The Mijiic languages: distribution, dialects, wordlist and classification

THE MIJIIC LANGUAGES: DISTRIBUTION, DIALECTS, WORDLIST AND CLASSIFICATION WORKING DOCUMENT ONLY [Preferably don’t use before consulting me] Roger Blench Kay Williamson Educational Foundation 8, Guest Road Cambridge CB1 2AL United Kingdom Voice/ Ans (00-44)-(0)1223-560687 Mobile worldwide (00-44)-(0)7847-495590 E-mail [email protected] http://www.rogerblench.info/RBOP.htm Cambridge, 8 June, 2015 i The Mijiic languages Roger Blench. Main text TABLE OF CONTENTS ACRONYMS AND CONVENTIONS.......................................................................................................... II 1. INTRODUCTION....................................................................................................................................... 1 1.1 General ................................................................................................................................................... 1 1.2 Locations of Miji communities............................................................................................................. 1 2. PHONOLOGY ............................................................................................................................................ 3 2.1. Consonants............................................................................................................................................ 3 2.2 Vowels..................................................................................................................................................... 7 2.3 Tones....................................................................................................................................................... 9 3. MORPHOLOGY......................................................................................................................................... 9 4. THE CLASSIFICATION OF MIJI......................................................................................................... 12 APPENDIX: DATASHEETS ....................................................................................................................... 12 TRANSCRIPTION ....................................................................................................................................... 13 BODY PARTS ............................................................................................................................................... 13 PERSONS, FAMILY .................................................................................................................................... 15 HOUSES AND ARCHITECTURE ............................................................................................................. 17 HOUSEHOLD ITEMS ................................................................................................................................. 17 Dress ........................................................................................................................................................... 18 Tools etc...................................................................................................................................................... 18 AGRICULTURE........................................................................................................................................... 19 CROPS ........................................................................................................................................................... 19 FOODS ........................................................................................................................................................... 19 NATURAL WORLD .................................................................................................................................... 19 PLANT PARTS ............................................................................................................................................. 21 ANIMAL PARTS .......................................................................................................................................... 21 ANIMALS...................................................................................................................................................... 22 Domestic ..................................................................................................................................................... 22 WILD ANIMALS.......................................................................................................................................... 22 Mammals.................................................................................................................................................... 22 Insects ......................................................................................................................................................... 23 Reptiles etc. ................................................................................................................................................ 24 Fish ............................................................................................................................................................. 24 PRONOUNS .................................................................................................................................................. 24 NUMERALS.................................................................................................................................................. 25 COLOURS ..................................................................................................................................................... 26 VERBS ........................................................................................................................................................... 26 REFERENCES.............................................................................................................................................. 