Reconstructing stress in Proto-Tibetan
Evidence from Balti and Rebkong Amdo
This paper offers a synchronic description of stress patterns in two conservative varieties of Tibetan, and a diachronic reconstruction of stress patterns in Proto-Tibetan. For both Balti and Rebkong Amdo, stress falls on the second syllable (σ2) of disyllabic non-verbs — nouns, adjectives, and numerals. Through the method of “historical comparative prosody”, σ2 stress is likewise reconstructed for disyllabic non-verbs in Proto-Tibetan. Disyllabic verbs are never stressed on σ2. For Balti, robust evidence shows that they are stressed on the first syllable (σ1). Limited data for Rebkong Amdo suggests the same pattern. Thus σ1 stress is tentatively reconstructed for verbs in Proto-Tibetan. These reconstructed Proto-Tibetan stress patterns are of diachronic significance. They have reflexes in the tone patterns of the modern spoken varieties of Tibetan (Caplow 2009); in future research, it may be possible to trace them back to prosodic patterns higher up in the Tibeto-Burman and Sino-Tibetan family trees.
References (69)
Benedict, Paul K. 1972. Sino-Tibetan: A conspectus. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. ![DOI logo](https://benjamins.com/logos/doi-logo.svg)
![Google Scholar](https://benjamins.com/logos/google-scholar.svg)
Beyer, Stephan V. 1992. The classical Tibetan language. Albany: State University of New York Press.![Google Scholar](https://benjamins.com/logos/google-scholar.svg)
Bielmeier, Roland. n.d. Heinrich August Jäschke (1817–1883). Unpublished manuscript. University of Berne.
Bielmeier, Roland. 1982. Problems of Tibetan dialectology and language history with special reference to the sKyid-grong dialect. Zentralasiatische Studien 161: 405–425.![Google Scholar](https://benjamins.com/logos/google-scholar.svg)
Bielmeier, Roland. 1985a. A survey of the development of western and southwestern Tibetan dialects. In B.N. Aziz & M. Kapstein (eds.), Soundings in Tibetan civilization. New Delhi: Manohar.![Google Scholar](https://benjamins.com/logos/google-scholar.svg)
Bielmeier, Roland. 1985b. Das Märchen Vom Prinzen Čobzan. Eine Tibetische Erzählung Aus Baltistan. Text, Übersetzung, Grammatik Und Westtibetisch Vergleichendes Glossar. [in German. Sankt Augustin: VGH Wissenschsaftsverlag.![Google Scholar](https://benjamins.com/logos/google-scholar.svg)
Bielmeier, Roland. 1988a. On tone in Tibetan. In Helga Uebach & Jampa L. Panglung (eds.), Tibetan StudiesTibetan Studies: Proceedings of the 4th Seminar of the International Association for Tibetan Studies. Munich: Kommission für Zentralasiatische Studien, Bayerische Akademie der Wissenschaften.![Google Scholar](https://benjamins.com/logos/google-scholar.svg)
Bielmeier, Roland. 1988b. The reconstruction of the stop series and the verbal system in Tibetan. Languages and history in East Asia. Festschrift for Tatsuo Nishida on the occasion of his 60th birthday, 15–27. Kyoto: Shokado.![Google Scholar](https://benjamins.com/logos/google-scholar.svg)
