TENSE AND ASPECT IN TANGKHUL – A SHORT DESCRIPTIVE STUDY

BY
USHASI DEV
REGN NO. - 01/SH/M.A. (LINGUISTICS)/2013-2015/008
SUPERVISIOR – DR. JAYATI CHATTERJEE
ASST. PROFESSOR
DEPT. OF LINGUISTICS
THE ENGLISH AND FOREIGN LANGUAGES UNIVERSITY
SHILLONG CAMPUS
A DISSERTATION SUBMITTED IN PARTIAL FULFILLMENT OF THE REQUIREMENTS
FOR THE DEGREE OF THE MASTERS IN LINGUISTICS

THE ENGLISH AND FOREIGN LANGUAGES UNIVERSITY

SHILLONG CAMPUS
SHILLONG- 793002
JUNE, 2015
 The English and Foreign Languages University
(A Central University established by an Act of Parliament)
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CERTIFICATE

Certified that the dissertation entitled “Tense and Aspect in Tangkhul – A short descriptive

study”, submitted by Ms. Ushasi Dev(Registration no. 01/SH/M.A.(Linguistics)/2013-

201515/008) in partial fulfilment of the requirement for the M.A. degree in Linguistics to The

English and Foreign Languages University, Shillong Campus, Shillong – 793022 is an original

piece of work undertaken and completed under my supervision.

Supervisior Countersigned by

Dr. Jayati Chatterjee Head i/c

EFL University EFL University
Shillong Campus Shillong Campus
Shillong-793022 Shillong-793022

Chancellor: 27098141, Registrar: 27098225, Office: 27098131, 27098033, 27098841

Fax: 040-27098402, website: www.efluniversity.ac.in
 ACKNOWLEDGEMENT

At the outset I seek this opportunity to express my gratitude to the people whose support and

guidance has been instrumental in making this thesis possible.

Above all I would like to thank profusely my supervisor Dr. Jayati Chatterjee, whose support and

guidance gave me the necessary impetus and liberty to pursue this research work. She introduced

me to the concept of Syntax and motivated me to extend my visionary outlook, the outcome of

which is this thesis. It is my utmost fortune that I had the privilege of working with Dr.

T.Temsunungsang whose advice, and unsurpassed knowledge enriched me through and through.

I am thankful to the Director of EFLU, Shillong Prof. Dr. K.C. Baral for his support and

cooperation. I would like to also thank The English and Foreign Languages University for the

wonderful library, the historical significance of the place, the general ambience, and keenly

helpful people who provided a congenial climate for research. A special thanks to Kong Teresa

for her constant support and love. I extend my gratitude to Timee and Ringamso who have

provided the necessary Tangkhul data.

Last but by no means least, I thank my friends Abhishek, Arunakshree, Abir, Alivi, Abeni and

Mhayani for their endless support and encouragement throughout my stayin EFLU. I am deeply

indebted to Sreeja for her support at a very crucial stage.

I extend my sincere gratitude and indebtedness to my parents and my relatives who never made

me feel their physical absence. Their patience and unequivocal support throughout helped me

remain undaunted in my position, and successfully complete my thesis on time.

Ushasi Dev

June, 2015 EFLU

PHONEMIC INVENTORY OF TANGKHUL

VOWEL INVENTORY

Front Central Back

High i ɰ u

Mid e o

Mean-Mid ɛ ə ɔ

Low a

CONSONANT INVENTORY

Bilabial Labio- Alveolar Post Palatal Velar Glottal

dental alveolar
Stops p t k

ph th kh

Nasals m n ƞ

Fricatives f v s z ʃ h

Affricates ʧ ʤ

Laterals l

Approximants j
 CONTENTS

Title
Acknowledgement
Phonemic Inventory of Tangkhul
Contents
Chapter I: Introduction
1.0 Language families in India

1.1 The Tibeto – Burman Language Family

1.2 Tangkhul

1.3 Methodology

1.4 Earlier works in Tangkhul

1.5 Informants

Chapter II: Tense and Aspect

1.6 Tense and Aspect in English

Chapter III: Data Analysis

Chapter IV: Conclusion

Data Collected to make this dissertation

Chapter I: Introduction

1.0 LANGUAGE FAMILIES IN INDIA

There are four major language families in India viz. Indo-Aryan, Dravidian, Austro – Asiatic and

Tibeto – Burman. Tangkhul, which is spoken in the eastern district of Manipur state, belongs to

the ramified language group of Tibeto – Burman family.

