-α-nw</td><td></td></tr><tr><td>1DU</td><td></td><td></td><td></td><td></td><td></td><td></td><td></td><td>mto-tči</td><td></td><td></td></tr><tr><td>1PL</td><td></td><td></td><td></td><td></td><td></td><td></td><td></td><td>mto-j</td><td></td><td></td></tr><tr><td>2SG</td><td>kw-mto-a</td><td></td><td></td><td></td><td></td><td></td><td></td><td></td><td></td><td></td></tr><tr><td>2DU</td><td>kw-mto-a-ndzi</td><td></td><td></td><td></td><td></td><td></td><td></td><td></td><td></td><td></td></tr><tr><td>2PL</td><td>kw-mto-a-nw</td><td></td><td></td><td></td><td></td><td></td><td></td><td></td><td></td><td></td></tr><tr><td>3SG</td><td>wyú-mto-a</td><td></td><td></td><td></td><td></td><td></td><td></td><td></td><td></td><td></td></tr><tr><td>3DU</td><td>wyú-mto-a-ndzi</td><td></td><td></td><td></td><td></td><td></td><td></td><td></td><td></td><td>mtym</td></tr><tr><td>3PL</td><td>wyú-mto-a-nw</td><td></td><td></td><td></td><td></td><td></td><td></td><td></td><td></td><td>mto-ndzi</td></tr><tr><td>3'</td><td></td><td></td><td></td><td></td><td></td><td></td><td></td><td></td><td></td><td>mto-nw</td></tr></tbody></table>
14.3.2.1 Mixed configurations

In the mixed domain, we have to distinguish between direct configurations, where the subject is first or second person and the object is third person (1→3, 2→3) and inverse configurations, where the opposite holds true (3→1, 3→2).<fnref n="11" />

Table 14.8 presents all 1→3 and 2→3 forms (except 1SG→3DU/PL, which are discussed in §14.3.2.6) of *mto* ‘see’ in the Factual Non-Past and the Aorist, compared with the corresponding forms of the intransitive verb *ngo* ‘be ill’. The DOWNWARDS *puu-* and UPWARDS *tx-* preverbs are lexically selected by these verbs (§15.1.5.9).

<table><caption>Table 14.8: Mixed domain (direct forms) compared with the intransitive paradigm</caption><thead><tr><th rowspan="2">Person</th><th colspan="2">Transitive</th><th colspan="2">Intransitive</th></tr><tr><th>Non-Past</th><th>Past</th><th>Non-Past</th><th>Past</th></tr></thead><tbody><tr><td>1SG(→3SG)</td><td>mtam-a</td><td>puu-mto-t-a</td><td>ngo-a</td><td>tx-ngo-a</td></tr><tr><td>1DU(→3)</td><td>mto-tci</td><td>puu-mto-tci</td><td>ngo-tci</td><td>tx-ngo-tci</td></tr><tr><td>1PL(→3)</td><td>mto-j</td><td>puu-mto-j</td><td>ngo-j</td><td>tx-ngo-j</td></tr><tr><td>2SG(→3)</td><td>tuu-mtym</td><td>puu-tuu-mto-t</td><td>tuu-ngo</td><td>tx-tuu-ngo</td></tr><tr><td>2DU(→3)</td><td>tuu-mto-ndzi</td><td>puu-tuu-mto-ndzi</td><td>tuu-ngo-ndzi</td><td>tx-tuu-ngo-ndzi</td></tr><tr><td>2PL(→3)</td><td>tuu-mto-nuw</td><td>puu-tuu-mto-nuw</td><td>tuu-ngo-nuw</td><td>tx-tuu-ngo-nuw</td></tr></tbody></table>

With the exception of 1SG→3 forms (on which see §14.3.2.6), the number of the third person argument is never expressed in the mixed domain. Examples (40) and (41) illustrate 1PL→3SG and 1PL→3DU forms, respectively. Whether the third person object is singular or dual, person indexation is restricted to the 1PL -ji suffix in both cases. The same is true of the -tci suffix, and also in inverse configurations.

(40) tce izo ji-kha kumy kx-fstwn-i pwu-ra
LNK 1PL 1PL.POSS-house also AOR-serve-1PL PST.IPFV-be.needed
‘We also had to take care of him in our house.’ (14-siblings)
{0003508#S324}

(41) ny-ww cʰo ny-bi ni pjw-sat-i
2SG.POSS-grandfather COMIT 2SG.POSS-younger.sibling DU IPFV-kill-1PL
nyu
be:FACT
‘We will kill your grandfather and your brother.’ (2011-05-nyima)

<footnote n="11">¹¹This terminology will be justified in §14.3.2.8.</footnote>
Although the indexation suffixes -ndżi and -nu are the same for second and third person (§14.2.1.2), in 2→3 and 3→2 configurations, they can only index the number of the second person argument, never that of the third person. For instance, in (42), to-tu-yut is 2SG→3PL, and adding a plural -nu here would change the meaning to ‘you*pl* brought people’ and be incompatible with the singular pronoun *ny%o*.

(42) nyzo turme ra to-tu-yut tce,
2SG people PL IFR:UP-2-bring LNK
‘You(sG) brought people [here].’ (150901 changfamei) {0006352#S146}

The direct forms of the transitive paradigm are nearly all identical to the corresponding intransitive paradigm. The 1SG→3 and 2SG→3 forms are the only ones that show morphological features absent from the corresponding intransitive paradigm: the Stem III alternation in the Factual Non-Past (and other tenses, §12.2.2.2, §21.1.2)<fnref n="12" /> and the -t suffix in the Past. These features are highlighted in red in Table 14.8. Most dialects of Japhug, including those of Gdongbrgyad township, have -z instead of -t as Past suffix (§11.3).

Stem III alternation and the -t suffix mark at the same time TAME (§21.1.3, §11.3) and person of both subject and object, and must be considered to be an integral part of the person indexation system.

Not all transitive verbs present these two features, however; in particular, verb with close syllable stems lack both of them. Stem alternation is restricted to a few open-syllable stem types (-o, -a, -u and -u, §12.2.2.1), and the -t suffix cannot surface in close syllable stems. For instance, the Aorist 1SG→3SG of the verbs *još* ‘raise’ and *çluy* ‘drop’ are *ty-još-a* ‘I raised it’ and *pu-çluy-a* ‘I dropped it’, not the completely incorrect †*ty-još-t-a* or †*pu-çluy-t-a* (with automatic regressive devoicing of /к/ and /ɣ/ before /t/, §3.2.2). These incorrect forms would not violate Japhug phonotactics, since clusters such as -χt- and -xt- are well attested (§4.2.1.7, §4.2.1.8), showing that the rules governing the use of the -t suffix are not purely phonological.