36 TABLES Table 1. Miji consonants Table 2. Miji vowels Table 3. Animal names in Nafra Miji Table 4. Miji and Bangru body parts with an m- prefix Table 5. Lexemes shared between Miji and Bodo-Garo 3 7 9 10 12 MAPS Map 1. Western Miji villages Map 2. Eastern Miji villages Map 3. Bangru [Northern Miji] villages 2 2 2 1 The Mijiic languages Roger Blench. Main text FIGURES Figure 1. Relationships of Mijiic languages 12 ACRONYMS AND CONVENTIONS # * C C1 IPA N quasi-reconstruction regular reconstruction consonant first consonant International Phonetic Association nasal 2 The Mijiic languages. Roger Blench Main text 1. Introduction 1.1 General The language known variously as Miji, Dhammai and Sajolang is spoken in the West and East Kameng and Lower Subansiri districts of Arunachal Pradesh, Northeast India. The Miji call themselves Dmay, but this name is not in common use and official publications use composites such as Sajolang (Miji). Miji will be used in the present paper as the most most widely recognised term. The only significant published information on Miji is Simon (n.d.) which is more notable for its defects than its contribution to knowedge. Simon (n.d.) is based on the Nafra dialect, the westernmost form. Grewal (1997) also has Miji data, mostly example sentences compared to Hruso, but these do not seem very reliable and are passed over here. Abraham et al. (2005) include rather wayward phonetic transcriptions of Miji words in their survey report. Christopher Weedall is working on a description of the language and has presented on it at several conferences. Weedall (submitted) in a paper on the syllable structure of Miji of Nafra puts forward a rather different view of Miji phonology from that given here, for reasons that are at present unclear. Until recently, the existence of a language known as Bangru was only rumoured. However an ethnographic thesis and subsequent report (Ramya 2011, 2012) confirms that this is a genuine ethnic group, but also that it is a language related to Miji. Hence the title of this paper, referring to the ‘Mijiic’ languages. Ramya’s transcriptions are orthographic, but the underlying similarities are easily seen when compared to Miji. Blench (2015) publishes some comparative data on Miji and Bangru in support of this assumption. Two dialects of Miji are recognised in Nafra, whose relationsip shows both regular sound-shifts and complete lexical replacement, as well as differences in tone and phonology. Some people have heard of a third ‘northern’ dialect, but information is extremely vague. However, it is clear from the data in Ramya that this is Bangru. Bangru is not close enough to Miji to be treated as a dialect, and therefore Mijiic is best seen as a small phylum. There has been some interest in developing Miji, both for mother tongue education and for scripture translation. Mr. Dorjee Sanchuju has attended courses both in Mysore and Tezpur with a view to developing a practical orthography. While some informal conventions have been developed, no formal phonological statement has been published, or perhaps even been prepared. The section on phonology makes some comments on the existing conventions. In view of the impoverished existing datase, this paper1 aims to make available an extended wordlist, and to set out some preliminary phonology and morphology on that basis. The data was all recorded, analysed and then retranscribed, making some corrections and assigning some forms to Eastern and Western dialects. Hence the printed lists do not entirely match the recorded material. The preliminary nature of the analysis should be evident. 1.2 Locations of Miji communities Simon (n.d.) lists only the villages in the immediate area of Nafra, the Western Miji. These are all in Nafra Circle, West Kameng District. The villages identified by the present survey are shown in Map 1 which is superimposed on the Administrative Atlas of Arunachal Pradesh; 1 The data was recorded at the end of November 2011, with the kind assistance of Dorjee Sanchuju. The transcription has been done since then, and revised several times. This preliminary version is circulated for the academic community, pending checking of transcriptions and corrections. 1 The Mijiic languages. Roger Blench Main text Map 1. Western Miji villages Map 2 shows the Eastern Miji villages, which are part of Map 2. Eastern Miji villages Lada Circle, East Kameng District. Map 3 shows the Bangru or Northern Miji villages all within Sarli Circle, Lower Subansiri District, according to the information given in Nafra. The only published text on these people is Ramya (2012) who says ‘ They are seen spread in Sarli town and in a few villages viz. Bala, Lee, Lower Lichila, Upper Lichila, Machane, Milli, Molo, Nade, Namju, Palo, Rerung, Sape, Sate, Wabia, and Walu’. Many of these are not to be found on the Administrative Atlas of Arunachal Pradesh, but some of those shown are clearly the same as in Ramya’s list. SA R LI Map 3. Bangru [Northern Miji] villages 2 The Mijiic languages. Roger Blench Main text 2. Phonology 2.1. Consonants Miji consonants are shown in Table 1; Table 1. Miji consonants Bilabial Plosive Nasal Trill Tap Fricative Affricate Approximant Lateral fricative Lateral Labiodental Dental p(ʰ) b m Alveolar t(ʰ) n r f(ʰ) v θ ð Palatoalveolar Retroflex Palatal d s z ʃ Velar Labialvelar Glottal k(ʰ) g ŋ ʔ x h ɦ (ʰ) ʤ y w ɭ l Aspiration Aspiration is heard phonetically on voiceless obstruents, thus /pʰ/, /tʰ/, /kʰ/, / ʰ/, but there is no evidence that this is contrastive. There are two examples of the fricative /fʰ/ with apparent aspiration; break (cup) fʰren burn fʰram There is no example of an initial non-aspirated /f/, so again this can be treated as non-contrastive. The glottal fricative has a voiced counterpart /ɦ/; blow v. ɦə open ɦyuŋ Two words have a highly atypical final -h; breathe nətuʰ harvest (beans) puʰ Fricatives The range of fricatives is very large, and it is not clear that all of these are contrastive. Some are quite rare and it is not easy to find minimal pairs. The following sections give the sounds identified with potential examples. Alveolar fricatives /s/ and /z/ ceiling s.giã̌ bag s.zaŋ bead sampi 3 The Mijiic languages. Roger Blench Main text body zaʔ leg zǎy son zvə Palatal fricative / / house-rat thorn nɛ u g u Lateral fricatives / / and / / clothing, cloth ge oŋ fish sp. II s ̌ ǔ ɨŋ moon, month bring Velar fricative /x/ disappoint d.xə Dental fricatives /θ/ and /ð/ chest heart wrist hearth mθm k u θ ŋ vyu gi mpθɛ θ ʔəθŋ knee zay gðu bedbug ðoorã̌ carry ðoy Alveolar fricative /z/ with buzzing The /z/ is pronounced with a distinct buzzing of the tongue against the roof of the mouth. Similar sounds are still more frequent in neighbouring Hruso. I have symbolised this as z̄ for lack of an obvious IPA representation. lie down z̄ ə Affricates Alveolar affricate / / The voiceless alveolar affricate / / is almost entirely confined to large animals, which suggests that it could be treated as an allomorph of the /s/ and /ʃ/ prefixes which occur with other animals. 