This paper conducts a comprehensive exploration of methodology in historical linguistics, focusing on language subgrouping. Employing Tangut, a severely eroded medieval language, as a case study, it scrutinizes previous linguistic analyses that depart from the rigorous Neogrammarian method, specifically referencing Beaudouin (2023). These non-compliant analyses have impeded recent progress in understanding the genetic relationships within Burmo-Qiangic, a field marked by prolonged debates and with gradual advancement recently. In a subsequent step, adhering to Neogrammarian principles, namely, Ausnahmslosigkeit der Lautgesetze and positive shared innovations in language subgrouping, the paper discusses the plausibility of, as well as the good practice to argue for, a "Tangut-Horpa clade" within the Gyalrongic branch of Burmo-Qiangic. By advocating for the universality of these Neogrammarian principles, the paper aims to improve the accuracy and reliability of subgrouping languages characterized by significant typological diversity. This, in turn, contributes to a deeper comprehension of rigorous methodology within the context of the Sino-Tibetan language family.

This paper proposes new origins for tense vowels in Tangut by integrating textual analysis of Tangut texts with comparative data from both Gyalrongic and other Sino-Tibetan languages. It uncovers two previously unreported sources of vowel tensing in compounding: the collective prefix (*S-) and the compound linker (*-S-). Both morphemes left only a few traces, indicating their antiquity and productivity in earlier stages. The collective *S- could be an inherited morpheme which finds parallels in Tibetan, whereas the compound linker *-S- emerged as a stage of morphological merging in West Gyalrongic with (an) obscure origin(s). These findings not only advance our understanding of the origins of Tangut tense vowels but also offer insights into Sino-Tibetan nominal morphology.

This is the supplementary material of the paper "Mutual predictiveness of sound correspondences for reconstruction and language subgrouping: The case of Gyalrongic preinitials", to be published in Diachronica. It includes the datasets, codes and images involved in the research. Publication is still several months away, and I am trying to collect and identify more cognates as well as correct mistakes. Version 2 has included a few more cognates. I have added a file explaning my cognate judgements and annotations, and removed some doubtful forms after verification with native speakers. Comments, corrections and suggestions about cognate judgement, annotation and bibliographical references are welcome. I will correct and update the data from time to time.

This paper studies the four distinct native terms for 'corpse' attested in Gyalrongic languages. Through comparative analysis, it establishes the sound correspondences among cognates and proposes preliminary reconstructions. In a second step, it hypothesises on the origins of the etyma by examining potential cognates in other Sino-Tibetan languages. Two shared innovations can be found in the etyma for 'corpse'. First, the Situ form *m-g[a]m is an innovated compound meaning 'a person that is killed'; and second, the etymon *r(sic).qu(sic) is a shared innovation of Horpa and Tangut. By analysing the etymologies above, this paper aims to enhance our understanding of sound correspondences and changes within the Sino-Tibetan language family. Furthermore, it seeks to demonstrate the crucial role that etymological studies play in historical linguistics and language subgrouping. Despite their importance, such studies have not yet received sufficient attention from scholars specialising in Sino-Tibetan languages.

This paper explores a rare sound correspondence pattern found in Gyalrongic languages, focusing on two etyma: 'musk deer' and 'valley'. The reflexes in daughter languages exhibit different onsets, including palatals, alveolars, and laterals, which renders their genetic relationship non-obvious. Despite its significance, this correspondence pattern has been largely overlooked and insufficiently reconstructed. In this study, I propose a novel reconstruction of the onset, namely *t.lj-, elucidating the distinct reflexes observed in different sub-branches. Through this analysis, I demonstrate that both etyma have Sino-Tibetan origins. Additionally, the paper emphasises the importance of studying correspondences with limited examples and discusses the broader implications of such research for other domains.

