Kiranti languages

{{Infobox language family | name = Kiranti | mapcaption = Ethnic groups within Nepal | map= Nepal_ethnic_groups.png | region = Eastern Nepal and India (Sikkim, Darjeeling, Kalimpong & Bhutan | ethnicity = Kirati, Yakkha, Limbu, Rai and Sunuwar | familycolor = Sino-Tibetan | child2 = Eastern | child3 = Central | child4 = Western | glotto = kira1253 | glottorefname = Kiranti }}

The '''Kiranti languages''' are a major family of Sino-Tibetan languages spoken in Nepal and India (notably Sikkim, Darjeeling, Kalimpong, and Bhutan) 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.<ref>Matisoff 2003, pp. 5–6; Thurgood 2003, pp. 15–16; Ebert 2003, pg. 505.</ref> LaPolla (2003), though, proposes that Kiranti may be part of a larger "Rung" group.

== Classification == There are about two dozen Kiranti languages. Among the better known are Limbu, Sunuwar, Bantawa, Chamling, Sampang, Khaling, Bahing, Yakkha, Wayu, Dungmali, Lohorung, and Kulung.

Kiranti verbs are not easily segmentable, due in large part to the presence of portmanteau morphemes, crowded affix strings, and extensive (and often nonintuitive) allomorphy. Thus, their relationship to each other has been a subject of debate.

Overall, Kiranti languages are classified:

{{tree list}} * '''Eastern Kiranti''' ** Limbu language **** Yakkha language **** Belhare language **** Athpare language **** Chintang language ***** Yamphu language ***** Lohorung language **** Mewahang language ** '''Central Kiranti''' *** Khambu (Rai) **** Kulung language **** Nachhiring language **** Sampang language **** Saam language **** Bantawa language **** Puma language **** Chamling language **** Dungmali language *** Thulung language (perhaps a primary branch of Kiranti Rai) *** Chaurasiya **** Wambule language *** Upper Dudhkosi River: **** Khaling language **** Dumi language **** Koi language **** Bahing language *** '''Western Kiranti''' **** Sunuwar language **** Hayu language **** Jerung language {{tree list/end}}

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

=== Opgenort (2005) === Opgenort (2005)<ref>Opgenort, Jean Robert. [http://www.opgenort.nl/kiranti_database_project Comparative and Etymological Kiranti Database] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190224040404/http://www.opgenort.nl/kiranti_database_project |date=2019-02-24 }}.</ref> classifies the Kiranti languages as follows, and recognizes a basic east-west division within Kiranti.

{{tree list}} * '''Kiranti''' ** ''Western'' *** Hayu *** {{tree list/branching}} **** Thulung **** {{tree list/branching}} ***** Bahing, Sunuwar ***** Jero, Wambule ** ''Central'' *** Khaling, Dumi **** {{tree list/branching}} ***** Kulung ***** Chamling, Bantawa ** ''Eastern'' **** Yamphu, Limbu

=== 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.<ref>{{Cite journal|title=Agreement Morphology: The Case of Rgyalrongic and Kiranti |first=Guillaume |last=Jacques |date=2012|journal=Language and Linguistics|url=https://www.ling.sinica.edu.tw/item/en?act=journal&code=download&article_id=380|page=84}}</ref> Gerber & Grollmann (2018) presented additional evidence supporting 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.<ref name="GG2018">{{cite journal |last1=Gerber |first1=Pascal |last2=Grollmann |first2=Selin |title=What is Kiranti?: A Critical Account |journal=Bulletin of Chinese Linguistics |date=20 November 2018 |volume=11 |issue=1–2 |pages=99–152 |doi=10.1163/2405478X-01101010 |doi-access=free }}</ref>

{{tree list}} * Central-Eastern Kiranti ** Lhokpu, Dhimal, Toto ** Central Kiranti ** Upper Arun ** Greater Yakkha-Limbu {{tree list/end}}

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

Grollmann (2023) identifies a ''Khambu'' subgroup that consists of three languages, Kulung, Nachiring, and Sampang. Camling may also be a Khambu language.<ref name="Grollmann 2023">Grollmann, Selin. 2023. ''Remarks on the Khambu subgroup of Kiranti''. 26th Himalayan Languages Symposium, 4–6 September 2023. Paris: INALCO.</ref>

==== Sound changes ==== Sound changes defining each subgroup (Gerber & Grollmann 2018):<ref name="GG2018"/> * 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)

The Khambu branch is defined by the following sound changes.<ref name="Grollmann 2023"/> * *ŋ > zero, *k > zero in final syllabic position, and also vowel change to o, ʌ, ə before the precending vowel *a * Palatalization of *t and *n before /i/ in final syllabic position * *eŋ > aŋ

