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Title:
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A Reconsideration of Some Phonological Issues Involved in Reconstructing Sino-Tibetan Numerals
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Author:
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Jakob Dempsey
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Email:
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click here to access email
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Degree Awarded:
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University of Washington
, Asian Languages and Literature
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Degree Date:
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1995
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Linguistic Subfield(s):
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Historical Linguistics
Phonology
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Language Family(ies):
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Sino-Tibetan
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Director(s):
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Jerry Norman
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Abstract:
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The Sino-Tibetan language family, consisting of Sinitic (Chinese) and the Tibeto-Burman group, is one of the largest in the world, but unlike for the similarly extensive Indo-European group, a large-scale scholarly debate on the underlying phonological processes which connect all the ST (Sino-Tibetan) languages has barely begun; still, scholars writing papers on Chinese historical linguistics have begun to frequently quote suggested TB (Tibeto-Burman) cognates, and a recent book on Tibetan grammar refers offhandedly to controversial, hypothetical reconstructions as if they were established reality. Dictionaries of individual TB languages quote TB protoforms which have either been since revised or which never were subject to confirmation by other investigators. The pioneering work of one or two scholars has been viewed on a par with results which took over a century to achieve in the Indo-European field.
This dissertation suggests some alternate views of the phonological history of the ST group. It mainly concentrates on the history of Chinese, Tibetan and Burmese since these are the oldest documented languages in the group, but also includes extensive data from several hundred other languages and dialects. Ancient loan-relationships with Hmong-Mien and Tai-Kadai languages are also discussed.
The discussion focuses on the set of basic numerals shared by most of these languages but also treats other items of basic vocabulary which share phonological developments with some of the numerals. Large-scale cognate tables are provided for each numeral, with suggested genetic and geographic affiliations. As much as possible, data from the original sources has been reanalysed and standardised for the sake of comparison.
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