The Palaungic Languages Classification, Reconstruction and Comparative Lexicon

This volume presents a reconstruction of the historical phonology and lexicon of the Palaungic branch of Austroasiatic, plus discussion of classification and homeland.Data from 22 published sources covering languages of Myanmar, China, Thailand, Laos and Vietnam are compared to yield a proto-lexicon of 885 words of Proto Palaungic. It is hypothesized that the language was spoken by early Bronze Age rice farmer approximately 3000 years ago in the border region of Northern ?Laos and Xishuangbanna. Although otherwise a fairly typical Austroasiatic Language, Proto Palaungic show various phonological mergers and lexical innovations that clearly distinguish it from other branches of the family. The latter history of Palaungic is quite complex, with various daughter languages drastically resurrecting, some developing tones in odd ways, others assimilating structural features of neighboring tongues. The results include a new classification of the group and the identification of a new sub-branch "Bit-Khang" comprised of languages previously misidentified as Khmuic.