Greater Siangic languages

Source: Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.
Greater Siangic
(proposed)
Geographic
distribution
Arunachal Pradesh
Linguistic classificationSino-Tibetan? or an independent family
Subdivisions
GlottologNone

Greater Siangic is a language grouping that includes the Siangic languages, Digaro languages (Idu Mishmi and Taraon) and Pre-Tani, the hypothetical substrate language branch of Tani before it became relexified by Sino-Tibetan. The Greater Siangic grouping was proposed by Roger Blench (2014), based on exclusively shared lexical items that had been noted by Modi (2013).[1] Blench (2014) argues that Greater Siangic is an independent language family that has undergone areal influences from Sino-Tibetan languages, and is not a branch of the Sino-Tibetan language family itself.

Various lexical items exclusively shared by Milang, Koro, Taraon, and Idu have also been noted by Modi (2013).[1] Modi (2013) suggests that Taraon could be closer to Milang than Idu is.

Languages

Blench (2014) lists the following languages in Greater Siangic.

Sound correspondences

Modi (2013: 20-22)[1] notes the following sound correspondences among Milang, Taraon, Idu, and Proto-Tani.

Milang Taraon Idu Proto-Tani
-u -a -a *-o
h- s-
C- Cl- Cr-
c- t- t-

See also

References

  1. ^ a b c Modi, Yankee. 2013. The nearest relatives of the Tani group. Paper presented at the 19th Himalayan Languages Symposium, Canberra, Australia.