Phonology and Morphosyntax of Pubarong Queyu by XUAN GUAN A dissertation accepted and approved in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy in Linguistics Dissertation Committee: Scott DeLancey, Chair Spike Gildea, Core Member Doris Payne, Core Member Nathaniel Sims, Core Member Zhuo Jing-Schmidt, Institutional Representative University of Oregon Fall 2024 ©2024 Xuan Guan 2 DISSERTATION ABSTRACT Xuan Guan Doctor of Philosophy in Linguistics Title: Phonology and Morphosyntax of Pubarong Queyu This dissertation is a description and analysis of the phonology and morphosyntax of Queyu (Qiangic < Tibeto-Burman, ISO 639: qvy. Queyu is spoken in Western Sichuan, China, in a region recognized as the Ethnic Corridor, where there have been frequent inter- actions among different ethnic groups throughout history and which boasts an abundance of ethnic and linguistic diversity (Sun 2013. Despite such rich resources for linguistic, his- torical, and ethnographic research, studies on this region are rare. Among the languages spoken there, Queyu is one of the least studied. The Queyu language contains an elaborated set of onset clusters and a highly re- duced set of codas, which is an unusual combination. The loss of codas also contributes to the uncommon distinctions of vowels. In addition to the complicated phonological sys- tem, the morphosyntax of Queyu poses interesting issues as well. For example, although surrounded by and related to Rgyalrong languages with a hierarchical alignment system, Queyu has a nominative-accusative alignment system. While some features of Queyu are typologically rare, they are common in the local region. With around 6,000 speakers and a low intergenerational transmission rate, the Queyu language is in danger of dying out (Lu 1985. This situation is particularly concerning for Queyu speakers from Pubarong township, whose speech is under examination here, as they 3 have been relocated to nearby counties due to a local dam construction project, which will expedite the endangerment process. Documenting Queyu would, therefore, contribute to Trans-Himalayan and typological studies, as well as descriptions of languages spoken in the Ethnic Corridor. This dissertation is also the first detailed description and analysis of the Pubarong variety of Queyu. 4 CURRICULUM VITAE NAME OF AUTHOR: Xuan Guan GRADUATE AND UNDERGRADUATE SCHOOLS ATTENDED: University of Oregon, Eugene University of Hawai‘i at Mānoa State University of New York at Stony Brook DEGREES AWARDED: Doctor of Philosophy, Linguistics, 2024, University of Oregon Master of Arts, Linguistics, 2016, University of Hawai‘i at Mānoa Bachelor of Arts, Psychology & Linguistics, 2013, State University of New York at Stony Brook AREAS OF SPECIAL INTEREST: Trans-Himalayan Languages, Qiangic, Language Documentation PROFESSIONAL EXPERIENCE University of Oregon, Graduate Employee, 2016-2023 Nankai University, Instructor at the Sino-Tibetan Summer Linguistics Insti- tute and Research Methodology Workshop, 2018, 2019, 2020 University of Hawai‘i at Mānoa, Graduate Teaching Assistant, 2015-2016 GRANTS, AWARDS AND HONORS Graduate Teaching Fellowship, UO, 2016-2023 Graduate Assistantship, UHM, 2015 Department Merit Scholarship, UHM, 2014-2015 Center for Asian and Pacific Studies Small Professional Grants for Graduate Students, 2022 Department Travel Grant, UO, 2022 Endangered Language Documentation Programme Individual Graduate Scholarship, SOAS University of London, 2018-2021 5 Department Travel Grant, UO, 2017 Global Oregon Graduate Summer Travel Grant, UO, 2017 GLOSS Travel Grant, UO, 2017 Department Travel Grant, UO, 2016 Endangered Language Fund (unfunded), 2014 The Hans Rausing Endangered Languages Project (unfunded), 2014 PUBLICATIONS Guan, Xuan. 2024. Phonology and morphosyntax of Pubarong Queyu. Eu- gene, OR: University of Oregon dissertation. Guan, Xuan. Forthcoming. Uvularization in Queyu Phonology. In Kuznetsova, Natalia, Cormac Anderson & Shelece Easterday (eds.), Rarities in phonetics and phonology: Structural, typological, evolu- tionary, and social dimensions. (Topics in Phonological Diversity). Berlin: Language Science Press. Guan, Xuan. Under review. Expressions of property concepts in Pubarong Queyu. Linguistics of the Tibeto-Burman Areas. 6 ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS When I first arrived in the U.S. fifteen years ago, I did not see what was ahead of me. I did not know that my studying abroad would be an odyssey and that I would be living in a foreign land for this long, nor did I know that I would become a linguist and complete this dissertation. This is by no means an individual project, but an accomplishment made possible by the efforts of many. I am grateful for the following organizations and groups that financially supported this research and related travel: the Global Oregon Initiative, the Endangered Languages Documentation Programme, the Department of Linguistics at UO, and the Center for Asia and Pacific Studies at UO. Academically, I would like to thank my mentor, Scott DeLancey, for his consistent patience, guidance, and support. The other wonderful committee members—Doris Payne, Spike Gildea, Nate Sims, and Zhuo Jing-Schmidt—have not only challenged me intellec- tually but also cared for me during my years as a graduate student at UO. I would like to thank the local Nyagqu community members, Prof. Yeshe Vodsal Atsok <ཡེ་ཤེས་འོད་གསལ་ཨ་ཚགས།> Yeshes Vodgsal Atshogs and Gen Dugar <ག གས་དཀར> Gdugs Dkar, for welcoming me to Nyagqu and helping me with various aspects of my stay. Most importantly, I would like to express my sincere gratitude to the local Queyu-speaking community, especially Gen Dorje and his family, for selflessly sharing their language and culture with me and for becoming my family in Nyagqu. Lastly, I would not have been able to thrive during my graduate school years without the help, support, and love from my friends and colleagues at UO, as well as those back in China and elsewhere in the world. 7 For胡一沛 (suǎnsuán) and熊彬彬 (BB), who have always been there for me, especially in times of difficulty. For my family, who supported me in becoming a linguist. 8 TABLE OF CONTENTS Chapter Page DISSERTATION ABSTRACT ........................................................................... 3 CURRICULUM VITAE ................................................................................... 5 ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS ............................................................................... 7 TABLE OF CONTENTS .................................................................................. 9 LIST OF FIGURES ....................................................................................... 19 LIST OF TABLES......................................................................................... 21 LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS........................................................................... 29 1 INTRODUCTION .................................................................................... 31 1.1 The Queyu speaking area.................................................................... 31 1.2 Consultants who contributed to this dissertation....................................... 37 1.3 Speaker information and language variation............................................ 38 1.4 Origins of the name ........................................................................... 40 1.5 Tradition and lifestyle ........................................................................ 42 1.6 Farmers and different yak breeds .......................................................... 43 1.7 House structure ................................................................................ 45 1.8 New Year celebration......................................................................... 46 1.9 Wedding tradition ............................................................................. 47 1.10 Funeral traditions .............................................................................. 49 1.11 The speakers and language situation...................................................... 49 1.12 Literature review .............................................................................. 51 1.13 Transcription notes for examples used in this dissertation .......................... 57 9 Chapter Page 2 PHONETICS AND SEGMENTAL PHONOLOGY ......................................... 59 2.1 Introduction ..................................................................................... 59 2.2 Consonants ...................................................................................... 60 2.2.1 Overview.............................................................................. 60 2.2.2 Stop sounds........................................................................... 61 2.2.3 Affricate sounds ..................................................................... 62 2.2.4 Fricative sounds ..................................................................... 63 2.2.5 Nasal sounds ......................................................................... 65 2.2.6 Liquids................................................................................. 69 2.2.7 Glides .................................................................................. 72 2.3 Vowels ........................................................................................... 72 2.3.1 Overview.............................................................................. 72 2.3.2 Uvularized vowels in Queyu ..................................................... 75 2.3.3 Similarities among uvularized, velarized, and pharyngealized vowels noted in the literature .................................................... 81 2.3.4 The articulation of uvularized vowels and similar vowel qualities ..... 84 2.3.5 Acoustic properties of uvularized, velarized, and pharyngealized vowels in Qiangic languages ..................................................... 85 2.3.6 Origins of uvularized, pharyngealized, and velarized vowels............ 86 2.3.6.1 Sources of uvularization, velarization, and pharyngealization in Qiangic languages ......................... 88 2.3.6.2 Rhotacization and other phenomena relevant to uvularization ............................................................ 91 2.3.7 Summary on uvularized vowels ................................................. 92 2.4 Syllables ......................................................................................... 95 2.4.1 Overview.............................................................................. 95 10 Chapter Page 2.4.2 Constraints and exceptions on the distribution of uvularized vowels in syllables containing CV structure ................................. 96 2.4.3 PC onsets.............................................................................. 97 2.4.4 CG onsets ............................................................................ 107 2.4.5 PCG onsets .......................................................................... 112 2.4.6 Complex syllables and onsets from a typological perspective .......... 114 2.4.6.1 Complex onsets in TB languages ................................. 114 2.4.6.2 Complex onsets in Qiangic languages........................... 115 2.4.6.3 Complex onsets in phonological typology ..................... 117 2.4.6.4 Findings in Easterday (2019)....................................... 118 2.4.6.5 Situating Queyu data................................................. 121 2.4.6.6 Queyu onsets diachronic and comparative problems, and conclusion ........................................................ 124 2.5 Vowel fusion ................................................................................... 127 2.5.1 The fusion of a noun and following LOC enclitic ........................... 127 2.5.2 The fusion of verbal prefixes.................................................... 128 2.5.3 The fusion that involves information structure marker (ISM) ............ 130 2.6 The spreading of uvularization and other features in Pubarong Queyu prefixes.......................................................................................... 