Proto-Sino-Tibetan language

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Proto-Sino-Tibetan
PST, Proto-Trans-Himalayan
Reconstruction of Sino-Tibetan languages
Era7000-5000BCE?
Lower-order reconstructions

Proto-Sino-Tibetan (PST) is the linguistic reconstruction of the Sino-Tibetan proto-language and the common ancestor of all languages in it, including the Sinitic languages, the Tibetic languages, Yi, Bai, Burmese, Karen, Tangut, and Naga. Paul K. Benedict (1972) placed a particular emphasis on Old Chinese, Classical Tibetan, Jingpho, Written Burmese, Garo, and Mizo in his discussion of Proto-Sino-Tibetan. [1]

Contents

While Proto-Sino-Tibetan is commonly considered to have two direct descendants, Proto-Sinitic and Proto-Tibeto-Burman, [2] in recent years several scholars have argued that this was not well-substantiated, [3] and have taken to calling the group "Trans-Himalayan". [4] In this case, Proto-Tibeto-Burman may be considered as equivalent to Proto-Sino-Tibetan if Sinitic is indeed not the first branch to split from Proto-Sino-Tibetan. [5]

Features

Reconstructed features include prefixes such as the causative s-, the intransitive m-, the miscellaneous b-, d-, g-, and r-, suffixes -s, -t, and -n, and a set of conditioning factors that resulted in the development of tone in most languages of the family. [6] The existence of such elaborate system of inflectional changes in Proto-Sino-Tibetan makes the language distinctive from some of its modern descendants, such as the Sinitic languages, which have mostly or completely become analytic.

Proto-Sino-Tibetan, like Old Chinese, also included numerous consonant clusters, and was not a tonal language.

Phonology

Benedict (1972)

The table below shows consonant phonemes reconstructed by Benedict. [1] [ page needed ]

PlosiveFricativeSonorant
VoicelessVoicedVoicelessVoicedNasalOther
Labialpbmw
Dentaltdsznr
Palatalcʒy
Laterall
Velarkghŋ

Peiros & Starostin (1996)

The reconstruction by Peiros & Starostin suggests a much more complex consonant inventory. [7] The phonemes in brackets are reconstructions that are considered dubious.

Plosive/AffricateFricativeSonorant
UnaspiratedAspirated
VoicelessVoicedVoicelessVoicedVoicelessVoiced
OralNasal
Labialpbm(bʰ)w
Dentaltdn(dʰ)r
Alveolarcʒ(ʒʰ)s
Palatalćʒ́ńćʰʒ́ʰśy
Lateral(ƛ)l
Velarkgŋ(gʰ)xɣ
Uvular(q)(ɢ)(qʰ)(ɢʰ)(χ)
Laryngealʔ

Hill (2019)

The following tables show the reconstruction of Proto-Sino-Tibetan phonemes by Nathan Hill (2019). [8]

Consonants Labial Coronal Palatal Velar Labiovelar Uvular Labiouvular Glottal
Nasal * m * n * ŋ * ŋʷ
Plosive voiced * b * d * g * ɢ * ɢʷ
voiceless * p * t * k * * q * ʔ
Affricate voiced * dz
voiceless * ts
Fricatives *( s ) [a]
Approximant * l * j [b]
Rhotic *r [c]
  1. The sibilant correspondences are simply presented according to their proto-Burmish outcomes, as no patterns could be found by Hill. [9]
  2. This consonant can only exist as a coda.
  3. This phonetic nature of this rhotic is unknown.

The consonants /ptkqʔmnŋlrj/ can take coda position, as well as the cluster /rl/. While Hill does not reconstruct /j/ as an initial consonant due to Baxter and Sagart's Old Chinese reconstruction lacking such a phoneme, he mentions that Jacques and Schuessler suggest a /j/ initial for some Old Chinese words due to potential Tibetan or Rgyalrongic cognates. [10]

Vowels Front Central Back
Close i u
Mid e ə o
Open a

Hill also claims that his reconstruction is incomplete, as it does not account for Tibetic palatalization, proto-Burmish preglottalization, Sinitic aspirates, and the Sinitic type A and B distinction of syllables.