== Reconstruction == Research on proto-Kiranti includes work on phonology and comparative morphology by George van Driem,<ref>{{cite journal |last1=van Driem |first1=George |title=The Fall and Rise of the Phoneme /r/ in Eastern Kiranti: Sound Change in Tibeto-Burman |journal=Bulletin of the School of Oriental and African Studies, University of London |date=1990 |volume=53 |issue=1 |pages=83–86 |doi=10.1017/S0041977X00021273 |jstor=618970 |s2cid=128967034 }}</ref> reconstructions by Michailovsky (1991)<ref>Michailovsky, Boyd. 1991. [http://stedt.berkeley.edu/~stedt-cgi/rootcanal.pl/source/BM-PK7 ''Big black notebook of Kiranti, proto-Kiranti forms'']. (unpublished ms. contributed to STEDT).</ref> and Sergei Starostin 1994.<ref>Starostin, Sergei A. 1994–2000. Proto-Kiranti reconstruction (online database). http://starling.rinet.ru/</ref> 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;<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Opgenort |first1=Jean-Robert |year=2004 |url=http://sealang.net/sala/archives/pdf8/opgenort2004implosive.pdf |title=Implosive and preglottalized stops in Kiranti |journal=Linguistics of the Tibeto–Burman Area |volume=27 |issue=1 |pages=1–27 }}</ref><ref>{{cite book |last1=Opgenort |first1=Jean Robert |title=A Grammar of Jero: With a Historical Comparative Study of the Kiranti Languages |date=2005 |publisher=BRILL |isbn=978-90-474-1508-4 }}{{page needed|date=July 2022}}</ref> his reconstruction is generally based on Starostin's four series system. More recently, Jacques proposed a reconstruction of proto-Kiranti verb roots based on Michailovsky's system,<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Jacques |first1=Guillaume |title=A reconstruction of Proto-Kiranti verb roots |journal=Folia Linguistica |date=27 November 2017 |volume=51 |issue=s38–s1 |pages=177–215 |doi=10.1515/flih-2017-0007 |s2cid=149278651 |url=https://halshs.archives-ouvertes.fr/halshs-01731021/file/proto-kiranti.pdf }}</ref> 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.<ref>{{cite book |doi=10.1515/9783110452754-003 |chapter=Tonogenesis and tonal alternations in Khaling |title=Tone and Inflection |year=2016 |last1=Jacques |first1=Guillaume |pages=41–66 |isbn=978-3-11-045275-4 |chapter-url=https://halshs.archives-ouvertes.fr/halshs-01486954/file/Jacques2016_KhalingTonogenesis.pdf }}</ref>

== Notes == {{reflist}}

== References == {{refbegin}} * {{cite book |first=George |last=van Driem |date=2001 |title=Languages of the Himalayas: An Ethnolinguistic Handbook of the Greater Himalayan Region |publisher=Brill |location=Leiden, The Netherlands |doi=10.1163/9789004514911|isbn=9789004514911 |s2cid=247418335 }} * {{cite journal |last1=Bickel |first1=Balthasar |last2=Banjade |first2=Goma |last3=Gaenszle |first3=Martin |last4=Lieven |first4=Elena |last5=Paudyal |first5=Netra Prasad |last6=Rai |first6=Ichchha Purna |last7=Rai |first7=Manoj |last8=Rai |first8=Novel Kishore |last9=Stoll |first9=Sabine |title=Free Prefix Ordering in Chintang |journal=Language |date=2007 |volume=83 |issue=1 |pages=43–73 |doi=10.1353/lan.2007.0002 |jstor=4490337 |s2cid=54992476 }} * Tara Mani Rai (2015). "A Grammar of Koyee" Ph.D. diss. Tribhuvan University. https://www.amazon.com/Grammar-Koyee-Tara-Mani-Rai/dp/3969391121 * {{cite book |last1=Matisoff |first1=James A. |title=Handbook of Proto-Tibeto-Burman: System and Philosophy of Sino-Tibetan Reconstruction |date=2003 |publisher=University of California Press |isbn=978-0-520-09843-5 |url=https://escholarship.org/uc/item/19d79619 }} * {{cite book |first=Graham |last=Thurgood |date=2003 |chapter=A Subgrouping of the Sino-Tibetan Languages: The Interaction between Language Contact, Change, and Inheritance |title=The Sino-Tibetan Languages |publisher=Routledge |pages=3–21 |editor1-first=Randy J. |editor1-last=LaPolla |editor2-first=Graham |editor2-last=Thurgood |isbn=9780203221051}} * {{cite book |first=Karen H. |last=Ebert |date=2003 |chapter=Kiranti Languages: An Overview |pages=3–21, 505–517 |title=The Sino-Tibetan Languages |publisher=Routledge |editor1-first=Randy J. |editor1-last=LaPolla |editor2-first=Graham |editor2-last=Thurgood |isbn=9780203221051}}

'''Reconstructions''' * Michailovsky, Boyd. 1991. ''[http://stedt.berkeley.edu/~stedt-cgi/rootcanal.pl/source/BM-PK7 Big black notebook of Kiranti, proto-Kiranti forms]''. (unpublished ms. contributed to STEDT). * {{cite journal | surname = Opgenort | given = Jean Robert | title = A note on Tilung and its position within Kiranti | journal = Himalayan Linguistics | year = 2011 | volume = 10 | issue = 1 | pages = 253–271 | url = https://escholarship.org/uc/item/32j1n5s7 }} * {{cite journal |last=Jacques |first=Guillaume |title=A reconstruction of Proto-Kiranti verb roots |journal=Folia Linguistica |volume=51 |issue=38 (supplement nr. 1) |date=2017 |pages=177–215 |doi=10.1515/flih-2017-0007 |s2cid=149278651 |url=https://halshs.archives-ouvertes.fr/halshs-01731021/file/proto-kiranti.pdf}} {{refend}}

== 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). * {{cite journal |last=Lahaussois |first=Aimée |title=Ideophonic patterns in Kiranti languages and beyond |journal=Folia Linguistica |volume=57 |issue=1 |date=2023 |pages=1–36 |doi=10.1515/flin-2022-2053|s2cid=256548395 }}

== External links == * [http://www.opgenort.nl/kiranti_database_project Kiranti Database Project] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190224040404/http://www.opgenort.nl/kiranti_database_project |date=2019-02-24 }} (Jean Robert Opgenort)

Category:Kiranti languages Category:Languages of Koshi Province