East Asian languages

East Asian
(proposed, under study)
Geographic distribution	East Asia, South Asia, Southeast Asia, Oceania, Madagascar
Linguistic classification	Proposed language family
Subdivisions	Sino-Tibetan Hmong–Mien Kra–Dai Austronesian Austroasiatic Koreanic (sometimes included) Japonic (sometimes included)
Language codes
Glottolog	None

Classifications

Summarize

Perspective

Early proposals

Early proposals of similar linguistic macrophylla, in narrower scope:^[1]

Austroasiatic, Austronesian, Kra–Dai, Tibeto-Burman: August Conrady (1916, 1922)^[2]^[3] and Kurt Wulff (1934, 1942)^[4]^[5]
Austroasiatic, Austronesian, Kra–Dai, Hmong–Mien: Paul K. Benedict (1942),^[6] Robert Blust (1996),^[7] Ilia Peiros (1998)^[8]
Austroasiatic, Austronesian, Kra–Dai, Tibeto-Burman, Hmong–Mien: Stanley Starosta (2001)

Precursors to the East Asian proposal:

Austro-Tai (Kra–Dai and Austronesian): Gustave Schlegel (1901, 1902),^[9]^[10] Weera Ostapirat (2005)^[11]^[12]
Austric (Austroasiatic and Austronesian): Wilhelm Schmidt (1906),^[13] Lawrence Reid (1994, 2005)^[14]^[15]

Starosta (2005)

Stanley Starosta's (2005)^[16] East Asian proposal includes a "Yangzian" branch, consisting of Austroasiatic and Hmong–Mien, to form an East Asian superphylum. However, Starosta believes 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 concludes Proto-East Asian was 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).^[17]

East Asian
- Austronesian
  - (various Formosan branches)
  - Extra-Formosan
    - Tai–Kadai
    - Malayo-Polynesian
- Sino-Tibetan-Yangzian
  - Sino-Tibetan
  - Yangzian
    - Austroasiatic
    - Hmong–Mien

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)

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.^[1]^[19]

East Asian
- Austro-Tai
  - Kradai
  - Austronesian
- Austroasiatic
- Himalayan-Yangtzean
  - Trans-Himalayan
    - Sino-Bodic
    - Burmo-Qiangic
    - Brahmaputran
    - Gongduk, etc.
    - Kiranti, etc.
  - Yangtzean
    - Hmong–Mien

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]

East Asian
- Japano-Koreanic
  - Japonic
  - Koreanic
- Austro-Asian
  - Austronesian
  - Austroasiatic
  - Kra–Dai
  - Hmong–Mien
  - Sino-Tibetan

Remove ads

Vocabulary comparison

Summarize

Perspective

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

Sources

Proto-Tibeto-Burman: Matisoff (2015)^[23]
Proto-Hmong–Mien: Ratliff (2010)^[24]
Proto-Austroasiatic: Sidwell (2024);^[25] Sidwell & Rau (2015)^[26]
Proto-Austronesian: Blust & Trussel (2020)^[27]
Proto-Tai: Pittayaporn (2009)^[28]
Proto-Hlai: Norquest (2007)^[29]
Proto-Kra: Ostapirat (2000)^[30]

More information Sino-Tibetan, Hmong–Mien ...

	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	sukˀ, sɔkˀ	*bukeS	*prɤm^A	*hnom	*m-səm^A
eye	*s-myak	*mu̯ɛjH	*matˀ	*maCa	*p.taː^A	*tʃʰaː	*m-ʈa^A
ear	*r/g-na	*mbræu	*Ctoːr	*Caliŋa	*krwɯː^A	*ljəy	*k-ra^A
nose	s-na ~ s-naːr	*mbruiH	muːh, muːɕ	*ujuŋ	*ɗaŋ^A	*kʰət	*hŋət^D
tooth	*s/p-wa	*hmjinʔ	muɲ, məɲ	lipen, n/ŋipen	*wan^A	*fjən	*l-pən^A
tongue	m/s-lay ~ s-ley	*mblet	*lntaːkˀ	Sema, lidam	*liːn^C	*hliːnʔ	*l-ma^A
hand	lak ~ C-yak	*-bɔuʔ	*tiːˀ	*kamay	*mwɯː^A	*C-mɯː	*mja^A
bone	*s/m/g-rus	*tshuŋʔ	*cʔaːŋ	*CuqelaN	*C̥.duk^D	*Cuɾɯːk	*dək^D
blood	*s-hywəy-t	*ntshjamʔ	*(m)ɕaːm	*daRaq	*lɯət^D	*alaːc	*plat^D
liver	*m-sin	*-hri̯ən	kləːm;^[26] gre(ː)ɕ	*qaCay	*tap^D	*ɗəy	*təp^D
meat, flesh	*sya-n	P-Mienic *ʔa^B	*sacˀ	*Sesi	*n.mɤː^C	*rəmʔ	*ʔaɯ^C
dog	*d-kʷəy-n	P-Hmongic *hmaŋ^C	*cɔʔ	*asu	*ʰmaː^A	*hmaː	*x-ma^A
bird	*s-ŋak	*m-nɔk	*ciːm	*manuk	*C̬.nok^D	*səc	*ɳok^D
fish	*s-ŋya	*mbrəuʔ	*kaʔ	*Sikan	*plaː^A	*hlaː	*p-la^A
louse	*s-r(y)ik	*ntshjeiʔ	*ciʔ	*kuCux	*traw^A	*tʃʰwəw	*C-ʈu^A
leaf	*lay	P-Hmongic mblɔŋ^A, P-Mienic* *nɔm^A	*slaʔ	*waSaw	*ɓaɰ^A	*ɓɯː	*ɖiŋ^A
sun, day	*s-nəy	P-Mienic *hnu̯ɔi^A	*tŋiːˀ	waRi, qajaw	*ŋwan^A	*hŋwən	*(l-/h)wən^A
moon	*s/g-la	*hlaH	*khe(ː)ʔ	bulaN, qiNaS	*ɓlɯən^A	*C-ɲaːn	*(C-)tjan^A
water	m-t(w)əy-n ~ m-ti-s	*ʔu̯əm	ɗaːkˀ; Pal. ʔoːm	*daNum	*C̬.nam^C	*C-nəmʔ	*ʔuŋ^C
rain	*r/s/g-wa	P-Hmongic *m-noŋ^C	*gmaːˀ	*quzaN	*C̥.wɯn^A	*fun	*jəl^A
fire	*mey	*douʔ	*ʔuːɕ	*Sapuy	*wɤj^A	*fiː	*pui^A
name	*r-mi(ŋ/n)	*mpɔuH	ɟmuh, ɟmɨh	*ŋajan	*ɟɤː^B	*pʰaːŋ	*n(ʒ)i^A
eat	*m-dz(y)a-k/n/t/s	P-Mienic *ɲən^C	*ca(ː)ʔ	*kaen	*kɯɲ^A	*kʰən	*kan^A
die	*səy	*dəjH	*kceːt^[26]	*ma-aCay	*p.taːj^A	*hlaːwɦ	*pɣon^A
I	ŋa-y ~ ka	P-Hmongic *kɛŋ^B	*ʔaɲ	-ku	*kuː^A	*ɦuː	*ku^A
you (sg.)	*na-ŋ	*mu̯ei	miːˀ, meːˀ	-mu	*mɯŋ^A	*C-mɯː	*mə^A/B

Remove ads

Distributions

East Asian languages

Classifications

Early proposals

Starosta (2005)

van Driem (2012)

Larish (2006, 2017)

Vocabulary comparison

Distributions

See also

Notes and references

External links

Wikiwand - on