Comparative linguistics in Southeast Asia Peiros, I. Comparative Linguistics in Southeast Asia. C-142, x + 329 pages. Pacific Linguistics, The Australian National University, 1998. DOI:10.15144/PL-C142.cover ©1998 Pacific Linguistics and/or the author(s). Online edition licensed 2015 CC BY-SA 4.0, with permission of PL. A sealang.net/CRCL initiative. PACIFIC LINGUISTICS FOUNDING EDITOR: Stephen A. Wurm EDITORIAL BOARD: Malcolm D. Ross and Darrell T. Tryon (Managing Editors), Thomas E. Dutton, Andrew K. Pawley Pacific Linguistics is a publisher specialising in linguistic descriptions, dictionaries, atlases and other material on languages of the Pacific, the Philippines, Indonesia and southeast Asia. The authors and editors of Pacific Linguistics publications are drawn from a wide range of institutions around the world. Pacific Linguistics is associated with the Research School of Pacific and Asian Studies at the Australian National University. 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To date Pacific Linguistics has published over 400 volumes in four series: • Series A: Occasional Papers; collections of shorter papers, usually on a single topic or area. • Series B: Monographs of intermediate length. • Series C: Books; publications of greater length, especially reference books such as dictionaries and grammars, and conference proceedings. • Series D: Special Publications; including arc hival materials, pedagogical works, maps, audiovisual productions, and materials that do not fit into the other series. Series C, Volume 142 COMPARATIVE LINGUISTICS IN SOUTHEAST ASIA Ilia Peiros Pacific Linguistics Research School of Pacific and Asian Studies The Australian National University Canberra Published by Pacific Linguistics Research School of Pacific and Asian Studies The Australian National University PO Box 1428 Canberra ACT 2601 Australia Copyright © The author First published 1998 National Library of Australia Cataloguing-in-Publication entry: Ilia Peiros Comparative linguistics in Southeast Asia Bibliography. ISSN 0078-7558 ISBN 0 85883 489 8 1. Comparative languages - Asia, Southeastern. 2. Asia, Southeastern- Languages. I. Australian National University. Research School of Pacific and Asian Studies. Pacific Linguistics. II. Title. (Series: Pacific Linguistics. Series C-142). 495 Copyedited by Basil Wilson Typeset by Jeanette Coombes Chinese characters typeset by Helen Lo Printed by ANU Printing Service, Canberra Bound by F & M Perfect Bookbinding, Canberra TABLEOF CONTENTS PREFACE vii ABBREVIATIONS AND CUE TIllES ix CHAPTER 1: METHODOLOGICAL PRELIMINARIES 1 CHAPTER 2: AUSTRO-THAI LANGUAGES 11 2.1 The Kadai family 11 2.1.1 General information 11 2.1.2 Zhuang-Tai languages 17 2.1.3 Kam-Sui languages 31 2.1.4 Li dialects 44 2.1.5 Proto Kadai reconstruction 53 2.2 The Austro-Thai hypothesis 75 CHAPTER 3: MIAO-AUSTROASIATIC LANGUAGES 104 3.1 Austroasiatic languages 104 3.2 Miao-Yao languages 114 3.2.1 Proto Miao 114 3.2.2 Proto Yao 122 3.2.3 Proto Miao-Yao 135 3.3 The Miao-Austroasiatic and Austric hypotheses 155 CHAPTER 4: SINO-TIBETAN LANGUAGES 169 CHAPTER 5: SOUTHEAST ASIA: MAIN FEATURES OF LINGUISTIC PREHISTORY 218 APPENDICES: DATA FOR LEXICOST ATlSTICAL CLASSIFICATIONS 228 A. Kadai data 229 B. Mon-Khrnerdata 246 C. Miao-Yao data 271 D. Lolo-Burmese data 281 E. Chinese characters referred to in the text 306 REFERENCES 308 v PREFACE The topic of this book is the ancient history of the main language families of Mainland Southeast Asia: Kadai, Miao-Yao, Austroasiatic and Sino-Tibetan. Although divided by modem political and cultural borders, from a historical perspective these languages form a united body. Understanding the origins and formation of this body of languages, their relationships with each other, and their relationships with the Austronesian languages, constitutes one of the most intriguing and challenging problems of modem comparative linguistics: Southeast Asian prehistory. The linguistic area to be discussed in this book includes vast territories of modem China, Vietnam, Laos, Kampuchea, Malaysia, Burma and some parts of North-East India. Many hundreds of local languages are in constant interaction, and have been for centuries, giving rise to the complex mosaic we see today. Any suggestion that the author is going to explicate the origins of this mosaic is clearly premature: a detailed discussion of the whole topic is not yet possible, due to (i) the limited information available on most Southeast Asian languages, and (ii) the lack of comparative studies in the area. Consequently, I by no means claim that any final solution is given in this book. My goals are much more modest: to present my reconstructions of