What is it about?
This paper examines some non-trivial sound correspondences in Gyalrongic, a group of morphologically complex languages spoken in Sichuan, China, and reconstructs a series of voiceless nasals (which sound like nasals with an aspiration) to explain these correspondences.
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Why is it important?
These non-trivial correspondences have been noticed by linguists since long time ago, but no one has proposed any explanation to them. However, reconstructing them largely increases our knowledge on the history of Gyalrongic languages as well as that of the entire Sino-Tibetan family.
Perspectives
This paper is an example of reconstructing a proto-language in a neat way. The conclusion may be refuted in the end, but the technique is quite remarkable, in my opinion.
YUNFAN LAI
University of Dublin Trinity College
Read the Original
This page is a summary of: On plosive-nasal correspondences and alternations in Gyalrongic and their possible solutions, Cahiers de linguistique - Asie orientale, February 2023, Brill,
DOI: 10.1163/19606028-bja10027.
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