| Kho-Bwa | |
|---|---|
| Kamengic Bugunish | |
| Geographic distribution | Arunachal Pradesh |
| Linguistic classification | Sino-Tibetan
|
| Subdivisions | |
| Language codes | |
| Glottolog | khob1235 |
The Kho-Bwa languages, also known as Kamengic, are a small family of languages, or pair of families, spoken in Arunachal Pradesh, northeast India. The name Kho-Bwa was originally proposed by George van Driem (2001). It is based on the reconstructed words *kho ("water") and *bwa ("fire"). Blench (2011) suggests the name Kamengic, from the Kameng area of Arunachal Pradesh. Alternatively, Anderson (2014)[1] refers to Kho-Bwa as Northeast Kamengic.
Both Van Driem and Blench group the Sherdukpen (or Mey), Lishpa (or Khispi), Chug (Duhumbi) and Sartang languages together. These form a language cluster and are clearly related. The pair of Sulung (or Puroik) and Khowa (or Bugun) languages are included in the family by Van Driem (2001) but provisionally treated as a second family by Blench (2024).[2]
These languages have traditionally been placed in the Tibeto-Burman group by the Linguistic Survey of India.[3] Jackson Sun, George van Driem, and multiple handbooks and language classification databases after them also label Kho-Bwa languages as Tibeto-Burman or otherwise Sino-Tibetan.[4][5] Roger Blench, however, does not accept a Sino-Tibetan origin of these languages, claiming that similarities to such could instead be due to an areal effect.[3]
The entire language family has about 15,000 speakers (including Puroik) or about 10,000 speakers (excluding Puroik), according to estimates made during the 2000s.
Word lists and sociolinguistic surveys of Kho-Bwa languages have also been conducted by Abraham, et al. (2018).
Classification
The internal structure of the Kho-Bwa group of languages is as follows.[2] The similarities between Puroik–Bugun and Sherdukpen/Mey are sporadic and may be due to contact. Lieberherr (2015) considers Puroik to be a Tibeto-Burman language, which would imply that at least Bugun is as well.
- Blench & Post (2024)[2]
Lieberherr & Bodt (2017)
Lieberherr & Bodt (2017)[6] consider Puroik to be a Kho-Bwa language, and classify the Kho-Bwa languages as follows.
Tresoldi et al. (2022)
Based on computational phylogenetic analyses from Tresoldi et al. (2022), the phylogenetic tree of Kho-Bwa is roughly as follows:[7]
Shared characteristics
Common characteristics between Western Kho-Bwa and Puroik are given by Lieberherr & Bodt (2017).
Prefixes
Kho-Bwa languages share the following prefixes:
- *a- in front of adjectives
- *kV- prefix before multiple parts of the head, such as the head itself, eyes, ears, and hair
- Some element in front of the names of a specific subset of objects in the sky, namely the moon, sun, stars, clouds, rain and snow. The prefixes themselves however, although they resemble each other, are not identical; Puroik prefixes *ham- while Western Kho-Bwa prefixes *nam-.
Sound changes
Kho-Bwa languages share the following sound changes:
- The fortition of Sino-Tibetan initial *m- to *b-.
- Outright loss of initial *s-.
Examples
In the below tables, the other Sino-Tibetan cognates are taken from Lieberherr & Bodt (2017), but the proto-Western Kho-Bwa forms are taken from Bodt (2024) and the Proto-Puroik forms are from Lieberherr (2015).
| Word | "fire" | "dream" | "not" | "person" | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Kho-Bwa | Proto-Western Kho-Bwa | *baj | *ban | *ba | *bi |
| Proto-Puroik | *bai | *baŋ̄ | *ba | *bii | |
| Other Sino-Tibetan | Proto-Kuki-Chin | *may | *maŋ | — | *mii |
| Tibetan | me | — | ma | mi | |
| Word | "die" | "kill" | "three" | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Kho-Bwa | Proto-Western Kho-Bwa | *i | *at | *um |
| Proto-Puroik | *ii | *at | *ɨm̄ | |
| Other Sino-Tibetan | Proto-Kuki-Chin | *thii | *that | *thum |
| Tibetan | √shi | gsod | gsum | |
Vocabulary
The following table of Kho-Bwa basic vocabulary items is from Blench (2015).[8] Proto-Western Kho-Bwa (Proto-WKB) reconstructions are from Bodt (2024).
