TibetoBurman Languages across the Himalayas.docx
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TibetoBurman Languages across the Himalayas.docx
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TibetoBurmanLanguagesacrosstheHimalayas
Tibeto-BurmanLanguagesacrosstheHimalayas
Abstract:
ThebranchofTibeto-BurmanlanguagesacrossthesouthernrangeoftheHimalayashasaclosegeneticrelationshipwiththeTibeto-BurmanlanguagesalongthenorthernrangeoftheHimalayasinChina.In2013,Ipublishedanarticletitled?
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zailunxinanminzuzoulangdiqudeyuyanjiqixiangguanwenti(FurtherDiscussionontheLanguagesinSouthwestEthnicCorridorandRelatedIssues)?
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in?
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theJournalofSouthwestUniversityforNationalities,?
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inwhichIlistedfivecognateswithindifferentsemanticcategoriesofTibeto-BurmanlanguagesonbothsidesoftheHimalayas.Moreover,IfollowedeverycognatewithexamplesfromdozensoflanguagesonthebothsidesoftheHimalayas.Afterseveraldozenyearsofinvestigationandresearch,theissuesofethnicityandlanguageinthisregionhavereceivedmoreandmoreattentionfrominternationallinguisticcircles.?
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LotsofhistoricalrecordsindicatethattheethnicgroupsspeakingTibeto-BurmanlanguagesalloriginatedfromthemiddleandupperreachesoftheYellowRiver,andarecloselyrelatedtothepre-historicQiang.Iamplanningtosortoutallmaterialscollectedbyourteamandconductacomparativestudyonthem.Thefocuswillbeonthefollowing:
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1.ToaskhowmanyethnicgroupsinthisregionspeakTibeto-Burmanlanguages?
Whatarethebasicfeaturesofthesegroups,includingtheirethnicself-identification,distribution,population,andcustoms,etc.?
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2.Torevealthebasicfeaturesoftheirlanguages,includingphonetics,vocabulary,andgrammar,andtheirrelationwiththesurroundinglanguages.?
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3.TocomparetheTibeto-BurmanlanguagesinthisregionwiththeTibeto-BurmanlanguagesinChina,andtodrawupataxonomyofTibeto-Burmanlanguageswhichwillreflecttheirrelationshipwitheachother,andtheevolutionarylineagesofthelanguage.?
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4.Basedonthematerialsrelatedtoethnology,linguistics,historicalstudies,archeology,andanthropology,tostudythesouthwardmigrationrouteoftheancientQiang,aswellasthetracestheyleftalongtheway,and,finally,tofurtherenrichFeiXiaotong?
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stheoryoftheethniccorridor(notonlytheTibetan-Yicorridor).?
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ThereisstillnoconvincingstatementregardingthenumbersofTibeto-BurmanlanguagesalongthesouthernrangeoftheHimalayas.Accordingtoinformationfromvariousscholarlyresources,somesaytherearemorethan200kindswhileotherssaymorethan300.However,accordingtothelateststatistics,theremightbe401kinds(notincludingtheTibeto-BurmanlanguagesinChina).TheselanguagesaremainlydistributedinPakistan,Nepal,Bhutan,India,Myanmar,Thailand,Laos,Bangladesh,andVietnam.?
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ThisinnovativeprojectoftheChineseAcademyofSocialSciences,ofwhichIamnowresponsible,willbeimplementedintwostages.Theresponsibilityinthefirststage(2013-2014)wastosortouttheTibeto-Burmanlanguagesintheabovementionedcountriesaccordingtocountryclassification,andcompleteacountryclassificationreport.ThereportcoversthegeneralinformationregardingtheTibeto-Burmanlanguagesinaparticularcountry,andincludesthename,distributionarea,thepopulationsusingthelanguage,mainfeatures,internaldifferences,researchstatus,etc.Thisstagetook
aroundtwoyears.Aftercompletingthecountryclassificationreport,inthesecondstage(2015-2016),weplantomakeacomparativestudybyusingthecollectedmaterials(includingphoneticsystems,highfrequencycognatesets,andgrammaretc.)withtheTibeto-BurmanlanguagesmaterialscollectedinChina.Throughacomparativestudybaseduponphoneticpatterns,similaritiesanddifferencesofvocabulariesandsomeimportantgrammaticalfeatures,the“far-proximal”relationshipsofthegenealogyofallTibeto-Burmanlanguageswillbeconfirmed.Wewillalsospendaroundtwoyearsforthisstage.?
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Whetheralanguagegrouphascognatesdependsonwhetherornotthereisevidencetoprovetheexistenceofcognaterelationshipsamongtheselanguageswithinthelanguagegroup.Thatis,toseewhetherornottherearesetsofcognatewordsandformswhichhaveastrictphoneticcorrespondingrelationship.WhentheSino-Tibetanbranchoflanguagesdevelopedtothepresent,manyofthemlosttheirforms,butmorphemeswithgrammaticalmeaningarestillveryrich.Someofthesemorphemesareprimitivevestigeswhilesomeoftheothersreflectgradualinnovationsinthelongprocessofgrammaticalchange.ForTibeto-Burmanlanguages,thisdiscoveryofasetofprimitivecognatemorphemesisveryimportantevidence,whetherthesemorphemesarefromtheaspectofword-formationortheaspectofconformation.?
