The topic of var1 has been the subject of interest and debate for a long time. No matter if it is a historical topic, a public figure or a relevant event, var1 has captured the attention of many people on different occasions. Over the years, var1 has been the subject of research, reflection and analysis, generating endless opinions, theories and diverse perspectives. In this article, we will explore in depth the impact and relevance of var1 in different contexts, as well as its implications today.
Proto-Sino-Tibetan | |
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PST, Proto-Trans-Himalayan | |
Reconstruction of | Sino-Tibetan languages |
Lower-order reconstructions |
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Proto-Sino-Tibetan (PST) is the hypothetical linguistic reconstruction of the Sino-Tibetan proto-language and the common ancestor of all languages in it, including the Sinitic languages, the Tibetic languages, Yi, Bai, Burmese, Karen, Tangut, and Naga. Paul K. Benedict (1972) placed a particular emphasis on Old Chinese, Classical Tibetan, Jingpho, Written Burmese, Garo, and Mizo in his discussion of Proto-Sino-Tibetan.
While Proto-Sino-Tibetan is commonly considered to have two direct descendants, Proto-Sinitic and Proto-Tibeto-Burman, in recent years several scholars have attempted to rename the group "Trans-Himalayan". In this case, Proto-Tibeto-Burman may be considered as equivalent to Proto-Sino-Tibetan if Sinitic is indeed not the first branch to split from Proto-Sino-Tibetan.
Reconstructed features include prefixes such as the causative s-, the intransitive m-, the miscellaneous b-, d-, g-, and r-, suffixes -s, -t, and -n, and a set of conditioning factors that resulted in the development of tone in most languages of the family. The existence of such elaborate system of inflectional changes in Proto-Sino-Tibetan makes the language distinctive from some of its modern descendants, such as the Sinitic languages, which have mostly or completely become analytic.
Proto-Sino-Tibetan, like Old Chinese, also included numerous consonant clusters, and was not a tonal language.
The table below shows consonant phonemes reconstructed by Benedict.[page needed]
Plosive | Fricative | Sonorant | ||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Voiceless | Voiced | Voiceless | Voiced | Nasal | Other | |
Labial | p | b | m | w | ||
Dental | t | d | s | z | n | r |
Palatal | c | ʒ | y | |||
Lateral | l | |||||
Velar | k | g | h | ŋ |
The reconstruction by Peiros & Starostin suggests a much more complex consonant inventory. The phonemes in brackets are reconstructions that are considered dubious.
Plosive/Affricate | Fricative | Sonorant | ||||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Unaspirated | Aspirated | |||||||
Voiceless | Voiced | Voiceless | Voiced | Voiceless | Voiced | Voiceless | Voiced | |
Labial | p | b | pʰ | (bʰ) | m | w | ||
Dental | t | d | tʰ | (dʰ) | n | r | ||
Alveolar | c | ʒ | cʰ | (ʒʰ) | s | |||
Palatal | ć | ʒ́ | ćʰ | ʒ́ʰ | ś | ń | y | |
Lateral | (ƛ) | l | ||||||
Velar | k | g | kʰ | (gʰ) | x | ɣ | ŋ | |
Uvular | (q) | (ɢ) | (qʰ) | (ɢʰ) | (χ) | |||
Laryngeal | ʔ |
The following tables show the reconstruction of Proto-Sino-Tibetan phonemes by Nathan Hill (2019).
Consonants | Labial | Coronal | Palatal | Velar | Labiovelar | Uvular | Labiouvular | Glottal | |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Nasal | *m | *n | *ŋ | *ŋʷ | |||||
Plosive | voiced | *b | *d | *g | *ɢ | *ɢʷ | |||
voiceless | *p | *t | *k | *kʷ | *q | *ʔ | |||
Affricate | voiced | *dz | |||||||
voiceless | *ts | ||||||||
Fricatives | *(s) | ||||||||
Approximant | *l | *j | |||||||
Rhotic | *r |
The consonants /p t k q ʔ m n ŋ l r j/ can take coda position, as well as the cluster /rl/. While Hill does not reconstruct /j/ as an initial consonant due to Baxter and Sagart's Old Chinese reconstruction lacking such a phoneme, he mentions that Jacques and Schuessler suggest a /j/ initial for some Old Chinese words due to potential Tibetan or Rgyalrongic cognates.
Vowels | Front | Central | Back |
---|---|---|---|
Close | i | u | |
Mid | e | ə | o |
Open | a |
Hill also claims that his reconstruction is incomplete, as it does not account for Tibetic palatalization, proto-Burmish preglottalization, Sinitic aspirates, and the Sinitic type A and B distinction of syllables.
In Gong Huangcheng's reconstruction of the Proto-Sino-Tibetan language, the finals *-p, *-t, *-k, *-m, *-n, and *-ŋ in Proto-Sino-Tibetan remained in Proto-Sinitic and Proto-Tibeto-Burman. However, in Old Chinese, the finals *-k and *-ŋ that came after the close vowel *-i- underwent an irregular change of *-k>*-t and *-ŋ >*-n. In Proto-Tibeto-Burman, *-kw and *-ŋw underwent a sound change to become *-k and *-ŋ respectively, while in Old Chinese those finals remained until Middle Chinese, where the finals underwent the same sound change.
