MA Hunter Brown

Research Profile

My research is centered around the South-Central Trans-Himalayan (formerly “Kuki-Chin”) languages of the Indo-Bangla-Burmese borderlands. Thematically speaking, I am most interested in methods for the historical analysis of morphosyntax, as well as in grammatical semantics and language documentation/description. Although I am first and foremost a Trans-Himalayanist, I am also highly interested in Indigenous languages of the Americas, and have previously conducted or contributed to research on the Tucanoan, Enlhet-Enenlhet and Iroquoian families.

PhD Project

The goal of my thesis work will be to develop a descriptive reference grammar of Ranglong, a Trans-Himalayan language spoken by around 8,000 people in the Northeast Indian states of Tripura, Assam and Mizoram. Ranglong exhibits a number of typologically interesting features, including pragmatically-conditioned case marking of core arguments, productive noun incorporation and complex tonological patterning. In addition to providing a synchronic description of Ranglong phonology, tonology and morphosyntax, the grammar will pay special attention to selected topics in the diachrony of the language. It is hoped that the final product will prove a useful resource for the Ranglong-speaking community, as well as for future typological and historical-comparative work. As to the latter, much regarding the development and phylogeny/subgrouping of the South-Central Trans-Himalayan family remains poorly understood, as many of the contemporary languages are as yet un- or under-described; so, descriptive work on these languages currently represents a crucial step in furthering our understanding of linguistic prehistory in the Eastern Himalayan region.