The West Himalayish languages, also known as Almora and Kanauric, are a family of Sino-Tibetan languages centered in the Indian states of Himachal Pradesh and 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 | India (Himachal, Uttarakhand) Nepal |
| Linguistic classification | Sino-Tibetan
|
| Language codes | |
| Glottolog | tibe1275 |
Languages
editThe languages include:[citation needed]
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
editWidmer (2014:47)[2] classifies the West Himalayish languages as follows. The recently discovered Dhuleli language has been added from Regmi & Prasain (2017).[3]
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
editWidmer (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
edit- ^ 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
- ^ a b c 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.
- ^ a b 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
edit- 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.