Bisu conjunctions Lahu conjunctions

1.2.1 Bisu conjunctions

Bisu distinguishes between conjunctions linking clauses and those linking smaller grammatical units words and phrases within clauses. 1.2.1.1 Conjunctions linking subclausal units Conjunctions linking subclausal units express four types of relations Xu 2001:132: • coordinatingconsecutive relations, meaning ‘and’ two lexical items: one for NP s and one for verb phrases VP s • progressivecomparative relations, meaning ‘more…more’ two items and ‘even more’ • hypothetical relations connecting VP s only, meaning ‘if’ • conditional relations two items, meaning ‘only if’, and ‘no matter’ Of these conjunctions, only the ‘more…more’ is correlative Xu 2001:132–134. They are usually placed between the elements being joined, with the exception of ‘and’, which may follow both elements Xu 2001:134–135. 1.2.1.2 Conjunctions linking clauses Bisu has conjunctions showing six different types of relationships between the clauses Xu 2001:132: • one coordinatingconsecutive conjunction: ‘and’ • one comparative conjunction: ‘even more’ • three hypothetical conjunctions: all meaning ‘if’ • two conditional conjunctions: ‘whatever’, and ‘no matter’ • three contrastive conjunctions: all meaning ‘but’ • three causal conjunctions: ‘because’, ‘so’, and ‘since’ Bisu clauses showing temporal sequences use other particles than the conjunctions listed above to show relationships Xu 2001:150: • ‘As soon as…’ • ‘No sooner had…than’ • ‘After they had…’ 1 a 31 ba 33 e 55 aŋ 55 ʑa 31 ki 33 uŋ 55 aŋ 55 la 55 mother go P child cry P comestart ‘As soon as the mother left, the child began to cry.’ Xu 2001:150 The three Bisu conjunctions meaning ‘if’ vary in position depending on whether they start the hypothetical clause, end that clause, or both start and end it Xu 2001:151. See examples in section 11.2 .

1.2.2 Lahu conjunctions

Lahu conjunctions show the following seven relationships to prior discourse: • additive ‘and’, ‘furthermore’, • explanatory ‘because’, • temporal order ‘then’, ‘thereupon’, ‘having done that’, ‘having first done that’, • consequential ‘so’, ‘if it is thus’, ‘this’, • contrastive ‘but’, ‘nevertheless’, • concessive ‘howevereven so’, ‘in any event’, ‘anyway’, and • cautionary ‘lest’. 2 à mù, ph �̂ šā câ p �́ à lest dog meat eat able assertive ‘You must take care lest the dogs eat the meat.’ Matisoff 1973:400

1.2.3 Lalo conjunctions