A Grammar of Mangghuer

This book is a grammar of Mangghuer, a Mongolic language spoken by approximately 25,000 people in China's northwestern Qinghai Province. Mangghuer is virtually unknown outside China, and no grammar of Mangghuer has ever been published in any language. The book's primary importance is thus as a systematic grammatical description of a little-known language. The book also makes a significant contribution to comparative Mongolic studies. In addition to the synchronic description of Mangghuer, extensive comparison with other Mongolic languages is included, demonstrating the genetic relationship of Mangghuer within that family. In the course of describing Mangghuer linguistic structures, the book also examines issues of interest to linguistic typologists.

Acknowledgements Abbreviations and Symbols List of Tables 1. Background 2. Phonology 3. Nouns and Noun Phrases 4. The Clause 5. The Subjective / Objective Speaker Involvement Distinction 6. Clause Combining 7. Reported Speech in Folktale Narratives 8. Language Contact: Summary and Implications Appendix Notes References Index