Naish languages

The Naish languages are a low-level subgroup of Sino-Tibetan languages that include Naxi, Na, and Laze.

Classification

The Naish languages are:

Naish
* Naxi
* Na
* Laze

In turn, Naish together with Namuyi and Shixing constitutes the Naic subgroup within Sino-Tibetan.
Arguments for relatedness include irregular morphotonology: tone patterns of numeral-plus-classifier phrases that constitute shared structural properties. Since these similarities are phonetically nontransparent, they cannot be due to borrowing.

Names

Note that in Mainland China, the term "Naxi" is commonly used for the entire language group, e.g. by the influential linguistic introduction by He and Jiang. The terms "Naish" and "Naic" are derived from the endonym Na used by speakers of several of the languages. These concepts were initially proposed by Guillaume Jacques & Alexis Michaud. Phylogenetic issues are summarized in the entry about the Naic subgroup. For a review of the literature about Naish languages, see Li.

Lexical innovations

Jacques & Michaud list the following words as Naish lexical innovations.

Gloss	Naxi	Na	Laze	Proto-Naish
to stumble	pe˧	k^hɯ.pi^M		*pa
cloud	ki˩	tɕi˧	tɕi˩sɯ˥	*ki
village	hi˧mbe˧	fv̩.bi^L	ɖɯ˧bie˧	*mba
Bai people	le˧bv̩˧	ɬi.bv̩^M		*Sla
noble		sɯ.p^hi^M	sɯ˩p^hie˩	*si p^ha
medicine	ʈʂ^hɚ˧ɯ˧	ʈʂ^hæ.ɯ^H	ts^hɯ˧fi˧	*rts^hi Swri

Reconstruction

Proto-Naish, the proto-language ancestral to the Naish languages, has been reconstructed by Jacques & Michaud. Another reconstruction of Proto-Naish by Zihe Li is in progress; he has published articles detailing open-syllable rhymes, laterals, pre-initials, and retroflex finals.

Phoneme inventory

The Proto-Naish consonant inventory is as follows:
The Proto-Naish vowel inventory is disputed; Jacques and Michaud reconstruct seven vowels . On the other hand, Li reconstructs a simple five-vowel system.
According to Jacques and Michaud, Proto-Naish syllables are exclusively open syllables, not counting the rhyme spelled by Jacques and Michaud as *iN. This situation came about due to a total loss of all pre-Naish coda consonants without a trace; pre-Naish vowels in closed syllables have identical outcomes to their open-syllable counterparts. However, Li believes that there are enough traces of the lost consonants to reconstruct a proto-Naish with closed syllables.

Reflexes of vowels

The reflexes of vowels depend heavily on the preceding consonant. Jacques and Michaud employ the following cover symbols:

K for velar stops
TS for affricates and sibilants
R for *r and clusters that result in retroflex consonants in attested Naish
S for *r or *s
Jacques & Michaud

The vowel reflexes in Naish as charted by Jacques and Michaud are as follows.

Vowel	Preceding consonant	Naxi	Na	Laze
*æ	K	ɑ	ɑ	ɑ
*æ	TS	e	e	e
*æ	*w	ɯ	i	i
*æ	Velar + *w	ɑ	ɤ	ɤ
*æ	R	ɯ	e	ɯ
*æ	Elsewhere	e	i	ie
*ɑ	Everywhere	ɑ	ɑ	ɑ
*ɔ	Everywhere	o	o	u
*i	TS or R	ɯ	ɯ	ɯ
*i	*m	i	v̩	v̩
*i	*kr	ɯ	ɯ	i
*i	Elsewhere	i	i	i
*ĩ	Any cluster with *r; ɕ	ɚ	æ	æ
*ĩ	TS	ɚ	i	i
*u	TS	ɯ	i	y
*u	Labial stop + *r	ɚ	v̩	v̩
*u	Elsewhere	v̩	v̩	v̩
*o	Everywhere	u	u	u

Li

Li, who reconstructs only a five-vowel system, charts the vowel reflexes as follows:

