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Carol Genetti
Professor of Linguistics


Arts and Humanities

NYU Abu Dhabi

PO Box 129188
Saadiyat Island
Abu Dhabi
United Arab Emirates



The Tapestry of Dolakha Newar: Chaining, Embedding, and the Complexity of Sentences


Journal article


Carol Genetti
Linguistic Typology, vol. 15(1), 2011, pp. 5-24

DOI: 10.1515/lity.2011.002

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APA   Click to copy
Genetti, C. (2011). The Tapestry of Dolakha Newar: Chaining, Embedding, and the Complexity of Sentences. Linguistic Typology, 15(1), 5–24. https://doi.org/ 10.1515/lity.2011.002


Chicago/Turabian   Click to copy
Genetti, Carol. “The Tapestry of Dolakha Newar: Chaining, Embedding, and the Complexity of Sentences.” Linguistic Typology 15, no. 1 (2011): 5–24.


MLA   Click to copy
Genetti, Carol. “The Tapestry of Dolakha Newar: Chaining, Embedding, and the Complexity of Sentences.” Linguistic Typology, vol. 15, no. 1, 2011, pp. 5–24, doi: 10.1515/lity.2011.002.


BibTeX   Click to copy

@article{carol2011a,
  title = {The Tapestry of Dolakha Newar: Chaining, Embedding, and the Complexity of Sentences},
  year = {2011},
  issue = {1},
  journal = {Linguistic Typology},
  pages = {5-24},
  volume = {15},
  doi = { 10.1515/lity.2011.002},
  author = {Genetti, Carol}
}

ABSTRACT

In Dolakha Newar the boundaries of syntactic sentences are clearly demarcated.  However, each tightly-bounded sentence has the potential for infinite expansion and structural complexity. This results from the recursive interaction  of two basic combinatorial structures: chaining and embedding. While these structures are basic to many of the world’s languages, in Dolakha Newar speakers combine them freely and frequently to spontaneously create sentences of remarkable intricacy. Additional structural nuance is provided by the chaining of constituents at levels below the clause and the sharing of core arguments. The result is a syntactic fabric of depth and complexity.


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