TibetoBurman Languages across the HimalayasWord下载.docx

TibetoBurman Languages across the HimalayasWord下载.docx

《TibetoBurman Languages across the HimalayasWord下载.docx》由会员分享，可在线阅读，更多相关《TibetoBurman Languages across the HimalayasWord下载.docx（5页珍藏版）》请在冰豆网上搜索。

zailunxinanminzuzoulangdiqudeyuyanjiqixiangguanwenti（FurtherDiscussionontheLanguagesinSouthwestEthnicCorridorandRelatedIssues）?

in?

theJournalofSouthwestUniversityforNationalities,?

inwhichIlistedfivecognateswithindifferentsemanticcategoriesofTibeto-BurmanlanguagesonbothsidesoftheHimalayas.Moreover,IfollowedeverycognatewithexamplesfromdozensoflanguagesonthebothsidesoftheHimalayas.Afterseveraldozenyearsofinvestigationandresearch,theissuesofethnicityandlanguageinthisregionhavereceivedmoreandmoreattentionfrominternationallinguisticcircles.?

　　LotsofhistoricalrecordsindicatethattheethnicgroupsspeakingTibeto-BurmanlanguagesalloriginatedfromthemiddleandupperreachesoftheYellowRiver,andarecloselyrelatedtothepre-historicQiang.Iamplanningtosortoutallmaterialscollectedbyourteamandconductacomparativestudyonthem.Thefocuswillbeonthefollowing:

　　1.ToaskhowmanyethnicgroupsinthisregionspeakTibeto-Burmanlanguages?

Whatarethebasicfeaturesofthesegroups,includingtheirethnicself-identification,distribution,population,andcustoms,etc.?

?

　　2.Torevealthebasicfeaturesoftheirlanguages,includingphonetics,vocabulary,andgrammar,andtheirrelationwiththesurroundinglanguages.?

　　3.TocomparetheTibeto-BurmanlanguagesinthisregionwiththeTibeto-BurmanlanguagesinChina,andtodrawupataxonomyofTibeto-Burmanlanguageswhichwillreflecttheirrelationshipwitheachother,andtheevolutionarylineagesofthelanguage.?

　　4.Basedonthematerialsrelatedtoethnology,linguistics,historicalstudies,archeology,andanthropology,tostudythesouthwardmigrationrouteoftheancientQiang,aswellasthetracestheyleftalongtheway,and,finally,tofurtherenrichFeiXiaotong?

stheoryoftheethniccorridor（notonlytheTibetan-Yicorridor）.?

　　ThereisstillnoconvincingstatementregardingthenumbersofTibeto-BurmanlanguagesalongthesouthernrangeoftheHimalayas.Accordingtoinformationfromvariousscholarlyresources,somesaytherearemorethan200kindswhileotherssaymorethan300.However,accordingtothelateststatistics,theremightbe401kinds（notincludingtheTibeto-BurmanlanguagesinChina）.TheselanguagesaremainlydistributedinPakistan,Nepal,Bhutan,India,Myanmar,Thailand,Laos,Bangladesh,andVietnam.?

　　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.?

　　Whetheralanguagegrouphascognatesdependsonwhetherornotthereisevidencetoprovetheexistenceofcognaterelationshipsamongtheselanguageswithinthelanguagegroup.Thatis,toseewhetherornottherearesetsofcognatewordsandformswhichhaveastrictphoneticcorrespondingrelationship.WhentheSino-Tibetanbranchoflanguagesdevelopedtothepresent,manyofthemlosttheirforms,butmorphemeswithgrammaticalmeaningarestillveryrich.Someofthesemorphemesareprimitivevestigeswhilesomeoftheothersreflectgradualinnovationsinthelongprocessofgrammaticalchange.ForTibeto-Burmanlanguages,thisdiscoveryofasetofprimitivecognatemorphemesisveryimportantevidence,whetherthesemorphemesarefromtheaspectofword-formationortheaspectofconformation.?

　　Foralanguage-groupwhosecognaterelationshipshavebeenconfirmed,theirsubclassificationmainlydependsontwopoints―theamountofprimitivevestigesandtheinnovationofcommonelements.ThecognaterelationshipofTibeto-Burmanlanguageshasbeendiscussedbymanyscholarsfromvariousangles,andtheircognaterelationshiphasbeenconfirmed.Theacademicfieldhasreachedaconsensusregardingthis.Then,their“far-proximal”relationshiphastobeconfirmedaccordingtothephoneticpatterns,thenumbersofcognates,andthesimilaritiesanddifferencesofgrammaticalscopeandform.BasedonthegeneralcharacteristicsoftheTibeto-Burmanlanguages,thisarticleprovidesthefollowingcontentasthebasisforreference:

1.phoneticpatterns;

2.cognates;

and3.grammarcategoriesandgrammaticalforms.?