4 The Mijiic languages. Roger Blench Main text barking deer hũ bear t ã deer ə musk deer ǎw praise i Palato-alveolar affricates / (ʰ)/ and /ʤ/ shelf I spoon belt pin II shoe I ba aŋ pan k itan b. ʰenroy lay ʰran spear chili pepper sun cow pangolin, anteater ʤ ŋ ʤayu ʤo ʤfɨʔ ʃgʤ Palatal affricate / / taro, arum fish animal wash s.t. I aʔ ěy ũ ey Retroflex A retroflex series is clearly present but examples are very rare. These consonants are not fully retroflex as in mainland India. The tongue comes up to touch the alveolar ridge, but does not turn up towards the roof of the mouth. / / mother a i // complete, finish do, make imitate ul n ǔ tl // eleven take valley ɛu u na u 5 The Mijiic languages. Roger Blench Main text Approximants / / hair ópyù basket, oranges aŋ ginger d ǒ water /β/ has a single attestation and is presumably a free variant of /b/ or v/ dao βay Glottal stop The glottal stop occurs in a variety of places and may have a different functional load according to its position. Most common is final position, where it may be related to a prosody such as creaky voice. The glottal stop is sometimes hard to hear, as emphatic pronunciation gives a sound similar to final glottalisation. A glottal stop is often heard between a sequence of two similar vowels which are not a long vowel. Thus; arrive I arrive II attack bathe yellow advise daʔayt kaʔat tmaʔakey aʔa te kʃəʔəl ʔ te Strikingly, all of these are verbs and perhaps ‘yellow’ is also a stative verb. There are exceptions, where a VV sequence of identical vowels is articulated separately, without constituting a long vowel. explain . tɛ Long consonants There is some evidence for long consonants in Miji. The following examples are heard on the recordings. Long consonants are widespread in the Mishmic languages in northern Arunachal Pradesh. salt llǔ eye mmreʔ The following is an example of a ‘doubled’ consonant, where each segment is articulated separately, and thus is not contrastive for length. The restriction to a single animal type argues for some old morphological process. barking deer deer musk deer hũ ə ǎw 6 The Mijiic languages. Roger Blench Main text Palatalised consonants p b t k v m n r l opyu ubyuŋ nɛt ǔ mθm k u θ mvu m myuʔ m u mry nza zam pl aʔ hair nose breath chest heart beard breast throat lightening Labialised consonants husband mdwǎy landslide ra dwǒ 2.2 Vowels The vowels of Miji are shown in Table 2; Table 2. Miji vowels Vowels Front Close i Close-Mid e Open-Mid ɛ [ɛ]̃ Open Central ə/ɨ [ə]̃ a [ã] Back u o õ ̃ No contrastive pair has been identified for distinguishing the mid and high central vowels /ə/ and/ɨ/. Phonetic variation may represent differences between speakers. Long vowels Miji appears to have contrastive length for a small set of vowels. There are no long nasalised vowels. wall tɛɛtuŋ latrine, toilet gíír ̃ pigsty ʤ rṹ Nasal vowels Miji appears to have a near-complete set of nasalised vowels. In languages of this area, these are often in free variation with final -ŋ, and it is possible some speakers will have a smaller set of nasalised vowels. Miji permits a nasal coda, as in stʰən ‘nine’, but for some reason, this is very rare. Evidence for individual nasalised vowels includes; 7 The Mijiic languages. Roger Blench Main text /ã/ ceiling ice flying squirrel wildfowl sgiã̌ kriã ʃbiã bzu p ã /ə/̃ bush-rat sp. 3 g ̃ lə̃ /ɛ/̃ fruit wo tɛ̌ ̃ /õ/ animal s õ̌ / /̃ latrine, toilet gìír ̃ roof dk ̃ insect biθ ̌ ̃ /ũ/ pigsty ʤ rũ barking deer . hũ Dissimilar VV sequences are rare, but are recorded in the following words; widower gm əbu Rare vowels A high back unrounded vowel / / is heard in several words in isolation, for example ɯ ‘water’. However, this is realised as /u/ and /o/ in compound forms. Other examples are; tree sp. gv angry, to be tkʰ bake, cook kʰ A mid unrounded back vowel / / occurs in; get loose m n A retracted central vowel /ə̠/ occurs in; pour pə̠ 8 The Mijiic languages. Roger Blench Main text The vowel is articulated with the lower lip drawn in and kept tense. The IPA symbol is not very helpful, since it can be confused with other orthographic conventions. This sound is also found in the Kman language. Creaky voice? Creaky voice is found in some languages of this region, although it has not been the subject of phonetic investigation. Creaky voice phonation in Miji on final vowels can be more economically treated as a final glottal. However, in some cases where there is a VV sequence of dissimilar vowels, this would not be an analytic option, since Miji permits glottals between VV sequences. An example is; break (cup) brea where the creaky articulation of /e/is extremely clear. In another example a creaky voice mid-vowel /e/ appears to be followed by the same vowel without cereaky voice. drag bree One example of a central vowel with creaky voice /ə/ is recorded. climb up k.bə 2.3 Tones Miji appears to have a simple tonal system, not unlike some neighbouring languages. There are two tones, High (H ) and Low (L ) plus a rising tone (R ˇ). However, these are highly restricted in occurrence and Miji probably only has two contrastive word tones, level and rising. Thus; fish wash s.t. I ěy ey Tone remains to be further investigated, as some words seem to be tonally flat, either entirely low tone or effectively toneless. 