Sound correspondences

The sound correspondences cited by Hill (2019) are as follows. Hill bases his correspondences to Old Chinese off of the Baxter-Sagart reconstruction, and thus that reconstruction will be used in the following correspondence tables.

Initials

Note that many cognate sets with /ptkbdg/ initials between Old Chinese, Tibetan and Burmese agree in every phoneme in a given word except for whether an initial consonant is voiced or not. Jacques explains these discrepancies as at least partially triggered by pre-syllables that were lost or decayed on the way to Chinese, Tibetan and Burmese. [11]

Expected initial correspondences in Hill (2019)
Proto-Sino-TibetanOld ChineseTibetanWritten Burmese
*p-*p-p-p-
*t-*t-t-t-
*k-*k-k-k-
*kʷ-*kʷ-k- ?
*b-*b-b-p-
*d-*d-d-t-
*g-*g-g-g-
*q-*q-k(h)-(lost)
*ɢ-*ɢ-g- ?
*ɢʷ-*ɢʷ-g-w-
*ts-*ts-ts(h)-ch-
*dz-*dz-(d)z-c-
Vowels
Vowel correspondences of vowels in Hill (2019)
Proto-Sino-TibetanOld ChineseTibetanWritten Burmese
*a*aa
o [a]
a
*e*ee
i [b]
a [c]
a [d]
*i*iii
*o*oowa [e]
*u*uuu
o [f]
*uw*uuui
uiw [g]
aa
*əw*ouu
*əj*əja ~ ei
  1. After rounded dorsal consonants.
  2. Before velar consonants.
  3. Before dental or liquid consonants.
  4. Before velar, dental or liquid consonants. In Proto-Burmish, pre-velar *i (from *e and *i) were still both distinct from *a.
  5. o in Old Burmese.
  6. Before velars. Did not merge with inherited *o > Old Burmese o > Written Burmese wa.
  7. In Old Burmese.
Finals
Final correspondences according to Hill (2019)
Proto-Sino-TibetanOld ChineseTibetanWritten Burmese
*-p*-p-b-p
*-t*-t-d-t
*-k*-k-g-k
*-kə*-k(lost) [a] (lost)
*-q*-ʔ-g-k
*-ʔ*-ʔ(lost)(lost)
*-m*-m-m-m
*-n*-n-n-n
-ñ(ñ) [b]
*-ŋ*-ŋ-ng-ng
*-l*-j-l(lost) [c]
*-r*-r-r(lost)
*-rl*-r-l(lost) [c]
  1. Except after *a, where this final instead surfaces as -' (transliterated by Hill).
  2. After *e or *i.
  3. 1 2 Unless after *u; in this case the final surfaces as -y.

Sound changes

Final consonant changes

In Gong Huangcheng's reconstruction of the Proto-Sino-Tibetan language, the finals *-p, *-t, *-k, *-m, *-n, and *-ŋ in Proto-Sino-Tibetan remained in Proto-Sinitic and Proto-Tibeto-Burman. However, in Old Chinese, the finals *-k and *-ŋ that came after the close vowel *-i- underwent an irregular change of *-k>*-t and *-ŋ >*-n. In Proto-Tibeto-Burman, *-kw and *-ŋw underwent a sound change to become *-k and *-ŋ respectively, while in Old Chinese those finals remained until Middle Chinese, where the finals underwent the same sound change. [12]

Furthermore, in Proto-Tibeto-Burman, the finals *-g, *-gw, and *-d underwent the following changes:

  1. *-d>*-y
  2. *-gw>*-w
  3. *-g>*-w when it follows the vowel *-u-
  4. *-g>*-∅ when it follows the vowel *a and *-a-.