　　WithregardtotheinteriorclassificationoftheSino-Tibetanlanguagefamily,themostcomplicatedclassificationshouldbetheTibeto-Burmanlanguages.Inthefollowingdiscussion,someproblemsintheclassificationofTibeto-Burmanlanguageswillbenoted,andthesearealsoproblemsthatneedfurtherattentioninthefutureworkofthisproject.?

　　Inthe1990s,JamesA.Matisoff,anAmericanlinguistwhoisaspecialistontheSino-Tibetanlanguagefamily,proposedhisownclassificationframeworkafterhereviewedPaulK.Benedict?

sclassification.HedisagreedwithPaulK.Benedict?

sclassificationwhichputtheJingpolanguageinthecorepositionoftheTibeto-Burmanbranch,andstatedthattheinteriorclassificationoftheTibeto-Burmanbranchshouldbecomposedof7branches.Amongthese,thereare3smallersub-groupsundertheKamarupanbranch.Thisarticle?

sinfluenceisverywide,andafteritspublication,westernlinguisticcirclesgenerallytookitasthebasisfortheclassificationofTibeto-Burmanlanguages.?

　　In1993,Iattendedthe26thsessionoftheInternationalSino-TibetanLanguageConferenceinJapan,andpresentedanarticletitled?

zailunzangmianyuzuzhongdongciderenchengfanchou（ARe-discussiononthePersonalVerbsinTibeto-BurmanBranch）.?

ThisarticlegaveaprimaryclassificationofTibeto-Burmanlanguages.?

　　MyclassificationhassomedifferencewithMatisoff?

s.Thisismainlyreflectedin:

1.DuetothecomplexityoftheTibeto-Burmanlanguages,Ithinkthatanadditionaltaxomoniclevel,namely?

yuqun?

orlanguagegroup,shouldbeaddedbetween?

yuzu?

（languagefamily）?

andyuzhi?

（language?

branch）.Inaddition,under“languagebranch”,weshouldaddtheterm?

（somepeoplecallthis?

yutuan,?

meaninglanguageteam）.Inthisway,the“far-proximal”relationshipsbetweenthelanguageswhichhavecognaterelationshipscanbedescribedclearly.Thisisthemaingoalforus,tocreateagenealogicaltaxonomyofthelanguages.2.Matisoffdividedthelanguagesinto7languagebranches,andIdividetheminto10.Moreover,thecontentincludedwithintheclassificationalsoclearlydiffers.

　　?

　　GeorgevanDriem,ascholarfromtheNetherlandsusesapatternof“fallenleaves”toclassifytheTibeto-Burmanlanguagebranch.OnethingthatshouldbenotedishetakesHanChineseasalinguisticbranchoftheTibeto-Burmanbranch.Heconsidersthe“fallenleaves”patternasametaphorforthepresentsituationofTibeto-Burmanhistoricallinguisticsstudies.Whatwecanrecognizeatpresentisthatonlyafewlinguisticbranchesorlanguagegroupsareonthelowestlevel,justlikethefallenleaveswecannoticeonthegroundoftheforest;

andthattherelationshipofthelanguagesonthehigherlevelsisjustlikethesourcebranchesofthefallenleaves.Wecannotyetconfirmthiswithpresentacademiclevelsofinvestigation.?

　　IdonotagreewithvanDriemforthefollowingreasons:

　　1.HanChineseandTibeto-Burmanlanguageareabsolutelynotonthesamelevel―thepointintimethattheyseparatedisclearlyfarearlierthanthedifferentiationoftimeofthelanguagebrancheswithinTibeto-Burmanbranch.?

　　2.TheinternallanguagesoftheTibeto-Burmanlanguagebranchareabsolutelynotscattered,andtheirproimalrelationshipscanbeclearlystated.Therehasalreadybeenalotofresearchandrelativelyin-depthstudiesonthisissue,andtheevidenceisalsoquitesufficient.?

　　3.TheauthordividedtheTibeto-Burmanlanguagebranchintomorethan40sub-branches.Amongthesesomearebig,containingmorethantenlanguages,forexample,Lolo-Burmese.Somesub-branchesaresmall,containingonlyonelanguage,withonlyasmallpopulationstillusingthelanguage,forexample,Tsangla.Mypersonalviewisthatthiskindofclassificationisnotveryprecise.?

　　4.TheauthordividedtheQianglanguagebranchesintofourparts.Inhismap,thereare4independentcircles:

Qiangic,rGyarongic,Ersuish,Naic.ThelanguageswithintheQianglanguagebranchareonlydistributedinChina.ManyChinesescholarshaveprovidedin-depthdiscussionsontheQianglanguagebranchandpublishedmanymonographsandarti