Yolmo language

Language family

Yolmo is part of the family of languages called Kyirong-Kagate. The languages of this family are located along the Himalayan hills and mountains mostly on the Nepal side of the border, although Kyirong is in the Tibet Antonymous Region. Along with Yolmo, Kyirong and Syuba, other languages in the family include Tsum, Nubri and Gyalsumdo.

The language family is better considered be Kyirong-Yolmo. Yolmo has far more speakers (at least 10,000) than Kagate (Syuba) (1,500), Yolmo speakers are found in multiple districts, including Melamchi, Lamjung and Ilam, while Kagate speakers are based in Ramechhap. Also, Kagate is an exonym, and speakers now prefer the endonym Syuba, which carries less pejorative stigma than the caste-associated term Kagate ('papermaker').

This is part of a larger cluster of Tibetic languages, which all have their roots in the language that was the basis for Classical Tibetan.

History

Yolmo speakers traditionally reside in the Helambu and Melamchi Valley regions in the Nuwakot and Sindhupalchowk districts of Nepal. Yolmo speakers migrated to the area, across the Himalaya, from the Kyriong, in what is now Southwest Tibet, over 300 years ago. This migration appears to have occurred slowly over multiple generations, rather than one large migration event. Main villages where Yolmo speakers reside include Melamchi Ghyang, Tarke Ghyang, Nakote, Kangyul, Sermathang, Norbugoun, Timbu, and Kutumsang.

Yolmo speakers are Buddhist, with the role of head Lama patrilineal. Yolmo Lamas are called upon to perform religious rituals for the Tamang-speaking communities that live in villages below the Yolmo-inhabited areas. This has created a strong socio-cultural link between the two groups that is reflected in traditional marriage practice where Tamang women marry into Yolmo villages. There is also a distinct local tradition of pòmbo (often referred to as 'shamanism' in the literature on this topic). The pòmbo tradition, passed from father to son, is focused on healing, particularly with regard to 'soul loss'. This practice appears to be evolving fit with the modern focus on Buddhism among Yolmo people. For example, pòmbo blood sacrifices are no longer performed as commonly. While there are similarities, including a shared etymology, these local practitioners are not formally associated with the Bon of Tibet.

Traditionally Yolmo people were yak herders and traders. They currently practice a combination of mixed agriculture involving livestock herding, hotel management, restaurants, and trading. Although outward migrants would often return to village life, speakers of Yolmo are increasing settling in Kathmandu, or moving overseas, which has an effect on transmission of the language as speakers move towards dominant languages of formal education such as Nepal and English.

For more on the history of Yolmo speakers, see the Yolmo people page.

Dialects

There are a number of dialects of Yolmo, spread throughout Nepal, thanks to migration in recent centuries, including in Lamjung and Ilam. There are also closely related languages that should be considered when discussing Yolmo, including Kagate (Syuba) and Langtang. Some of these varieties have been documented in more detail than others. Some of the dialects also have more mutual intelligibility, which means it is easier for the speakers to understand each other. Below is a list of established dialects, including what is known about each.

Melamchi Valley Yolmo

The variety of Yolmo documented by Anna Marie Hari is mostly spoken in the Melamchi Valley area. Hari documented the variety of Yolmo mostly spoken around the villages of Sermathang and Chhimi. Hari also encountered speakers from other areas in the Melamchi and Helambu valleys, and suggested there are two dialects across this area. mostly distinguished by vocabulary. The two dialects are the 'western' dialect, mostly in Nuwakot district and the 'eastern' dialect, which Hari's work focuses on. While discussing these dialects Hari also observes that the variety spoken around Tarkeghyang is different again, suggesting there may be more than two dialects spoken in the area.

Hari produced a Yolmo-Nepali-English dictionary of the language with Chhegu Lama, and a sketch grammar. Hari also translated the New Testament of the Bible into Yolmo. Original cassette recordings of her work have been digitised and archived with PARADISEC. Unless otherwise stated, all discussion of the grammar of Yolmo on this page is drawn from the work on Melamchi Valley Yolmo.

Langtang

Northwest of the Yolmo-speaking areas in the Langtang valley of the Rasuwa District are three villages that speak a language that is mutually intelligible with Yolmo. This language also shares features with Kyirong and is likely part of a dialect continuum between Yolmo and Kyirong.

Lamjung Yolmo

Lamjung Yolmo is spoken by around 700 people in five villages of the Lamjung District of Nepal. Yolmo speakers have been residing in this area for over a century. Gawne has written a sketch grammar and a Lamjung Yolmo-Nepali-English dictionary. There is also a digital archive of Lamjung Yolmo recordings archived with PARADISEC.

Ilam Yolmo

A dialect of Yolmo is reportedly spoken in the Ilam District of far east Nepal. There is very little documentation of this variety, but it is mutually intelligible with Syuba. Recordings from the dialect are available as a subset of an online collection of Syuba materials archived with PARADISEC.

Syuba (Kagate)

Although Syuba has a distinct name, and a separate ISO 639-3 code (SYW), linguistically it can be considered a dialect of Yolmo. Syuba speakers say their families migrated to the area more than a century ago. Hari, who worked on both Yolmo and Syuba observes that "to quite a large extent they are mutually intelligible dialects". The lexical similarity between Syuba and Melamchi Valley Yolmo is at least 79%, with the similarity between Syuba and Lamjung Yolmo even higher (88%). There is a higher level of similarity between Yolmo and Syuba than there is between either of these languages and Kyirong. This all suggests that the separated dialects may have more in common with each other than with the main dialect area. In 2016 the Syuba community published a Syuba-Nepali-English dictionary.

Three open access collections of Syuba, MH1 digitised from Monika Hölig's 1970s recordings, SUY1 documentation by Lauren Gawne (2009-2016), MTC1 a 2013 BOLD documentation by the Mother Tongue Centre Nepal.