This paper uses Gyalrongic languages, a conservative branch of Sino-Tibetan, to illustrate a new method to evaluate proto-language reconstructions in general historical linguistics and to conduct exploratory analyses in language phylogeny. It first reconstructs a proto-system of Gyalrongic preinitials and computes and compares the implicative entropies between reconstructed and modern systems. In a second step, Mutual Implicative Entropy (MIE) is used to measure genetic distances between related languages and to generate Neighbornet networks to visualize the subgrouping of Gyalrongic languages. The resulting networks are in agreement with qualitative historical linguistic analyses and allow adjustments to previous subgroupings obtained by Bayesian phylogenetic inference. Thus, this method can be used to detect nuances in lower sub-branches, which are sometimes neglected by lexicon-based methods. Using MIE in historical linguistics is therefore a quick and efficient means of checking the effectiveness of reconstructions and establishing the accurate preliminary shape of language subgrouping. Cet article utilise les langues gyalronguiques, une branche conservatrice du sino-tib & eacute;tain, pour illustrer une nouvelle m & eacute;thode d'& eacute;valuation des reconstructions de proto-langues dans la linguistique historique g & eacute;n & eacute;rale, ainsi que pour mener des analyses exploratoires dans la phylog & eacute;nie des langues. Il commence par reconstruire un proto-syst & egrave;me des pr & eacute;initiales gyalronguiques, calcule et compare les entropies implicatives entre les syst & egrave;mes reconstruits et modernes. Dans une deuxi & egrave;me & eacute;tape, l'entropie implicative mutuelle (Mutual implicative entropy, MIE) est utilis & eacute;e pour mesurer la distance g & eacute;n & eacute;tique entre les langues apparent & eacute;es et g & eacute;n & eacute;rer des r & eacute;seaux Neighbornet pour visualiser la sous-classification des langues gyalronguiques. Les r & eacute;seaux r & eacute;sultants sont en accord avec les analyses linguistiques historiques qualitatives et permettent des ajustements par rapport aux sous-classifications pr & eacute;c & eacute;dentes obtenues par l'inf & eacute;rence phylog & eacute;n & eacute;tique bay & eacute;sienne. Ainsi, cette m & eacute;thode peut & ecirc;tre utilis & eacute;e pour d & eacute;tecter des nuances dans les sous-branches inf & eacute;rieures, parfois n & eacute;glig & eacute;es par les m & eacute;thodes bas & eacute;es sur le lexique. L'utilisation de la MIE en linguistique historique est donc un moyen rapide et efficace de v & eacute;rifier l'efficacit & eacute; des reconstructions et d'& eacute;laborer une forme pr & eacute;liminaire pr & eacute;cise de la sous-classification linguistique. Dieser Artikel verwendet die gyalrongischen Sprachen, ein konservativer Zweig des Sino-Tibetischen, um eine neue Methode zur Bewertung von Rekonstruktionen von Ursprungssprachen in der allgemeinen historischen Linguistik zu illustrieren und um explorative Analysen in der Sprachphylogenie durchzuf & uuml;hren. Zun & auml;chst wird ein Proto-System der gyalrongischen Pr & auml;initiale rekonstruiert, und die implikative Entropie zwischen rekonstruierten und modernen Systemen wird berechnet und verglichen. In einem zweiten Schritt wird die gegenseitige implikative Entropie (Mutual implicative entropy, MIE) verwendet, um die genetische Distanz zwischen verwandten Sprachen zu messen und Neighbornet-Netzwerke zu generieren, um die Untergruppierung der gyalrongischen Sprachen zu visualisieren. Die resultierenden Netzwerke stimmen mit qualitativen Analysen in der historischen Linguistik & uuml;berein und erm & ouml;glichen Anpassungen an vorherige Untergruppierungen, die durch die bayessche phylogenetische Inferenz erhalten wurden. Diese Methode kann daher dazu genutzt werden, Nuancen in unteren Teilzweigen zu erkennen, die manchmal von lexikonbasierten Methoden vernachl & auml;ssigt werden. Die Verwendung von MIE in der historischen Linguistik ist somit ein schnelles und effizientes Mittel, um die Wirksamkeit von Rekonstruktionen zu & uuml;berpr & uuml;fen und eine genaue vorl & auml;ufige Form der Sprachuntergliederung zu erstellen.

