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A Phonological Reconstruction of Proto Chin

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A Phonological Reconstruction of Proto Chin A PHONOLOGICAL RECONSTRUCTION OF PROTO CHIN The members of the Committee approve the masters thesis of Khoi Lam Thang Dr. Fraser Bennett ______________________________________ Supervising Professor Ajarn Noel Mann ______________________________________ Ajarn Ken Manson ______________________________________ Assoc. Prof. Dr. Somsonge Burusphat ______________________________ Asst. Prof. Dr. Saranya Savetamalya ________________________________ Approval Date: _________________________________________________ Copyright © Khoi Lam Thang 2001 All Rights Reserved A PHONOLOGICAL RECONSTRUCTION OF PROTO CHIN by Khoi Lam Thang Presented to the Graduate School of Payap University in Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree of MASTER OF ARTS IN LINGUISTICS PAYAP UNIVERSITY, CHIANG MAI, THAILAND October 2001 RESUME Name: Khoi Lam Thang Date of Birth: April 27, 1962 Place of Birth: Pin Oo Lwin (May Myo), Mandalay Division, Myanmar Institutions attended: Zomi Theological College, Falam, Chin State, Myanmar (1984: Diploma in Theology) No. 1. Basic Education High School, Tedim, Chin State, Myanmar (1985: Matriculation) Clark Theological College, Mokokchung, Nagaland, India (1987: Bachelor in Theology) Myanmar Institute of Theology, Insein, Myanmar (1993: Bachelor in Divinity) University of Distance Education, Mandalay Art and Science University, Myanmar (1999: Bachelor of Art -Philosophy) Employment: Pastor, Leipi Baptist Church, Kalaymyo, Myanmar (1987 to present) Lecturer, Zomi Theological College, Falam, Chin State, Myanmar (1994-1995) Executive Secretary, Zomi Christian Literature Society, Kalaymyo (1996-1999) iv ACKNOWLEDGMENTS The author wishes to thank his Supervising professor Dr. Fraser Bennett and committee members Ajarn Noel Mann and Ajarn Ken Manson for their invaluable guidance, encouragement, help and advice to complete this thesis. The author also would like to express his gratitude to all his teachers and professors at the Linguistics Department of Payap University for their academic inspiration, particularly to Ajarn Noel Mann for imparting historical linguistic field during his course work and writing his thesis. The author wishes to thank the individuals and families of SIL International in the Mainland South East Asia Group for their support, care and concern in times of need, and encouragement throughout the course of his studies. The author wants to mention his gratitude to Rev. Smith Ngulh Za Thawng, the General Secretary of Myanmar Council of Churches, who first introduced him to Mark Wannemacher and the Linguistics Department of Payap University, which provided the opportunity for this course of studies. The author wants to thank the Leipi Baptist Church of Kalaymyo for granting him study leave, his parents Pa Neng Za Kam and Nu Ciin Niang, his wife Khin San May, his daughters Niang Sian Lun and Ngun Kip T ial, and his son Kam Sian Tuang, for their moral support and constant prayer. Last, but not least, the author wishes to thank and acknowledge the wisdom, the strength and the unseen guidance of Almighty God throughout his study time. October, 19, 2001 v ABSTRACT A PHONOLOGICAL RECONSTRUCTION OF PROTO CHIN Khoi Lam Thang Payap University, Chiang Mai, 2001 Supervising Professor: Dr. Fraser Bennett This thesis presents a phonological reconstruction of Proto Chin. Previous phonological reconstructions of Chin focused on tone and initial consonants (Ono 1965, Solnit 1979, Luce 1985, Ostapirat 1998, and Bhaskararao 1998). Chin languages are generally classified under the Kuki-Chin-Naga branch of Tibeto- Burman (Shafer 1966, Benedict 1972, and Bradley 1997) and traditionally subgrouped as Southern Chin, Central Chin, Northern Chin, Old Kuki and the Other Chin Groups (Grierson 1904, Bradley 1997). So-Hartmann (1988) has proposed a lower level subgrouping of Southern Chin languages. However, a full phonological reconstruction, classification and subgrouping of Chin languages is yet to be completed. This thesis applied the lexicostatistic method to 21 Chin languages spoken in Myanmar, resulting in a preliminary subgrouping and selection of six representative languages for reconstruction purposes. The comparative method is applied to these representative languages for reconstruction of Proto Chin, based on a 443-word vocabulary. This reconstruction provides a solution for the longstanding reconstruction problem of * ց, and sheds additional light on the subgrouping of Chin languages vi 2544 : Fraser Bennett " # $% $&$ '$ ( ) * +,'%"- % $&$ ) * +,'%"- -. # $ /" '% 01%* 2%, .' /', # (Ono 1965, Solnit 1979, Luce 1985, Ostapirat 1998 , .' Bhaskararao 1998) ) * ,'%"- % ) * ,'% ,- (Shafer 1966, Benedict 1972, .' Bradley 1997) 51- $ %) * ,'%"-# % 67% %67"-, "-% "- & %%-% .') * "-$ ( &-8 (Grierson 1904, Bradley 1997). So-Hartmann (1988) 9$% . % ( ) * ,'%"-$ ( " -9 ., 9%:, % $&$ '$ ( ) * ,'%"- 9 $ + % " #9 % 6 $;,( 0 # . % ) * ,'%"- 21 ) * 51- 67) * 6' 0 % . % ) * ( #&#< 9 &% , . ) * % $&$ ) * + 6 ) * % # % 6 ) * &-% $&$ ) * +,'%"- # 6 ) * 01%* 0 443 %% $&$ ) * +9.