3. Morphology Miji word level morphology is extremely complex and little understood. Blench (2015) suggests that traces of a former nominal prefix system with semantic associations can be discerned in animal names and body parts. Table 3 gives an example from Western Miji, an only doubtfully Sino-Tibetan language spoken around Nafra in Arunachal Pradesh. The palatal fricative /ʃ/ is the most common prefix, but I am assuming s~ are probably its allomorphs. Table 3. Animal names in Nafra Miji Gloss ʃ s/ʦ animal s õ̌ horse ʃgr stallion ʃgr mbǔ mare ʃgr mněʔ colt ʃgr i sheep ʃgθ ʔ goat ʃprn dog ʃazi barking deer hũ deer ə flying squirrel ʃbiã 9 The Mijiic languages. Roger Blench Main text Gloss leopard monkey musk deer pangolin, anteater wild cat wild dog sparrow ant fish sp. I fish sp. II fish sp. III ʃ ʃnmu ʃbǒ s/ʦ ǎw ʃgʤ ʃgrɛ̌ ʃkʃə ʃ i slǐʔ sθ ̌ sviaʔ sgi ʔ Miji languges also have a very marked m- prefix related to body parts, both for humans and animals. Table 4 shows a comparative list of Western and Eastern Miji as well as Bangru, with an etymological commentary. The Bangru citations are orthographic, and on comparative grounds, assume the vowel following the mprefix is epenthetic. Forms in square brackets are cited for completeness, where one branch has an m- prefix and the other lacks it. Table 4. Miji and Bangru body parts with an m- prefix Gloss W. Miji E. Miji Bangru Comment arm, (m)gǐ (m)gǐ m(e)gey No Tibeto-Burman cognates hand beard m myuʔ mm ʔ m(a)maŋ Widespread Tibeto-Burman root, though not with mprefix bone mriaŋ mriaŋ mnii Possibly cf. Northern Naga *raŋ brain m ʔ m ʔ No certain external cognates, though cf. Bodic, e.g. Tshangla ȵok taŋ breast m u mn ʔ m- ‘body part prefix’ plus widespread Tibeto-Burman etymon *nu(w) chest mθm k u m oŋ The kV- element has widespread Tibeto-Burman kə̙ʔ cognates. cf. Puroik tə kɯ chin mugudza mgu ǎ No Tibeto-Burman cognates ear m ʔ mz ʔ m(i)bwa No certain external cognates, but cf. Memba namʤo eye mmreʔ mreʔ No Tibeto-Burman cognates face mgmiaʔ mkmiaʔ m(e)kwii/mekuyi Matisoff (2003) proposes #s.myal for PTB. The best cognates are in Maraic, e.g. Lakher h.mia, but the velar preceding the Miji stem is of unknown origin. finger mgi tso m(e)gey owa cf. ‘arm’ flesh mzaʔ m aʔ #sa is widespread in Tibeto-Burman, but this may be coincidence heart luŋ, [θ m mloŋ #luŋ is widespread in Naga complex languages v u] kidney mkb ̌ mpega Neither root has a Tibeto-Burman cognate liver mtn m(a)tayiŋ cf. Chin roots such as Thado tʰin, and possibly protoTani *zin. lungs mloŋ wasayi cf. ‘heart’ mouth mug ̌ m(i)niŋ STEDT relates gɔ to proposed PTB #ku(w) but this seems unlikely. Some Tani languages have apparent cognates, e.g. Apatani a.gũ but this is not apparently proto-Tani. The Bangru form has no obvious 10 The Mijiic languages. Roger Blench Main text Gloss W. Miji E. Miji Bangru navel mʃmay neck [dmuz ̃] m(i)niŋri nose [ ubyuŋ] m(i)niiko rib shoulder mfa mpelowa mpo stomach thigh mrǒ mləʔ mulgu murʰ throat tooth mry nza mtr̄ m(e)tʰu vein wrist mdtʔ gi mvθɛ Animals horn tail mʃ ̌ ̃ mdmray hump tusk mkb u mt̑ ǔ udder fur, feather wing m ǔʔ m myǔʔ m(e)ws m(u)lwe mk i Comment cognates. No Tibeto-Burman cognates. The ʃ- appears to be an earlier prefix. Scattered attestations in Kuki and Chin, e.g. Lushai #riŋ. Possibly related to much more widespread #luŋ Miji has i ‘blow nose’. Chin languages have common niit for ‘blow nose’ No Tibeto-Burman cognates. Miji has very scattered Tibeto-Burman cognates, e.g. Chinbon pá, though forms with a back high vowel are widespread. No obvious cognates for Bangru. No Tibeto-Burman cognates. No clear Tibeto-Burman cognates. Isolated Thado m l, also possibly metathesis of Bodic lum (e.g. Tshangla). No Tibeto-Burman cognates. No clear Tibeto-Burman cognates, except possible Puroik kətuŋ No clear Tibeto-Burman cognates. No clear Tibeto-Burman cognates. No clear Tibeto-Burman cognates. Tibeto-Burman has widespread *may or similar. If this is cognate then it is an example of multiple reaffixing Isolated possible cognate Bokar (Tani) gur bɯŋ No Tibeto-Burman cognates. In many Sino-Tibetan languages, the same word as ‘tooth’ but not here. Possibly cf. Tangkhulic Huishu ʔa-nə-nuk Widespread Tibeto-Burman mu(l) but not other language shows palatalisation No clear Tibeto-Burman cognates. The table shows that Mijiic has a strong preference for an m- prefix for human and animal body parts, even where this is not attested in external cognates. There is limited comparative evidence for a Tibeto-Burman m- prefix, see for example Matisoff (2008:183) on *m-ley~*m-li for ‘penis’. Doublets It will be seen that Miji often has two or three words for even common concepts. For example; close I close II pigaŋ ʃəʔəgaŋ block (river) obstruct (s.o., s.t.) block (road) III waygaŋ daʔagaŋ rogaŋ The common element in all these is /gaŋ/ which presumably means something like ‘close, block off’. However, it is only used in these composite forms, to describe different types of blocking. The key elements 11 The Mijiic languages. Roger Blench Main text that differentiate these words are clearly unrelated, despite all having the gaŋ element which makes it an interesting case for assigning cognacy. 4. The classification of Miji Miji has long been classified with the ‘North Assam’ languages and this is generally repeated in subsequent publications (e.g. Bradley 1997). However, there is no data in Konow (1909) and Shafer (1947) may be the first citation of linguistic material. However, ‘North Assam’ is something of a catch-all for the languages of this area (Blench & Post 2014) and the evidence that languages as distinctive as Miji, Hruso and Koro are related to one another, let alone to Tibeto-Burman, remains elusive. Apart from some basic numerals, 2,4,5, few Miji lexemes resemble reconstructed Tibeto-Burman forms. The datasheets show whatever TibetoBurman cognates I have been able to establish 2 . Even some of these are uncertain and they are geographically scattered, arguing that chance may be responsible. The theoretical difficulty is distinguishing between regional lexemes and true inherited forms. I therefore argue that the Mijiic languages constitute a small independent phylum. There is a persistent idea in the literature that Miji is related to its eastern neighbour Hruso and that there is a subgroup ‘Hrusish’, an idea which seems to derive from Shafer (1947) but perpetuated in Bodt (2014). This latter paper is rightly titled ‘impressions’ since it is conspicuous for its lack of data. Miji, Hruso and Koro share a great deal culturally, but show virtually no linguistic resemblances, except for sporadic loanwords, as might be expected between any two neighbouring languages. This can be clearly seen in the Appendix Table. Some comparisons in Shafer (1947) suggest that Miji shares common lexical items with Bodo-Garo, and rather less to wider Tibeto-Burman languages. Table 5 presents some of these items, based on recent sources; Table 5. Lexemes shared between Miji and Bodo-Garo Gloss Miji Garo two gni gini three gətʰən git tam four bli bri die i i (Deuri) goat ʃprn prun (Kokborok) snake nab ǔ i-b w (Boro) Sources: Burling (n.d.), Jacquesson (n.d.) While