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Japhug is a Gyalrong language spoken in Barkam County, Rngaba, Sichuan, China, in the three townships of Gdong-brgyad (Chinese: 龙尔甲; pinyin: Lóng'rjiǎ, Japhug IPA: [ʁdɯrɟɤt]), Gsar-rdzong (Chinese: 沙尔宗; pinyin: Shā'rzōng, Japhug IPA: [sarndzu]) and Da-tshang (Chinese: 大藏; pinyin: Dàzàng, Japhug IPA: [tatsʰi]).

The endonym of the Japhug language is IPA: [kɯrɯ skɤt]. The name Japhug (IPA: [tɕɤpʰɯ]; Tibetan: ja phug; Chinese: 茶堡; pinyin: Chápù) refers in Japhug to the area comprising Gsar-rdzong and Da-tshang, while that of Gdong-brgyad is also known as IPA: [sɤŋu] (Jacques 2004), but speakers of Situ Gyalrong use this name to refer to the whole Japhug-speaking area.

Phonology

Japhug is the only toneless Gyalrong language. It has 49 consonants and seven vowels.

Consonants

The phoneme /w/ has the allophones and .

The phoneme /ʁ/ is realized as an epiglottal fricative in the coda or preceding another consonant.

The prenasalized consonants are analyzed as units for two reasons. First, there is a phoneme /ɴɢ/, as in /ɴɢoɕna/ "large spider", but neither /ɴ/ nor /ɢ/ exist as independent phonemes. Second, there are clusters of fricatives and prenasalized voiced stops, as in /ʑmbri/ "willow", but never clusters of fricatives and prenasalized voiceless stops.

Japhug distinguishes between palatal plosives and velar plosive + j sequences, as in /co/ "valley" vs. /kjo/ "drag". These both contrast with alveolo-palatal affricates.

There are at least 339 consonant clusters in Japhug (Jacques 2008:29), more than in Old Tibetan or in most Indo-European languages. Some of these clusters are typologically unusual: in addition to the previously mentioned clusters of fricatives and prenasalized stops, there are clusters where the first element is a semivowel, as in /jla/ "hybrid of a yak and a cow".

Vowels

Japhug has eight vowel phonemes: a, o, u, ɤ, ɯ, y, e and i. The vowel y is attested in only one native word (/qaɟy/ "fish") and its derivatives, but appears in Chinese loanwords.

The mid-open unrounded vowels /ɤ/ and /e/ are only marginally contrastive: /ɤ/ does not occur in word- final open syllables except in unaccented clitics (like the additive nɤ), and /e/ only occurs in the last (accented) syllable of a word. They are clearly contrastive only with the coda /-t/.

Not all speakers of Kamnyu Japhug have a phoneme /y/ in the native vocabulary. Even for those speakers, it is only attested in the word ‘fish’ and the verbs derived from it. It nevertheless contrasts with /ɯ/ and /u/, as shown by the quasi-minimal pairs /qaɟy/ ‘fish’, /waɟɯ/ ‘earthquake’ and /ɟuli/ ‘flute’. Other speakers pronounce ‘fish’ with a medial /w/ as /qaɟwi/. However, is found in the speech of all Japhug speakers in Chinese loanwords such as 洋芋 <yángyù> ‘potato’.

Grammar

Jacques (2008) is a short grammar and Jacques and Chen (2010) a text collection with interlinear glosses. Other studies on morphosyntax include Jacques (2010) on direct–inverse marking, Jacques (2012a) on valency (passive, antipassive, anticausative, lability etc.), Jacques (2012b) on incorporation and Jacques (2013) on associated motion.

Case marking

Japhug lacks case inflection. However, Japhug does have few adverbializing derivations that display functions for oblique cases, for example, the comitative kɤ́- and perlative reduplication. In noun phrases, grammatical relations are denoted by following clitics:

Noun phrases

Number

Japhug lacks grammatical number. It has two clitic number determiners, dual ni and plural ra, both do not have syntactic relationship with noun argument.

ɯ-pi

3SG.POSS-elder.sibling

ni

DU

ndʑi-sroʁ

3DU.POSS-life

ko-ri

IMPERF-save

tɕe

LK

ɯ-pi ni ndʑi-sroʁ ko-ri tɕe

3SG.POSS-elder.sibling DU 3DU.POSS-life IMPERF-save LK

"He saved the life of his two brothers."