The direct forms of transitive verbs with closed syllable stems (such as *još* ‘raise’ and *çluy* ‘drop’) in the mixed domain are thus identical to that of intransitive verbs.

The inverse forms of the mixed domain of the verb *mto* ‘see’ are presented in Table 14.9. All forms in this section of the paradigm, regardless of the TAME category, take the prefix *yú*/-wy-*, whose distribution and allomorphy (*yú*- vs. *wy-*) is discussed in more detail in §14.3.2.7.

<footnote n="12">¹²Note in addition the allomorph *mtam* - of stem III when followed by the 1sg suffix /-a/, following regular vowel assimilation (§14.2.1.1).</footnote>
14 Person indexation and argument structure

<table><caption>Table 14.9: Mixed domain (inverse forms)</caption><thead><tr><th>Person</th><th>Non-Past</th><th>Past</th></tr></thead><tbody><tr><td>3SG→1SG</td><td>γú-mto-a</td><td>pú-wy-mto-a</td></tr><tr><td>3→1DU</td><td>γú-mto-tçi</td><td>pú-wy-mto-tçi</td></tr><tr><td>3→1PL</td><td>γú-mto-j</td><td>pú-wy-mto-j</td></tr><tr><td>3→2SG</td><td>tú-wy-mto</td><td>pu-tú-wy-mto</td></tr><tr><td>3→2DU</td><td>tú-wy-mto-ndzi</td><td>pu-tú-wy-mto-ndzi</td></tr><tr><td>3→2PL</td><td>tú-wy-mto-nu</td><td>pu-tú-wy-mto-nu</td></tr></tbody></table>

Aside from the prefix γú-/wy-, the inverse forms in the mixed domain present the same affixes as those of the corresponding intransitive forms (except in the case of double number indexation, treated in §14.3.2.6), and lack stem alternation (only stem I occurs).

The imperative (§21.4.2.1) is only attested in the direct mixed 2→3 configurations, and is the only finite form involving a second person that neither takes the second person prefix nor a portmanteau prefix. To express 2→1 imperative, the imperfective is used instead (§21.2.5).

### 14.3.2.2 Non-local configurations

Table 14.10 presents the Non-local domain of the paradigm of *mto* ‘see’ in the Factual Non-Past and the Aorist, compared with the intransitive paradigm as exemplified by *ngo* ‘be ill’.

<table><caption>Table 14.10: Non-local domain compared with the intransitive paradigm</caption><thead><tr><th rowspan="2">Person</th><th colspan="2">Transitive</th><th colspan="2">Intransitive</th></tr><tr><th>Non-Past</th><th>Past</th><th>Non-Past</th><th>Past</th></tr></thead><tbody><tr><td>3SG(→3')</td><td>mtym</td><td>pa-mto</td><td>ngo</td><td>tx-ngo</td></tr><tr><td>3DU(→3')</td><td>mto-ndzi</td><td>pa-mto-ndzi</td><td>ngo-ndzi</td><td>tx-ngo-ndzi</td></tr><tr><td>3PL(→3')</td><td>mto-nu</td><td>pa-mto-nu</td><td>ngo-nu</td><td>tx-ngo-nu</td></tr><tr><td>3'→3SG</td><td>γú-mto</td><td>pú-wy-mto</td><td></td><td></td></tr><tr><td>3'→3DU</td><td>γú-mto-ndzi</td><td>pú-wy-mto-ndzi</td><td></td><td></td></tr><tr><td>3'→3PL</td><td>γú-mto-nu</td><td>pú-wy-mto-nu</td><td></td><td></td></tr></tbody></table>
There are two types of non-local forms: those taking the γύ-/-wy- prefix, the *inverse* configurations (§14.3.2.8), and those without it, the *direct* configurations.

Direct forms present two features distinguishing them from the corresponding third person intransitive forms. First, in non-past tenses such as the Factual Non-Past, the 3SG subject form has Stem III (like the 1SG→3 and 2SG→3 forms of the mixed domain, §14.3.2.1). Second, in the Aorist, a C-type orientation preverb, with -a- vocalism is used instead of the A-type orientation preverbs in -u- and -r- found in the mixed and local domains (*pu*- in the case of the verb *mto* ‘see’). C-type orientation preverbs, only found in this section of the transitive paradigm (§14.3.1, §15.1.1.1), result from the fusion of A-type prefixes with another prefix which is only otherwise attested in the Apprehensive (§21.7.1).

The -t suffix found in some direct forms in the mixed domain (§14.3.2.1) is not attested in the non-local domain.

Inverse forms of the non-local domain only differ from the third person in-
transitive forms by the presence of the γύ-/wy- prefix, lacking stem alternation
or additional affixes, like the inverse forms of the mixed domain (§14.3.2.1).

Number indexation in the non-local domain encodes only one of the two ar-
guments: the *subject* in the direct configurations and the *object* in the inverse
configurations. For instance, in (43), the subject of the verb *pjý-wy-nysma-ndzi* is
plural (3PL→3DU), but plural indexation -nu here instead of the dual would be
incorrect, as this verb form has the γύ-/wy- prefix and thus agrees in number
with the object.

(43) *ndzi-julco* ra kuu wuma *pjý-wy-nysma-ndzi*.
3DU.POSS-neighbour PL ERG really IFR-INV-envy-DU
‘Their neighbours envied the two of them.’ (qajdoskAt)

The third person argument whose number is indexed (the 3DU argument in 43) is called *proximate*, and the one that is not indexed on the verb (corresponding to the noun phrase *ndzi-julco* ra in 43) is called *obviative* (glossed as 3'), using terminology from Algonquian linguistics. While in Algonquian the term *obviative* (coined by Cuoq 1866) originally refers to a category marked on both nouns and verb indexation (including intransitive verbs), in Gyalrong languages the proximate/obviative contrast is only reflected in transitive verbal morphology (see §14.3.2.8 and §14.3.3)

Direct configurations are by far more common in the corpus than inverse ones.
Inverse non-local forms have two functions: marking the relative saliency of the
subject and the object (a question detailed in §14.3.3) and indexing a generic sub-
ject (§14.3.2.5).
### 14.3.2.3 Local configurations

Local configurations stand out in Japhug verbal paradigms in being the only forms involving the second person without a *tu-* prefix. Instead, synchronically unanalyzable portmanteau prefixes are found: *ta-* for 1→2, and *kuu-* for 2→1. The *ta-* co-occurs with the non-first person dual and plural suffixes (-ndżi and -nu, §14.2.1.2), and *kuu-* with first person suffixes (-a, -tçi and -ji, §14.2.1.1), indexing in all cases the person and number of the object. In 2→1 forms, the first person is redundantly indexed both by the suffixes and the portmanteau prefix *kuu*.