Furthermore, in Proto-Tibeto-Burman, the finals *-g, *-gw, and *-d underwent the following changes:
Proto-Sino-Tibetan | Old Chinese (Li Fang-Kuei) | Proto-Tibeto-Burman | |
---|---|---|---|
*-p | *-jəp | 汲 *kjəp | *ka·p |
泣 *khrjəp | *krap | ||
立 *(g-)rjəp | *g-ryap | ||
*-jap | 接 *tsjap | *tsyap | |
*-jup | 入 *njəp | *nup~ *nip | |
*-t | *-iat | 八 *priat | *b-r-gyat |
殺 *r-siat | *g-sat | ||
*-uat | 脫 *hluat | *g-lwat | |
*-jit | 一 *·jit | *it | |
*-k | *-ək | 翼 *lək | *lak |
*-jək | 織 *tjək | *tak | |
息 *sjək | *sak | ||
食 *N-ljək | *(m-)lyak | ||
飼 *s-ljəks | *(s-)lyak | ||
*-ik | 節 *tsik>*tsit | *tsik | |
縊 *·iks, *·jiks | *ik | ||
*-jik | 蝨 *srjik>*srjit | *s-rik | |
*-juk | 曲 *khjuk | *guk~kuk | |
*-kw | *-əkw | 毒 *dəkw | *duk~*tuk |
*-jəkw | 腹 *phjəkw, *bjəkw | *pu·k~*buk | |
六 *drjəkw | *d-ruk |
Proto-Sino-Tibetan | Old Chinese (Li Fang-Kuei) | Proto-Tibeto-Burman | |
---|---|---|---|
*-m | *-əm | 含 *gəm | *gam |
頷 *gəm | *gam | ||
*-jəm | 飲 *·jəmx | *am | |
尋 *ljəm | *lam | ||
*-jim | 坅 *khjamx “pit” | *kim | |
*-um | 三 *səm | *g-sum | |
*-jum | 尋 *ljəm | *lum | |
*-n | *-an | 乾 *kan | *kan |
*-jin | 辛 *sjin | *m-sin | |
*-ng | *-jəng | 夢 *mjəngs | *mang |
蒸 *tjəng | *tang | ||
*-jang | 紡 *phjangx | *pang | |
涼 *grjang | *grang | ||
迎 *ngrjang | *ngang | ||
*-ing | 盈 *bling | *bling~pling | |
*-jing | 年 *ning>*nin | *ning | |
名 *mjing | *r-ming | ||
甥 *srjing | *sring | ||
薪 *sjing>*sjin | *sing | ||
仁 *njing>*njin | *s-ning | ||
*-ngw | *-jəngw | 躬 *kjəngw | *gung |
Proto-Sino-Tibetan | Old Chinese (Li Fang-Kuei) | Proto-Tibeto-Burman | |
---|---|---|---|
*-b | *-əb | 柔 *njəb>*njəgw | *nəw |
*-d | *-əd | 𤈦 *smjədx | *məy |
*-ad | 簸 *padx/s | *pwa·y | |
太 *tads | *tay | ||
蜾 *kwadx | *kwa·y | ||
我 *ngadx | *ngay | ||
移 *lad | *lay | ||
*-id | 四 *sjids | *b-liy | |
*-jid | 妣 *pjidx | *piy | |
畀 *sbjids | *biy | ||
几 *krjidx | *kriy | ||
屎 *skhljidx | *kliy | ||
死 *sjidx | *siy | ||
*-g | *-əg | 母 *məgx | *ma |
*-jəg | 負 *bjəgx | *ba, *bak | |
子 *tsjəgx | *tsa | ||
慈 *dzjəg | *m-dza | ||
孳 *dzjəgs | *za | ||
耳 *njəgx | *r-na~*g-na | ||
牛 *ngwjəg | *ngwa | ||
*-ag | 補 *pagx | *pa | |
苦 *khagx | *ka | ||
吾 *ngag | *nga | ||
五 *ngagx | *l-nga~*b-nga | ||
狐 *gwag | *gwa | ||
*-jag | 斧 *pjagx | *r-pwa | |
夫 *pjag | *(p)wa | ||
父 *bjagx | *pa | ||
無 *mjag | *ma | ||
魚 *ngjag | *ngya | ||
咀 *dzjag | *dza | ||
汝 *njagx | *na | ||
*-ug | 口 *khugx | *kuw | |
寇 *khugs | *r-kuw | ||
*-jug | 霧 *m(r)jugs | *(r-)muw | |
軀 *khjug | *(s-)kuw | ||
乳 *njugx | *nuw | ||
*-gw | *-əgw | 寶 *pəgwx | *puw |
抱 *bəgwx | *buw | ||
*-jəgw | 鳩 *kjəgw | *kuw | |
九 *kjəgwx | *d-kuw | ||
舅 *gjəgwx | *kuw | ||
*-agw | 豪 *gagw | *m/s-gaw | |
號 *gagws | *gaw | ||
熬 *ngagw | *r-ngaw | ||
臊 *sagw | *sa·w | ||
*-jagw | 飄/漂 *phjagw | *pyaw |
Proto-Sino-Tibetan | Old Chinese (Li Fang-Kuei) | Proto-Tibeto-Burman | |
---|---|---|---|
*-l | *-al | 肝 *kan | *m-kal |
*-ul | 本 *pən | *bul~*pul | |
*-jul | 銀 *ngjən | *(d)-ngul | |
閩 *mjən | *s-brul | ||
*-jal | 疲 *brjal | *bal | |
*-il | 洒 *silx | *(m-)s(y)il | |
*-r | *-ar | 播 *s-bars | *bwar |
皤 *bar, *par | *pwa:r | ||
*-jar | 販 *pjans | *par | |
鮮 *sjan | *sar | ||
*-uar | 酸 *suan | *swa·r | |
*-jur | 飛 *pjər | *pur~*pir |
Words which do not have reliable Sinitic parallels are accompanied by a (TB).