Bielmeier, Roland. 1998. Balti Tibetan in its historical linguistic context. In Irmtraud Stellrecht (ed.), Karakorum-Hindukush-Himalaya: Dynamics of change (Culture Area Karakorum Scientific Studies. Pakistan-German Research Project), Vol. 41 Part II, 583–610. Köln: Rüdiger Köppe Verlag.![Google Scholar](https://benjamins.com/logos/google-scholar.svg)
Bielmeier, Roland. 2002. Comparative Dictionary of Tibetan Dialects (CDTD): A research report. European Bulletin of Himalayan Research 97–101.![Google Scholar](https://benjamins.com/logos/google-scholar.svg)
Bielmeier, Roland, Katrin Häsler, Felix Haller, Brigitte Huber & Marianne Volkart. 2002a. The Comparative Dictionary of Tibetan Dialects (Third Preprint). Vol. 1.1: Verbs. University of Berne: Tibetan Dialects Project.![Google Scholar](https://benjamins.com/logos/google-scholar.svg)
Bielmeier, Roland, Katrin Häsler, Felix Haller, Brigitte Huber & Marianne Volkart. 2002b. The Comparative Dictionary of Tibetan Dialects (Fourth Preprint). Vol 2.1: Nouns. University of Berne: Tibetan Dialects Project.![Google Scholar](https://benjamins.com/logos/google-scholar.svg)
Bielmeier, Roland, Felix Haller, Katrin Häsler, Brigitte Huber & Marianne Volkart. 2008. A short guide to the Comparative Dictionary of Tibetan Dialects (CDTD). Unpublished manuscript. University of Bern.![Google Scholar](https://benjamins.com/logos/google-scholar.svg)
Bradley, David. 1997. Tibeto-Burman languages and classification. Papers in Southeast Asian linguistics No. 14: Tibeto-Burman languages of the Himalayas (Pacific Linguistics, A-86), 1–72.![Google Scholar](https://benjamins.com/logos/google-scholar.svg)
Bray, John. 1983. Heinrich August Jaeschke: Pioneer Tibetan scholar. The Tibet Journal 8 (1): 50–55.![Google Scholar](https://benjamins.com/logos/google-scholar.svg)
Caplow, Nancy J. 2009. The role of stress in Tibetan tonogenesis: A study in historical comparative acoustics. PhD dissertation, University of California Santa Barbara.![Google Scholar](https://benjamins.com/logos/google-scholar.svg)
DeLancey, Scott. 1989. Contour tones from lost syllables in Tibetan. LTBA 12 (2): 33–34.![Google Scholar](https://benjamins.com/logos/google-scholar.svg)
Denwood, Philip. 1999. Tibetan. Amsterdam: John Benjamins. ![DOI logo](https://benjamins.com/logos/doi-logo.svg)
![Google Scholar](https://benjamins.com/logos/google-scholar.svg)
Denwood, Philip. 2006. Early connections between Ladakh/Baltistan and Amdo/Kham. In John Bray (ed.), Ladakhi histories: Local and regional perspectives, 31–40. Leiden & Boston: Brill.![Google Scholar](https://benjamins.com/logos/google-scholar.svg)
Driem, George van. 2001. Languages of the himalayas: An ethnolinguistic handbook of the Greater Himalayan region, Volumes I and II1. Leiden / Boston / Koln: Brill.![Google Scholar](https://benjamins.com/logos/google-scholar.svg)
Driem, George van. 2011. Tibeto-Burman subgroups and historical grammar. Himalayan Linguistics 10 (1): 31–39. (Special Issue in Memory of Michael Noonan and David Watters).![Google Scholar](https://benjamins.com/logos/google-scholar.svg)
Genetti, Carol. to appear. The Tibeto-Burman languages of South Asia. In Hans Henrick Hock, Elena Bashir, & K.V. Subbarao (eds.), South Asia [World of linguistics. Berlin: Mouton.
