A Reconstruction of Proto Northern Chin in Old Burmese and Old Chinese Perspective b y Christopher Thomas James Button Submitted for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy at the School of Oriental and African Studies, University of London. ProQuest Number: 10731704 All rights reserved INFORMATION TO ALL USERS The quality of this reproduction is dependent upon the quality of the copy submitted. In the unlikely event that the author did not send a com plete manuscript and there are missing pages, these will be noted. Also, if material had to be removed, a note will indicate the deletion. uest ProQuest 10731704 Published by ProQuest LLC(2017). Copyright of the Dissertation is held by the Author. All rights reserved. This work is protected against unauthorized copying under Title 17, United States C ode Microform Edition © ProQuest LLC. ProQuest LLC. 789 East Eisenhower Parkway P.O. Box 1346 Ann Arbor, Ml 48106- 1346 Abstract The phonology, morphology and semantics of six Northern Chin languages are investigated in terms o f their relationships with Old Burmese and Old Chinese. Regular correspondences are achieved through a vertical two vowel system and a segmentally derived three tone system. A word list with reconstructed Northern Chin forms, of which several are used in the comparisons with Old Burmese and Old Chinese throughout the work, is included as an appendix. 3 Table o f Contents List of Sino-Tibetan Roots 11 Symbols 12 Conventions 13 Abbreviations 15 Preface 17 Chapter 1: Northern Chin Overview 19 1.1 Subgrouping 19 1.2 Nomenclature 20 1.2.1 Mizo 21 1.2.2 Zahau 22 1.2.3 Thado 22 1.2.4 Zo 22 1.2.5 Tedim 23 1.2.6 Sizang 23 1.3 Data Sources 23 1.4 Northern Chin Rhymes 26 1.4.1 Diphthongs 27 1.4.2 Codas 30 1.4.2.1 Zahau -ow? / -ew? 30 1.4.2.2 Glide Codas and Syllable Weight 30 1.4.2.3 Thado -? and Syllable Weight 32 1.4.2.4 Zo -? / -a 33 1.5 Initials 33 1.5.1 Alveolars versus Dentals 34 4 1.5.2 Luce’s ,Jg- 35 1.5.3 Zo hl- and h- 35 1.5.4 Voiced Fricatives 35 1.5.5 Zahau?- 36 1.6 Tones 36 1.6.1 Tone I 37 1.6.2 Tone II 38 1.6.3 Tone III 39 Chapter 2: Old Burmese 40 2.1 Vocalism 40 2.1.1 Three Vowel i/it/a System 40 2.1.2 Two Vowel i/a System 42 2.1.3 Two Vowel i/a System 43 2.1.3.1 -ik / -it] versus -ac / -ay 43 2.1.3.2 Reanalysis of / as i 44 2.1.3.3 Palatal Rhymes -wac and -waji 45 2.1.4. The Rhymes of Old Burmese 46 2.2 Pure Initials 47 2.3. Medials 48 2.3.1 Medials -j- and -w- 48 2.3.1.1 Inscriptional Burmese ji- and Written Burmese ijr- 49 2.3.1.2 Inscriptional Burmese rj- and Written Burmese r- 50 2.3.1.3 Old Burmese cj- and Inscriptional/Written Burmese c- 50 2.3.1.4 Old Burmese nj-/tj- and Inscriptional/Written Burmesej\-lc- 51 2.3.1.5 Inscriptional Burmese hj-/hj-/sj- and Written