The origins of Sinitic

Title
The origins of Sinitic
Publication Date
2013
Author(s)
Delancey, Scott
Editor
Editor(s): Zhou Jung-Schmidt
Type of document
Book Chapter
Language
en
Entity Type
Publication
Publisher
John Benjamins Publishing Company
Place of publication
Amsterdam, Netherlands
Edition
1
Series
Studies in Chinese Language and Discourse
DOI
10.1075/scld.2
UNE publication id
une:16557
Abstract
A persistent problem in Sino-Tibetan linguistics is that Chinese is characterized by a mix of lexical, phonological, and syntactic features, some of which link it to the Tibeto-Burman languages, others to the Tai-Kadai, Hmong-Mien, and Mon-Khmer families of Southeast Asia. It has always been recognized that this must reflect intense language contact. This paper develops a hypothesis about the nature of that contact. The language of Shang was a highly-creolized lingua franca based on languages of the Southeast Asian type. Sinitic is a result of the imposition of the Sino-Tibetan language of the Zhou on a population speaking this lingua franca, resulting in a language with substantially Sino-Tibetan lexicon and relict morphology, but Southeast Asian basic syntax.
Link
Citation
Increased Empiricism: Recent advances in Chinese Linguistics, p. 73-99
ISBN
9789027201812
9789027271419
Start page
73
End page
99

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