Kachin–Luic languages

Last updated
Kachin–Luic
Jingpho–Luish
Geographic
distribution		 India, Burma
Linguistic classification

Sino-Tibetan

  • Sal
    • Kachin–Luic
Subdivisions
Glottolog jing1259 [1]

The Kachin–Luic, Kachinic, Jingpho-Luish, or Jingpho-Asakian languages are a group of Sino-Tibetan languages belonging the Sal branch. They are spoken in eastern India and Burma, and consist of the Jingpho (also known as Kachin) language and the Luish (a.k.a. Asakian) languages Sak, Kadu, Ganan, Andro, Sengmai, and Chairel. Ethnologue and Glottolog include the extinct or nearly extinct Taman language in the Jingpo branch, but Huziwara (2016) [2] considers it to be unclassified within Tibeto-Burman.

Sino-Tibetan languages Asian language family

The Sino-Tibetan languages, in a few sources also known as Trans-Himalayan, are a family of more than 400 languages, second only to Indo-European in number of native speakers. The Sino-Tibetan languages with the most native speakers are the varieties of Chinese, Burmese, and the Tibetic languages. Other languages of the family are spoken in the Himalayas, the Southeast Asian Massif and the eastern edge of the Tibetan Plateau. Most have small speech communities in remote mountain areas and as such are poorly documented. Unlike Western linguists, Chinese linguists generally include Kra–Dai and Hmong-Mien languages within Sino-Tibetan.

The Sal languages are a branch of Sino-Tibetan languages spoken in eastern India, parts of Bangladesh, and Burma

Jingpho or Kachin is a Tibeto-Burman language of the Sal branch mainly spoken in Kachin State, Burma and Yunnan, China. There are a lot of meanings for Jinghpo. In the Jinghpo language, Jinghpo means people. The term "Kachin language" can refer either to the Jingpho language or to a group of languages spoken by various ethnic groups in the same region as Jingpo: Lisu, Lashi, Rawang, Zaiwa, Lhao Vo, Achang and Jingpho. These languages are from distinct branches of the highest level of the Tibeto-Burman family. The Jingpho alphabet is based on the Latin script. Now, the Jinghpo language is also widely written in Burmese script.

Contents

James Matisoff (2013) [3] provides phonological and lexical evidence in support of the Jingpho-Asakian (Jingpho–Luish) grouping, dividing it into two subgroups, namely Jingphoic and Asakian . Proto-Luish has been reconstructed by Huziwara (2012) [4] and Matisoff (2013).

James Alan Matisoff is a professor emeritus of Linguistics at the University of California, Berkeley and noted authority on Tibeto-Burman languages and other languages of mainland Southeast Asia.

The Luish, Asakian, or Sak languages are a group of Sino-Tibetan languages belonging to the Sal branch. They are spoken in Burma and Bangladesh, and consist of the Sak, Kadu, and Ganan languages. In recent years, Luish languages have been influenced by Burmese and Chakma Bengali.

Jingpho-Luish languages contain many sesquisyllables. [3]

Classification

Matisoff (2013), [3] citing Huziwara (2012), [4] provides the following Stammbaum classification for the Jingpho-Asakian (Jingpho-Luish) branch. Jingphoic internal classification is from Kurabe (2014). [5]

Jingpho-Asakian (Jingpho-Luish)
Singpho dialect language

Singpho is a dialect of the Jingpho language spoken by the Singpho people of Arunachal Pradesh and Assam. It is spoken by at least 3,000 people. "Singpho" is the local pronunciation of "Jingpho".

Sak is a Sino-Tibetan language of the Sal branch spoken in Bangladesh and Myanmar.

Chairel is an extinct Sal language of Manipur, India. It is preserved only in a word list from 1859. Chairel speakers have since shifted to Meithei.

Related Research Articles

Qiangic, formerly known as Dzorgaic, is a group of related languages within the Sino-Tibetan language family. They are spoken mainly in Southwest China, including Sichuan, Tibet and Yunnan. Most Qiangic languages are distributed in the prefectures of Ngawa, Garzê, Ya'an, and Liangshan in Sichuan with some in northern Yunnan as well.

The Pumi language is a Qiangic language used by the Pumi people, an ethnic group from Yunnan, China, as well as by the Tibetan people of Muli in Sichuan, China. Most native speakers live in Lanping, Ninglang, Lijiang, Weixi and Muli.

