1. Languages

2. External relationships

3. Lexical innovations

4. Reconstruction

5. Sound changes

6. See also

7. References

8. External links

The Khasic or Khasian languages are a family of Austroasiatic languages spoken in the northeastern Indian state Meghalaya and neighbouring areas of Bangladesh.

Languages

Sidwell (2018: 27–31) classifies the Khasian languages as follows.

proto-Khasian

• War (Amwi, Mnar)
• proto–Pnar-Khasi-Lyngngam
  • Lyngngam (former Garo-speakers)
  • Pnar (Jaintia), Khasi, Maharam (Maram)

Varieties called Bhoi are dialects of both Pnar and Khasi.

External relationships

Paul Sidwell (2011) suggests that Khasian is closely related to Palaungic, forming a Khasi–Palaungic branch.

The following eight Khasian-Palaungic isoglosses have been identified by Sidwell (2018: 32).

Lexical innovations

Sidwell (2018: 23) lists the following Khasian lexical innovations (i.e., defining lexical forms) that are found exclusively in the Khasian branch, but not in other Austroasiatic branches).

Reconstruction

Proto-Khasian and Proto-Pnar-Khasi-Lyngngam have been reconstructed by Paul Sidwell (2018). Proto-Khasian is estimated to have originated about 2,000-2,500 years ago, with War splitting from other Khasian linguistic varieties about 1,500 years ago (Sidwell 2018: 20).

Proto-Khasian morphology includes a causative *pN- prefix and verbalizing *-r- infix (Sidwell 2018: 66-67).

The following reconstructed paradigmatic and closed class morphemes in Proto-Khasian are from Sidwell (2018: 51-67).

Personal pronouns

Demonstratives

• ni 'proximal'
• tu 'mesiodistal'
• taj 'distal (visible)'
• te 'mesioproximal'
• tɛ 'distal (non-visible)'

Negators

• ʔǝm 'not'
• ham 'do not'
• ta 'not'

Prepositions/case markers

• ha 'locative/oblique'
• ʤɔŋ 'to possess'
• da 'instrumental'
• ba (?) 'and/with'
• tV 'oblique'

Tense/aspect morphemes

• la:j 'to go'
• dɛp 'finish'
• diʔ 'to go'
• daː 'have'
• ʤuʔ 'same'

Morphological affixes

• pN- 'prefix'
• -r- 'verbalizer'

Numerals

Sound changes

Sidwell (2018) lists the following sound changes from Pre-Khasian (i.e., the ancestral stage of Khasian that preceded Proto-Khasian) to Proto-Khasian.

• Pre-Khasian b- > p-, ɓ- > b- chain shift
  • Proto-Austroasiatic b- > proto-Khasian p-
  • Proto-Austroasiatic ɓ- > proto-Khasian b-
• Pre-Khasian d- > t-, ɗ- > d- chain shift
  • Proto-Austroasiatic d- > proto-Khasian t-
  • Proto-Austroasiatic ɗ- > proto-Khasian d-
• Pre-Khasian -l > -n/-Ø
• Pre-Khasian -h > -s > -t
• Pre-Khasian -ʔ > -Ø >, -k > -ʔ chain shift
• Pre-Khasian g- > k-

See also

• List of Proto-Khasian reconstructions (Wiktionary)

References

• Sidwell, Paul. 2011. Proto-Khasian and Khasi-Palaungic. Journal of the South East Asia linguistics society, Vol. 4.2, pages 144-168, December 2011.
• Sidwell, Paul. 2011b. Proto-Khasian (or -War-Khasi); reconstruction and classification. Presented at SEALS 21, Kasetsart University, Bangkok, Thailand.
• Sidwell, Paul. 2018. The Khasian Languages: Classification, Reconstruction, and Comparative Lexicon. Languages of the World 58. Munich: Lincom Europa. {{ISBN|9783862889143}}

External links

• [https://sites.google.com/view/paulsidwell/khasian-languages-project Khasian Languages Project] (by Paul Sidwell)

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