Based on internal reconstruction, this paper resolves a long-standing problem observed in Khroskyabs, a West Gyalrongic language (Sino-Tibetan), that seems to sporadically have lenited voiceless stops, resulting in irregular correspondences with East Gyalrongic. Two major sound changes are involved: intervocalic lenition and post-stress intersyllabic compression. It turns out that the processes proposed here are one probable solution to monosyllabicization in languages of Southeast Asia, explaining a pathway from polysyllables or sesquisyllables toward monosyllables. Through examining potential problems of previous reconstructions in various languages, this paper shows that the Khroskyabs case provides a plausible direction in the solution of relevant unresolved problems from a panchronic perspective.

Cite the source of the dataset as: Sagart L, Jacques G, Lai Y, Ryder RJ, Thouzeau V, Greenhill SJ, List J- M. 2019 Dated language phylogenies shed light on the ancestry of Sino-Tibetan. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, 201817972.

As one of the most morphologically conservative branches of the Sino-Tibetan language family, most of the Rgyalrongic languages are still understudied and poorly understood, not to mention their vulnerable or endangered status. It is therefore important for available data of these languages to be made accessible. The lexical data sets the authors have assembled provide comparative word lists of 20 modern and medieval Rgyalrongic languages, consisting of word lists from fieldwork carried out by the first author and other colleagues as well as published word lists by other authors. In particular, data of the two Khroskyabs varieties were collected by the first author from 2011 to 2016. Cognate identification is based on the authors' expertise in Rgyalrong historical linguistics through application of the comparative method. We curated the data by conducting phonemic segmentation and partial cognate annotation. The data sets can be used by historical linguists interested in the etymology and the phylogeny of the languages in question, and they can use them to answer questions regarding individual word histories or the subgrouping of languages in this important branch of Sino-Tibetan.

Gyalrongic languages exhibit a series of non-trivial nasal-plosive (or approximant) correspondences, which so far lack an explanation. Some nasal consonants, mainly found in West Gyalrongic languages, correspond to plosives or approximants in their East Gyalrongic cognates. Long considered irregular, these correspondences have never been studied with the comparative method. This paper tackles these seeming correspondences and makes the first attempt to reconstruct them. I propose a series of voiceless nasals to account for their modern reflexes with various articulation manners, and analyse the plausibility of this reconstruction. I discuss the forms in question vis-à-vis their cognates in other Sino-Tibetan languages that exhibit a nasal. I also compare alternative solutions with the voiceless nasal hypothesis.

As one of the most morphologically conservative branches of the Sino-Tibetan language family, most of the Rgyalrongic languages are still understudied and poorly understood, not to mention their vulnerable or endangered status. It is therefore important for available data of these languages to be made accessible. The present lexical data sets provide comparative word lists of 20 modern and medieval Rgyalrongic languages, consisting of word lists from fieldwork carried out by the first author and other colleagues as well as published word lists by other authors. In particular, data of the two Khroskyabs varieties are collected by the first author from 2011 to 2016. Cognate identification is based on the authors' expertise in Rgyalrong historical linguistics through the neogrammarian comparative method. We curated the data by conducting phonemic segmantation and partial cognate annotation. The data sets can be used by historical linguists interested in the etymology and the phylogeny of the languages in question, and they can use them to answer questions regarding individual word histories or the subgrouping of languages in this important branch of Sino-Tibetan.

Abstract This paper offers new evidence from Stau, Geshiza, and Khroskyabs to address the question of directionality in valency-changing derivations in Sino-Tibetan. Examining Stau, Geshiza, and Khroskyabs causative and anticausative verb stem pairs adds to the evidence that in Proto-Sino-Tibetan, a number of intransitive stems are derived from transitive stems, in some cases as the result of *N‑ prefixation, and in other cases from voicing alternation independent of *N‑ prefixation. In addition, the proto-sigmatic prefix (*s-) does not cause devoicing in Stau, Geshiza, and Khroskyabs, but rather often undergoes voicing assimilation, and has more than just a causativization function. Furthermore, by looking at Gyalrong, Minyag, Tangut, Middle Chinese, and Old Chinese we emphasize that there is no synchronic evidence to support devoicing induced by *s‑, nor is there historical evidence to support the claim that *s‑ caused devoicing in Proto-Gyalrongic, or even at genetically deeper stages.

