Trans-Himalayan comparative linguistics and the Neogrammarian model
Résumé
The application of the comparative method to the Trans-Himalayan (a.k.a. Sino-Tibetan, henceforth TH) family has long been an unusually difficult challenge, due to a combination of factors. First, many languages in this family, in particular Chinese and Burmese, are near-isolating and only preserve only a few alternations (Meillet 1975 [1921]: 98). Second, reliable grammars, dictionaries and text corpora of many TH languages and even entire branches have become available only in the last 20 years (as can be shown by comparing the impressive increase of size between the first and the second editions of the Routledge volume on Sino-Tibetan, published in 2003 and 2017 respectively), so that any earlier attempt at using these languages for comparative grammar would have been premature. Third, a considerable amount of language contact between related languages has taken place, so that distinguishing between cognates and loanwords is not a trivial endeavour.
Domaines
Linguistique
Origine :
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