Example of sound changes

Voiceless plosive finals

Proto-Sino-TibetanOld Chinese (Li Fang-Kuei)Proto-Tibeto-Burman
*-p*-jəp汲 *kjəp*ka·p
泣 *khrjəp*krap
立 *(g-)rjəp*g-ryap
*-jap接 *tsjap*tsyap
*-jup入 *njəp*nup~ *nip
*-t*-iat八 *priat*b-r-gyat
殺 *r-siat*g-sat
*-uat脫 *hluat*g-lwat
*-jit一 *·jit*it
*-k*-ək翼 *lək*lak
*-jək織 *tjək*tak
息 *sjək*sak
食 *N-ljək*(m-)lyak
飼 *s-ljəks*(s-)lyak
*-ik節 *tsik>*tsit*tsik
縊 *·iks, *·jiks*ik
*-jik蝨 *srjik>*srjit*s-rik
*-juk曲 *khjuk*guk~kuk
*-kw*-əkw毒 *dəkw*duk~*tuk
*-jəkw腹 *phjəkw, *bjəkw*pu·k~*buk
六 *drjəkw*d-ruk

Nasal finals

Proto-Sino-TibetanOld Chinese (Li Fang-Kuei)Proto-Tibeto-Burman
*-m*-əm含 *gəm*gam
頷 *gəm*gam
*-jəm飲 *·jəmx*am
尋 *ljəm*la[·]m
*-jim坅 *khjamx “pit”*kim
*-um三 *səm*g-sum
*-jum尋 *ljəm*lum
*-n*-an乾 *kan*kan
*-jin辛 *sjin*m-sin
*-ng*-jəng夢 *mjəngs*mang
蒸 *tjəng*tang
*-jang紡 *phjangx*pang
涼 *grjang*grang
迎 *ngrjang*ngang
*-ing盈 *bling*bling~pling
*-jing年 *ning>*nin*ning
名 *mjing*r-ming
甥 *srjing*sring
薪 *sjing>*sjin*sing
仁 *njing>*njin*s-ning
*-ngw*-jəngw躬 *kjəngw*gung

Voiced plosive finals

Proto-Sino-TibetanOld Chinese (Li Fang-Kuei)Proto-Tibeto-Burman
*-b*-əb柔 *njəb>*njəgw*nəw
*-d*-əd𤈦 *smjədx*məy
*-ad簸 *padx/s*pwa·y
太  *tads*tay
蜾 *kwadx*kwa·y
我 *ngadx*ngay
移 *lad*lay
*-id四 *sjids*b-liy
*-jid妣 *pjidx*piy
畀 *sbjids*biy
几 *krjidx*kriy
屎 *skhljidx*kliy
死 *sjidx*siy
*-g*-əg       母 *məgx*ma
*-jəg     負 *bjəgx*ba, *bak
子 *tsjəgx*tsa
慈 *dzjəg*m-dza
孳 *dzjəgs*za
耳 *njəgx*r-na~*g-na
牛 *ngwjəg*ngwa
*-ag補 *pagx*pa
苦 *khagx*ka
吾 *ngag*nga
五 *ngagx*l-nga~*b-nga
狐 *gwag*gwa
*-jag斧 *pjagx*r-pwa
夫 *pjag*(p)wa
父 *bjagx*pa
無 *mjag*ma
魚 *ngjag*ngya
咀 *dzjag*dza
汝 *njagx*na
*-ug口 *khugx*kuw
寇 *khugs*r-kuw
*-jug霧 *m(r)jugs*(r-)muw
軀 *khjug*(s-)kuw
乳 *njugx*nuw
*-gw*-əgw寶 *pəgwx*puw
抱 *bəgwx*buw
*-jəgw鳩 *kjəgw*kuw
九 *kjəgwx*d-kuw
舅 *gjəgwx*kuw
*-agw豪 *gagw*m/s-gaw
號 *gagws*gaw
熬 *ngagw*r-ngaw
臊 *sagw*sa·w
*-jagw飄/漂 *phjagw*pyaw

Liquid finals

Proto-Sino-TibetanOld Chinese (Li Fang-Kuei)Proto-Tibeto-Burman
*-l*-al肝 *kan*m-kal
*-ul本 *pən*bul~*pul
*-jul銀 *ngjən*(d)-ngul
閩 *mjən*s-brul
*-jal疲 *brjal*bal
*-il洒 *silx*(m-)s(y)il
*-r*-ar播 *s-bars*bwar
皤 *bar, *par*pwa:r
*-jar販 *pjans*par
鮮 *sjan*sar
*-uar酸 *suan*swa·r
*-jur飛 *pjər*pur~*pir

Vocabulary

Words which do not have reliable Sinitic parallels are accompanied by a (TB).

