| West Himalayish | |
|---|---|
| Kanauric, Almora | |
| Geographic distribution | Himachal Pradesh, Uttarakhand (India), Nepal |
| Linguistic classification | Sino-Tibetan
|
| Glottolog | tibe1275 |
The West Himalayish languages, also known as Almora and Kanauric, are a family of Sino-Tibetan languages centered in Himachal Pradesh, Uttarakhand and across the border into Nepal. LaPolla (2003) proposes that the West Himalayish languages may be part of a larger "Rung" group.
Languages
[edit]The languages include:[citation needed]
Zhangzhung, the sacred language of the Bon religion, was spoken north of the Himalayas across western Tibet before being replaced by Tibetan. James Matisoff (2001)[1] provides lexical and phonological evidence for the classification of Zhangzhung within West Himalayish.
Classification
[edit]Widmer (2014:47)[2] classifies the West Himalayish languages as follows. The recently discovered Dhuleli language has been added from Regmi & Prasain (2017).[3]
Widmer (2014:53–56)[2] classifies Zhangzhung within the Eastern branch of West Himalayish, and notes that it appears particularly close to languages of the Central subgroup (Bunan, Sunnami, and Rongpo).
Widmer (2017)[4] notes that many Tibetan varieties in the western Tibetan Plateau have been influenced by West Himalayish languages.
Vocabulary
[edit]Widmer (2017)[4] lists the following lexical items that differ in the Eastern and Western branches of West Himalayish.
| Language | ‘one’ | ‘hand’ | ‘cry’ | ‘black’ |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Proto-Eastern West Himalayish |
*it | *gut | *krap- | *rok- |
| Manchad | itsa | gùṛa | krap- | roki |
| Kanashi | idh | guḍ | kərop- | roko |
| Kinnauri (Southern) |
id | gŭd' | krap- | rŏkh |
| Proto-Western West Himalayish |
*tik | *lak | *tjo- | *kʰaj/*wom |
| Bunan | tiki | lak | tjo- | kʰaj |
| Rongpo | tig | lag | tyõ- | kʰasyũ |
| Byangsi | tigɛ | là | tye- | wamdɛ |
Widmer (2014:53-56)[2] classifies Zhangzhung within the eastern branch of West Himalayish, and lists the following cognates between Zhangzhung and Proto-West Himalayish.
| Gloss | Zhangzhung | Proto-West Himalayish |
|---|---|---|
| barley | zad | *zat |
| blue | ting | *tiŋ- |
| diminutive suffix | -tse | *-tse ~ *-tsi |
| ear | ra tse | *re |
| fat | tsʰas | *tsʰos |
| girl | tsa med | *tsamet |
| god | sad | *sat |
| gold ? | zang | *zaŋ |
| heart | she | *ɕe |
| old (person) | shang ze | *ɕ(j)aŋ |
| red | mang | *maŋ |
| white | shi nom | *ɕi |
Footnotes
[edit]- ^ Matisoff, James. 2001. "The interest of Zhangzhung for comparative Tibeto-Burman." In New Research on Zhangzhung and Related Himalayan Languages (Bon Studies 3). Senri Ethnological Studies no. 19, p.155-180. Osaka: National Museum of Ethnology 国立民族学博物館. doi:10.15021/00002145
- ^ a b c Widmer, Manuel. 2014. "A tentative classification of West Himalayish." In A descriptive grammar of Bunan, 33-56. Ph.D. dissertation, University of Bern.
- ^ Regmi, Dan Raj; Prasain, Balaram. 2017. A sociolinguistic survey of Dhuleli. Linguistic Survey of Nepal (LinSuN), Tribhuvan University, Kathmandu, Nepal.
- ^ a b Widmer, Manuel. 2017. The linguistic prehistory of the western Himalayas: endangered minority languages as a window to the past. Presented at Panel on Endangered Languages and Historical Linguistics, 23rd International Conference on Historical Linguistics (ICHL 23), San Antonio, Texas.
References
[edit]- George van Driem (2001) Languages of the Himalayas: An Ethnolinguistic Handbook of the Greater Himalayan Region. Brill.
- LaPolla, Randy. 2001. The Tibeto-Burman Languages of Uttar Pradesh.
- Widmer, Manuel. 2017. The linguistic prehistory of the western Himalayas: endangered minority languages as a window to the past. Presented at Panel on Endangered Languages and Historical Linguistics, 23rd International Conference on Historical Linguistics (ICHL 23), San Antonio, Texas.
- Widmer, Manuel. 2018. The linguistic prehistory of the western Himalayas. Proceedings of the 51st International Conference on Sino-Tibetan Languages and Linguistics (2018). Kyoto: Kyoto University.
Sino-Tibetan branches | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Western Himalayas (Himachal, Uttarakhand, Nepal, Sikkim) |
|  | |||
| Eastern Himalayas (Tibet, Bhutan, Arunachal) | |||||
| Myanmar and Indo- Burmese border |
| ||||
| East and Southeast Asia |
| ||||
| Dubious (possible isolates) (Arunachal) |
| ||||
| Proposed groupings | |||||
| Proto-languages | |||||
Italics indicates single languages that are also considered to be separate branches. | |||||
Well, that’s interesting to know that Psilotum nudum are known as whisk ferns. Psilotum nudum is the commoner species of the two. While the P. flaccidum is a rare species and is found in the tropical islands. Both the species are usually epiphytic in habit and grow upon tree ferns. These species may also be terrestrial and grow in humus or in the crevices of the rocks.
View the detailed Guide of Psilotum nudum: Detailed Study Of Psilotum Nudum (Whisk Fern), Classification, Anatomy, Reproduction