Lamjung Yolmo copulas in use: evidentiality, reported speech and questions

Abstract

Lamjung Yolmo is an endangered dialect of the Tibeto-Burman Yolmo language, spoken in Nepal. In this thesis I focus on three grammatical features of Lamjung Yolmo: The encoding of modality on copula verbs, question structures and reported speech structures. I explore the grammatical structure of these features and focus on their function from the perspective of social cognition. Social cognition recognises that human language is deeply embedded in interaction, and that this interaction is situated within a larger interpersonal and cultural context. In chapter 5 I give an introduction to the theoretical perspectives on the grammatical constructions..