Reconstruction:Proto-Tai/C̬.qɯjꟲ
Proto-Tai
Etymology
From Proto-Kra-Dai *taqiː C (“excrement”).[1]
Cognate with Proto-Kam-Sui *ke⁴ (whence Southern Kam geex, Sui ggeex), Proto-Hlai *ɦaːjʔ (whence haːj³ in most modern lects) and Proto-Kra *kajꟲ.[2]
Possibly cognate with Proto-Austronesian *Caqi (“excrement”)[3] (whence Paiwan tsaqi, Malay tahi, Tagalog tae, Malagasy tay) and Proto-Hmong-Mien *Qai²B (“excrement”)[4][5] (whence White Hmong quav, Iu Mien nqaiv).
Research for protoform reconstruction
The Proto-Tai form *C̬.qɯjꟲ was reconstructed by Pittayaporn (2009), who considered Tai langueges, Proto-Kam-Sui *ke⁴, Proto-Hlai *ɦaːjʔ and Proto-Kra *kajꟲ as good candidates for true Kra-Dai cognates.[2]
Before Pittayaporn's study, the Proto-Tai form had been reconstructed as *xeiꟲ¹ or *ɣeiꟲ² by Li (1977).[6]
Discussions on relation with Chinese 屎 (shǐ)
Relation between Chinese 屎 (shǐ) (from Proto-Sino-Tibetan *kləj) and Tai has been discussed by several scholars.
Modern Thai: ขี้ (kîi) (a descendant of *C̬.qɯjꟲ) was considered cognate with Middle Chinese 屎 (MC śi) by Manomaivibool (1975)[7] and Old Chinese 屎 (OC qhji') by Gong (2002).[8]
Schuessler (2007) regarded *xeiꟲ¹ (reconstructed form by Li (1977)[6]) as a loanword from Chinese 屎,[9] but Pittayaporn (2009) considered that *C̬.qɯjꟲ cannot be explained away as loan.[2]
Related research - descendants of *C̬.qɯjꟲ as areal word
Bauer (1996) pointed out that khV ("excrement") is quite widespread in Cantonese 𡲢 (ke¹), Tai (e.g. Thai: ขี้ (kîi)) and Tibeto-Burman (e.g. Zaiwa kʰji²¹, Burmese ချေး (hkye:) and Lashi kʰjei⁵⁵) in focusing on modern lexical forms rather than protoforms.[10] Paul Benedict criticized that the lexical forms Bauer had pulled together as the "same" word were really just "looklike".[11] Bauer rebutted that it is highly unlikely that the phenomenon of simple coincidence explains the occurrence of so many phonosemantically similar (and identical) forms in so many different languages.[11]
Noun
*C̬.qɯjꟲ
Descendants
References
- ^ Ostapirat, Weera (2023) "Proto-Kra–Dai consonants: an outline and outstanding issues" 32nd Annual Meeting of the Southeast Asian Linguistics Society (SEALS 2023), May 18, 2023. Chiang Mai University. Video of talk in SEALS XXXII Archived Presentations
- ↑ 2.0 2.1 2.2 Pittayaporn, Pittayawat (2009) The Phonology of Proto-Tai (Doctoral dissertation)[1], Department of Linguistics, Cornell University , pages 86, 87, 325
- ^ Ostapirat, Weera (2005) "Kra-dai and Austronesian: notes on phonological correspondences and vocabulary distribution" In Sagart, Laurent; et al. (eds.) The Peopling of East Asia, London; New York: RoutledgeCurzon, pages 111, 122, 124
- ^ Kosaka, Ryuichi [小坂隆一] (2002) "On the affiliation of Miao-Yao and Kadai: Can we posit the Miao-Dai Family?" Mon-Khmer Studies 32, pages 81, 88, 89, 95
- ^ After Kosaka (2002) (ibid.), this word was reconstructed as Proto-Hmong-Mien *N-KəjX by Ratliff, Martha (2010) Hmong-Mien language history, Canberra: Pacific Linguistics, pages 16, 97, 150, 209, 253, 283
- ↑ 6.0 6.1 Li, Fangkuei [李方桂] (1977) A Handbook of Comparative Tai, Honolulu: University of Hawaii Press, pages 209, 213, 286
- ^ Manomaivibool, Prapin (1975) A Study of Sino-Thai Lexical Correspondences (PhD dissertation), Department of Asian Languages and Literature, University of Washington, pages 194, 207, 317
- ^ 龚群虎 [Gong, Qunhu] (2002) 汉泰关系词的时间层次 [A Study of Chronological Strata of Sino-Thai Corresponding Lexical Items] (in Chinese), Shanghai: Fudan University Press (复旦大学出版社), pages 91, 176, 210
- ^ Schuessler, Axel (2007) ABC Etymological Dictionary of Old Chinese, Honolulu: University of Hawaii Press, page 465
- ^ Bauer, Robert S. (1996) "Identifying the Tai substratum in Cantonese" In Pan-Asiatic Linguistics: Proceedings of the Fourth International Symposium on Languages and Linguistics, January 8-10, 1996, Thailand: Institute of Language and Culture for Rural Development, Mahidol University, page 1824
- ↑ 11.0 11.1 Bauer (1996) (ibid.) page 1836