scholarly journals The Duoxu Language and the Ersu-Lizu-Duoxu relationship

2014 ◽  
Vol 37 (1) ◽  
pp. 104-146 ◽  
Author(s):  
Katia Chirkova

Duoxu is a terminally endangered and virtually undescribed Tibeto-Burman language, spoken in the historically multi-ethnic and multi-lingual Miǎnníng county of Sìchuān province in the People’s Republic of China. Until recently, Duoxu was known only through a 740-word vocabulary list in the Sino-Tibetan vocabularies Xīfān Yìyǔ [Tibetan-Chinese bilingual glossary], recorded in Chinese and Tibetan transcriptions in the 18th century, and a grammatical sketch (Huáng & Yǐn 2012). Researchers who have worked on the language (Nishida 1973, Sūn 1982, Huáng & Yǐn 2012) have expressed different views about the features and the genetic position of Duoxu, variously viewing it as (1) closely related to Lolo-Burmese languages (Nishida 1973), (2) closely related to Ersu and Lizu, two neighboring languages that are currently classified as members of the Qiangic subgroup of the Tibeto-Burman language family (Sūn 1982), or (3) distantly related to those two languages and to Qiangic languages at large (Huáng & Yǐn 2012). The Duoxu language is critically endangered and urgently requires documentation. It is of great value for our understanding of the linguistic diversity of the region, and of its linguistic history. It is also of great value as a modern reflection of a language that was recorded in the 18th century. This paper makes a significant contribution in all these areas. Based on new fieldwork with all remaining elderly Duoxu speakers, this study provides newly collected data and a new analysis. It compares the newly collected data with the 18th-century attestations of Duoxu as well as with its two putative sister languages Ersu and Lizu. The conclusion of the study is that Duoxu is closely related to Ersu and Lizu, with superficial differences attributed to long-standing and on-going contact influence from Southwestern Mandarin.

2013 ◽  
Vol 43 (1) ◽  
pp. 75-86 ◽  
Author(s):  
Katia Chirkova ◽  
Yiya Chen

The Lizu (or Lüzu) language (/EPli-zu-hu/ or /EPly-zu-hu/) is spoken by approximately 7000 people who reside along the banks of the Yalong (雅 砻) or Nyag chu River in three counties in Sichuan Province (四 川 省) in the People's Republic of China: (i) Muli Tibetan Autonomous County 木 里 藏 族 自 治 县 (Written Tibetan, hereafter WT, smi li rang skyong rdzong), (ii) Jiulong county (九 龙 县 brgyad zur), (iii) Mianning county (冕 宁 县) (Wang 2010: 3).1 Lizu is currently considered as the western dialect of the Ersu 尔 苏 language (Sun 1982, 1983), which is in turn classified as a member of the Qiangic subgroup of the Tibeto-Burman language family (for more details, see Bradley 1997: 36–37; Sun 2001; Chirkova 2012).


PhytoKeys ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 166 ◽  
pp. 97-103
Author(s):  
Jian-Fei Ye ◽  
Liang Chen ◽  
Zhang-Jian Shan ◽  
Xiao-Jie Li ◽  
Ce-Hong Li

Pternopetalum paucifoliolatum, a new species from Sixigou Scenic Area, Emeishan City, Sichuan Province, is proposed and described. Diagnostic morphological characters, full description, detailed illustrations, and a distribution map are provided. The new species is similar to P. porphyronotum in possessing the 1-pinnate leaves and the abaxially purple-red leaflets, but differs from the latter by shorter stature, fewer leaflets ((1–) 3–7) and rays (5–8), the leaflet margin white-ciliate. The new species, which is assessed as Critically Endangered (CR), was only found on limestone cliffs. We also provide a new key to the species of Pternopetalum.


2022 ◽  
Vol 96 ◽  
Author(s):  
Y.H. Xia ◽  
J. Li ◽  
M.R. Sun ◽  
B. Lei ◽  
H.L. Li ◽  
...  