131 2.6.1 A brief overview of vowel harmony and uvulars in the Eurasian context ................................................................................ 132 2.6.2 Vowel harmony in Pubarong Queyu prefixes ............................... 133 2.6.3 Exceptions to vowel harmony .................................................. 138 2.6.4 Vowel harmony in Qiangic ...................................................... 141 2.7 Conclusion ..................................................................................... 144 11 Chapter Page 3 SUPRASEGMENTAL PHONOLOGY-TONES ............................................. 145 3.1 Introduction .................................................................................... 145 3.2 Basics and conventions ..................................................................... 146 3.3 An overview of Queyu tones .............................................................. 150 3.4 Contrastive tones in Pubarong Queyu ................................................... 155 3.5 Tonal sandhi in Queyu ...................................................................... 159 3.5.1 Suffixes ............................................................................... 161 3.5.2 Property concept words (stative verbs) and their tonal behavior ....... 161 3.5.3 Directional prefixes................................................................ 163 3.5.4 Questions containing directional prefixes.................................... 167 3.5.5 Prohibitive ........................................................................... 169 3.5.6 Negation prefixes .................................................................. 169 3.5.7 Imperfective questions............................................................ 171 3.5.8 Summary ............................................................................. 172 3.6 Other issues that need attention ........................................................... 173 4 PARTS OF SPEECH ................................................................................ 175 4.1 Issues with Classifying Parts of Speech and Introduction to Croft’s Radical Construction Grammar Framework ........................................... 175 4.2 Introduction to Tibeto-Burman Parts of Speech Studies and Queyu Morphosyntax ................................................................................. 180 4.3 Nominal Morphosyntax..................................................................... 180 4.4 Verbal Morphosyntax........................................................................ 182 4.4.1 Person and number agreement .................................................. 183 4.4.2 Directional prefixes and aspect marking ..................................... 184 4.4.3 Question, prohibitive and negation markers ................................. 186 4.4.4 Nominalization ..................................................................... 188 12 Chapter Page 4.4.5 Reduplication of verbs ............................................................ 189 4.4.6 Property Concept Words in Queyu ............................................ 192 4.5 Property Concept Terms, and Constructions in Propositional Acts of Reference, Predication, and Modification .............................................. 194 4.5.1 Referential Constructions ........................................................ 194 4.5.2 Predication Constructions........................................................ 196 4.5.3 Modification Constructions...................................................... 198 4.6 The word class status of PCT’s in Queyu............................................... 200 4.7 Shared morphosyntax between Nouns and Verbs..................................... 203 4.8 Other minor word classes................................................................... 206 4.8.1 Common pronouns ................................................................ 206 4.8.2 Definite pronouns .................................................................. 209 4.8.3 Indefinite pronouns ................................................................ 211 4.8.4 Interrogative pronouns............................................................ 214 4.8.5 Numerals and classifiers ......................................................... 216 4.8.6 Adverbs............................................................................... 219 4.8.6.1 Adverbs derived from other word classes ...................... 219 4.8.6.2 Adverbs derived from Verbs ....................................... 221 4.8.6.3 Adverbs that modify Verbs ......................................... 222 4.8.6.4 Adverbs that modify clauses ....................................... 225 4.8.7 Affixes ................................................................................ 226 4.8.8 Enclitics .............................................................................. 226 4.8.9 Clause ending particles ........................................................... 227 4.8.10 Coordinating conjunctions ....................................................... 227 5 NOUN PHRASE MORPHOSYNTAX ......................................................... 231 5.1 Noun phrase template ....................................................................... 231 13 Chapter Page 5.2 Determiner and prenominal modifier .................................................... 231 5.3 Number marking.............................................................................. 232 5.4 Quantifier and numerals .................................................................... 234 5.5 Case marking .................................................................................. 235 5.5.1 Locative .............................................................................. 235 5.5.2 Ablative .............................................................................. 237 5.5.3 Comitative ........................................................................... 238 5.5.4 Instrumental ......................................................................... 239 5.5.5 Inessive ............................................................................... 240 5.5.6 Superessive .......................................................................... 240 5.5.7 Combination of the case markers .............................................. 241 5.6 Information structure marking ............................................................ 242 5.6.1 Examples of =tɘ and =i ........................................................... 243 5.6.2 The third information structure marker =rɨ .................................. 246 5.7 The order of information structure marking and case marking.................... 247 5.8 Summary ....................................................................................... 248 6 VERBAL MORPHOSYNTAX................................................................... 249 6.1 Basic verb template .......................................................................... 249 6.2 Argument indexation ........................................................................ 250 6.2.1 Summary of the three verbal argument indexation types................. 250 6.2.2 The distribution of the inserted 3rd person bilabial preinitials........... 252 6.2.3 Summary of the verb paradigm categories................................... 255 6.2.4 The nominal stem form of the verb ............................................ 258 6.2.5 Origins of the bilabial preinitial in third person forms .................... 264 6.2.6 Verb reduplications ................................................................ 264 6.2.7 Discussion on argument indexation ........................................... 267 14 Chapter Page 6.3 Directional prefixes .......................................................................... 270 6.3.1 The directional usage ............................................................. 271 6.3.1.1 Directional prefixes in directional usage........................ 271 6.3.1.2 Directional adverbials ............................................... 273 6.3.1.3 Directional nominals................................................. 275 6.3.1.4 The ‘upstream’ and ‘downstream’ prefixes and their cognates in other related languages .............................. 278 6.3.2 Perfective usage of directional prefixes ...................................... 280 6.3.3 The imperative function of the directional prefixes ....................... 281 6.3.4 Semantic pathways from directional meanings to the extended functions ............................................................................. 282 6.4 Negation ........................................................................................ 284 6.5 Questions ....................................................................................... 288 6.6 Prohibitive marker ........................................................................... 290 6.7 Causativization................................................................................ 291 6.8 Nominalization................................................................................ 292 6.8.1 Nominalization of the property concept words ............................. 293 6.8.2 Nominalization of non-property concept words ............................ 293 6.8.2.1 The -mɘ nominalizer ................................................. 293 6.8.2.2 The -ʃә nominalizer .................................................. 294 6.8.2.3 The -sʰɑʶ nominalizer ................................................ 295 6.8.2.4 The -sʰɨ nominalizer ................................................. 297 6.8.2.5 The -xto nominalizer................................................. 297 6.8.2.6 The -tʃi nominalizer .................................................. 298 6.8.2.7 Origins of the nominalizers ........................................ 299 6.8.3 Finiteness of the nominalized verbs ........................................... 300 15 Chapter Page 6.8.4 Relativization ....................................................................... 301 6.8.4.1 Headedness............................................................. 301 6.8.4.2 Location of the head noun .......................................... 302 6.8.4.3 Accessibility hierarchy .............................................. 303 6.9 Aspect and modality ......................................................................... 305 6.9.1 Aspect................................................................................. 305 6.9.1.1 Perfective ............................................................... 305 6.9.1.2 Imperfective ........................................................... 306 6.9.1.3 Progressive ............................................................. 306 6.9.1.4 Completive ............................................................. 307 6.9.1.5 Experiential ............................................................ 307 6.9.2 Modality.............................................................................. 308 6.9.2.1 Ability ŋǔ ............................................................... 308 6.9.2.2 Capability rǐ ............................................................ 309 6.9.2.3 Permission mdǒ ....................................................... 310 6.9.2.4 Necessity ɡǔ ........................................................... 311 6.9.2.5 Desire rí ................................................................. 311 6.9.2.6 Having the courage mnә́ ............................................ 312 6.9.2.7 Willingness ʒěʶ ........................................................ 312 6.10 Existential verbs .............................................................................. 313 6.10.1 Posession ʃʰʊ̌ ....................................................................... 313 6.10.2 Existential verb ʃǐ .................................................................. 313 6.10.3 Existential verb ʁwә̌ʶ .............................................................. 316 6.10.4 Existential verb ró ................................................................. 316 6.10.5 Existential verb tʃy̌ ................................................................ 