Proto-Kuki-Chin: A Reconstructed Ancestor of the Kuki-Chin Languages

The Kuki-Chin (KC) languages constitute one of the most important subgroups of the great Tibeto-Burman family. This book reconstructs the sound system of the ancestor language, Proto-Kuki-Chin, by comparing the initial consonants, rhymes, and nominal tones of a large number of Kuki-Chin languages. Chapter 1 introduces the Kuki-Chin speakers and their geographical locations, and traces the etymologies of the names Kuki and Chin. Chapter 2 investigates the historical depth of the separation of the Kuki-Chin family from the rest of Tibeto-Burman, and confirms the unity of the Kuki-Chin peoples through the study of shared sound changes and syntactic patterns. It also deals with the internal subgrouping of Kuki-Chin, based on these patterns of sound change, with shared innovations suggesting common history. Chapter 3 presents the Proto-Kuki-Chin (PKC) syllable canon, and Chapter 4 establishes the PKC initial consonants by comparing copious lexical data from the three subgroups, with examples of reconstructed etyma. A total of 1355 PKC etyma have been reconstructed. Chapter 5 seeks to reconstruct PKC etyma in terms of their rhymes. The term “rhyme” in Sino-Tibetan linguistics refers to the phonological material of the whole syllable except for the initial consonants, i.e. the vowel of the syllable plus the final consonant and tone, if any. Chapter 6 investigates the nature of the tone system that the proto-language may have had. Four contrastive proto-tones have been reconstructed for smooth syllables; three proto-tones are reconstructed for etyma with stopped rhymes and long vowels, and a single proto-tone for stopped rhymes with short vowels. Chapter 7 is the conclusion of this study.