1.1 THE TIBETO – BURMAN FAMILY

The Tibeto – Burman family belongs to the larger family of Indo – Chinese which covers the

Chinese – Thai and Burman family languages. The languages belonging to the Tibeto – Burman

family are spoken in Tibet in the north and extend upto Burma in the south. India’s densest

concentration of Tibeto – Burman languages is found in its far northeast where an almost

disconnected fragment of the country is nearly encircled by Bhutan, Tibet, Myanmar and

Bangladesh. The eight North – East Indian states are low in population, but even by Indian

standards they are very high in linguistic and ethnic heterogeneity. At their center is Assam, the

only state of the eight that is predominantly lowland. A hilly extension to the south is still a part

of Assam, but the heart of the state consists of the low valley of the Brahmaputra River. The

great majority of the east speak Tibeto – Burman languages. Two or three generations ago

Tripura state was predominantly Tibeto – Burman but with recent increase in Bengali speaking

population in the state the Kokborok speakers have lessened in number. It is very difficult to

count the exact number of Tibeto – Burman languages in India because there are regions which

cannot be accessed and no documentation as of yet has taken place.

1.2 TANGKHUL

Tangkhul is spoken in the Ukhrul village of Manipur.Ukhrul District is the home of the
Tangkhuls. They are a highly cultured people. The name Tangkhul was given to them by their
neighbours, the Meiteis. The northern Tangkhuls were also called the Luhupas. The name Naga
was given to them by the Burmese (Myanmar), which, in Myanmar means people with pierced
earlobes. Piercing of the earlobes is wide-spread practice among the Naga people including the
Tangkhuls. The Tangkhuls belong to the great Mongolian race which is spread all over the
World. Linguistically, they belong to a large language family called Sino-Tibetan, within that
family to the sub-family Tibeto-Burman. In general this points towards an origin in the north,
that is south-west China and Tibet. The earliest home of the Tangkhuls was the upper reaches of
Huang heo and Yangtze Rivers which lies in the Zinjiang province of China. Like the other
desert areas of the world, the people including the Tangkhuls, due to hardship of life, dispersed
from this place to different directions. One group moved towards east and southeast to be
become known as Chinese, another group moved southward to become the tribes of Tibeto-
Burman which includes the Tangkhuls and other Naga sub tribes. That was between c, 10,000
B.C. to 8000 B.C. This movement has continued into recent historic times. S.K. Chatterjee noted
that from 2000 B.C. onwards, Sino-Tibetan speakers from China pushed south and west and
entered India. According to W.I. Singh, in his “The History of Manipur”, the Tangkhuls settled
in Samshok (Thuangdut) area in Myanmar. They belong to Yakkha tribe in China. The
Tangkhuls were first noticed in Manipur by operation, one of the earliest kings of a principality
in Manipur valley.

The Tangkhuls as also other Naga tribes came to Manipur, Nagaland, Assam and Arunachal
Pradesh through Myanmar. Some of them also settled down in Myanmar and did not venture
further. However, their movement over Myanmar and into India was spread over a period of
time. They entered the present habitat in waves following one another and in some cases in close
succession. The Tangkhuls came together with the Maos, Poumeis, Marams and Thangals
because all of them have references to their dispersal from Makhel a Mao village in Senapati
district.
1.3 METHODOLOGY

A list of approximately 500 words had been prepared which had covered various word formation

structures and morphological processes that the language makes use of, the informants were then

asked to provide with the appropriate Tangkhul counterparts. The list of words was prepared by

considering various common and important semantic fields such as:

1) Kinship terms

2) Address terms

3) Pronouns

4) Household items

5) Seasons, weather, time and celestial bodies, contains mostly words that are very common

in human life.