317 6.10.6 Existential verb tʃí ................................................................. 318 16 Chapter Page 6.10.7 Existential verb ndǔ ............................................................... 319 6.10.8 Existential verbs in other Queyu varieties ................................... 320 7 EVIDENTIALITY AND OTHER CLAUSE-LEVEL MORPHOSYNTAX .......... 323 7.1 Evidentiality ................................................................................... 323 7.1.1 Introduction and summary to the Queyu evidential system.............. 323 7.1.2 The egophoric marker ts ̌ ........................................................ 325 7.1.3 The generic marker ʈʂ ̌ ............................................................ 329 7.1.4 The direct observation enclitic =rɨ ............................................. 329 7.1.5 The inferential and mirative -sʰɨ ................................................ 333 7.1.6 Conclusion about evidential and egophoric markers in Pubarong ..... 334 7.2 Other clause-final markers ................................................................. 334 7.2.1 The non-final particle lә .......................................................... 335 7.2.2 Concessive nɑʶ...................................................................... 335 7.2.3 Propositive tʃә(rә) .................................................................. 336 7.2.4 ‘Otherwise’ mtʃʰә(rә) ............................................................. 338 7.2.5 Clause-final rí ‘then’ .............................................................. 339 7.2.6 Conditional pɑʶ ..................................................................... 340 7.2.7 Assumptive pɑʶ ..................................................................... 341 7.2.8 Speculative ko ...................................................................... 342 7.2.9 Indicative mʊ ....................................................................... 342 7.2.10 Deontic ɣæ........................................................................... 343 8 CONCLUSION AND SUMMARY ............................................................. 345 APPENDIX A: SUMMARY OF THE ONSETS ................................................. 348 APPENDIX B: LIFE IN THE PAST................................................................. 355 17 Chapter Page APPENDIX C: WINE BREWING ................................................................... 379 APPENDIX D: CHEESE MAKING................................................................. 393 APPENDIX E: CHEESE MAKING-CONTINUED ............................................. 397 APPENDIX F: FROG STORY 1 ...................................................................... 404 APPENDIX G: FROG STORY 2 ..................................................................... 412 APPENDIX H: THE RABBIT AND THE POOR YOUNG MAN .......................... 421 APPENDIX I: PUBARONG VILLAGES .......................................................... 437 BIBLIOGRAPHY ........................................................................................ 440 18 LIST OF FIGURES Figure Page Figure 1.1 Location of Nyagqu (Yajiang) (Chen 2017:124) .................................... 32 Figure 1.2 Linguistic diversity within Nyagqu (Yajiang) County............................. 33 Figure 1.3 Location of Pubarong villages .......................................................... 36 Figure 1.4 A picture of Tashi standing on ɘ́ndjéxò. .............................................. 46 Figure 1.5 Languages spoken in the Ethnic Corridor region ................................... 52 Figure 1.6 Classification of Queyu in Qiangic branch (Sun 2016: 4) ........................ 54 Figure 1.7 Classification of Queyu and its related languages in Jacques andMichaud (2011: 6) ....................................................................................... 55 Figure 2.1 Structures of the two types of voiceless nasals. ..................................... 67 Figure 2.2 Bilabial nasal /m/ and voiceless bilabial nasal /m̥/ ................................. 68 Figure 2.3 Pre-aspiration /hɲ/ and voiceless nasal /ɲ̊/ ........................................... 70 Figure 2.4 [ʐó] ‘exist’ and [rɑ́ʶ] ‘copper’ ........................................................... 71 Figure 2.5 A vowel chart based on the four pairs ................................................. 77 Figure 2.6 lә́ ‘seed’ vs. lɘ́ʶ ‘highland wheat’ ....................................................... 78 Figure 2.7 rʊ́ ‘dry’ vs. rʊ́ʶ ‘rolling stone’ ........................................................... 79 Figure 2.8 mæ- vs. mɑʶ- ‘neg’, sʰí ‘die’ vs. xsʰíʶ ‘see clearly’ ................................. 80 Figure 2.9 Compare ɡә́ ‘hot’ and ŋɡә́vì ‘blacksmith’ ........................................... 101 Figure 4.1 The verbal template in Queyu .......................................................... 182 Figure 5.1 Noun phrase template .................................................................... 231 Figure 6.1 Verbal template ............................................................................ 249 Figure 6.2 Location of the house circled. .......................................................... 276 Figure 6.3 Location of the places and furniture in relation to the river. .................... 277 Figure 6.4 The location of Suoyi village in relation to other places......................... 279 19 Figure Page Figure 6.5 The semantic pathway from directional to imperative, adopted from Sims and Genetti (2017:135). ................................................................... 283 Figure 7.1 Paradigm for evidential and egophoric markers. .................................. 324 20 LIST OF TABLES Table Page Table 1.1 Names and spellings of the four administrative villages in Pubarong......... 34 Table 1.2 Names and spellings of the natural villages in Pubarong ........................ 35 Table 1.3 Names for different bovine .............................................................. 44 Table 1.4 Results of the breeding ................................................................... 44 Table 2.1 Consonant inventory of Pubarong Queyu............................................ 60 Table 2.2 Example words containing stops ....................................................... 61 Table 2.3 Example words containing affricates.................................................. 62 Table 2.4 Example words containing fricatives ................................................. 63 Table 2.5 The correspondence of Written Tibetan s prefix in Queyu....................... 64 Table 2.6 Example words containing nasals...................................................... 66 Table 2.7 Example words containing liquids..................................................... 69 Table 2.8 Example words containing glides ...................................................... 72 Table 2.9 Contrastive vowel inventory of Pubarong Queyu .................................. 72 Table 2.10 Uvularized vowels in Queyu ............................................................ 73 Table 2.11 Example words for each vowel. ....................................................... 74 Table 2.12 Several example pairs contrasting plain and uvularized vowels ............... 76 Table 2.13 F1-F2 values for the four vowel pairs ................................................ 76 Table 2.14 Vowel correspondence among different Queyu varieties (Suzuki and Sonam Wangmo 2019:115; Zheng 2023:19–20) ..................................... 81 Table 2.15 Acoustic differences in Qiangic languages between uvularized/ velarized/pharyngealized vowels and their plain counterparts .................. 87 Table 2.16 Comparative Rgyalrongic data (Sun 2000b:215)................................... 88 Table 2.17 Hongyan pharyngealized vowels corresponding to PTB *-w- (Evans 2006a:114) ................................................................................... 89 21 Table Page Table 2.18 Velarization correspondence in three modern Rgyalrongic languages (Lin, Sun, and Chen 2012:90). ......................................................... 89 Table 2.19 Reconstructed uvularized syllables in Tangut corresponding to Rgyalrongic uvular initials and codas (Gong 2020:199) ......................... 90 Table 2.20 Comparing Tibetan loan words in Queyu and Written Tibetan ................. 91 Table 2.21 Comparing Khroskyabs and Queyu data ............................................. 91 Table 2.22 Plain and uvularized vowels follow velar and uvular consonants, respectively.................................................................................. 97 Table 2.23 The vowel /o/ can occur after both velar and uvular consonants .............. 97 Table 2.24 Preinitials with examples in Queyu.................................................... 98 Table 2.25 PC onsets with preinitial /p/ ............................................................ 103 Table 2.26 PC onsets with preinitial /b/ ............................................................ 103 Table 2.27 PC onsets with preinitial /x/ ............................................................ 104 Table 2.28 PC onsets with preinitial /ɣ/ ............................................................ 105 Table 2.29 PC onsets with prenitial /m/ ............................................................ 105 Table 2.30 PC onsets with preinitial /n/ ............................................................ 106 Table 2.31 CG onsets with a stop initial ........................................................... 108 Table 2.32 CG onsets with an affricate initial .................................................... 109 Table 2.33 CG onsets with a fricative initial ...................................................... 110 Table 2.34 CG onsets with a sonorant initial...................................................... 111 Table 2.35 PCG onsets with a preinitial /p/ ....................................................... 112 Table 2.36 PCG onsets with preinitial /b/.......................................................... 113 Table 2.37 PCG onsets with preinitial /x/.......................................................... 113 Table 2.38 PCG onsets with a preinitial /ɣ/ ....................................................... 114 Table 2.39 PCG onsets with a preinitial /m/ ...................................................... 114 Table 2.40 PCG onsets with a preinitial /n/ ....................................................... 114 22 Table Page Table 2.41 Consonant and consonant cluster numbers in Qiangic languages ............. 116 Table 2.42 Lindblom and Maddieson (1988:67) and Easterday (2019:105) ................ 119 Table 2.43 Syllable complexity and number of consonant phonemes in a language (Easterday 2019: 127) .................................................................... 120 Table 2.44 Syllable complexity and the number of elaborated consonants (Easterday 2019: 131) ..................................................................... 120 Table 2.45 Syllable complexity and the number of elaborations in the consonant inventory (Easterday 2019: 132) ....................................................... 121 Table 2.46 Queyu’s verbal paradigm ............................................................... 122 Table 2.47 Queyu causative verbs ................................................................... 122 Table 2.48 Written Tibetan and Queyu syllable structure...................................... 124 Table 2.49 Minyag and Queyu uvulars (Minyag data from Wang and Conrad 2021) ... 125 Table 2.50 Written Tibetan and Ersu (Chirkova et al. 2015:198) ............................. 125 Table 2.51 Written Tibetan and Queyu ............................................................. 125 Table 2.52 Prefixes in Queyu ......................................................................... 134 Table 2.53 Prefixes with verbs containing plain vowel suffixes ............................ 134 Table 2.54 Prefixes with verb bases containing uvularized vowels ......................... 135 Table 2.55 Vowel harmony in classifier constructions (data adopted from Zheng 2023:21) ..................................................................................... 