Kiranti languages: Difference between revisions

Kiranti
Kiranti
Ethnicity	Kirati, Yakkha, Limbu, Rai and Sunuwar
Geographic; distribution	Eastern Nepal and India (Sikkim, Darjeeling, Kalimpong & Bhutan
Linguistic classification	Sino-Tibetan Tibeto-Burman Mahakiranti (?) Kiranti; ; ;
Subdivisions	Eastern; Central; Western;
Language codes
Glottolog	kira1253

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The Kiranti languages are a major family of Sino-Tibetan languages spoken in Nepal and India (notably Sikkim, Darjeeling, Kalimpong, and Bhutan) by the Kirati people.

External relationships

George van Driem had formerly proposed that the Kiranti languages were part of a Mahakiranti family, although specialists are not completely certain of either the existence of a Kiranti subgroup or its precise membership.^[1] LaPolla (2003), though, proposes that Kiranti may be part of a larger "Rung" group.

Classification

There are about two dozen Kiranti languages. Among the better known are Limbu, Sunuwar, Bantawa, Chamling, Khaling, Bahing, Yakkha, Wayu, Dungmali, Lohorung, and Kulung.

Kiranti verbs are not easily segmentable, due in large part to the presence of portmanteau morphemes, crowded affix strings, and extensive (and often nonintuitive) allomorphy. Thus their relationship to each other has been a subject of debate.

Overall, Kiranti languages are classified:

Eastern Kiranti
- Limbu language

- Central Kiranti
  - Khambu (Rai)
  - Thulung language (perhaps a primary branch of Kiranti Rai)
  - Chaurasiya
    - Wambule language

- - Upper Dudhkosi River:

- - Western Kiranti

Ethnologue adds Tilung language to Western Kiranti, based on Opgenort (2011).

Opgenort (2005)

Opgenort (2005)^[2] classifies the Kiranti languages as follows, and recognizes a basic east-west division within Kiranti.

Kiranti
- Western
  - Hayu
  - - Thulung
    - - Bahing, Sunuwar
      - Jero, Wambule

- Central
  - Khaling, Dumi
    - - Kulung
      - Chamling, Bantawa

- Eastern
  - - Yamphu, Limbu

Gerber & Grollmann (2018)

Historical linguists, as early as 2012, do not consider Kiranti to be a coherent group, but rather a paraphyletic one due to lack of shared innovations.^[3] Gerber & Grollmann (2018) presented additional evidence supporting the paraphyletic nature of Kiranti. A Central-Eastern Kiranti group is considered to be valid by Gerber & Grollmann (2018), but they consider "Western Kiranti" unclassified within Trans-Himalayan languages.^[4]

Central-Eastern Kiranti
- Lhokpu, Dhimal, Toto
- Central Kiranti
- Upper Arun
- Greater Yakkha-Limbu

Independent branches (formerly part of "Western Kiranti") that are unclassified within Trans-Himalayan (Sino-Tibetan):

Dumi-Khaling
Chaurasiya-Northwest: Wambule, Bahing, Sunuwar; ? Jero; ? Hayu
Thulung-Tilung-Kohi

Grollmann (2023) identifies a Khambu subgroup that consists of three languages, Kulung, Nachiring, and Sampang. Camling may also be a Khambu language.^[5]

Sound changes

Sound changes defining each subgroup (Gerber & Grollmann 2018):^[4]

Central-Eastern Kiranti (*voiceless > preglottalised; *voiced > voiceless; *ʔk > kʰ; *ʔc > cʰ)
- Lhokpu, Dhimal, Toto
- Central Kiranti (*ʔp > b; *ʔt > d)
- Upper Arun (*ʔp > b; *ʔt > d; *r > j)
- Greater Yakkha-Limbu (*ʔp > pʰ; *ʔt > tʰ; *r > j)

Independent branches (formerly part of "Western Kiranti") that are unclassified within Trans-Himalayan (Sino-Tibetan):

