LANGUAGES OF THE HIMALAYAS An Ethnolinguistic Handbook of the Greater Himalayan Region containing an Introduction to the Symbiotic Theory of Language BY GEORGE VAN DRIEM VOLUME ONE BRILL LEIDEN • BOSTON • KOLN 2001 CONTENTS CONTENTS v PREFACE ix CONVENTIONS xi LIST OF FIGURES xix CHAPTER ONE KNOWN AND UNKNOWABLE PREHISTORY 1 CONTINENTS IN COLLISION 2 Ecce homo! 8 The language-ready brain 17 The language parasite and the symbiotic theory of language 33 LANGUAGE AND CULTURE 60 Original Sin and our virtuous nature 60 The splitting of the symbol and the birth of syntax 66 Culture and the antiquity of language 91 The survival of languages and of implicit world views 112 THREE VERSIONS OF PREHISTORY 135 The mono geneticist time warp 145 Gazing beyond the event horizon 150 Mixed languages and the maternal strand 163 Language change 175 Global dispersals and Himalayan habitats 188 CHAPTER TWO KINGS OF THE FOREST AND DISTANT HORIZONS 204 SOUTH ASIAN RELICT GROUPS 205 The Andaman Islanders 205 The aboriginals of Serendip 217 TheVahali 242 Kings of the Forest 253 AUSTROASIATIC 262 The vacillating fate of Vietnamese 266 Austroasiatic literary languages 270 Ancient South Asians 272 The people in the Abode of Clouds ?. 275 Austroasiatics of Southeast Asia and the Nicobars 280 The Austroasiatic homeland 289 BEYOND THE HIMALAYAN HORIZON AND BACK AGAIN 298 Austronesian and more speculation on Austric 305 VI CONTENTS Daic, Hmong-Mien and the Austro-Tai theory 312 Scattered rice 324 Daic languages in the Himalayan region 328 CHAPTER THREE THE TIBETO-BURMAN LANGUAGE FAMILY 333 FROM TURANIAN TO TIBETO-BURMAN 334 Indo-Chinese outlives Turanian 337 The precarious position of Thai, Karen and Himalayan languages 343 Several theories about Chinese 348 Other Tibeto-Burman subgrouping proposals 388 NEOLITHIC AND BRONZE AGE VOLKERWANDERUNGEN 408 Western Tibeto-Burmans and the Indian Eastern Neolithic 411 Eastern Tibeto-Burman 417 Northern Tibeto-Burmans and the Himalayas 421 Southern Tibeto-Burmans 433 CHATTER FOUR THE BRAHMAPUTRA AND BEYOND 463 A CURIOUS GEM 463 THE MOUNTAINS OF THE SUN CHARIOT 468 The Kho-Bwa cluster 473 Hrusish ; 479 Tani 481 The Mishmi clusters 496 CHILDREN OF THE BRAHMAPUTRA 501 Kachdri-Koch or Bodo-Koch 502 TheChutiya 511 Greater Bodo 516 The Gams of the Garo Hills 528 The Koch subgroup and the Rajbangsis 534 At the bend of the Brahmaputra 542 Toto and Dhimal 548 Northern Naga and Kachinic 567 THE INDO-BURMESE BORDERLANDS 573 The Ao Cluster 576 The Angami-Pochuri Cluster 577 The Zeme, Tangkhul and Meithei Clusters 580 KarbiorMikir 583 Mizo-Kuki-Chin and Mm , 584 CONTENTS Vll CHAPTER FIVE A WAVE WASHES ACROSS THE SOUTHERN FLANK 590 MAHAKIRANTI AND NEPAL 591 Subjugation and acculturation of the Kirantis 600 Divisions amongst the Kiranti 614 Grammatical issues in Himalayan languages 628 GREATER EASTERN KIRANTI 663 The Limbu ofLimbuvan 665 Yakkha, Chiling and the Athpahariya dialects 678 Kiranti of the Upper Arun 689 CENTRAL AND WESTERN KIRANTI 698 The Kiranti of Khambuvdn 698 The Kiranti of the southern hills 705 Kiranti of the Upper Dudhkosi 710 Northwest Kiranti 722 NEWARIC OR PARA-KIRANTI LANGUAGES 728 The Licchavis and the Newars 733 TheMalla period and early European visitors 741 The language of the Newars 757 The Bardm and the Thangmi 766 FLOTSAM AND JETSAM ALONG THE SOUTHERN SLOPES 773 Magar and Kham 775 Chepang andBhujeli 786 Men of the jungle 794 The Lhokpu of southwestern Bhutan 800 Accessories to accession 811 Lepcha 818 CHAPTER SIX A WAVE LAPS AGAINST THE NORTHERN FLANK 826 BODISH LANGUAGES 826 Tibet and the Tibetan languages 829 Documentation of the Tibetan language 846 Inhabitants of hidden lands 855 ' hutan, the duars and the British 870 Dzongkha and her three sisters 891 East Bodish languages : 908 THE WEST HIMALAYISH LANGUAGES 934 West Himalayish south of the great Himalayan divide 935 Zhangzhung, the sacred language of Bon 946 TAMANGIC AND PARA-BODISH .". 958 Gurung, Tamang and Thakali 958 viii CONTENTS Scattered Tamangic languages 977 Tshangla 987 CHAPTER SEVEN ZAGROSIANS AND INDO-EUROPEANS 994 THE ELAMITES AND THE DRAVIDIAN INDUS 995 The Elamites and the Indus script 999 Antecedents of the Elamite and Indus civilisations 1002 Post-glacial environments 1004 The Aryans come to the Indus Valley 1011 Flight of the Dravidians 1017 Brahui and the Dravidian Indus 1029 THE COMING OF THE INDO-EUROPEANS 1039 'van een ende de selve afcomste' 1039 The homeland and branches of Indo-European 1051 The linguistic Piltdown Man or just wishful thinking? 1065 The Indo-Aryan invasion of the Subcontinent 1070 INDO-EUROPEANS OF THE HIMALAYAS 1075 The Iranians come to Persia 1076 Infidels in the Land of Enlightenment 1078 Aryan society and language 1086 The rise of Nepal and Nepali 1103 The Rand period and the Restoration 1118 Khas Kurd or Nepali 1133 The great eastward exodus 1143 Indo-Aryans of the foothills and plains 1156 CHAPTER EIGHT BURUSHASKI AND BEYOND 1177 THE BURUSHO AND BURUSHASKI 1177 STRAY SIBERIANS IN THE HIMALAYAS 1186 Remote relations of the Yenisseian languages 1195 Greater Yenisseian and Burushaski 1198 Burusho and Yenisseians in the archaeological record 1202 THE HUNS AND THE HIMALAYAS 1206 Distant relatives and their neighbours 1213 BIBLIOGRAPHY 1224 INDEX 1 1359.