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Foralanguage-groupwhosecognaterelationshipshavebeenconfirmed,theirsubclassificationmainlydependsontwopoints―theamountofprimitivevestigesandtheinnovationofcommonelements.ThecognaterelationshipofTibeto-Burmanlanguageshasbeendiscussedbymanyscholarsfromvariousangles,andtheircognaterelationshiphasbeenconfirmed.Theacademicfieldhasreachedaconsensusregardingthis.Then,their“far-proximal”relationshiphastobeconfirmedaccordingtothephoneticpatterns,thenumbersofcognates,andthesimilaritiesanddifferencesofgrammaticalscopeandform.BasedonthegeneralcharacteristicsoftheTibeto-Burmanlanguages,thisarticleprovidesthefollowingcontentasthebasisforreference:
1.phoneticpatterns;2.cognates;and3.grammarcategoriesandgrammaticalforms.?
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WithregardtotheinteriorclassificationoftheSino-Tibetanlanguagefamily,themostcomplicatedclassificationshouldbetheTibeto-Burmanlanguages.Inthefollowingdiscussion,someproblemsintheclassificationofTibeto-Burmanlanguageswillbenoted,andthesearealsoproblemsthatneedfurtherattentioninthefutureworkofthisproject.?
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Inthe1990s,JamesA.Matisoff,anAmericanlinguistwhoisaspecialistontheSino-Tibetanlanguagefamily,proposedhisownclassificationframeworkafterhereviewedPaulK.Benedict?
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sclassification.HedisagreedwithPaulK.Benedict?
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sclassificationwhichputtheJingpolanguageinthecorepositionoftheTibeto-Burmanbranch,andstatedthattheinteriorclassificationoftheTibeto-Burmanbranchshouldbecomposedof7branches.Amongthese,thereare3smallersub-groupsundertheKamarupanbranch.Thisarticle?
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sinfluenceisverywide,andafteritspublication,westernlinguisticcirclesgenerallytookitasthebasisfortheclassificationofTibeto-Burmanlanguages.?
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In1993,Iattendedthe26thsessionoftheInternationalSino-TibetanLanguageConferenceinJapan,andpresentedanarticletitled?
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zailunzangmianyuzuzhongdongciderenchengfanchou(ARe-discussiononthePersonalVerbsinTibeto-BurmanBranch).?
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ThisarticlegaveaprimaryclassificationofTibeto-Burmanlanguages.?
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MyclassificationhassomedifferencewithMatisoff?
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s.Thisismainlyreflectedin:
1.DuetothecomplexityoftheTibeto-Burmanlanguages,Ithinkthatanadditionaltaxomoniclevel,namely?
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yuqun?
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orlanguagegroup,shouldbeaddedbetween?
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yuzu?
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(languagefamily)?
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andyuzhi?
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(language?
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branch).Inaddition,under“languagebranch”,weshouldaddtheterm?
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yuzu?
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(somepeoplecallthis?
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yutuan,?
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meaninglanguageteam).Inthisway,the“far-proximal”relationshipsbetweenthelanguageswhichhavecognaterelationshipscanbedescribedclearly.Thisisthemaingoalforus,tocreateagenealogicaltaxonomyofthelanguages.2.Matisoffdividedthelanguagesinto7languagebranches,andIdividetheminto10.Moreover,thecontentincludedwithintheclassificationalsoclearlydiffers.
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GeorgevanDriem,ascholarfromtheNetherlandsusesapatternof“fallenleaves”toclassifytheTibeto-Burmanlanguagebranch.OnethingthatshouldbenotedishetakesHanChineseasalinguisticbranchoftheTibeto-Burmanbranch.Heconsidersthe“fallenleaves”patternasametaphorforthepresentsituationofTibeto-Burmanhistoricallinguisticsstudies.Whatwecanrecognizeatpresentisthatonlyafewlinguisticbranchesorlanguagegroupsareonthelowestlevel,justlikethefallenleaveswecannoticeonthegroundoftheforest;andthattherelationshipofthelanguagesonthehigherlevelsisjustlikethesourcebranchesofthefallenleaves.Wecannotyetconfirmthiswithpresentacademiclevelsofinvestigation.?
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IdonotagreewithvanDriemforthefollowingreasons:
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1.HanChineseandTibeto-Burmanlanguageareabsolutelynotonthesamelevel―thepointintimethattheyseparatedisclearlyfarearlierthanthedifferentiationoftimeofthelanguagebrancheswithinTibeto-Burmanbranch.?
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2.TheinternallanguagesoftheTibeto-Burmanlanguagebranchareabsolutelynotscattered,andtheirproimalrelationshipscanbeclearlystated.Therehasalreadybeenalotofresearchandrelativelyin-depthstudiesonthisissue,andtheevidenceisalsoquitesufficient.?
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3.TheauthordividedtheTibeto-Burmanlanguagebranchintomorethan40sub-branches.Amongthesesomearebig,containingmorethantenlanguages,forexample,Lolo-Burmese.Somesub-branchesaresmall,containingonlyonelanguage,withonlyasmallpopulationstillusingthelanguage,forexample,Tsangla.Mypersonalviewisthatthiskindofclassificationisnotveryprecise.?
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4.TheauthordividedtheQianglanguagebranchesintofourparts.Inhismap,thereare4independentcircles:
Qiangic,rGyarongic,Ersuish,Naic.ThelanguageswithintheQianglanguagebranchareonlydistributedinChina.ManyChinesescholarshaveprovidedin-depthdiscussionsontheQianglanguagebranchandpublishedmanymonographsandarti
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