East Asian languages

The East Asian languages are a language family (alternatively macrofamily or superphylum) first proposed by linguist Stanley Starosta in 2001. The proposal has also since been adopted by other linguists such as George van Driem. It comprises of most languages situated within East and Southeast Asia, who are believed to have derived from a common proto-language located within now eastern China, specifically at the North China Plain.[1]

This article is about the proposed language family. For the languages of the East Asian geographical region, see languages of East Asia.
East Asian
(proposed, under study)
Geographic
distribution		East Asia, Southeast Asia, South Asia, Oceania, Madagascar
Linguistic classificationProposed language family
Early form
Proto-East Asian
Subdivisions
GlottologNone

Classifications

Early proposals

Early proposals of similar linguistic macrophyla, in narrower scope:[2]

Precursors to the East Asian proposal:

Starosta (2005)
Location of the Peiligang culture

Stanley Starosta's (2005)[17] East Asian proposal includes a "Yangzian" branch, consisting of Austroasiatic and Hmong–Mien, to form an East Asian superphylum. However, Starosta considers his proposed Yangzian to be a direct sister of Sino-Tibetan rather than Austronesian, which is more distantly related to Sino-Tibetan as a sister of Sino-Tibetan-Yangzian. He considers Proto-East Asian to have been a disyllabic (CVCVC) language spoken from 6,500 to 6,000 BCE by Peiligang culture and Cishan culture millet farmers on the North China Plain (specifically the Han River, Wei River, and central Yellow River areas).[1]

Starosta (2005) proposes the following Proto-East Asian morphological affixes, which are found in Proto-Tibeto-Burman and Proto-Austronesian, as well as in some morphologically conservative Austroasiatic branches such as Nicobaric.[18]

  • *m(V)- 'agent of V-ing'
  • *-Vn 'patient of V-ing'
  • *sV- 'instrument of V-ing'
  • *n(V)- 'perfective'

van Driem (2012)
See also: Father Tongue hypothesis

The following tree of East Asian superphylum (macrofamily) was proposed by George van Driem in 2012 at the 18th Himalayan Languages Symposium, held at the Benares Hindu University.[2][19]

According to van Driem, the linguistic evidence for the East Asian languages matches the genetic evidence from Y-DNA Haplogroup O.[20] (Further information: Father Tongue hypothesis)

Larish (2006, 2017)

According to Michael D. Larish, the languages of Southeast and East Asia descended from one proto-language (which he calls "Proto-Asian"). Japonic is grouped together with Koreanic as one branch of the Proto-Asian family. The other branch consists of the Austronesian, Austroasiatic, Kra-Dai, Hmong-Mien and Sino-Tibetan languages.[21][22]

Vocabulary comparison

Below is a comparison of basic vocabulary items for proto-languages of all 5 East Asian language families.

