Major Word Classes in the Lohorung Language: A Functional Typological Sketch

Abstract

This study examines the four major word classes (viz. noun, verb, adjective and adverb) in Lohorung, a Kirat Rai (Tibeto-Burman) language of north-eastern Nepal, based on their semantic, syntactic, and morphological properties, based on Givón’s formal and functional approach. Data were collected through elicitation with native speakers and textual analyses and were analysed with reference to the author’s native-speaker intuition. The findings indicate that Lohorung exhibits prototypical nouns with their multiple features and non-prototypical nouns as well. Morphologically, nouns are marked by the specific affixes, <-ʈsi> encodes dual and <-i> encodes plural. Lohorung employs three types of classifiers, namely <-tsi> <-kɔ>, and <-pɑŋ/pɑ>. Verbs are clause-final and serve as main predicates, typical of Tibeto-Burman languages. Lohorung has three numbers and persons systems with clusivity. Manner adverbials may take <ɔ>, and some adverbs modify adjectives. This study concludes that the analysis of the four major word classes enhances the grammatical description of the Lohorung language and contributes to functional-typological research on lexical classification.