The presence of portmanteau prefixes in the local domain is not typologically unusual. Typologists have long noticed that languages with polypersonal indexation tend to have unanalysable affixes in 1→2 and 2→1 forms (Heath 1998) in part due to pragmatic factors (DeLancey 2018). The historical origin of these prefixes is discussed in Jacques (2018b) and §14.8.3.

In 1→2 configurations, since 2SG is exclusively indexed by the *tu-* prefix in the intransitive paradigm, without any suffix (unlike Situ, §14.8.1), the 1→2SG also lacks any indexation suffix. Table 14.11 presents all local configurations of the verb *mto* ‘see’ in the Factual Non-Past and the Aorist, except for those with double suffixation (2DU→1SG and 2PL→1SG) which are treated in §14.3.2.6.

There is no stem alternation, -t past tense suffix or *yu-/wy-* prefix in the local domain in Japhug. Aorist and Factual Non-Past only differ from each other by the presence of the A-type orientation preverb in the former, as can be seen in Table 14.11.

<table><caption>Table 14.11: Local domain</caption><thead><tr><th>Person</th><th>Non-Past</th><th>Past</th></tr></thead><tbody><tr><td>1→2SG</td><td>ta-mto</td><td>pu-ta-mto</td></tr><tr><td>1→2DU</td><td>ta-mto-ndżi</td><td>pu-ta-mto-ndżi</td></tr><tr><td>1→2PL</td><td>ta-mto-nu</td><td>pu-ta-mto-nu</td></tr><tr><td>2SG→1SG</td><td>kuu-mto-a</td><td>pu-kuu-mto-a</td></tr><tr><td>2→1DU</td><td>kuu-mto-tçi</td><td>pu-kuu-mto-tçi</td></tr><tr><td>2→1PL</td><td>kuu-mto-j</td><td>pu-kuu-mto-j</td></tr></tbody></table>

In Japhug, the forms of the local domain are always different from those of the mixed domain, and the person of the subject and the object is never ambiguous. In this regard, Japhug differs from many languages of the Trans-Himalayan family, in particular those of the Kiranti branch. In Khaling, for instance, the same forms are used for 2→1 and 3→1 configurations on the one hand, and for 3→2 and
1SG→2 on the other hand (Jacques et al. 2012). In that language, the only local configuration to have specific unambiguous forms is 1SG→2.

In Japhug, while person is unambiguously expressed in the local domain, only the number of the *object* is specified, with the exception of 2→1SG configurations (§14.3.2.6). Examples (44) and (45) illustrate the same form *tu-ta-fsraŋ* meaning in the first case 1SG→2SG ‘I will save you<sub>sg</sub>’ and in the second one 1PL→2SG ‘We will save you<sub>sg</sub>’, showing that the form remains identical regardless of the number of the subject.

(44) *tce azo tu-ta-fsraŋ* ra tce,
LNK 1SG IPFV-1→2-protect be.needed:FACT LNK
‘I have to save you.’ (150901 changfamei-zh) {0006352#S205}

(45) *izora nwnw koŋla zo tu-ta-fsraŋ, tu-ta-βri nɔw-swso-j*
1PL DEM really EMPH IPFV-1→2-protect IPFV-1→2-save IPFV-think-1PL
*cti ri,*
be.AFF:FACT LNK
‘We really want to save you.’ (niulan li de lu-zh)

Similarly, (46) and (47) show the form *tu-kuu-qur-i* meaning 2SG→1PL ‘You<sub>sg</sub> help us’ in the first example and 2PL→1PL ‘You<sub>pl</sub> help us’ in the second one.

(46) *wortcʰi wojr zo tu-kuu-qur-i* ra
please please EMPH IPFV-2→1-help-1PL be.needed:FACT
‘Please, help us.’ (150827 taisui-zh) {0006390#S21}

(47) <chuhuaiwang> cʰo nura, kuma nura n̥-cki,
ANTHR COMIT DEM:PL other DEM:PL 3PL.POSS-DAT
“y̥u-tu-kuu-qur-i n̥u-ntsʰi” z-jo-su̥-ti.
CISL-IPFV-2→1PL SENS-be.better TRAL-IFR-CAUS-say
‘He sent [someone] to the king Huai of Chu and the other ones to tell them ‘Come and help us’. (160721 pofuchenzhou-zh)

The 2→1 configuration can occur in the prohibitive with the prefix *ma-* (§13.1.1) as in the form *ma-tʰu-ku-βlu-a* ‘don’t burn me’ in (48), but not in the imperative (§21.4.2.1). Instead, the Imperfective is used (§21.2.5), most often with a modal verb, as in (46) and (47) and in the form *cʰu-ku-rku-a* in (48). Attempts to produce 2→1 Imperative forms such as †*tɔ*-ku-qur-i (instead of the correct *tu-ku-qur-i* ra ‘help us’) are rejected by native speakers.
14 Person indexation and argument structure

(48) ma-tʰu-ku-βlu-a, tcʰorzi u-ŋgw
PROHIB-IMP-2→1-burn-1SG wine.jar 3SG.POSS-inside
cʰu-ku-rku-a
IPFV:DOWNSTREAM-2→1-put.in-1SG
‘Don’t burn me, put me in a wine jar.’ (2003 Kunbzang)

14.3.2.4 Inclusive semi-reflexive configurations

Japhug lacks inclusive / exclusive contrast in both pronouns and indexation sys-
tem (§14.2.1.1), and inclusive persons are treated the same way as 1DU and 1PL
exclusive. While inclusive persons could in principle exist in the local domain,
configuration of this type are problematic: if the subject or object of a transitive
verb is inclusive, and the other argument strictly first or second person, the re-
sulting configuration is partially reflexive, since the inclusive contains both first
and person referents.

