Cover not available

Article published In: Language and Linguistics
Vol. 24:2 (2023) ► pp.345–390

Get fulltext from our e-platform
JBE logo with link
PDF logo with download linkDownload PDF
EPUB logo with download linkDownload EPUB

Gser-Rdo

A new Tibetic language across the Rngaba‑Dkarmdzes border

 | Academia Sinica
Open Access logo
Available under the Creative Commons Attribution (CC BY) 4.0 license.

For any use beyond this license, please contact the publisher at rights@benjamins.nl.

Published online: 9 April 2023
DOI logo with link
https://doi.org/10.1075/lali.00134.sun
Abstract
Gserskad and Rdoskad are two recently uncovered Tibetic dialect chains spoken on the northern border of Rngaba (Aba) and Dkarmdzes (Ganzi) Prefectures in northwestern Sichuan. Despite their many points of difference and only partial intelligibility, Gserskad and Rdoskad show a special affinity to each other, as suggested in 2006. Special linguistic features of gSerpa Tibetan. Linguistics of the Tibeto-Burman Area 29(1). 107–126.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar. The further idiosyncratic common lexical, phonological, and particularly morphological evidence highlighted in this article vindicate the close ties shared by Gserskad and Rdoskad as a distinct Tibetic language on a par with Amdo.
Article outline
  • 1.Introduction
    • 1.1Gserskad and Rdoskad
    • 1.2Gser-Rdo phonological systems compared
  • 2.Non-Amdo Gser-Rdo vocabulary
  • 3.Gser-Rdo phonological developments
    • 3.1Amdo sound changes not attested in Gser-Rdo
      • 3.1.1Kr- clusters became postalveolar/palatal affricates
      • 3.1.2Softening of labial stops
      • 3.1.3Fate of the OT complex onset sbr-
      • 3.1.4Merger of OT -ang and -ing into -aŋ
      • 3.1.5Loss of lateral coda
      • 3.1.6Coalescence of root syllable and nominal suffixes -ba/-bo
    • 3.2Characteristic Gser-Rdo sound changes
      • 3.2.1Voiceless trill in consonant clusters
      • 3.2.2Merger of OT db- and sb- onset clusters
    • 3.3Common Gser-Rdo phonological irregularities
  • 4.Gser-Rdo morphological developments
    • 4.1Zero subordinator in syntactic causative and purposive constructions
    • 4.2Dissimilar grammatical morphemes
    • 4.3Shared verb stem innovation
      • 4.3.1Innovated past stems
      • 4.3.2Innovated imperative stems
        • 4.3.2.1Stem blending
        • 4.3.2.2Labiality reduction
      • 4.3.3Shared extension of stem formation patterns
  • 5.Conclusions
  • Acknowledgements
  • Notes
  • Abbreviations
  • References
References (20)
References
Chang Shefts, Betty & Chang, Kun. 1982. The persistence of present-tense reflexes in modern spoken Tibetan. Tsing Hua Journal of Chinese Studies 14 (1-2). 21–30.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Gawne, Lauren. 2016. A sketch grammar of Lamjung Yolmo. Canberra: Asia-Pacific Linguistics (College of Asia and the Pacific, the Australian National University.)Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Gong, Xun. 2016. A phonological history of Amdo Tibetan rhymes. Bulletin of the School of Oriental and African Studies 79(2). 347–374. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
. 2018. Le rgyalrong zbu, une langue tibéto-birmane de Chine du Sud-ouest. Une étude descriptive, typologique et comparative [Zbu Rgyalrong, a Tibeto-Burman language of Southwestern China: A descriptive, typological, and comparative study]. Paris: Institut National des Langues et Civilisations Orientales. (Doctoral dissertation.) (École doctorale no. 265.)
