Ebook: The structure of the Tangut verb

Journal of Chinese Linguistics, 2011, 39 (2), pp. 419-443.The present paper is an attempt at analyzing the verbal morphology of Tangut from the point of view of both Tangut texts and modern Qiangic languages, its closest living relatives. Modern Qiangic languages, especially Rgyalrong, have a very strict verbal template. In this article, we propose that Tangut also had a verbal template, which was probably the result of independent grammaticalization rather than a shared inheritance with Rgyalrong. Then, we discuss apparent counterexamples to the proposed template and argue that other explanations are possible to account for them. Finally, we demonstrate the (previously unnoticed) existence of verbal incorporation in Tangut.