Language vitality

Using the Expanded Graded Intergenerational Disruption Scale (EGIDS), Ethnologue gives Yolmo a vitality rating of 6a 'Vigorous', but does not cite a source for this claim. The vitality of the language varies depending on the location. In the Melamchi Valley area the language is spoken mostly by older adults. The younger generations having largely shifted to Nepali, though the language is being maintained for religious practices. The shift towards Nepali for younger speakers has also been observed in Lamjung, as this is the language used in schools. The Syuba variety in Ramechhap is currently still spoken across all generations, including children. Mitchell & Eichentopf give it an EGIDS rating of 6a 'Vigorous', which is the likely reference for the Ethnologue rating. This is a recent survey with primary data presented, and is in concord with the first author's own observations of this community. There is insufficient data on the Ilam or Langtang variety to assess their vitality at this stage.

Language contact

The majority of Yolmo speakers are minimally bilingual in the national language Nepali. For older speakers Nepali was mostly used for interaction with people outside their community, and they may be less proficient, while younger speakers are likely to have attended school in Nepali and are proficient.

While there is relatively little influence of Nepali on basic vocabulary (such as the Swadesh list below), Nepali words are commonly adopted into Yolmo. In Hari & Lama's dictionary of over 4000 entries there are over 200 entries marked with some kind of Nepali influence. The extent to which Nepali words have been reconfigured to Yolmo phonology has not been systematically studied. One observation is that Nepali verbs take a suffix -ti before any tense or aspect marking. This suffix is not voiced in any environment, unlike the perfective aspect marker -ti.

In the Helambu area Tamang women would marry into the villages, but they appeared to move to Yolmo-speaking when they married in (although contact with Tamang may account for some features of Yolmo, such as the general fact evidential, below).

Individuals may also have other languages in their personal repertoire, through marriage to someone from a different language group, international work or engagement with tourists from different countries. English is increasingly common as a language of education.

Orthography

Hyolmo does not have a written tradition although there are attempts to develop an orthography based on Devanagari, the script used to write the national language Nepali, as seen in the publication of two dictionaries. Syuba speakers also settled on a Devanagari orthography for their dictionary. All of these dictionaries also present the languages in Roman orthographies.

Devanagari

The modifications to Devanagari are minor, and are intended to ensure that all sounds in the language can be represented. None of the orthographies use the 'inherent schwa vowel', meaning that a consonant without an overt vowel is not treated as having an implied vowel. Consonants remain the same as in the existing Devanagari tradition, with the use of joined digraphs to represent additional sounds in the language, such as the combination of क (k) and य (y) for the palatal stop क्य ([c] 'kh'), स (s) and य (y) for the palatal fricative स्य ([ʃ] 'sh'), र and ह for the voiceless liquid र्ह ([r̥] 'rh'), and ल and ह for the voiceless lateral ल्ह ([l̥] 'lh') ह्य ('hy').

Vowel length is unmarked in the Syuba dictionary, in the two Yolmo dictionaries the standard Devanagari length distinctions are made, with the addition of a small diacritic below the 'a' vowel ( ा) to indicate a longer vowel. The Hari & Lama and Gawne dictionaries both use ह (h) after the vowel to mark low tone (e.g. टाह ʈà 'pheasant'), while in (the Syuba orthography a visarga represents the low tone (टाः ʈà 'pheasant'). High tone is left unmarked.

Roman

All three dictionaries also make use of variations on a Romanised orthography, although this does not appear to be used or preferred by Hyolmo speakers, and is intended for the English-literate audience of the dictionaries. Consonants predominantly take their form from the International Phonetic Alphabet, with some exception where there is a more common preference in English, such as digraphs for the palatal stops ([c] 'ky', [c^h] 'khy', [ɟ] 'gy') and non-superscript for aspiration (e.g. phá 'pig'). This is represented in the consonant chart in the Phonology section.

The vowels in Hyolmo follow the International Phonetic Alphabet, except for [ɔ] which uses 'o' for ease of typing. Long vowels are represented by double characters, e.g. [ɲíː] 'two' is represented as ɲíi, except in the Syuba dictionary where vowel length is not indicated in either the Devanagari or Roman scripts. For tone Hari uses a 'h' after the vowel to represent low tone, (e.g. toh 'stone') with high tone unmarked (e.g. to 'rice'), Gawne uses the International Phonetic Alphabet convention of using accents over the vowel to mark high and low tone (e.g. tó 'rice' and tò 'stone'), while the Syuba dictionary uses a superscript ^L at the start of the syllable to mark low tone (e.g. ^Lto 'stone') with high tone unmarked.

On this page the orthography mostly follows Hari's transcription, as outlined in the phonology. Unlike Hari, representation of tone follows the International Phonetic Alphabet, with accents to mark high and low tone (e.g. tó 'rice' and tò 'stone' respectively). This avoids Hari's use of 'h' to represent both low tone and the sound [h].

Grammatical overview

The sections below contain an overview of the key features of the grammar of Hyolmo. Information is mostly drawn from Hari's grammar of the language, supplemented by the Yohlmo-Nepali-English dictionary she co-wrote with Chhegu Lama. Differences between this variety and other documented dialects are indicated where relevant. Links to other related languages will also be made where relevant.

All example sentences are presented with an interlinear gloss. This breaks down the words on a morpheme level, giving information about the meaning of each morpheme using a standard set of glossing abbreviations. All examples are cited back to the original publication they are drawn from. Some glossing has been regularised, or added where it was not included in the original.

Phonology

Consonants

There are 36 consonants in Yolmo, which are summarized in the table below. The form is given in IPA and then to the right in brackets is given the form used in this article, if different.

Not all consonants are equally frequent. In particular [h], [r̥] and [l̥] are not particularly frequent, nor are vowel-initial words.

Vowels

There are five places of articulation for vowels. There is a length distinction at each place of articulation. The form of each vowel is given in IPA and then to the right in brackets is given the form used in this article, if different.

Below are some minimal pairs that demonstrate the vowel length distinction. The diacritic above the vowel is the tone marker, the acute accent indicates that all of these examples are high tone. This is explained in more detail in the section on tone.

