Epistemic Modality in Standard Spoken Tibetan: Epistemic Verbal Endings and Copulas [Paperback]

The Sino-Tibetan language family is the second largest in the world, and standard Tibetan is the most widely spoken language in the Tibetic group. A comprehensive introduction to epistemicity in standard spoken Tibetan, this book examines the grammatical expression of a variety of epistemic modalities—rather, the myriad ways in which a speaker indicates their confidence in the knowledge on which their statement is based—through numerous examples of epistemic types. It elucidates the complex system of epistemic verbal endings and epistemic copulas, or connecting words, employed in the spoken language, analyzing them from semantic, syntactic, and pragmatic viewpoints.

Zuzana Vokurkováis a researcher and senior lecturer in the Seminar of Mongolian and Tibetan Studies of the Institute of South and Central Asia, Faculty of Arts, at Charles University in Prague.

Abbreviations
Introduction
Key Terms
Fieldwork and Corpus
Structure of the Monograph and of the Tibetan Examples
 
I. The Expression of Epistemic Modality in Standard Spoken Tibetan
1.1 The Lexical Expression of Epistemic Modality
1.2 The Grammatical Expression of Epistemic Modality
 
II. Classification of Epistemic Verbal Endings and Copulas
2.1 Epistemic Verbal Endings and Copulas of the Type YOD.KYI.RED
2.2 Epistemic Verbal Endings and Copulas with the Final Auxiliary ’DRA
2.3 Epistemic Verbal Endings and Copulas with the Final Auxiliary ‘GRO/’GRO’O
2.4 Epistemic Verbal Endings and Copulas with the Morpheme A
2.5 Epistemic Verbal Endings and Copulas with the Morpheme SA
2.6 Epistemic Constructions swith the SUFFIX MDOG.KHA.PO
2.7 Epistemic Verbal Endings PA.’DUG and PA.YOD
2.8 Epistemic Verbal Endings and Copulas of the Type YOD.PA.YOD
2.9 Epistemic Verbal Endings and Copulas of the Type YONG.NGA.YOD
2.10 Epistemic Verbal E