Demonstratives

Demonstratives in Japhug can be either pronominal or post-nominal.

Function	Proximal Singular	Proximal Dual	Proximal Plural	Distal Singular	Distal Dual	Distal Plural	Medial
Base form	ki	kɯni	kɯra	nɯ	nɯnɯni	nɯra	nɤki
Reduplicated	kɯki	(kɯkɯni)	kɯkɯra	nɯnɯ	nɯnɯni	nɯnɯra	–
Emphatic	ɯkɯki	(ɯkɯkɯni)	ɯkɯkɯra	ɯnɯnɯ	(ɯnɯnɯni)	ɯnɯnɯra	–

Verbal morphology

Overview

In Japhug, verbal inflection is overwhelmingly dominated by prefixes, though it does support limited suffix slots. The Japhug prefixation template can be described as following

Modal- Negation- AM- Orientation- second person- Inverse progressive- Extended verb stem (Outer prefixes)

Inter prefixes do not have rigid order.

Japhug suffixation template is run as following

verb stem -past transitive -First person -Dual/Plural - peg (circumfix)

Person indexation

Japhug finite verbs can form agreement with one or two arguments, depending on the transitivity of the verb. Verb indexation can use a combination of prefixes, suffixes and stem alternation. Person indexation in Japhug in general have neutral alignment, though ergative-absolutive alignment can occur.

ma

LK

tú-wɣ-ndza

IPFV-INV-eat

tɕe,

LK

ɲɯ-kɯ-z-nɯtɯfɕɤl

IPFV-general:S/O-CAUS-have.diarrhea

ɕti

be.AFF:FACT

ma tú-wɣ-ndza tɕe, ɲɯ-kɯ-z-nɯtɯfɕɤl ɕti

LK IPFV-INV-eat LK IPFV-general:S/O-CAUS-have.diarrhea be.AFF:FACT

"If you eat mold, it causes you diarrhea."

References

1. ^ Jacques, Guillaume (6 April 2021). A grammar of Japhug. Language Science Press. ISBN 978-3-96110-305-8. Retrieved 19 September 2024. This article incorporates text from this source, which is available under the CC BY 4.0 license.
2. Guillaume (2021:367)
3. Guillaume (2021:374–375)
4. Guillaume (2021:474)