139 Table 2.56 Vowels /o/ and /u/ exhibiting uvularized vowel behavior ....................... 140 Table 2.57 Vowels /o/ and /u/ exhibiting plain vowel behavior .............................. 140 Table 2.58 Plain 3rd person verb forms ending with /u/ ....................................... 140 Table 2.59 Uvularized 3rd person verb forms ending with /u/ ................................ 141 Table 2.60 Yunlinsi plain-uvularized vowel harmony (Evans et al. 2016:18) ............. 143 Table 2.61 Rbu Rgyalrong plain-velarized vowel harmony (Gong 2020: 194) ........... 143 Table 3.1 Tonal notations for Pubarong Queyu used in this dissertation ................. 147 23 Table Page Table 3.2 Tuanjie (Gala) Queyu tones (Lu 1985:68)........................................... 150 Table 3.3 Youlaxi (Xinlong) Queyu tones (Wang 1991:55) .................................. 150 Table 3.4 A minimal pair contrasting H and L tone in Litang (Rongba Township, Zengda village) Queyu (Nishida 2008:83).......................................... 151 Table 3.5 Contrastive tones in Nishida (2018:171).............................................. 152 Table 3.6 Contrastive tones on monosyllables in Rongba (Zengda Village) Queyu (Zheng 2023:23)........................................................................... 152 Table 3.7 Examples of L-H contrasting H-L (Zheng 2023:24) ............................. 153 Table 3.8 Examples of L-H contrasting H-H (Zheng 2023:24) ............................. 153 Table 3.9 Perfective prefixed verbs (Zheng 2023:25) ......................................... 153 Table 3.10 Imperative prefixed verbs (Zheng 2023:25) ........................................ 154 Table 3.11 Verbs with non-past negative prefix .................................................. 154 Table 3.12 Verbs with past negative prefix mә- (Zheng 2023:26) ........................... 155 Table 3.13 Verbs with prohibitive prefix (Zheng 2023:26).................................... 155 Table 3.14 Tonal patterns for nouns in isolation and in the locative construction. ...... 156 Table 3.15 Tonal patterns for verbs in isolation and when suffixed by patient nominalizer. ................................................................................ 157 Table 3.16 Tonal patterns for verbs in isolation and when suffixed by agent nominalizer. ................................................................................ 157 Table 3.17 Tonal patterns for disyllabic nouns. .................................................. 159 Table 3.18 Tonal patterns for disyllabic verb bases. ............................................ 159 Table 3.19 Tonal patterns for trisyllabic nouns. .................................................. 160 Table 3.20 Tonal pattern for quadrisyllabic nouns. .............................................. 160 Table 3.21 /L/ tone monosyllabic property concept terms always expand to L.H when reduplicated ........................................................................ 162 24 Table Page Table 3.22 /H/ tone monosyllabic property concept terms whose reduplicated forms are H.H.............................................................................. 162 Table 3.23 H tone monosyllabic property concept terms whose reduplicated forms are H.L....................................................................................... 162 Table 3.24 Directional markers in Queyu.......................................................... 163 Table 3.25 Combinations of different directional prefixes and verbs. ...................... 164 Table 3.26 Homophonous vs different IMP and NEU constructions .......................... 166 Table 3.27 Perfective yes/no questions............................................................. 167 Table 3.28 When asking others for advice......................................................... 168 Table 3.29 ‘Asking for advice’ questions with disyllabic verb bases ....................... 168 Table 3.30 ‘Ask for advice’ questions in Yazhong speech .................................... 168 Table 3.31 Two prohibitive expressions ........................................................... 169 Table 3.32 Tonal behavior of the elsewhere negation marker mɘ-........................... 170 Table 3.33 Tonal behavior of another more-restricted negation prefix méɪ- .............. 170 Table 3.34 Tonal behavior of the imperfective negation marker mæ- ...................... 171 Table 3.35 Imperfective yes/no question prefix æ- .............................................. 171 Table 4.1 Semantic properties of prototypical parts of speech (Croft 2001:87) ......... 178 Table 4.2 Overtly marked structural coding constructions for parts of speech (Croft 2001:88) ............................................................................ 179 Table 4.3 Verbs that contrast both person and number........................................ 185 Table 4.4 Directional prefixes in Queyu.......................................................... 185 Table 4.5 Non-reduplicated and reduplicated verbs ........................................... 190 Table 4.6 Reduplicated verbs whose unreduplicated forms are not found in the data. 190 Table 4.7 Overtly marked structural coding constructions................................... 202 Table 4.8 Shared morphosyntax between Nouns and Verbs ................................. 203 Table 4.9 Queyu pronouns ........................................................................... 207 25 Table Page Table 4.10 Queyu reflexive pronouns .............................................................. 207 Table 4.11 Indefinite pronouns in Pubarong Queyu............................................. 211 Table 4.12 Interrogative pronouns................................................................... 214 Table 4.13 Number 1-31, and 41-100 ................................................................ 217 Table 4.14 Queyu classifiers .......................................................................... 218 Table 4.15 Directional Adverbs ...................................................................... 223 Table 4.16 Degree Adverbs ........................................................................... 224 Table 4.17 Manner Adverbs .......................................................................... 224 Table 4.18 Clause Adverbial .......................................................................... 225 Table 4.19 Noun phrase enclitics .................................................................... 227 Table 4.20 Clause-final particles..................................................................... 228 Table 4.21 Conjunctions in Queyu .................................................................. 228 Table 5.1 1-20 in Pubarong Queyu with the default classifier -rʊʶ ......................... 235 Table 6.1 Verbs that do not conjugate for person or number ................................ 251 Table 6.2 Verbs that distinguish SAP and non-SAP .............................................. 251 Table 6.3 Verbs that contrast both person and number........................................ 252 Table 6.4 Inserted preinitial [p] in 3rd person forms ........................................... 253 Table 6.5 Inserted preinitial [b] in 3rd person form ............................................ 254 Table 6.6 Inserted preinitial [ɸ] in 3rd person form ............................................ 254 Table 6.7 Inserted preinitial [β] in 3rd person forms ........................................... 254 Table 6.8 Preinitial /m/ in 3rd person forms...................................................... 255 Table 6.9 Number of verbs in each category .................................................... 255 Table 6.10 Type 1 plain vowel verbs ................................................................ 256 Table 6.11 Type 2 plain vowel verbs ............................................................... 256 Table 6.12 Type 3 plain vowel verbs................................................................ 257 26 Table Page Table 6.13 Type 1 uvularized vowel verbs......................................................... 257 Table 6.14 Type 2 uvularized vowel verbs ........................................................ 258 Table 6.15 Type 3 uvularized vowel verbs ........................................................ 258 Table 6.16 Verbs whose nominal stem form differs from other forms...................... 259 Table 6.17 Verbs whose nominal stem form overlaps with a person or number form .. 259 Table 6.18 Examples of property concept words ................................................ 265 Table 6.19 Examples of non-property concept verbs with uvularized vowels ............ 265 Table 6.20 Examples of non-property concept verbs with plain vowels ................... 266 Table 6.21 Possible plain vowels in 3rd person forms .......................................... 267 Table 6.22 Possible uvularized vowels in 3rd person forms ................................... 268 Table 6.23 Argument indexes across the TH family from DeLancey (2023:105). ....... 269 Table 6.24 Directional markers in Queyu.......................................................... 271 Table 6.25 Directional adverbials and corresponding prefixes ............................... 273 Table 6.26 Directional nominals and their corresponding directional prefixes ........... 275 Table 6.27 Directional expressions in Queyu ..................................................... 280 Table 6.28 Homophonous vs different IMP and NEU constructions .......................... 282 Table 6.29 Obligatory directional prefixes in different functions, from Sims and Genetti (2017:136). ........................................................................ 284 Table 6.30 Comparison between the mæ- and mɘ́- prefixes. .................................. 284 Table 6.31 Contrasting méɪ- and mæ- .............................................................. 288 Table 6.32 Two prohibitive expressions ........................................................... 290 Table 6.33 Morphological causation ................................................................ 291 Table 6.34 Pubarong modal verbs. .................................................................. 308 Table 6.35 Summary of existential verbs in Tuanjie/Gala (Lu 1985)........................ 320 Table 6.36 Summary of existential verbs in Youlaxi (Wang 1991). .......................... 321 Table 6.37 Summary of existential verbs in Rizi, Pubarong (Song and Piao 2022). .... 321 27 Table Page Table 7.1 Functions of the evidential markers. ................................................. 334 Table A.1 A summary of all onsets................................................................. 348 28 LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS 1 first person 2 second person 3 third person ABL ablative ASS assumptive CL classifier COM comitative CONC concessive COND conditional COP copula DEO deontic DIR direct observation DIRC directional prefix DOWN downward DS downstream DU dual EGO egophoric EXP experiential F falling GNR generic H high IN inward IND indicative INE inessive INS instrumental ISM1 information structure marker 1 ISM2 information structure marker 2 ISM3 information structure marker 3 KN kʰɪ́=ɲí ‘at the time’ L low LOC locative NEG negation NF1 non-final 1 NF2 non-final 2 NMLZ nominalizer NOM nominal stem NPST non-past NUM numeral OCP Obligatory Contour Principle ORT orientation PST past PTH proto-Trans-Himalayan PL plural PN proper name PROG progressive PROP propositive PTH proto-Trans-Himalayan R rising RED reduplication SAP speech act participant 29 SG singular SIM simultaneous SPEC speculative SUP superlative SUPE superessive TB Tibeto-Burman TBU tone bearing unit TH Trans-Himalayan TM tʰɘ̀ʶmә́ʶ ‘afterwards, then’ TMKN tʰɘ̀ʶmә́ʶ kʰɪ́=ɲí ‘afterwards, then’ TV tʰì ví ‘this way’ TZ tʰɘ̀ z ́ ‘this way’ UP upward US upstream - morpheme boundary = clitic boundary < > non-Latin writing script / / phonemic transcription [ ] phonetic transcription 30 CHAPTER 1 INTRODUCTION This is a dissertation on the phonology and morphosyntax of the Queyu variety that is spoken in the Pubarong Township (Tibetan < གས་པ་རོང་ཤང་།> phugs pa rong shang; Chinese <普巴绒乡> Pubarong), Nyagqu County (Tibetan <ཉག་ ་ ོང> nyag chu rdzong; Chinese <雅江县> Yajiang), Garzê Tibetan Autonomous Prefecture (Tibetan <དཀར་མཛས་ བོད་རིགས་རང་ ོང་ ལ།> dkar-mdzes bod-rigs rang-skyong khul; Chinese <甘孜藏族自治州> Ganzi) of Sichuan Province, China. This dissertation is divided into the following chapters: Chapter 1 introduces basic information about Queyu speakers, including their population, residence, traditions and lifestyle. Previous literature on other Queyu varieties is also dis- cussed at the end of the chapter. Chapter 2 describes the segmental phonology of Queyu, with a focus on its unusual vowel inventory and its complex onsets. Chapter 3 describes and analyzes the supragsegmental phonology of Queyu using the autosegmental frame- work. Chapter 4 discusses major and minor word classes in Queyu, with an emphasis on establishing two main categories, Nouns and Verbs. Property concept words are considered a subclass of Verbs. Chapter 5 describes the noun phrase morphosyntax of Queyu, while Chapter 6 focuses on both inflectional and derivational verbal morphosyntax. Chapter 7 describes evidentiality and other clause-level morphosyntax. Chapter 8 concludes this dis- sertation. 