The Naish languages are a low-level subgroup of Sino-Tibetan languages that include Naxi, Na (Mosuo), and Laze.
Naish | |
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Geographic distribution | Yunnan and Sichuan |
Linguistic classification | Sino-Tibetan
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Subdivisions | |
Glottolog | nais1236 |
The Naish languages are:
In turn, Naish together with Namuyi and Shixing constitutes the Naic subgroup within Sino-Tibetan.
Arguments for relatedness include irregular morphotonology: tone patterns of numeral-plus-classifier phrases that constitute shared structural properties. Since these similarities are phonetically nontransparent, they cannot be due to borrowing.[1]
Note that in Mainland China, the term "Naxi" is commonly used for the entire language group, e.g. by the influential linguistic introduction by He and Jiang (2015).[2][3] The terms "Naish" and "Naic" are derived from the endonym Na used by speakers of several of the languages. These concepts were initially proposed by Guillaume Jacques & Alexis Michaud (2011).[4] Phylogenetic issues are summarized in the entry about the Naic subgroup. For a review of the literature about Naish languages, see Li (2015).[5]
Jacques & Michaud (2011) list the following words as Naish lexical innovations.
Gloss | Naxi | Na | Laze | Proto-Naish |
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to stumble | pe˧ | khɯ.piM | *(S)pa | |
cloud | ki˩ | tɕi˧ | tɕi˩sɯ˥ | *ki |
village | hi˧mbe˧ | fv̩.biL | ɖɯ˧bie˧ | *mba |
Bai people | le˧bv̩˧ | ɬi.bv̩M | *Sla | |
noble | sɯ.phiM | sɯ˩phie˩ | *si pha | |
medicine (2nd syllable) |
ʈʂhɚ˧ɯ˧ | ʈʂhæ.ɯH | tshɯ˧fi˧ | *rtshi Swri |
Proto-Naish, the proto-language ancestral to the Naish languages, has been reconstructed by Jacques & Michaud (2011).
Sino-Tibetan branches | |||||
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Western Himalayas (Himachal, Uttarakhand, Nepal, Sikkim) |
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Eastern Himalayas (Tibet, Bhutan, Arunachal) | |||||
Myanmar and Indo-Burmese border |
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East and Southeast Asia |
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Dubious (possible isolates) (Arunachal) |
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Proposed groupings | |||||
Proto-languages |
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Italics indicates single languages that are also considered to be separate branches. |
Na-Qiangic languages | |||||||||||||||||||
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Naic |
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Ersuic | |||||||||||||||||||
Qiangic |
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Cross (†) and italics indicate extinct languages. |