Dumi-Khaling (innovative verbal dual marker -i)
Chaurasiya-Northwest (*kʷ > ʔw ~ ʔb)
- Wambule, Bahing, Sunuwar; ? Jero; ? Hayu
Thulung-Tilung-Kohi (*p > t; *b > d)

The Khambu branch is defined by the following sound changes.^[5]

*ŋ > zero, *k > zero in final syllabic position, and also vowel change to o, ʌ, ə before the precending vowel *a
Palatalization of *t and *n before /i/ in final syllabic position
*eŋ > aŋ

Reconstruction

Research on proto-Kiranti includes work on phonology and comparative morphology by George van Driem,^[6] reconstructions by Michailovsky (1991)^[7] and Sergei Starostin 1994.^[8] Michailovsky and Starostin differ by the number of stop series reconstructed (three vs four) and the interpretation of the correspondences.

Opgenort introduces the reconstruction of preglottalized resonants;^[9]^[10] his reconstruction is generally based on Starostin's four series system. More recently, Jacques proposed a reconstruction of proto-Kiranti verb roots based on Michailovsky's system,^[11] and analyzes the other initial correspondences (in particular, the series reconstructed as non-aspirated unvoiced stops by Starostin) as due to morphological alternations and inter-Kiranti borrowing. In addition, he presents a preliminary discussion of the reconstruction of stem alternation and stress patterns on the basis of Khaling and Dumi.^[12]

Notes

^ Matisoff 2003, pp. 5–6; Thurgood 2003, pp. 15–16; Ebert 2003, pg. 505.
^ Opgenort, Jean Robert. Comparative and Etymological Kiranti Database Archived 2019-02-24 at the Wayback Machine.
^ Jacques, Guillaume (2012). "Agreement Morphology: The Case of Rgyalrongic and Kiranti". Language and Linguistics: 84.
^ ^a ^b Gerber, Pascal; Grollmann, Selin (20 November 2018). "What is Kiranti?: A Critical Account". Bulletin of Chinese Linguistics. 11 (1–2): 99–152. doi:10.1163/2405478X-01101010.
^ ^a ^b Grollmann, Selin. 2023. Remarks on the Khambu subgroup of Kiranti. 26th Himalayan Languages Symposium, 4-6 September 2023. Paris: INALCO.
^ van Driem, George (1990). "The Fall and Rise of the Phoneme /r/ in Eastern Kiranti: Sound Change in Tibeto-Burman". Bulletin of the School of Oriental and African Studies, University of London. 53 (1): 83–86. doi:10.1017/S0041977X00021273. JSTOR 618970. S2CID 128967034.
^ Michailovsky, Boyd. 1991. Big black notebook of Kiranti, proto-Kiranti forms. (unpublished ms. contributed to STEDT).
^ Starostin, Sergei A. 1994–2000. Proto-Kiranti reconstruction (online database). http://starling.rinet.ru/
^ Opgenort, Jean-Robert (2004). "Implosive and preglottalized stops in Kiranti" (PDF). Linguistics of the Tibeto–Burman Area. 27 (1): 1–27.
^ Opgenort, Jean Robert (2005). A Grammar of Jero: With a Historical Comparative Study of the Kiranti Languages. BRILL. ISBN 978-90-474-1508-4.^{[page needed]}
^ Jacques, Guillaume (27 November 2017). "A reconstruction of Proto-Kiranti verb roots" (PDF). Folia Linguistica. 51 (s38–s1): 177–215. doi:10.1515/flih-2017-0007. S2CID 149278651.
^ Jacques, Guillaume (2016). "Tonogenesis and tonal alternations in Khaling" (PDF). Tone and Inflection. pp. 41–66. doi:10.1515/9783110452754-003. ISBN 978-3-11-045275-4.