6) Body Parts

7) Numerals

8) Flora and fauna

9) Edible items and related words for cooking and spices

10) Verbs/ Adjectives

A set of English sentences were provided to the informants and the Tangkhul counterparts were

collected. The sentences were analyzed and the necessary conclusion was drawn. Tense and

Aspect is a necessary linguistic trait in a language. The sampling was done such that the tense

and aspect of the language is evidently visible.

1.4 EARLIER WORKS IN TANGKHUL

There are few earlier works in the languages. The missionaries have studied the language only

with the main purpose of translating the Holy Bible and to use the language for the preaching of

Christianity. Rev. Fr. Pettigrew has written Tangkhul – Naga grammar (1918), Otshan, an

elementary arithmetic in Tangkhul Naga (1911). Brown has written three short vocabularies of

Phadang and Khangoi. Phadang and Khangoi are dialects of Tangkhul spoken in Phadang and

Khangoi villages respectively.

The book Tangkhul – English translation and composition, written by Z. Marasan (1973)

vaguely pictures the grammatical aspects of the language.

Mrs. Y.K. Shimrey, T. Luikam, Z. Marasan, S. Kanrei ‘s book ‘Tangkhul – Dictionary’ by T.

Luikham is a book intended for young learners of the language. ‘A grammar and syntax of

Tangkhul dialect’ – written by Rev. Fr. Mathew (unpublished, 1971) gives a short account of the

descriptive grammar of Ukrul dialect.

Abbi, A. (1992) Reduplication in south Asian Languages : An Areal, Typological and Historical

Study. New Delhi :

Allied Publishers.

----------- (1994) Semantic Universals in Indian Langauges. Shimla : Indian Institute of Advance

Study.

------------ (ed) (1997) Languages of the Tribal and Indigenous Peoples of India: The Ethnic

Space. New Delhi: MotilalBanarsidass.

Abbi, A. and Ahum, V. (1997) ‘Expressive morphology as manner adverbs in Khas, Tangkhul-

Naga and Kuki-Chinlanguages’, in Abb, a. (ed) 1997, 415-31.

Ahum, V. (1990) Konkani Verb Morphology. M.A. Field Report J.N.U., New Delhi, Ms.

----------- (1992) A Grammatical Study of Expressives and Echo Formations in Tangkhul-Naga.

M. Phil. dissertation,J.N.U., New Delhi, Memeo.

Bhat, D.N.S. (1969) Tangkhul-Naga Vocabulary. Poona: Deccan College.

(1991) (first edn 1974) Morphology: An Introduction to the Theory of Word-Structure,

Cambridge: CUP.

Mattisoff, J.A. (1972)’Review of Tangkhul-Naga Vocabulary’, Language 48.2: 476-79.

McCulloch, Major W., (1859) ‘Account of the Valley of Munnipore, etc.’, in Sopvomā [Mao

Naga], (An account of the

Tangkhul Tribe on page 66)

Pettigrew, Rev. Fr. W. (1918) Tangkhul-Naga Grammar and Dictionary, (reprinted 1979),

Ukhrul: The Tangkhul-Naga

Baptist Convention.

TNBL (1960) Kathara Bible, Ukhrul: Tangkhul-Naga Baptist Long.

YWA (1977) Khokharum Laa, Ukhrul: Yarthot Welfare Association.

1.5 INFORMANTS

Timee Shimrey

She is a native speaker of Tangkhul and a resident of Thoyee village in Manipur. Timee is

currently pursuing her M.A. in English from The English and Foreign Languages University,

Shillong Campus and is in her final semester. She can speak 13 different dialects of Tangkhul.

Ringamso Kashung

Ringamso is a native speaker of Tangkhul and a resident of Kachai village. He is currently

pursuing his M.A. in English from The English and Foreign Languages University, Shillong

campus and is in his 2nd semester. He is fluent in the kachai dialect.

