UC Berkeley Dissertations, Department of Linguistics Title Proto-Kuki-Chin Permalink https://escholarship.org/uc/item/5283829m Author VanBik, Kenneth Publication Date 2006 eScholarship.org Powered by the California Digital Library University of California Proto-Kuki-Chin bY Kenneth VanBik B.S. (University of Yangon, Burma) 1985 M.A. (American Bapt. Sem. of the West, Berkeley) 1993 M.A. (University of California, Berkeley) 2000 A dissertation submitted in partial satisfaction of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy in Linguistics in the Graduate Division of the University of California, Berkeley Committee in charge: Professor James A. Matisoff, Chair Professor Gary Holland Professor Ian Maddieson Professor Johanna Nichols Spring 2006 Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. 1 Abstract Proto-Kuki-Chin by Kenneth VanBik Doctor of Philosophy in Linguistics University of California, Berkeley Professor James A. Matisoff, Chair The Kuki-Chin languages constitute one of the most important subgroups of the great Tibeto-Burman family. This dissertation attempts to reconstruct the sound system of the ancestor language, Proto-Kuki-Chin, by comparing the initial consonants, rhymes, and nominal tones of a large number of KC languages. This study of Proto-Kuki-Chin depends primarily on twelve languages: three from the Central Chin group: Mizo (aka Lushai), Hakha Lai, and Falam Lai; four from the Southem- Plains Chin group: Mindat Cho, Daai, Asho (aka Plains Chin), and Khumi; four from the Northern Chin group: Tedim (aka Tiddim), Paite, Thado-Kuki, and Sizang; and finally one from the Maraic group, namely Mara (aka Lakher). Chapter 1 introduces the Kuki-Chin speakers and their geographical locations, and traces the etymologies of the names Kuki and Chin. Chapter 2 investigates the historical depth of the separation of the Kuki-Chin family from the rest of Tibeto-Burman, and confirms the unity of the Kuki-Chin peoples through the study of shared sound changes and syntactic patterns. It also deals with the internal subgrouping of Kuki-Chin, based on these patterns of sound change, with shared innovations suggesting common history. For instance, the modem Northern and Southem- Plains Chin groups share a sound change of fortition in which the sound reconstructed as *r for the hypothetical Proto-Kuki-Chin language became a voiced stop /g/ in Northern and Southem-Plains Chin whereas it remained /r/ elsewhere. This indicates that, despite their present geographical separation, these languages share a closer history with each other than they do with the Central Chin group which now divides them geographically. From this we can infer something about earlier movements of populations in the Chin area. Thus this Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. chapter presents a subgrouping schema for Proto-Kuki-Chin: a Peripheral group which includes Southem-Plains-Chin and Northern (Zo) Chin; a Central Chin group; and a highly divergent Maraic group. Chapter 3 presents the PKC syllable canon, and Chapter 4 establishes the PKC initial consonants by comparing copious lexical data from the three subgroups, and gives examples of reconstructed etyma. A total of 1355 PKC etyma have been reconstructed. Chapter 5 seeks to reconstruct PKC etyma in terms of their rhymes. The term “rhyme” in Sino-Tibetan linguistics refers to the phonological material of the whole syllable except for the initial consonants, i.e. the vowel of the syllable plus the final consonant if any. Chapter 6 investigates the nature of the nominal tone system that the proto-language may have had. Four contrastive proto-tones have been reconstructed for smooth syllables; three proto-tones are reconstructed for etyma with stopped rhymes and long vowels, and a single proto-tone for stopped rhymes with short vowels. The concluding chapter (Chapter 7) summarizes and tabulates the types of sound changes which have been discovered in the course of this investigation. Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. To the Kuki-Chin people (past and present) who have chosen to preserve their languages in the midst of endangerment this dissertation is dedicated with gratitude and love Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. Abbreviations: I Form-I verb II Form-II verb III Form-Ill verb INV Invariant verb AssB A and B are allofams A?i??B A and B are perhaps allofams A&B A and B are not allofams Bn Bound nominal By Bound verbal BSO(A)S Bulletin of the School of Oriental (and African) Studies (London) CKC Central-Kuki-Chin Clf Classifier ERG Ergative Marker FL Falam Lai (aka Zahao) GSTC Matisoff 1985: “God and the Sino-Tibetan Copula”. HL Hakha Lai HPTB Matisoff 2003 . Handbook of Proto-Tibeto-Burman ICSTLL International Conference on Sino-Tibetan Languages and Linguistics ILCAA Institute for the Study of Languages and Cultures of Asia and Africa (Tokyo) JAAS Journal of Asian and African Studies (Tokyo) JAM James A. Matisoff JFL Laidailova 1995: English-Lushai Dictionary KLT Khoi Lam Thang KM Khumi KVB Kenneth VanBik LSI Linguistic Survey of India LTB A Linguistics of The Tibeto-Burman Area MB Modern Burmese MC Mindat Cho MS Manuscript MZ Mizo (aka Lushai) NEG Negative Marker NKC Northem-Kuki-Chin Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. NOM Nominalizer OB Old Burmese OPWSTBL 1 Becker, ed. 1969: Occoasional Papers of the Wolfenden Society on Tibeto-Burman Linguistics OPWSTBL 2 Lehman, ed. 1971: Occoasional Papers of the Wolfenden Society on Tibeto-Burman Linguistics Pn Noun particle Pv Verb particle PC Personal communication PCC Proto-Central-Chin PKC Proto-Kuki-Chin PLB Proto-Lolo-Burmese PM Proto-Maraic PNC Proto-Northem-Chin PNN Proto-Northem-Naga POS Possessive PPC Proto-Peripheral-Chin (PNC and PSPC) PPPB Luce 1985: Phases o f Pre-Pagan Burma: languages and history, Vol. II PRPC Khoi Lam Thang 2001: A Phonological Reconstruction of Proto Chin PSPC Proto-Southem-Plains-Chin PTB Proto-Tibeto-Burman QST Question Marker S Subject SELAF Societe d’Etudes Linguistiques et Anthropologiques de France SG Singular SPKC Southem-Plains-Kuki-Chin STC Benedict 1972: Sino-Tibetan: A Conspectus SZ Sizang TD Tedim (aka Tiddim) TH Thien Haokip (Thado-Kuki consultant) TK Thado Kuki WB Written Burmese WT Written Tibetan Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. Acknowledgments First and foremost, I would like to thank the Berkeley Linguistics Department which has allowed me to shape my linguistic pursuits during the last eight years. Without the support from faculty, staff, and colleagues in the department, it would have been impossible to complete this dissertation. I am most grateful to members my dissertation committee: James A. Matisoff ("Jim"), my teacher, advisor, mentor, employer, and above all friend, whose guidance has been indispensible for the creation of Proto-Kuki-Chin, and who has always been ready to provide painstaking assistance throughout the process of its formation. This dissertation and Kuki-Chin studies in general have benefitted tremendously not only from Jim's intellectual resources, but also from his endless passion for documenting understudied languages. Special thanks are also due to Gary Holland, who always gives insightful comments which ensure the integrity of the materials, and who is always willing to help graduate students along as they struggle through graduate school; Ian Maddieson, whose enthusiasm never fails to inspire students in their collection of data, and whose works on the phonetics of H. Lai and Khumi have greatly benefitted this dissertation; and Johanna Nichols, who appreciates all kinds of linguistic work, and always sees the potential contribution that any language can offer to the world of linguistic typology. Her insightful probing has truly improved the quality of this dissertation. I am also thankful to Larry Hyman, my phonology teacher and co-fieldworker, whose tireless work on the tones of Hakha Lai, Falam Lai, Thado Kuki, and Thlantlang Lai (a dialect of Hakha Lai) has contributed so much to our understanding of tonal patterns in Kuki-Chin languages. I also would like to express my heartfelt gratitude to Andreas Kathol, whose work on Hakha Lai syntax has significantly clarified the syntactic function of verbal stem alternation. This dissertation owes a great deal to the insights of many Kuki-Chin linguists such as George Bedell, Albert Ceu Hlun, Lalnunthangi Chhangte, Khoi Lam Thang, F. K. Lehman, Thlasui Tluangneh, to name a few. This dissertation is in essence a product of linguistic "fieldwork" done in Berkeley. It began with a year-long Field Methods class that Jim conducted in 1996-1997 where H. Lai was the object of study. I was very fortunate to be the consultant for that class. A noteworthy result of that course was the publication of a rich collection of articles on H. Lai linguistics, which appeared in two volumes, in the journal Linguistics of the Tibeto-Burman Area (1997-1998, Vol. 20.2 and 21.1). I am very grateful to all the students in that course (Jonathan Barnes, Darya Kavitskaya, Jason Patent, David Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. V Peterson, Rungpat Roengpitya, and Tomoko Yamashita Smith) who patiently endured my probing of their explanations regarding various linguistic phenomena in H. Lai in the course of their investigations into many aspects of Lai linguistics. Most significantly, the H. Lai Field Methods class has produced one of the most distinguished Kuki-Chin linguists, David A. Peterson (now at Dartmouth college, NH), a morpho-syntactician who specializes in the "applicative" construction. Having worked on H. Lai, one of the most conservative KC languages, he continued to do field linguistics on Sourthern Chin languages such as Hyaw and Khumi, among many others.