In a language like Japhug where reflexivity is marked by an intransitivizing
derivation (§18.3), there is therefore a conflict between the absence of reflexive
forms in the transitive paradigm and the need to express inclusive↔first/second
person configurations in a way that is different from plain reflexives.

The following list provides the four theoretically possible inclusive semi-reflex-
ive configurations, displaying the referent shared by subject and object in red.
This list neglects possible additional third person referents in 1DU exclusive, 1PL,
2DU and 3PL arguments, which would artificially increase the number of config-
urations.

• 1+2→1 ‘You and I **verb** me’

• 1+2→2 ‘You and I **verb** you’

• 1→1+2 ‘I **verb** you and me’

• 2→1+2 ‘You **verb** you and me’

van Driem (1990), in his review of Michailovsky (1988), argues that Kiranti
languages and Limbu in particular cannot express inclusive semi-reflexive con-
figurations using transitive verbal morphology, and must resort to periphrases;
for instance, in order to express the meaning of the 2→1+2 configuration ‘you
saw both of us in the mirror’, Limbu uses a complement clause containing an in-
transitive verb meaning ‘you and I appear in the mirror’, object of the transitive
verb ‘see’, as in (49).
(49) **khɛnɛʔ anchi aina-o** *a-dha:p-si-ba* **kɛ-ni**
2SG 1DI mirror-LOC INCL-bevisible-DU-NMLZ 2-see
‘You(sg) saw both of us in the mirror.’ (van Driem 1990: 277)

In Japhug, a similar strategy (though with a finite clause instead of a nominal-
ized verb form) is employed to express the 1→1+2 configuration in (50), with the
finite complement clause χ惰րζίζω u-ηgw kυ-ntcʰyςr-tci ‘we appear in the mirror’
as object of the transitive perception verb mto ‘see’.

(50) [χcvszgoŋ u-ŋgw kvsntcʰyr-tci] nwra pw-mto-t-a
mirror 3SG.POSS-in AOR-appear-1DU DEM:PL AOR-see-PST:TR-1SG
‘I saw both of us in the mirror.’ (elicitation, Jacques 2012a: 85)

Nevertheless, there are cases in Japhug where inclusive semi-reflexive mean-
ings can be expressed by simple verb forms of the local domain. In example (51),
the verb ku-z-maqʰu-tci presents a 2→1DU configuration (§14.3.2.3); it is clear in
this particular case that the object is first dual inclusive ‘you and I’ rather than
first exclusive, and that we therefore have a semi-reflexive configuration 2→1+2.

(51) *múj-tw-mbyom* ri tʰa *kw-z-maqʰu-tci*
NEG:SENS-2-be.in.a.hurry LNK later 2→1-CAUS-be.after:FACT-1DU
'[If] you don't hurry [up], you will get us late.' (elicited)

No example of this type is found in the corpus, and such pragmatically clumsy
configurations are on the borderline of the Japhug person indexation system.

Semi-reflexive indexation also occurs with third person referents, in particular
in causative constructions (see 24, §17.2.4).

14.3.2.5 Generic indexation

The prefix *ku-*, which appears in the intransitive paradigm to express generic intransitive subject (§14.2.1.2), is also attested in the transitive paradigm to refer to generic object. For instance, in example (52),<fnref n="13" /> the transitive verbs *ku-mto* ‘(the yeti) will see one’ and *ku-ndo* ‘(the yeti) will catch one’ have the same *ku-* prefix as the intransitive verb *a-m-ku-phyo* ‘one should not flee’. This example also shows that stem I is selected in the 3→GENR form, as the stem III of *mto* ‘see’ and *ndo* ‘take’, ‘catch’ are *mtxm* and *ndxm*, respectively. Combining the generic *ku-* prefix with stem III is impossible, and *ku-mto* cannot be replaced by a form such as †*ku-mtxm*, which would be unintelligible.

<footnote n="13">¹³The generic person in (52) is translated into English by the second person ‘you’.</footnote>
14 Person indexation and argument structure

(52) *w-qʰu-cʰu*          *w-stu*          *zo*
3SG.POSS-behind-APPROX.LOC 3SG.POSS-direction EMPH
*a-m-kw-pʰyo*        *ra*             *ma tce kw-mto*
IRR-NEG-PFV-GENR:S/O-flee be.needed:FACT LNK LNK GENR:S/O-see:FACT
tce kw-ndo              cti              tu-ti-nw
LNK GENR:S/O-take:FACT be.AFF:FACT IPFV-say-PL

'People say that you should not flee in the direction behind[the yeti], as it would see you and catch you.' (140510 mYWrgAt) {0003941#S20}

Unlike in Tshobdun (Sun 2014b), generic transitive subjects in Japhug are not indexed by the same prefix as generic intransitive subjects. Apart from a handful of irregular verbs (§14.3.4), the inverse prefix *wy-* occurs instead of *kuu-* to express generic transitive subject, as in the verb *tú-wy-ndza* ‘one eats it’ in (53), whose object is definite (anaphorically referring to the noun *kʰurwum* ‘mold’ in a previous clause). Note that the generic subject of *tú-wy-ndza* is co-referent with the object of the verb *nú-kuu-z-nutufcɛrl* ‘it causes one to have diarrhea’ (causative of the intransitive verb *nutufcɛrl* ‘have diarrhea’, on which see §16.4.4) in the following clause, indexed with the *kuu-* as in (52) above, and that conversely the (inanimate) object of *tú-wy-ndza* corresponds to the subject of *nú-kuu-z-nutufcɛrl*.

(53) *ma tú-wy-ndza tce, nú-kuu-z-nutufcɛrl*      *cti*
LNK IPFV-INV-eat LNK IPFV-GENR:S/O-CAUS-have.diarrhea be.AFF:FACT
‘If you eat [mold], it causes you diarrhea.’ (20-sWrna) {0003564#S51}

Generic person indexation is remarkable in Japhug morphosyntax in being one of the very few examples of ergative-absolutive alignment outside of the case marking system, since the intransitive subject and the object are marked by the same prefix *kuu-*, while the transitive subject is not (*S* = *P* ≠ *A*).

A generic person subject or object is only compatible with a third person argument (GENR→3 or 3→GENR). Combinations with first or second persons are not possible. However, number indexation of the non-generic third person argument is possible when the generic argument is subject. Dual or plural suffixes in GENR→DU or GENR→PL configurations are attested in procedural texts. For instance, (54) has dual indexation (referring to the turnip leaves and the turnip root) with generic human subject.