these are basic lexicon, they are few and suggest a contact relationship rather than genetic Figure 1. Relationships of Mijiic languages Proto-Mijiic affiliation. Bangru is undoubtedly related to Miji, as the numerals in the Appendix Table show. However, it has considerable divergent lexicon. In some cases, this is due to borrowing from Nah and Nyishi. More surprising are the cases where it shows similarities to Hruso. Figure 1 shows a tree of the relationships of Mijiic languages. Western Miji Eastern Miji Bangru Appendix: Datasheets The following wordlists are based on the typical categories used by Simon (n.d.) with appropriate additions. The Western dialect was recorded throughout, but Eastern Miji was only partly recorded. The Bangru 2 This revised version incorporates some suggestions due to Guillaume Jacques, for which my thanks 12 The Mijiic languages. Roger Blench Main text examples are from Ramya (2012) with some simple conversions as below. Some examples of a suggested orthography are given, but this is not recommended. Transcription This version of the wordlist uses symbols from the International Phonetic Alphabet (IPA). To read them easily they can be converted as follows; ʤ j c, ch ʃ sg zh ŋ ng ny open ‘o’ as in ‘pot’ ɛ open ‘e’ as in English ‘bet’ ə like ‘ir’ in English ‘bird’ ˜ nasalisation. Sounds like the vowel in French vin. Doubled vowels means the vowel is long, or drawn out. For the more complex symbols, please read the text of the paper. Body parts Gloss ankle arm back beard belly blood Miji Orth East Miji (m)gǐ gbaŋ m myúʔ nguʔ ây mëgi (m)gǐ kbaŋ mm ʔ nguʔ ay mëgi këbang mëmuh nëguh zhai body bone brain breast zaʔ mriaŋ m ʔ m u zah mëriang mënyoh a mriaŋ m ʔ mn ʔ zhah mëriang mënyoh mënüh breath buttocks nɛt ǔ ʃkn driu cheek kmi adzn mθm k u nt ʰ ʃkrn nərə kmi aʤn m oŋ nëtüh shëkrã n nërëu këmia dzën mëlong chest nëguh zhai Bangru mey 13 kuyoŋ mamaŋ meswe yea Comment cf. Nyishi koyuŋ cf. Dirang Monpa, Tsangla ʑi. Blood is typically si/hi/ti throughout this region, which might be connected muʤo mnii m- ‘body part prefix’ plus widespread Tibeto-Burman etymon *nu, e.g. Idu nu, Kuki-Chin nu, Tsangla nu etc. Palatalisation is uncommon but occurs sporadically across Sino-Tibetan including Old Chinese ñi̯ u. See Matisoff (2008: 81 ff.) for further discussion. schwa with retracted tongue root The Mijiic languages. Roger Blench Main text Gloss Miji Orth East Miji kə̙ʔ këuh chin mugudza mgu ǎ mëgutsha ear m ʔ mz ʔ mëzoh elbow paŋ skuŋ paŋ əŋ pang ku tshën ku eye mmreʔ mreʔ mrẽ h eye-brow face mgmiaʔ faeces finger yǐ mgi ts ʔ flesh foot forehead hair hand head mzaʔ = leg tookyaŋ ópyù (m)gi ǔw heart jaw kidney knee leg lip liver θ ŋ vyu mkʰb ̌ zay gðu zǎy mreʔ ʃkam mkmiaʔ mrẽ h shëkam mëkëmiah ləyʔ lëih mibwa Comment cf. Memba namʤo, cf. Japhug tɯ-mɲaʁ. Possibly compare widespread TibetoBurman roots *mik though form unexplained mekwii/m ekuyi megey owa mëzah m aʔ tookiang tookyaŋ gupə check mëzhah tookiang gupëu gǔ ma ak gepe megey go kayiŋ layʔ mloŋ mug mpega mela kpe melea laih mtn matayiŋ lungs cf. Nyishi tuktey Possibly compare Tibeto-Burman roots such as Burmese, Trung u, but the Bangru form suggests this had an initial velar lost in Miji and that this is therefore cognate with widespread Tibeto-Burman k(ʰ)u roots cf. Northern Chin thin, Sorbung məthín, Tangkhulic *thin. A rare case where the m- prefix for body parts is attested outside Mijiic. mloŋ wasayi pugnii marrow moustache as beard mouth mùgǒ nail navel neck nipple Bangru miniŋ megey kiiŋ mʃmay dmùz ̃ miniŋri 14 cf. Nyishi lakʃiŋ The Mijiic languages. Roger Blench Main text Gloss Miji Orth East Miji nose ubyuŋ palm penis rib saliva ay mu shoulder mpa skin spine stomach mrǒ sweat frn tear thigh mləʔ throat mry nza thumb toe tongue zǎy ts ʔ ʤáksí tooth urine mtr bri vagina vein waist wrist mdtʔ gtsě gi mpθɛ Bangru miniiko megey ku mullow mpelowa Comment mpo miipya ke ayi mulgu neiye murʰ megey nea miniiŋ ple The first element can be compared to Tibetan honorific term ldʑags 'the licker' for 'tongue'. Since Bangru is quite different, I suggest this is a loan from Tibetan. metʰu cf. widespread Qiangic and rGyalrongic (r/l)-bi (Japhug tɯrmbi). This is not a widespread root in Tibeto-Burman and a metathesis is required to make Miji cognate Persons, family Gloss ancestor boy brother brother-in-law child cousin daughter Miji akʰfona amǎy mrǎy descendants enemy father m iri abǒ father-in-law father’s elder awǎy Orth Bangru alo abu ii brai ako miibo ii bamay korayiŋ muʤu iway saŋte-saŋte miibi Comment cf. Nyishi sangtam-sangtam abo is widespread in the region, especially in Tani languages. cf. Hruso àú alo 15 The Mijiic languages. Roger Blench Main text Gloss Bangru Miji Orth brother father’s akʰf younger brother father’s sister amǒ father’s sister ku daughter friend mʤ ̌ girl ii baray grandfather abo kʰɛ grandmother a i kʰɛ grandson me emya nyiib grandme emyadaughter nyiiwai husband mdwǎy melgya in-law aahaŋ man = person iib mother a i a i? aNi mother-in-law, atʰrǒ asse mother’s elder sister mother’s elder aðǔ kiini brother mother’s akʰ u younger brother mother’s younger sister neighbour old man old woman orphan, young male people person priest relatives sister sister-in-law son son in-law village chief widow widower wife woman Comment and sister’s son cf. Nah ɲi post-alveolar n cf. Puroik a³³ kɔ³³, elder brother, Bokar a kɯ , Tawra akwa mother;’s brother, Tibetan a khə father’’s brother. My hypothesis, in view of the linguistic geography, is that these are all Tibetan loanwords in some way. a owa vkʰraŋ maykʰraŋ uko byako ʤepe ǔ nà ǔ kawaye amona zvə gbian mku gmǒy gm əbu mdzi nmrani mesebya mi ii muʤu iib magbu, magtey kowaweʰ mii ii bay 16 The Mijiic languages. Roger Blench Main text Houses and architecture Gloss ceiling post, vertical cattle yard door floor granary hearth house kitchen latrine, toilet pigsty post, centre poultry yard rafter, crossways roof veranda wall Miji sgiã̌ rúŋ Orth Comment sëgiang vɛɛpi nɛ pyaŋ θ ʔəθŋ nɛ dmay θ ʔ gíír ̃ ʤ rṹ dukə aʔ dk ̃ kbi nθɛ tɛɛtuŋ ? pantuŋ Household items bamboo jar basket, rice basket, oranges bed, wooden frame beer-filter blanket book box, wooden brass vessel broom comb cooking pot I cup ladle for water lamp, pine torch mat mortar needle paper pestle pillow plate shelf I shelf II spoon thread trivet n.viaŋ bu aŋ b.raŋ k.