Burmese V- 51 5 2.3.2 Medials -/- and -r- 52 2.3.2.1 Inscriptional Burmese -/- and Written Burmese -j- /-r- 52 2.3.2.2 Inscriptional Burmese -//- 53 2.4 Tonality 53 2.4.1 Suffixal -? and -s 53 2.4.2 Prefixal s- 55 Chapter 3: Old Chinese 57 3.1 Vocalism 57 3.1.1 Baxter’s Six Vowel and Li’s Four Vowel System 57 3.1.2 Pulleyblank’s Two Vowel System 59 3.2 Codas 60 3.2.1 Laterals 61 3.2.2 Palatals 61 3.2.3 Velar Glides 62 3.2.4 Labio velars 63 3.2.5 Uvulars 64 3.3 Tonality 65 3.3.1 Tone III from -s 65 3.3.2 Tone II from-? 66 3.4 Type A and B Syllables 67 3.5 Initials 68 3.5.1 Pure Initials 69 3.5.2 Prefixes 70 3.5.2.1 Prefixal k- 70 3.5.2.2 Prefixal r- 71 6 3.5.2.3 Prefixal s- versus Sagart’s N- and Pulleyblank’s a- 72 Chapter 4: Northern Chin Initials 74 4.1 Velars 75 4.2 Velar Clusters 77 4.2.1 Velar Clusters with r- 79 4.2.2 Velar Clusters with /- 82 4.3 Rhotics 84 4.3.1 Confusion o f Northern Chin * V and *r- 87 4.4 Laterals 88 4.5 Affricates 89 4.5.1 Unaspirated 89 4.5.2 Aspirated 92 4.6 Sibilant s- 93 4.6.1 Affricate Source 93 4.6.2 Benedict’s *sj- Hypothesis 94 4.7 Dentals 95 4.7.1 Unshifted 95 4.7.2 Sibilant in Origin 97 4.8 Glides 98 4.8.1 Labio velar w- 98 4.8.2 Palatal j- 99 4.9 Bilabials 102 4.9.1 Unshifted 102 4.9.2 Lenition to w- 103 4.10 Glottals 104 7 4.10.1 Unshifted ?- 104 4.10.2 Peiros & Starostin’s Uvular Hypothesis 106 Chapter 5: Northern Chin Rhymes 111 5.1 Open Rhymes 112 5.1.1 High Vowels -i and -u 112 5.1.2 Low V ow el-a 114 5.1.3 Mid-vowels -e and -o and Diphthongs ~ia and -oa 116 5.1.3.1 Prefix Induced Diphthongs 120 5.2. Closed Syllables 121 5.2.1 Unshifted 121 5.2.1.1 Pure Vowel 121 5.2.1.2 Medial -j- 124 5.2.1.3 Medial -w- 127 5.2.2 Coda -j 128 5.2.2.1 Rhyme -cj 130 5.2.2.2 Rhyme -aj 134 5.2.3 Coda -w 135 5.2.3.1 Rhyme -ow 135 5.2.3.2 Rhyme -aw 137 5.2.3.3 Sino-Tibetan-k 138 5.2.4 Liquid Codas 139 5.2.4.1 Rhotic -r 139 5.2.4.2 Lateral-/ 141 5.2.5 High Vowel i/i before -k/?j and -t/n 143 5.2.5.1 Matisoff s Bilabial Coronalisation after i/i 148 8 5.2.6 High Vowel u/u before -kft] 149 5.2.7 Final -?/-m 150 Chapter 6: Northern Chin Tones 153 6.1 Tones Ha and lib 155 6.2 Shift of -rf to -k 157 6.3 Northern Chin -iif1 and Old Chinese -dji1 159 6.4 Tone II Nouns 161 6.5 Loanwords and Tonal Discrepancies 165 6.5.1 Benedict ’ s s- Hypothesis 165 6.5.2 Benedict’s -n Hypothesis 165 6.5.3 Kinship Terms 166 6.5.4 Loanwords 169 Chapter 7: Northern Chin Morphology 182 7.1 Verbal Inflections 182 7.1.1 Stopped Syllable Variation in Tedim and Sizang 183 7.1.2 Open Syllable Variation in tone II 183 7.1.3 Origin in Suffixal -s 186 7.1.3.1 Glottality 187 7.1.3.2 Open Syllables and -t / -k 188 7.1.4 Superadded -s Suffixation 18 8 7.1.5 Causativity Paradigms 189 7.2 Superficial Irregularities 194 7.2.1 Reduction of Causativity Paradigms 194 7.2.2 Alternations of -k and -t 196 7.2.3 Alternation of -o?