Abstract Root-lesion nematodes (Pratylenchus spp.) are a group of economically important pathogens that have caused serious economic losses in many crops. In 2019, root-lesion nematodes were recovered from tomato (Solanum lycopersicum) root samples collected from Sichuan Province, People's Republic of China (PRC). Extracted nematodes were disinfected, and one individual female was cultured on a carrot disc for propagation at 25 °C by parthenogenesis and designated the SC isolate. Afterwards, the isolate was identified on the basis of morphometric and molecular markers. Both morphometric characters and molecular analysis of the internal transcribed spacer region gene (ITS) of ribosomal DNA, the D2-D3 expansion region of the 28S rDNA gene and the mitochondrial cytochrome oxidase I (mtDNA-COI) gene revealed that the species of root-lesion nematode was Pratylenchus scribneri. The Bayesian tree inferred from the ITS rDNA, 28S rDNA and mtDNA-COI gene sequences also showed that this isolate formed a highly supported clade with other P. scribneri isolates. The pathogenicity of the root-lesion nematode SC isolate on tomato was assessed, showing that tomato was a suitable host for P. scribneri. To the best of our knowledge, this is the first report of P. scribneri on tomato in Sichuan Province, PRC. These are also the first molecular data obtained from P. scribneri on tomato in the PRC, and the pathogenicity of P. scribneri to tomato was studied for the first time. This study provides scientific data for the detection, identification and control of tomato root-lesion nematode disease.


Author(s):  
Alexander Savelyev

Despite more than 150 years of research, the internal structure of the Turkic language family remains a controversial issue. In this study, the Bayesian phylogenetic approach is employed in order to provide an independent verification of the contemporary views on Turkic linguistic history. The data underlying the study are Turkic basic vocabularies, which are resistant to replacement and likely to reflect the genealogical relationships among the Turkic languages. The method tested in the chapter is based on the strict clock model of evolution, which assumes that relevant changes occur at the same rate at every branch of the family. This study supports the widespread view that the binary split between Bulgharic and Common Turkic was the earliest split in the Turkic family. The model further replicates most of the conventional subgroups within the Common Turkic branch. Based on a Bayesian analysis, the time depth of Proto-Turkic is estimated to be around 2,119 years BP, which is in accordance with the traditional estimates of 2,000–2,500 years BP.


2017 ◽  
Vol 10 (1) ◽  
pp. 95-119 ◽  
Author(s):  
Feng Wang (汪鋒) ◽  
Wen Liu (劉文)

Rigorous sound correspondence is fundamental to historical linguistics. It serves as a solid start in studying genetic relationship. Regarding the genetic position of Miao-Yao languages, Li (1937) proposed a hypothesis that the Sino-Tibetan language family consists of Chinese, Tibeto-Burman, Kam-Tai, and Miao-Yao. Benedict (1942; 1975) excluded Miao-Yao from the Sino-Tibetan language family since sound correspondences between Miao-Yao and Chinese were considered to be caused by language contact. The key point in this debate has been ignored for a long time: are the related morphemes proposed in this debate supported by rigorous sound correspondence? In this paper, related morphemes across 11 Miao-Yao languages have been first identified under the requirement of complete sound correspondence, and then analyzed by the Rank Method. The result of the genetic relationship between the 11 Miao-Yao languages has been confirmed. The same procedure has been applied to Sino-Miao-Yao related morphemes, and similar pattern has been found. The Sino-Miao-Yao related morphemes were recognized to be inherited from the common ancestor of Chinese and Miao-Yao. Combined with the result from the perspective of pervasive sound correspondence (Wang 2015), the proposal of a genetic relationship between Chinese and Miao-Yao has been supported. The Inexplicability Principle has been used to weaken the possibility of Sino-Miao-Yao related morphemes being induced by borrowing from Chinese to Miao-Yao, since some sound correspondences are unlikely to be explained by natural phonetic mechanisms. Moreover, related morphemes in Chinese and Miao-Yao have been examined from the perspective of Old Chinese, and such an examination also supports the hypothesis of a genetic relationship between Chinese and Miao-Yao languages. 嚴格的語音對應是歷史比較的基礎,也是判定語源關係的必要條件。在苗瑤語的語源問題研究中,李方桂(1937)提出漢藏語系四語族學說,即漢語、藏緬語、侗台語和苗瑤語。Benedict(1942、1975)則將苗瑤語從漢藏語系中劃分出去,理由是苗瑤語和漢語有對應關係的語素是由接觸造成的。苗瑤語系屬問題的爭議焦點在於苗瑤語和漢語音近義同的一批關係語素是否有嚴格的語音對應支持,然而這一問題一直以來不被重視。本文基於完全對應得到苗瑤語族內部11個語言的關係語素,隨後應用詞階法分析,結果如願所示,這11個語言之間具有發生學關係。同樣的程序應用于漢-苗瑤語關係語素,結果與上述呈現的模式相同,即這些關係語素是來自漢語和苗瑤語共同的祖語,而非語言接觸的產物。結合普遍對應的研究(Wang 2015),漢語和苗瑤語的發生學關係可以得到支持。不可釋原則也顯示漢-苗瑤語關係語素是由苗瑤語從漢語借用的可能性較小,因為二者間的部分語音對應不可能通過自然音變來解釋。此外,從上古漢語的角度對漢-苗瑤語關係語素的校驗也支持二者的同源關係。