Social terms

EnglishReconstruction byOld Chinese (Baxter-Sagart) [a] [13]
I. Peiros & S. StarostinJ. Matisoff
Person (in general)*mĭ*mi民 *mi[ŋ]
Male*pă*pʷa父 *p(r)aʔ
Female*mǝw*mow母 *mˤoʔ (or məʔ)
Name (of a person)*miǝŋ*miŋ名 *C.meŋ

Natural phenomena

EnglishReconstruction byOld Chinese (Baxter-Sagart) [a]
I. Peiros & S. StarostinJ. Matisoff
Earth*ƛăy*ley ~ *lǝy地 *[l]ˤej-s
Stone*ƛɨāŋ ~ *ƛɨāk*luŋ ~ *luk琭 *[r]ˤok
Sand*srāy*sa沙 *sˤraj
Fire*mēyH*mey火 *[qʷʰ]ˤəjʔ [i]
Smoke*gʰiw*kǝw熏 *qʰu[n]
Water*tujʔ*t(w)i(y)水 *s.turʔ
Rain*(r-)qʰʷăH*rwa ~ *wa雨 *C.ɢʷ(r)aʔ
Sun*nĭy*nǝy日 *C.nik
Moon (TB)*(s-)lăH*laN/A [ii]
Star*(s-)q(ʰ)ār*kar扈 *m-qˤaʔ [iii]
Night*yăH*ya夜 *[ɢ]Ak-s
Tree*sĭŋ*siŋ ~ *sik薪 *[s]i[n]
Leaf*lăp*lap葉 *l[a]p
Plant root*bʰūl*bul ~ *pul本 *C.pˤə[n]ʔ
  1. See also the dialectal 𤈦 /*m̥əjʔ/ and 燬 /*m̥ajʔ/.
  2. Chinese 月 /*[ŋ]ʷat/ is a descendant of another PST word, *s-ŋʷ(j)a-t.
  3. Unclear. The more common word is 星 /*s-tsʰˤeŋ/, which is possibly related to 清 /*tsʰeŋ/, in turn from PST *(t)s(j)aŋ.

Qualitative features of an object

EnglishReconstruction byOld Chinese (Baxter-Sagart) [a]
I. Peiros & S. StarostinJ. Matisoff
Black, dark (TB)*nǝk*nak黑 *m̥ˤək [i]
Whitewār*hwār皤 *[b]ˤar [ii]
Big*tayH*tay大 *lˤa[t]-s
Cold*(k-)răŋ ~ *(k-)răk*glak ~ *glaŋ ~ *graŋ涼 *C.raŋ
Warm*lɨm*lim ~ *lum融 *luŋ
Long (TB)*rĭŋ*riŋN/A
New*cʰăr*sar鮮 *s[a]r
  1. It is possible that *s-nak is a descendant of *s-maŋ ~ s-mak (whence OC /*m̥ˤək/).
  2. The more commonly used 白 /*bˤrak/ might be a derivation of it.

Verb stems

EnglishReconstruction byOld Chinese (Baxter-Sagart) [a]
I. Peiros & S. StarostinJ. Matisoff
To eat*ʒʰa*dzya咀 *dzaɁ
To drink*dʰɨn ~ *dʰɨŋ*daŋ ~ *doŋ
To bite/chew*wā*wa
To die*sĭy(H)*sǝy死 *sijʔ
To know, to think*siǝH*syey悉 *[s]i[t]
To hear (TB)*tʰa(s)*taN/A
To sleep*mĭyH*mwǝy寐 *mi[t]-s
To stand*ryǝp*r(y)ap立 *k.rәp
To sit*tūŋ ~ *tūk*duŋ ~ *duk ~ *tuŋ ~ *tuk住 *dro(ʔ)-s
Give*pĭy*bǝy畀 *pi[k]‑s