(54) *rasti cʰo ryjndɔv ni, pjúw-wy-кndzyr-ndzi tce*
turnip comit turnip.root DU IPFV-INV-cut-DU LNK
*nú-wy-z-nuŋŋy-t-ndzi*      *ŋu*
IPFV-INV-CAUS-ACAUS:separate-DU be:FACT
‘One separates the turnip from its root by cutting them.’ (150903 kAJar)
{0006412#S7}
Number indexation occurs in particular in the case of generic subject indexation referring to a first person (§14.6.1.4). In (55), the generic subject of the verb *tú-wỳ-qur-nw* corresponds to the first person plural, as indexed on the preceding verb *rỳżi-j*, and the plural object is overtly indexed.

(55) *tw-rdoь tsa rỳzi-j* tce tú-wỳ-qur-nw raьтмаь one-piece a.little stay:FACT-1PL LNK IPFV-INV-help-PL SFP

‘How about only one of us staying [here] and helping them?’ (hist180503 xiyouji 12-zh) {0006189#S74}

On the other hand, when the generic argument is in object or intransitive subject function, no person indexation suffix can appear on the verb, even if this argument is realized as an overt noun phrase with plural marking in addition to generic indexation.

For instance, in (56), the verb form with generic object indexation *ku-kuw-suw-ndo* lacks any indexation suffix, although both the causer (‘the elders’) and the causee (the generic argument, *ty-pytso ra* ‘us, the children’) are plural.

(56) *qazo cʰu-krỳ-y-nw tce ty-pytso* ra ku nw qazo yu sheep IPFV-shear-PL LNK INDEF.POSS-child PL ERG DEM sheep GEN *u-ku* nw ku-kuw-suw-ndo.

3SG.POSS-head DEM IPFV-GENR:S/O-CAUS-take

‘[Every time the adults] sheared the sheep’s wool, they would ask the children (us) to grab the sheep’s head.’ (160712 smAG) {0006073#S2}

### 14.3.2.6 Double number indexation

The transitive paradigm contains six doubly suffixed forms, two in the local domain, and four in the mixed domain, as summarized in Table 14.12. Japhug is not the only Gyalrong language with double number indexation. The same set of doubly suffixed forms is found in Tshobdun (Sun & Shidanluo 2002) and Zbu (Gong 2014).

The forms corresponding to those in Table 14.12 without additional *-ndži* or *-nu* suffix generally have a singular third or second person argument, for instance *puw-mto-t-a* ‘I saw him’ (§14.3.2.1) or *puw-kuw-mto-a* ‘You*sg* saw me.’ (§14.3.2.3). There are however also cases of optional number indexation, a topic discussed in §14.6.1.1.

The 1SG→3DU and 1SG→3PL forms have stem III alternation in non-past tenses (*mto* → *-mtam* in Table 14.12) and the suffix *-t* in the Aorist, like the corresponding 1SG→3SG form (§14.3.2.1).
14 Person indexation and argument structure

<table><caption>Table 14.12: Double number indexation in the transitive paradigm</caption><thead><tr><th>Person</th><th>Non-Past</th><th>Past</th></tr></thead><tbody><tr><td>1SG→3DU</td><td>mtam-a-ndżi</td><td>pu-mto-t-a-ndżi</td></tr><tr><td>1SG→3PL</td><td>mtam-a-nu</td><td>pu-mto-t-a-nu</td></tr><tr><td>3DU→1SG</td><td>yü-mto-a-ndżi</td><td>pú-wy-mto-a-ndżi</td></tr><tr><td>3PL→1SG</td><td>yü-mto-a-nu</td><td>pu-wy-mto-a-nu</td></tr><tr><td>2DU→1SG</td><td>ku-mto-a-ndżi</td><td>pu-ku-mto-a-ndżi</td></tr><tr><td>2PL→1SG</td><td>ku-mto-a-nu</td><td>pu-ku-mto-a-nu</td></tr></tbody></table>

Examples (57), (58), (59) illustrate 1SG→3DU (with stem III, *ndza* → *ndze*), 3DU→1SG and 2PL→1SG configurations, respectively. All these forms have double suffixation, comparable to *mtam-a-nu*, *pú-wy-mto-a-ndżi* and *ku-mto-a-nu* in Table 14.12 (with the Imperfective instead of the Factual Non-Past).

(57) *tu-ndze-a-ndżi* ra
IPFV-eat[III]-1SG-DU be.needed:FACT
'I'd like to eat them.' (IWlu 2002) {0003361#S69}

(58) *tu-ku-nwmcla-a* jyy ma ny-pi ni
IPFV-2→1-step.over-1SG be.allowed:FACT LNK 2SG.POSS-elder.sibling DU
ku tý-wy-nwmcla-a-ndži cti
ERG AOR-INV-step.over-1SG-DU be.AFF:FACT
'You can step over me, your two elder sister stepped over me.' (Kunbzang)

(59) *a-pi* ra, ažwy kukutcu a-mγ-ky-cʰa
1SG.POSS-elder.sibling PL 1SG:GEN here 1SG.POSS-NEG-OBJ:PCP-can
ci γyzu tce [...] tu-ku-qur-a-nu pü-ntsʰi
INDEF exist:SENS LNK IPFV-2→1-help-1SG-PL SENS-be.better
'Sisters, I have a problem (something that I cannot do) here, help me!'
(150828 donglang) {0006312#S106}

Double number indexation also occurs on relativized verbs with totalitative reduplication (§12.4.1.5), such as *puw~pu-mto-t-a-nu* in (60). In this example, the suffix *-nu* indexes the number of the object *tɛʰeme* 'girl', which is also the head of this head-internal relative (§23.4.3). It is redundant with the verb-initial reduction, which expresses universal quantification of the object.
(60) *numu* [tɔʰeme pw~pw~mto-t-a-nu] *u-ŋgw* *nw*
DEM girl TOTAL~AOR-see-PST:TR-1SG-PL 3SG.POSS-inside DEM

kw-fse
kw-mpcɣr
maŋe
sBJ:PCP-be like sBJ:PCP-be.beautful not.exist:SENS

'This is the most beautiful among all the girls I have ever seen.' (150818
muzhi guniang-zh) {0006334#S469}

All forms with double number indexation in Japhug (Table 14.12 and examples 57 to 59 above) contain the first person -a suffix. This includes 1SG→3, 3→1SG and 2→1SG configurations, but not 1SG→2: the 1→2 forms, unlike other configuration involving a first person, do not take person indexation suffixes coreferent with their first person subject (§14.3.2.3). Two hypotheses could be proposed to account for this relationship between -a suffix and double number indexation.