Sources
Sino-Tibetan Hmong-Mien Austroasiatic Austronesian Kra-Dai
gloss Proto-Tibeto-Burman Proto-Hmong-Mien Proto-Austroasiatic Proto-Austronesian Proto-Tai Proto-Hlai Proto-Kra
hair *(t)sam *pljei *suk, *sɔːk *bukeS *prɤmA *hnom *m-səmA
eye *s-myak *mu̯ɛjH *mat *maCa *p.taːA *tʃʰaː *m-ʈaA
ear *r/g-na *mbræu *-toːr *Caliŋa *krwɯːA *ljəy *k-raA
nose *s-na ~ *s-naːr *mbruiH *mɔːh, *muːh, *muːs *ujuŋ *ɗaŋA *kʰət *hŋətD
tooth *s/p-wa *hmjinʔ *lmVɲ, *sraŋ, *p(i)əŋ *lipen, *n/ŋipen *wanA *fjən *l-pənA
tongue *m/s-lay ~ *s-ley *mblet *lntaːk *Sema, *lidam *liːnC *hliːnʔ *l-maA
hand *lak ~ *C-yak *-bɔuʔ *tiːʔ *kamay *mwɯːA *C-mɯː *mjaA
bone *s/m/g-rus *tshuŋʔ *cʔaːŋ *CuqelaN *C̥.dukD *Cuɾɯːk *dəkD
blood *s-hywəy-t *ntshjamʔ *saːm, *ɟhaːm, *(b/m)haːm *daRaq *lɯətD *alaːc *platD
liver *m-sin *-hri̯ən *kləːm, *ris *qaCay *tapD *ɗəy *təpD
meat, flesh *sya-n P-Mienic *ʔaB *sac *Sesi *n.mɤːC *rəmʔ *ʔaɯC
dog *d-kʷəy-n P-Hmongic *hmaŋC *cɔːʔ *asu *ʰmaːA *hmaː *x-maA
bird *s-ŋak *m-nɔk *ciːm, *ceːm *manuk 'chicken' *C̬.nokD *səc *ɳokD
fish *s-ŋya *mbrəuʔ *kaʔ *Sikan *plaːA *hlaː *p-laA
louse *s-r(y)ik *ntshjeiʔ *ciːʔ *kuCux *trawA *tʃʰwəw *C-ʈuA
leaf *lay P-Hmongic *mblɔŋA,
P-Mienic *nɔmA		 *slaʔ *waSaw *ɓaɰA *ɓɯː *ɖiŋA
sun, day *s-nəy P-Mienic *hnu̯ɔiA *tŋiːʔ *waRi, *qajaw *ŋwanA *hŋwən *(l-/h)wənA
moon *s/g-la *hlaH *khaj *bulaN, *qiNaS *ɓlɯənA *C-ɲaːn *(C-)tjanA
water *m-t(w)əy-n ~ *m-ti-s *ʔu̯əm *ɗaːk; Pal. *ʔoːm *daNum *C̬.namC *C-nəmʔ *ʔuŋC
rain *r/s/g-wa P-Hmongic *m-noŋC *gmaʔ *quzaN *C̥.wɯnA *fun *jəlA
fire *mey *douʔ *ʔuːs, *ʔɔːs *Sapuy *wɤjA *fiː *puiA
name *r-mi(ŋ/n) *mpɔuH *-məh *ŋajan *ɟɤːB *pʰaːŋ *n(ʒ)iA
eat *m-dz(y)a-k/n/t/s P-Mienic *ɲənC *caːʔ *kaen *kɯɲA *kʰən *kanA
die *səy *dəjH *kceːt *ma-aCay *p.taːjA *hlaːwɦ *pɣonA
I *ŋa-y ~ *ka P-Hmongic *kɛŋB *ʔaɲ -ku *kuːA *ɦuː *kuA
you (sg.) *na-ŋ *mu̯ei *miːʔ -mu *mɯŋA *C-mɯː *məA/B