Vowel-length distinctions are not common across Tibetic language, but they are also attested in Syuba (although Syuba speakers do not consider them salient enough to encode in the orthography) and in Kyirong for open syllables.

Unlike many other Tibetic languages, including Kyirong, and Standard Tibetan, Yolmo does not have a front rounded [y]. This is true for all dialects of Yolmo documented to date, including Syuba. Langtang, however, does have this vowel.

Tone

Like other Tibetic languages, Yolmo has tone, which is located on the first vowel of a word. Hari presents a four tone contrast of Melamchi Valley Yolmo; high level, high falling, low level and low falling. Acoustic evidence from Lamjung Yolmo and Kagate indicates that there is only acoustic evidence for a contrast between two tones; low and high. Below are some examples of tone minimal pairs:

Low tone words can be marked with breathy voice, but this is not always the case. The practice of indicating low tone with a 'h' following the vowel in some orthographies is related to this breathy property of low-tone vowels. The high tone, which uses modal voice, is left unmarked.

Tone is predictable in some environments. It is always high following aspirated stops, aspirated affricates and voiceless liquids (which speakers treat as equivalent to aspirated). Examples of all of these include:

Tone is always low following voiced stops, voiced fricatives and voiced affricates. Examples of all of these include:

On words with more than one syllable the tone is marked on the initial syllable. Subsequent syllables eventually level off. Tone on all words is influenced by prosody, and may become more or less neutralised in running speech.

The only prefixes in the language are the negator prefixes mà- and mè-. Both have low tone, however if the following root has high tone it will not change tone because of the preceding low suffix.

There are no morpho-phonemic variations discussed for the language. The only related feature are a small set of verb minimal pairs where transitivity is distinguished by tone:

Syllable structure

Yolmo has the syllable structure (C)(C)V(C). This means that the minimum a syllable needs is a vowel. Syllables can also have up to two consonants before the vowel and one after the vowel.

All consonants and vowels can occur word-initial, with a restricted set able to occur in the second syllable. The set of syllable initial consonant clusters includes /pr, br, kr, py, phy, sw, kw, thw, rw/.

All vowels can occur syllable-final, and final consonants include voiceless unaspirated bilabial /b/ and velar stops /k/, voiced liquids /l,r/, the voiced labio-velar /w/ and all nasals except the palatal /m, n, ng/.

Morphophonemic processes

There is a regular process by which the suffixes undergo a change depending on the nature of the verb that they are attached to. Suffixes that begin with a voiceless stop, such as the non-past -ke, the imperative -toŋ or the hortative -ka, all undergo regular morphophonological processes. If they occur after a syllable with a final sound that is voiced they will also be voiced, if they occur after an unvoiced final sound, or an /r/ the start of the suffix will be unvoiced. The examples below are with the non-past -ke:

The only forms that cannot be predicted by this process is if the suffix is after /i/ or /e/, both of which are high front vowels. The voicing cannot be predicted in this context, and the suffix is sometimes voiced and sometimes unvoiced. Below are examples of verbs with both /i/ and /e/:

There is also a tendency for suffixes that begin with -k/ -g to omit the initial sound after a vowel. This is not as regular a process as the voicing alterations described above. Below are some examples of this process:

Tappu LAMA

Nouns/nominals

The noun phrase in Yolmo includes either a noun or a pronoun. The noun phrase with a noun can also include a determiner, adjective and number marker, while the options are more limited with a pronoun or proper noun. Noun suffixes include case markers, plural marker and numeral classifiers.

The order of the noun phrase is (Determiner) Noun=Plural(-Focus Marker)(=Case) (Numeral Classifier) (Number) (Adjective).

Determiners

The Yolmo definite determiner is dì the same as the third person inanimate pronoun 'it/this'. It occurs before the noun:

dì

DET

pèza

child

'The child' (Hari 2010: 31)

The indefinite is marked using the numeral tɕíi 'one', which comes after the noun, like other numbers:

mì

person

tɕíi

one

'A person' (Hari 2010: 91)

Pronouns

Yolmo pronouns are presented in the table below. There is an inclusive/exclusive distinction for first person plural pronouns, a gender distinction for third person singular and an animacy distinction for third person.

The first person plural òraŋ is more commonly found in the Western dialects of Melamchi and Helambu Valley Yolmo, as well as Lamjung Yolmo, while ùu is more common in the Eastern dialects. It is possible to create a dual form by adding ɲíi to the plural form (e.g. khyá ɲíi 'you two'), although this is optional.

The third person plural khúŋ can also be used as a polite form for a single third person.

Pronouns do not take determiners, number, or adjectives.

Interrogative pronouns

Interrogative pronouns are used to form questions. Yolmo has the following attested interrogative pronouns:

Hari gives both kà and kàla (kà with the dative suffix) as forms for 'where' in Melamchi Valley Yolmo, but only kàla is attested in Lamjung Yolmo. There are also a number of forms for 'why', tɕípe and tɕíle are attested in both Melamchi Valley Yolmo and Lamjung Yolmo, but only tɕí mée in Melamchi Valley Yolmo. This is because it uses the verb mée 'say' as part of the construction, which is not in Lamjung Yolmo (see the section on reported speech, as well as the word list). The kànmu form of 'how' is attested in Lamjung Yolmo, while kànɖu is used in Melamchi Valley Yolmo, with an optional -mu suffix to make kànɖu-mu. Hari and Lama also note the form kànɖu-bar in the Western regions.

Note that the words súgi and súla are complex forms, súgi is sú 'who' with the genitive case suffix, and súla is sú with the dative case suffix.

For more on the structure of interrogative clauses, see the section on question formation.

Proper nouns

Proper nouns include people's names, place names and the names of deities. They do not take determiners, number, or adjectives.

Plural

The plural marker in Melamchi and Lamjung Yolmo is =ya. The plural is treated as a clitic as it occurs after an adjective if there is one, rather than always attaching directly to the noun:

kháŋba

house

tɕímbu

big

tɕhímbu=ya

big=PL

'The big houses' (Hari 2010: 28)

Plural marking is optional if an overt number is used with the noun, or if the number is clear from context:

pèmpiʑa

women

súm

three

dù

COP.PE

'There are three women' (Gawne 2016: 55)

The plural form in Syuba is =kya, which is more similar to the Kyirong form, suggesting the Yolmo =ya is an innovation.

