Switch-reference in the Ye shes rgyas pa'i mdo

Bibliographic Data

ID12563340
AuthorsZack Beer (University of California, Berkeley, corresponding author)
Year2019
Volume29
Issue2
Pages249-256
Publication date2019-03-27
Open AccessYes
TypeARTICLE
VenueJournal of the Royal Asiatic Society (JOURNAL)
Journal identifiersISSN: 1356-1863 • E-ISSN: 1474-0591
PublisherCambridge University Press (CUP) (PUBLISHER)
DOI10.1017/s1356186318000731
OpenAlexW2922681617
LanguageEN
Citations received2
References cited3

This paper seeks to contribute to understanding of the dynamics of reference relation and subordination in Tibetan grammar. As a way of shedding light on this complex topic, it examines a translated sūtra, the Ye shes rgyas pa'i mdo , which contains numerous stories relating interactions and conversations between a variety of characters. A close reading of several representative passages of this text reveals some of the systematic structures of subordination. Despite not being outlined as a principle in traditional Tibetan grammars, subordination is seen here to be clearly reinforced by, and at times entirely encoded in, the use of the converb –nas to express coreference, and in the verbal noun and converb structures – pa dang and - pa las to connote cross-reference. The paper thus aims to show how attention to the functioning of subordinating structures serves the reader in the interpretation of complex passages where such structures at times provide the only key to the attribution of agency

Agency (philosophy · Combinatorics · Coreference · Epistemology · Grammar · Interpretation (philosophy · Linguistics · Noun · Resolution (logic · Sociology · Subordination (linguistics · Transitive relation · Variety (cybernetics · China's Ethnic Minorities and Relations · Computer Science · Indian and Buddhist Studies · Mathematics · Multilingual Education and Policy · Philosophy · Artificial Intelligence

Tools

Open DOISci-Hub