Verbal valence in Shigatse Tibetan and Themchen Tibetan

Abstract

In the course of the present study, verbal valence in two Tibetan dialects is discussed, basing the investigation on materials of more than 600 main verbs for each dialect. The verbs are classified according to the category of control, the case marking of the arguments taken by the verbs, and the semantic roles expressed by the arguments. The six classes of verbs obtained in conformity with these criteria are further divided into two groups: those which occur with certain additional arguments, and those which do not. The classes of verbs constituting the former group, in combination with these additional arguments, display some rarely-described verbal valence patterns.