%6=/ % $&$ $ *ց .'( ) * +,'%"- %' % . ) * ( ) * ,'%"-% vii TABLE OF CONTENTS Acknowledgements........................................................................................................v Abstract........................................................................................................................ vi List of figures.............................................................................................................. xii List of Tables ............................................................................................................. xiv List of Abbrivations and symbols.............................................................................. xxi CHAPTER 1 INTRODUCTION ...................................................................................1 1.0 Introduction..............................................................................................................1 1.1 Background........................................................................................................1 1.1.1 Historical background...............................................................................3 1.1.2 Geography and demography.....................................................................4 1.1.3 Culture.......................................................................................................6 1.1.4 Communication.........................................................................................6 1.1.5 Nomenclature............................................................................................7 1.1.6 Chin languages in Chin State....................................................................8 1.2 Literature review................................................................................................9 1.2.1 Overview of Chin linguistic classification................................................9 1.2.2 Reconstruction of Chin languages ..........................................................16 1.3 Purpose of thesis ..............................................................................................17 1.4 Methodology....................................................................................................18 1.5 Source of linguistic data...................................................................................19 CHAPTER 2 SELECTION OF REPRESENTATIVE CHIN LANGUAGES............22 2.0 Introduction............................................................................................................22 2.1 Lexicostatistics analysis...................................................................................22 2.2 Turning numbers into trees ..............................................................................25 2.3 Preliminary subgrouping..................................................................................27 2.4 Selected languages...........................................................................................29 viii CHAPTER 3 OVERVIEW OF SELECTED LANGUAGES .....................................32 3.0 Introduction............................................................................................................32 3.1 Tedim ...............................................................................................................32 3.1.1 Brief description......................................................................................32 3.1.2 Syllable structure ....................................................................................33 3.1.3 Consonants..............................................................................................33 3.1.4 Vowels ....................................................................................................34 3.1.5 Segment distribution ...............................................................................34 3.1.6 Tone ........................................................................................................35 3.2 Mizo… .............................................................................................................37 3.2.1 Brief description......................................................................................37 3.2.2 Syllable structure ....................................................................................38 3.2.3 Consonants..............................................................................................39
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