The Khasic or Khasian languages are a language family of Austroasiatic languages native to the Shillong Plateau and spoken by the Khasi people, Pnar people and other related ethnic groups. Most of them reside in the northeastern Indian state of Meghalaya where Khasi speakers form a plurality of the population. Smaller Khasic-speaking pockets are found in Assam, Manipur, Mizoram and Sylhet Division of Bangladesh.
Languages
Sidwell (2018: 27–31) classifies the Khasian languages as follows.
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Proto-Khasian
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War language (Amwi, Mnar)
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Proto–Pnar-Khasi-Lyngngam
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Lyngngam (former Garo-speakers)
Varieties called Bhoi are dialects of both Pnar and Khasi.
External relationships
Paul Sidwell (2011) suggests that Khasian is closely related to Palaungic, forming a Khasi–Palaungic branch.
The following eight Khasian-Palaungic isoglosses have been identified by Sidwell (2018: 32).
|
| *snaːm |
| *rənsiːm |
| *ɲuk |
| *-meʔ |
| *clɛʔ |
| *ŋɔj |
| *ləʔaːr |
| *ʔoːm |
Lexical innovations
Sidwell (2018: 23) lists the following Khasian lexical innovations (i.e., defining lexical forms) that are found exclusively in the Khasian branch, but not in other Austroasiatic branches).
Reconstruction
Proto-Khasian and Proto-Pnar-Khasi-Lyngngam have been reconstructed by
Paul Sidwell (2018). Proto-Khasian is estimated to have originated about 2,000-2,500 years ago, with War splitting from other Khasian linguistic varieties about 1,500 years ago (Sidwell 2018: 20).
Proto-Khasian morphology includes a causative *pN- prefix and verbalizing *-r- infix (Sidwell 2018: 66-67).
The following reconstructed paradigmatic and closed class in Proto-Khasian are from Sidwell (2018: 51-67).
- Personal pronouns
- Demonstratives
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*ni 'proximal'
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*tu 'mesiodistal'
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*taj 'distal (visible)'
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*te 'mesioproximal'
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*tɛ 'distal (non-visible)'
- Negators
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*ʔǝm 'not'
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*ham 'do not'
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*ta 'not'
- Prepositions/case markers
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*ha 'locative/oblique'
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*ʤɔŋ 'to possess'
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*da 'instrumental'
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*ba (?) 'and/with'
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*tV 'oblique'
- Tense/aspect morphemes
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*la:j 'to go'
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*dɛp 'finish'
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*diʔ 'to go'
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*daː 'have'
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*ʤuʔ 'same'
- Morphological affixes
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*pN- 'prefix'
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*-r- 'verbalizer'
- Numerals
Sound changes
Sidwell (2018) lists the following
from Pre-Khasian (i.e., the ancestral stage of Khasian that preceded Proto-Khasian) to Proto-Khasian.
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Pre-Khasian *b- > *p-, *ɓ- > *b- chain shift
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Proto-Austroasiatic *b- > proto-Khasian *p-
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Proto-Austroasiatic *ɓ- > proto-Khasian *b-
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Pre-Khasian *d- > *t-, * ɗ- > *d- chain shift
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Proto-Austroasiatic *d- > proto-Khasian *t-
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Proto-Austroasiatic *ɗ- > proto-Khasian *d-
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Pre-Khasian *-l > *-n/*-Ø
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Pre-Khasian *-h > *-s > *-t
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Pre-Khasian *-ʔ > *-Ø >, *-k > *-ʔ chain shift
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Pre-Khasian *g- > *k-
See also
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Sidwell, Paul. 2011. Proto-Khasian and Khasi-Palaungic. Journal of the South East Asia linguistics society , Vol. 4.2, pages 144-168, December 2011.
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Sidwell, Paul. 2011b. Proto-Khasian (or -War-Khasi); reconstruction and classification. Presented at SEALS 21, Kasetsart University, Bangkok, Thailand.
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Sidwell, Paul. 2018. The Khasian Languages: Classification, Reconstruction, and Comparative Lexicon. Languages of the World 58. Munich: Lincom Europa.
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