A Nostalgic Small Piece Of Zolai Grammar

Tedim Zolai Gelhmaan

By Taang Zomi

A Nostalgic Small Piece of Zolai Grammar By Taang Zomi Today (19 APR 08 SAT), I looked for and found a brief piece of writing on Tedim Zolai grammar, which I wrote way back in 1996 (some twelve years ago). In 1996, I began a newsletter-cum-mailing list, called The TBC (The Thang Bawi Communique, http://web.archive.org/web/19991011083218/private.fuller.edu/~pthang/tbc1.html), which was a precursor of Zomi International Network (http://groups.yahoo.com/group/zomi) and other yahoogroups and googlegroups. In March 1996, I began the first-ever Zomi websiste (The Thang Bawi Home Page, http://private.fuller.edu/~pthang). This webpage is no longer valid, but most – but not all – of it is archived here: http://web.archive.org/web/19991010190932/private.fuller.edu/~pthang/ During 1996, Thuah Aung (Wilfred Bening), a famous singer and computer software programmer, also had his webpage (Rammawi Home Page, http://adams.patriot.net/~premil/rammawi.html), which was the third or fourth webpage after mine. He sent us a list of sentences in English to be translated into Tedim, Falam, Hakha, Matu, Mara, Cho, etc. He translated it into Falam. I translated it into Tedim. He put our translations on his webpage. Today, I looked for his webpage, and found out that the webpage no longer existed. I looked for the webpage on the Internet Archive (http://www.archive.org), but it was not there. I remember that Dr. Vum Son put my translation on his webpage (Information Central for topics related to Zo Re-unification and Democracy and Federalism in Burma, Saturday, April 19, 2008

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Tedim Zolai Gelhmaan

By Taang Zomi

http://home.us.net/~suantak). When I tried to go there, I found out that the webpage was no longer in existence. I went to the Internet Archive, and fortunately the archive of the webpage is still there: http://web.archive.org/web/20031008112250/home.us.net/~suantak/ Fortunately, my translation is still there: http://web.archive.org/web/20031029234540/home.us.net/~suantak/l_tedim.htm In 1995-1996, I used Eudora Light 1.x for Macintosh (see http://www.eudora.com) as my main POP3 email client, which was plain text only (that is, it did not have RTF or HTML format). At that time web-based email (such as Hotmail or Yahoo Mail) was un-heard of. I used Monaco (fixed, monospaced font) 9 points when I wanted to write columnar tables, and Palatino (proportional font) 12 points when I wrote academic papers. (I used Micosoft Word 5.1 for formal writing.) Now that I use Windows operating system, I use Outlook Express 6 (both plain text and HTML) as one of my POP3 email clients. For tabulation, I use Courier New (fixed, monospaced font) 10 points in place of Monaco, and for academic papers, I use Times New Roman 12 points in place of Palatino. (Actually, I now use OpenOffice.org Writer 2.4 to create tables.) There have been lots of changes within 12 years! With a deep feeling of nostalgia, I hereby reproduce my small piece of writing on Tedim Zolai grammar. We Zomis have not yet had a good, reliable grammar book. We are still in the process of developing grammar and a grammar book. I look forward to comments from my readers.

Saturday, April 19, 2008

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Tedim Zolai Gelhmaan

By Taang Zomi

http://web.archive.org/web/20031029234540/home.us.net/~suantak/l_tedim.htm

Tedim ENGLISH ================================

Tedim =================================

How are you? I'm fine.

Dam maw? Dam mah.

Have you had your dinner (meal)? Yes I have

Nitaak-an (An) ne khin maw? He, ne khin.

What's up?

Bang thu om a hia?

What are you up to? Nothing much.

Bang seem na hia? Bangmah seem khol ke'ng ee.

Where are you going? To "Van kau tlang"

Koi-ah pai na hia? "Vankau Mual"-ah.

It's too hot

Sa lua si.

Let's go to Church

Kikhawm ve ni ee.

It's very delicious

Lim mahmah si.

Give me that (something)

(Tua) hong pia ve.

Saturday, April 19, 2008

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Tedim Zolai Gelhmaan

By Taang Zomi

Glossary: ======== dam*1

= (adjective

or verb) healthy; be healthy

maw; hia; hiam

= end particle used to show that the sentence is a question

mah

= affirmative particle

nitaak-an

= (noun) dinner

an

= (noun) food, meal

ne

= (verb) eat

khin

= (verb to be) present/past perfect tense (adverb of frequency) already

he

= (adverb of affirmation) yes

bang

= (interrogative pronoun or interrogative determiner) what

thu

= (noun) news; event; word; case; matter

om

= (verb) exist; be

a*2

= copulative particle used to refer to third person singular pronoun (amah)

na*2

= copulative particle used to refer to second person singular pronoun (nang; nangmah)

bangmah

= negative particle

seem

= (verb) work; do

khol

= (adverb of degree in a negative sense) not much

ke'ng

= short for "kei ing"

kei

= (adverb) not

ing*3

= end particle for first person singular

ee

= cosmetic end particle used to enhance the beauty of the sentence

koi-ah

= (adverb) whither; to where

ah*4

= (postposition) to

mual

= (noun) hill; hillock; mount; mountain

sa*1

= (adjective/verb) hot; be hot

lua

= (adverb) too; excessively

si

= end particle

kikhawm

= verb) worship (at church, etc.) (literally) be gathered

ve

= cosmetic particle (to enhance the beauty of the sentence)