Focus marker

Yolmo has a nominal focus marker -ti. The focus marker gives prominence to the noun it is attached to. In the example below, the older brother is singled out, contrasted with other relatives who perhaps did not obtain such wealth:

áda-di

older.brother-FOC

ɲìma

day

ɲèdzen

every

tɕhúkpu

rich

kàl-di

went-PFV

oŋ-sin

come-PST

dù

AUX.PE

'The older brother became richer every day.' (Hari & Lama 2004: 271)

Hari also notes for Melamchi Valley Yolmo that there is a focus marker -ka, which is used specifically to mark something as contrary to expectation.

kháŋba

house

tɕhímbu

big

tɕhímbu=ya-la-ga

big=PL-LOC-FOC

tè-ku

reside-IPFV

dù

AUX.PE

'I realize that they are living in big houses.' (Hari 2010: 27)

Nouns can also take the emphatic suffixes -ni and -raŋ, which are also used for other parts of speech (see section on lexical emphasis).

Case marking

Yolmo uses post-positional suffixes to mark the case of nouns. Similar to other Tibetic languages, Yolmo uses a single case form for multiple functions. Case marking is treated as a clitic, as clitics come at the end of the whole noun phrase, rather than directly attaching to only the noun. Below the cases are listed with their functions.

The case markers are phonologically bound, with the =ki form becoming voiced in some environments, it is also reduced to =i in some environments. See the section on morphophonemic processes for more on this.

Where there is also a plural the case marker comes after the plural, as in the example below:

tɕàmu=ya=gi

hen=PL=ERG

kòŋa

egg

tɕú

ten

thál

NUM.CLF

kyée

lay

dù

COP.PE

'The hens laid ten eggs' (Hari 2010: 23)

Ergative case

Yolmo has optional ergative case-marking. Ergative marking means that subjects of intransitive verbs are unmarked, the same as objects of transitive verbs. Subjects of transitive verbs are distinguished from both of these with the =ki marker (in contrast to nominative-accusative languages like English, where the subjects of both intransitive and transitive verbs are marked in contrast with objects of transitive verbs).

Below is an intransitive sentence, with the subject ŋà taking no marking:

ŋà

1SG

ŋù-sin

cry-PST

'I cried'

In contrast with this ergative-marked transitive, where the subject ŋà is marked with the ergative:

ŋà=gi

1SG=ERG

ɕò

yoghurt

úp-sin

cover-PST

'I covered the yoghurt' (Hari 2010: 39)

Speakers do not always use the ergative case, which is why it is considered 'optional':

ŋà

1SG

tó

rice.cooked

sà-ke

eat-NPST

'I eat rice' (Gawne 2016: 69)

Ergative marking is more common for past tense, and non-habitual actions. There also appears to be some effect of animacy, and the ergative appears to be used as a strategy in discourse to mark agentivity. This form of optional ergativity is common across the Tibeto-Burman family.

Dative case

Dative case is typically used to indicate, broadly, the noun to which something is given. The Yolmo dative has this function, but it also has a function in 'dative subject' constructions. The dative subject occurs with a small set of intransitive verbs, and denote personal, and usually internal, states.

ŋà=la

1SG=DAT

hé

potatoes

kà-en

like-NPST

'I like potatoes.' (Hari 2010: 42)

The use of dative subjects is common in languages of this area, and is also attested more broadly.

Number

Yolmo has a base-20 counting system. As can be seen in the examples above, cardinal numbers can be used in noun phrases.

The Yolmo number system is very similar to that of Standard Tibetan and other Tibetan varieties. In the table below is the Yolmo number, taken from Hari's dictionary.

In Lamjung Yolmo, the base-20 system is only used by a small number of older speakers, with others using a base-10 system. For example, 'twenty' is ɲídʑu, 'thirty' is súmdʑu, 'forty' is ɕíptɕu, etc. Even then, once people reach 20 the usually switch to counting in Nepali.

Ordinal numbers are formed by addition of the suffix -pa, or alternatively with the suffix -pu for ordinals relating to people, in Melamchi Yolmo. Ordinals are typically only formed up to 20.

Numeral classifiers

Yolmo also has an optional numeral classifier thál. This is used to emphasise number. In the example in the section on case marking above, the speaker is emphasising that the hens laid a large number of eggs.

Lamjung Yolmo also has the classifier mènda which can only be used with humans.

Adjectives

Adjectives occur within the noun phrase. Adjectives usually come after the noun so 'small child' would be pìʑa tɕháme (lit. 'child small'). Adjectives can also occur before the noun, especially in casual speech. Many adjectives are derived from verb forms, and often end with -pu, -po, -pa or -mu, but they do not act as verbs, as we see in languages like Magar and Manage. Hari also notes that there are some adjectives that appear to not have a known verbal origin. Adjectives can occur as the head of a noun phrase, but this is very uncommon.

It is possible to create a new adjective from a verb, using the -pa nominalising suffix. The verb stem is often reduplicated; rùl- 'to rot' becomes rùl rùlba 'rotten' and pàŋ- 'to be wet' becomes pàŋ pàŋba 'wet'.

Verbs

There are three main types of verbs in Yolmo, lexical verbs, auxiliary verbs and copula verbs. The lexical verbs inflect for tense, aspect, mood and evidence and can take negation. The infinitive form of verbs takes the suffix -tɕe. The infinitive is used in a number of constructions, including the habitual and complementation.

Copula verbs

The copula verbs and their functions are given in the table below. Copulas are not inflected for person, number or politeness level and many do not distinguish tense:

Equation copulas are used to link two noun phrases, while existential copulas are used for functions of existence, location, attribution and possession. Hari describes the forms that end in -pa (voiced in this environment so they become -ba) as more emphatic, unlike lexical verbs with a -pa suffix they do not indicate past tense, and are not used exclusively in question structures.

