Laurent Sagart
Dados Biográficos
| ID | 714511 |
|---|---|
| NOME | Laurent Sagart |
| PRENOMES | Laurent |
| SOBRENOME | Sagart |
| ASSINATURA | SAGART L |
| AFILIAÇÕES | Centre de Recherches Linguistiques sur l'Asie Orientale |
| VERIFICADO | Não |
| TOTAL DE OBRAS | 48 |
| TOTAL DE CITAÇÕES | 4 |
| TOTAL COMO AUTOR | 47 |
| TOTAL COMO EDITOR | 1 |
| PRIMEIRO ANO DE PUBLICAÇÃO | 1981 |
| ANO MAIS RECENTE DE PUBLICAÇÃO | 2024 |
| ÍNDICE H | 1 |
The Phonetic Nature of PAn *j
This paper brings evidence from Campidanese Sardinian and other languages to support and refine the author's earlier proposal that Proto-Austronesian *j was a palatal nasal whose modern reflexes arose through an episode of palatal glide fortition. It clarifies the evolution of *j in Formosan, responds to some criticisms, and details the circumstances leading to the loss of the nasal component after glide fortition. It concludes that where an alve…
Response to Ho Dah-an
Ho Dah-an’s 2016 review of our book Old Chinese: A New Reconstruction (2014) contains little discussion of the book’s main themes or proposals: he focuses instead on “errors” which, according to him, “reflect the outdated concepts of the authors and the insufficiency of their basic training.” In this response to Ho’s review, we consider his discussion of these “errors.” On two points (discussed below), he has actually found errors (a faulty inter…
Language Families of Southeast Asia
This chapter briefly describes the state of the art of linguistic research on the main language families represented in Southeast Asia: Austroasiatic, Austronesian, Tai-Kadai, Hmong-Mien, and Sino-Tibetan. It reviews the vocabulary of agriculture, and more generally of subsistence, that can be reconstructed to each family’s proto-language. It attempts to clarify the dates and locations of the respective proto-languages and to throw light on the c…
A 250-item list of Old Chinese vocabulary in the Baxter-Sagart reconstruction
A 250-concept list was established for the purposes of an ongoing lexically-based study of Sino-Tibetan. This paper supplies the Old Chinese version of the list, in the Old Chinese reconstruction of Baxter and Sagart 2014. Chinese words attested in pre-Han times were selected based on their meaning as given in major lexica such as the Hànyǔ Dà Zìdiǎn. At times more than one OC item was found to match a concept in the list without it being clear w…
Dated language phylogenies shed light on the ancestry of Sino-Tibetan
Significance Given its size and geographical extension, Sino-Tibetan is of the highest importance for understanding the prehistory of East Asia, and of neighboring language families. Based on a dataset of 50 Sino-Tibetan languages, we infer phylogenies that date the origin of the language family to around 7200 B.P., linking the origin of the language family with the late Cishan and the early Yangshao cultures.
A model of the origin of Kra-Dai tones
This paper finds origins for the three Kra-Dai tones in the segmental endings of Proto-Southern Austronesian, the parent language of Kra-Dai and Malayo-Polynesian. The Kra-Dai A category originates in sonorant endings (vowels, semi-vowels, nasals, liquids) and in Proto-Austronesian *-H 2 , reconstructed by Tsuchida (1976); the B category in *-R and in *-X, a hitherto not reconstructed ending reflected as - h in Amis and in the Bisayan language Ak…
Old Chinese reconstruction
International audience
Milk and the Indo-Europeans
Recent evidence from archaeology and ancient DNA converge to indicate that the Yamnaya culture, often regarded as the bearer of the Proto-Indo-European language, underwent a strong population expansion in the late 4th and early 3rd millennia BCE. It suggests that the underlying reason for that expansion might be the then unique capacity to digest animal milk in adulthood. We examine the early Indo-European milk-related vocabulary to confirm the s…
Austronesian and Chinese words for the millets
After reviewing recent evidence from related disciplines arguing for an origin of the Austronesian peoples in northeastern China, this paper discusses the Proto-Austronesian and Old Chinese names of the millets, Setaria italica and Panicum miliaceum . Partly based on linguistic data collected in Taiwan by the authors, proposed Proto-Austronesian cognate sets for millet terms are re-evaluated and the Proto-Austronesian sets are identified. The rea…
A candidate for a Tibeto-Burman innovation
Based on a survey of 21 languages chosen to represent the diversity of Sino-Tibetan, this paper proposes that all Sino-Tibetan languages except Chinese have lost a phonological distinction between two Proto-Sino-Tibetan codas, *-q (Old Chinese *-ʔ, dialectally *-k) and *-k (Old Chinese *-k): the two codas merged as *-k in Proto-Tibeto-Burman. It is shown that the Proto-Sino-Tibetan *-q/*-k distinction as reflected in Old Chinese is correlated wit…
The wider connections of Austronesian
Preview this article: The wider connections of Austronesian, Page 1 of 1 /docserver/preview/fulltext/dia.33.2.04sag-1.gif
Old Chinese