Haller, Felix. 2004. Dialekt und Erzählungen von Themchen: Sprachwissenschaftliche Beschreibung eines Nomadendialektes aus Nord-Amdo [Dialect and folktales from Themchen: Linguistic description of a nomad dialect from north Amdo] (Beiträge zur tibetischen Erzählforschung [Research on Tibetan Languages] 14). Bonn: VGH Wissenschaftsverlag.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Hua, Kan. 1983. Anduo Zangyu shengmu de jizhong teshu bianhua [Certain special developments of syllable initials in Amdo Tibetan]. Minzu Yuwen [Minority Languages of China] 1983(3). 43–46.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
. 2002. Zangyu Anduo fangyan cihui [A dictionary of Amdo Tibetan dialects]. Lanzhou: Gansu Nationalities Publishing House.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Jäschke, Heinrich August. 1954. Tibetan grammar. New York: Frederick Ungar Publishing Company.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Li, Fang-Kuei. 1933. Certain phonetic influences of the Tibetan prefixes upon the root initials. Bulletin of the Institute of History and Philology 4(2). 135–157.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Qu, Aitang. 1985. Zangyu dongci quzhe xingtai de jiegou ji qi yanbian [Inflectional morphology of the Tibetan verb: Its structure and change]. Minzu Yuwen [Minority Languages of China] 1985(1). 1–15.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Sun, Jackson T.-S. 2004. Verb-stem variations in Showu rGyalrong. In Lin, Ying-chin & Hsu, Fang-min & Lee, Chun-chih & Sun, Jackson T.-S. & Yang, Hsiu-fang & Ho, Dah-an (eds.), Studies on Sino-Tibetan languages: Papers in honor of Professor Hwang-cherng Gong on his seventieth birthday, 269–296. Taipei: Institute of Linguistics, Academia Sinica.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
2006. Special linguistic features of gSerpa Tibetan. Linguistics of the Tibeto-Burman Area 29(1). 107–126.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
2007. Perfective stem renovation in Khalong Tibetan. In Bielmeier, Roland & Haller, Felix (eds.), Linguistics of the Himalayas and beyond (Trends in Linguistics, Studies and Monographs 196), 323–340. Berlin: Mouton de Gruyter. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
2018. Identifying Tibetic subgroups: A case in Khrochu (Sichuan). (Plenary talk presented at the 51st International Conference on Sino-Tibetan Languages and Linguistics, Kyoto, 25–28 September 2018.)
Tournadre, Nicolas. 2014. The Tibetic languages and their classification. In Owen-Smith, Thomas & Hill, Nathan W. (eds.), Trans-Himalayan linguistics: Historical and descriptive linguistics of the Himalayan area (Trends in Linguistics, Studies and Monographs 266), 105–130. Berlin: Walter de Gruyter.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
. 2016. The future tenses in the Tibetic languages: Diachronic and dialectal perspectives. In Guentchéva, Zlatka (ed.), Aspectuality and temporality: Descriptive and theoretical issues (Studies in Language Companion Series 172), 625–642. Amsterdam: John Benjamins. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Tournadre, Nicolas & Rigzin, Karma. 2015. Outlines of Chocha-Ngacha: An undocumented language of Bhutan related to Dzongkha. Himalayan Linguistics 14(2). 49–87. ([URL]) (Accessed 2022-10-03.)
Wang, Wenquan. 2016. Anduo Zangyu Tianzhuhua fuyin shengxue fenxi [Acoustic research of consonants of Themchen Amdo Tibetan]. Lanzhou: Northwest University for Nationalities. (Master’s thesis.)
Zeisler, Bettina. 2009. Reducing phonological complexity and grammatical opaqueness: Old Tibetan as a lingua franca and the development of the modern Tibetan varieties. In Aboh, Enoch Oladé & Smith, Norval (eds.), Complex processes in new languages (Creole Language Library 35), 75–95. Amsterdam: John Benjamins. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Zhang, Mian. 2020. Zangyu Daocheng fangyan yuyin yanjiu [A phonological study of ’Dab-pa Tibetan]. Shanghai: Shanghai Normal University. (Doctoral dissertation.)
Mobile Menu Logo with link to supplementary files background Layer 1 prag Twitter_Logo_Blue