Proto-Sino-Tibetan Language
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.
| Proto-Sino-Tibetan | |
|---|---|
| PST, Proto-Trans-Himalayan | |
| Reconstruction of | Sino-Tibetan languages |
| Lower-order reconstructions |
|
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.
Features
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.
Phonology
Benedict (1972)
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 | ||
Peiros & Starostin (1996)
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 | |||||||
Hill (2019)
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.
Sound changes
Final consonant changes
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:
- *-d＞*-y
- *-gw＞*-w
- *-g＞*-w when it follows the vowel *-u-
- *-g＞*-∅ when it follows the vowel *a and *-a-.
Example of sound changes
Voiceless plosive finals
| 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 |
Nasal finals
| 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 | *la[·]m | ||
| *-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 |
Voiced plosive finals
| 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 |
Liquid finals
| 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 |
Vocabulary
Words which do not have reliable Sinitic parallels are accompanied by a (TB).
Social terms
| English | Reconstruction by | Old Chinese (Baxter-Sagart) | |
|---|---|---|---|
| I. Peiros & S. Starostin | J. Matisoff | ||
| Person (in general) | *mĭ | *mi | 民 *mi[ŋ] |
| Male | *pă | *pʷa | 父 *p(r)aʔ |
| Female | *mǝw | *mow | 母 *mˤoʔ (or məʔ) |
| Name (of a person) | *miǝŋ | *miŋ | 名 *C.meŋ |
Natural phenomena
| English | Reconstruction by | Old Chinese (Baxter-Sagart) | |
|---|---|---|---|
| I. Peiros & S. Starostin | J. Matisoff | ||
| Earth | *ƛăy | *ley ~ *lǝy | 地 *[l]ˤej-s |
| Stone | *ƛɨāŋ ~ *ƛɨāk | *luŋ ~ *luk | 琭 *[r]ˤok |
| Sand | *srāy | *sa | 沙 *sˤraj |
| Fire | *mēyH | *mey | 火 *[qʷʰ]ˤəjʔ |
| Smoke | *gʰiw | *kǝw | 熏 *qʰu[n] |
| Water | *tujʔ | *t(w)i(y) | 水 *s.turʔ |
| Rain | *(r-)qʰʷăH | *rwa ~ *wa | 雨 *C.ɢʷ(r)aʔ |
| Sun | *nĭy | *nǝy | 日 *C.nik |
| Moon (TB) | *(s-)lăH | *la | N/A |
| Star | *(s-)q(ʰ)ār | *kar | 扈 *m-qˤaʔ |
| Night | *yăH | *ya | 夜 *[ɢ]Ak-s |
| Tree | *sĭŋ | *siŋ ~ *sik | 薪 *[s]i[n] |
| Leaf | *lăp | *lap | 葉 *l[a]p |
| Plant root | *bʰūl | *bul ~ *pul | 本 *C.pˤə[n]ʔ |