This paper proposes an internal reconstruction of the vowel system of Pre-Khroskyabs by analysing bound state apophony in modern Siyuewu Khroskyabs. While most modern Khroskyabs dialects do not exhibit sufficient variations of bound state apophony, Siyuewu Khroskyabs is conservative in this regard. The internal reconstruction deals with the different reflexes between final and non-final vowels in modern Khroskyabs dialects, and postulates a unified origin for them, by hypothesising two series of vowels, velarised and plain. Velarisation in Pre-Khroskyabs is then compared with uvularisation in Tangut, showing regular correspondences between the two. This work demonstrates that velarisation is an important feature that can be reconstructed back to Proto-Gyalrongic, and that it helps us in understanding Trans-Himalayan historical linguistics. Additionally, it can be seen through this paper that internal reconstruction is an indispensable procedure in reconstructing the history of a language, as a significant portion of vocalic contrasts cannot be reconstructed by cross-linguistic comparisons alone.

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There are four distinct forms conveying the meaning of ‘human, person, man’ across Gyalrongic languages. The default type (Japhug tɯ-rme), the rounded type (Khroskyabs vɟú ), the Stau type (Geshiza vdzi) and the uvular type (Geletuo taˈʁap ). Except for the default type, which has cognates in many other Sino-Tibetan languages, the origins of the other types are to date obscure and understudied. This paper first studies the phenomena of preinitial denasalisation and palatal fortition in the history of Khroskyabs, and then puts forward etymological solutions to the rounded and Stau types based on these sound changes. Both types are historical compounds with the first element related to the default type. The second element of the rounded type is cognate with Tangut lụʶ¹ ‘man’, and the second element of the Stau type is cognate with Proto-Loloish * tsaŋ¹ ‘man’ ( Bradley 1979 ).

嘉戎语组语言中,动词是形态最丰富的词类.嘉戎语组语言的动词系统十分发达,比大多数汉藏语系语言都要复杂,该领域的学者亦孜孜不倦地力求对动词的形态特点进行准确的描述和分析.然而,在动词类型学方面的研究仍旧十分欠缺.过去的研究中,学者们并未对嘉戎语组动词的分类提出可靠的标准,而本文的宗旨正是填补这一空缺.我们以绰斯甲语为主要研究对象,从其丰富的形态变化着手,提出了动词基于及物性形态以及语义的两大分类原则.这两大分类原则可以测试、证伪,亦可为后续的研究提供有用的参考.

Abstract This paper focuses on the verbal inflection chain of Siyuewu Khroskyabs, a Gyalrongic language (Trans-Himalayan). Siyuewu Khroskyabs goes against two general typological tendencies: first, as an SOV language, it shows an overwhelming preference for prefixes, which is rarely reported typologically; second, the inflectional prefixes in the outer slots are older than those in the inner slots, which is the reverse case of most languages. In this paper, I will first identify distinct historical layers within the inflectional prefixes, and then focus on two of the prefixes, də- ‘even’ and ɕə- ‘q’ whose evolutionary pathways are relatively clear. The essential part of the hypotheses is that the prefixes originate from enclitics which could be attached to the end of a preverbal chain, originally loosely attached to the verb stem. The preverbal chain later became tightly attached to the verbal stem and eventually became a part of it as a chain of prefixes. As a result, the original enclitics are reanalysed as prefixes. The integration of preverbal morphemes is responsible for the prefixing preference in Modern Siyuewu Khroskyabs. However, despite this superficial prefixing preference, Siyuewu Khroskyabs underlyingly favours postposed morphemes. By following the general suffixing tendency, this language finally managed to create a typologically rare, overwhelmingly prefixing verbal template.