Author(s):  
Tyler Peterson

This chapter presents a sketch of the grammatical evidential system and related epistemic meanings in Gitksan, a critically endangered indigenous language of the Tsimshianic language family spoken in the northwest interior of Canada. A number of basic syntactic and semantic tests utilizing presupposition, negation, and dissent are applied that provide a nuanced description of the meanings of the individual evidentials. A specific feature of the Gitksan evidentials which is examined in detail involves how they can be used to express epistemic modality, and how a speaker’s choice of which evidential to use in a particular speech context is conditioned by her evaluation of the information acquired in that context. One of the effects of this choice is the expression of what can be translated as modal force.


Author(s):  
Zachary O’Hagan

Abstract This article reconstructs the system of kin terms in Proto-Omagua-Kukama (POK), the ancestral language of the Omagua and Kukama-Kukamiria, and compares it to Tupinambá, a former language of the Brazilian Atlantic coast and their closest relative in the Tupí-Guaraní language family. I identify semantic shifts, analogy-based innovations, calques, and borrowings. I suggest that some of these changes are likely due to concomitant changes in pre-POK social structure. The identification of borrowings is potentially fruitful in determining which languages contributed to the setting that gave rise to POK. Detailed study of the evolution of the divergent grammar and lexicon of POK is crucial to understanding this social and linguistic history.


2019 ◽  
Vol 11 (2) ◽  
pp. 182-190
Author(s):  
Marija Czepil ◽  
Oresta Karpenko

The article describes the forms of orphans’ care, custody of children deprived of parental care, their emergence and development in European countries of the 18th century – the first half of the 19th century. Attention is focused on the theory and practice of custodial education, socio-pedagogical concepts, which are based on the principle of family and living together, where you care for the child and love him. The concept of upbringing in Children’s homes, which for the first time in the history of upbringing was implemented in Switzerland, was highlighted. A significant contribution to the theory and practice of upbringing was the adoption to Rescue houses kids of both sexes. At that time that was an innovative idea.


Author(s):  
Stephan Prochazka

This chapter attempts to reconstruct the linguistic history of the Arabic dialects spoken in south-eastern Turkey and the northern parts of Syria and Iraq. This area is characterized by religious pluralism and by a high linguistic diversity. It can be seen as a transitional zone between the archaic Iraqi-Anatolian dialects and the more innovative Syrian sedentary and Arabian bedouin dialects. The chapter discusses both common features, and striking innovations shared by all or most dialects of the region. The latter in particular may indicate that the sedentary dialects spoken at the northern edge of the Fertile Crescent may have a common origin. Many dialects of the region exhibit a high degree of both preservation and generalization of old features. The region also stands out because of contact-induced innovations that are partly the result of the significant influences that Aramaic, Kurdish, and Turkish had and still have on the local Arabic varieties.


2004 ◽  
Vol 82 (9) ◽  
pp. 1451-1458 ◽  
Author(s):  
Zejun Zhang ◽  
Fuwen Wei ◽  
Ming Li ◽  
Baowei Zhang ◽  
Xuehua Liu ◽  
...  

The giant panda (Ailuropoda melanoleuca (David, 1869)), red panda (Ailurus fulgens F.G. Cuvier, 1825), and tufted deer (Elaphodus cephalophus Milne-Edwards, 1872) are endemic to the Himalayan Hengduan Mountains; the red panda extends into India, Burma, Bhutan, and Nepal, and the tufted deer extends marginally into Burma, while the giant panda is endemic to China. In Sichuan Province, uniquely, all three species occur sympatrically. We investigated microhabitat characteristics at 150 fecal-group sites from November 2002 to March 2003 to improve understanding of microhabitat separation among the three species at the Fengtongzhai Nature Reserve, Baoxing County, Sichuan Province, People's Republic of China. Density and height of bamboo were greater in the giant and red pandas' micro habitats than in those of the tufted deer. The red panda preferred microhabitats with greater tree-stump density, smaller trees, and shorter fallen log dispersion distance than the other two species. Tufted deer often occurred at sites with greater shrub density and herb cover and more open land with poorer concealment conditions than sites where the two panda species occurred. Both pandas' microhabitats were mostly concentrated on the upper hillside, unlike those of the tufted deer. The giant panda preferred microhabitats with a gentler slope and lower density of fallen logs. Selection of specific microhabitats by each species is an ecological adaptation dependent on behavior linked to its diet, body size, energy metabolism, and other factors. Microhabitat separation among these species reflects the integrated effects of their differences in diet, body size, and energy metabolism, which could facilitate their successful coexistence.


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