Rena Qiang Language Reference Grammar

Re'ela is a Qiang native toponymy which is located in the eastern part of Heishui River of main tributaries of Min River.The speakers of Re'ela Qiang(also called Sanzhai Village)inhabit Wadi Township of Mao County in the north-western part of Sichuan Province.The total population of the Wadi Township is more than 1000 people of Qiang ethnic minority,and Re'ela is the biggest one of three villages of Re'ela Township,its population is 408.It is 50 kilometers away from the Fengyi Township of Mao County and roughly 250 kilometers from Chengdu,the capital city of Sichuan Province.The people of Re'ela mainly speak the Qiang language,and Old people,women and younger children are monolingual.Almost all adults can also speak Mandarin Chinese when they go out for workforce.The Re'ela variety belongs to Qugu subdialect of the northern Dialect of Qiang.Re'ela is by now one of the few settlements retaining Qiang language and culture.This dissertation provides a comprehensive and in-depth description and typological analysis of Re'ela Qiang in terms of the first-hand and introspective data.The investigation of this thesis is a significant first step toward understanding the Re'ela Qiang based on the theoretical frameworks of structuralism,linguistic typology and functional grammar.Chapter 1 Introduction: This chapter introduces the geographical distribution of the Re'ela Qiang,the ethnological background and demography of the speakers,previous research on the language,aspects of language use,the classification of the varieties,the genetic affiliation,data collection and research methodology.Chapter 2 Phonological System: In this chapter,we describe and analyze the rather complex phonological system of the Re'ela Qiang.There are 41 intial consonants and 46 intial consonant clusters,35 geminations,39 final consonants,35 monophthongs sand 57 diphthongs.Re'ela Qiang has no tone,but it has pitch.Most of the final consonants are not preserved Proto-Tibeto-Burman finals.The finals now found in the Re'ela Qiang resulted from two syllables having merged,with the initial of the original second syllable becoming the final of the original initial syllable.Chapter 3 Word Formation: This chapter provides the characteristics of simple words and compound words.Chapter 4 Semantic Relations: We discuss semantic relations,such as polysemy,homonym,synonym and antonym in chapter 4.Chapter 5 The Relationship between Lexicon and Culture: In chapter 5,we present the correlation between language and culture of Qiang in terms of cultural terms and loanwords.Chapter 6 Morphosyntactic Properties: We describe and analyze phrases,sentence elements and word order in this chapter.Chapter 7 Word Classes: In chapter 7,we discuss word classes,and give the semantic and syntactic function of each class.There 13 word classes and nouns,verbs,adjectives(which are a subclass of stative verbs)are open classes,while adverbs,pronouns,numerals and quantifiers,classifiers and measure words,interjections,and final particles are closed classes.Chapter 7 Sentence Types: This chapter studies not only many types of simple sentences,i.e.declarative,interrogative,hortative/imperative,and exclamatory,but complex sentence as well.This dissertation is a comprehensive grammar of the previously non-documented variety of the northern Qiang which is located in the eastern part of Heishui tributary of Min River.It will play a very important in comparison with other varieties and subdialects.It is useful for promoting the study of the Qiang language through this study,and providing rich data for comparative study of Qiang dialects.It can enhance linguistic typology in terms of Re'ela Qiang data and promote studies of language diversity and language universal.It can give impetus to research language contact,for example,Qiang is surrounded by south-western Mandarin and the Tibetan language.Tibetan mainly influences the Re'ela variety in lexicon,especially cultural words,whereas Mandarin influences the Re'ela Qiang variety in terms of phonology,lexicon and syntax.Many words,especially cultural words,professional words,technological words,and so on,also are borrowed from South-western Mandarin.Syntactically,some subordinators and sentential adverbials are borrowed from Mandarin,etc.It can provide an important cornerstone of diachronic study of the Qiang language with this study.Although the thesis focuses on the synchronic characteristics of Re'ela Qiang,this is the basis of diachronic study of language.The more synchronic study we do,the more firmly evidence we have in diachronic study.This dissertation has very important value in bilingual education and the development of other related discipline.It can also help to preserve the endangered Qiang language and have a great role in inheritance and development of the Qiang language and culture.