1.1 The Queyu speaking area Speakers of Queyu are ethnically Tibetan, but the languageQueyu does not belong to the Tibetic branch of the Trans-Himalayan (TH) family. Though several previous studies put it under the Qiangic branch, the validity of Qiangic is still controversial (Chirkova 2012). Speakers of Queyu spread over several counties. The literature reports that they mainly reside in the counties of Xinlong, Litang, and Yajiang (Lu 1985:67; Wang 1991:46; Sun 2001:1459; Nishida 2008:77). In a footnote, Lu (1985) mentions that Liu Huiqiang <刘辉 强> from <四川省民族研究所> Sichuan Ethnic Studies Institute reported that some Queyu 31 speakers also resided in Jiulong, Kangding, Yidun, Batang, and Mangkang Counties at the time (67). Located at 29° 03’ 30’-30° 30’ 44’ N and 100° 19’ 55’-101° 20’ 20’ E, the Nyagqu County borders Kangding on the east, Xinlong and Daofu on the north, Muli County on the south, and Litang County on the west, and is 513km away from Chengdu, the capital city of Sichuan Province (Yearbook 2023). The locations of Garzê (Ganzi) and Nyagqu (Yajiang) within Sichuan, and Sichuan’s location in China, are indicated in the map below, adopted from Chen (2017). Figure 1.1: Location of Nyagqu (Yajiang) (Chen 2017:124) Within Nyagqu County, various Tibetan varieties and other languages are spoken in addition to Queyu. These different languages and varieties are indicated in the map below. 32 There are three main Tibetan varieties: the rung skad variety, which is spoken in the south; and the sgang skad, which is spoken in the east. These two varieties aremutually intelligible. The other Tibetan variety, washul, is a nomadic variety (vbrog skad) that is spoken in the west.Washul Tibetan is not intelligible with the other two varieties (Yeshes Vodgsal Atshogs 2023). A mixed language, or creole, called Daohua is composed of Chinese vocabulary and Tibetan syntax, and is spoken mainly in Hekou Town, Bajiaolou Township, and Gala Township (Yeshes Vodgsal Atshogs 2004). Another Qiangic language, Zhaba (nDrapa), is spoken in the north (Shirai 2008). Figure 1.2: Linguistic diversity within Nyagqu (Yajiang) County1 33 Queyu speakers from Nyagqu County have long resided in Pubarong Township, which is 64 km away from the county seat (Yearbook 2023). Other varieties of Queyu are also reported to be spoken in Gala Township and Hekou Town. Pubarong is divided into several communities, which lie alongside of the Nyag Chu River (Tibetan <ཉག་ ་> Nyag Chu; Chinese <雅砻江> Yalong Jiang). These are divided into four administrative villages, or production brigades in (Chinese <生产大队> Shengchan Dadui) in the old term. They are <日孜> <འ ི་ཐི་ ོང་> Vbri Thi Grong, <普古> <ཕོ་ ག་ ོང་> Pho khug grong, <甲德> <འཇམ་ ོད་ ོང་> Vjam stod grong and <亚中> <ཡར་ ོང་ ོང་ཚ > Yar grong grong tsho from upstream to downstream. Table 1.1 summarizes the names and spellings of these four villages in both Tibetan and Chinese. Table 1.1: Names and spellings of the four administrative villages in Pubarong Tibetan Tibetan transcription Chinese Chinese pinyin འ ི་ཐི་ ོང་ vbri thi grong 日孜 Rizi ཕོ་ ག་ ོང་ pho khug grong 普古 Pugu འཇམ་ ོད་ ོང་ vjam stod grong 甲德 Jiade ཡར་ ོང་ ོང་ཚ yar grong grong tsho 亚中 Yazhong Each of these administrative villages contains several natural villages and/or subvil- lages, many of which have had to relocate to a new location in recent years. Some of them may not have a corresponding Tibetan/Chinese name. Therefore, when referring to specific villages, the Chinese Pinyin or IPA transcription of the village name will be used. Table 1.2 provides a list of village and subvillage names from each administrative village. 1The town and township administrative units were referenced from the Yajiang County map from the Yajiang County Yearbook (2023). The illustrations of various language locations were created by Katie Gao. 34 Table 1.2: Names and spellings of the natural villages in Pubarong Administrative village Queyu village name Chinsese Chinese Pinyin Rizi pʃínì 应龙 Yinglong mɖʐ ́z ̀ 日孜 Rizi vɘ̀tʃý NA NA kòβzó 各让 Gerang Pugu lә̀té 勒德 Lede l̥ó 曲入 Quru pʰùkú 普古 Pugu Jiade dʒә̀ʂtjé 甲德 Jiade mә̀tʃý NA NA qwә́ʶlì 瓜里 Guali Yazhong ʁә̀ʶpʈʂó 乙扎 Yizha xúlì 亚中 Yazhong qә́ʶvɘ̀ NA NA rә̀ʶʁә́ʶ NA NA xlʊ́/xlʊ́wù 索衣 Suoyi lɑ́ʶxtò 拉冬 Ladong For the Rizi group, vɘ̀tʃý is a subvillage with around three or four households orig- inally from mɖʐ ́z ̀. For the Jiade group, mә̀tʃý is a subvillage with around seven or eight households originally from dʒә̀ʂtjé. For the Yazhong group, both qә́ʶvɘ̀ and rә̀ʶʁә́ʶ are subvil- lages with several households originally from xúlì. Lastly, lɑ́ʶxtò is a subvillage with around four or five households originally from xlʊ́. See Figure 1.3 for the relative locations of these villages. Suoyi, the village my main consultants come from, is located at the right-most side 35 of the figure. Figure 1.3: Location of Pubarong villages2 Currently, after the construction of the Lianghekou Hydroelectric Project, there is a dam downstream of the Nyagchu River. The valley is now a reservoir and the river rises above the level of many prior villages. Therefore, all villages are now relocated to either nearby county (seats) or to a higher location that is near the original place, except for one village, Quru, that is high up on the mountain and is not affected by the water level rise. All villages in theYazhong group (Yizha, Yazhong, Suoyi) havemoved to the county seat. For the Rizi group, one village moved to the county seat, and the other two moved to a nearby higher location. For the Pugu group, one village moved to the county seat, one village relocated to a nearby higher place, and the village of Quru remained in its original place, high on the mountain. For the Jiade group, one village moved to the county seat, while the other two moved backto higher locations near where they were originally. The main consultants in this study are from the Yazhong group, the village of Suoyi (xlʊ́) and Yazhong (xúlì). 2Map credit goes to Katie Gao. 36 1.2 Consultants who contributed to this dissertation The main consultants for this study are Dorje (Tibetan < ོ་ ེ་> rdo rje; Chinese <多 吉> Duoji) and his family. Dorje, as well as his wife Sonam Lhamo (Tibetan <བསོད་ནམས་ ་ མོ་> bsod nams lha mo; Chinese <斯朗拉姆> Silang Lamu), are from Suoyi,. Both of them were in their late 50s during the time I was doing my field work. Most of my data and transcriptions are based on their speech. However, their son, Tashi (Tibetan <བ ་ཤིས་> bkra shis; Chinese <扎西> Zhaxi), also helped out when he was not working, or when Dorje was not available. Tashi’s wife, ɑ̀ʶmóʃʰè (Chinese <阿西> A Xi), took care of me during my stay in Nyagqu by showing me around local places and sharing her knowledge of the Queyu language and culture with me, as well. She is from the neighbouring village Yazhong, and has lived as a nomad before. I thus was able to learn about the details of pastoral life from her. Another person who helpedme out a lot is ɑ̀ʶmóʃʰè’s niece, ChimedDrolma (Tibetan <འཆི་མེད་ ོལ་མ་> vchi med sgrol ma; Chinese <青美卓玛>Qingmei Zhuoma), who was in her early 20s when we first met, and who has also lived as a nomad. I worked with both Dorje and Chimed Drolma together during my sessions, so Chimed Drolma was able to explain things that I did not quite understand as a curious outsider. She was able to accurately ap- preciate the differences between different Queyu varieties in a non-judgemental, objective way, a skill that has always inspired me. Other Queyu speakers who helped me include Dawa Drolma (Tibetan < ་བ་ ོལ་མ་> zla ba sgrol ma; Chinese <达瓦志玛> Dawa Zhima, <林晓达> Lin Xiaoda), whom I met through a mutual friend Tashi Chotso (Tibetan <བ ་ཤིས་ཆོས་མཚ> bkra shis chos mtsho; Chi- nese <扎西青措> Zhaxi Qingcuo). Dawa Drolma is the first Queyu speaker I met, and is also from Suoyi. She helped me during the initial stage of my field work, and later introduced Dorje to me. San Mei (Chinese <三妹> San Mei) and her family helped at the initial stage of my research, as well. I was able to connect with San Mei’s family through the help of Prof. 37 Yeshe Vodsal Atsok. San Mei is from Suoyi, and is Sonam Lhamo’s cousin. She is a good story teller, and I learnt a lot about Pubarong traditions from her. I would also like to thank all the other Queyu speakers I have ever met and talked to, for welcoming me to their community and selflessly sharing their knowledge with me. 1.3 Speaker information and language variation Though Queyu speakers reside in different counties along the valley of Nyagchu River, speakers I talked to told me that they understand the Queyu speech from other coun- ties. Within Pubarong, the Nyagqu River’s course looks like the shape of the letter L. The Yazhong group are located on the downstream shorter end of the L shape, and the other three groups are on the upstream longer end. The speech of the Yazhong group is called vɘ̀ndʒә́ xkә̀ by my consultants, and they call themselves vɘ̀ndʒә́pì. The vɘ- part of the word contains space information that is associated with the downstream direction (detailed dis- cussion can be found in Chapter §6.3 where directional prefixes are described), and -pi is a common suffix that means ‘person’. The word xkә́ means ‘speech, voice’ and correspond to Tibetan skad. Therefore, it is reasonable to assume that vɘ̀ndʒә́ xkә̀ means ‘downstream speech’ and vɘ̀ndʒә́pì means ‘downstream people’. These ‘downstream’ people call villagers from other three upstream groups lә̀ndʒә́pì and their speech lә̀ndʒә́ xkә̀. The lә́- part of the word is the directional prefix that is associ- ated with the upstream direction. By the same token, it is reasonable to assume that lә̀ndʒә́pì means ‘upstream people’ and lә̀ndʒә́ xkә̀ means ‘upstream speech’. According to my con- sultants, the upstream speech and the downstream speech are mutually intelligible. Though Queyu varieties across different counties and within Pubarong are mutually intelligible, I observed the presence of rich variation and diversity during my field trips. Both intra- and inter-speaker variation is quite common for Queyu speakers. For in- stance, an example of intra-speaker variation would be the pronunciation of ‘to knead.1SG’. In 2019, my main consultant Dorje’s pronunciation was hɲʊ̌, while in 2021 this changed to ɣɲʊ̌. Another example would be the pronunciation of ‘pancake’, which I have heard people 38 pronounce as both tèpí and tjèpí in their speech. There are several types of inter-speaker variation. These may be attributed to both village level differences and idiosyncratic features of individual’s speech habits. Systematic variations are found between villages. For example, the locative enclitic=xә in Suoyi village corresponds to =ɣә in Yazhong. Lexical variations between villages exist as well. While for Yazhong speakers, the pronunciation of ‘fish’ and ‘powder for offering’ is the same— xsú—Suoyi speakers have different pronunciations for these two: xsʰ ́ʶ for ‘fish’, and xsú for ‘powder for offering’. Variations within the same village are