Myint Soe Past Approaches to Word Categories

Part of Speech Burmese Types 7 Conjunction orå coordinate and subordinate 8 Function Particles ypPnf: plural, relative clause, restriction on an object, restriction on an action, demonstrates speaker’s bravery, interrogative, negative 9 Exclamation Interjection tmarÉdwf emotive words registering shock, pity, surprise, wonder, fear, unexpected events. Table 12. Parts of Speech Recognized by the MLC It should be noted that the official Myanmar position on parts of speech follows Indo- Aryan, Pali traditional categories generally. This may be due to the prestigious position of Pali scholarship historically and to a European educational cultural overlay where similar types of linguistic categories are preferred. The Myanma Language Commission’s categories basically agree with Taw Sein Ko’s 1891 analysis.

3.4.11 Myint Soe

The University of Oregon dissertation by native Myanmar linguist, Myint Soe 1999, employs a functionalsemantic linguistic model to present a refreshingly modern grammar of Colloquial Burmese. Regarding word classes Myint Soe agrees with Stewart 1936 that there are two major lexical word classes—the noun and the verb. Grammatical morphemes particles as a class were sub-classified according to their position in the noun phrase, verb phrase, and clause. The functional grammatical relation of adverb and adjective is treated as the derived nominal form. Three types of nouns are distinguished: simple, compound, and derived. Of the simple there are two subtypes—monosyllabic and disyllabic. Four types of compound nouns are distinguished based upon the lexical classification and the type of semantic head within the compound Myint Soe 1999:22 and are displayed in table 13 together with their distinguishing characteristics. Derived nouns are formed either by prefixation with t- a- + Verb to form deverbal nouns, or by suffixation of a clause with the wm ta realis or rSm hma irrealis nominalizing postpositional particle of Colloquial Burmese. Type of Compound Noun Characteristics Semantic Head Example 1 N+N coordinate with no head en:f vrf : nany: lam: way + road = method subordinate type attribute + head qD rD : hci: mi: oil + fire = oil lamp Type of Compound Noun Characteristics Semantic Head Example 2 V+N transitive verb usually resembles reduced relative clause a| aomuf \rpf re sauk mrac [[water drink] root] = tap root, N + V + N 3 N+V transitive N is usually the semantic object qefyswf hcan pyat rice boil = rice gruel 4 N+Vstative close juncture a|cJ re hkai: water hard = ice Table 13 Types of compound nouns according to Myint Soe Myint Soe’s analysis covers a vast array of topics demonstrating insight, particularly into the semantics and relative ordering of particles. He posits word, phrase noun phrase and verb phrase, clause—transitive and intransitive, nominal complement, sentential complement, adverbial relative, and adverbial nominalized clause types, and the simple and complex sentence. As a lead into a discussion about phrase, clause, and sentence, a summary of Myint Soe’s grammatical constructions will be presented here. This approach, as mentioned above, is functionalsemantic and therefore the types of categories used and distinctions made have been on the basis of semantic function. In contrast, such distinctions are not made in the present work, since the aim is toward a basic framework of Burmese grammar and the role of nominalization in that framework. On Phrase, Myint Soe 1999:39 presents a helpful chart outlining the structure of the Noun Phrase. This chart is reproduced in an adapted form in table 14 to characterize succinctly his point of view. It will be used to compare the functional constructions with the nominal structural view of Burmese grammar. Restrictive Attributive 1 Attributive 2 Quantity Demonstrative Genitive phrase Complement Relative clause Active V NOM.V stative NP HEAD Stative V NOM.V stative Plural mkr. Number Classifier Quantity Table 14. Noun phrase structure The Verb Phrase is one of the areas which will not be addressed in this work, since the focus is on nominals, but it will be helpful to summarize other scholars’ categories and viewpoint. The following table is an adaptation from information summarized from Myint Soe’s work 1999:120. The column order follows the syntagmatic ordering. The polite particle is represented twice as it can be found in either position, but only once in a verb phrase. It should be noted that the post-head particles move in a direction out toward the speech situation. Pre-head Auxiliaries Verb Head Post-head Auxiliaries Particle polite Particle aspect Particle polite Particle attitude 36 possible versatile verbs 42 possible versatile verbs polite yg pa 4 aspects polite yg pa 3 particles Table 15. Verb phrase structure Again employing an adaptation of Myint Soe’s charts as a basis, it will be helpful to present here the basic framework for the independent clause 1999:129. It should be noted that from the Verb Phrase table 15 and the Independent Clause table 16 the elements and relationships to the head of the particles are conceived as linear, a placement in the horizontal string, an “affix ordering chart” view to the relations of the particles to the main verb. Verb Phrase Particles speech act, tense, polarity Particles attitude Positive Declarative Nominalizer onf sany Concessive, gentle Negative Declarative Gentle Positive Imperative Manly, male Negative Imperative Nonchalance Hortative Of course, naturally Interrogative Verb Phrase see table 15 Negative Interrogative Table 16. Independent clause Finally, the dependent clause, called the Independent Nominal Sentence is presented in table 17, adapted from Myint Soe 1999:130. It is because his analysis is clear and his charts are conceptually precise that his work is being represented here as the more traditional linguistic approach to categories in Burmese. Verb Phrase Particles speech act, tense, polarity Particles attitude Verb Phrase see Table 16 In Colloquial Burmese htahma In Formal Burmese onf sany rnf many polite indeed gentle So, in fact he did VP ‘VP really? of course Table 17. Independent nominal sentence

3.4.12 Summary