Lu, Tianqiao (2005) Reconsideration of distribution areas of the Kam-Tai ancestors based on etymology of a daily word. Guizhou Ethnic Studies, 2005 (3). pp. 160-165.

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Abstract

The paper holds that the word *o (i.e. "屙") "to empty the bowels" in many southern Chinese dialects and the word *ok "out" in the Kam-Tai languages have developed from the same source and that since the word *o is found as far north as in the Yellow River area, the Kam-Tai ancestors must have been distributed in this area, too. The large-scale northward migrations towards the end of the glacier period brought to the north the word *ok, which lost the ending *-k along with the trend of the Chinese sound change in the subsequent millennia. Subsequently, the word *o covered the southern part of the East Asian continent in the wake of the following southward migrations which began a few thousand years ago. The northern equivalent *la (i.e. "拉") only remains today as a substratum in the southern dialects.

Item ID:	15590
Item Type:	Article (Research - C1)
ISSN:	1002-6959
Keywords:	cognate; Kam-Tai; language substratum; anthropological linguistics
Additional Information:	Paper in Chinese. Original title: 据一日常用词词源重估侗台先民古代分布区域. Original abstract: 本文认为汉语方言的基本词"屙"字与侗台语族诸语言的基本词*ok "出(来/去)"同出一源,而"屙"字的分布可北溯至黄河流域,所以推测侗台先民也曾经分布在这个区域。冰河时期结束后,人类几千年的"南→北"大迁徙带了侗台"先民"的*ok。而后的几千年中,*ok 随着汉语入声尾的消失而丢失了*-k。而后又随着最近数千年的"北→南"大迁徙, *o又覆盖了几乎东亚大陆的整个南部地区,而原来北方所用的表示排泄的*la只作为底层留在这些方言中。
Date Deposited:	21 Dec 2011 23:22
FoR Codes:	20 LANGUAGE, COMMUNICATION AND CULTURE > 2004 Linguistics > 200406 Language in Time and Space (incl Historical Linguistics, Dialectology) @ 90% 21 HISTORY AND ARCHAEOLOGY > 2103 Historical Studies > 210302 Asian History @ 10%
SEO Codes:	95 CULTURAL UNDERSTANDING > 9505 Understanding Past Societies > 950502 Understanding Asias Past @ 30% 97 EXPANDING KNOWLEDGE > 970120 Expanding Knowledge in Language, Communication and Culture @ 30% 97 EXPANDING KNOWLEDGE > 970121 Expanding Knowledge in History and Archaeology @ 40%
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