The deep syntax of Lisu sentences : a transformational case grammar

Abstract

This thesis is based on some fourteen years of study of the Lisu language, nine and a half of which were spent on the field . During this time I have, to a reasonable extent, acquired native-speaker intuitions about the language, and this thesis is largely an attempt to explain these intuitions . I have in most cases used my own judgement in deciding whether sentences are grammatical or not, but where I have been uncertain, or where a point I have wished to make hinges on examples which are not self-evident in this respect, I have accepted the judgement of my Lisu friends.