| Gloss | Mey (Shergaon) | Mey (Rupa) | Sartang (Jergaon) | Sartang (Rahung) | Lish (Khispi) | Chug (Duhumbi) | Proto-WKB |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| one | hǎn | han | hèn | hân | hin | hin | *hin |
| two | ɲǐt | ɲik | nìk | ně | ɲes | niʃ | *nʲis |
| three | ùŋ | uŋ | ùŋ | ùún | ʔum | om | *um |
| four | pʰʃì | bsi | sì | psì | pʰəhi | psi | *bli |
| five | kʰù | kʰu | kʰù | kʰu | kʰa | kʰa | *kʰa |
| six | ʧùk | kit | ʧìk | ʨěy | ʧʰuʔ | ʧyk | *kʰrʲuk |
| seven | ʃìt | sit | sìk | sǐ, sě | ʃis | his | *sʲit |
| eight | sàʤát | sarʤat | sàrgè | sàrʤɛ́ | saɾgeʔ | saɾgeʔ | *sar.gʲat |
| nine | tʰkʰí | dʰikʰi | tʰkʰì | tɛ̀kʰɯ́ | ṱʰikʰu | ṱʰikʰu | *da.kʰu |
| ten | sɔ̀ ̃ | sõ | sã̀ | sɔ | ʃan | ʃan | *sʷan |
| head | kʰruk | kʰruk | kʰrǔk | kʰruʔ | kʰoloʔ | kʰloʔ | *kʰa.rok |
| nose | nupʰuŋ | nəfuŋ | nfùŋ | apʰuŋ | hempoŋ | heŋpʰoŋ | *n̥a.pʰoŋ |
| eye | khibi | kivi | kábì | kʰaʔby | kʰumu | kʰum | *kʰa.bu |
| ear | kʰtùŋ | gtʰiŋ | gtʰìŋ | ktèíŋ | kʰutʰuŋ | kʰutʰuŋ | *kʰa.tʰuŋ |
| tongue | laphõ | lapon | ? | le | loi | loi | *luj |
| tooth | nuthuŋ | tokʧe | mísìŋ | nitʰiŋ | ʃiŋtuŋ | hintuŋ | *n̥a.tʰuŋ |
| arm | ik | ik | ìk | ik | hu | hut | *qʷut |
| leg | là | lapon | lɛ̌ | lɛ̌ | lei | lai | *laj |
| belly | ʃrìŋ | sliŋ | srìŋ | sriŋ | hiɲiŋ | hiliŋ | *sʲa.rʲiŋ, *n̥a.rʲiŋ |
| bone | skìk | skik | àhík | skik | ʃukuʃ | ʃukuʃ | *sʲa.kʰrus, *a.kʰrus |
| blood | hà | ha(a) | hɛ̀ | ha | hoi | hoi | *hruj |
| face | dòŋpù | bo | mi | zə̀í | doʔ | doŋpa | (various) |
| tooth | ntùŋ | tokʧe | mísìŋ | ptə̀íŋ | ʃiŋtuŋ | hintuŋ | *n̥a.tʰuŋ |
| stomach | àlà | karbu | ʧàk | phriŋ | hiɲiŋ | hiliŋ | (various) |
| mouth | ʧàw | nəʧaw | so | ʨʨǒ | hoʧok | kʰoʧu | *-tsʰʷa |
| rain | ʧuuma | nimi | nʧʰù | ʧuʧuba | namu | namu | *nam.tsʰa, *nam.mu |
See also
- Kho-Bwa comparative vocabulary lists (Wiktionary)
Further reading
- Ismail Lieberherr and Timotheus Adrianus Bodt. (2017) Sub-grouping Kho-Bwa based on shared core vocabulary. Himalayan Linguistics 16(2). 26–63. Paper (CLDF Dataset on Zenodo doi:10.5281/zenodo.2553234)
- Binny Abraham, Kara Sako, Elina Kinny, Isapdaile Zeliang (2018). Sociolinguistic Research among Selected Groups in Western Arunachal Pradesh: Highlighting Monpa. SIL Electronic Survey Reports 2018–009. (CLDF Dataset on Zenodo. doi:10.5281/zenodo.3537601)
- Bodt, T. and J.-M. List (2019). Testing the predictive strength of the comparative method: An ongoing experiment on unattested words in Western Kho-Bwa languages. Papers in Historical Phonology 4.1. 22–44. doi:10.2218/pihph.4.2019.3037 (CLDF Dataset on Zenodo doi:10.5281/zenodo.3537604)
- Bodt, Timotheus A.; List, Johann-Mattis (2021). "Reflex prediction: A case study of Western Kho-Bwa". Diachronica. doi:10.1075/dia.20009.bod.
