Alone Long Languages ​​is A Comparative Study

The Dulong language is attributed to Tibeto-Burman languages, a branch of Sino-Tibetan language family, which is the general consensus in the field of the linguistics. But it is a tough task to decide which branch it belongs to and which language it has the closest relationship with in the Tibetan-burman languages.In the past one hundred years, what different opinions the academic field had on the attribution of Dulong are as follows: the first one is that it is attributable to the Tibetan branch ,believing that it is close to Tibetan and Qiang language; the second one is that it is classified into the Pumi branch of Tibeto-Burman languages, the third one is to put it into the Jingpo branch , arguing that it is inseparably connected with the Jingpo language, the fourth one is that the ownership is not settled yet, the fifth one is listed into a group the Dulong in the Jiarong·Dulong branch. However, most of researchers consider it is closely associated to the Jingpo language.The paper measures the relationship of the Dulong language with other related languages of Tibeto-Burman and explores the stages of their respective evolution by means of the relationship of the phonetic correspondence, the number of the cognate and the grammatical similarities and differences.In the case of phonological system, the Dulong language has similarities and differences with other compared related languages. For example, in initials correspondences, Dulong language, Tibetan and Primi language all have initials, but Jingpo language, Zaiwa language and Hani language don't; there is not the contrast of aspirated/unaspirated under stops and affricative initials in Dulong language, while all the other compared related languages have strict contrast under stops and affricative initials; there are 122 finals in Dulong language, more developed than the other related languages; the contrast of long/short vowels is the distinct feature in Dulong language, but not the other related languages; VC finals of the Dulong language are more developed than those of Jingpo, Zaiwa, Hani, Primi, but not so abundant as those of Tibetan. Finally, the tones of each language vary a great deal: both Dulong language and Jingpo language are underdeveloped; Hani and Zaiwa are both developed; Primi language is still in its infancy and Tibetan has no tones at all.In cognates, the ratio of Dulong to Jingpo ranks the first yet, accounting for 10.3 percent, exceeding the ratio of Dulong to Zaiwa by 0.7 percent, Dulong to Hani and Dulong to Tibetan (written language) by within 2 percent, respectively. The ratio of Dulong to Pumi is the lowest, inferior to that of Dulong to Jingpo, however, by no more than 5 percent. But all in all, there is a small amount of cognates in Dulong.In grammar, the general tendency of Tibeto-Burman grammatical system is from inflection to analytic form. However, different grammatical elements of different languages or of the same language develop unevenly and generate different stages. In another word, some features develop faster than others, while some slower. This dissertation states seven features of Tibeto-Burman languages , including pronominalization, reduplication, construction particle, directional category, verbal causative category, classifiers and prefix a-. Jingpo language is more developed than Dulong language in pronominalization, reduplication, construction particle, directional category, which illustrates that Jingpo language is more analytical. In contrast, Dulong language is more developed than Jingpo language in verbal causative category, classifiers and prefix a-, which illustrates that Dulong is more analytical. Considering the grammatical system as a whole, it is found that Dulong language and Jingpo language are at different stages, and they are not the most closely-related.On the basis of the comparison of the three linguistic elements, the dissertation concludes that Dulong language has its own linguistic structure and features of development, which are obviously not in the same stage as other related languages in Tibeto-Burman group. Some features are similar to Tibetan branch, Burmese-Yi branch, and Qiangic branch, but some are distinctly different from Jingpo branch. Some features are similar to Jingpo branch, but different from Tibetan branch, Burmese-Yi branch, and Qiangic branch. So it isn't proper to attribute Dulong language to Jingpo branch, Tibetan branch, Burmese-Yi branch or Qiangic branch. Instead, taking account of peculiarities of Dulong language, it should fall into the same category with those branches of Tibeto-Burman languages, that is to say, they are at the same layer.