Numbers

NumberReconstruction byOld Chinese (Baxter-Sagart) [a] Old Tibetan [14] Old Burmese [14]
I. Peiros & S. StarostinJ. Matisoff
1*dyiǝk*dik ~ *t(y)ik ~ *t(y)ak一 *ʔi[t], 隻 *tekgcigac, tac
2*nĭy*ni二 *ni[j]-sgnyisnhac < *nhik
3*sɨm*sum三 *s.rumgsumsumḥ
4*lĭy*lǝy四 *s.li[j]-sbzhiliy
5*ŋāH*ŋa五 *C.ŋˤaʔlngaṅāḥ
6*rŭk*ruk六 *k.rukdrugkhrok < *khruk
7*(s-)nĭt*ni七 *[tsʰ]i[t]N/A [i] khu-nac
8*ryēt*gyat ~ *ryat ~ *rit八 *pˤretbrgyadrhac < rhyat
9*kwɨH*gǝw ~ *kǝw九 *[k]uʔdgukuiḥ
10*k(ʰ)ĭp*g(y)ip十 *t.[g]әpN/A [ii] kip
100*(p-)ryā*gya百 *pˤrakbrgyaryā
  1. Tibetan bdun has unknown origins, likely used to avoid confusion with the similar-sounding "two".
  2. Tibetan bcu is a descendant of another PST root, *tsjaj.
  1. 1 2 3 4 5 For Old Chinese notations in the Baxter–Sagart system:
    • Parentheses "()" indicate uncertain presence;
    • Square brackets "[]" indicate uncertain identity, e.g. *[t] as coda may in fact be *-t or *-p;
    • Angle brackets "<>" indicate infix;
    • Hyphen "-" indicates morpheme boundary;
    • Period "." indicates syllable boundary.

See also

References

  1. 1 2 Benedict, Paul K. (1972), Sino-Tibetan: A Conspectus (PDF), Cambridge University Press, ISBN   978-0-521-08175-7.
  2. Sagart, Laurent; Jacques, Guillaume; Lai, Yunfan; Ryder, Robin J.; Thouzeau, Valentin; Greenhill, Simon J.; List, Johann-Mattis (6 May 2019). "Dated language phylogenies shed light on the ancestry of Sino-Tibetan". Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. U.S.A. 116 (21): 10317–10322. Bibcode:2019PNAS..11610317S. doi: 10.1073/pnas.1817972116 . PMC   6534992 . PMID   31061123.
  3. Orlandi, Georg (2021). "Once again on the history and validity of the Sino-Tibetan bifurcate model". Journal of Language Relationship. 19 (4): 263–292.
  4. Hill 2019.
  5. van Driem, George (2007). "The diversity of the Tibeto-Burman language family and the linguistic ancestry of Chinese". Bulletin of Chinese Linguistics. 1 (2): 211–270. doi:10.1163/2405478X-90000023.
  6. Egerod, Søren Christian. "Sino-Tibetan languages - Linguistic characteristics". Encyclopædia Britannica Online . Retrieved 10 July 2019.
  7. Peiros, Ilia; Starostin, S.A. (1996). A comparative vocabulary of five Sino-Tibetan languages. Parkville, VIC: Univ. of Melbourne, Dept. of Linguistics and Applied Linguistics. ISBN   9780732513504.
  8. Hill 2019, p. 211.
  9. Hill 2019, p. 234-235.
  10. Hill 2019, p. 216.
  11. Jacques, Guillaume (April 16, 2021). "Review of Hill (2019): The Historical Phonology of Tibetan, Burmese, and Chinese" (PDF). Journal of Historical Linguistics. 11 (1): 143–158. doi: 10.1075/jhl.20001.jac . ISSN   2210-2116 . Retrieved January 30, 2025.
  12. Gong Huangcheng (龔煌城) (2003). 從原始漢藏語到上古漢語以及原始藏緬語的韻母演變 [Final changes from Proto-Sino-Tibetan to Old Chinese and Proto-Tibeto-Burman](PDF). 古今通塞:漢語的歷史與發展. 第㆔屆國際漢學會議論文集語言組 (in Chinese). pp. 187–223. Archived from the original (PDF) on 2020-11-03. Retrieved 22 October 2023.
  13. Baxter, William H.; Sagart, Laurent. "The Baxter-Sagart reconstruction of Old Chinese". The Baxter-Sagart reconstruction of Old Chinese. Retrieved 10 August 2022.
  14. 1 2 Hill (2012).

Further reading