found, too. The [ʂ] and [x] can be free variants at the preinitial position of a syllable for some speakers (terminologies and their explana- tions of syllable structure can be found in Section §2.4). For my consultants Sonam Lhamo and Tashi, an [ʂ] preinitial is produced in some words while in Dorje’s speech an [x] is found. A lexical example of this would be ‘shy’. Sonam Lhamo’s pronunciation for this word is ʂkwǽ, and Dorje’s is xkwǽ. In San Mei’s speech, the word for ‘third floor’ is íŋɡù, while in Dorje’s family that word is ɘ́ŋɡù. For allomorphs of the upward directional prefix, San Mei has í- and r ́-, while Dorje’s family has an additional allomorph ɘ́-. These individual variations are observed among different generations, too. On the syllable level, while themiddle-aged generation’s speech still contains preinitials, the younger generation seem to have a difference in perception. For example, the word for ‘smoke’ is xkú in the speech of Dorje’s generation. However, some younger generation cannot per- ceive the preinitial [x], despite having this preinitial sound in their own speech. Speakers of even younger ages who moved out of the village during her early life would say this word as kú, dropping the preinitial completely. The difference between the two allomorphs of the inward directional prefix, kɘ́- and qɘ́ʶ-, is not perceivable to some younger generation speakers, too. Therefore, it is likely that the Queyu language’s structure is trending towards simplification, at least phonologically, for the vɘ̀ndʒә́ variety. Given that preinitials and the morphophonological alternations of morphemes provide rich clues and evidence for com- 39 parative studies, it is imperative to document all these minute details of Queyu while the vɘ̀ndʒә́ variety is undergoing rapid transition. The situations described above demonstrate the rich variations within the Queyu community. As all speech forms uttered by native speakers are valid, I have preserved each speaker’s pronunciation as it was when transcribing data, instead of ‘correcting’ my tran- scription based on a more ‘standard’ speech, for such a thing simply does not exist. 1.4 Origins of the name The name of Queyu came from Wang (1991), where he mentions that the Queyu speakers from Xinlong call their language tɕho⁵⁵ kɛ⁵⁵, and the region where tɕho⁵⁵ kɛ⁵⁵ is spoken is called tɕho⁵⁵ y⁵⁵ (46). Wang (1991) suspects that -kɛ⁵⁵ and y⁵⁵ came from Tibetan loan word -skad (language) and -jul (place), hence this language should be called ‘Que language’ and the place where it is spoken should be ‘Que place’ (46). The name of the language, Queyu, is coined by Wang (1991), for the Chinese character <却> que [tɕʰɥe] resembles the pronunciation of tɕho⁵⁵, and <域> yu [y] means ‘realm, domain’. The name /tɕʰo ji/ or similar pronunciations are mentioned in several articles. Suzuki and Sonam Wangmo (2019:101) noted that the ancestors of Tibetans currently residing in Thamkhas Hamlet came from the present-day Queyu-speaking area of Xinlong County, based on traditional oral stories. They reported that the Lhagang Choyu speaker they in- terviewed mentioned the name /tɕʰo ji/, the place name from which their ancestors came. The exact location of /tɕʰo ji/ in Xinlong is not identifiable. Another Choyu-speaking monk told the first author of Suzuki and Sonam Wangmo (2019) that ‘Choyu’ refers to Zituoxi Township in Xinlong; it is confirmed that the toponym ‘Choyu’ does not refer to a place within Litang County (Suzuki and Sonam Wangmo 2019:101). Song and Piao (2022) mentions that the name Queyu comes from speakers’ en- donym tʃʰә⁵⁵ ji⁵³. However, my consultants from both Suoyi and Yazhong rejected this en- donym, and told me that tʃʰә⁵⁵ ji⁵³ refers to another place. They call themselvesPubarong-pi, vɘ̀ndʒә́-pì, or xlʊ́-pì/xúlí-pì, instead of tʃʰә́jì-pì (-pi is a common suffix that means ‘person’, 40 which corresponds to Tibetan -pa in many loanwords). Additionally, a Queyu speaker from Litang told me that their community refers to Queyu speakers from Xinlong as tʃʰɛ ji be. Given that Song and Piao (2022) investigates the Queyu variety spoken in the Rizi village, a village located in the upstream portion of Pubarong Township and close to Xinlong, it is likely that the name tʃʰә⁵⁵ ji⁵³ refers to a place in or near the Xinlong region. My consultants refer to their language as rʊ̀ʶ xkә́ ‘farmland language’ (Tibetan rong skad), or <地角话/地脚话/地区话> Dijiao Hua/Dijiao Hua/Diqu Hua ‘regional language’. In the following text introducing information about COVID, San Mei’s daughter used this exact word ‘Pubarong farmland language’ to refer to this language (see 1.1). For this partic- ular variety that I am describing in this dissertation, speakers use the terms vɘ̀ndʒә́-pì xkә̀ or vɘ̀ndʒә́ xkә̀, possibly ‘the downstream speech’. An example of this name appears in the text where Tashi was naming different Pubarong villages and talking about dialects within the township (see 1.2). (1.1) Speakers use rʊ̀ʶ xkә́ to refer to their language tɪ̀rí now kә́tʰɘ́ this ɲʊ́=xә̀ disease=LOC lòdʒý source ŋә̌ 1SG ɘ́ntsʰɑ̀ʶ 1PL.LOC pʰùpɑ́ʶroŋ Pubarong rʊ̀ʶ farmland xkә́ language nә̀-vʊ́ DOWN-do.1SG ɲí NF1 tɘ́-pʃә́ one-say.NOM rә́ throw.SAP ts ̀ EGO ‘As for the history of this disease, I’m going to introduce in our Pubarong’s regional language.’ 这次这个疾病的相关情况，我用我们普巴绒的家乡话说一下 (QVY-163: 1) (1.2) Speakers call their language variety vɘ̀ndʒә́pì xkә́ vɘndʒә́-pi downstream-person xkә́ language nә̀-pʃә́-sʰ ̀=ʈʂɑ́ʶ=tә̀ DOWN-say-NMLZ=PL=ISM1 lә̀ndʒә́-pì=ʈʂɑ́ʶ upstream-person=PL nɘ̀ also ɲǐ say.3 ŋù be.capable.3 ʈʂ ́ GNR χó know kù know.3 ʈʂ ́ GNR jʊ̌ also pʃә́ say ŋù be.capable.3 ʈʂ ́ GNR ‘The downstream people’s speech, upstream people also understand, know, and are able to speak.’ 下游的人的全部的话，上游的人全部都听得来，也懂，会说 (QVY-326: 12) 41 For the lack of a better term, I adopt the name Queyu in this dissertation, following previous literature. I also use place names to distinguish varieties within a language. There- fore, the term Pubarong Queyu is used in this study to refer to the vɘ̀ndʒә́pì (downstream people) variety. 1.5 Tradition and lifestyle Queyu speakers follow the lifestyle of other Tibetans in the region. For example, they practice Tibetan Buddhism, and celebrate traditional Tibetan festivals like Losar (Ti- betan NewYear) and the holy month of Saga Dawa (Tibetan <ས་ག་ ་བ་> sa ga zla ba). Their staple food is barley and dairy products from yaks, such as cheese, yogurt, and butter. Their main beverage is butter tea. Based on my own experience, different Tibetan regions also have different tea-preparing methods. For example, in Nyagqu, people add salt into the but- ter tea, while in Golog and Ngawa (other nearby Tibetan Autonomous Prefectures) people do not. Traditionally, Tibetan communities are divided into farmers and nomads. For Queyu speakers living in Pubarong, most of the region belongs to a farming area, though a few families in various villages possess large enough yak herd that they can’t keep them inside the village and keep them on nearby grassland. Pubarong Queyu speakers grow crops like barley and corn for their own use. They also raise yaks for economic purposes. A typical day in the village starts with boiling water and making tea in the morning. Villagers generally milk the cows twice a day. The first time happens after the morning tea, around seven or eight o’clock. Then they will drive the cows to the mountain to pasture them. The cows will come back home in the afternoon, which is when people milk them for the second time, around five or six o’clock. During the warm season, there is abundant grass on the mountain, so there is no need to feed the cows. While cows are wandering around the grassland, villagers will cut grass and to dry on the top floors of their houses. The resulting hay and fodder will then be stored on the second floor, and will be fed to the cows during the cold season when there is no more food out there on the mountain. There 42 are different grasses that can be made into fodder, such as rèɡú, qә̀ʶró and ʃ ̀vɘ́ (for pigs). Corn stalks can be fodder, too. Feeding happens twice a day during that time. People dump the fodder for cows once in the morning after milking and once in the afternoon when the cows come back. Villagers process milk everyday, too. These days they pour the milk into a machine to separate the butter, and make other dairy products such as yogurt and cheese. People start ploughing and planting fields after the new year. They grow corn, wheat, barley, potatoes, and soy beans for their own use, and not to sell. The most important source of income for Queyu speakers is foraging natural re- sources. Every year, they climb up the mountain and dig caterpillar fungus and matsutake mushrooms. The former is considered to have great medicinal value while the latter is con- sidered a valuable and delicious food. The caterpillar fungus season begins around April or May each year, and lasts until June. The matsutake mushroom season follows right af- ter, usually taking place between June and August. The exact start and end point of these two seasons varies each year. During these seasons, villagers go up to the mountain and stay in shacks built for that purpose throughout the whole time. Each village has its own designated mountain for foraging. Trespassing or digging resources from other villages’ mountains may cause serious problems. 1.6 Farmers and different yak breeds As Pubarong is traditionally a farming area, domestic animals are important to peo- ple’s daily life. Above all, bovines are the most important, for they are not only working animals but also provide food, including both meat and milk. Bovines are divided into three kinds: yaks, cattle, and the yak-cattle hybrid. Each of them has different names and uses. The male yak in Queyu is called pʈʂʊ́ʶ, while the female yak βrɑ́ʶ. For cattle, males are called ɑ́ʶlèʶ and the females ŋú/ŋùxkú. The male cattle ɑ́ʶlèʶ and the female yak βrɑ́ʶ can mate and give brith to a hybrid, ʁwɑ̀ʶʒ ́ for males and zɥé for females. The calves of the female hybrid zɥé, called xtә̀mbwә́, are not capable of producing useful offspring. The said 43 offspring’s name is ɑ̀ʶχqó. It cannot be used to plough fields nor as pack animals. It also does not produce much milk. All ɑ̀ʶχqó are therefore to be killed not long after their birth. Table 1.3: Names for different bovine Male Function Female Function Yak pʈʂʊ́ʶ (castrated)/tʃʰíɑʶ ploughing βrɑ́ʶ milking, breeding Cattle ɑ́ʶlèʶ breeding ŋú/ŋùxkú milking, breeding Hybrid ʁwɑ̀ʶʒ ́ pack animal zɥé milking Hybrid xtә̀mbwә́ Hybrid ɑ̀ʶχqó ɑ̀ʶχqó Table 1.4: Results of the breeding Male Female Result Male Female Yak pʈʂʊ́ʶ βrɑ́ʶ pʈʂʊ́ʶ βrɑ́ʶ Cattle ɑ́ʶlèʶ ŋú ɑ́ʶlèʶ ŋú Hybrid ɑ́ʶlèʶ (cattle) βrɑ́ʶ (yak) ʁwɑ̀ʶʒ ́ zɥé Hybrid ɑ́ʶlèʶ (cattle) zɥé (hybrid) ɑ̀ʶχqó (hybrid) ɑ̀ʶχqó (hybrid) Hybrid tʃʰíɑʶ (yak) zɥé (hybrid) xtә̀mbwә́ (hybrid) xtә̀mbwә́ (hybrid) Hybrid tʃʰíɑʶ (yak) xtә̀mbwә́ (hybrid) ɑ̀ʶχqó (hybrid) ɑ̀ʶχqó (hybrid) Queyu speakers consider the hybrids ʁwɑ̀ʶʒ ́ and zɥé as the best type of bovine. They have a larger body build than other kinds. The male hybrid ʁwɑ̀ʶʒ ́ are used for ploughing, and the female hybrid zɥé produces more milk than other cows. Yaks are ranked second by speakers. The male yak pʈʂʊ́ʶ are used as pack animals, and the female yak βrɑ́ʶ can be used for milking as well. Pure cattle are the least useful, according to the speakers, but they are important for breeding pruposes. The yaks and the hybrids are also called ɡʊ̌ kʰímí, which literally means ‘grassland bovine’. They can pasture on high altitude grasslands. In contrast cattle, also known as rʊ̌ʶ kʰímí with a literal meaning of ‘farmland bovine’, can only handle relatively low altitude farmland. 