Verbal groups in Manchu: a systemic functional account

Abstract

This paper investigates the functional grammar of the Manchu language with a principal focus on verbal groups, based on a folktale in Manchu Veritable Records. The verbal group is positioned as the final structural element of a Manchu clause, involved in creating experiential (event, tense, voice), interpersonal (mood, polarity) and logical (clause and verbal group complexing) functions. Some of the functions are performed at group rank by auxiliaries, some at word rank by suffixation on the event verb. The descriptive account also includes the verbal groups’ involvement in embedding. To facilitate descriptions, system networks are drawn up at various stages to capture the paradigmatic oppositions and interdependencies among different systems. Listed as one of the ‘critically endangered’ languages by UNESCO, the Manchu language has not yet been described, recorded or analyzed from the systemic functional perspective. Within the theoretical framework of systemic functional grammar, this paper attempts to account for one particular aspect of Manchu grammar, in a bid to expand the appliability of Systemic Functional Linguistics and make it contribute effectively to the description and preservation of endangered languages.