George Bedell: Mara is a Kuki-Chin language spoken primarily in the Indian state of Mizoram and in Chin State, Myanmar. It is often called Lakher in the literature. Read more...
by Prof. George Bedell
Mara is a Kuki-Chin language spoken primarily in the Indian state of Mizoram and in Chin State, Myanmar. It is often called Lakher in the literature. Like other Kuki-Chin languages, Mara has a system of agreement between a finite verb and its subject and object. Similar systems in Lai, k'Cho and Mizo have been described in Bedell (1995), (2000) and (2001). In this discussion, we outline the system in Mara, and compare it with the others, particular with Mizo. The two languages are closely related, but show some striking variations on the common theme.
The categories relevant to agreement are person (first, second and third; abbreviated 1, 2 and 3) and number (singular and plural, abbreviated s and pl). The Mara pronouns which correlate with these categories are the six in (i).
(i) s pl
1 keima 'I' keimo 'we'
2 nama 'you' namo 'you'
3 ama 'he/she/it' amo 'they'
The subject agreement particles (or affixes) in Mara are as illustrated in (ii) for intransitive verbs (and also for transitive verbs with third person singular objects).
(ii) s pl
1 eisie 'I go' eimasie 'we go'
2 nasie 'you go' namasie 'you go'
3 asie 'he/she/it goes' amasie 'they go'
The forms given in (i) and (ii) are quite similar to the corresponding Mizo forms. Object agreement in Mara is illustrated in (iii) to (vi)..
(iii) eichatyh 'I meet you (sing)'
eichatyh ei 'I meet you (pl)'
(iv) einatyh chi 'you meet me'
mania natyh 'you meet us'
(v) einatyh 'he/she meets me'
mania atyh 'he/she meets us'
(vi) achatyh 'he/she meets you'
achatyh ei 'he/she meets you'
Third person objects have no overt agreement markers. The interesting forms are those with first person object agreement. First person singular eina causes second person subject agreement to be marked in a way different from other forms, and first person plural mania does not use the general object plural agreement marker ei.
References:
1. R. A. Lorrain, Grammar and Dictionary of the Lakher or Mara Language, Gauhati: Government of Assam, 1951.
2. G. Bedell, 'Agreement in Lai', Papers from the Fifth Annual Meeting of the Southeast Asian Linguistics Society 1995, pp. 21-32.
3. G. Bedell, 'Agreement in k 'Cho', presented to ICSTLL 33, Bangkok, 2000.
4. G. Bedell, ‘Agreement in Mizo, Papers from the Eleventh Annual Meeting of the Southeast Asian Linguistics Society 2001, pp. 51-70.
Written by : Prof. George Bedell
Your piece of presentation is incredible.
May I know whether we have a complete phonology or linguistic survey done in Mara/Lakher?
Is there Mara grammatical analysis?
If so, can it be accessible and how?
If not yet, is there any ongoing project?
By sincere seeker,
Isaac Lai