A Grammatical Sketch of Northern Tai Long Shan

Abstract

Current grammar descriptions of Shan varieties do not include the northern variety within the current Shan State. This article addresses this gap by providing a descriptive sketch of a northern variety of Shan, namely, northern Tai Long Shan. Primary linguistic data shows that the northern Tai Long Shan phonemic inventory consists of 5 distinct tones, 18 consonants, and 12 vowels. Sentences in this variety of Shan follow a general topic-comment structure, and clauses follow a verb-object order. Common multi-clausal structures include conjunctional constructions and adverbial constructions expressing conditional, causal, temporal, successive, and simultaneous meanings. Adverbial clauses commonly start with an adverbial to mark dependence, and they often precede the main clause. Other syntactic elements covered in this sketch are noun compounds, noun phrases, verb compounds, serial verb constructions, adjectives, adverbs, and sentence-final particles.