The Historical Phonology of Tibetan, Burmese, and Chinese

Description

The discovery of sound laws by comparing attested languages is the method which has unlocked the history of European languages stretching back thousands of years before the appearance of written records, e.g. Latin p- corresponds to English f- (pes, foot; primus, first; plenus, full). Although Burmese, Chinese, and Tibetan have long been regarded as related, the systematic exploration of their shared history has never before been attempted. Tracing the history of these three languages using just such sound laws, this book sheds light on the prehistoric language from which they descend. Written for readers with little linguistic knowledge of these languages, but fully explicit and copiously indexed for the specialist, this work will serve as the bedrock for future progress in the study of these languages.

Nathan Hill is Reader in Tibetan and Historical Linguistics and chair of the School of East Asian Languages and Cultures at the School of Oriental and African Studies, University of London. His books include A Lexicon of Tibetan Verb Stems as Reported by the Grammatical Tradition (2010) and Old Tibetan Inscriptions (2009) co-authored with Kazushi Iwao.

'The depth and breadth of Hill's knowledge are impressive. The clarity of his explanations, the comprehensiveness of his data, the rigor of his methodological application, and the explicit exposition of his assumptions and conclusions make the book an invaluable addition to the field, both for experts and outsiders.' Zev Handel, Journal of the American Oriental Society