Proto‐Tai reconstruction of ‘maternal grandmother’ revisited
Na:jA , * ta:jA or * ta:jB
Bibliographic Data
| ID | 21757072 |
|---|---|
| Authors | Hanbo Liao (0000-0002-6779-7363, Payap University, corresponding author) |
| Year | 2022 |
| Pages | 116-140 |
| Publication date | 2022-07-05 |
| Open Access | Yes |
| Type | ARTICLE |
| Venue | Language and Linguistics 語言暨語言學 (JOURNAL) |
| Journal identifiers | ISSN: 1606-822X • E-ISSN: 2309-5067 |
| Publisher | John Benjamins Publishing Company (PUBLISHER • NL) |
| DOI | 10.1075/lali.18.1.04lia |
| OpenAlex | W2579859537 |
| Language | EN |
| References cited | 3 |
The word ‘maternal grandmother’ presents irregular modern forms in Tai languages. It is ta:j B1 in most Northern Tai (NT) varieties, ta:j A1 in most Central Tai (CT) varieties, na:j A2 in most Southwestern Tai (SWT) varieties, and ja:j A2 in Standard Thai. Li ( 1971 ) reconstructs the proto-form of this word as * na:j A , positing that the later forms changed by analogy with semantically similar words. This paper discusses two alternative hypotheses * ta:j A and * ta:j B , and argues that the proto-form was *ta:j B . The analysis indicates that the sound changes of this word in Tai languages are caused by the “contamination” in kinship terms with paired semantic contents in CT/SWT, and by dissimilation from the otherwise homophonous word ‘to die’ in SWT. As a result, the proto-form of ‘maternal grandmother’ *ta:j B is preserved in the vast majority of NT and a cluster of CT. In most CT/SWT the original *B tone changed to *A tone, and then in SWT the initial *t - underwent further change to *n - in order to avoid homophony with the taboo word ‘to die’. This issue of homophony arose only in this branch due to the merger of *t - and *tr - (or *p.t -). This proto-form *ta:j B is supported by historical evidence and other non-Tai languages in the Daic family. Other exceptional irregularities in some CT languages are also discussed as they are crucial to the determination of the * ta:j B hypothesis. Analogous examples from several Tai varieties also support the occurrence of aberrant development due to taboo avoidance
Etymology · Kinship · Linguistics · Sociology · Anthropology · China's Ethnic Minorities and Relations · History · Mathematics · Philosophy · Psychology · Southeast Asian Sociopolitical Studies · Vietnamese History and Culture Studies
| Highly cited | No |
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