Saturday, April 19, 2008

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Tedim Zolai Gelhmaan

By Taang Zomi

ni

= (imperative or hortative mood of verb) let us

lim*1

= (adjective/verb) delicious; be delicious

mahmah

= (adverb of degree) very

tua

= (demonstrative pronoun; demonstrative adjective) that

hong*5

= adverbial particle used to refer to direction inward

pia

= (verb) give

_________________________________________________ Footnote *1 What is regarded as an adjective in English grammar can be regarded as a verb in Burmese, Zomi (Laimi) and Hebrew grammar. Look at the following sentences:

(1) Amah hau (2) A

hau

hi. mi

suak nuam

(He is rich.) ing. (I want to become a rich person.)

In the first sentence, "hau" (=be rich) is a verb in Zomi (Laimi) and Burmese grammar. [In Burmese, the sentence reads: "Thu chantha thi."] But in English, "rich" is a predicative adjective (an adjective used predicatively). In the second sentence, "a hau mi" means "a rich person". [In Burmese, it is: "chantha thaw thu".] Here "hau" is an attributive adjective (an adjective used attributively). In this case, Zomi (Laimi), Burmese and English grammars have the same opinion. Footnote *2 There are three such copulas, viz., "ka", "na" at the follwing sentences:

(1)

Kei

ka

pai

hi.

(I go.)

(2)

Nang

na

pai

hi.

(You go.)

(3)

Amah

a

pai

hi.

(He goes.)

and "a". Look

"Ka" is the pronominal copula joining the subject "kei" (first person singular pronoun) and the verb "pai". "Hi" is the end particle used to signify that the sentence comes to an end. "Na" is the the pronominal copula joing the subject "nang" (second person singular pronoun) and the verb "pai".

Saturday, April 19, 2008

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Tedim Zolai Gelhmaan

By Taang Zomi

"A" is the pronominal copula joining the subject "amah" (third person singular pronoun) and the verb "pai". Footnote *3 When we want to omit a pronominal copula, such as "ka" or "na", we replace the end particle "hi" with the pronominal particle concerned. Look at the following sentences:

(1) Kei

ka

Kei (2) Nang

hi.

pai na

Nang (3) Amah

pai

pai

ing. hi.

pai a

Amah

teh.

pai

hi.

pai

hi.

In the first sentence, we omit the pronominal copula "ka" and the end particle "hi". In place of "hi" we put the prominal end particle for first person singular "ing". In the second sentence, we omit the pronominal copula "na" and the end particle "hi". In place of "hi" we put the pronominal end particle for the second person singular "teh". In the third sentence, we omit the pronominal copula "a". But we do not omit the end particle "hi" because there is no separate pronominal end particle for the third person singular to replace "hi". Footnote *4 In English, the preposition (pre-position) is one of the eight parts of speech. The word that is put before (=pre) a noun or a noun equivalent is called a preposition. Look at the following sentence: (1) Tedim-ah va pai in. (Go to Tedim.) (1)

Tedim- ah

va

pai

in.

(Go to Tedim.)

Here, in the sentence in English, the word "to" is put _before_ a noun (Tedim). Therefore "to" is a preposition. But in Zomi (Laimi) and Burmese grammar, "ah" ("to" in English) is put _after_ (=post) a noun (Tedim) or noun equivalent. Therefore we should call

Saturday, April 19, 2008

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Tedim Zolai Gelhmaan

By Taang Zomi

it "postposition" (post-position) instead of "preposition". I think Japanese grammar is the same as ours in this case. Footnote *5 There are two adverbial particles used to refer to direction of movement, viz., "hong" and "va". Look at the following sentences:

(1)

Hong

pai

in.

(Come here.)

(2)

Va

pai

in.

(Go there.)

In the first sentence, the vocative of address is omitted. The sentence is the same as the following:

(1)

(Nang) hong

pai

in.

[(You) come here.]

"Hong" is used to refer to direction inward, or to a destination directed toward the person speaking. In the second sentence also, the vocative of address is omitted. The sentence is the same as the following:

(2)

(Nang) va

pai

in.

[(You) go there.]

"Va" is used to refer to direction outward, or to a destination directed away from the person speaking.

Our special thank goes to Rev. Pau Cin Thang for his contribution of Tedim dialect.

Back to Dialect Back to Rammawi

Saturday, April 19, 2008

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