The Khasic or Khasian languages are a family of Austroasiatic languages native to the Shillong Plateau, spoken in the northeastern Indian state Meghalaya and neighbouring areas of Bangladesh.
Languages
Sidwell (2018: 27–31) classifies the Khasian languages as follows. Proto-Khasian War (Amwi, Mnar) Proto–Pnar-Khasi-Lyngngam Lyngngam (former Garo-speakers) Pnar (Jaintia), Khasi, Maharam (Maram)
Varieties called Bhoi are dialects of both Pnar and Khasi.
External relationships
Paul Sidwell (2011) suggests that Khasian is closely related to Palaungic, forming a Khasi–Palaungic branch.
The following eight Khasian-Palaungic isoglosses have been identified by Sidwell (2018: 32).
Lexical innovations
Sidwell (2018: 23) lists the following Khasian lexical innovations (i.e., defining lexical forms) that are found exclusively in the Khasian branch, but not in other Austroasiatic branches).
Reconstruction
Proto-Khasian and Proto-Pnar-Khasi-Lyngngam have been reconstructed by Paul Sidwell (2018). Proto-Khasian is estimated to have originated about 2,000-2,500 years ago, with War splitting from other Khasian linguistic varieties about 1,500 years ago (Sidwell 2018: 20).
Proto-Khasian morphology includes a causative *pN- prefix and verbalizing *-r- infix (Sidwell 2018: 66-67).
The following reconstructed paradigmatic and closed class morphemes in Proto-Khasian are from Sidwell (2018: 51-67).
Personal pronouns
Demonstratives
*ni 'proximal'
*tu 'mesiodistal'
*taj 'distal (visible)'
*te 'mesioproximal'
*tɛ 'distal (non-visible)'
Negators
*ʔǝm 'not'
*ham 'do not'
*ta 'not'
Prepositions/case markers
*ha 'locative/oblique'
*ʤɔŋ 'to possess'
*da 'instrumental'
*ba (?) 'and/with'
*tV 'oblique'
Tense/aspect morphemes
*la:j 'to go'
*dɛp 'finish'
*diʔ 'to go'
*daː 'have'
*ʤuʔ 'same'
Morphological affixes
*pN- 'prefix'
*-r- 'verbalizer'
Numerals
Sound changes
Sidwell (2018) lists the following sound changes from Pre-Khasian (i.e., the ancestral stage of Khasian that preceded Proto-Khasian) to Proto-Khasian. Pre-Khasian *b- > *p-, *ɓ- > *b- chain shift Proto-Austroasiatic *b- > proto-Khasian *p- Proto-Austroasiatic *ɓ- > proto-Khasian *b- Pre-Khasian *d- > *t-, * ɗ- > *d- chain shift Proto-Austroasiatic *d- > proto-Khasian *t- Proto-Austroasiatic *ɗ- > proto-Khasian *d- Pre-Khasian *-l > *-n/*-Ø Pre-Khasian *-h > *-s > *-t Pre-Khasian *-ʔ > *-Ø >, *-k > *-ʔ chain shift Pre-Khasian *g- > *k-
See also
List of Proto-Khasian reconstructions (Wiktionary)
References
Sidwell, Paul. 2011. Proto-Khasian and Khasi-Palaungic. Journal of the South East Asia linguistics society , Vol. 4.2, pages 144-168, December 2011. Sidwell, Paul. 2011b. Proto-Khasian (or -War-Khasi); reconstruction and classification. Presented at SEALS 21, Kasetsart University, Bangkok, Thailand. Sidwell, Paul. 2018. The Khasian Languages: Classification, Reconstruction, and Comparative Lexicon. Languages of the World 58. Munich: Lincom Europa.
External links
Khasian Languages Project (by Paul Sidwell)