Sources

• Jacques, Guillaume (2004). Phonologie et morphologie du Japhug (rGyalrong) (PDF) (Doctoral thesis) (in French). Université Paris VII.
• Jacques, Guillaume (2007). "La réduplication partielle en japhug, révélatrice des structures syllabiques". Faits de Langues (in French). 29: 9–21. doi:10.1163/19589514-029-01-900000003.
• Jacques, Guillaume 向柏霖; Chen, Zhen 陈珍 (2007). "Chábǎohuà de bù jíwù qiánzhuì jí xiāngguān wèntí" 茶堡話的不及物前綴及相關問題 [An Intransitive Prefix in Japhug rGyalrong and Related Problems] (PDF). Language and Linguistics / Yǔyán jì yǔyánxué (in Chinese). 8 (4): 883–912.
• Jacques, Guillaume 向柏霖 (2008). Jiāróngyǔ yánjiū 嘉绒语研究 [A Study on the Gyalrong Language] (in Chinese). Beijing Shi: Minzu chubanshe.
• Jacques, Guillaume (2010). "The inverse in Japhug Rgyalrong". Language and Linguistics. 11 (1): 127–157.
• Jacques, Guillaume (2012). "From Denominal Derivation to Incorporation". Lingua. 122 (11): 1027–1231. CiteSeerX 10.1.1.383.1. doi:10.1016/j.lingua.2012.05.010.
• Jacques, Guillaume (2012). "Argument demotion in Japhug Rgyalrong". In Authier, Gilles; Haude, Katharina (eds.). Ergativity, Valency and Voice. Berlin: De Gruyter Mouton. pp. 199–225.
• Jacques, Guillaume (2013). "Ideophones in Japhug (Rgyalrong)". Anthropological Linguistics. 55 (3): 256–287. doi:10.1353/anl.2013.0014. S2CID 143579082.
• Jacques, Guillaume (2013). "Applicative and tropative derivations in Japhug Rgyalrong". Linguistics of the Tibeto-Burman Area. 36 (2): 1–13.
• Jacques, Guillaume (2013). "Harmonization and disharmonization of affix ordering and basic word order". Linguistic Typology. 17 (2): 187–215. doi:10.1515/lity-2013-0009. S2CID 55555480.
• Jacques, Guillaume (2014). "Denominal affixes as sources of antipassive markers in Japhug Rgyalrong" (PDF). Lingua. 138: 1–22. doi:10.1016/j.lingua.2013.09.011.
• Jacques, Guillaume (2014). "Clause linking in Japhug" (PDF). Linguistics of the Tibeto-Burman Area. 37 (2): 264–328. doi:10.1075/ltba.37.2.05jac.
• Jacques, Guillaume (2015). "The spontaneous-autobenefactive prefix in Japhug Rgyalrong" (PDF). Linguistics of the Tibeto-Burman Area. 38 (2): 271–291. doi:10.1075/ltba.38.2.08jac.
• Jacques, Guillaume (2015). "The origin of the causative prefix in Rgyalrong languages and its implication for proto-Sino-Tibetan reconstruction" (PDF). Folia Linguistica Historica. 36 (1): 165–198. doi:10.1515/flih-2015-0002. S2CID 151841620.
• Jacques, Guillaume (2016). "Subjects, objects and relativization in Japhug" (PDF). Journal of Chinese Linguistics. 44 (1): 1–28. doi:10.1353/jcl.2016.0005. S2CID 160031499.
• Jacques, Guillaume (2016). "From ergative to index of comparison: multiple reanalyses and polyfunctionality". Diachronica. 33 (1): 1–30. doi:10.1075/dia.33.1.01jac.
• Jacques, Guillaume (2021). A Grammar of Japhug. Berlin: Language Science Press. doi:10.5281/zenodo.4548232. ISBN 9783961103058.
• Jacques, Guillaume; Chen, Zhen (2010). Une version Rgyalrong de l'épopée de Gesar (in French). Osaka: National Museum of Ethnology.
• Lin, Youjing 林幼菁; Luo, Erwu 罗尔武 (2003). "Chábǎo Jiāróngyǔ Dàzànghuà de qūxiàng qiánzhuì yǔ dòngcí cígàn de biànhuà" 茶堡嘉戎语大藏话的趋向前缀与动词词干的变化 [Directive Prefixes and Changes of Verb Stems in Dazang rGyalrong]. Mínzú yǔwén 民族語文 (in Chinese). 2003 (4): 19–29.

v t e Sino-Tibetan branches
Western Himalayas (Himachal, Uttarakhand, Nepal, Sikkim)	West Himalayish Tamangic Newaric Newar Baram–Thangmi Kiranti Dhimalish Dhimal Toto Lhokpu Lepcha Greater Magaric Magaric Magar Kham Chepangic Chepang Bhujel Raji–Raute Dura–Tandrange
Eastern Himalayas (Tibet, Bhutan, Arunachal)	Bodish Tibetic East Bodish Tshangla Basum Nam? Gongduk ʼOle Tani Chamdo
Myanmar and Indo- Burmese border	Karbi Kuki-Chin Mruic Mru Hkongso Pyu Taman "Naga" Ao Angami–Pochuri Meitei Tangkhulic Zeme Sal Boro–Garo Konyak Jingpho–Luish
East and Southeast Asia	Sinitic Bai Tujia Nungish Karenic Gong Kathu Cai–Long Caijia Longjia Luren Burmo-Qiangic Qiangic Gyalrongic Ersuic Naic Lolo-Burmese Mondzish Burmish Loloish
Dubious (possible isolates) (Arunachal)	Hrusish Hruso Mijiic Kho-Bwa Puroik Miju–Meyor Songlin Greater Siangic Siangic Koro Milang Idu–Taraon
Proposed groupings	Central Tibeto-Burman Kuki-Chin–Naga Macro-Bai Mahakiranti Rung Tibeto-Burman Tibeto-Kanauri
Proto-languages	Proto-Sino-Tibetan Proto-Tibeto-Burman Proto-Loloish Proto-Karenic Proto-Min Proto-Hakka
Italics indicates single languages that are also considered to be separate branches.

• Qiangic languages
• Languages of Sichuan
• Non-tonal languages in tonal families