References

van Driem, George (2001). Languages of the Himalayas: An Ethnolinguistic Handbook of the Greater Himalayan Region. Leiden, The Netherlands: Brill. doi:10.1163/9789004514911. ISBN 9789004514911. S2CID 247418335.
Bickel, Balthasar; Banjade, Goma; Gaenszle, Martin; Lieven, Elena; Paudyal, Netra Prasad; Rai, Ichchha Purna; Rai, Manoj; Rai, Novel Kishore; Stoll, Sabine (2007). "Free Prefix Ordering in Chintang". Language. 83 (1): 43–73. doi:10.1353/lan.2007.0002. JSTOR 4490337. S2CID 54992476.
Tara Mani Rai (2015). "A Grammar of Koyee" Ph.D. diss. Tribhuvan University. https://www.amazon.com/Grammar-Koyee-Tara-Mani-Rai/dp/3969391121
Matisoff, James A. (2003). Handbook of Proto-Tibeto-Burman: System and Philosophy of Sino-Tibetan Reconstruction. University of California Press. ISBN 978-0-520-09843-5.
Thurgood, Graham (2003). "A Subgrouping of the Sino-Tibetan Languages: The Interaction between Language Contact, Change, and Inheritance". In LaPolla, Randy J.; Thurgood, Graham (eds.). The Sino-Tibetan Languages. Routledge. pp. 3–21. ISBN 9780203221051.
Ebert, Karen H. (2003). "Kiranti Languages: An Overview". In LaPolla, Randy J.; Thurgood, Graham (eds.). The Sino-Tibetan Languages. Routledge. pp. 3–21, 505–517. ISBN 9780203221051.

Reconstructions

Michailovsky, Boyd. 1991. Big black notebook of Kiranti, proto-Kiranti forms. (unpublished ms. contributed to STEDT).
Opgenort, Jean Robert (2011). "A note on Tilung and its position within Kiranti". Himalayan Linguistics. 10 (1): 253–271.
Jacques, Guillaume (2017). "A reconstruction of Proto-Kiranti verb roots" (PDF). Folia Linguistica. 51 (38 (supplement nr. 1)): 177–215. doi:10.1515/flih-2017-0007. S2CID 149278651.

External links

Kiranti Database Project Archived 2019-02-24 at the Wayback Machine (Jean Robert Opgenort)

[1] Matisoff 2003, pp. 5–6; Thurgood 2003, pp. 15–16; Ebert 2003, pg. 505.

[2] Opgenort, Jean Robert. Comparative and Etymological Kiranti Database Archived 2019-02-24 at the Wayback Machine.

[3] Jacques, Guillaume (2012). "Agreement Morphology: The Case of Rgyalrongic and Kiranti". Language and Linguistics: 84.

[GG2018-4] Gerber, Pascal; Grollmann, Selin (20 November 2018). "What is Kiranti?: A Critical Account". Bulletin of Chinese Linguistics. 11 (1–2): 99–152. doi:10.1163/2405478X-01101010.

[Grollmann_2023-5] Grollmann, Selin. 2023. Remarks on the Khambu subgroup of Kiranti. 26th Himalayan Languages Symposium, 4-6 September 2023. Paris: INALCO.

[6] van Driem, George (1990). "The Fall and Rise of the Phoneme /r/ in Eastern Kiranti: Sound Change in Tibeto-Burman". Bulletin of the School of Oriental and African Studies, University of London. 53 (1): 83–86. doi:10.1017/S0041977X00021273. JSTOR 618970. S2CID 128967034.

[7] Michailovsky, Boyd. 1991. Big black notebook of Kiranti, proto-Kiranti forms. (unpublished ms. contributed to STEDT).

[8] Starostin, Sergei A. 1994–2000. Proto-Kiranti reconstruction (online database). http://starling.rinet.ru/

[9] Opgenort, Jean-Robert (2004). "Implosive and preglottalized stops in Kiranti" (PDF). Linguistics of the Tibeto–Burman Area. 27 (1): 1–27.

[10] Opgenort, Jean Robert (2005). A Grammar of Jero: With a Historical Comparative Study of the Kiranti Languages. BRILL. ISBN 978-90-474-1508-4.^{[page needed]}

[11] Jacques, Guillaume (27 November 2017). "A reconstruction of Proto-Kiranti verb roots" (PDF). Folia Linguistica. 51 (s38–s1): 177–215. doi:10.1515/flih-2017-0007. S2CID 149278651.