Geng, Xianzong, Li Junying & Longzhi Duojie. 2007. Amdo Tibetan spoken language dictionary, with Chinese and English translations. (
A-mdo’i kha skad tshig mdzod: bod rgya dbyin gsum shan sbyar = Andua Zang yu kou yu ci dian
). Lanzhou: Kan-su’u Mi-rigs Dpe-skrun-khang.![Google Scholar](https://benjamins.com/logos/google-scholar.svg)
Gō, Minoru, Bunkyō Aoki, Hajime Yamamoto & Hajime Kitamura. 1954. An Eastern Tibetan dictionary (revised) and a study of the Eastern Tibetan language with special reference to the initial consonants. Okayama, Japan: Minoru Gō.![Google Scholar](https://benjamins.com/logos/google-scholar.svg)
Goldstein, Melvyn C. 2001. The new Tibetan-English dictionary of modern Tibetan. University of California Press.![Google Scholar](https://benjamins.com/logos/google-scholar.svg)
Goldstein, Melvyn C. & Ngawang Thondup Narkyid. 1984. English-Tibetan Dictionary of Modern Tibetan. Berkeley: University of California Press. ![DOI logo](https://benjamins.com/logos/doi-logo.svg)
![Google Scholar](https://benjamins.com/logos/google-scholar.svg)
Green, R. Jeffrey. 2012. The phonology of voicing and aspiration in Amdo Tibetan. LTBA 35 (2): 1–31.![Google Scholar](https://benjamins.com/logos/google-scholar.svg)
Grierson, George A. 1909. Linguistic survey of India, Vol. III, Part I. Tibeto-Burman family: Tibetan dialects, the Himalayan dialects, & the North Assam group. Delhi: Motilal Banardsidas.![Google Scholar](https://benjamins.com/logos/google-scholar.svg)
Haller, Felix. 1999. A brief comparison of register tone in Central Tibetan and Kham Tibetan. LTBA 22 (2): 77–98.![Google Scholar](https://benjamins.com/logos/google-scholar.svg)
Haller, Felix. 2004. Dialekt Und Erzählungen Von Themchen: Sprachwissenschaftliche Beschreibung Eines Nomadendialektes Aus Nord-Amdo [in German. Beiträge Zur Tibetischen Erzählforschung. Vol. 141, Bonn: VGH Wissenschaftsverlag GmbH.![Google Scholar](https://benjamins.com/logos/google-scholar.svg)
Hari, Anna Maria. 1980. An investigation of the tones of Lhasa Tibetan (Language data, Asian Pacific Series, No. 13). Huntington Beach, CA: Summer Institute of Linguistics.![Google Scholar](https://benjamins.com/logos/google-scholar.svg)
Huang Bufan. 1995. Conditions for tonogenesis and tone split in Tibetan dialects. LTBA 18 (1): 43–62.![Google Scholar](https://benjamins.com/logos/google-scholar.svg)
Huber, Brigitte. 2005. The Tibetan dialect of Lende (Kyirong): A grammatical description with historical annotations. Bonn: VGH Wissenschaftsverlag GmbH.![Google Scholar](https://benjamins.com/logos/google-scholar.svg)
Jaeschke, Heinrich A. 1871. Handwörterbuch der tibetischen Sprache [in German. Gnadau: Universitätsbuchhandlung.![Google Scholar](https://benjamins.com/logos/google-scholar.svg)
Jaeschke, Heinrich August. 1958 [1881. A Tibetan-English dictionary with special reference to the prevailing dialects; to which is added a Tibetan-English vocabulary. London: Kegan Paul.![Google Scholar](https://benjamins.com/logos/google-scholar.svg)
Kjellin, Olle. 1975. How to explain the “tones” in Tibetan. Annual Bulletin 101: 127–143. Tokyo: Research Institute of Logopedics and Phoniatrics.![Google Scholar](https://benjamins.com/logos/google-scholar.svg)
Lehiste, Ilse. 1970. Suprasegmentals. Cambridge MA and London England: MIT Press.![Google Scholar](https://benjamins.com/logos/google-scholar.svg)
Makley, Charlene, Keith Dede, Kan Hua & Qingshan Wang. 1999. The Amdo dialect of Labrang. LTBA 22 (1): 97–127.![Google Scholar](https://benjamins.com/logos/google-scholar.svg)
