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Burmo-Qiangic languages

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Burmo-Qiangic
Eastern Tibeto-Burman
(proposed)
Geographic
distribution		China,Burma
Linguistic classificationSino-Tibetan
Subdivisions
Language codes
Glottologburm1265

TheBurmo-QiangicorEastern Tibeto-Burmanlanguages are a proposed family ofSino-Tibetan languagesspoken inSouthwest ChinaandMyanmar.It consists of theLolo-BurmeseandQiangicbranches, including the extinctTangut language.

Classification

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Guillaume Jacques&Alexis Michaud(2011)[1]argue for aBurmo-Qiangicbranch ofSino-Tibetan(Tibeto-Burman) with two primary subbranches,Qiangicand Lolo-Burmese. Similarly,David Bradley(2008)[2]proposes anEastern Tibeto-Burmanbranch that includes Burmic (a.k.a.Lolo-Burmese) and Qiangic. Bradley notes that Lolo-Burmese and Qiangic share some unique lexical items, even though they are morphologically quite different; whereas all Lolo-Burmese languages are tonal and analytical, Qiangic languages are often non-tonal and possessagglutinativemorphology. However the position ofNaicis unclear, as it has been grouped as Lolo-Burmese by Lama (2012), but as Qiangic by Jacques & Michaud (2011) and Bradley (2008).

Sun (1988) also proposed a similar classification that grouped Qiangic and Lolo-Burmese together.

Jacques' & Michaud's (2011) proposed tree is as follows.

Burmo‑Qiangic

Bradley's (2008) proposal is as follows. Note that Bradley calls Lolo-BurmeseBurmic,which is not to be confused withBurmish,and calls LoloishNgwi.

Eastern Tibeto‑Burman

However, Chirkova (2012)[3]doubts thatQiangicis a valid genetic unit, and considersErsu,Shixing,Namuyi,andPumiall as separate Tibeto-Burman branches that are part of a QiangicSprachbund,rather than as part of a coherentQiangicphylogenetic branch. This issue has also been further discussed by Yu (2012).[4]

Lee &Sagart(2008)[5]argue that Bai is a Tibeto-Burman language that has borrowed very heavily from Old Chinese. Lee & Sagart (2008) note that word relating to rice and pig agriculture tend to be non-Chinese, and that the genetic non-Chinese layer of Bai shows similarities withProto-Loloish.

Branches

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Yu (2012:206–207)[4]lists the following well-established coherent branches (including individual languages, initalicsbelow) that could likely all fit into a wider Burmo-Qiangic group, in geographical order from north to south.

  1. (Baima) [possible Burmo-Qiangicsubstratum][6]
  2. Qiang
  3. rGyalrong
  4. Lavrung
  5. Ergong
  6. Choyo
  7. nDrapa
  8. Guiqiong
  9. Minyak
  10. Ersuic
  11. Namuyi
  12. Shixing
  13. Naish
  14. Prinmi
  15. Lolo-Burmese
  16. (Bai) [possible Burmo-Qiangicsubstratum][7]

Additionally,Tangut,now extinct, is generally classified as a Qiangic language.

Yu (2012:215–218)[4]notes thatErsuicandNaiclanguages could possibly group together, since they share many features with each other that are not found in Lolo-Burmese or other Qiangic groups.

Proto-languagereconstructions for some of these branches include:

Lexical evidence

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Jacques & Michaud (2011)[1][11]list the following lexical items as likely Burmo-Qiangiclexical innovations.

Gloss rGyalrong Tangut Na Proto-Naish Burmese Achang Hani
copula ŋu ŋwu2 ŋi˩˧ ? hnang2 – ŋɯ˧˩
star ʑŋgri gjịj1 kɯ˥ *kri kray2 khʐə˥ a˧˩gɯ˥
forget jmɯt mjɨ̣2 mv̩.phæL+MH *mi me1 ɲi˧˥ ɲi˥
be ill ngo < *ngaŋ ŋo2 gu˩ *go
flint ʁdɯrtsa – tse.miH *tsa
to hide nɤtsɯ – tsɯ˥ (Naxi) *tsu
to swallow mqlaʁ – ʁv̩˥ *NqU < *Nqak
dry spɯ - pv̩˧ *Spu
thick jaʁ laa1 lo˧˥ *laC2
jump mtsaʁ – tsho˧ *tshaC2
winter qartsɯ tsur1 tshi˥ *tshu choŋ3 tɕhɔŋ˧˩ tshɔ˧˩ga̱˧
knee tə-mŋɑ (Situ) ŋwer2 ŋwɤ.koH *ŋwa
sun ʁmbɣi be2 bi˧ (Naxi) *bi

