Yak, a species of bovid uniquely adapted to high-altitude environments, plays a critical role in the life of the inhabitants of the Tibetan Plateau and neighboring areas. There is currently no consensus on when these animals may have been domesticated. In this paper, we review the archaeological, genetic, and linguistic evidence relevant to this question, and suggest that the domestication took place following hybridization with taurine cattle from the end of the fourth millennium BCE. This study also shows that the original domesticators of yaks included not only the ancestors of the Tibetans, but also Rgyalrongic speaking people from Eastern Tibet.
Gyalrongic languages, a subgroup of the Burmo-Qiangic branch of the Sino-Tibetan family, are spoken in the Western Sichuan Province of China. They are polysynthetic languages, and present rich verbal morphology. Although they are not closely related to Chinese, they are of particular interest for Sino-Tibetan/Trans-Himalayan comparative linguistics with regards to their conservative phonology and morphology. Based on previous studies on Old Chinese phonology, combining with recent fieldwork data, this paper aims to show how Gyalrong languages could shed light on Old Chinese morphology and thus contribute to the Old Chinese reconstruction. It also proposes a list of possible cognates between Old Chinese, Gyalrong languages, indicating also Tibetan cognates when available.
In Rgyalrongic studies, it is believed that the most complex stem alternation system is found in Zbu, a Northern
Rgyalrong language, whereas other languages, including Situ, have simpler systems. However, as a dialect of Situ Rgyalrong,
Brag-bar presents a complex stem alternation system exhibiting several opaque features in comparison with other Situ dialects.
This paper documents the stem alternations in the Brag-bar dialect of Situ Rgyalrong. It first describes the distribution and stem
formation devices of different verb stems in Brag-bar, then explains the occurrence of the irregular stem I′/II′ in Brag-bar and
investigates their synchronic status.
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