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Abstract:
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This dissertation is a descriptive grammar of Yongning Na (Mosuo ) , a Tibeto -Burman language spoken in southwestern China . The theoretical approaches taken are functional syntax and the discourse -based approach to language description and documentation . The aim of this dissertation is to describe the ways that the language's features and subsystems intersect to make Na a unique entity : analyticity ; zero anaphora ; OV word order ; topic /comment information structure ; a five -part evidential system ; a conjunct /disjunct -like system that intersects with evidentiality and verbal semantics ; prolific grammaticalization ; overlap between nominalization and relativization and associated structures ; representation of time through aspect , Aktionsarten , adverbials , and discourse context ; and the Daba shamanic register . |