Vowel	Preceding consonant	Naxi	Malimasa	Na
*a	K	ɑ	ɑ	ɑ
*a	TS	e	ɛ	e
*a	w but not Pw or Kw	ɯ	ɯ	i
*a	Velar + *w	ɑ	ɑ	ɤ
*a	Labial + *w	u	ɑ	o
*a	R	ɯ	ɤ	e
*a	Preglottalized R	u	ɚ	e
*a	*mr-	ɯ	e	i
*a	Elsewhere	e	ɛ	i
*e	TS	i	ie	i
*e	K	ɯ	ɤ	i
*e	Cr	ɚ	ɚ	a
*e	*m	i	o	v̩
*i	nj or Kj	i	i	i
*i	*Kr	ɯ	i	ɯ
*i	Elsewhere	ɯ	ɯ	ɯ
*o	Cr	ɚ	o	v̩
*o	P	v̩	o	v̩
*o	Elsewhere	u	u	o
*u	TS	ɯ	v̩	i
*u	ɕ and j	y	u	u
*u	*m	ɯ	v̩	v̩
*u	Elsewhere	v̩	v̩	v̩

Li also provides reflexes of various closed syllables he reconstructs:

Rhyme	Context	Naxi	Malimasa	Na
-ak	T-	ɑ	ɑ	ɑ
-ak	Kw-	ɑ	ɑ	ɤ
-ak	P-	u	ɑ	o
-ak	r-	a	a	a
-aɣ	T-	o	u	o
-aɣ	Cw-	ɚ	o	a
-aɣ	Kr-, Cj-	ɤ	ɤ	ɤ
-aɣ	Cr-	wɑ	o	wa
-eɣ	s-	ɚ	i	i
-oɣ		o	o	o
-at		ɑ	ɑ	ɑ ~ a
-al	P-	ɤ	ɑ	ɤ
-al	Ts-	a	wa	wa
-al	Retroflexes	wɑ	wa	wa
-el	s-	ɯ	ɚ	ɯ
-el		ɤ	ɤ	ɯ
-il		???	i	o
-ul	Retroflexes	ɚ	o	ɻ̩
-ul		ɯ	o	ɯ
-ap	TS	y	y	i
-ap		o	u	o
-am		a	a	a

Reflexes of consonants

Naish features up to five series of stop corresponences: aspirated, voiceless, voiced, prenasalized voiced, and prenasalized voiceless.

Class	Proto-Naish	Naxi	Na	Laze
Labial stops	pʰ	pʰ	pʰ	pʰ
Labial stops	p	p	p	p
Labial stops	b	b	b	b
Labial stops	mb	mb	b	b
Labial stops	mp	p	b	b
Coronal stops	tʰ	tʰ	tʰ	tʰ
Coronal stops	t	t	t	t
Coronal stops	d	d	d	d
Coronal stops	nd	nd	d	d
Velar stops	kʰ	kʰ	kʰ qʰ tɕʰ	kʰ tsʰ
Velar stops	k	k	k q tɕ	k q tɕ
Velar stops	g	g	g	g
Velar stops	ŋg	ŋg	g	g
Velar stops	ŋk	k	ʁ
Uvular stops	qʰ	kʰ	qʰ	qʰ
Uvular stops	q	?	q	q
Uvular stops	ɴq	k	ʁ	ʁ
Sibilants	s	s	s	s
Sibilants	z	z	z	z
Sibilants	ɕ	ʂ	ʂ	ʂ
Affricates	tsʰ	tsʰ	tsʰ	tsʰ
Affricates	ts	ts	ts	ts
Affricates	dz	dz	dz	dz
Affricates	ndz	ndz	dz	dz
Affricates	tɕʰ	ʈʂʰ	ʈʂʰ	ʈʂʰ
Affricates	tɕ	k	tɕ	tɕ
Sonorants	l	l	l	l
Sonorants	l̥	h	ɬ	ɬ
Sonorants	m	m	m	m
Sonorants	n	n	n	n
Sonorants	ŋ	ŋ	ŋ	ŋ
Sonorants	j		ʑ	z