Woodbury, Anthony C.2011-02-102011-02-102017-05-112011-02-102011-02-102017-05-112010-12December 2http://hdl.handle.net/2152/ETD-UT-2010-12-2643textThis dissertation is a descriptive grammar of Yongning Na (Mosuo), a Tibeto-Burman language spoken in southwestern China. The theoretical approaches taken are functional syntax and the discourse-based approach to language description and documentation. The aim of this dissertation is to describe the ways that the language's features and subsystems intersect to make Na a unique entity: analyticity; zero anaphora; OV word order; topic/comment information structure; a five-part evidential system; a conjunct/disjunct-like system that intersects with evidentiality and verbal semantics; prolific grammaticalization; overlap between nominalization and relativization and associated structures; representation of time through aspect, Aktionsarten, adverbials, and discourse context; and the Daba shamanic register.application/pdfengLanguage descriptionLanguage documentationTibeto-BurmanNaMosuoNaxiNakhiDabaismYongning NaDescriptive grammarSociolinguisticsIndigenous languageEndangered languagesthesis2011-02-10