ʤe azi s.lam piaŋ nam ʃwe bram bərt ŋ t.laŋ biyuŋ may un r ze yənəl tgam z.rey pθəl gukoŋ gǎ ba aŋ t.maŋ pan ge kʰran ʃ.bo voiced labial fricative very hard to hear this < Assamese 17 The Mijiic languages. Roger Blench Main text Gloss Miji Orth winnowing tray pray Comment Dress bag bangle, small bead belt clothing, cloth coat dress, women ear-ring hat I hat II hat III hat IV necklace pin I pin II pipe ring shoe I shoe II shoe III trousers walking stick s.zaŋ kam kʰ n re sampi k itan ge oŋ panl ʔ nəmenəra ge oŋ zo rioŋ ʃ.po saŋ rago gu t. dampan nanay saŋ t.kʰə b. ʰenroy may k. oŋ gilan lay ʰran lay mia lay sɛʔ laih hleh do naʔa ge paŋ Tools etc. arrow axe bow bullet dao dao, long dao, short digging stick gun hammer hoe hoe, big quiver seed, seedling shield sickle spear Miji Comment kʰre b.le nəʔ may bu ɛn βay βay n βay ən ə gubaŋ na tarʔə [? transcription] may bu cf. ‘lightening’ àmpǒ ankə̌ baray t.via tay o loy vay ən i ʤ ŋ 18 The Mijiic languages. Roger Blench Main text Agriculture Gloss W Miji Orth E Miji Orth drθal e o ǎw bθěy ʤayu kʰyomǔ d ǒ check luʔlaŋ zhezho ɛn u ǎwʔ pθoyʔ zayəw Bangru Comment Crops banana bean cassava cucumber chili pepper garlic ginger gourd greens lemon maize millet millet orange paddy potato pumpkin rice rice, cooked soya bean sugar-cane sweet potato taro, arum walnut wheat tʰálò bdzn sbɛʔ py ʔ katsɛ narn ɛ las ̌ panlo lluhllang zhënzhu nyauh pëluih jayiw panllo tamay cf. Puroik tamayi ɛngn savo m i dbǒ gθaŋʤaŋ kinʤaŋ aʔ maaŋu py ʔ Foods dry meat egg fish food meat milk salt s ǔŋ mkʰyaŋ do rǐn ěy savo s ǔŋ ʃə u llǔ llu ‘hen’ + rǐn suʰ post-alveolar Natural world Gloss ashes cave W Miji may m ʔ vo Orth Bangru lagbow wareŋ Comment 19 The Mijiic languages. Roger Blench Main text Gloss W Miji Orth Bangru Comment clay naʔ cloud wabe coal may bǔ myibʤiŋ darkness ga, nega day dust na nmoʔ earthquake nohe fire may mee, mii This root is widely attested in Tibeto-Burman and is reconstructed by JAM as *mey flame myaʤo firewood may wuʔ go foam yemo gravel meme ground, soil na lat mayi cf. Hruso nnɔ, hail eajaii ice krìã karawa jungle b.bu siimi lake, sea v.bã kanaŋ landslide ra d.wǒ light kyaŋ lightening zaŋ blia der lowa moon, ǔ libayiŋ cf. PTB *s.la, month mountain, pʰuŋ gaŋ cf. Hruso pʰǔ hill mud na dzo wataŋ cf. Hruso n gdzə̌, night, darkness ocean sətərəlu peak toŋ uŋ plain na n noyaŋ plateau na m uŋ mθaŋ rain fr ̌ niidi raining rainbow ma dkey magi goŋ river ud river, big wukru biti riverbank u gin sand I bayi sand II ʃgri shadow lirii ʤeme sky na ʤaŋ ludlu steam o n.ryu myakʰ cf. Nyishi makʰ snow dlɛʔ tene, ake star dtsuŋ li ii cf. Hruso litsi stone g.loŋ karpe -loŋ with a back vowel and differing prefixes is widely 20 The Mijiic languages. Roger Blench Main text Gloss W Miji Orth Bangru storm yomu stream sun thunder valley water waterfall wind, air world o dzə ʤo zaŋ grn na u u r.tsaŋ yǒ digayiŋ tana wuʤu ʤu digayiŋ kua trowa wee, wii kwase lowa aŋgo doggo Comment attested throughout the region including Proto-Tani lɯŋ, Proto-Chin luŋ and other cited in STEDT cf. ‘thunder’ cf. Nah doni cf. Bugun, Mey kʰo, Puroik kua cf. Nyishi Plant parts Gloss bamboo bark branch bush cane creeper, vine flower grass W Miji bràú wo priʔ wo ntsaŋ wǒ zəʔ ʃǔ wo dgrǐ fruit leaf wò tɛ mleʔ root thorn tree tree sp. I tree sp. II tree sp. III wo krn g u wněʔ b àú gmòú gv wo v ʔ tsɛ Comment JAM reconstructs PTB as r.tswa.n. However, cf. Byangsi tsì, Tsangla tsi, Amdo tsa. This root is completely absent in the immediate neighbours of Miji, which (again) suggests a loanword from Tibetic languages and the PTB form is poorly supported. cf. Meithei la, Mikir lo, Bodo lay, Proto-Northern Naga *lay. m- prefix unexplained Animal parts Gloss horn W Miji mʃ ̌ ̃ hoof tail zagt ̌ mdmray Orth Bangru Comment mews Widespread Tibeto-Burman g.roŋ or similar, but the only direct parallel I can find is Jingpho n̩ ³¹ uŋ³³ and even then the Miji initials are unexplained mulwe Tibeto-Burman has widepsread may, mei etc. and some languages have an r- prefix eg. Aimol rəmei which gives proposed PTB *rmay. How to account for this reversal and the d- prefix? 21 The Mijiic languages. Roger Blench Main text Gloss W Miji Orth Bangru Comment hump mkb u tusk mtʰǔ udder m ǔ fur, m myǔ feather wing mkʰ i Animals Gloss W Miji Orth Bangru Comment Domestic ũ nɛs ũ animal domestic animal horse stallion mare colt ~ mule ass, donkey cow bull calf ʤfɨʔ něʔ ʤfɨʔ bɨ ʤfɨʔ zəʔ mithun pig boar sow sheep ram ewe goat dog cat hen cock duck drake duck, female ʃɨʔ ʔ ʔ bu ʔ neʔ ʃgθ ʔ ʃgθ ʔ bu ʃgθ ʔ neʔ ʃprn ʃázì gáʃù do do blã ùs ùs bù ùs neʔ Wild animals nə miya ms ũ ‘house + animal’ ʃgr ʃgr mbǔ ʃgr mněʔ ʃgr i se se muʤu cf. Koro su, Miji ʃu and widely in the region shupren sapayiŋ do ney do prow wiib ʤu Mammals barking deer bat bear deer elephant flying squirrel, giant fox hũ vav u t ã ə a ʰi ʃbiã pap aŋ su ow sema negyane cf. Hruso aʦə̃ but < Hindi ? 22 The Mijiic languages. Roger Blench Main text leopard ʃnmu lion bàràgí dowa monkey ʃbǒ poroŋ musk deer ǎw pangolin, ʃgʤ anteater porcupine siʃi house-rat nɛ u swa ii bush-rat sp. g ̃s ̃ 1 bush-rat sp. u maʔ 2 bush-rat sp. g ̃ lə̃ 3 sambar deer squirrel θɛ tiger tndrãw ganii wild cat ʃgrɛ̌ wild dog ʃkʃə wolf fusu Birds bird eagle kite crow bzəʔ glyã glyã si akram sparrow dove sli vulture wildfowl nest kiiri loma laga bima tumbʤu bli swadii pigeon parrot hornbill puʤu kiiri gʤi, ʃmgrãw kayə bu kayaŋ bzu p ã matayi Insects insect ant bedbug bee honey butterfly caterpillar centipede cockroach dragonfly earthworm firefly housefly biθ ̌ ̃ ʃ i ðoorã̌ mǐ mǐ ʤã bapɛʔ grimey aŋziʔ ǎŋ buθin ̌ b um lǒ 23 The Mijiic languages. Roger Blench Main text leech dvɛʔ mosquito sirndã spider riamɛ insect sp. ʤakʰam insect sp. amreamre r is tense Reptiles etc. snake nab ǔ snake sp. I snake sp. II snake sp. III snake sp. IV snake sp. V snake sp. VI frog frog frog lizard gecko tortoise turtle crab b ǔ lǒ b ǔ tã b ǔ nm ʔ b ǐ savo bu kpre db ǔ mǔ ǒ ǒ brǎn ǒ bv ʔ The –bu root is widely found in neighbouring languages, e.g. Tani b , Hruso bü, Tawra tabu, Garo pu, Nocte pu. No examples of na- prefix, however, but this is deleted in Miji words for individual snakes. áʤír ̌ pásì ládɛ Fish fish, generic fish sp. I fish sp. II fish sp. III fish sp. IV fish sp. V fish sp. VI fish sp. VII fish sp. VIII tʰri e lɨn s ̌ sviaʔ b.hù br.heʔ sgiũ k aŋri ì ezmeyi vəhù ? Pronouns Gloss I, me you he, she, it we you pl. they W Miji aŋ ni ayi a i ʤe ayra Demonstratives this h.nay Bangru o i Comment ka i o 24 The Mijiic languages. Roger Blench Main text