LING 1020 Lecture Notes - Lecture 18: Munda Languages, Austroasiatic Languages, Angle Of View
Document Summary
Ling1020 lecture 20: languages of se asia & india. 2 major brances: mon-khmer (eastern austro-asiatic) Major languages = vietnamese & khmer (cambodia) Tonal systems (i. e. vietnamese = 6 tone systems) Tonal languages *50% of world languages have tonal systems: level tone system the tone stays the same within the word, contrasts grammatical meaning and lexical information, ex. African languages: contour tone system changing the pitch within the word, contrasts only lexical information, ex. Features: numerical classifiers, tonal systems, serial verb construction. Serial verb construction multiple verbs act together to express a single & composite verbal meaning. Properties: multiple verbs used, but a single-combined meaning is expressed, share subject & object, share temporal marking, meaning = paraphrased in translation. He shattered the plate eter plate a the. Features: tonal, serial verb construction, isolating morphology, numerical classifiers. Do not distinguish voiced & voiceless stops. Three-way contrast between aveolar, retroflex & dental consonants.