Mańczak, Witold. 1988. Bartoli’s second “norm”. In Jacek Fisiak (ed.), Historical dialectology: Regional and social (Trends in Linguistics: Studies and Monographs), 349–355. Berlin: Mouton de Gruyter.![Google Scholar](https://benjamins.com/logos/google-scholar.svg)
Matisoff, James A. 1970. Glottal dissimilation and the Lahu high-rising tone: A tonogenetic case-study. Journal of the American Oriental Society 90 (1): 13–44. ![DOI logo](https://benjamins.com/logos/doi-logo.svg)
![Google Scholar](https://benjamins.com/logos/google-scholar.svg)
Matisoff, James A. 1973. Tonogenesis in Southeast Asia. In L. Hyman (ed.), Consonant types and tone (Southern California Occasional Papers in Linguistics), 71–96. Los Angeles: University of Southern California.![Google Scholar](https://benjamins.com/logos/google-scholar.svg)
Mazaudon, Martine. 1977. Tibeto-Burman tonogenetics. LTBA 3 (2): 1–123.![Google Scholar](https://benjamins.com/logos/google-scholar.svg)
Mazaudon, Martine & Boyd Michailovsky. 1988. Lost syllables and tone contour in Dzongkha (Bhutan). In David Bradley, Eugenie J.A. Henderson, & Martine Mazaudon (eds.), Prosodic analysis and Asian linguistics: To honour R.K. Sprigg, 115–136. Pacific Linguistics C-104.![Google Scholar](https://benjamins.com/logos/google-scholar.svg)
Nishida, Tatsuo. 1975. On the development of tones in Tibetan. Acta Asiatica / Bulletin of the Institute of Eastern Culture [Special issue: Tibetan studies in Japan 291: 43–55.![Google Scholar](https://benjamins.com/logos/google-scholar.svg)
Norberg-Hodge, Helena & Gyelong Thupstan Paldan. 1991. Ladakhi-English English-Ladakhi dictionary. Leh, Ladakh: The Ladakh Ecological Development Group & The Ladakh Project.![Google Scholar](https://benjamins.com/logos/google-scholar.svg)
Norbu, Kalsang, Karl A. Peet, dPal ldan bKra shis & Kevin Stuart. 2000. Modern oral Amdo Tibetan: A language primer (Studies in Linguistics and Semiotics 5). Lewiston, Queenston, Lampter: The Edwin Mellen Press.![Google Scholar](https://benjamins.com/logos/google-scholar.svg)
Pike, Kenneth L. 1948. Tone languages. Ann Arbor: University of Michigan Press.![Google Scholar](https://benjamins.com/logos/google-scholar.svg)
Read, A.F.C. 1934. Balti grammar. London: The Royal Asiatic Society.![Google Scholar](https://benjamins.com/logos/google-scholar.svg)
Roerich, Georges de. 1958. Le Parler De L’amdo: Étude D’un Dialecte Archaïque Du Tibet [in French. Serie Orientale Roma. Vol. XVIII1. Rome: Instituto Italitano per il medio ed estremo oriente.![Google Scholar](https://benjamins.com/logos/google-scholar.svg)
Róna-Tas, Andras. 1966. Tibeto-Mongolica: The Tibetan loanwords of Monguor and the development of the Archaic Tibetan Dialects [Indo-Iranian Monographs VII. The Hague: Mouton.![Google Scholar](https://benjamins.com/logos/google-scholar.svg)
Saxena, Anju. 1991. Tone in PaTani and Central Tibetan: parallel developments? LTBA 14 (1): 129–135.![Google Scholar](https://benjamins.com/logos/google-scholar.svg)
Schaik, Sam van. 2011. Tibet: A history. New Haven: Yale University Press.![Google Scholar](https://benjamins.com/logos/google-scholar.svg)
Shafer, Robert. 1974. An introduction to Sino-Tibetan. Wiesbaden: Harrassowitz.![Google Scholar](https://benjamins.com/logos/google-scholar.svg)
Sprigg, R.K. 1966. Lepcha and Balti Tibetan: Tonal or non-tonal languages? Asia Major 121: 185–201.![Google Scholar](https://benjamins.com/logos/google-scholar.svg)
Sprigg, R.K. 1972. A polysystemic approach, in Proto-Tibetan reconstruction, to tone and syllable-initial consonant clusters. Bulletin of the School of Oriental and African Studies (BSOAS) 351: 546–587. ![DOI logo](https://benjamins.com/logos/doi-logo.svg)
![Google Scholar](https://benjamins.com/logos/google-scholar.svg)