these h.ra that (level) pay u that (above speaker) tʰaŋ u that (below speaker) po u those pay ura there pya Interrogatives How much, many? What? When? Where? Which? Who? Why? k. a tn kukʰren kuwe tl k.dutɛ Quantity some anyone all whoever whatever many, much nothing a little, few kunururo taŋ a kunuru o koro taŋ ti taŋ bo may miʃyuŋ Numerals Gloss W Miji Ort ho ung gni gëth ën E Miji uŋ krn ktʰm Ortho Bangru ung krën këthom akey kanayiŋ katayiŋ one two three ùŋ gnì g tʰən four b lí play pëllai porayi five six seven eight nine buŋə rɛʔ miaʔ sɨgeʔ stʰə̌n pŋu raʔm miaʔ ʃəgəʔ ʃətʰən pëngu rahm miah shëgëh shëthën puŋ reh moyi sagaik sataŋ ten eleven twelve thirteen fourteen fifteen sixteen seventeen eighteen ln ɭɛu l n gnì l n g tʰən l n b lí l n bgu l n rɛʔ l mbiaʔ l n səgeʔ lɨn llën raŋ reʔ miah sëth ën llën 25 Comment cf. cf. Milang pə, poss. Miji bli, Koro kople cf. cf. cf. The Mijiic languages. Roger Blench Main text Gloss W Miji Ort E ho Miji nineteen ln gnì l n twenty twenty-one g tʰən thirty b lí forty buŋə fifty sixty seventy eighty ninety hundred b.lǒ two hundred b.lǒ gnì thousand házárìm first second last Ortho Bangru Colours Gloss black blue brown green red white yellow W Miji Orth Comment ̌ mm mʤ ʔ a m i.s.liŋ ml ̌ m ʰu mgrǎŋ kʃəʔəl Verbs Gloss abandon, leave absent, to be abuse I abuse II ache admire advise afraid, to be agree angry, to be I angry, to be II answer arise arrange arrest I arrest II W Miji pr ŋ̌ re nal (m)n m.zime ʔ te rem roy tkʰ nan ʔ pla py likumbay ã m kaygaŋ Comment m- prefix is probably a nominaliser = ‘catch’ 26 Comment The Mijiic languages. Roger Blench Main text Gloss W Miji arrive I daʔayt arrive II kaʔat ashamed, to be I nraymoy ashamed, to be ray II ask for pən assemble I daʔaykm assemble II daʔaytmu attack tmaʔakey bad, harmful, m i be bake, cook kʰ bathe aʔa ley bathe aʔa te be, is, are ill, be magaʔan beat (person) ə beat ʃi beat drum ʃindompwoy beg pan begin, start rimyoŋ believe mezən belong I ʰrusərə gyoŋ belong II ʰrusərə tay bend k ʰe kgoŋ bet ðuŋgraw [?] hard to hear bind ʤ̌ bite tʔa bitter, to be məvilay blame tasan block (river) waygaŋ obstruct (s.o., daʔagaŋ s.t.) block (road) III rogaŋ blow I ɦə blow II b.ley boil dzam borrow k.gyuŋ break (cup) I fʰren break (cup) II brea break, snap tebaŋ breathe nətuʰ bring ɨŋ broadcast seeds tay lo oŋ build house namrɨ build field alrɨ shelter burn fʰram bury r ŋ buy pn call dow carry ðoy catch kaygaŋ Comment 27 The Mijiic languages. Roger Blench Main text Gloss W Miji cheat, lie sal t.la chew ʃ.gre clean (pot) dòóp ʃyaŋ clear field vəl pʰyaŋ clear jungle meme upyaŋ climb up I ðoy climb up II k.bə close I pigaŋ close II ʃəʔəgaŋ Don’t close! I ta pigaŋ Don’t close! II ta ʃegaŋ cold, become collect kaykum contributions collect likum comb fʰi come back kaʔaken come (ha)day command, order tay kʰran complete, finish ul n I complete, finish p.du II offer d.h.ri condolence contribute kaykum tebay correct I oo k.raŋ correct II rə k.raŋ cough kyiw count tʰew cover plan.ga crack tebaŋ cross (river) dayran cross path, meet labaŋ dayran cross path, meet labaŋ day k.lay cut I oo cut II tay cut down I goʔərəl cut down II tayərəl dance ey decide paŋroy defeat ǎŋ defend I kʰrəʔəgaŋ defend II ʤǔŋ gaŋ defend III k.paŋ gaŋ dehusk kʰroʔi deliver (child) ə ə deny maroy descend I dayg descend II p̌ desire, want I moy desire, want II ey Comment 28 The Mijiic languages. Roger Blench Main text Gloss W Miji Comment die tóyì dig taw cf. Wancho tao. Terms for ‘dig’ in Tibeto-Burman are extremely diverse, so finding a parallel is not difficult. disappoint I me ma t disappoint II d.xə discuss in a məpuŋrə paŋ a long phrase, probably poorly understood group s.groy dislike I mamoy dislike II ma ey disobey I maroy disobey II roy guŋ distribute vr ̌ disturb I mari lokã disturb II daʔa gã divorce broroy do, make ǔ drag I bree drag II ro drag III ʃal dream taymə dress ge t.loŋ drink toŋ This root is widely found in neighbouring languages, notably Bengni Tani t ŋ, Kman tawŋ, Idu tõ, Tiddim, doon, Byangsi tuŋ and Tibetic tʰuŋ. Don’t drink tatuŋ drive d.vi drunk, to be toŋren earn b.tyaŋ eat u eat meat kyoŋ u encircle daʔiloŋ end məpədu enter daʔimu jealous, be b e escape pze evaporate v.kyan exhibit, show gǎn expect I mɛ expect II auna explain I . tɛ explain II . k.raŋ extinguish r.mey Tibeto-Burman is typically mit, but scattered languages erode the final to zero or –y including Qiang mɛ, Konyak mei fall (tree) rl fall down (s.t.) t.laŋ g feel p.tay fill s.t. pəɛbɛn find ʃay finish riθuŋ float n.bryu flow ʃ fly k.noy follow rutl forget saŋpo 29 The Mijiic languages. Roger Blench Main text Gloss W Miji Comment free s.o. I lipyaŋ free s.o. II pr fry ŋaiw JAM reconstructs PTB r.ŋaw ‘fry, roast’. cf. Amdo rŋə, Japhug rŋu. This root is conspicuous by its absence in neighbouring languages, so I suggest it is a loan from a Tibetan dialect. The reconstruction is based on a highly selective reading of the evidence. get loose m n give bay Matisoff (2003) reconstructs s.bəy.n for PTB. Evidence for this is very sparse and much more common is pi/bi (Tani, Naga, Meithei, Mikir, Tsangla) Chepang has bəyʔ go, go away day pyanka go along with, ayʤo de e accompany go down podayg go out day pyanka go up taŋ day grow (child) d ŋ grow (plant) ʃɨn guard kn guide . tɛ cf. ‘explain’ halt gyuŋga hang a harvest (rice) tə harvest (maize) pra harvest (beans) puʰ harvest (tubers) krowʰ I harvest (tubers) tal II hatch (egg) durin greə hate t.kʰə have də hear roy also ‘listen’ help [gaw] t.r ŋ hide t.zey hold kaygaŋ hope I menetun hope II meyun hungry frantey hunt s.kyumeya imitate I tl imitate II t.g. ay imprison ʃur nt n inform ʔ intend I me intend II p.ray intermix riθəroy join two things nəmə roy together journey day jump ʃ.lu keep roo kick tgn kill gay 30 The Mijiic languages. Roger Blench Main text Gloss W Miji Comment kiss pnu kneel layk pəkrə knock I k knock II tkl know i laugh tǒ lay egg durin dren learn te learn i same as ‘know’ lend k.gyoŋ lick k.laʔ lie, tell kloy lie down z̄ ə lift yaŋ light s.t. may ryaŋ listen roy also ‘hear’ live gyoŋ look after gaŋ be aŋ look gaŋ lost, to be mna love loŋ aŋ mad, to be I liyaŋ mad, to be II m.byu make mistake I ruti make mistake II nawti make = do marry kaʔroy measure p.ray meet t.mu melt v̌ e the lips are very tense when pronouncing /v/ milk (cow) ʤfɨ na move I lu ray move I day ray need m. e obey roy omit lup open I ho open I ɦyuŋ pack down I ʤ̌ pack down