This book introduces a new linguistic reconstruction of the phonology, morphology, and lexicon of Old Chinese, the first Sino-Tibetan language to be reduced to writing. It is the language of the earliest Chinese classical texts (1st millennium BCE) and the ancestor of later varieties of Chinese, including all modern Chinese dialects. Although the reconstruction has its basis in earlier research, it moves beyond earlier reconstructions by taking i…
In Defense of the Numeral-based Model of Austronesian Phylogeny, and of Tsouic
The Higher Phylogeny of Austronesian
This paper is a response to criticism by Winter in an earlier issue of this journal of Sagart’s discussion of the higher phylogeny of Austronesian. I give examples outside of Austronesian of compound numerals being affected by several apparently irregular changes; argue that the number of changes proposed in my Austronesian model is realistic; explain the order of establishment of disyllabic numerals as depending on two factors, cardinal order an…
The homeland of Sino-Tibetan-Austronesian
Sino-Tibetan-Austronesian
Ce blog de recherche se donne pour but de présenter des idées, hypothèses et observations sur la formation, la diversification et l’histoire du sino-tibétain-austronésien, une macro-famille de langues dont l’ai proposé l’existence en 1990, selon deux versions successives. Dans la version actuelle, qui date de 2005, elle est constituée de deux branches, le sino-tibétain et l’austronésien. Le tai-kadai est ue sous-branche de l’austronésien. Ce blog…
Old Chinese. A New Reconstruction, 2014
Tai-Kadai as a Subgroup of Austronesian
Presents a new theory of the origin of Tai-Kadai. Instead of being co-ordinate with Austronesian as Benedict argues, it is viewed as an offshoot of Proto-Austronesian, belonging to the clade which includes several of the languages of the Formosan East coast and Malayo-Polynesian. Evidence comes from lexical and morphological features in the vocabulary Thai (broadly speaking) shares with Austronesian: in particular Tai-Kadai shares with Malayo-Pol…
Hla Genetic Diversity and Linguistic Variation in East Asia
INTRODUCTION Molecular anthropology - the study of human genetic polymorphisms - is now often used to investigate the accuracy of archaeological and/or linguistic hypotheses. One of the classic examples is the use of genetics in an attempt to discriminate between two alternative models for the spread of agriculture in Europe - the demic and the cultural diffusion models - which finally led to a general approval of the former by geneticists, who r…
Reconstructing Old Chinese uvulars in the Baxter-Sagart system (Version 0.99)
This paper discusses the reconstruction of uvular and labio-uvular stops in Old Chinese, originally proposed by Pan Wuyun. The following two improvements are proposed: (1) the Old Chinese non labialized voiced uvular stop evolved to Middle Chinese y- (???) rather than hj- (???) in Pan's theory (which implies that Middle Chinese y- has two sources in Old Chinese: *1- and *G-); (2) uvulars and labio-uvulars evolve to MC velars when preceded by a mi…
No limits to borrowing The case of Bai and Chinese
Based on the large amount of Chinese-related basic vocabulary in Bai, scholars like Benedict, Starostin and Zhengzhang have claimed a special phylogenetic proximity between Bai and Chinese. In this paper we show that the Chinese vocabulary in Bai is stratified, forming successive layers of borrowings. We identify three such layers, describing the sound correspondences which characterize each of them: two Mandarin layers, one local, one regional f…
No limits to borrowing
Based on the large amount of Chinese-related basic vocabulary in Bai, scholars like Benedict, Starostin and Zhengzhang have claimed a special phylogenetic proximity between Bai and Chinese. In this paper we show that the Chinese vocabulary in Bai is stratified, forming successive layers of borrowings. We identify three such layers, describing the sound correspondences which characterize each of them: two Mandarin layers, one local, one regional f…
[Archaeology and Comparative Linguistics in China and the Philippines] the Vocabulary of Cereal Cultivation and the Phylogeny of East Asian Languages
Reply to Matisoff on the Handbook of Proto-Tibeto-Burman
its treatment of TB rhymes ―a most welcome advance ‖ and ―a noteworthy achievement‖. In his response [Diachronica 24.2:435–444] to that review, James Matisoff (henceforth M) takes exception to the following, more critical points: the lack of explicitness in the reconstruction of TB consonantal onsets, his approach to subgrouping, and his use of Karlgren’s outdated Chinese reconstruction. He also points to my past lack in judgment concerning the n…
On intransitive nasal prefixation in Sino-Tibetan languages
L'auteur examine les alternances de voisement à l'initiale des paires transitif/intransitif en tibéto-birman à la lumière de faits chinois, et suggère qu'il n'est pas nécessaire de supposer deux processus distincts pour rendre compte des faits : en effet, "l'alternance de voisement" reconstruite par Benedict au niveau proto-Tibeto-Birman, n'est probablement qu'un cas particulier du voisement sous l'effet d'un préfixe nasal