2.0 Chapter II Tense and Aspect

1.7 Tense and Aspect in English

A category used in the grammatical description of verbs (along with aspect and mood), referring

primarily to the way the grammar marks the time at which the action denoted by the verb took

place. Traditionally, a distinction is made between past, present and future tenses, often with

further divisions (perfect, pluperfect, etc.).In linguistics, the relationship between tense and time

has been the subject of much study, and it is now plain that there is no easily stateable

relationship between the two. In English, for example, the past-tense form (e.g. I knew) may

signal a tentative meaning, and not past time, in some contexts (e.g. I wish I knew – that is,

‘know now’). Nor is there a simple one-to-one relationship between tense forms and time: the

present tense in English may help to refer to future or past time, depending on context (e.g.I’m

going home tomorrow, Last week I’m walking down this street . . . (see historic present)).

Furthermore, if tenses are defined as forms of the verb, it becomes a matter of debate whether a

language like English has a future tense at all: constructions such as I will/shall go, according to

many, are best analyzed as involving modal auxiliary verbs, displaying a different grammatical

function (e.g. the expression of intention or obligation, which may often involve futurity).

English illustrates several such problems, as do other languages, where tense forms, if they exist,

regularly display analytic difficulties, because of overlaps between tense and other verbal

functions, such as aspect or mood.There are different types of verb corresponding closely to the

different types of object and complement. Verbs which only have the subject complements are

called Intransitive verbs and other verbs which have one or more object complements are called

Transitive verbs.
Example :

I arrived in Israel at two o’ clock in the morning

arrival: 2 am Present Future

This sentence shows the timeline in which the sequence of action takes place.
0.3 Data Analysis
1. See- kəthei

I ƞli theije ithum ƞli theije

I youGEN see we youGEN see

I see you we see you

ƞəili theije ana ili theije

you meGEN see he/she meGEN see

you see me he/she sees me

athum ili theije

they meGEN see

They see me
Past:

i aia ƞli theije ithum aia ƞli theije

I yesterday you-GEN see we yesterday you-GEN see

I saw you yesterday we saw you yesterday

ƞə aia ili theije ana aia ili theije

you yesterday me-GEN see he/she yesterday me-GEN see

you saw me yesterday he/she saw me yesterday

athum aia ili theije

they yesterday us-GEN see

They saw us yesterday

ASPECT.

PROGRESSIVE:

inaƞli thei-dɛlei ƞə ili thei-dɛlei

I you-GEN see- PRE PROG. You me-GEN see-PRE PROG

I am seeing you You are seeing me

Ithum ƞli thei-dɛlei ana ƞəili thei-dɛlei

We you-GEN see-PRE PROG He/she me-GEN see-PRE PROG

We are seeing you He/she is seeing me

Athum ili thei-dɛlei

They me-GEN see-PRE PROG

They are seeing me

 PERFECTIVE:

inaƞli thei-haire ina aia ƞli thei-haire

I-NOM you-GEN see-Perf I-NOM yesterday you see-PERF

I have seen you I had seen you yesterday

ƞə ili thei-haire ƞə aia ili thei- haire

you meGEN see-PERF you yesterday me-GEN see PERF

you have seen me you had seen me yesterday

ithum ƞli thei-haire ithum aia ƞli thei-haire

We you-GEN see-PERF We yesterday you see-PERF

We have seen you We had seen you yesterday

athhum ƞli thei-haire athhum aia ƞli thei-haire

They you-GEN see-PERF They yesterday you-GEN see-PERF

They have seen you They had seen you yesterday

ənə ƞli thei-haire ana aia ƞli thei-haire

He/she-NOM you-GEN see-PERF He/she-NOM yesterday you-GEN see-PERF

He/she has seen you He/she had seen you yesterday

2. Take- kəkhui

i khui - je ithum khui-je

I take NFUT we take NFUT

I take We take

ƞə khui-je athhum khui-je

You take NFUT They take NFUT

You take They take

Ana khui-je

He/she take NFUT

He/she takes
PAST:

i aia ƞli khui-je ithum aia ƞli khui-je

I yesterday you-GEN take-NFUT We yesterday you-GEN take- NFUT

I took you yesterday We took you yesterday

ƞə aia ili khui-je ana aia ili khui-je

You yesterday me-GEN take-NFUT He/she yesterday me-GEN take NFUT

You saw me yesterday He/she saw me yesterday

athum aia ili khui-je

They yesterday us-GEN take-NFUT

They saw us yesterday

ASPECT

PROGRESSIVE:

inaƞli khui- dɛlei ƞə ili khui- dɛlei

I you-GEN take-PRE PROG you me-GEN take-PRE PROG

I am taking you You are taking me

ithumƞli khui- dɛlei ana ƞli khui- dɛlei

We you-GEN take-PRE PROG He/she me-GEN take

We are taking you He/she is taking me.

athum ili khui- dɛlei ina ƞli khui- saije

They me-GEN take-PRE PROG I-NOM you-GEN take-Past PROG

They are taking me I were taking you

ƞəili khui- saije ithum ƞli khui- saije

You-NOM me-GEN take-Past PROG We you-GEN take-Past PROG

You were taking me. We were taking you

anaƞli khui- saije athum ƞli khui- saije

He/she you-GEN take-Past PROG They you-GEN take-Past PROG

He/she was taking you They were taking you

PERFECTIVE:

inaƞli khui-haire ina aia ƞli khui-haire

I-NOM you-GEN take-Perf. I-NOM yesterday you-GEN take-Perf.

I have taken you I have taken you yesterday

ƞəili khui-haire ƞə aia ili khui-haire

You me-GEN take-Perf. You yesterday me-GEN take-Perf.

You have seen me You have taken me yesterday

Ithum ƞli khui-haire ithum aia ƞli khui-haire

We you-GEN take-Perf. We yesterday you-GEN take-Perf.

We have taken you. We have taken you yesterday.

Athum ƞli khui-haire athum aia ƞli khui-haire

They you-GEN take-Perf. They yesterday you-GEN take-Perf.

They have taken you. They had seen you yesterday.

anaƞli khui-haire ana aia ƞli khui-haire

He/she-NOM you-GEN taje-Perf. He/she-NOM yesterday you-GEN take-Perf.

He/she has taken you He/she had taken you yesterday.

3. Make- kəsa:

i sa:-je ithum sa:-je

I make-NFUT We make-NFUT

I make We make

ƞəsa:-je ana sa:-je

You make-NFUT He/she make-NFUT

You make He/she makes

Athum sa:-je

They make-NFUT

They make
PAST:

i aia ʧi sa:-je ithum aia ʧi sa:-je

I yesterday it make-NFUT We yesterday it make-NFUT

I made it yesterday We made it yesterday

ƞə aia ʧi sa:-je ana aia ʧi sa:-je

You yesterday it make-NFUT He/she yesterday it make-NFUT

You made it yesterday He/she made it yesterday

Athum aia ʧi sa:-je

They yesterday it make-NFUT

They made it yesterday

ASPECT

PROGRESSIVE:

iʧi sa:-dɛlei ƞəʧi sa:-dɛlei

I it make-PRE Prog You it make-PRE Prog

I am making it You are making it

ithumʧi sa:-dɛlei ana ʧi sa:-dɛlei

We it make-PRE Prog he/she it make-PRE Prog

We are making it He/she is making it

athumʧi sa:-dɛlei ina ʧi sa:-saije

They it make-PRE Prog. I-NOM it make-PAST Prog.

They are making it. I was making it.

ƞəʧi sa:-saije ithum ʧi sa:-saije

You it make-PAST Prog. We it make-PAST Prog.

You were making it. We were making it.

anaʧi sa:-saije athum ʧi sa:-saije

He/she it make-PAST Prog. They it make-PAST Prog.

HE/she was making it. They were making it.

PERFECTIVE:

inaʧi sa:-haire ina aia ʧi sa:-haire

I-NOM it make-Perf. I-NOM yesterday make-Perf.