II n peel kʰroy Final is almost unreleased persuade tamu pity loŋ aŋ play ʃtu plough gaŋgay pluck pu point ði pour pə̠ praise i pray taym.re prefer e press down n m prevent s.o. gaʔa t.r from doing s.t. 31 The Mijiic languages. Roger Blench Main text Gloss W Miji Comment promise I k. aŋg promise II tag pull rǒ punish I d.hubay punish II te push srl quake ʃu quarrel I nayroy quarrel II gayroy quarrel III taroy raise, rear tǒ read peyu recognise ptay regret mepyu remember me i repair vupt resemble gaŋiroy rest gyuŋga ride I ŋ ride II y ʔ ripe, to be myɛn roam around I raynəgu roam around II kunəgu roast kyaŋ rotten, to be rum rub s.keu run y ʔ cf. ‘ride’ sad, to be dəhə satisfied, to be mɛt save pa saw guworoy say ta scatter rosamrosa search ʃay see gan sell ðal send kal sew kram shake rən sharpen pl shine d.la shoot bu shout gǒ show gan shut pigaŋ sick, to be magaŋ sing yiɛ sing ʤu sit down gyoŋ slap poy sleep zey slip mɦyɛ smell ram Possibly cf. Japhug mnɤm, Tibetan mnam though absence of m- prefix unexplained 32 The Mijiic languages. Roger Blench Main text Gloss W Miji Comment smoke t ŋ (cigarette) smoke (meat) may i kyaŋ sneeze k. i snore krã sow uŋ speak tǎ spit p.zə stand up gyoŋ But this is also ‘sit down’. Tone difference? steal .kɨ *r.kəw is reconstructed for PTB, but the root is usually attested as –ku, e.g. Idu ku, Thado gúʔ, Bodo kaw, Konyak ku, Jingpho k , Lhasa Tibetan ku. store I oŋ store II toŋbə suffer nǒ surprise I gaŋ bya surprise II roy bya surround dayʔiloŋ swear θroota sweep house, to nam ʃwoy ‘broom’ swim I saŋ swim II yu take u take away u puwa taste ipəgya teach te tear təpsa tell thank məvita think me throw k.doy tie ʤòó trust mezn try ripəgya turn round ʃ ŋ twist n.vi understand i undress p.su untie ki urinate bre vomit mə wait kn wake up py walk day want ʰey wash s.t. I ey wash s.t. II laiy watch over gan weave um wear p.loŋ weep kram 33 The Mijiic languages. Roger Blench Main text Appendix: Comparative wordlist for Arunachal Pradesh Gloss One Two Three Four Five Six Seven Eight Nine Ten Head Nose Eye Mouth Ear Tongue Tooth Arm Leg Stomach Bone Blood Sun Moon Star Man Woman Child Old man Dog Pig Tiger Water Fire Stone Tree Leaf Name CTB *g-t(y)ik *g-ni-s *g-sum *b-ləy *b-ŋa *d-ruk *s-nis *b-r*d-gəw *gip *d-bu-s *na, *mik *mka *r-na *s-l(y)a *swa *g-lak *kaŋ *grwat *rus *s*nəy *s-la *s-kar *r-min *mow *za/*tsa *bəw *k əy *pwak *k-la *ti(y) *mey *r-luŋ *siŋ, *r-pak *miŋ Koro e-ce ki-ne kala ko-ple plɛ̃ su-fi rõ rà-lá gèyé fã-la ~ ʤùke-pe i-ram sapu rã sàlɛʔ fǐ là ni-bi gay ìrá evi me-ne a-la dogre mur msn ŋwà èklè lele aru si mi-la vuvu lã nino niraŋ Mey han it uŋ pʰsi kʰu uk sit sargyat tʰikʰi sõ nupʰuŋ khibi ni aw kʰutʰuŋ laphõ nutʰuŋ ik la siriŋ skit ha nini namblu uzuk ʤuhu ʤimi nunu ʤiman pʰitʰa swag phõ kʰo ba liŋ hiŋ tʰuŋ alap Bugun ʤi eŋ ɨm i kua rab milye mla dige suŋwa kʰruk epʰuŋ meyak ʃyam ekʰ ̃ rhi si en wat loe lui ezeŋ afoe hanayaŋ habia satyoŋ bphua bimi ani fri ŋ ʰey wak mu ua kʰo boe lbaw hiŋmua arap ebeŋ Puroik hwi i heik rei, wai u reik lye la doŋge uat ? pok kak səek ? ruyi kotuwaŋ gəit lae loye buk aʤay hu kɨri ambu pəʤeik apʰu amwi aʤuaŋ amayin kayu mədow erəy kua bawe ə(mua) mə ay Hruso ǎ ksi ðə̌ pǐ pom ɛ̌ mrə skzə stʰə ʁə ɛkʰyɛ̌ us ə̌ əi unzǔ ufǔ əzlb a utu op əʆǐ v kʰǔ əʁəbe ə drǔ hubye litsi nəna mǐm sa mukʰr ̌ ʃλu vo ʃʤi kʰu mi kun ʃõ ʃere aii Miji ùŋ gnì gtʰən bli buŋə rɛʔ miaʔ sɨgeʔ stʰən lɨn ǔw, gǔ ubyuŋ mmreʔ mugǒ m ʔ ʤaksi tʰu, mtr mgǐ zay mrǒ mriaŋ ay ʤo ǔ dotsuŋ ǔ nmrani amay vkʰraŋ ʃázì ʔ tndrãw may g.loŋ wněʔ mleʔ min Bangru akey kanayiŋ katayiŋ porayi puŋ reh moyi sagaik sataŋ raŋ go kayiŋ miniiko miniŋ mibwa miniiŋ metʰu megey melea mulgu mnii yea ʤu libayiŋ li ii iib iibay ii uko sopey ganii wee mee karpe Milang a-kan nə ham pə pa-ŋu sa-ap ra-ŋal ra-jəŋ ka- əm haŋ-tak dum-po okuŋ ~ a-mik ra- u si-dal sip-pa a-lak a-byaa məə-ruŋ poo-luʰ ta-kar ma-lu ma-mi ayek paa-tɨʰ a-si a-mi haŋ-sa 34 Tawra khiŋ kaiŋ kasaŋ kapray maŋa tahro wẽ limm ki aŋ aloŋ kru pom ha agam blom threndom kruna theleŋna lyã aprih grõ yaŋ kawẽ reb buŋ haarrweig riŋ hallo kadiŋ me miyã a mowaa kuak belleig tamya macey naamɨŋ Idu khege ka i kaso kapri maŋa tahro iwi ilu khi i huwu ? enambo elombra ekobe akonna elina tambro akho aŋgesa yapu rombo iyu ii ela andikru imu yaku a micipra iku ili amra maci amruhu Kman kume kinin ksam kambran klin katam nin grin natmo kyapmo ku mnuŋ mik u iŋ blay sey rawk pla dak rak iwii amik lay ŋalci coŋ kamay ? kanaŋ kui lii top w tii mai masaŋ na amaŋ asimbo na saŋ lap amaŋ Dirang tʰur nitsiŋ sam bi ŋa kʰuŋ zum yen gu se ʃaraŋ na uŋ rniŋ nowaŋ ney gaŋ le ʃa garaŋ bi pʰoloŋ kʰaŋ i ŋam la i karma soŋa iza za ata kʰu pʰakpa goŋtak ri mi luŋ ʃiŋ ʃawa Tawang tʰi nei sum bli leŋa gro ŋis get ḓǔgu ih got nah meloŋ kʰa nelǎp leh wah lah lemi kepa roʃba kʰra plaŋ lei karma mih ǎmah kʰi pʰa ěn i meh gor yaŋ palǎp meŋ Memba ik i sum iʰ ŋe du din gey gu u thum go noguŋ mi kʰaʰ namʤo oli sow lak kʰaŋ dogo rugo tha im dager karem kʰyog neʤa tukto im, seŋ kʰi pʰa taʰ ʰu meʰ Meyor ak ni som ʤee ŋa trok dun zat gu u aku naʰ mik ipay iŋ bro ʃu arak tepro pʰuko ereek awi mik lo dowa karma gijoŋ mainaŋ neŋe giʤoŋ kwi lik ziktetha ati mi Nah akin ai aum appi aŋŋo akke kani pini kyowa əriŋ ʃiŋ lemah duŋpu alap meŋ seŋnə nane ? napʰiŋ nik gam iruŋ ryu hikjuŋ lak ləpa kipo alo oyik doni polu taker i imə hemi ilo əki ərik abiŋ iʃi əmə PT kon² ~ i² ɦum¹ pri¹ ŋo¹ krə(ŋ)¹ ka-nə¹ pri¹- i² kV-naŋ cam¹ ~ kon² ~ i² The Mijiic languages. Roger Blench Main text Gloss Eat Culture Mithun Iron Dao Banana Arum, Millet Paddy Rice Cooked CTB *dzya Koro to Mey uwa, Bugun ʰa none *syal *sta none *grwa none *ma(y) *ma(y) sù smu sẽ handu n/a n/a gicam nise nudob syá yuŋ mudua tsyum ʤawk o nisi nyiŋ kasa gerʤi lǎm kǐ kì mǎm Puroik ina a e kapak uwa tamayi amaŋ ambiŋ amaŋ Hruso tsa Miji u fu sɨ vɛtsi ruloŋ tʰr kʰsə olgi ǒ zara ʃɨʔ sen βay drθal aʔ katsɛ ɛ ɛngn savo Bangru Milang tu Tawra tha Idu ha Kman a Dirang za a-sù arəm ayok aʃya say tara paiʤ ʤey sam haabra ke ke sa si eye e aʤibru sona yamba ke ke kiri cal taŋgli sut hambyooŋ gal muuŋ ha, maŋ haku syat men a perr owaŋ leysi bozoŋ koŋpu ra kʰu to ʰaŋ aaŋ tamay eay tyazge 35 Tawang sasuh lʰe kʰyop lam rep blu kowp dep Memba sale Meyor oem Nah də bamin aʰ papʃa piiyee ak kunak sanjuŋ se tagi oriyuk kupak əŋi tami am am bin a iŋ solum temi deyso dey turo sipu andek mam PT ? (a)- The Mijiic languages. 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