SOAS Research Online

Abstract

This thesis describes the grammatical structure of Assamese. Although this syntactic description is based on the system-structure theory developed by M.A.K. Halliday, some ad hoc modifications are suggested to deal with the facts of Assamese. The introductory Chapter One describes the scope of the study and main phonological features of the language. It also describes the transcription used in the thesis. Chapter Two describes the theory on which the thesis is based. Chapter Three describes the features of the largest unit in the grammar, the sentence. Chapter Four is an account of the clause. Chapter Five describes the nominal group, and Chapter Six the verbal group. Chapter Seven is an account of the adverbial group. Chapter Eight contains an analysis of some sample texts, parsed to show the assignment of descriptive categories to formal items in the texts. The texts are accompanied by word-for-word translations. Some theoretical conclusions are drawn from the texts. This thesis ends with a list of abbreviations and a bibliography.