I have made it. I had made it yesterday.

ƞəʧi sa:-haire ƞə aia ʧi sa:-haire

You it make-Pref. You yesterday it make-Perf.

You made it. You made it yesterday

Ithum ʧisa:-haire ithum aia ʧi sa:-haire

We it make-Perf. We yesterday it make-Perf.

We have made it. We had made it yesterday.

athumʧi sa:-haire athum aia ʧi sa:-haire

They it make-Perf. They yesterday it make-Perf.

They have made it. They had made it yesterday

anaʧi sa:-haire ana aia ʧi sa:-haire

He/she it make-Perf. He/she yesterday make-Perf.

He/she made it. He/she made it yesterday.

4. Cry-kəʧəp

iʧəp-je ithum ʧəp-je

I cry-NFUT We cry-NFUT

I cry We cry

ƞəʧəp-je ana ʧəp-je

you cry-NFUT He/she cry-NFUT

You cry He/she cries

athumʧəp-je

They cry-NFUT

They cry
PAST:

i aia ʧəp-je ithum aia ʧəp-je

I yesterday cry-NFUT We yesterday cry-NFUT

I cried yesterday. We cried yesterday.

ƞə aia ʧəp-je ana aia ʧəp-je

You yesterday cry-NFUT He/she yesterday cry-NFUT

You cried yesterday. He/she cried yesterday.

athum aia ʧəp-je

They yesterday cry-NFUT

They cried yesterday.

ASPECT

PROGRESSIVE:

inaʧəp-dɛlei ƞəʧəp-dɛlei

I cry-PRE Prog. You cry-PRE Prog.

I am crying You are crying.

ithumʧəp-dɛlei ana ʧəp-dɛlei

We cry-PRE Prog He/she cry-PRE Prog.

We are crying He/she is crying

athumʧəp-dɛlei ina ʧəp sa:-saije

They it make-PRE Prog. I-NOM cry-PAST Prog.

They are making it. I was crying.

ƞəʧəp -saije ithum ʧisa:-saije

You cry PAST Prog. We cry-PAST Prog.

You were crying. We were crying

anaʧəp saije athum ʧəp saije

He/she cry-PAST Prog. They cry-PAST Prog.

HE/she was crying. They were crying.

PERFECTIVE:

inaʧəp -haire ina aia ʧəp -haire

I-NOM cry-PERF. I-NOM yesterday cry-PERF.

I have cried. I had cried yesterday.

ƞəʧəp- haire ƞə aiaʧəp haire

You cry -PERF. You yesterday cry-PERF.

You cried. You had cried yesterday

Ithum ʧəp- haire ithum aia ʧəp -haire

We cry-PERF. We yesterday cry-PERF.

We have cried. We had cried yesterday.

athumʧəp -haire athum aia ʧəp -haire

They cry-PERF. They yesterday cry-PERF.

They have cried. They had cried yesterday

anaʧi ʧəp haire ana aia ʧəp -haire

He/she cry-PERF. He/she yesterday cry-PERF

He/she cried. He/she had cried yesterday.

4.0 CONCLUSION

Tangkhul language like most Tibeto – Burman languages do not possess an overt tense marking
ie unlike English and other Indo – Aryan language which possess an overt tense marking for past
and present is absent in Tangkhul. The simple past and simple present forms are similar and can
only be distinguished by a time adverbial. Time in Tangkhul is recognized by Future and Non –
Future. Aspect in Tangkhul is marked. The Present progressive aspect marker is /- dɛləi/; the past
progressive marker is /- saije/ and the perfective marker is /- haire/. It is observed that the
markers are uniform and does not change with agreement. The markers agree with the subjects
and no change is noticed with intransitive and transitive verbs. It is also observed that adjectives
function as a verb with the appropriate affixation. In Tangkhul the nominalaizer /kə/ is also the
adjectivizer.

It is yet to figure out as to why the subject takes a /- na/ marker in case of some verbs like take,
shout etc. One needs to delve further into the topic to come up with a proper reason.
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