/-om and -ow?/-oWu 197 9 7.3 Nominalisation 197 7.4 Initial Aspiration 199 7.5 Allofamy 200 7.5.1 Consonants 200 7.5.2 Vowels 202 7.5.2.1 The e/a and e/e Ablaut 205 7.5.2.2 Other Cases 206 Chapter 8: Concluding Remarks 209 8.1 Lexical Diffusion 209 8.1.1 External Conditioning 210 8.1.2 Internal Conditioning 211 8.2 Vowelless Languages 211 8.2.1 Indo-European 212 8.2.2 Northwest Caucasian 213 8.2.2.1 Abaza 213 8.2.2.2 Kabardian 213 8.2.3 Indo-European versus Sino-Tibetan 215 Appendix: Northern Chin Word List 216 Bibliography 373 10 List of Sino-Tibetan Roots Page numbers are in round brackets. [#1] Bitter (75) [#47] Fathom (122) [#93] Blood (184) [#2] Barking-Deer (76) [#48] Mouth (122) [#94] Thin (185) [#3] Wind (77) [#49] Forest (124) [#95] Itch (185) [#4] Moon (78) [#50] Extinguish (124) [#96] Smell (201) [#5] Finger (79) [#51] Braid (126) [#97] Snot (201) [#6] Dove (81) [#52] Leaf, Flat (126) [#98] Near (202) [#7] Weep (82) [#53] Warm (127) [#99] Low, Soft (203) [#8] Fall (83) [#54] Round (128) [#100] Red (205) [#9] Wither (85) [#55] Swell (128) [#101] Leech (207) [#10] Alive, Green (85) [#56] Water (129) [#11] Louse (86) [#57] Tongue (131) [#12] Creeper (87) [#58] Fire (132) [#13] Lick (88) [#59] Tail (133) [#14] Road (89) [#60] Foot, Leg (133) [#15] Break (90) [#61] Middle (135) [#16] Suck (90) [#62] Boil (136) [#17] Erect (91) [#63] Soft (136) [#18] Emerge (92) [#64] Child (137) [#19] Vagina (92) [#65] Fat (138) [#20] Wash (93) [#66] Nose (140) [#21] Hot (94) [#67] New (141) [#22] Meat (94) [#68] Body-Hair (142) [#23] Stand (95) [#69] Snake (142) [#24] Length (96) [#70] Congeal (143) [#25] Hurt, 111 (96) [#71] Eye (143) [#26] Kill (97) [#72] Name (146) [#27] Itch, Breath (97) [#73] Tie (146) [#28] Rot (98) [#74] Nail, Claw (147) [#29] Bear (99) [#75] Heavy (147) [#30] Ashamed (100) [#76] Maggot (149) [#31] Night (100) [#77] Bend, Knee (150) [#32] Discard (102) [#78] Bone (151) [#33] Son-in-law (103) [#79] Palm, Sole (152) [#34] Ripe (103) [#80] Fruit (155) [#35] Bamboo (104) [#81] Parrot (156) [#36] Dumb (106) [#82] Stone (157) [#37] Dog (108) [#83] Dream (158) [#38] Steal (109) [#84] Tree (160) [#39] Slingshot (112) [#85] Liver (160) [#40] Sun (113) [#86] Die (162) [#41] Smoke (114) [#87] Fish (162) [#42] Child (114) [#88] Ear (163) [#43] Jaw (115) [#89] Person (166) [#44] Carry (117) [#90] Father (167) [#45] Village (118) [#91] Grandmother (167) [#46] Rain (120) [#92] Grandfather (168) 11 Symbols * Precedes a reconstructed form; the standard practice o f not using an asterisk before Middle Chinese forms is adopted here and further extended to Old Burmese due to its similarly strong textual foundation.