Distributions

Notes and references
  1. Starosta, Stanley (2005). "Proto-East Asian and the origin and dispersal of languages of east and southeast Asia and the Pacific". In Sagart, Laurent; Blench, Roger; Sanchez-Mazas, Alicia (eds.). The Peopling of East Asia: Putting Together Archaeology, Linguistics and Genetics. London: Routledge Curzon. pp. 182–197. ISBN 978-0-415-32242-3.
  2. van Driem, George. 2013. "East Asian ethnolinguistic phylogeography Archived 2019-04-29 at the Wayback Machine", Bulletin of Chinese Linguistics, 7 (1): 135-188.
  3. Conrady, August. 1916. Eine merkw rdige Beziehung zwischen den austrischen und den indochinesischen Sprachen. Aufsätze zur Kultur- und Sprachgeschichte vornehmlich des Orients: Ernst Kuhn zum 70. Geburtstage am 7. Februar 1916 gewidmet von Freunden und Schülern, 475-504. München: Verlag von M. & H. Marcus.
  4. Conrady, August. 1922. Neue austrisch-indochinesische Parallelen. Asia Major: Hirth Anniversary Volume, 23-66. London: Robsthan and Company.
  5. Wulff, Kurt. 1934. Chinesisch und Tai: Sprachvergleichende Untersuchungen. Copenhagen: Levin & Munksgaard.
  6. Wulff, Kurt. 1942 [posthumous]. Über das Verhältnis des Malay-Polynesischen zum Indochinesischen. Copenhagen: Munksgaard.
  7. Benedict, Paul King. 1942. Thai, Kadai and Indonesia: A new alignment in southeastern Asia. American Anthropologist 44:576-601.
  8. Blust, Robert. 1996. Beyond the Austronesian homeland: The Austric hypothesis and its implications for archaeology. Prehistoric Settlement of the Pacific, ed. by Ward H. Goodenough, 117-160. Philadelphia: American Philosophical Society.
  9. Peiros, Ilia. 1998. Comparative Linguistics in Southeast Asia. Canberra: Pacific Linguistics.
  10. Schlegel, Gustave. 1901. Review: ‘Elements of Siamese Grammar by O. Frankfurter, Ph.D., Bangkok: Printed at the American Presbyterian Mission Press, Leipzig, Karl W. Hiersemann, 1900’. T'oung Pao (Série II), II:76-87.
  11. Schlegel, Gustave. 1902. Siamese Studies. T'oung Pao, New Series II, Volume II, Supplement. Leiden.
  12. Ostapirat, Weera. 2005. Kra-Dai and Austronesian: Notes on phonological correspondences and vocabulary distribution. The Peopling of East Asia: Putting Together Archaeology, Linguistics and Genetics, ed. by Laurent Sagart, Roger Blench and Alicia Sanchez-Mazas, 107-131. London: Routledge Curzon.
  13. Ostapirat, Weera. 2013. Austro-Tai revisited. 23rd Annual Meeting of the Southeast Asian Linguistic Society, Chulalongkorn University, Bangkok, 29 May 2013.
  14. Schmidt, Wilhelm. 1906. Die Mon-Khmer Völker, ein Bindeglied zwischen Völkern Zentral-Asiens und Austronesiens. Archiv für Anthropologie Neue Folge V:59-109.
  15. Reid, Lawrence A. 1994. Morphological evidence for Austric. Oceanic Linguistics 33.2:323-344.
  16. Reid, Lawrence A. 2005. The current status of Austric: a review and evaluation of the lexical and morphosyntactic evidence. The Peopling of East Asia: Putting Together Archaeology, Linguistics and Genetics, ed. by Laurent Sagart, Roger Blench and Alicia Sanchez-Mazas, 132-160. London: Routledge Curzon, London.
  17. Since Starosta died on July 18, 2002, his paper, originally written in 2001, was published posthumously.
  18. Reid, Lawrence A. (1994). "Morphological evidence for Austric" (PDF). Oceanic Linguistics. 33 (2): 323–344. doi:10.2307/3623132. hdl:10125/32987. JSTOR i285831. Archived (PDF) from the original on 2017-08-15. Retrieved 2020-08-10.
  19. van Driem, George. 2016. "The Eastern Himalayan corridor in prehistory Archived 2018-10-09 at the Wayback Machine", pp. 467-524, Vol. II in Elena Nikolaevna Kolpačkova, ed., Проблемы китайского и общего языкознания — Problems in Chinese and General Linguistics. St. Petersburg: Izdatel’stvo Studija « NP-Print ».
  20. van Driem, George. 2018. "The East Asian linguistic phylum: A reconstruction based on language and genes Archived 2021-01-10 at the Wayback Machine", Journal of the Asiatic Society, LX (4): 1-38.
  21. Larish, Michael D. (January 2006). Possible Proto-Asian Archaic Residue and the Statigraphy of Diffusional Cumulation in Austro-Asian Languages (PDF). Tenth International Conference on Austronesian Linguistics. Archived (PDF) from the original on 2019-01-08. Retrieved 2019-01-07.
  22. Larish, Michael. 2017. Proto-Asian and its branches: An archeolinguistic approach for the history of Eastern Asia. Linguistic Society of the Philippines.
  23. Matisoff, James A. 2015. The Sino-Tibetan Etymological Dictionary and Thesaurus Archived 2020-10-23 at the Wayback Machine. Berkeley: University of California. (PDF Archived 2020-02-02 at the Wayback Machine)
  24. Ratliff, Martha. 2010. Hmong–Mien language history. Canberra, Australia: Pacific Linguistics. ISBN 0-85883-615-7.
  25. Sidwell, Paul and Felix Rau (2015). "Austroasiatic Comparative-Historical Reconstruction: An Overview." In Jenny, Mathias and Paul Sidwell, eds (2015). The Handbook of Austroasiatic Languages. Leiden: Brill.
  26. Blust, Robert; Trussel, Stephen (June 21, 2020). "Austronesian Comparative Dictionary, web edition". Archived from the original on August 6, 2020. Retrieved November 10, 2020.
  27. Pittayaporn, Pittayawat. 2009. The Phonology of Proto-Tai. Ph.D. dissertation. Department of Linguistics, Cornell University.
  28. Norquest, Peter K. 2007. A Phonological Reconstruction of Proto-Hlai Archived 2016-03-03 at the Wayback Machine. Ph.D. dissertation. Tucson: Department of Anthropology, University of Arizona.
  29. Ostapirat, Weera. 2000. "Proto-Kra Archived 2020-11-12 at the Wayback Machine." Linguistics of the Tibeto-Burman Area 23 (1): 1-251.

See also
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