See also

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References

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  1. ^abcJacques, Guillaume, and Alexis Michaud. 2011. "Approaching the historical phonology of three highly eroded Sino-Tibetan languages."Diachronica28:468–498.
  2. ^Bradley, David. 2008.The Position of Namuyi in Tibeto-Burman.Paper presented at Workshop on Namuyi, Academia Sinica, Taiwan, 2008.
  3. ^Chirkova, Katia (2012). "The Qiangic Subgroup from an Areal Perspective: A Case Study of Languages of Muli."InLanguages and Linguistics13(1):133–170. Taipei: Academia Sinica.Archived2015-02-03 at theWayback Machine
  4. ^abcdYu, Dominic. 2012.Proto-Ersuic.Ph.D. dissertation. Berkeley: University of California, Berkeley, Department of Linguistics.
  5. ^Lee, Y.-J., & Sagart, L. (2008).No limits to borrowing: The case of Bai and Chinese.Diachronica, 25(3), 357–385.
  6. ^Chirkova, Ekaterina. 2008. On the Position of Baima within Tibetan: A Look from Basic Vocabulary. Alexander Lubotsky, Jos Schaeken and Jeroen Wiedenhof. Rodopi, pp.23, 2008, Evidence and counter-evidence: Festschrift F. Kortlandt. <halshs-00104311>
  7. ^Gong Xun (2015).How Old is the Chinese in Bái? Reexamining Sino-Bái under the Baxter-Sagart reconstructionArchived2021-03-05 at theWayback Machine.Paper presented at the Recent Advances in Old Chinese Historical Phonology workshop, SOAS, London.
  8. ^abSims, Nathaniel. 2017.The suprasegmental phonology of proto-Rma (Qiang) in comparative perspective.Presented at the 50th International Conference on Sino-Tibetan Languages and Linguistics, Beijing, China.
  9. ^Matisoff, James A.(2003),Handbook of Proto-Tibeto-Burman: System and Philosophy of Sino-Tibetan Reconstruction,Berkeley:University of California Press,ISBN978-0-520-09843-5.
  10. ^*Wang, Feng (2006).Comparison of languages in contact: the distillation method and the case of Bai.Language and Linguistics Monograph Series B: Frontiers in Linguistics III. Taipei: Institute of Linguistics, Academia Sinica.ISBN986-00-5228-X.Archived fromthe originalon 2021-07-30.Retrieved2018-06-03.
  11. ^Jacques & Michaud (2011), appendix p.7
  • Bradley, David. 1997. "Tibeto-Burman languages and classification". In D. Bradley (Ed.),Tibeto-Burman languages of the Himalayas(Papers in South East Asian linguisticsNo. 14) pp. 1–71, Canberra: Pacific Linguistics.ISBN978-0-85883-456-9.
  • Bradley, David. 2008.The Position of Namuyi in Tibeto-Burman.Paper presented at Workshop on Namuyi, Academia Sinica, Taiwan, 2008.
  • Jacques, Guillaume, and Alexis Michaud. 2011. "Approaching the historical phonology of three highly eroded Sino-Tibetan languages."Diachronica28:468–498.
  • Lama, Ziwo Qiu-Fuyuan (2012),Subgrouping of Nisoic (Yi) Languages,thesis, University of Texas at Arlington (archived)
  • Sūn, Hóngkāi tôn hoành khai. 1988. Shilun woguo jingnei Zang-Mianyude puxi fenlei thí luận ngã quốc cảnh nội tàng miến ngữ đích phổ hệ phân loại. (A classification of Tibeto-Burman languages in China). In: Tatsuo Nishida and Paul Kazuhisa Eguchi (eds.), Languages and history in East Asia: festschrift for Tatsuo Nishida on the occasion of his 60th birthday 61–73. Kyoto: Shokado.
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