Sprigg, R.K. 2002. Balti-English English-Balti Dictionary. New York: RoutledgeCurzon.![Google Scholar](https://benjamins.com/logos/google-scholar.svg)
Sun, Jackson T.-S. 1986. Aspects of the phonology of Amdo Tibetan: Ndzorge Śæme Xǒra Dialect. Tokyo: Institute for the Study of Languages and Cultures of Asia and Africa.![Google Scholar](https://benjamins.com/logos/google-scholar.svg)
Sun, Jackson T.-S. 1997. The typology of tone in Tibetan. In Chinese Languages and Linguistics IV: Typological studies of languages in China. Symposium Series of the Institute of History and Philology, Academia Sinica, Number 2. Taipei: Academia Sinica.![Google Scholar](https://benjamins.com/logos/google-scholar.svg)
Sun, Jackson T.-S. 2003a. Variegated tonal developments in Tibetan. In David Bradley, Randy LaPolla, Boyd Michailovsky, & Graham Thurgood (eds.), Language variation: Papers on variation and change in the Sinosphere and in the Indosphere in honour of James A. Matisoff, 35–51. Canberra: Pacific Linguistics.![Google Scholar](https://benjamins.com/logos/google-scholar.svg)
Sun, Jackson T.-S. 2003b. Phonological profile of Zhongu: A new Tibetan dialect of northern Sichuan. Language and Linguistics 4 (4): 769–836. Taipei: Academia Sinica.![Google Scholar](https://benjamins.com/logos/google-scholar.svg)
Takata, Tokio. 1981. Sur la naissance des tons du Tibétain. Journal Asiatique 269 (1, 2): 277–285.![Google Scholar](https://benjamins.com/logos/google-scholar.svg)
Tibetan and Himalayan Library. [URL]
Tournadre, Nicolas & Sangda Dorje. 2003. Manual of standard Tibetan: Language and civilization. Ithaca: Snow Lion.![Google Scholar](https://benjamins.com/logos/google-scholar.svg)
Tournadre, Nicolas. 2005. L’aire linguistique tibétaine et ses divers dialectes. Lalies n°25. Presse de l’école normale supérieure.![Google Scholar](https://benjamins.com/logos/google-scholar.svg)
Tournadre, Nicolas. 2008. Arguments against the concept ‘Conjunct’ / ‘Disjunct’ in Tibetan. In Brigitte Huber, Marianne Volkart & Paul Widmer (eds.), Chomolangma, Demawend und Kasbek: Festschrift für Roland Bielmeier zu seinem 65. Geburtstag. Band I: ChomolangmaChomolangma, 281–308. Halle (Saale): International Institute for Tibetan and Buddhist Studies (IITBS) GmbH.![Google Scholar](https://benjamins.com/logos/google-scholar.svg)
Tournadre, Nicolas. 2013. The Tibetic languages and their classification. In Thomas Owen-Smith & Nathan Hill (eds.), Trans-Himalayan linguistics: Historical and descriptive linguistics of the Himalayan area, 105–130. Berlin: Mouton de Gruyter. ![DOI logo](https://benjamins.com/logos/doi-logo.svg)
![Google Scholar](https://benjamins.com/logos/google-scholar.svg)
Wylie, Turrell V. 1957. A standard system of Tibetan transcription. Harvard Journal of Asiatic studies 221: 261–267. ![DOI logo](https://benjamins.com/logos/doi-logo.svg)
![Google Scholar](https://benjamins.com/logos/google-scholar.svg)
Yang Ho-Chin. 1974. The Tibetan alphabet and its tonal system in the Lhasa dialect. Bulletin of the Institute of China Border Area Studies 51: 19–27.![Google Scholar](https://benjamins.com/logos/google-scholar.svg)
Zemp, Marius. 2013. A historical grammar of the Tibetan dialect spoken in Kargil (Purik). PhD dissertation, University of Berne.![Google Scholar](https://benjamins.com/logos/google-scholar.svg)
Cited by (1)
Cited by one other publication
Suzuki, Hiroyuki & Lozong Lhamo
This list is based on CrossRef data as of 8 july 2024. Please note that it may not be complete. Sources presented here have been supplied by the respective publishers.
Any errors therein should be reported to them.