Reply to Matisoff on the Handbook of Proto-Tibeto-Burman
its treatment of TB rhymes ―a most welcome advance ‖ and ―a noteworthy achievement‖. In his response [Diachronica 24.2:435–444] to that review, James Matisoff (henceforth M) takes exception to the following, more critical points: the lack of explicitness in the reconstruction of TB consonantal onsets, his approach to subgrouping, and his use of Karlgren’s outdated Chinese reconstruction. He also points to my past lack in judgment concerning the n…
The History and Development of Tonal Systems and Tone Alternations in South China
Phonetic analysis of late babbling
The late babbling productions of a French child are analysed and compared with a similar study of English-speaking children. English-speaking and French children are shown to share such universal phonetic preferences as cluster reduction, final devoicing, etc. However, there are also noticeable differences which may be ascribed to corresponding differences in the target language. Thus a selective, language-specific, phonetic acquisition has been …
Timing in late babbling
The temporal organization of the late babbling of a French child during the pivotal period between babbling and the production of meaningful utterances is studied. Two points are analysed: the segmental timing in terms of syllabic durations and the durations of sequences according to their intonational contours. Articulation rate in late babbling is fairly rapid and stable and does not vary with length of sequences. However, at the end of the per…
Discernible differences in the babbling of infants according to target language
Samples of babbling productions of 6-, 8- and 10-month-old infants from different language backgrounds were presented to adult judges whose task was to identify the infants from their own linguistic community. The results show that certain language-specific metaphonological cues render this identification possible when the samples exhibit long and coherent intonation patterns. The segmental indications that are present in the fully syllabic produ…
Acoustic Investigations of Cross-linguistic Variability in Babbling
In the past ten years, the emergence of speech in infants has been investigated in the framework of theories regarding the capacities underlying speech as part of the biological equipment of man. In particular, studies of the perceptual capacities of neonates have shown the prerequisites for speech perception to be present in infants as early as the first days of life
Nord Et Sud Dans La Langue Et L'Écriture Des Shang
Le sens de nord est derive du sens de dos . Dans les inscriptions oraculaires des Shang, le caractere nord represente deux hommes dos a dos. L'interpretation de la forme graphique du caractere sud est tres controversee. La graphie du mot sud des inscriptions oraculaires Shang montre qu'il s'agit d'un pictogramme. L'A. pense que les formes graphiques designant le sud dans les inscriptions Shang representent la facade orientee au sud d'une maison, …
A crosslinguistic investigation of vowel formants in babbling
A cross-cultural investigation of the influence of target-language in babbling was carried out. 1047 vowels produced by twenty 10-month-old infants from Parisian French, London English, Hong Kong Cantonese and Algiers Arabic language backgrounds were recorded in the cities of origin and spectrally analysed. F1-F2 plots of these vowels were obtained for each subject and each language group. Statistical analyses provide evidence of differences betw…
Phonologie et lexique d'un dialecte Gan
Sagart Laurent. Phonologie et lexique d'un dialecte Gan : shanggao. In: Cahiers de linguistique - Asie orientale, vol. 18 2, 1989. pp. 183-227
The History and Development of Tonal Systems and Tone Alternations in South China
Chinese "Left" = Tibeto-Burman "Hot, Pain
Hypothesis on the Origins of the Communal Family System
This article is the result of collaboration between a linguist and an anthropologist. In La Troisième planète. Structures familiales et systèmes idéologiques (The Third Planet: Family Structures and Ideologies) (Todd, 1983), anthropologist Emmanuel Todd provided a world map of family types, which he used to explain the distribution of major political philosophies around the world. However, this did not explain the distribution of the family types…
L'infixe -r- en chinois archaïque
Il est montre a l'aide de paires minimales que la mediane -r- presente dans plus de 20% des mots du chinois archaique, etait un infixe servant a former des derives pluriels et collectifs (nom), iteratifs, duratifs ou a valeurs d'effort (verbes d'action) et intensifs (verbes d'etat et adjectifs)
New Views on Old Chinese Phonology
Preview this article: New Views on Old Chinese Phonology, Page 1 of 1 /docserver/preview/fulltext/dia.10.2.06sag-1.gif
Proto-Austronesian and Old Chinese Evidence for Sino-Austronesian