First, this constraint could be seen as a (haplological) prohibition against the
presence of two identical suffixes in the same verb form. Since second and third
person number markers are identical, the only way to express a form such as
2DU→3DU in a fully explicit way would be †Σ₁-ndʒi-ndʒi with two times the same
suffix, a form which would be excluded by the haplological rule. Such a rule how-
ever would not account for the absence of second number marker in verb forms
suffixed with the 1DU -tçi or the 1PL -ji.

Second, it could be argued to be a question of phonology: all person indexation suffixes apart from -a have the high vowels /i/ or /w/ (which are not contrastive in this context, §3.5.2), and one could suppose that the ban on double suffixation in this paradigm is due to a constraint against two unstressed suffixes with high vowels (since the stress is on the last syllable of the stem, except in a limited number of cases, §3.7).

However, this hypothesis is contradicted by the fact that other verbal paradigms
in Japhug do contain verb forms with two suffixes in high vowels, as in example
(61).<fnref n="14" />

(61) *to-k-ɣlwɔyt-ndʒi-ci*
IFR-PEG-fight-DU-PEG

‘They fought each other.’

Given the fact that the combination of two unstressed suffixes in high vowel
are possible in Japhug, phonology cannot explain the absence of a form such as
†ku-Σ₁-tçi-ndʒi (intended for 2DU→1SG).

A third approach to explain the unique properties of the -a suffix, involving
the notion of person hierarchy, is explored in §14.3.2.8.

<footnote n="14">¹⁴See §15.1.1.2 and §11.4 on the peg circumfix *ku*-...-ci.</footnote>
14.3.2.7 The allomorphy of the inverse prefix

The inverse prefix<fnref n="15" /> has the allomorph γú- when occurring in word-initial position, something which is only possible in the Factual Non-Past (as it is the only TAME category without any orientation preverb, §21.3.1.1) when no other inflectional prefix is present. It surfaces as wy- in all other cases, merging with the vowel of the preceding prefix, which then bears the accent; the inverse is one of the very few stress-attracting prefixes in Japhug (§11.2.3).

The allomorph wy- also occurs in Factual Non-Past forms with the following prefixes:

• Second person *tu-* (§14.3.2.1): *tú-wy-mto* (2-INV-SEE:FACT) ‘he will see you’

• Negative *mɛ́* (§13.1.1): *mɛ́-wy-mto-a* (NEG-INV-SEE:FACT-1SG) ‘he will not see me’

• Apprehensive *ɛw-* (§21.7.1): *ɛw-wy-mtswɛ́-a* (APPR-INV-bite:FACT-1SG) ‘(I fear) that it could bite me’

• Associated motion *ɛw-/yw-* (§15.2): *yú-wy-ndza-j* (CISL-INV-EAT:FACT-1PL) ‘it will come to eat us’

• Proximative aspect: *jw-* (§21.6.2) *jú-wy-mtswɛ́-a* PROXM-INV-BITE:FACT-1SG ‘it is about to bite me’

• Possible modality: *umrɛ́-* (§21.7.2) *umrɛ́-wy-mtswɛ́-a* (PROB-INV-BITE:FACT-1SG) ‘it will perhaps bite me’ (88b, §10.4.4)

• Rhetorical Interrogative: *uβrɛ́-* (§21.7.3.1) *uβrɛ́-wy-mtswɛ́-a* (RH.Q-INV-BITE:FACT-1SG) ‘it will not bite me, will it?’

• Interrogative: *u-* (§21.7.4.1) *ú-wy-ndza-a* (QU-INV-EAT:FACT-1SG) ‘Will it eat me?’

With the progressive prefix *asw-* (§21.6.1.1), the inverse is *infixed* rather than being prefixed, for instance in a form such as *jw-tú-́<wy>* > *sw-zgroβ* (SENS-2-PROG<INV>-ATTACH) ‘he is attaching you’. This question is discussed in more detail in §11.2.1.

The merger of the /w/ of the inverse prefix with the vowels /u/ and /ɪ/ of the preceding prefixes yields /u/ and /o/, respectively. Although the transcription

<footnote n="15">¹⁵The possible origins of the inverse prefix are discussed in §5.1.1.5 and §14.8.2.</footnote>
-wy- is chosen in the present orthography, the fricative /ɣ/ is most often elided, and the stress and vowel rounding are the main clues of the presence of the inverse prefix.

Due to the vowel merger, the contrasts between several series of prefixes are neutralized when preceding the inverse prefix, causing homophony between morphologically different forms (our orthography however keeps the distinction between the rounded and unrounded vowels in this context). There are potential ambiguities in three situations.

First, since the B-type (imperfective) UPWARDS preverb *tu-* (§15.1.1.1) and the second person *tu-* (§14.2.1.2) both become neutralized as *tú-* before the inverse prefix, transitive verbs whose intrinsic orientation is UPWARDS (§15.1.5) have the same surface form in the Imperfective 3'→3 (and also 3SG→1SG with verbs whose stem ends in -a, due to vowel merger, see §3.3.1.3 and §14.2.1.1) on the one hand and the Factual Non-Past 3→2SG on the other hand. The two examples in (62) illustrate this ambiguity with the verb *ndza* ‘eat’ (which selects the orientation UPWARDS, §15.1.5.4) with the Factual Non-Past 3→2SG *tú-wy-ndza* ‘it will eat you’ in (62a) and the Imperfective *tú-wy-ndza-a* 3SG→1SG ‘it eats me’,<fnref n="16" /> both pronounced /túɣndza/ in two immediately adjacent sentences in the same text.

(62) a. *βdut a-mɣ-jɣ-zyut ra ma tú-wy-ndza*
 demon IRR-NEG-PFV-arrive be.needed:FACT LNK 2-INV-eat:FACT
 (She said) '[Let us hope that] the demon will not arrive, otherwise it
 will eat you.' (tWxtsa2003)

b. *tú-wy-ndza-a nʷ mɣ-jγy n nʷzo*
 IPFV-INV-eat-1SG DEM NEG-be.allowed:FACT SFP 2SG
 *nɣ-ndẓa pʷ-ɣe-a cti tce*
 2SG.POSS-reason AOR:DOWN-come[II]-1SG be.AFF:FACT LNK
 '[The demon cannot] eat me, I came for you [to save you].'
 (tWxtsa2003)

In addition to the meaning difference, the ambiguity between the two prefixes can sometimes be resolved by the syntactic context alone. For instance, the verb *stu* ‘do like’ often occurs with another transitive verb in a serial verb construction (§25.4.1.2) sharing the same person and tense. If the other verb in the construction does not select the orientation *UPWARDS*, its Imperfective 3'→3 (or generic subject) and Factual 3→2SG will not be homophonous.