[12] Jacques, Guillaume (2016). "Tonogenesis and tonal alternations in Khaling" (PDF). Tone and Inflection. pp. 41–66. doi:10.1515/9783110452754-003. ISBN 978-3-11-045275-4.

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@@ Line 4: / Line 4: @@
 | name = Kiranti
 | region = [[Eastern Nepal]] and [[India]] ([[Sikkim]], [[Darjeeling]], [[Kalimpong]] & [[Bhutan]]
-| ethnicity = [[Kirati people|Kirati]], [[Rai people|Rai]],  [[Yakkha people|Yakkha]], [[Limbu people|Limbu]], and [[Sunuwar people|Sunuwar]]
+| ethnicity = [[Kirati people|Kirati]],   [[Yakkha people|Yakkha]], [[Limbu people|Limbu]], [[Rai people|Rai]] and [[Sunuwar people|Sunuwar]]
 | familycolor = Sino-Tibetan
 | fam2 = [[Tibeto-Burman languages|Tibeto-Burman]]
@@ Line 20: / Line 20: @@
 [[George van Driem]] had formerly proposed that the Kiranti languages were part of a [[Mahakiranti languages|Mahakiranti]] family, although specialists are not completely certain of either the existence of a Kiranti subgroup or its precise membership.<ref>Matisoff 2003, pp. 5–6; Thurgood 2003, pp. 15–16; Ebert 2003, pg. 505.</ref> LaPolla (2003), though, proposes that Kiranti may be part of a larger "[[Rung languages|Rung]]" group.
-== Languages ==
+== Classification ==
-There are about two dozen Kiranti languages. The better known are [[Limbu language|Limbu]],  [[Sunuwar language|Sunuwar]], [[Bantawa|Bantawa Rai]], [[Chamling|Chamling Rai]], [[Khaling language|Khaling Rai]], [[Bahing language|Bahing Rai]], [[Yakkha language]], [[Wayu language|Vayu]], [[Dungmali language|Dungmali Rai]], [[Lohorung language|Lohorung Rai]] and [[Kulung language (Nepal)|Kulung Rai]].
+There are about two dozen Kiranti languages. Among the better known are [[Limbu language|Limbu]],  [[Sunuwar language|Sunuwar]], [[Bantawa language|Bantawa]], [[Chamling language|Chamling]], [[Khaling language|Khaling]], [[Bahing language|Bahing]], [[Yakkha language|Yakkha]], [[Wayu language|Wayu]], [[Dungmali language|Dungmali]], [[Lohorung language|Lohorung]], and [[Kulung language (Nepal)|Kulung]].
-Kiranti verbs are not easily segmentable, due in large part to the presence of [[portmanteau]] [[morpheme]]s, crowded [[affix]] strings, and extensive (and often nonintuitive) [[allomorph]]y.
+Kiranti verbs are not easily segmentable, due in large part to the presence of [[portmanteau]] [[morpheme]]s, crowded [[affix]] strings, and extensive (and often nonintuitive) [[allomorph]]y. Thus their relationship to each other has been a subject of debate.
+Overall, Kiranti languages are classified:
-=== Classification ===
-Overall, Kiranti languages are:
+{{tree list}}
-* [[Limbu language|Limbu]]
-* Eastern Kiranti
+* '''Eastern  Kiranti'''
-** Greater Yakkha
+** [[Limbu language]]
-*** [[Yakkha language|Yakkha]]
+**** [[Yakkha language]]
-*** [[Belhare language|Belhare Rai]]
+**** [[Belhare language]]
-*** [[Athpare language|Athpare Rai]]
+**** [[Athpare language]]
-*** [[Chintang language|Chintang Rai]]
+**** [[Chintang language]]
-*** [[Chhiling language|Chhiling Rai]]
+***** [[Yamphu language]]
