Classification of Southeast Asian languages
There have been various classification schemes for Southeast Asian languages (see the articles for the respective language families).
Language families
The five established major language families are:
Isolates and small families
A number of language groups in
Language isolates and independent language families in Arunachal
.)
- Potential
- The two Andamanese language families: Great Andamanese and Ongan
- Umiray Dumagat
Macrofamilies
Several macrofamily schemes have been proposed for linking multiple language families of Southeast Asia. None of these proposals is yet accepted by mainstream comparative linguistics, though research into higher-level relationships among these languages has gained some renewed scholarly interest over the last three decades; the various hypotheses are still under investigation, and the validity of each has yet to be resolved.[2]
- Lawrence Reid,[3] accept or theorize a close relationship between these families, but the specifics of the relationship remain unclear. Multiple models of the internal branching of Austro-Tai have been put forward, and Austro-Tai has been incorporated as a subgroup within some larger macrofamily schemes, e.g. in Starosta's East Asian as well as in Sagart's model of Austronesian (see below), both of which regard Kra–Dai as a subfamily within Austronesian. A few versions of Austro-Tai have included Japonic and/or the isolate Ainuas well, though these have not been met with as much acceptance.
- Miao–Dai (Kosaka 2002) is a hypothesis for a family including Miao–Yao (Hmong–Mien) and Kra–Dai.[4]
- Sino-Austronesian (Sagart 2004, 2005) links Austro-Tai (Austronesian) with Sino-Tibetan (Tibeto-Burman).
- Nihali, a language isolate of India.[5]
- The "Proto-Asian hypothesis" or "Austro-Asian" (Larish 2006) argues for lexical evidence of relationship among all of the languages typically included in Austric as well as Japanese–Korean and Sino-Tibetan.[6]
- East Asian (Starosta 2005) covers all of these families (except Japonic, Koreanic, Ainu and Nihali) as well as Sino-Tibetan. It posits Austronesian (including Kra–Dai) as the most divergent branch, coordinate with a primary branch Sino-Tibetan–Yangzian which links Sino-Tibetan with a clade called Yangzian (or Yangtzean), named for the Yangtze river, which includes Austroasiatic and Hmong–Mien.
- In a different direction, the Dené–Daicmacrofamily which incorporates both Dené–Caucasian and Austric as primary branches.
Genetic similarities between the peoples of East and Southeast Asia have led some scholars such as George van Driem to speculate about "Haplogroup O languages".
Proto-languages
- Proto-Austronesian [1] [2]
-
- Proto-Visayan language [5]
- Proto-Malayic language [6]
- Proto-Oceanic [8] [9]
-
- Proto-Kra–Dai
- Proto-Austroasiatic [15][16]
- Proto-Sino-Tibetan
- Proto-Hmong–Mien [20]
- Proto-Hmongic [21]
- Proto-Mienic [22]
Comparison
The following table compares the phonemic inventories of various recently reconstructed proto-languages of Southeast Asia.
| Proto-language | Proto-Kra | Proto-Tai | Proto-Hlai | Proto-S. Kra–Dai | Proto-Austronesian | Proto-Tibeto-Burman | Proto-Mon–Khmer
|
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Source | Ostapirat (2000) | Pittayaporn (2009)[7] | Norquest (2007)[8] | Norquest (2007)[8] | Blust (2009)[9] | Matisoff (2003)[10] | Shorto (2006)[11] |
| Consonants | 32 | 33–36 | 32 | 28–29 | 25 | 23 | 21 |
| Vowels | 6 | 7 | 4–5 | 5–7 | 4 | 5–6 | 7 |
| Diphthongs | 4 | 5 | – | 1+ | 4 | 2+ | 3 |
| Consonantal finals | 7 | 10–11 | – | – | – | 6 | – |
| Vowel length contrast |
No | Yes | Yes | Yes | No | Yes | Yes |
Maps of language families
-
Distribution of Sino-Tibetan -
Distribution of Hmong–Mien -
Distribution of Kra–Dai -
Distribution of Austronesian – Greenhill, Blust & Gray (2008) -
Distribution of Austroasiatic -
Overview of Mainland Languages
See also
- Languages of China
- SEAlang Library
- Writing systems of Southeast Asia
- Category:Linguists of Southeast Asian languages
- Category:Linguists of Austronesian languages
- Vocabulary lists of Southeast Asian languages (Wiktionary)
References
- ^ Blench, Roger. 2015. The Mijiic languages: distribution, dialects, wordlist and classification. m.s.
- ^ van Driem, George (2008). "To which language family does Chinese belong, or what's in a name?" (PDF). In Sanchez-Mazas, Alicia; Blench, Roger; Ross, Malcolm D.; Peiros, Ilia and Marie Lin, Eds. Past Human Migrations in East Asia: Matching Archaeology, Linguistics and Genetics. London and New York: Routledge: 219–253.
- ^ Reid, Lawrence A. (2006). "Austro-Tai Hypotheses". pp. 609–610 in Keith Brown (editor in chief), The Encyclopedia of Language and Linguistics, 2nd edition.
- ^ Kosaka, Ryuichi (2002). "On the affiliation of Miao-Yao and Kadai: Can we posit the Miao-Dai family?" (PDF). Mon-Khmer Studies. 32: 71–100.
- ^ Bengtson, John (2010). "The "Greater Austric" Hypothesis" (PDF).
- ^ Larish, Michael D. 2006. Possible Proto-Asian Archaic Residue and the Statigraphy of Diffusional Cumulation in Austro-Asian Languages. Paper presented at the Tenth International Conference on Austronesian Linguistics, 17–20 January 2006, Puerto Princesa City, Palawan, Philippines.
- ^ Pittayaporn, Pittayawat. 2009. The Phonology of Proto-Tai. Ph.D. dissertation. Department of Linguistics, Cornell University.
- ^ a b Norquest, Peter K. 2007. A Phonological Reconstruction of Proto-Hlai. Ph.D. dissertation. Tucson: Department of Anthropology, University of Arizona.
- ISBN 978-0-85883-602-0.
- ^ Matisoff, James. 2003. Handbook of Proto-Tibeto-Burman: System and Philosophy of Sino-Tibetan Reconstruction. University of California publications in linguistics, v. 135. Berkeley: University of California Press.
- ISBN 0-85883-570-3.
Further reading
- Sidwell, Paul; Jenny, Mathias, eds. (2021). The Languages and Linguistics of Mainland Southeast Asia (PDF). De Gruyter. S2CID 242359233.
External links
- Hartmann, John (Professor of Thai). "Outline: Spoken and Written Languages of Southeast Asia." Northern Illinois University.
- Migliazza, Brian. 2004. Southeast Asia Language Families.
- Hanzangyu yuyin he cihui 汉藏语语音和词汇 (2017), comparative lexicon of languages in all major East Asian language families
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