The Tibeto-Kanauri languages, also called Bodic, Bodish–Himalayish, and Western Tibeto-Burman, are a proposed intermediate level of classification of the Sino-Tibetan languages, centered on the Tibetic languages and the Kinnauri dialect cluster. The conception of the relationship, or if it is even a valid group, varies between researchers.

The Nung or Nungish languages are a poorly described family of uncertain affiliation within the Sino-Tibetan languages spoken in Yunnan, China and Burma. They include:

Burmish languages

The Burmish languages are Burmese, including Standard Burmese, Arakanese and other Burmese dialects such as the Tavoyan dialects as well as non-literary languages spoken across Myanmar and South China such as Achang, Lhao Vo, Lashi, and Zaiwa.

Tibeto-Burman languages language group

The Tibeto-Burman languages are the non-Sinitic members of the Sino-Tibetan language family, over 400 of which are spoken throughout the highlands of Southeast Asia as well as certain parts of East Asia and South Asia. Around 60 million people speak Tibeto-Burman languages, around half of whom speak Burmese, and 13% of whom speak Tibetic languages. The name derives from the most widely spoken of these languages, namely Burmese and the Tibetic languages . These languages also have extensive literary traditions, dating from the 12th and 7th centuries respectively. Most of the other languages are spoken by much smaller communities, and many of them have not been described in detail.

The Proto-Tibeto-Burman language is the reconstructed ancestor of the Tibeto-Burman languages, the Sino-Tibetan languages except for Chinese. An initial reconstruction was produced by Paul K. Benedict and since refined by James Matisoff. Several other researchers argue that Tibeto-Burman does not constitute a monophyletic group within Sino-Tibetan.

Kadu or Kado is a Sino-Tibetan language of the Sal branch spoken in Sagaing Region, Myanmar. Dialects are Settaw, Mawkhwin, and Mawteik [extinct], with 30,000 speakers total.

Sengmai is an extinct Sino-Tibetan language of Manipur, India. It belongs to the Luish branch, and is most closely related to the Andro language of Manipur. Sengmai speakers have since shifted to Meithei.

Andro is an extinct Sino-Tibetan language of Manipur, India. It belongs to the Luish branch, and is most closely related to the Sengmai language of Manipur. Andro speakers have since shifted to Meithei.

Central Tibeto-Burman or Central Trans-Himalayan is a proposed branch of the Sino-Tibetan language family proposed by Scott DeLancey (2015) on the basis of shared morphological evidence.

Ganan is a Sino-Tibetan language of northwestern Myanmar. It belongs to the Luish branch, and is most closely related to the Kadu language of Myanmar.

Taman is an extinct Sino-Tibetan language that was spoken in Htamanthi village in Homalin Township, Sagaing Region, northern Myanmar. It was documented in a list of 75 words in Brown (1911). Keisuke Huziwara (2016) discovered an elderly rememberer of Taman in Htamanthi who could remember some Taman phrases as well as a short song, but was not fluent in the Taman language. However, no fluent speakers of Taman remained in the area.

References

  1. ↑ Hammarström, Harald; Forkel, Robert; Haspelmath, Martin, eds. (2017). "Jingpho–Luish". Glottolog 3.0 . Jena, Germany: Max Planck Institute for the Science of Human History.
  2. ↑ Huziwara, Keisuke. 2016. タマン語の系統再考 / On the genetic position of Taman reconsidered. In Kyoto University Linguistic Research 35, p.1-34. doi : 10.14989/219018
  3. 1 2 3 Matisoff, James A. 2013. Re-examining the genetic position of Jingpho: putting flesh on the bones of the Jingpho/Luish relationship. Linguistics of the Tibeto-Burman Area 36(2). 1–106.
  4. 1 2 Huziwara, Keisuke 藤原, 敬介. 2012. Rui sogo no saikou ni mukete ルイ祖語の再構にむけて [Toward a reconstruction of Proto-Luish]. In Kyoto University Linguistic Research 京都大学言語学研究 (2012), 31: 25-131. doi : 10.14989/182194
  5. ↑ Kurabe, Keita. 2014. "Phonological inventories of seven Jingphoish languages and dialects." In Kyoto University Linguistic Research 33: 57-88, Dec 2014.

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