Some copula verbs can also be used as verbal auxiliaries, particularly in constructions marked for aspect, where they contribute evidential, tense or epistemic information. The negative forms of each copula are given in the section on negation.

Below the different evidential and epistemic functions of each copula type are discussed.

Egophoric

The egophoric, or personal, is used to indicate that the speaker has personal knowledge about the information. In the example below, the speaker would not be reading the name of the book, but already know the name as they show it to someone else:

òo

that

tɕhée=gi

book=GEN

mìn

name

gyàldzen

gyaldzen

tsému

tsemu

púŋgyen

puŋgyen

má-ẽ

say-NPST

yìmba

COP.EGO

'This book is called 'Gyaldzen Tsemu Punggyen.' (Hari 2010: 66)

Unlike in Standard Tibetan, the speaker does not need to be personally close to an individual to use the egophoric while talking about them.

Different varieties of Yolmo prefer different forms of the egophoric as the default; In Helambu they prefer yìn, in Lamjung yìmba and Ilam yìŋge. yèken is past tense forms of the existential (yèke in Lamjung), with the form yèba also often used in past tense structures, as well as questions. The past form cannot be further decomposed, as the form -ken/-ke is the non-past tense suffix for lexical verbs.

There are some structures where the egophoric is used as the default, such as conditionals.

Dubitative

Unlike the other copulas, which mark evidential distinctions, the dubitative copulas are epistemic forms used for reduced certainty. They are related to the -ʈo dubitative suffixes for lexical verbs. In the example below, the speaker does not have any direct evidence that Rijan is in the house, but thinks that is where he might be:

rídʑan

Rijan

khím=la

house=DAT

yèʈo

COP.DUB

'Rijan is probably in the house.' (Gawne 2016: 88)

Perceptual

The perceptual, or sensory, evidential is used to mark information acquired through direct sensory evidence, either through sight, one of the other senses, or internal state (such as feeling an ache).

dèla

here

ʈháa

blood

dù

COP.PE

'I see there is some blood here.' (Hari 2010: 60)

Hari calls the perceptual forms mirative, as indicating knowledge through sense often occurs for information recently acquired. Only the dùba form, with the emphatic suffix -pa, appears to indicate some amount of surprise or counter-expectation.

General fact

The general fact form is used for uncontroversial and universally known facts. This verb is used in functions of existence, location, attribution and possession, and is not used in equational structures.

ɲì

2PL.EX

yùl=gi

village=GEN

hé

potato

ɕìmbu

tasty

òŋgen

COP.DUB

'The potatoes of our village are tasty.' (Hari 2010: 52)

The form is òŋgen in Melamchi Valley Yolmo and òŋge in Lamjung Yolmo, demonstrating a link with the non-past tense suffix. The verb itself is from the lexical verb òŋ- 'come'. It cannot be used for facts about the past. This copula is not attested in Standard Tibetan or any other Tibetic language outside of Yolmo.

Lexical verb stems

The Melamchi Valley variety of Yolmo exhibit verb stem alterations in the context of some verb structures.

Verb stems with short front vowels have their vowels lengthened (e.g. /i/→/ii/), short back vowels are fronted and lengthened (e.g. /o/ and /a/→/ee/, /u/→/i/). These changes occur mostly with perfective structures and imperatives. Below are some examples of this alternation using the verb má- 'say':

ŋà

1SG

má-ke

say-NPST

'I say' (Hari 2010: 35)

ŋà

1SG

mée-di

say-PFV

yè

AUX.EGO

'I have said' (Hari 2010: 35)

mée-doŋ

say-IMP

'say it!' (Hari 2010: 35)

When these structures are negated, the negative prefix is lengthened rather than the verb stem, which maintains the vowel change (this does not occur in the imperative).

ŋà

1SG

màa-mé

say-PFV

yè

AUX.EGO

'I have not said' (Hari 2010: 35)

These alterations do not occur in Lamjung Yolmo or Syuba.

Auxiliary verbs

There is a small set of auxiliary verbs in Yolmo. The auxiliary tè- is the same as the lexical verb tè- 'sit' and is used to add imperfective aspect:

mò

she

sà

eat

tè-ku

AUX-IPFV

dù

AUX.PE

'she is eating'

A subset of the copulas can also be used as verbal auxiliaries; yìn, yè, yèken and dù. These contribute evidential information and for yè/yèken also some tense information. As you can see in the example above the dù copula is being used as an auxiliary, so they can co-occur with the other auxiliaries.

Tense

Yolmo has a major tense distinction between past and non-past. These are marked with suffixes on the lexical verb, -sin is the past tense marker and -ke or -ken is the non-past marker.

Past tense

The past tense form is -sin.

ŋà=gi

1SG=ERG

ɕò

yoghurt

úp-sin.

cover-PST

'I covered up the yoghurt.' (Hari 2010: 23)

The past tense form -sin can also occur with the perceptual evidential dú in an auxiliary position. This is not possible with the non-past tense suffix, nor can any other copula be used as an auxiliary with the past tense suffix. Hari suggests this structure is inferential, in that the speaker did not have to witness the event, Gawne describes it as 'narrative past'.

tɕhú-kúla

water channel

tshúr

this.side

gyùr-sin

change-PST

dù

AUX.PE

'I see, the water channel has changed course to this side.' (Hari 2010: 45)

Melamchi Valley Yolmo also has a past tense form -kyo that Hari refers to as the 'main-point past/ telling past’, this form is not found in Lamjung Yolmo.

There is also the form -pa, which Hari says is always used in question structures. In Lamjung Yolmo there are some examples where it is used in declaratives rather than questions, with a past-tense meaning.

ŋà

1SG

tɕhám-pa

dance-PST

'I danced.' (Gawne 2016: 107)

Non-past tense

The non-past tense is used for both present and future constructions. Hari gives the forms -ke and -ken for Melamchi Valley Yolmo, but only -ke is attested in Lamjung Yolmo.

