LANGUAGE IN INDIA

Strength for Today and Bright Hope for Tomorrow

Volume 11 : 8 August 2011
ISSN 1930-2940

Managing Editor: M. S. Thirumalai, Ph.D.
Editors: B. Mallikarjun, Ph.D.
         Sam Mohanlal, Ph.D.
         B. A. Sharada, Ph.D.
         A. R. Fatihi, Ph.D.
         Lakhan Gusain, Ph.D.
         Jennifer Marie Bayer, Ph.D.
         S. M. Ravichandran, Ph.D.
         G. Baskaran, Ph.D.
         L. Ramamoorthy, Ph.D.

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Describing and Explaining Lai

George Bedell, Ph. D.

Most papers on Lai grammar (like those listed at the end of this discussion) are attempts to describe and explain its syntax and morphology using the concepts and techniques of modern linguistics. Regardless of how successful those papers may be, they assume familiarity with linguistics, and are difficult to follow without such background.

The present discussion has both different aims and a different audience. Rather than trying to analyze Lai for linguists, it tries to introduce linguistic analysis to Lai speakers. My other papers address mainly those aspects of Lai which (I think) I understand. This paper mentions also aspects of Lai which I do not understand, in part to illustrate the complexity of the language, but also to solicit the efforts of Lai speakers in extending our understanding together.

This paper was prepared for the 2nd Lai Linguistics Workshop, held in at the Lai Baptist Church in Yangon, November 1997, and a Lai translation ('Laiholh a Tawinak i Fianternak') appeared in in Muko Magazine (Special Centenary Issue 1998), pp. 146-57. I am grateful to Rev. Samuel Ngun Ling, Rev. Thang Hlun and Saya Trial Peng for sharing their knowledge of Lai with me, and to everyone who attended the workshop for their interest and reac-tions.

This is only the beginning part of the article. PLEASE CLICK HERE TO READ THE ARTICLE IN PRINTER-FRIENDLY VERSION.

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