The reported speech evidential particle in Lamjung Yolmo

Grammatically encoded evidentials that marks ‘reported speech’, ‘hearsay’ or ‘quotation’ are attested in languages from a variety of families, but often receive cursory description. In this paper I give a detailed account of the reported speech particle ló in Lamjung Yolmo, a Tibeto-Burman language of Nepal. This particle is used when the speaker is reporting previously communicated information. This information may be translated from another language, may be a non-verbal interaction turn or may have been an incomplete utterance. Speakers choose to use the reported speech particle in interaction, and the pragmatic effect is usually to add authority to the propositional content. Detailed description of the use of reported speech evidentials in interaction across different languages will provide a better understanding of the range of their function

Language documentation and division: Bridging the digital divide

Contemporary language documentation workflow is a largely digital process. While this has had many benefits for how linguists undertake language documentation projects, it has also lead to a disparity between how the process is conceptualised by academic researchers, and how it is conceptualised by the speakers of endangered languages. In this paper I discuss the nature of this disparity, and illustrate this with my own experience of working with speakers of Tibeto-Burman languages in Nepal. In my own research I have incorporated ongoing discussion regarding digital methods into my working relationships with participants, but other researchers have made digital training a specific feature of their research methodology. I discuss two projects that provide positive models for this kind of digital gap bridging. The first is the Iltyem-iltyem sign website and the second is the Aikuma language documentation phone application. After discussion of these positive developments in digital outreach I discuss some of the challenges that we still face in ensuring that what we do is engaging and relevant for the communities we work with. This discussion is not only relevant for language documentation researchers, but for all who work in the digital humanities, as we need to be more aware of the different needs and levels of digital education of different communities.   L'acheminement du travail de documentation des langues contemporaines est en grande partie un processus numérique. Bien que cela a représenté de nombreux avantages en ce qui concerne la façon dont les linguistes entreprennent les projets de documentation des langues, cela a aussi entraîné une inégalité entre notre compréhension du processus de documentation et la compréhension des locuteurs de langues menacées. Dans cet article, je discute de la nature de cette inégalité, et j'illustre ceci par ma propre expérience de travail avec des locuteurs des langues tibéto-burmanes au Népal. Dans mes propres recherches, j'ai intégré une discussion continue au sujet des méthodes numériques dans mes relations de travail avec les participants, mais pour d'autres chercheurs, la formation numérique est une caractéristique précise de leur méthodologie de recherche. Je discute de deux projets qui offrent un modèle positif afin de combler ces lacunes numériques. Le premier est le site Web des signes Iltyem-iltyem et le deuxième est l'application de téléphonie de documentation du langage Aikuma. Après avoir discuté de ces développements positifs en matière de diffusion numérique, je discute de certains des défis auxquels nous sommes encore confrontés pour nous assurer que ce que nous faisons est stimulant et pertinent pour les collectivités avec lesquelles nous travaillons. Cette discussion est non seulement pertinente pour les chercheurs en documentation des langues, mais pour toutes les personnes qui travaillent dans le domaine des sciences humaines numériques, car nous devons être plus conscients des différents besoins et niveaux en matière d'éducation numérique des collectivités avec lesquelles nous travaillons

Evidentiality in Lamjung Yolmo

Lamjung Yolmo is a Tibeto-Burman language of the Bodish branch spoken in Nepal. Like related languages it has a verbal system that includes evidential distinctions. In this paper I look at the role of these evidentials in interaction, and in relation to other features of grammar. These features include their relationship to events, interaction with subject person, endopathic verbs and negative polarity. I also look at constructions with no overt evidential marking, and evidential elision, to give a more rounded representation of the role of evidentiality for speakers of Lamjung Yolmo, and explore its role in audience perception of utterances.Copyright Information: Copyright vested in the author; released under Creative Commons Attribution Licenc

A Guide to the Syuba (Kagate) Language Documentation Corpus

This article provides an overview of the collection “Kagate (Syuba)”, archived with both the Pacific and Regional Archive for Digital Sources in Endangered Cultures (PARADISEC) and the Endangered Language Archive (ELAR). It provides an overview of the materials that have been archived, as well as details of the workflow, conventions used, and structure of the collection. It also provides context for the content of the collection, including an overview of the language context, and some of the motivations behind the documentation project. This article thus provides an entry point to the collection. The future plans for the collection – from the perspectives of both the researcher and Syuba speakers – are also outlined, but with the overwhelming majority of items in the collection available to others, it is hoped that this article will encourage use of the materials by other researchers.National Foreign Language Resource Cente

Mapmaking for Language Documentation and Description

This paper introduces readers to mapmaking as part of language documentation. We discuss some of the benefits and ethical challenges in producing good maps, drawing on linguistic geography and GIS literature. We then describe current tools and practices that are useful when creating maps of linguistic data, particularly using locations of field sites to identify language areas/boundaries. We demonstrate a basic workflow that uses CartoDB, before demonstrating a more complex workflow involving Google Maps and TileMill. We also discuss presentation and archiving of mapping products. The majority of the tools identified and used are open source or free to use

A sketch grammar of Lamjung Yolmo

This book provides the first grammatical description of the Lamjung variety of Yolmo, a Tibeto-Burman language spoken in Nepal. The volume outlines key ethnographic information about the speakers of Lamjung Yolmo, including an account of the historical migration from the Melamchi Valley to low hills in the Lamjung District. The relationship to other Yolmo varieties, including that spoken by the main population in the Melamchi Valley, and the Syuba variety spoken in Ramechhap, is outlined, as well as its place within the Central Bodic branch of Tibeto-Burman. The focus of the volume is the grammatical description, which encompasses the major features of the language. The chapter on phonetics and phonology includes discussion of the vowel and consonant inventories, as well as the lexical tone system. The parts of speech chapter includes argumentation for the existence of word classes including nominals, verbs, adjectives, adverbs postpositions, interjections, discourse markers and honorifics. The chapter on the noun phrase includes discussion of pronominal forms, articles and case-marking. The verb phrase chapter includes discussion of tense, aspect and modality, including the evidential distinctions made in the language. The final chapter looks at features of clause structure, including relative clauses, complement clauses, nominalisation, clause combining questions and reported speech. A collection of interlinearised texts is also included