The uses of "to be" verbs in everyday conversation in Dzongkha

What is it about?

This paper describes seven of the "to be" verbs in Dzongkha, the national language of Bhutan. It analyzes where they occur in ordinary conversations, and what their uses are, especially in the context of questions and answers. The paper also explores how conversational analysis shows a set of functions that is different from what is described in closely related Tibetic languages. Several of the Dzongkha "to be" verbs can be divided into pairs that refer to 'old' and 'new' knowledge. Speakers use this distinction, for example, to refer to things that they know a lot about, and things that are a bit of a surprise to them. However, this distinction between old and new knowledge need not be employed objectively. The paper shows that the way these verbs get used depends, in part, on the social goals of the interlocutors in the conversation. Verbs that convey old knowledge can be used in more argumentative conversations where the speaker is making strong assertions. Verbs that convey new knowledge can be used when the speaker is trying to be polite (even if the knowledge being conveyed is objectively well known, and as such is ‘old’ knowledge). In the environment of questions and answers, the uses of the "to be" verbs are dependent, in part, on the perceived, or projected knowledge relationship between the interlocutors, and how much they think their fellow interlocutor knows about the topic at hand, and how much of a shared immediate context they share. The distinctions between 'old' and 'new' knowledge, then, help interlocutors negotiate how they want to relate to one another, whether being a bit more bossy, laid back, or just uncertain. The paper looks at seven of the "to be" verbs in Dzongkha, but shows that these are only half of the inventory, and that there are also other "to be" verbs that have emerged from the grammar. Although every language has unique linguistic strategies for negotiating interactions with fellow interlocutors, the complexity of the many "to be" verbs show a particularly rich set of interactional strategies that can emerge from this linguistic system.

Featured Image

Photo by Pema Gyamtsho on Unsplash

Photo by Pema Gyamtsho on Unsplash

Why is it important?

Analyzing the "to be" verbs in Dzongkha through conversational analysis gives a valuable window into better understanding what to call them, i.e., what linguistic label to give them. Many of the languages that belong to the Tibetic family (of which Dzongkha is one) have what has been described as a contrast between "self" and "other-centered", i.e., me and everyone else. However, the conversational analysis in this paper shows that one part of the system in Dzongkha does not fit into this categorization as well as it might; the analysis in this paper shows that the contrast in the basic "to be" verbs patterns more after languages that mark an "old" and "new" contrast. This shows that there is still a way to go in giving an accurate typology of this part of the Tibetic languages. The paper also demonstrates the importance of using natural conversational data to do linguistic research. While made-up example sentences and texts from a single person telling a story have their place in linguistic description, the interaction between two interlocutors, in fact, gives a much richer corpus of linguistic and interactional phenomenon. Many linguistic insights are best understood by observing how speakers use language in ordinary conversation.

Perspectives