The origins of Jiamao

Andrew Hsiu

December 2017

Please cite as: Hsiu, Andrew. 2017. The origins of Jiamao. <https://sites.google.com/site/msealangs/home/blog/jiamao>.

Please note that this is a working draft that will be periodically updated.

Jiamao, an aberrant Kra-Dai language of southern Hainan, has multiple strata, which I have listed from earliest to latest.

1. Austroasiatic [Thurgood 1992] (unknown branch that has parallels with eastern branches such as Vietic, Katuic, and Bahnaric)

2. Tibeto-Burman (unknown Burmo-Qiangic / Eastern Tibeto-Burman branch or branches)

3. Central Tai [Norquest p.c.]

4. Pre-Hlai [Norquest 2007]

5. late Hlai [Norquest 2007]

6. Hainanese (Min Chinese) [Norquest 2007]

This points to an origin of Jiamao on the mainland, most likely in the Red River Delta of northern Vietnam. Lexical analysis of non-Kra-Dai words in Jiamao points to its origin as a mixed language that came together from (1) a "missing" Eastern Austroasiatic branch that originated from south of the Red River Delta, and (2) a "missing" Burmo-Qiangic branch that had migrated from Yunnan via the Red River. This mixing may have taken place more than 1,500 or 2,000 years ago. This mixed Eastern Austroasiatic-Burmo-Qiangic language was then influenced by Central Tai in southern Guangxi as well as perhaps "missing" Kra-Dai branches, and then borrowed from early forms of Hlai as it entered Hainan.

Such mixed languages still exist today in southern China, such as the mixed Hmongic-Kam-Sui language Sanqiao of southeastern Guizhou.

Jiamao is not the only Kra-Dai language with words of Austroasiatic origin. Be and Kra languages also have Austroasiatic loanwords. Jiamao and Be also have various loanwords that likely came from an unknown branch of Austroasiatic, perhaps a "missing branch" that is currently extinct. Below are some Be words from Liang (1997), Jizhao words from Li & Wu (2017), and Austroasiatic branch reconstructions by Sidwell from the MKED.

new -- Be (Lincheng) nau4 : P-Bahnaric *ʔnaːw

moon -- Be (Lincheng) [mai4] sai1, Jizhao ʦaːi21 [ɗe55] : P-Katuic *ksaj

two -- Be (Qiongshan) bɐn5, Jizhao man55 : P-Bahnaric/P-Katuic *ɓaːr

grass -- Be (Qiongshan) bat7', Jizhao ɓat55 : P-Bahnaric/Katuic/Palaungic *ɓat

smoke -- Be (Lincheng) duai4 : P-Khmuic *ptoʔ / P-Palaungic *təəʔ (?)

Jiamao has a mish-mash of words from different languages families and missing branches. It is a melting pot of linguistic relicts from a time when South China was much more linguistically diverse.

The Jiamao forms of non-Hlai origin below are from Norquest (2007), while comparisons are from the ABVD, MKED, and STEDT databases. Pletase note that these are initial look-alikes compiled for further analysis. No sound correspondences have been worked out, and there are no claims about whether the Jiamao forms and the compared forms are indeed related.

1. Jiamao-Austroasiatic comparisons

snake

Jiamao ɓuət7

Proto-Bahnaric *ɓəs

Proto-Khmuic *bəs

wide

Jiamao vi:4

Stieng wii

Proto-Katuic *tawah

Proto-Khmuic *wah wide, vast

Proto-Palaungic *waas / *wah

Lawa wïah

shrimp

Jiamao ʔɔː5

*ʔɲcɔŋ shrimp (proto Katuic)

*ʔə[c/ɟ]ɔŋ shrimp (freshwater) (proto West-Bahnaric)

road

Jiamao tin1

*ɗeeŋ road, way (proto Palaungic)

sesame

Jiamao tiaw4 < PMK *t2rawʔ 'taro'

swim

Jiamao lɔn1

Mang (Jinping) luaŋ31

earring

Jiamao tshiaw1

*tial earring (proto West-Bahnaric)

tiaw earrings (boucle d'oreilles) (Nyaheun)

tiaw earrings; wear something inside one's belt (Nyaheun)

tiɛw earring (Cheng)

kill

Jiamao tse:2

Bolyu ɬi:t10

Proto-Vietic

3.2. Jiamao-Tibeto-Burman comparisons

star

Jiamao tsap7 tsin5

cf. Qiangic, Loloish, Ersuish forms

crab

Jiamao tsha:k9

*Karen chwɛ́q

*Karen tsɣɑi

vomit

Jiamao ʔɔŋ1

*TB ʔon nauseated / vomit

Meithei ong

Written Burmese ʔan

Jingpho ʔan

lung

Jiamao vuəŋ4

PTB *pwar

Tangkhulic *pʰaar

urine

Jiamao tsem5

Pakanic

PTB *tśi

TGTM ᴮtsjam

Tamang, Tani, etc.

pangolin

Jiamao tsa:4

Loloish *krap

arrow

Jiamao pe:1

PTB *b-la

to give

Jiamao mɯan1

Tangkhulic *mi

Kuki-Naga *pe(k)

squirrel

Jiamao ləːn5

PTB *s-ley/ŋ ~ s-rey/ŋ

WB hrañ

black

Jiamao tshey1

*Tangkhulic tsik

Tshangla, Central tsaŋ

Mondzish

to eat

Jiamao tey5

*Tani do

*Northern Naga they

3.3. Jiamao-Kra-Dai (non-Hlai) comparisons

breast

Jiamao ȵen5

Jingxi ni:n3

Daxin nin5

Shangsi nen5

flower

Jiamao ŋɯa1

Proto-Kra *hŋa C

Kra (Gelao, etc.)

new

Jiamao ɬaw4

Proto-Hlai (Ostapirat) *ala:u C

Lachi (Tân Lợi) la0 ʔm45

Gelao (Fengyan) la55 mi55

Gelao (Judu) mi31

sand

Jiamao ɗey1

Mak/Ai-Cham de1

Ong Be (Lincheng) taŋ1

ear

Jiamao kɔ:1

Proto-Tai *krwɯ: A

Dong, Northern ka11

Paha ðɛŋ322 ka322

bird

Central Tai / Kam-Sui

fruit

Jiamao mɯat7

cf. PMP *buaq

right (side)

Jiamao pha:y5 pet10

Gelao (Bigong) pha13 pəɯ31

3.4. Jiamao words of unknown origin

face

Jiamao phan1

not Tai

good

Jiamao maŋ1

none

bite

Jiamao ɗa:n1

cf. Biao Min (Dongshan) than42 to bite (of dogs)

thin

Jiamao ŋa:w1

none

References

Li Jinfang [李锦芳]; Wu Yan [吴艳]. 2017. "Guangdong Wuchuan Jizhaohua gaikuang" [广东吴川吉兆话概况]. In Minzu Yuwen [民族语文] 2017:4.

Liang Min [梁敏]. 1997. A study of Lingao [临高语研究]. Shanghai: Shanghai Far Eastern Publishing House [上海远东出版].

Norquest, Peter K. 2007. A Phonological Reconstruction of Proto-Hlai (Ph.D. dissertation). Department of Anthropology, University of Arizona.

Thurgood, Graham. 1992. The aberrancy of the Jiamao dialect of Hlai: speculation on its origins and history. In Ratliff, Martha S. and Schiller, E. (eds.), Papers from the First Annual Meeting of the Southeast Asian Linguistics Society, 417-433. Arizona State University, Program for Southeast Asian Studies.