44 1.7 House structure A typical house in a Pubarong village consists of six stories with a yard and shelter on the ground right outside of the house. The shelter in the yard is called dʒɑ́ʶβrè. This is where people store the chopped Qinggang (Chinese <青冈>, a kind of oak) leaves, which is called těʶ, that can be used as manure. The first storey of a house is called χqә̀ʶwә́/xkә́wә̀. This is the place where people keep domestic animals like cows and pigs. The second storey, called pә̀xkʰʊ́, is the storage place for dried grass that people cut during the summer so that they can still feed the domes- tic animals downstairs in winter. The third floor is called ɘ́ŋɡù. This is where people live, sleep and cook. Going up from the third floor, there is ɘ́ndjéxò, an open roof area. On the level of ɘ́ndjéxò, the open plain area in the middle is where people can have things like food or clothes sun dried. That space is referred to as xpwә́. On the edge there is a room called l̥ә́kʰʊ̀ (literal meaning ‘Buddha room’). This is where people place religious sculptures and where monks recite scriptures for all sorts of events. The roof of the l̥ә́kʰʊ̀ is called tʰʊ̀z ́. On the same level of tʰʊ̀z ́ (usually extending from there), there is another layer, made of of sticks, called pʈʂʰɑ́ʶ. The sticks are laid closely together, so that people can put food like corn up there for drying purposes. From tʰʊ̀z ́, one may go up to the highest surface of the house, úxó, the place where religious flags are raised. The stairs connecting the first through the third floors are called dʒә́xkæ̀. They are steep, but with handrails for people to hold onto. While starting from ɘ́ndjéxò, people use a ladder carved out of a log for climbing from ɘ́ndjéxò to tʰʊ̀z ́, and from tʰʊ̀z ́ to úxó. The wood ladder is called xlìkí, and has no handrail. In Figure 1.4, the structure of the house from ɘ́ndjéxò is presented. This is a picture of Tashi standing on ɘ́ndjéxò. The place where he is standing is xpwә́. Right behind the woman is the scripture room l̥ә́kʰʊ̀, and the ladder xlìkí is on the right. The roof area to the left of the ladder is tʰʊ̀z ́, and the area on the right of xlìkí is the layer of sticks, pʈʂʰɑ́ʶ. The highest level, úxó, is not shown in this picture. But we can see in the picture that the xlìkí 45 from tʰʊ̀z ́ is leading to úxó. Figure 1.4: A picture of Tashi standing on ɘ́ndjéxò. 1.8 New Year celebration The new year celebration lasts for at least three days. On new year’s eve, Queyu speakers pay a visit to the graves of their ancestors. In addition to sweeping tombs, they burn tsampa (roasted barley flour) there as well. Villagers will also bring food and alcohol to offer as sacrifices. For the first three days of the new year, villagers need to go to the sacred mountain (called ʒ ̀bdjé). Only the men in a family can go; women are not allowed. Climbers will wear white clothes, and on new year’s eve, the night before climbing, their clothes and bags will be washed clean and left outside of the window. As they will bring prayer flags to the sacred mountains, the flags will be left outside, too. 46 When on top of the sacred mountain, whose name is pʊ́ʶlò, climbers will hang the prayer flags and make a smoke offering by setting fire to a pile of leaves and branches of special plants used for the purpose. Each of them will bring a bottle of alcohol (called tʃʰʊ́pʰɘ̀, whose name is different from lә̀ʶptʃʰʊ́—the alcohol for people to drink) and butter (called ʁә̀ʶmó), both of which are specifically for sacrifice purposes only. Climbers will bring incense and rice for the sacred mountain, too. Once they return from the mountain and go back to the village, climbers have to dance three dances before entering their homes. Other people are not allowed to dance until the climbers have danced first. The whole village will later gather in the public house where they sing and dance to celebrate the new year. 1.9 Wedding tradition Arranged marriage was popular in the past, there are still some families that take an active role in choosing their children’s spouses. There are several factors that are taken into account when parents or relatives are deciding their children’s marriages. The first would be the personality of the proposed partner. If both man and woman get along, then this proposal may be accepted. The second factor is whether or not the two families are related. Some people prefer to marry a relative, so that property can stay in the family. The third factor is the physical appearance of the intended match. Of course, people generally prefer a good-looking partner. Once all these factors have been taken into account, then the arrangement maymove on to the next step. Family members and relatives would start discussing candidates among themselves. Once they think it is time, a relative will step up to be the match maker to talk to the other person’s family. If the two families reach an agreement, they can start to discuss the details of the wedding. To do this, the bride’s family will bring a bottle of liquor to the bridegroom’s family, and they would sit down and decide the date of the wedding. Once a date is settled, both families will invite the other villagers to come over for an engagement ceremony of wine drinking. After that, villagers join in to help brewing around 47 300∼400 jīn (equivalent to 150∼200 kg) of distilled liquor to prepare for the wedding, itself. This amount of alcohol is necessary to slake the thirst of the guests for the upcoming ceremony. When the day has come, the bridegroom’s uncles go to the bride’s family to pick up the bride. They need to stay there for two nights. During these two days, the bridegroom’s relatives and the bride’s brothers need to visit all the families in that village, each of which will have to host them and present them with one bottle of liquor and a hunk of beef. These things will be given to the bride’s family. The bride’s family later on will share some of the liquor and beef with bridegroom’s relatives. The celebration then moves to the bride’s village and lasts for two days, during which people dance, sing and drink. As the bride and her brothers and relatives are leaving with the bridegroom’s rela- tives, villagers see them off by laying desks in the field, upon which the are placed bottles of liquor, with hunks of butter stuck on top, for the bride’s family. The next stage of the celebration takes place in the bridegroom’s village and lasts for three days. The bride, her relatives, the bridegroom, his friends and relatives need to visit the whole village, too. At the same time, the bridegroom’s family will host other guests at their house. Guests and hosts dance all night long. While the new couple and their friends and relatives are paying visits to each of the family in the village the next day, other guests will gather in a big house, to celebrate by dancing, singing, and drinking. Once the ceremony at the bridegroom’s side is over, the bride will go back home and stay there for one more night as part of the ritual. It is important for hosts and guests to dance till the dawn, and they will even be asked if the dancing performance lasted until daybreak. In this way, the wedding ceremony does not end before six nights. Now that some of the villages are relocated to the county seat, some weddings will take place in a hotel where people dance and sing there instead. 48 1.10 Funeral traditions When someone passes away, the body will remain in the house for three days before people take it out. During those three days, the exact time to take out the body is calculated by divination, and the family of the dead will invite as many monks as they can to come over. The monks will stay in the living room on the third floor (the floor called ɘ́ŋɡù), where they will recite the scriptures for three days. At the same time, they are going to burn roasted barley powder for offering (called xsú), and light butter lamps. After three days, people will take the body of the passed one to either Litang or Seda to perform sky burial. Some people choose cremation instead. For those who remain in the village, the remaining family members will ask some monks to stay and continue to read scriptures for forty-nine days. There is no limit on how manymonks should be invited to stay. Two to three is a common number. Some families will ask as many as six or seven monks, if they can afford them. The whole village will gather every seven days at the passed one’s family to recite the scriptures. One person from each family in the village will go. Villagers will also bring barley powder to burn. The family of the deceased will provide food and drink. The service will last for forty-nine days if the dead one is a young person. It will last fifty days for an elder. 1.11 The speakers and language situation According to several assessments, the status of Queyu is ‘threatened’ (Eberhard, Simons, and Fennig 2024; ‘Queyu’ 2024). The vitality of the language is assessed through factors like domains of use, intergenerational transmission rate, language use and identity, speaker number, etc. If we useUNESCO’s nine factors (UNESCO2003) to evaluate the vitality of Queyu, the assessment is ‘definitely endangered’, while according to the Expanded Graded In- tergenerational Disruption Scale, or EGIDS (Lewis and Simons 2010), Queyu’s status is ‘threatened’. The Language Endangerment Index, or LEI (Lee and Van Way 2016)’s esti- 49 mation, adopted by the Catalogue of Endangered Languages, is that Queyu is threatened with 20% certainty. The Queyu language is not used in schools, government nor any social media.While this language is mainly used at home and in the village, the dam construction further affected the environments in which the language is used. For villages that relocated to the county seat, the only domain of use for this language is now at home. There are people marrying both into and outside of the Pubarong villages. People who married into Pubarong villages are said to adopt Queyu in daily communication. For those who marry outside of Pubarong Township, the languages spoken at home are mostly Tibetan and Mandarin. Polygamy and polyandry were common in the past due to poverty. This was when a woman was married to two or three brothers in a family, or multiple sisters were married to one husband. It seems polygamy and polyandry are no longer practiced. Different sources list different population numbers for Queyu speakers. In Lu (1985), it was estimated that there are around 20,000 speakers in total, while in Wang (1991), this number is 7,000. Ethnologue (Eberhard, Simons, and Fennig 2024) gives a population of 7,000 from an unknown source published in 1995. According to a local official I interviewed in 2016, the total population is around 10,000, of which approximately 60% can still speak Queyu. Song and Piao (2022) give a more detailed population breakdown. Based on their 2016 field trip, there are around 13,000 speakers. Among those 1,3000 speakers, about 6,200 of them reside in Nyagqu County, 4,200 in Xinlong, and 2,500 in Litang. There are around 2,000 people residing in Pubarong and Zituoxi, and that makes them the two towns with the most Queyu-speaking population (Song and Piao 2022:55). As for Pubarong Township alone, according to the 2023 Nyagqu County Yearbook, the current population is 2018. For Queyu speakers, fluency level varies for different generations. Khams Tibetan (the local Tibetan variety) and Mandarin are also used locally. According my consultants, elders are mostly fluen in Queyu, though they also can speak Tibetan and some Mandarin. Most of those who are over 30 are also still fluent in Queyu. The younger generation is 50 becoming less fluent in their heritage language, and phonological reductions, such as the deletion of preinitials, are observed in young people’s speech. 1.12 Literature review Queyu is spoken in Western Sichuan, China, a region recognized as the Ethnic Cor- ridor, characterized by frequent interactions among different ethnic groups throughout his- tory and boasting an abundance of ethnic and linguistic diversity (Sun 2013). The hypoth- esis of a Qiangic sub-branch of Tibeto-Burman (TB) language has a relatively short his- tory. This idea was first proposed in the 1960s, and only covered three languages, which are Qiang, Pumi, and Rgyalrong. Eight new languages were discovered at the end of the 1970s, with a final addition of Tangut in the early 90s (Sun 1991). Now the proposed Qiangic branch contains thirteen languages, divided into northern and southern branches. The north- ern branch includes Qiang, Pumi, Muya (Minyag), Ergong (Horpa), Rgyalrong, Lavrung (Khroskyabs), and Tangut, and the southern branch includes Zhaba (nDrapa), Choyo (Que- yu), Guiqiong, Ersu, Namuyi, and Shixing (Sun 2001:160). For a brief history of the devel- opment of the Qiangic branch hypothesis, see Sun (2001). The mentioned languages that are spoken in this region are listed and indicated in the map below. 