ŋà=la

1SG=DAT

hé

potatoes

kà-en

like-NPST

'I like potatoes.' (Hari 2010: 42)

Hari refers to this form as the 'intentional present' but it can also be used in future constructions:

dì

this

kyée-di

be.born-PERF

ɲì-ti

2PL-EMPH

pèza

child

ɕi

four

ɖò-en

go-NPST

'After this one is born we will have four children.' (Hari 2010: 53)

Aspect

There are a number of verb suffixes that are used to mark aspect, these broadly fall into categories of imperfective and perfective, as well as habitual. When an aspect form is used, a copula verb is also used.

Imperfective

The imperfective is used for events that are ongoing or not complete. The -ku suffix is attested in both Melamchi Valley and Lamjung Yolmo. It can only be used with the dù copula verb.

tìriŋ

today

kháwa là

snow mountains

thóŋ-gu

be.seen-IPFV

dù

AUX.PE

'Today the snow mountains can be seen.' (Hari 2010: 43)

The imperfective form -teraŋ can be used with either the dù or yè copula verb. In Lumjung Yolmo some speakers pronounce it as -tiraŋ. Hari refers to the -teraŋ construction as the 'perfect continuous aspect', because it can be used to refer to something that was ongoing until a particular point, as per this first example:

tànda

now

sámma-ni

until-FOC

ɖìbu

money

tér-teraŋ

give-IPFV

yè

AUX.EGO

'Up to now he has been giving money.' (Hari & Lama 2004: 278)

Gawne describes it as an imperfective, as it does not appear to have this perfect aspect function in Lamjung Yolmo, as per this example:

mò

3SG.F

kòlela

slowly

tè-teraŋ

sit-IPFV

dù

AUX.PE

'She is slowly sitting down.' (Gawne 2016: 109)

The auxiliary verb tè can also be used to mark an imperfective construction. Neither -ku nor -teraŋ are used if the negative prefix is on the main verb. The auxiliary verb can be used in negative constructions, and takes the negative prefix, rather than the main verb. In the example below, the -teraŋ imperfective is used as the negative prefix is on the auxiliary:

ŋà

1SG

lèn-diraŋ

sing-IPFV

mà-tè

NEG.PST-AUX

yè

AUX.EGO

'I was not singing.' (Gawne 2016: 111)

Perfective

The perfective aspect suffix is used for events that can be described as whole, without reference to the duration like the imperfective. The perfective form in Yolmo is -ti.

mèŋgaŋ-la-ni

cooking.shed-LOC-FOC

thóola

above

tɕhám

board

tɕhímbu

large

káp-ti

cover-PFV

yè

AUX.EGO

'The cooking shed was covered with large boards.' (Hari & Lama 2004: 270)

Multiple verbs with perfective aspect can be used together to create a clause chaining structure. It is distinct from the nominal focus suffix -ti.

Habitual

Habitual aspect marks that an event is usual, customary or frequent. There is no specific habitual aspect suffix for Yolmo. Speakers will either use a verb with an infinitive, or with no suffix.

ŋà

1SG

ɲìma

day

ʈàŋmaraŋ

every

khúra

bread

sà

eat

yè

AUX.EGO

'I eat bread every day.' (Gawne 2016: 112)

Mood

Mood is marked in Yolmo with a set of verb suffixes. The main mood suffixes are given in the table below

Imperative

The polite imperative suffix is -toŋ (voiced as -doŋ after voiced codas and some vowels). An overt subject is not used, and the same imperative form is used regardless of person or number:

mée-doŋ!

speak-IMP

'Speak!' (Hari 2010: 46)

The less polite form of the imperative consists of an unmarked verb stem:

mée!

speak.IMP

'Speak!' (Hari 2010: 46)

There are also a small number of irregular imperatives that are formed without the imperative suffix, particularly sò 'eat!', from sà- 'eat'.

If there is an honorific form of the verb it can be used, unmarked, as the most polite form of the imperative:

ɕè

eat.HON

'Please eat' (Hari 2010: 113)

The negative form of the imperative (the prohibitive) uses the mà- form of the negator prefix with the verb stem. The imperative suffix is not included.

mà-má!

NEG-speak

'Don't speak!' (Hari 2010: 46)

Hortative

Gawne notes two verbal suffix forms for the hortative in Lamjung Yolmo, a -ka and a -tɕo.

The -ka form is used with all persons except first person singular.

òraŋ

1PL.INCL

sà-ka

eat-HORT

‘Let's eat!’ (Gawne 2016: 114)

The suffix remains in negated horatitves:

ɲì

1PL.EXCL

mà-tɕhám-ka

NEG-dance-HORT

‘Let's not dance!’ (Gawne 2016: 114)

The -tɕo form is used with first person singular, as well as with other persons. It also remains in negative constructions.

ŋà

1PL.EXCL

khím=ki

house=GEN

lè

work

pè-tɕo

do-HORT

‘Let me do the house work!’ (Gawne 2016: 114)

-tɕo appears to be less strong, and tends to be used more frequently. Hari gives the form as -tɕo (she also calls it an optative, but it appears to be a hortative)

tìriŋ

today

khó

3SG.M

dèla-raŋ

here-EMPH

tè-tɕo

sit-HORT

‘Let him stay here today.’ (Hari & Lama 2004: 174)

Optative

Hari does not list an optative suffix. Gawne gives the optative -ɲi in Lamjung Yolmo.

ŋà

1SG

ɲàl-ɲi

sleep=OPT

tè-ku

AUX-IPFV

dù

AUX.PE

‘I want to sleep.’ (Gawne 2016: 115)

Hari & Lama (2004: 146) list ɲi- as a verb that expresses a 'strong wish’, clearly linking to the Lamjung Yolmo optative form.

Dubitative

Hari describes the dubitative as 'probable future', indicating the sense of decreased certainty that the dubitative mood marks. The forms -ʈo, -ɖo and -ro are found in Melamchi Valley Yolmo as part of the morphophonemic voicing process, but the -ro form is not found in Lamjung Yolmo.

khúŋ-gi

3PL-ERG

sèn

corn.mash

sà-ro

eat-DUB

'they will probably eat corn mash’ (Hari & Lama 2004: 237)

This verb suffix is related to the dubitative form of the copula.

