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The Khasic or Khasian languages are a family of Austroasiatic languages spoken in the northeastern Indian state Meghalaya and neighbouring areas of Bangladesh.

Khasic
Geographic distribution	India, Bangladesh
Linguistic classification	Austroasiatic Khasi–Palaungic Khasic
Proto-language	Proto-Khasic
Glottolog	khas1268
Khasic

Languages

Sidwell (2018: 27–31) classifies the Khasian languages as follows.

proto-Khasian

• War (Amwi, Mnar)
• proto–Pnar-Khasi-Lyngngam
  • Lyngngam (former Garo-speakers)
  • Pnar (Jaintia), Khasi, Maharam (Maram)

Varieties called Bhoi are dialects of both Pnar and Khasi.

External relationships

Paul Sidwell (2011) suggests that Khasian is closely related to Palaungic, forming a Khasi–Palaungic branch.

The following eight Khasian-Palaungic isoglosses have been identified by Sidwell (2018: 32).

Gloss	Proto-Khasian (Sidwell 2018)	Proto-Palaungic (Sidwell 2015)[1]
blood	*snaːm	*snaːm
claw/nail	*trʧʰiːm	*rənsiːm
hair	*sɲuʔ	*ɲuk
man/husband	trmɛ (Amwi)	*-meʔ
rain	*slap; slɛ (Amwi)	*clɛʔ
swim	*ɟŋiː	*ŋɔj
two	*ʔaːr	*ləʔaːr
water	*ʔum	*ʔoːm

Lexical innovations

Sidwell (2018: 23) lists the following Khasian lexical innovations (i.e., defining lexical forms) that are found exclusively in the Khasian branch, but not in other Austroasiatic branches).

English gloss	Proto-Khasian	Lyngngam	Maram	Khasi	Pnar	Mnar	War
cooked rice	*ʤaː	ʥa	ʤa	ja /ʤaː/	ʤa	ci	ʧi
moon	*bnəːj	bni	bne	bnai /bnaːi/	bnaj	pni	pnʊ
to sing	*rwəːj	rəŋwi	rwej	rwái /rwaːi/	rwaj	–	rvʊ
four	*saːw	saw	saw	sáw /saːw/	so	sɔu	ria
river	*waʔ	–	waɁ	wah /waːʔ/	waɁ	waɁ	waɁ
all	*barɔɁ	prok	barɔʔ	baroh /barɔːʔ/	warɔʔ	–	bərɒʔ
pig	*sniaŋ	sɲaŋ	sniaŋ	sniang /sniaŋ/	sniaŋ	cʰɲaŋ	rniŋ
sand	*ʧʔiap	ʥʔep	ʧiʔɛp	shyiap /ʃʔiap/	ʧʔiap	ʃʔip	ʃʔiap
to drink	*di:ʔ/c	dec	dɔc	dih /diːʔ/	diʔ	deʔ	deʔ
flower/star	*kʰloːr	kʰlor	kʰlɔr	khlúr /kʰloːr/	kʰlor	–	khlʊə
tongue	*tʰnləːc	təloc	tʰl̩let	thyllied /tʰɨlleːc/	tʰl̩leɟ	kʰlut	kʰlit
ice/freeze	*tʰaʔ	tʰaʔ	tʰaʔ	thah /tʰaːʔ/	tʰaʔ	tʰaʔ	tʰaʔ

Reconstruction

Proto-Khasian and Proto-Pnar-Khasi-Lyngngam have been reconstructed by Paul Sidwell (2018). Proto-Khasian is estimated to have originated about 2,000-2,500 years ago, with War splitting from other Khasian linguistic varieties about 1,500 years ago (Sidwell 2018: 20).

Proto-Khasian morphology includes a causative *pN- prefix and verbalizing *-r- infix (Sidwell 2018: 66-67).

The following reconstructed paradigmatic and closed class morphemes in Proto-Khasian are from Sidwell (2018: 51-67).

Personal pronouns

	Masculine	Feminine	Plural
1st person	*ŋa (topic/oblique); *ʔɔ (default)	*ŋa (topic/oblique); *ʔɔ (default)	*ʔi
2nd person	*me	*pʰa	*pʰi
3rd person (animate)	*ʔu	*ka	*ki
3rd person (inanimate ~ diminutive)	*ʔi	*ʔi	*ʔi

Demonstratives

• *ni 'proximal'
• *tu 'mesiodistal'
• *taj 'distal (visible)'
• *te 'mesioproximal'
• *tɛ 'distal (non-visible)'

Negators

• *ʔǝm 'not'
• *ham 'do not'
• *ta 'not'

Prepositions/case markers

• *ha 'locative/oblique'
• *ʤɔŋ 'to possess'
• *da 'instrumental'
• *ba (?) 'and/with'
• *tV 'oblique'

Tense/aspect morphemes

• *la:j 'to go'
• *dɛp 'finish'
• *diʔ 'to go'
• *daː 'have'
• *ʤuʔ 'same'

Morphological affixes

• *pN- 'prefix'
• *-r- 'verbalizer'

Numerals

Gloss	Proto-Khasian	Proto-Pnar- Khasi-Lyngngam
one	*wiː~*miː
one	*ʧiː
two	*ʔaːr
three	*laːj
four	*saːw
five	*san
six	*tʰruː
seven		*ʰnɲəw
eight		*pʰraː
nine		*kʰndaːj
ten	*pʰəw

Sound changes

Sidwell (2018) lists the following sound changes from Pre-Khasian (i.e., the ancestral stage of Khasian that preceded Proto-Khasian) to Proto-Khasian.

• Pre-Khasian *b- > *p-, *ɓ- > *b- chain shift
  • Proto-Austroasiatic *b- > proto-Khasian *p-
  • Proto-Austroasiatic *ɓ- > proto-Khasian *b-
• Pre-Khasian *d- > *t-, * ɗ- > *d- chain shift
  • Proto-Austroasiatic *d- > proto-Khasian *t-
  • Proto-Austroasiatic *ɗ- > proto-Khasian *d-
• Pre-Khasian *-l > *-n/*-Ø
• Pre-Khasian *-h > *-s > *-t
• Pre-Khasian *-ʔ > *-Ø >, *-k > *-ʔ chain shift
• Pre-Khasian *g- > *k-

See also

• List of Proto-Khasian reconstructions (Wiktionary)

References

• Sidwell, Paul. 2011. Proto-Khasian and Khasi-Palaungic. Journal of the South East Asia linguistics society, Vol. 4.2, pages 144-168, December 2011.
• Sidwell, Paul. 2011b. Proto-Khasian (or -War-Khasi); reconstruction and classification. Presented at SEALS 21, Kasetsart University, Bangkok, Thailand.
• Sidwell, Paul. 2018. The Khasian Languages: Classification, Reconstruction, and Comparative Lexicon. Languages of the World 58. Munich: Lincom Europa. ISBN 9783862889143

External links

• Khasian Languages Project (by Paul Sidwell)

На других языках

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- [en] Khasic languages

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[fr] Langues khasiques

Les langues khasiques sont un groupe de 5 langues au sein du rameau des langues môn-khmer du Nord. Ce sont :

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