Morphological Evidence for a Central Branch of Trans-Himalayan (Sino-Tibetan)

Abstract

The verb agreement systems of Jinghpaw, Meyor, Northern Naga, and Northeast, Northwest and Southern Kuki-Chin contain material which is demonstrably inherited from Proto-Trans-Himalayan. Here we discuss morphological evidence that these systems share a common ancestor more recent than PTH. There is strong evidence connecting Jinghpaw with both Northern Naga and Kuki-Chin, and weaker evidence directly linking Northern Naga and Kuki-Chin, and both of these with Meyor. This is evidence that all of these languages belong to a single branch of the family, an idea which has been suggested in the past but never argued for. Les systemes d’accord verbaux des langues jinghpaw, meyor, naga du nord, et kuki-chin incluent des formes dont on peut demontrer l’origine proto-trans-himalayenne. Cet article presente des preuves morphologiques qui demontrent que ces systemes descendent d’un paradigme ancestral plus recent que le proto-trans-himalayen. Les caracteristiques morphologiques communes entre jinghpaw et naga du nord sont tres claires, et l’on trouve egalement des liens rapprochant le naga du nord avec le kuki-chin, et ces deux groupes avec le meyor. On propose que toutes ces langues appartiennent a une branche unique de la famille trans-himalayenne, une idee qui a ete suggeree dans des publications anterieures mais jamais developpee de facon argumentee.