Negation

Negation is marked on lexical verbs by prefix. There are two prefix forms, mè- is for negation in non-past tense (present and future), while mà- is used for past tense, as well as negation of imperatives (mà-tàp! 'don't fall'!).

ŋà

1sg

mè-tàp

NEG.NPST-fill

'I do not/will not fall.' (Hari 2010: 132)

ŋà

1sg

mà-tàp

NEG.PST-fill

'I did not fall.' (Hari 2010: 132)

The negated forms of copulas are slightly irregular. They are listed in the table below in brackets underneath the regular forms:

Verb paradigm

Below are verb paradigms for two verbs, the first is the intransitive verb ŋù 'cry' and the second is the transitive verb sà 'eat'. Both are given mostly with third person subject, although this is not particularly important as subject person does not affect the form of the verb. For both verbs you can see the change in verb stem. For dialect specific variation, click on the link back to each specific form.

Clause structure

This section outlines some of the main features of the structure of clauses in Yolmo.

Nominalisation

Nominalisation is the process by which words undergo a change that allows them to act as nouns. While nominalisation is common process, it is particularly pervasive in Bodic languages, where it can be used for a variety of functions, including the formation of complement clauses and relative clauses. The common Bodic nominaliser -pa productively functions in Yolmo as a suffix that can mark past tense, question structures or emphasis. There are other nominalising forms in Yolmo.

Hari describes a number of nominalisers in Melamchi Valley Yolmo. The first is the nominalising suffix -ka:

dì

this

saudʑi

shopkeeper

kár-ka

weight-NMLZ

yàabu

good

tér-ku

give-IPFV

dù

AUX.PE

‘This shop keeper gives good weight.’ (Hari 2010: 30)

A number of other nominalising suffixes that attach to verbs have more specific functions:

In Lamjung Yolmo the most productive nominaliser is -kandi. None of the others described above have been attested. This form is not attested in Hari's description of Melamchi Valley Yolmo, but is probably related to the -ka form described above.

ŋà=ki

1SG=ERG

ʈìlbu

bell

yúŋ-kandi

ring-NMLZ

thé-ku

hear-IPFV

dù

AUX.PE

‘I hear the ringing of bells.’ (Gawne 2016: 132)

There is also a locative nominaliser -sa, which creates a noun that denotes location:

ŋà

1SG

dzàra

snack

sà-sa=la

eat-NMLZ.LOC=LOC

ɖò-en

go-NPST

‘I want to go to the snack place.’ (Hari 2010: 33)

Adverbials

An adverbial structure modifies the verb in some way.

Temporal adverbial subordination

Temporal adverbs can create subordinated clauses.

sà-kandi

eat-NMLZ

tòŋla

before

ŋà

1SG

làkpa

hand

ʈhú-ke

wash-NPST

‘I wash my hands before eating.’ (Gawne 2016: 130)

Below is the list of temporal adverbs observed in Yolmo to date, some are independent words, and others are verbal suffixes:

Manner adverbs

Manner adverbs create a subordinated clause that expresses the manner of an action. The manner adverb is lèemu (lìmu in Lamjung).

khúŋ

3PL

tábu

house

límu

like

gyùbu

fast

tɕóŋ-ku

run-NMLZ

dù

AUX.PE

‘He runs fast like a horse.’ (Gawne 2016: 129)

The forms tíle and dènmu are also found in Lamjung Yolmo, but not yet attested in other varieties.

Conditional

Conditional constructions are formed through the use of the suffix -na on the verb in the protasis clause (the 'if' clause). Speakers will either use the -na suffix directly on the verb, or leave the verb unmarked at attach the -na suffix to the verb meaning ‘say’ (mée in Melamchi Valley Yolmo, làp in Lamjung Yolmo).

nám

rain

mà-kyàp

NEG.PST-fall

làp-na

say-COND

ŋà

1SG

phíla

outside

ɖò-ke

go-NPST

‘If it doesn't rain I will go outside.’ (Gawne 2016: 130)

Complementation

A complement clause is a clause that functions as an argument of another clause. In Yolmo the embedded complement clause takes the infinitive suffix -tɕe.

ɲì=la

1PL.EXCL=DAT

yìgi

letter

prù-tɕe

write-INF

ʈèmba sàl-toŋ

remember-IMP

‘Remember to write us a letter!’ (Gawne 2016: 134)

The optative mood suffix -ɲi in Yolmo can also be said to be acting as a complementiser.

Relativisation

A relative clause is depended on a main clause. Different relativising strategies are used in the two described varieties of Yolmo. In Melamchi Valley Yolmo the non-past tense form -ken(-gi) is used for non-past constructions, and the past tense form -kyo(-gi) is used for past tense constructions (for each the -gi is optional). Similarly, in Lamjung Yolmo, -ke-ki can be used for non-past relativised clauses and -pa-ki for past relativised clauses. This difference reflects the fact that the past tense form -kyo is not found in Lamjung Yolmo.

òze

that

bèle

time

aʑi=gi

sister=GEN

gòo

head

thóo=la

above=LOC

tɕáŋ-gyo-gi

hang-REL

làawor

mill.stone

phók

INT

táŋ-sin

send-PST

dù

AUX.PE

ló

RS

'At that moment (the monster) swiftly loosened the mill stone which was hanging just above the head of the elder sister.' (Hari 2010: 76)

khyá=ki

2PL=GEN

prù-prù-pa-ki

write-write-REL

yìgi

letter

'The letter that you wrote.' (Gawne 2016: 134)

In Lamjung Yolmo, the nominaliser -kandi can be used to make a relative clause:

khím

house

sáŋma

clean

pè-kandi

do=NMLZ

mì

person

nà-sin

ill-PST

dù

AUX.PE

'The person who cleans the house is ill.' (Gawne 2016: 135)

Clause chaining

The perfective suffix -ti is used to chain clauses together. Multiple verbs with this suffix can be stacked to create a complex series of events.

tɕádzuŋma

bird

tɕíi

one

òŋ-ti

come-PFV

ʈúu-ti

pick.up-PFV

khér-sin

carry.away-PST

'A bird came, picked up (a fish) and took (it) away.' (Gawne 2016: 136)

Question formation

Word order does not change to form questions in Yolmo. Rising intonation at the end of the utterance can indicate it is a question. A set of interrogative pronouns are used for open content questions.

