SOAS Research Online

Abstract

Daai Chin belongs to the Southern branch of the Kuki-Naga section of the Tibeto-Burman language family. It is spoken by approximately 45,000 people in the townships of Mindat, Kanpetlet, Paletwa and Matupi in the Southern Chin Hills of western Myanmar. The Daai Chin people live in a cluster of about 160 villages in the rather isolated interior of the Southern Chin Hills. This study is based on a dialect of Daai called 'Yang', spoken in Kanpetlet Township. This thesis is the first comprehensive grammatical description of Daai Chin. All analysis is presented by ample language examples. The study is divided into thirteen chapters and addresses all major aspects of the language. A short introduction into Daai phonology is included which mainly gives an account of segmental phonology. The discussion of morphology deals mainly with derivational morphology and compounding. At the phrase level, the order and function of constituents within the noun phrase is described. Complex noun phrases including nominalization and relativization are also discussed. Extensive coverage is given to the study and description of the verb complex and the many various particles and markers that can follow the main verb. This includes the description of valence changing categories, the tense-aspect-modality system, applicatives, evidentiality, directionals and other markers. Special features of the Daai Chin language like verb stem alternation and the agreement system are also described in detail. At the clause level, various clause types are described: grammatical relations are discussed and degrees of transitivity are shown. Sentence moods and non-declarative speech acts are described. This study of the Daai Chin language concludes with the treatment of complex sentence structures, addresses complementation, adverbial clauses and clause chaining. The appendix contains a fully interlinearized folktale with a free translation.