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Article published In:
Diachronica
Vol. 38:1 (2021) ► pp.1–24

Phylogenies based on lexical innovations refute the Rung hypothesis

ORCID logo | CNRS-EHESS-Inalco, CRLAO
ORCID logo | CNRS-EHESS-Inalco, CRLAO
Sino-Tibetan (Trans-Himalayan) is one of the typologically most diverse language families in the world, one of the few comprising all gradients of morphological complexity, from isolating to polysynthetic. No consensus exists as yet on whether the rich morphology found in some languages, in particular person indexation, should be reconstructed in the common Sino-Tibetan ancestor or whether it is a later innovation confined to and defining a particular “Rung” subgroup. In this article, we argue that this question is fundamentally a problem of phylogeny, and that the results of recent works on the phylogeny of Sino-Tibetan, supplemented by a more refined investigation of shared lexical innovations, provide support for the idea that person indexation morphology is not a recent innovation and that the languages lacking such a feature are thus innovative.
Keywords: Sino-Tibetan, Trans-Himalayan, phylogeny, Rung, Rgyalrongic, Kiranti, lexical innovations, person indexation
Article outline
  • 1.Introduction
  • 2.Sino-Tibetan verbal morphology and phylogeny
    • 2.1Rgyalrong and Kiranti person indexation
    • 2.2The Rung vs Polysynthetic Sino-Tibetan hypotheses
    • 2.3Geographical distribution
  • 3.Lexical innovations and the Rung hypothesis
    • 3.1Recent phylogenetic studies and the Rung hypothesis
    • 3.2Prediction of the Rung hypothesis
    • 3.3Testing the prediction of the Rung hypothesis
  • 4.Alternatives to the Rung hypothesis
    • 4.1Burmo-Rgyalrongic
    • 4.2Tibeto-Rgyalrongic
  • 5.Conclusion
  • Acknowledgements
  • Notes
  • References
Published online: 21 December 2020
DOI logo
https://doi.org/10.1075/dia.19058.jac
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