+***** [[Lohorung language]]
-** Upper Arun River
+**** [[Mewahang language]]
-*** Yamphu-Lohorung Rai
-**** [[Yamphu language|Yamphu Rai]]
-**** [[Lohorung language|Lohorung Rai]]
-*** [[Mewahang language|Mewahang Rai]]
-*** ? [[Waling language|Waling Rai]] †
-* Central
-** Khambu (Rai)
-*** [[Kulung language (Nepal)|Kulung Rai]]
-*** [[Nachhiring language|Nachhiring Rai]]
-*** [[Sampang language|Sampang Rai]]
-*** [[Saam language|Saam Rai]]
-** Southern
-*** [[Bantawa language|Bantawa Rai]]
-*** [[Puma language|Puma Rai]]
-*** [[Chamling language|Chamling Rai]]
-*** [[Dungmali language|Dungmali]]
-* Western
-** [[Thulung language|Thulung Rai]] (perhaps a primary branch of Kiranti Rai)
-** Chaurasiya
-*** [[Wambule language|Wambule Rai]]
-*** [[Jerung language|Jerung Rai]]
-** Upper Dudhkosi River:
-*** [[Khaling language|Khaling Rai]]
-*** [[Dumi language|Dumi Rai]]
-*** [[Koi language|Koi Rai]]
-** Northwestern
-*** [[Bahing language|Bahing Rai]]
-*** [[Sunuwar language|Sunuwar]]
-*** Hayu
+** '''Central Kiranti'''
-''Ethnologue'' adds [[Tilung language|Tilung Rai]] to Western Kiranti, based on Opgenort (2011).
+*** Khambu (Rai)
+**** [[Kulung language (Nepal)|Kulung language ]]
+**** [[Nachhiring language]]
+**** [[Sampang language]]
+**** [[Saam language]]
+**** [[Bantawa language]]
+**** [[Puma language]]
+**** [[Chamling language]]
+**** [[Dungmali language]]
+*** [[Thulung language]] (perhaps a primary branch of Kiranti Rai)
+*** Chaurasiya
+**** [[Wambule language]]
+*** Upper Dudhkosi River:
+**** [[Khaling language]]
+**** [[Dumi language]]
+**** [[Koi language]]
+**** [[Bahing language]]
+*** '''Western Kiranti'''
+**** [[Sunuwar language]]
+**** [[Hayu language ]]
+**** [[Jerung language]]
+{{tree list/end}}
+''Ethnologue'' adds [[Tilung language]] to Western Kiranti, based on Opgenort (2011).
 === Opgenort (2005) ===
 Opgenort (2005)<ref>Opgenort, Jean Robert. [http://www.opgenort.nl/kiranti_database_project Comparative and Etymological Kiranti Database] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190224040404/http://www.opgenort.nl/kiranti_database_project |date=2019-02-24 }}.</ref> classifies the Kiranti languages as follows, and recognizes a basic east-west division within Kiranti.
+{{tree list}}
-; Kiranti
-* ''Western''
+* '''Kiranti'''
-** [[Wayu language|Hayu]]
+** ''Western''
+*** [[Wayu language|Hayu]]
+*** {{tree list/branching}}
-** (branch)
-*** [[Thulung language|Thulung]]
+**** [[Thulung language|Thulung]]
+**** {{tree list/branching}}
-*** (branch)
-**** [[Bahing language|Bahing]], [[Sunuwar language|Sunuwar]]
+***** [[Bahing language|Bahing]], [[Sunuwar language|Sunuwar]]
-**** [[Jerung language|Jero]], [[Wambule language|Wambule]]
+***** [[Jerung language|Jero]], [[Wambule language|Wambule]]
-* ''Eastern''
+** ''Central''
-** [[Khaling language|Khaling]], [[Dumi language|Dumi]]
+*** [[Khaling language|Khaling]], [[Dumi language|Dumi]]
-** (branch)
+**** {{tree list/branching}}
-*** [[Yamphu language|Yamphu]], [[Limbu language|Limbu]]
+***** [[Kulung language (Nepal)|Kulung]]
-*** (branch)