References
- Anderson, Gregory D.S. 2014. On the classification of the Hruso (Aka) language. Paper presented at the 20th Himalayan Languages Symposium, Nanyang Technological University, Singapore.
- Roger Blench & Mark Post (ms, 2024) (De)Classifying Arunachal Languages: Reconsidering the Evidence, p. 4–8.
- Blench (2011): "Certainly, the phonology and morphology of Arunachali languages looks superficially like Tibeto-Burman, which explains their placing in the Linguistic Survey of India. Unfortunately, this is rather where matters have remained [... this paper] proposes we should take seriously the underlying presumption probably implied in Konow's statement in Linguistic Survey of India. Volume III, 1, Tibeto-Burman family, Calcutta (1909:572)], that these languages may not be Sino-Tibetan but simply have been influenced by it; that they are language isolates."
- van Driem (2001), vol. 2, p. 473.
- Wu, Bodt & Tresoldi (2022). The three authors also note that "Despite these doubts [regarding Puroik], the most commonly consulted handbooks (Burling 2003; Genetti 2016) and online language catalogues (Eberhard et al. 2019; Hammarström et al. 2021) list Kho-Bwa as a branch of the Trans-Himalayan family."
- Lieberherr, Ismael; Bodt, Timotheus Adrianus. 2017. Sub-grouping Kho-Bwa based on shared core vocabulary. In Himalayan Linguistics, 16(2).
- Tiago Tresoldi; Christoph Rzymski; Robert Forkel; Simon J. Greenhill; Johann-Mattis List; Russell D. Gray (2022). "Managing Historical Linguistic Data for Computational Phylogenetics and Computer-Assisted Language Comparison". The Open Handbook of Linguistic Data Management. The MIT Press. pp. 345–354. doi:10.7551/mitpress/12200.003.0033. ISBN 978-0-262-36607-6.
- Blench, Roger. 2015. The Mey languages and their classification. Presentation given at the University of Sydney, 21 August 2015.
- van Driem, George (2001). Languages of the Himalayas: An Ethnolinguistic Handbook of the Greater Himalayan Region. Brill.
- Blench, Roger. 2011. (De)classifying Arunachal languages: Reconsidering the evidence
- Lieberherr, Ismael (2015). "A progress report on the historical phonology and affiliation of Puroik". In Linda Konnerth; Stephen Morey; Priyankoo Sarmah; Amos Teo (eds.). North East Indian Linguistics (NEIL) 7,. Canberra: College of Asia and the Pacific, The Australian National University. pp. 235–286.
- Lieberherr, Ismael; Bodt, Timotheus Adrianus (2017). "Sub-grouping Kho-Bwa based on shared core vocabulary". Himalayan Linguistics. 16 (2).
- Abraham, Binny, Kara Sako, Elina Kinny, Isapdaile Zeliang. 2018. Sociolinguistic Research among Selected Groups in Western Arunachal Pradesh: Highlighting Monpa. SIL Electronic Survey Reports 2018–009.
- Wu, Mei-Shin; Bodt, Timotheus A.; Tresoldi, Tiago (2022). "Bayesian phylogenetics illuminate shallower relationships among Trans-Himalayan languages in the Tibet-Arunachal area". Linguistics of the Tibeto-Burman Area. 45 (2): 171–210. doi:10.1075/ltba.21019.wu. ISSN 0731-3500.
- Bodt, Timotheus A. (2024). Proto-Western Kho-Bwa: Reconstructing a Community's Past through Language. Language and Linguistics Monograph Series. Vol. 67. Taipei: Institute of Linguistics, Academia Sinica. ISBN 978-626-7341-64-3.