Decades of works dedicated to the description of (previously) lesser-known Sinitic languages have effectively dispelled the common myth that these languages share a single “universal Chinese grammar”. Yet, the underlying cause of their grammatical variation is still a matter for debate. This paper focuses on typological variation across Sinitic varieties. Through comparing the typological profiles of various Sinitic languages with those of their Altaic and Mainland Southeast Asian (MSEA) neighbors, we discuss to what extent the variation within the Sinitic branch can be attributed to areal diffusion. Taking into account over 360 language varieties of seven different genetic affiliations (Sinitic, Turkic, Mongolic, Tungusic, Hmong-Mien, Tai-Kadai, Austroasiatic) and 30 linguistic features, we conduct a typological survey with the aid of the phylogenetic program NeighborNet. Our results suggest that convergence towards their non-Sinitic neighbors has likely played a pivotal role in the typological diversity of Sinitic languages. Based primarily on their degree of Altaic/MSEA influence, the Sinitic varieties in our database are classified into four areal groups, namely 1) Northern, 2) Transitional, 3) Central Southeastern, 4) Far Southern. This classification scheme reflects the intricate interplay between areal convergence, regional innovations, and retention of archaic features.
It is well-known that Tai-Kadai languages have affected the typological profiles of Southern Sinitic varieties. For example, compared with their northern sisters, Southern Sinitic varieties display a stronger tendency towards head-initial structures, as in the N–N compounds for expressing the sex of animals and in post-verbal temporal adverbs. Given that the Tai-Kadai languages in China have been in contact with Sinitic for over two millennia, it is quite natural to find signs of Sinitic influence therein. Most remarkably, pre-verbal adjunct phrases and pre-nominal relative clauses, which are extremely atypical of VO languages but distinctive of Sinitic, are attested in some Tai-Kadai languages in Southern China. The prevalence of such typologically unusual traits among different linguistic groups in the Lingnan region of Southern China provides strong support for its status as a linguistic area. Devising and adopting a ‘mutualist’ approach, we analyse the typological data of over 280 language varieties, which we believe illustrates and strongly supports the idea that Western Lingnan qualifies as a linguistic area in its own right according to criteria widely recognized by areal linguists. The approach proposed in this study can be applied to other putative linguistic areas around the world to study the mechanisms and outcomes of contact-induced change under a specific set of ecological conditions.
This article discusses 40 grammatical features in Japonic and Koreanic in relation to their neighbouring languages in Northeast Asia. The data comprise 66 modern language varieties of 13 different linguistic affinities, and 12 historical languages (including Old and Middle Japanese and Old and Middle Korean). The results generated from a computational phylogenetic tool show a significant distance in the typological profiles of three main clades: Northeast Asian, Japonic-Koreanic, and Sinitic spheres. Typologically, the Japonic and Koreanic languages form a common grammatical type by sharing up to 26/40 features. By tracing their attestation in the historical languages we can see that the converged grammars are likely to be results of typological Altaicization and de-Altaicization. The combination of linguistic and historical evidence points to a chronology in which Japonic and Koreanic had mutually converged by Altaicization and de-Altaicization, respectively, during the 1st millennium BC and AD before eventually diverging in the 2nd millennium AD.
Chingduang Yurayongin suomalais-ugrilaisen kielentutkimuksen alaan kuuluva väitöskirja tarkastettiin Helsingin yliopiston humanistisessa tiedekunnanssa lauantaina 14. marraskuuta 2020. Vastaväittäjänä toimi professori Renate Pajusalu Tarton yliopistosta ja kustoksena Riho Grünthal. Chingduang Yurayong: Postposed demonstratives in Finnic and North Russian dialects. Helsinki: Helsingin yliopisto 2020. Väitöskirja on luettavissa osoitteessa http://urn.fi/URN:ISBN:978-951-51-6692-0.
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