Abstract
This thesis analyzes primary tense, aspect, and modal (TAM) distinctions in the Zhuokeji rGyalrong verb, on the basis of fresh fieldwork data. The proposed analysis of TAM inflections in Zhuokeji are claimed to be superior to existing work on the same dialect partly by its emphasis on more fine-tuned phonological treatments of the relevant verb forms, and partly by its integration of methodological insights from recent theoretical work on TAM linguistics, in particular Osten Dahl's prototypical approach to TAM forms and functions, as well as Carlota Smith's two-component approach to situational and viewpoint aspects. On the phonological front, a proper recognition of ablauting variations and interactions between tone and pitch-accent allows the author to correctly identify two distinct verb stems, the alternation of which turns out to go hand in hand with prefixation and construction-specific accentual patterns as the most important formal devices for differentiating the TAM verb forms at issue. On the grammatical front, verbal prefixes denoting spatial orientation constitute a focal area in this work since they are intimately connected to TAM morphology, particularly with regard to Perfective formations. Topics covered in the respect include semantic dimensions and grammatical status of these 'bounder prefixes' as well as their collocational relations with the verb stems which they serve to perfectivize. Thus, Zhuokeji is demonstrated to encode a widely attested aspectual opposition between Perfective and Imperfective and, in addition, an absolute tense distinction between Present Imperfective and Past Imperfective, with the Perfectives usually carrying past-time reference. Four modal categories are also discovered to be operative in the language: Indirect Evidential, Imperative, Irrealis, and Observational, the latter being a unique category, uncovered for the first time in rGyalrongic, and perhaps in all Tibeto-Burman languages.