West Himalayish languages
The West Himalayish languages, also known as Almora and Kanauric, are a family of Sino-Tibetan languages centered in Himachal Pradesh, Uttarakhand and across the border into Nepal. LaPolla (2003) proposes that the West Himalayish languages may be part of a larger "Rung" group.
| West Himalayish | |
|---|---|
| Kanauric, Almora | |
| Geographic distribution | Himachal Pradesh, Uttarakhand (India), Nepal |
| Linguistic classification | Sino-Tibetan
|
| Glottolog | tibe1275 |
Languages
The languages include:
- Kinnauri
- Chitkuli Kinnauri
- Kinnauri
- Thebor: Sunam, Jangshung, Shumcho
- Lahaulic: Pattani (Manchad), Tinan
- Gahri (Bunan)
- Kanashi
- Rongpo–Almora
- Rongpo
- Almora (Ranglo): Darmiya, Byangsi, Dhuleli, Chaudangsi, Rangas (extinct early 20th century), Zhangzhung
Zhangzhung, the sacred language of the Bon religion, was spoken north of the Himalayas across western Tibet before being replaced by Tibetan. James Matisoff (2001)[1] provides lexical and phonological evidence for the classification of Zhangzhung within West Himalayish.
Classification
Widmer (2014:47)[2] classifies the West Himalayish languages as follows. The recently discovered Dhuleli language has been added from Regmi & Prasain (2017).[3]
- West Himalayish
- Western
- Eastern
- Central: Bunan, Sunnami, Rongpo; possibly Zhangzhung
- Almora: Rangas, Darmiya, Byangsi, Dhuleli, Chaudangsi
Widmer (2014:53-56)[2] classifies Zhangzhung within the Eastern branch of West Himalayish, and notes that it appears particularly close to languages of the Central subgroup (Bunan, Sunnami, and Rongpo).
Widmer (2017)[4] notes that many Tibetan varieties in the western Tibetan Plateau have been influenced by West Himalayish languages.
Vocabulary
Widmer (2017)[4] lists the following lexical items that differ in the Eastern and Western branches of West Himalayish.
| Language | ‘one’ | ‘hand’ | ‘cry’ | ‘black’ |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Proto-Eastern West Himalayish | *it | *gut | *krap- | *rok- |
| Manchad | itsa | gùṛa | krap- | roki |
| Kanashi | idh | guḍ | kərop- | roko |
| Kinnauri (Southern) | id | gŭd' | krap- | rŏkh |
| Proto-Western West Himalayish | *tik | *lak | *tjo- | *kʰaj/*wom |
| Bunan | tiki | lak | tjo- | kʰaj |
| Rongpo | tig | lag | tyõ- | kʰasyũ |
| Byangsi | tigɛ | là | tye- | wamdɛ |
Widmer (2014:53-56)[2] classifies Zhangzhung within the eastern branch of West Himalayish, and lists the following cognates between Zhangzhung and Proto-West Himalayish.
| Gloss | Zhangzhung | Proto-West Himalayish |
|---|---|---|
| barley | zad | *zat |
| blue | ting | *tiŋ- |
| diminutive suffix | -tse | *-tse ~ *-tsi |
| ear | ra tse | *re |
| fat | tsʰas | *tsʰos |
| girl | tsa med | *tsamet |
| god | sad | *sat |
| gold ? | zang | *zaŋ |
| heart | she | *ɕe |
| old (person) | shang ze | *ɕ(j)aŋ |
| red | mang | *maŋ |
| white | shi nom | *ɕi |
Footnotes
- Matisoff, James. 2001. "The interest of Zhangzhung for comparative Tibeto-Burman." In New Research on Zhangzhung and Related Himalayan Languages (Bon Studies 3). Senri Ethnological Studies no. 19, p.155-180. Osaka: National Museum of Ethnology 国立民族学博物館. doi:10.15021/00002145
- Widmer, Manuel. 2014. "A tentative classification of West Himalayish." In A descriptive grammar of Bunan, 33-56. Ph.D. dissertation, University of Bern.
- Regmi, Dan Raj; Prasain, Balaram. 2017. A sociolinguistic survey of Dhuleli. Linguistic Survey of Nepal (LinSuN), Tribhuvan University, Kathmandu, Nepal.
- Widmer, Manuel. 2017. The linguistic prehistory of the western Himalayas: endangered minority languages as a window to the past. Presented at Panel on Endangered Languages and Historical Linguistics, 23rd International Conference on Historical Linguistics (ICHL 23), San Antonio, Texas.
References
- George van Driem (2001) Languages of the Himalayas: An Ethnolinguistic Handbook of the Greater Himalayan Region. Brill.
- LaPolla, Randy. 2001. The Tibeto-Burman Languages of Uttar Pradesh.
- Widmer, Manuel. 2017. The linguistic prehistory of the western Himalayas: endangered minority languages as a window to the past. Presented at Panel on Endangered Languages and Historical Linguistics, 23rd International Conference on Historical Linguistics (ICHL 23), San Antonio, Texas.
- Widmer, Manuel. 2018. The linguistic prehistory of the western Himalayas. Proceedings of the 51st International Conference on Sino-Tibetan Languages and Linguistics (2018). Kyoto: Kyoto University.