The -pa suffix, which was introduced in the section on past tense is used in question structures.

khé

2SG

tó

rice.cooked

sà-pa

eat-Q

‘Did you eat cooked rice?’ (Gawne 2016: 139)

The reply would be with the regular past tense, and not the -pa suffix:

ŋà

1SG

tó

rice.cooked

sà-sin

eat-PST

‘I ate rice.’ (Gawne 2016: 139)

The copula form used in a question matches the form the question-asked anticipates the question-answerer will use in their answer. That is, if they anticipate the answer will use the perceptual evidential dù, this is the form they will use in asking the question.

Reported speech

Yolmo has two strategies for reporting speech, the first is using the lexical verb má or làp 'say', the second is using the clause final evidential particle ló.

Lexical verb

In Melamchi Valley Yolmo the main lexical verb of saying is má, in Lamjung Yolmo it is làp. Hari and Lama note that làp is found in Melamchi Valley Yolmo, but in restricted use. If the speaker, and the person the speech is directed at are overtly marked, these usually proceed the reported content (although they are frequently not overt in natural speech). The 'say' verb prototypically occurs after the reported content, although if the reported content is quite long the verb may occasionally come before it.

khó-ni

3SG-FOC

níŋdʑi

love

ɕóŋ-gen-gi

feel

pèza-raŋ

child-EMPH

mìmba

COP.NEG.EMPH

áma-gi

mother-ERG

mì

people

pò-la

near-DAT

má-en

say-NPST

'Mother says to people nearby, "He is not a lovable child!"' (Hari & Lama 2004: 383)

The lexical verb 'say' is also used in a number of other constructions, including conditionals.

Reported speech evidential

The reported speech particle also indicates that the speaker is reporting a prior utterance, but has a different focus. The reported speech particle does not account for who the speaker way, but instead primarily serves to focus on the fact the information is reported, and not directly witnessed by the speaker. In the example below from Syuba, it is not made explicit if the report comes from Maila, or another person. The reported speech evidential occurs frequently in narratives.

tíriŋ

today

Maila

Maila

tóm

bear

phré-si

meet-PST

ló

RS

‘Today Maila met a bear.’ (Höhlig 1978: 22)

This is part of the wider evidential system of Yolmo, which is also found in the copula verbs above.

Lexical emphasis

There are two emphatic suffixes that can be used with a number of word classes. This is in contrast to the emphatic form -ti, which is only used with nouns. The first is -ni, and the second is -raŋ, which Hari & Lama note is a frequently used emphatic marker in informal speech. The distinction between all of these forms is unclear, although Hari refers to the -ni form as used for 'moderate focus', so it is perhaps less emphatic for nouns than the -ti suffix.

Clause final particles

Yolmo has a series of sentence final particles that can be used to achieve a range of effects. The table below gives some of the particles in Yolmo and a brief description of their function.

The reported speech marker ló is an evidential form, as it indicates the source of the information as someone else. This structure is described in the section on reported speech.

Honorifics

Yolmo has a subset of honorific vocabulary which is used when talking to, or about, people of higher social status, particularly Buddhist Lamas. Honorific lexicon includes nouns, verbs and adjectives. The table below gives some examples, including the regular word, the honorific form, and the English translation.

The use of honorifics in Syuba and Lamjung Yolmo is not as common, although some speakers still recognise and use these forms.

100 word Swadesh list

Below is a 100 word Swadesh list in Yolmo. The Yolmo forms are taken from Hari and Lama, who note some variation between the Eastern (E) and Western (W) varieties in the Melamchi and Helambu Valley area. Where the form is different in other varieties this is indicated in the right-hand column of the table. This variation shows that the Lamjung variety and Syuba have more in common with each other lexically than they do with the Melamchi Valley variety.

External resources

• Open access digital collection of Anna Marie Hari's cassette recordings of Melamchi Valley Yolmo from the 1970s and 1980s at PARADISEC.
• Digital collection of Lauren Gawne's documentation of Lamjung Yolmo (2009-2016) at PARADISEC (partly open access)
• Three open access collections of Syuba, a dialect closely related to Yolmo, MH1 digitised from 1970s recordings, SUY1 documentation by Lauren Gawne (2009-2016), MTC1 a 2013 BOLD documentation by the Mother Tongue Centre Nepal.

Key references

• Clarke, Graham E. (1980). "A Helambu History". Journal of the Nepal Research Centre. 4: 1–38.
• Clarke, Graham E. (1980). "Lama and Tamang in Yolmo." Tibetan Studies in honor of Hugh Richardson. M. Aris and A. S. S. Kyi (eds). Warminster, Aris and Phillips: 79-86.
• Gawne, Lauren (2011). Lamjung Yolmo-Nepali-English dictionary. Melbourne, Custom Book Centre; The University of Melbourne.
• Gawne, Lauren (2016). A Sketch Grammar of Lamjung Yolmo. Canberra: Asia Pacific Linguistics. hdl:1885/110258. ISBN 9781922185341. OCLC 961180469.
• Hari, Anna Maria & Chhegu Lama (2004). Dictionary Yolhmo-Nepali-English. Kathmandu: Central Department of Linguistics, Tribhuvan University.
• Hari, Anna Maria (2010). Yohlmo Sketch Grammar. Kathmandu: Ekta books.
• Hedlin, Matthew (2011). An Investigation of the relationship between the Kyirong, Yòlmo, and Standard Spoken Tibetan speech varieties. Masters thesis, Payap University, Chiang Mai