Recent issues in Austroasiatic historical linguistics

07/06/2010 - 15:00

7 June 2010
15:00 - 16:00 hrs

Leiden, the Netherlands

Lecture by Prof. Gerard Diffloth (Ecole Francaise d'extreme-Orient)

Venue: IIAS, Conference Room, Rapenburg 59, 2311 GJ Leiden

Austroasiatic represents the older linguistic stratum of Mainland Southeast Asia and of a sizable part of India, and yet it remains relatively poorly known. The homeland remains unknown, but Central China now appears unlikely.  The division of the family into 13 branches is becoming clear, but deeper nesting in the family tree remains uncertain. Several problems such as the presence of voice-registers (contrast in phonation-types) and unusually large vowel systems remain untractable. However, steady progress is being made at shallower depths. The emergence of Vietnamese tones is now better understood. The Katuic branch, nearly unknown until the 1970's, is now revealing some of its history. One Katuic language, Kuay, can now be shown to have been independent as early as Pre-Angkorian times, and its speakers may well have played an important part in the early history of the Khmer empire.