two languages families of the area: Proto Kadai (2.1) and Proto Miao-Yao (3.2); to discuss the results of comparative studies of two other families: Austroasiatic (3.1) and Sino-Tibetan (4); to evaluate genetic claims connecting these families: Austro-Tai hypothesis (2.2), Miao-Austroasiatic and Austric hypotheses (3.3) and Sino-Austronesian hypothesis (4); to outline the main features of the linguistic prehistory of Southeast Asia (5) This book has had an unhappy history. The first draft was written at the beginning of the 80s, and in 1984 it was distributed amongst colleagues in Russia and in the United States. That same year the manuscript (in Russian) was accepted for publication by the "GaJavanija Redakcija Vostochnoj Literatury" of the 'Nauka' Publishing House in Moscow. All the editing work and other preparations for publication were made by 1989, but following my migration to Australia in 1990, the publishers refused to print the book. Thus I have translated the text into English with a few minor changes, so that I am able to present it to an audience. In the preparation of the translation I have tried to limit myself mostly to the facts Vll viii and literature available to me when the original text was written. Due to the long delay in publication, several of the ideas presented here are no longer novel; the attentive reader will notice several cases of this type. This is a pleasant opportunity for me to thank all my friends who have shared their interest and knowledge of linguistics with me, and who have also helped me with their advice. Without Vladimir Antonovich Dybo, Evgenij Khelimsky, Aleksej Alekseevich Moskalev, DIo Sirk, Mikhail Viktorovich Sofronov, Sergej Starostin and Sergej Evgenjevich Jakhontov in Russia, and Mark Durie and Nick Evans of the University of Melbourne, this work would never have been finished. David Bradley helped me with his good advice and books not otherwise accessible. Jim Matisoff shared with me his knowledge of the area and made some valuable comments. I also want to express my gratitude to people who worked with me on the translation: Robert Handelsmann, Neile Kirk, and especially Mark Cerin, who read and significantly improved the whole text. My wife, Elena, has given me her priceless support during all the years of writing, rewriting and translating the book. ABBREVIATraNS AND CUE TITLES LANGUAGES PM Proto Miao Po Poai Austroasiatic M PrL Proto Li Austronesian An PY Proto Yao AT Austro-Thai Qiangdi Bd Baoding Qd Sd Southern Li of Savina Be Baocheng Si Siamese Fi Fijian SL Lingam Sui Ht Heitu SS Standard Sui Jnp Jingphaw ST Sino-Tibetan Ka Kam Tibeto-Burman Kd Kadai TB Toba Batak Kn Kimmun Tb Tn Then KS Kam-Sui TP Tai Proper LB Lolo-Burmese Tp Taipan Lb Lobojiang Ts Tongshi Lz Longzhou Viet-Muong Lk Lakkja VM Vn Vietnamese Lsh Lushai Wm Wuming Mak Ma WrB Written Burmese MC Middle Chinese WrK Written Khmer MK Mon-Khmer WrM Written Mon Mulam Mm WrS Written Siamese Maonan Mn WrT Written Tibetan Miao-Yao MY Xf Xifang Ngd Ngadju Xx Xiangxi OB Ong Be Ym Yuanmen Old Chinese OC Zhuang PAn Proto Austronesian Zh ZhT Zhuang-Tai PLB Proto Lolo-Burmese SOURCES Li (1965) B Benedict (1972a) Li LK Haudrieourt (1967) Ben Benedict (1975) M Morev (1988) H Haudrieourt (1974) P Purnell (1970) Hanson Hanson (1906) Pin Pinnow (1959) Ja Jakhontov (1981) P&S Peiros and Starostin (1996) illY Ouyang and Zheng (1983) Shafer Shafer (1974) LFK Li (1977) ix Peiros, I. Comparative Linguistics in Southeast Asia. C-142, x + 329 pages. Pacific Linguistics, The Australian National University, 1998. DOI:10.15144/PL-C142.cover ©1998 Pacific Linguistics and/or the author(s). Online edition licensed 2015 CC BY-SA 4.0, with permission of PL. A sealang.net/CRCL initiative. CHAPTER 1 METHODOLOGICALPRELIMINARIES The comparative linguistic method remains the only reliable tool for investigating linguistic prehistory. Its successful application to different language families all over the world shows that the method can be used in the study of any sufficiently described language family, regardless of idiosyncratic phonological, grammatical and other features. The comparative method includes several obligatory steps. These are of special importance when a 'new' language family (a family without extensive comparative tradition) is investigated. Let us review them briefly.! The first step is the selection of the languages which will form the basis of the study. In dealing with 'new' families we usually find that only a limited number of the languages in the family are represented by reliable and sufficient data. For example, only about ten to twenty per cent of Sino-Tibetan languages can be used for full-scale comparative research.