Dans le but d'apporter un argument supplementaire a l'hypothese d'une relation genetique entre le chinois et l'austronesien, l'A. adopte la methodologie de la comparaison lexicale du chinois ancien et du proto-austronesien
Effect of phenobarbital and the peroxisome proliferator ciprofibrate on γ‐glutamyltranspeptidase activity and leukotriene C 4 concentration in cultured rat hepatocytes
Peroxisome proliferators induce hepatocellular carcinomas in rodents by an unknown mechanism. γ‐Glutamyltranspeptidase (GGT), a biochemical marker for identifying putative preneoplastic lesions in the liver, is highly expressed in phenobarbital (PB)‐promoted altered hepatic foci but not in those promoted by peroxisome proliferators. One of the substrates of GGT is the eicosanoid LTC 4 . Because peroxisome proliferators and PB have differing effec…
Chinese "Buy" and "Sell" and the Direction of Borrowings Between Chinese and Hmong-Mien
Recently Andre-G. Haudricourt and David Strecker2 have argued that agriculture is not an original element in Chinese culture, but was acquired when the earliest speakers of Chinese, allegedly nomadic pastoralists speaking a language closely related to Proto-Tibeto-Burman, descended their flocks of sheep from the interior regions of Asia into the irrigated coastal plains, there coming into contact with Hmong-Mien peoples who Haudricourt and Streck…
Word formation in Old Chinese
The Roots of Old Chinese
The phonology, morphology and lexicon of late Zhou Chinese are examined in this volume. It is argued that a proper understanding of Old Chinese morphology is essential in correctly reconstructing the phonology. Based on evidence from word-families, modern dialects and related words in neighboring languages, Old Chinese words are claimed to consist of a monosyllabic root, to which a variety of derivational affixes attached. This made Old Chinese t…
History through loanwords
On a étudié la stratification des emprunts lexicaux faits par le hani de Dazhai, une langue tibéto-birmane, au chinois. Les principes de l'analyse (principe de cohérence, principe étendu de cohérence) sont exposés dans une partie méthodologique. Deux grandes couches d'emprunts au mandarin du sud-ouest, l'une constituée d'emprunts contemporains au dialecte mandarin de Liichun, l'autre datant de l'introduction de la pomme de terre et du tabac, sont…
Notes et documents
The Higher Phylogeny of Austronesian and the Position of Tai-Kadai
This paper presents a new higher phylogeny for the Austronesian family, based on three independent lines of evidence: the observation of a hierarchy of implications among the numerals from 5 to 10 in the languages of Formosa and in PMP; the finding that the numerals *pitu '7', *walu '8', and *Siwa '9' can be derived from longer additive expressions meaning 5+2, 5+3, and 5+4, preserved in Pazeh, using only six sound changes; and the observation th…
The Chinese Names of the Four Directions
International audience
Sino-Tibetan–Austronesian
In several articles (Sagart 1990, 1993, 1994) I have argued from sound correspondences, shared vocabulary and shared morphology that Chinese and AN are genetically related within a macrophylum which I called ‘Sino-Austronesian’. The accuracy of the Chinese and AN material used in the comparisons has not been faulted, and neither have the sound correspondences underlying the comparisons. Criticism has concentrated on three points: first, paucity o…
The Peopling of East Asia
Introduction 1. Examining the Farming/Language Dispersal Hypothesis in the East Asian Context 2. From the Mountains to the Valleys: Understanding Ethnolinguistic Geography in Southeast Asia 3. The Origin and Dispersal of Agriculture and Human Diaspora in East Asia 4. Recent Discoveries at a Tapenkeng Culture Site in Taiwan: Implications for the Problem of Austronesian Origins 5. The Contribution of Linguistic Palaeontology to the Homeland of Aust…
On intransitive nasal prefixation in Sino-Tibetan languages
L'auteur examine les alternances de voisement à l'initiale des paires transitif/intransitif en tibéto-birman à la lumière de faits chinois, et suggère qu'il n'est pas nécessaire de supposer deux processus distincts pour rendre compte des faits : en effet, "l'alternance de voisement" reconstruite par Benedict au niveau proto-Tibeto-Birman, n'est probablement qu'un cas particulier du voisement sous l'effet d'un préfixe nasal
No limits to borrowing The case of Bai and Chinese
Based on the large amount of Chinese-related basic vocabulary in Bai, scholars like Benedict, Starostin and Zhengzhang have claimed a special phylogenetic proximity between Bai and Chinese. In this paper we show that the Chinese vocabulary in Bai is stratified, forming successive layers of borrowings. We identify three such layers, describing the sound correspondences which characterize each of them: two Mandarin layers, one local, one regional f…
Linguistics (34 obras) · Philosophy (34 obras) · History (31 obras) · Chinese history and philosophy (21 obras) · Geography (17 obras) · Archaeology (11 obras) · Austronesian languages (9 obras) · China (9 obras) · China's Ethnic Minorities and Relations (9 obras) · Linguistic Variation and Morphology (9 obras)