Proto-Naish And Its Genetic Position

The genetic position of Naxi is a long debated issue in the field of Tibeto-Burman study. Based on fieldwork on Naish languages (varieties of Naxi and its close relatives), this research reconstructs Proto-Naish through systematic and rigid sound correspondence. Proto-Naish is further compared with Burmese-Yi languages and rGyalrong in order to discuss its genetic position in the perspectives of structural change and basic vocabulary.This research pursues for adequacy in historical comparison. For solving the problem of the genetic position of Naxi, adjustments have been made on the steps of the Distillation Method:(1) Reconstruction of basic proto-language;(2) Subgrouping;(3) Expansion of the proto-language;(4) Positioning of the proto-language.In reconstruction of basic Proto-Naish, data of5Naish languages are used. Under the principles of Complete Correspondence and Global Correspondence About240morphemes have been reconstructed as the most reliable part of Proto-Naish. Pronouns, demonstratives, and interrogatives are also reconstructed for the proto-language. Some basic words and a possible grammatical prefix have also been discussed.Three different methods are used for subgrouping Naish languages. Results from all the three method support a division of western branch (Lijiang, Baoshan) and eastern branch (Malimasa, Ninglang, Yongning).Based on the division of western branch and eastern branch, more morphemes are reconstructed to Proto-Naish after loosing the requirements of correspondences according to certain principles. After expansion the morphemes in Proto-Naish are up to about790.The positioning of Proto-Naish is achieved through comparison of Proto-Naish with Burmese-Yi languages represented by Proto-Yi, and rGyalrong represented by Japhug dialect. After building systematic and rigid sound correspondence among the three languages, the Inexplicable Principle and the Rank Theory have been used to verify their relatedness. Viewed from perspectives of (1) numbers of related morphemes (2) numbers of kernel words preserved in the earliest historical layer (3) structural changes, and (4) socio-cultural evidences, the genetic distance between Proto-Naish and Burmese-Yi languages is closer than that between Proto-Naish and rGyalrong. The genetic structure of the three languages should be (rGyalrong,(Proto-Naish, Proto-Yi)).The main contributions of this research are as follows:1. Collection of linguistic data through field work on three Naish languages which have never been studied before:Baoshan (Stone Village, Baoshan Town, Yulong County, Yunnan Province), Malimasa (Ruke Village, Tacheng Town, Weixi County, Yunnan Province), and Ninglang (Yankouba Village, Ninglang County, Yunnan Province).2. Based on2000daily words, a set of systematic and rigid correspondence rules have been built for5Naish languages. Correspondence rules and corresponding morphemes have been listed. The problems of pre-initials and prefixes in Proto-Naish have been discussed on the base of sound correspondence.3. A new method of drawing linguistic phylogenetic tree has been proposed. This method encodes linguistic data utilizing the difference among child languages in homophony of reflexes of morphemes in the basic proto-language. The method has been applied in the subgrouping of Naish languages. The results of this method are compared with that of two previous methods, namely character-based method and lexicostatistics.4. The genetic relationship among Proto-Naish, Burmese-Yi languages, and rGyalrong has been fully analyzed through systematic and rigid correspondence. The sound laws concerning tonal development in Naish languages have been worked out. A preliminary conclusion of the genetic position of Naxi has been proposed.