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Free keywords:
relativisation, genitive, complementation, Khroskyabs, Wobzi,
Tibeto-Burman, Trans-Himalayan languages, Sino-Tibetan, morphosyntax,
grammaticalisation
Abstract:
This paper focuses on the morphosyntax as well as the semantics of relativisation
in Wobzi Khroskyabs, a Rgyalrongic language spoken in Sichuan, China.
Different strategies of relativisation are presented, especially the nominalisation
strategy. Wobzi Khroskyabs exhibits an innovative relativisation strategy with
the genitive marker =ji, which is rarely found in other Rgyalrongic languages.
Several hypotheses are put forward to account for the evolutionary pathway
from genitivisation to relativisation, showing that genitive =ji probably followed
an ergative pattern to enter the relativisation of core arguments.
