Rai languages

The Kiranti languages are a major family of Sino-Tibetan languages spoken in Nepal and India (notably Sikkim, Darjeeling, Kalimpong, and Kumai) by the Kirati people.

External relationships

George van Driem had formerly proposed that the Kiranti languages were part of a Mahakiranti family, although specialists are not completely certain of either the existence of a Kiranti subgroup or its precise membership. LaPolla (2003), though, proposes that Kiranti may be part of a larger "Rung" group.

Languages

There are about two dozen Kiranti languages. The better known are Limbu, Sunuwar, Bantawa Rai, Chamling Rai, Khaling Rai, Bahing Rai, Yakkha language, Vayu, Dungmali Rai, Lohorung Rai and Kulung Rai.

Kiranti verbs are not easily segmentable, due in large part to the presence of portmanteaus, crowded affix strings, and extensive (and often nonintuitive) allomorphy.

Classification

Overall, Kiranti languages are:

* Limbu
* Eastern Kiranti
** Greater Yakkha
*** Yakkha
*** Belhare Rai
*** Athpare Rai
*** Chintang Rai
*** Chulung Rai
** Upper Arun River
*** Yamphu-Lohorung Rai
**** Yamphu Rai
**** Lohorung Rai
*** Mewahang Rai
*** ? Waling Rai †
* Central
** Khambu (Rai)
*** Kulung Rai
*** Nachhiring Rai
*** Sampang Rai
*** Saam Rai
** Southern
*** Bantawa Rai
*** Puma Rai
*** Chamling Rai
*** Dungmali
* Western
** Thulung Rai (perhaps a primary branch of Kiranti Rai)
** Chaurasiya
*** Wambule Rai
*** Jerung Rai
** Upper Dudhkosi River:
*** Khaling Rai
*** Dumi Rai
*** Koi Rai
** Northwestern
*** Bahing Rai
*** Sunuwar
*** Vayu

''Ethnologue'' adds Tilung Rai to Western Kiranti, based on Opgenort (2011).

Opgenort (2005)

Opgenort (2005) classifies the Kiranti languages as follows, and recognizes a basic east-west division within Kiranti.

; Kiranti
* ''Western''
** Hayu
** (branch)
*** Thulung
*** (branch)
**** Bahing, Sunuwar
**** Jero, Wambule
* ''Eastern''
** Khaling, Dumi
** (branch)
*** Yamphu, Limbu
*** (branch)
**** Kulung
**** Chamling, Bantawa

Gerber & Grollmann (2018)

Historical linguists, as early as 2012, do not consider Kiranti to be a coherent group, but rather a paraphyletic one due to lack of shared innovations. Gerber & Grollmann (2018) gave a formal proof of the paraphyletic nature of Kiranti. A Central-Eastern Kiranti group is considered to be valid by Gerber & Grollmann (2018), but they consider "Western Kiranti" unclassified within Trans-Himalayan languages.

* Central-Eastern Kiranti
** Lhokpu, Dhimal, Toto
** Central Kiranti
** Upper Arun
** Greater Yakkha- Limbu

Independent branches (formerly part of "Western Kiranti") that are unclassified within Trans-Himalayan (Sino-Tibetan):
* Dumi- Khaling
* Chaurasiya-Northwest: Wambule, Bahing, Sunuwar; ? Jero; ? Hayu
* Thulung- Tilung- Kohi

Sound changes

Sound changes defining each subgroup (Gerber & Grollmann 2018):
* Central-Eastern Kiranti (*voiceless > preglottalised; *voiced > voiceless; *ʔk > kʰ; *ʔc > cʰ)
** Lhokpu, Dhimal, Toto
** Central Kiranti (*ʔp > b; *ʔt > d)
** Upper Arun (*ʔp > b; *ʔt > d; *r > j)
** Greater Yakkha-Limbu (*ʔp > pʰ; *ʔt > tʰ; *r > j)

Independent branches (formerly part of "Western Kiranti") that are unclassified within Trans-Himalayan (Sino-Tibetan):
* Dumi-Khaling (innovative verbal dual marker -i)
* Chaurasiya-Northwest (*kʷ > ʔw ~ ʔb)
** Wambule, Bahing, Sunuwar; ? Jero; ? Hayu
* Thulung-Tilung-Kohi (*p > t; *b > d)

Reconstruction

Research on proto-Kiranti includes work on phonology and comparative morphology by van Driem, reconstructions by Michailovsky (1991) and Sergei Starostin 1994. Michailovsky and Starostin differ by the number of stop series reconstructed (three vs four) and the interpretation of the correspondences.

Opgenort introduces the reconstruction of preglottalized resonants; his reconstruction is generally based on Starostin's four series system. More recently, Jacques proposed reconstruction of proto-Kiranti verb roots in a framework following Michailovsky's system, and analyzes the other initial correspondences (in particular, the series reconstructed as non-aspirated unvoiced stops by Starostin) as due to morphological alternations and inter-Kiranti borrowing. In addition, he presents a preliminary discussion of the reconstruction of stem alternation and stress patterns on the basis of Khaling and Dumi.

Notes

References

* George van Driem (2001) ''Languages of the Himalayas: An Ethnolinguistic Handbook of the Greater Himalayan Region.'' Brill.
*
* Tara Mani Rai (2015) "A Grammar of Koyee" Ph.D. diss. Tribhuvan University.
*
* Graham Thurgood (2003) "A Subgrouping of the Sino-Tibetan Languages: The Interaction between Language Contact, Change, and Inheritance," ''The Sino-Tibetan Languages''. Routledge. pp. 3–21.
* Karen H. Ebert (2003) "Kiranti Languages: An Overview," ''The Sino-Tibetan Languages''. Routledge. pp. 505–517.

Reconstructions
* Michailovsky, Boyd. 1991.
Big black notebook of Kiranti, proto-Kiranti forms
'. (unpublished ms. contributed to STEDT).
*
* A reconstruction of Proto-Kiranti verb roots
supplementary file
of Jacques (2017

Further reading

Ebert, K. 1994. The structure of Kiranti languages, comparative grammar and texts: Kiranti subordination in the South Asian areal context. Zürich: Arbeiten des Seminars für Allgemeine Sprachwissenschaft (ASAS).

External links

Kiranti Database Project
(Jean Robert Opgenort)

{{Languages of Nepal

Kiranti languages,