<footnote n="16">¹⁶For the use of the Imperfective in subject complement clause of the verb *jɣy* ‘be allowed’, see §21.2.4.</footnote>
14 Person indexation and argument structure

For instance, in (63a), since *nućʰ* ‘drink with a straw’ selects the orientation *DOWNSTREAM* (§15.1.5.4, example 73), its Imperfective 3’→3 would be *ćʰú-wy-*nućʰetmda; the form *tú-wy-*nućʰetmda is thus unambiguous, and suffices to demonstrate that the surface form /tú(ɣ)stu/ in this context is really a 3→2SG form *tú-wy-stu* and not a 3’→3 Imperfective *tú-wy-stu*, even without considering the meaning of the sentence.

Conversely, in (63b), the second verb *nú-wy-cu* is unambiguously a generic Imperfective form, since there is no prefix with which the rounded allomorph of the B-type WESTWARDS preverb *nu-* could be confused; the form /tú(ɣ)stu/ in this sentence must therefore necessarily be analyzed as a generic Imperfective *tú-wy-stu*.

(63) a. *tʰu-tn-rgyz tce ki tú-wy-stu*
AOR-2-be.old LNK DEM.PROX 2-INV-do like: FACT
*tú-wy-nućʰemda* cti tce,
2-INV-drink with.a.straw: FACT be.AFF: FACT LNK
‘When you become old, they will drink you (your blood) like this
with a straw (planted on your back)’ (2012 Norbzang) {0003768#S58}

b. *ki tú-wy-stu tce nú-wy-cu*
DEM.PROX IPFV-INV-do like LNK IPFV-INV-open
‘One opens it like this.’ (26-tCAkWG) {0003688#S18}

Second, the A-type preverbs *tʃ-UPWARDS, lʃ-UPSTREAM, kʃ- EASTWARDS and
jʃ- and the corresponding D-type preverbs *to-, lo-, ko- and jo-* (§15.1.1.1) are neu-
tralized before the inverse prefix. This implies that the Aorist (§21.5.1.1) and In-
ferential (§21.5.2.1) of verbs selecting the orientations listed above will be ho-
mophonous in all forms bearing the inverse prefix.

In (64a), the 3'→3 form /tó(ɣ)swult/ could either be Inferential *tó-wy-su-lt*
with the D-type preverb *to-* or Aorist *t-wy-su-lt* with the A-type preverb *tʃ-*.
Here, the context can help to disambiguate between the two: the former is pre-
ferred because the whole story is told in the Inferential, and using the Aorist in
this particular context would imply taking the event described by the verb as a
reference point (§21.5.1.4), with a different translation ‘when the horse…’. In (64b)
on the other hand, the presence of the postposition *cimuma* ‘immediately after’
(§25.3.3.2) and the meaning of the sentence imply that the form /tó(ɣ)ctu/ must
be analyzed as Aorist rather than Inferential.
(64) a. χs<u>-t>yx<u>r zo tó-w>y-s<u>-lyt
tce t>y-β<u>fu
three-turn EMPH IPFV-INV-CAUS-release LNK INDEF.POSS-mat

u>-ta<u> tce pj<u>-w>y-βde.

3SG.POSS-ON LOC IFR-INV-throw

'She made the [horse] run three laps and throw her on the mat.'
(2003kAndzwsqhaj2)

b. koxtc<u>-n-ri nun<u> t<u>-w>y-χt<u> c<u>im<u>ma cy> n<u>ra
silk-thread DEM AOR-INV-buy immediately be.new:FACT DEM:PL

w<u>ma p<u>-mpc>y>r ri,
really SENS-be.beautful LNK

'Silk threads are very beautiful when one has just bought them, when
they are new.' (2002thaXtsa)

Third, the contrast between the Proximative *ju-* (§21.6.2) and the B-type *ju-* preverb is also neutralized when preceding the inverse prefix. For instance, the Proximative Factual 3→1SG *jú-wy-čaβ-a* PROXM-INV-catch.up-1SG ‘it is about to catch up with me’ and the Imperfective *jú-wy-čaβ-a* IPFV-INV-catch.up-1SG are homophonous, since the verb *čaβ* ‘catch up’ is compatible the indefinite orientation *ju-* (§21.6.2).

14.3.2.8 Direction marking and person hierarchies

The mixed and non-local domains of the Japhug indexation system present a remarkable symmetry, illustrated in Table 14.13: direct X→3 and inverse 3→X forms have the same person indexation affixes, and only differ by the presence of the prefix *wy-* in inverse configurations, and of stem III in (Non-Past) XSG→3 configurations.

Although this symmetry is broken in the local domain, where neither the *wy-* prefix nor stem III alternation occur (§14.3.2.3), Japhug has an indexation system very close to the canonical direct-inverse, as presented in Table 14.14 (Jacques & Antonov 2014): all configurations of the lower half of the bipersonal indexation space except 2→1 take the *wy-* prefix, while this prefix is not found in the upper half.

As mentioned above, person indexation affixes in Japhug have neutral align-
ment, and can be used to index either subjects (of transitive or intransitive verbs)
or objects. With transitive verbs, the *wy-* prefix (whose allomorphy is described
in §14.3.2.7) and Stem III (§12.2.2) serve to disambiguate the function of the inde-
14 Person indexation and argument structure

<table><caption>Table 14.13: Symmetrical indexation</caption><thead><tr><th>Person</th><th>Direct (X→3)</th><th>Inverse (3→X)</th></tr></thead><tbody><tr><td>1SG</td><td>mtam-a</td><td>γύμ-mto-a</td></tr><tr><td>1DU</td><td>mto-tçi</td><td>γύμ-mto-tçi</td></tr><tr><td>1PL</td><td>mto-j</td><td>γύμ-mto-j</td></tr><tr><td>2SG</td><td>tuu-mtym</td><td>tú-wy-mto</td></tr><tr><td>2DU</td><td>tuu-mto-ndzi</td><td>tú-wy-mto-ndzi</td></tr><tr><td>2PL</td><td>tuu-mto-nuw</td><td>tú-wy-mto-nuw</td></tr><tr><td>3SG</td><td>mtym</td><td>γύμ-mto</td></tr><tr><td>3DU</td><td>mto-ndzi</td><td>γύμ-mto-ndzi</td></tr><tr><td>3PL</td><td>mto-nuw</td><td>γύμ-mto-nuw</td></tr></tbody></table>