-**** [[Kulung language (Nepal)|Kulung]]
+***** [[Chamling language|Chamling]], [[Bantawa language|Bantawa]]
-**** [[Chamling language|Chamling]], [[Bantawa language|Bantawa]]
+** ''Eastern''
+**** [[Yamphu language|Yamphu]], [[Limbu language|Limbu]]
+{{tree list/end}}
 === Gerber & Grollmann (2018) ===
 [[Historical linguist]]s, as early as 2012, do not consider Kiranti to be a coherent group, but rather a [[paraphyletic]] one due to lack of [[shared innovation]]s.<ref>{{Cite journal|title=Agreement Morphology: The Case of Rgyalrongic and Kiranti |first=Guillaume |last=Jacques |date=2012|journal=Language and Linguistics|url=https://www.ling.sinica.edu.tw/item/en?act=journal&code=download&article_id=380|page=84}}</ref> Gerber & Grollmann (2018) presented additional evidence supporting the paraphyletic nature of Kiranti. A Central-Eastern Kiranti group is considered to be valid by Gerber & Grollmann (2018), but they consider "Western Kiranti" unclassified within [[Trans-Himalayan languages]].<ref name="GG2018">{{cite journal |last1=Gerber |first1=Pascal |last2=Grollmann |first2=Selin |title=What is Kiranti?: A Critical Account |journal=Bulletin of Chinese Linguistics |date=20 November 2018 |volume=11 |issue=1–2 |pages=99–152 |doi=10.1163/2405478X-01101010 |doi-access=free }}</ref>
+{{tree list}}
 * Central-Eastern Kiranti
 ** [[Lhokpu language|Lhokpu]], [[Dhimal language|Dhimal]], [[Toto language|Toto]]
@@ Line 96: / Line 99: @@
 ** Upper Arun
 ** Greater Yakkha-[[Limbu language|Limbu]]
+{{tree list/end}}
 Independent branches (formerly part of "Western Kiranti") that are unclassified within Trans-Himalayan (Sino-Tibetan):
@@ Line 143: / Line 147: @@
 * Michailovsky, Boyd. 1991. ''[http://stedt.berkeley.edu/~stedt-cgi/rootcanal.pl/source/BM-PK7 Big black notebook of Kiranti, proto-Kiranti forms]''. (unpublished ms. contributed to STEDT).
 * {{cite journal | surname = Opgenort | given = Jean Robert | title = A note on Tilung and its position within Kiranti | journal = Himalayan Linguistics | year = 2011 | volume = 10 | issue = 1 | pages = 253–271 | url = https://escholarship.org/uc/item/32j1n5s7 }}
-* {{cite journal |last=Jacques |first=Guillaume |title=A reconstruction of Proto-Kiranti verb roots |journal=Folia Linguistica |volume=51 |issue=38 (supplement nr. 1) |date=2017 |pages=177–215 |doi=10.1515/flih-2017-0007 |s2cid=149278651 |url=https://www.academia.edu/23687367}}
+* {{cite journal |last=Jacques |first=Guillaume |title=A reconstruction of Proto-Kiranti verb roots |journal=Folia Linguistica |volume=51 |issue=38 (supplement nr. 1) |date=2017 |pages=177–215 |doi=10.1515/flih-2017-0007 |s2cid=149278651 |url=https://halshs.archives-ouvertes.fr/halshs-01731021/file/proto-kiranti.pdf}}
 {{refend}}

v t e Kiranti languages
Limbu	Limbu
Western	Thulung Wambule Jerung Khaling Dumi Koi Bahing Sunwar Vayu Tilung
Central	Kulung Nachhiring Sampang Saam Bantawa Puma Chamling Dungmali
Eastern	Yakkha Belhare Athpare Chintang Chulung Yamphu Lohorung Mewahang
Dhimalish	Dhimal Toto Lhokpu
see also: Mahakiranti languages