Kiranti languages


The Kiranti languages are a major family of Sino-Tibetan languages spoken in Nepal and India by the Kirati people.

External relationships

had formerly proposed that the Kiranti languages were part of a Mahakiranti family, although specialists are not completely certain of either the existence of a Kiranti subgroup or its precise membership. LaPolla, though, proposes that Kiranti may be part of a larger "Rung" group.

Classification

There are about two dozen Kiranti languages. Among the better known are Limbu, Sunuwar, Bantawa, Chamling,
Sampang,
Khaling, Bahing, Yakkha, Wayu, Dungmali, Lohorung, and Kulung.
Kiranti verbs are not easily segmentable, due in large part to the presence of portmanteau morphemes, crowded affix strings, and extensive allomorphy. Thus, their relationship to each other has been a subject of debate.
Overall, Kiranti languages are classified:
Ethnologue adds Tilung language to Western Kiranti, based on Opgenort.

Opgenort (2005)

Opgenort classifies the Kiranti languages as follows, and recognizes a basic east-west division within Kiranti.
  • Kiranti
  • * Western
  • ** Hayu
  • **
  • *** Thulung
  • ***
  • **** Bahing, Sunuwar
  • **** Jero, Wambule
  • * Central
  • ** Khaling, Dumi
  • ***
  • **** Kulung
  • **** Chamling, Bantawa
  • * Eastern
  • *** Yamphu, Limbu

    Gerber & Grollmann (2018)

s, as early as 2012, do not consider Kiranti to be a coherent group, but rather a paraphyletic one due to lack of shared innovations. Gerber & Grollmann presented additional evidence supporting the paraphyletic nature of Kiranti. A Central-Eastern Kiranti group is considered to be valid by Gerber & Grollmann, but they consider "Western Kiranti" unclassified within Trans-Himalayan languages.
Independent branches that are unclassified within Trans-Himalayan :
  • Dumi-Khaling
  • Chaurasiya-Northwest: Wambule, Bahing, Sunuwar; ? Jero; ? Hayu
  • Thulung-Tilung-Kohi
Grollmann identifies a Khambu subgroup that consists of three languages, Kulung, Nachiring, and Sampang. Camling may also be a Khambu language.

Sound changes

s defining each subgroup :
  • Central-Eastern Kiranti
  • * Lhokpu, Dhimal, Toto
  • * Central Kiranti
  • * Upper Arun
  • * Greater Yakkha-Limbu
Independent branches that are unclassified within Trans-Himalayan :
  • Dumi-Khaling
  • Chaurasiya-Northwest
  • * Wambule, Bahing, Sunuwar; ? Jero; ? Hayu
  • Thulung-Tilung-Kohi
The Khambu branch is defined by the following sound changes.
  • *ŋ > zero, *k > zero in final syllabic position, and also vowel change to o, ʌ, ə before the precending vowel *a
  • Palatalization of *t and *n before /i/ in final syllabic position
  • *eŋ > aŋ

    Reconstruction

Research on proto-Kiranti includes work on phonology and comparative morphology by George van Driem, reconstructions by Michailovsky and Sergei Starostin 1994. Michailovsky and Starostin differ by the number of stop series reconstructed and the interpretation of the correspondences.
Opgenort introduces the reconstruction of preglottalized resonants; his reconstruction is generally based on Starostin's four series system. More recently, Jacques proposed a reconstruction of proto-Kiranti verb roots based on Michailovsky's system, and analyzes the other initial correspondences as due to morphological alternations and inter-Kiranti borrowing. In addition, he presents a preliminary discussion of the reconstruction of stem alternation and stress patterns on the basis of Khaling and Dumi.