<table><caption>Table 14.14: The canonical direct/inverse system</caption><thead><tr><th></th><th>1</th><th>2</th><th>3</th><th>3'</th></tr></thead><tbody><tr><th>1</th><td></td><td>1→2</td><td>1→3</td><td></td></tr><tr><th>2</th><td>2→1</td><td></td><td>2→3</td><td></td></tr><tr><th>3</th><td>3→1</td><td>3→2</td><td></td><td>3→3'</td></tr><tr><th>3'</th><td></td><td></td><td>3'→3</td><td></td></tr></tbody></table>

xation affixes closest to the verb stem:<fnref n="17" /> if the *wy-* prefix is present, the affix(es) index the object, while if Stem III is present, they index the subject. The *wy-* prefix and stem III mark *inverse* and *direct* configurations, respectively.

A way to describe the distribution of the inverse and direct markers is the notion of person or empathy hierarchy (Silverstein 1976; DeLancey 1981; Sun & Shidanluo 2002; Lockwood & Macauley 2012). A typical example of person hierarchy is (65), on which first person ranks higher than second person, discourse participants (first of second persons) higher than third persons,<fnref n="18" /> and among animate third persons (in particular humans) higher than inanimate third persons.

(65) 1 > 2 > 3 animate > 3 inanimate

<footnote n="17">¹⁷If two indexation suffixes are present, the second suffix indexes the number of the other argument (§14.3.2.6).</footnote>

<footnote n="18">¹⁸On the difference between third person on the one hand, and first and second persons on the other hand, see also Benveniste (1966b: 253–256).</footnote>
This type of hierarchies,<fnref n="19" /> originally proposed to account for splits in pronomi-
nal systems (Silverstein 1976), have been invoked to explain various morphosyn-
tactic phenomena, including slot accessibility (for instance, the prefixal slot in
the Independent Order paradigms of Algonquian languages, Zúñiga 2006; Lock-
wood & Macauley 2012) and direct/inverse marking.

In this framework, when the subject and the object compete for the same mor-
phological slot, the one that is higher on the hierarchy is indexed. In addition,
INVERSE markers occur when the *object* is higher on the hierarchy than the sub-
ject (2→1, 3→1, 3→2), and *DIRECT* markers when the *subject* is higher (1→2, 1→3,
2→3).

The explanatory power of hierarchies to analyze indexation systems has been challenged (Zúñiga & Cristofaro 2018), in particular due to the fact that in some languages one would need to posit contradictory hierarchies (see Zúñiga’s 2006 discussion of Plains Cree).

Independently of the cross-linguistic validity of the notion of person hierar-
chies, the Japhug indexation system is amenable to an analysis in terms of the
two non-contradictory hierarchies in (66). The nature of the contrast between 3
proximate and 3' obviative is discussed in §14.3.3.

(66) a. 1, 2 > 3PROX > 3', GENR

b. 1SG > 1N.SG, 2, 3

Hierarchy (66a) describes the distribution of the inverse wy- prefix and Stem
III in the mixed and non-local domains:

* The inverse prefix occurs whenever the subject is lower than the object (3→1, 3→2, 3'→3), a rule that also accounts for its function to mark the generic transitive subject GENR→3 (§14.3.2.5).

* Stem III is found when the subject is singular and higher than the object (1SG→3, 2SG→3, 3SG→3').

* Neither the inverse prefix nor Stem III are found when the subject and the object are equal on the hierarchy (66a), in particular in the local domain (2→1, 1→2), where portmanteau prefixes occur to indicate person configuration (§14.3.2.3), and the suffix closest to the verb stem indexes the object.

<footnote n="19">¹⁹Other hierarchies have been suggested; for instance, slot accessibility in most Algonquian lan-
guages requires to posit a hierarchy 2 > 1 > 3.</footnote>
14 Person indexation and argument structure

Generic object configurations, which are marked with the ku- generic pre-
fix and lack Stem III (§14.3.2.5), are analyzed as 3'→GENR, as third person
obviative and generic are equal on (66a).

Additional evidence for the existence of (66a) is presented in §14.4.3.

Hierarchy (66b) accounts for the special status of the 1SG: whenever one of the core arguments is 1SG, the number of the other argument is indexed on the verb. In 2→1SG, 3→1SG and 1SG→3 configurations, an additional suffix can follow the -a 1SG to index the number of the third or second person argument (§14.3.2.6). In the 1SG→2 configurations, the suffix is coreferent with the number of the object like all forms in the local domain (§14.3.2.3).

The hierarchies in (66) are only valid for Japhug. In other Gyalrong languages,
including Situ (DeLancey 1981; Sun 2015; Zhang 2019), Tshobdun (Sun & Shidan-
luo 2002) and Zbu (Gong 2014), the inverse prefix is also found in the 2→1 config-
uration and does not appear in the generic subject form, suggesting a hierarchy
closer to (65).

A different approach to explain the structure of the Japhug direct-inverse inde-
xation system is to analyze it in terms of historical linguistics. Some preliminary
ideas on the topic are presented in §14.8.1 and §14.8.3.

14.3.3 The function of the direct/inverse contrast in non-local configurations

Like most Gyalrong languages, including Tshobdun (Sun & Shidanluo 2002), Zbu (Gong 2014), but excluding West Gyalrongic (Lai 2015) and some dialects of Situ (Sun 2015; Zhang 2019), Japhug has a contrast between inverse and direct forms in the non-local configurations.

The clearest function of the inverse prefix in this context in Japhug is marking
generic subject (§14.3.2.5). In non-generic forms, the choice of inverse or direct
configurations is determined by several factors, including animacy, possession
and saliency of the core arguments.

Japhug lacks obviative marking on nouns (§5.1.1.3), but in the present work
I use the terms ‘obviative’ (abbreviated as 3’) to refer to the third person *object*
of a verb in direct non-local configuration or to the third person *subject* of a
transitive verb with inverse configuration, and ‘proximate’ (3) for the subject of
a verb in direct form or object of a verb in inverse form (the choice of these terms
is discussed in §14.3.2.2).