George van Driem had formerly proposed that the Kiranti languages were part of a
Mahakiranti family, although specialists are not completely certain of either the existence of a Kiranti subgroup or its precise membership.[1] LaPolla (2003), though, proposes that Kiranti may be part of a larger "
Rung" group.
Kiranti verbs are not easily segmentable, due in large part to the presence of
portmanteaumorphemes, crowded
affix strings, and extensive (and often nonintuitive)
allomorphy.
Historical linguists, as early as 2012, do not consider Kiranti to be a coherent group, but rather a
paraphyletic one due to lack of
shared innovations.[3] Gerber & Grollmann (2018) presented additional evidence supporting the paraphyletic nature of Kiranti. A Central-Eastern Kiranti group is considered to be valid by Gerber & Grollmann (2018), but they consider "Western Kiranti" unclassified within
Trans-Himalayan languages.[4]
Grollmann (2023) identifies a Khambu subgroup that consists of three languages,
Kulung,
Nachiring, and
Sampang.
Camling may also be a Khambu language.[5]
Sound changes
Sound changes defining each subgroup (Gerber & Grollmann 2018):[4]
Independent branches (formerly part of "Western Kiranti") that are unclassified within Trans-Himalayan (Sino-Tibetan):
Dumi-Khaling (innovative verbal dual marker -i)
Chaurasiya-Northwest (*kʷ > ʔw ~ ʔb)
Wambule, Bahing, Sunuwar; ? Jero; ? Hayu
Thulung-Tilung-Kohi (*p > t; *b > d)
The Khambu branch is defined by the following sound changes.[5]
*ŋ > zero, *k > zero in final syllabic position, and also vowel change to o, ʌ, ə before the precending vowel *a
Palatalization of *t and *n before /i/ in final syllabic position
*eŋ > aŋ
Reconstruction
Research on proto-Kiranti includes work on phonology and comparative morphology by
George van Driem,[6] reconstructions by Michailovsky (1991)[7] and
Sergei Starostin 1994.[8] Michailovsky and Starostin differ by the number of stop series reconstructed (three vs four) and the interpretation of the correspondences.
Opgenort introduces the reconstruction of preglottalized resonants;[9][10] his reconstruction is generally based on Starostin's four series system. More recently,
Jacques proposed a reconstruction of proto-Kiranti verb roots based on Michailovsky's system,[11] and analyzes the other initial correspondences (in particular, the series reconstructed as non-aspirated unvoiced stops by Starostin) as due to morphological alternations and inter-Kiranti borrowing. In addition, he presents a preliminary discussion of the reconstruction of stem alternation and stress patterns on the basis of
Khaling and
Dumi.[12]
Notes
^Matisoff 2003, pp. 5–6; Thurgood 2003, pp. 15–16; Ebert 2003, pg. 505.
^
abGrollmann, Selin. 2023. Remarks on the Khambu subgroup of Kiranti. 26th Himalayan Languages Symposium, 4-6 September 2023. Paris: INALCO.
^van Driem, George (1990). "The Fall and Rise of the Phoneme /r/ in Eastern Kiranti: Sound Change in Tibeto-Burman". Bulletin of the School of Oriental and African Studies, University of London. 53 (1): 83–86.
doi:
10.1017/S0041977X00021273.
JSTOR618970.
S2CID128967034.
^Opgenort, Jean Robert (2005). A Grammar of Jero: With a Historical Comparative Study of the Kiranti Languages. BRILL.
ISBN978-90-474-1508-4.[page needed]
Thurgood, Graham (2003). "A Subgrouping of the Sino-Tibetan Languages: The Interaction between Language Contact, Change, and Inheritance". In LaPolla, Randy J.; Thurgood, Graham (eds.). The Sino-Tibetan Languages. Routledge. pp. 3–21.
ISBN9780203221051.
Ebert, Karen H. (2003). "Kiranti Languages: An Overview". In LaPolla, Randy J.; Thurgood, Graham (eds.). The Sino-Tibetan Languages. Routledge. pp. 3–21, 505–517.
ISBN9780203221051.
Ebert, K. 1994. The structure of Kiranti languages, comparative grammar and texts: Kiranti subordination in the South Asian areal context. Zürich: Arbeiten des Seminars für Allgemeine Sprachwissenschaft (ASAS).
Lahaussois, Aimée (2023). "Ideophonic patterns in Kiranti languages and beyond". Folia Linguistica. 57 (1): 1–36.
doi:
10.1515/flin-2022-2053.
S2CID256548395.