51 Figure 1.5: Languages spoken in the Ethnic Corridor region.3 Despite the wide acceptance of Sun (1983, 2001)’s classification on Qiangic, the hypothesis is still disputed by some. Sun (1983, 2001) divided Qiangic into a Northern and Southern group. His northern group contains Qiang, Pumi, Muya (Minyag), Ergong (Horpa), Rgyalrong, Lavrung (Khroskyabs), and Tangut, which are phonologically and morphologically more complex, and his southern group includes Zhaba, Choyo (Queyu), Guiqiong, Ersu, Namuyi, and Shixing, and are less complex in terms of phonology and morphology (Sun 2001: 160). However, Sun (2000a; 2000b) argues that Horpa (Ergong), Lavrung (Khroskyabs) and Rgyalrong form a tighter subgroup within Qiangic, based on three striking parallelisms in verbal morphology, which are past-tense marking via glottal- ity inversion, ablaut, and transitivity marked by vocalic alternation in the orientation (direc- tional) prefixes. LaPolla (2005; 2017), on the other hand, proposed that Rgyalrong is not a 3The map is adopted from https://www.sichuanzoulang.com/en/. 52 https://www.sichuanzoulang.com/en/ Qiangic language, but forms another group, called Rung, with Kiranti languages (Bantawa, Athpare [Athapariya], Dumi, Khaling, Camling), Dulong-Rawang-Anong, the Kham lan- guages, and the Western Himalayan languages (Kinnauri, Rongpo, Chaudangsi, Darmiya) based on morphological evidence in person marking systems. The Qiangic group (exclud- ing Rgyalrong) and the Rung group form a higher-level branching called Qiangic-Rung. The similarities between Rgyalrong and the rest of the Qiangic languages are attributed to areal influence (LaPolla 2017:49). Chirkova (2012:137) argues that features (proposed by Sun 2001:166–170) shared by Qiangic languages, such as shared vocabulary, a large set of consonant phonemes, uvular phonemes, vowel harmony, directional prefixes, are areal fea- tures that can also be found in other non-Qiangic languages. For directional prefixes, the majority of the languages spoken in the Ethnic Corridor contain a set of them, and they are also obligatory in perfective and imperative contexts (Shirai 2009). Other reasons against the Qiangic hypothesis include the low percentage of shared lexicon and the absence of shared innovations (Chirkova 2012:137–138). The classification of Qiangic languages thus still remains controversial. Even within Sun’s hypothesis, the position of Queyu is unclear, as it possesses features of both Northern and Southern groups (Sun 2001:160). The subgrouping of Queyu and its related languages are therefore still under debate. For example, while Sun (2016:4) put thirteen languages under the Qiangic branch, Jacques and Michaud (2011) propose a Na-Qiangic sub-branch containing 25 languages. Figure 1.6 illustrates Sun’s (2016) classification, and Figure 1.7 is adapted from Jacques and Michaud (2011). 53 Qiangic Branch Northern rGyalrongic Lavrung/Khroskyabs (Southern, Northern, and Eastern) Ergong/Stau/Daofu (Western, Northern, Northeastern) rGyalrongic (Southern, Northern and Northeastern) Central Qiang Queyu Zhaba (nDraba) Qiang (Southern and Northern) Tangunt Tangut/Xixia Pumi Pumi (Southern and Northern) Muya/Minyag (Eastern and Western) Southern Guiqiong Guiqiong Ersuic Ersu (Eastern, Central and Western) Namuyi Shixing Figure 1.6: Classification of Queyu in Qiangic branch (Sun 2016: 4) 54 Na-Qiangic Naic Naish Laze Na/Mosuo Naxi Shixing Namuyi Ersuish Tosu Lizu Ersu Qiangic Tangut Pumi Southern Pumi Northern Pumi Zhaba? Queyu Muya Southern Muya Northern Muya Qiang Southern Qiang Northern Qiang Rgyalrongic Horpa Stodsde Rtau Lavrung Ndzorogs Thurjechenmo Rgyalrongish Zbu Tshobdun Japhug Situ Figure 1.7: Classification of Queyu and its related languages in Jacques and Michaud (2011: 6) 55 Part of the reason for this subgrouping and classification controversy arises from the scarce documentation of these languages, especially Queyu. Other nearby (Qiangic) languages are relatively better described. Languages for which we have major descriptions and grammars include Ersu (Chirkova et al. 2015; Zhang 2013), Rgyalrongic languages (Khroskyabs by Lai 2017, Situ by Zhang 2020, Zbu by Gong 2018), Stau (Geshiza by Honkasalo 2019, Mazur by Gates 2021), and Munya (Gao 2015 and Bai 2019). Compared to Rgyalrongic and other languages in the proposedQiangic group, Queyu has received relatively little attention and is one of the least studied languages in the area. To date, only a few grammar sketches of a handful of Queyu varieties are available. They cover basic descriptions of two varieties spoken in Nyagqu, two varieties spoken in Litang, one variety spoken in Xinlong, and a moribund variety in Kangding. Lu (1985) is a grammar sketch of the Queyu spoken in Tuanjie Town (now Gala Town), Nyagqu County. Though the language is called Zhaba in Lu’s sketch, it is later corrected as Queyu in a reprint in Lu (2007). In Lu (1985), the phoneme inventory, syllable structure, lexicon structure, word classes, basic verbal morphosyntax (argument indexation, TAM), and sentence structure of Tuanjie (Gala) Town Queyu are described. Wang (1991) is the first article that mentioned the name Queyu <却域> [tɕʰɥe y]. Wang’s grammar sketch describes the variety that is spoken in Youlaxi Town, Xinlong County, and focuses on the phoneme inventory, basic word classes and their morphology, with a emphasis on the verbal morphosyntax, and word order. Nishida (2008) is a phonological sketch of the Queyu spoken in Litang, Rongba Town. Phoneme inventory, consonant clusters, and tones are described in this sketch. Nishida (2018) is an overview of the sociolinguistic situation of the Rongba Queyu. Zheng (2023) is a more detailed description and analysis of the Rongba Queyu phonology, where the phoneme inventory, phonotactics, vowel harmony, pitch contours as well as their related verbal morphology are described. Nagano and Prins (2013) provide a wordlist containing 407 words from the Queyu 56 variety spoken in Gala Town, Yajiang County. Recently a moribund variety of Queyu was identified near Yajiang County in Lha- gang, Kangding County. Suzuki and Sonam Wangmo (2016) provides a sociolinguistic overview of this variety and discusses the reasons for its endangerment and why it remained undiscovered for so long. A 700-item wordlist of this variety was published in Suzuki and Sonam Wangmo (2018). Later, Suzuki and Sonam Wangmo (2019) give a more detailed phonological sketch of Lhagang Queyu based on that word list. Song and Piao (2022) is the most recent article on the existential verbs in the Queyu variety spoken in Rizi, Pubarong Township in Nyagqu County. Guan (Forthcoming) provides a detailed description and analysis of the uvularized vowels in Pubarong Queyu as spoken in Nyagqu County. Chapter 2 in this dissertation is based on that work. 1.13 Transcription notes for examples used in this dissertation Pubarong Queyu speakers that I worked with are multilingual to various degrees. Most of them can speak Southwest Mandarin, and would incorporate some of the Man- darin words into the morphosyntactic system. Whenever there are Mandarin loanwords, I transcribe them using Pinyin, and enclose them in angular brackets. For natural speech examples, in addition to providing transcription, gloss, and En- glish free translation tiers, I include the Mandarin translation as the fourth tier, to provide further information for readers who can benefit fromMandarin, the language through which most of the field work was done. In natural speech, speakers use temporal adverbials a lot. To facilitate transcription, I adopt a series of abbreviations; for example, TZ for tʰɘ̀ z ́ ‘this way’, KN for kʰɪ́=ɲɪ́ ‘at the time of…’. A list of these abbreviations can be found at the beginning of the dissertation. When citing data from other people’s work, I preserve their own transcription style, and some of their practice may be different from my own. For example, when marking tones, I use symbols such as acute or grave marks on vowels, while other authors may use 57 numerals to indicate pitch value. When citing data from the texts that I collected and transcribed, I will also leave a note at the end indicating the number of the text as well as the sentence number so readers can locate that utterance. For example, if I leave (QVY-002: 2) at the end, QVY-002 is the numbering of the text, and 2 indicates that this is the second sentence/utterance in that text. All my materials are deposited in the Endangered Languages Archive (ELAR) and can be found at: https://www.elararchive.org/dk0561 If an example does not have a label or note at the end, then it is either an utterance I observed from daily interaction with Queyu speakers, or collected through elicitation. 58 https://www.elararchive.org/dk0561 CHAPTER 2 PHONETICS AND SEGMENTAL PHONOLOGY 2.1 Introduction In this chapter, the phoneme inventory, syllable structure as well as several phono- logical processes in Queyu are presented, with a special focus on some cross-linguistically rare, but locally common phenomena. There are uvular consonants and uvularized vowels in Queyu, both are relatively rare cross-linguistically. These sounds are, however, commonly found in Rgyalrongic and Qiangic languages. There are different labels for the unique vowel qualities found within Rgyalrongic, Qiangic and other nearby languages, such as velariza- tion and pharyngealization. Besides the rare sounds in the phoneme inventory, the Queyu language contains an unusual combination of elaborate onset clusters and highly reduced codas. The reduced coda is associated with the unusual vowel quality found in the phoneme inventory. Another phonological process that is related to uvular consonants and uvularized vowels is vowel harmony. Vowel harmony is not prevalent in TB languages. However, it is prevalent in Qiangic and Naic branches of TB that are spoken in Southwest China. In addition to describing rare phonological phenomena in Queyu that are areal fea- tures, this chapter looks at Queyu segmental phonology from both comparative and typolog- ical perspectives. It examines possible origins of uvulars in Queyu and other languages of the region, as well as vowel harmony and syllable reduction. These processes are associated with uvularization and are commonly found in neighboring languages. In this chapter, the phoneme inventory is given in Section §2.2 and Section §2.3. Section §2.4 provides a description of the syllable structure and examines the complex on- sets typologically. Section §2.5 and Section §2.6 describe two morphophonological pro- cesses. Section §2.7 concludes this chapter. 59 2.2 Consonants 2.2.1 Overview There are forty-three consonants in Pubarong Queyu, which are given in Table 2.1. Table 2.1: Consonant inventory of Pubarong Queyu Bilabial Labio-dental Alveolar Post-alveolar Retroflex Palatal Velar Plosive pʰ tʰ kʰ [kʰ, qʰ] p [p, ɸ] t k [k, q] b [b, β] d ɡ [ɡ, ɢ] Affricate tsʰ tʃʰ ʈʂʰ ts tʃ ʈʂ dz dʒ ɖʐ Fricative sʰ ʃʰ ʂʰ xʰ s ʃ ʂ x [x, χ, h] v z ʒ ɣ [ɣ, ʁ] Nasal m̥ n̥ ɲ̊ [ɴ̥] m n ɲ ŋ [ŋ, ɴ] Liquid l̥ r l Glide w [w, ɥ] j For stop consonants, there are nine phonemic stops at three different places of ar- ticulation: bilabial, alveolar, and velar, each with a three-way contrast between voiceless aspirated, voiceless unaspirated, and voiced. Affricates occur at three different places with a three-way contrast. Queyu has a rich inventory, with twelve phones at five places of artic- ulation: alveolar, post-alveolar, and velar fricatives have a three-way contrast like stops; the retroflex set has a two-way contrast in aspiration; the labio-dental set has a single voiced fricative. Notice that there is no voiceless labio-dental fricative, a phoneme commonly ab- sent from inventories of the area. There are eight nasals occurring in four different places of articulation: bilabial, alveolar, palatal, and velar. There is a two-way contrast in voicing in nasals, which, again, is a common feature in the Tibetan-speaking region. There are five approximants, with the lateral liquids contrasting in voicing. Voi