Discussion on Nguyen Tai Can’s hypotheses about early Tai loanwords in Vietic (ENGLISH LANGUAGE VERSION OF “Thảo luận về một vài điểm trong giả thuyết của Nguyễn Tài Cẩn về các từ mượn tai ở Vietic”)

- Alves (Note: This is a prepublication English version of the Vietnamese-language chapter “Thảo luận về một vài điểm trong giả thuyết của Nguyễn Tài Cẩn về các từ mượn tai ở Vietic” in the book Nguyễn Tài Cẩn - Tư Tưởng, Tác Phẩm Và Kỷ Niệm [Nguyen Tai Can - Thoughts, Works, and Memories], ed.
- Preliminary re-evaluation of the 40 items.
- 14 Abstract: Nguyen Tai Can’s 1995 book “Giáo Trình Lịch Sử Ngữ Âm Tiếng Việt “A Textbook of Vietnamese Historical Phonology” contributed a systematic overview of the history of Vietnamese phonemes and other aspects of Vietnamese language history.
- Near the end of the book he listed about 40 Vietnamese words which are mostly related to agriculture, and he hypothesized that these are Tai-Kadai loanwords.
- gáy ‘to crow’ Farming mương ‘ditch’.
- đâm (gạo) ‘to pound (rice.
- phai ‘to fade (of material or fragrance.
- bửa ‘to cleave (a tree)’ Lifestyle of bè ‘raft’.
- dầm ‘to soak’.
- bơi ‘to swim’.
- lội ‘to lowland fields wade’.
- Moreover, archaeological information of the Red River Delta has progressed tremendously, especially in the last decade.
- Preliminary re-evaluation of the 40 items NTC listed the Vietnamese words, but he did not provide comparative lexical evidence, such as Proto-Tai reconstructed words or data from specific Tai languages, reconstructions of Old or Middle Chinese, or other languages in the region.
- This situation changed in the first decade of the 21st century, and it is essential to use all available resources to the fullest extent.
- Those words which are related to this study include *buc ‘to pluck’, *luay ‘to swim’, *kruac ‘citrus’, *kaduŋ ‘pocket/pouch’, *krɔːŋ ‘river’, and *kapa:s ‘cotton’.
- Table 2: Databases of Comparative Linguistic Evidence • The Mon-Khmer Etymological Dictionary (MKED.
- The Munda Etymological Dictionary • The Old and Middle Chinese reconstructions of Baxter and Sagart (2014) or Schuessler (2006.
- Proto-Vietic reconstructions of Ferlus (2007, available in the MKED.
- Examples of this sound change in this paper is seen in bửa ‘to cleave/split,’ a Vietic etymon, and bừa ‘rake/harrow’, an early Chinese loanword, both of which are reconstructed with *a.
- The origins of the four basic tone categories are primarily based on the final segments of syllables, as per Table 3.
- Also, lexical borrowing can be affected by dialectal variation of the various languages involved and sound changes in process (e.g.
- the process of the loss of final laryngeal sounds, etc.
- Tai loanwords: Only five of the forty words NTC proposed to be Tai loanwords in Vietnamese appear to be probable loanwords from Proto-Tai.
- Native etyma (Austroasiatic and Vietic): About a dozen of the words are native retentions (seven Austroasiatic etyma in Section 2.1 and six Vietic etyma in Section 2.5).
- Early Chinese loanwords: Ten of the words are likely early Chinese loanwords (i.e., before Late Middle Chinese) in both Tai and late Vietic.
- In the subsequent sections, based on data and methods described above, I discuss each of the etymological origins of the words that NTC noted.
- Each section has lists of the words with comparative data and notes.
- The rich comparative data in the online Mon-Khmer Etymological Dictionary clearly identifies these as Austroasiatic etyma.
- For the words bửa ‘to cleave (a tree.
- lội ‘to wade’, rẫy ‘dry field’, the Austroasiatic etyma are attested in 8 to 11 branches of Austroasiatic, often including Munda.
- The following are additional explanations of the words in Table 4.
- For bửa ‘to cleave,’ there is no Tai reconstruction, while the Proto-Austroasiatic and Proto-Vietic forms are reasonable sources for the Vietnamese word.
- For bứt ‘to pluck,’ there is no Tai form, but there is a Proto-South-Western Tai reconstruction *ɓitD ‘to squeeze, twist’ (Jonsson).
- NTC as is in the Proto-Katuic reconstruction.
- The Austroasiatic etymon for lội ‘to wade’ looks similar to the Tai form.
- However, the tone category is very different: a final glottal stop in the etyma in Austroasiatic and Vietic, which is connected to a Type B tone in Vietnamese.
- This Vietnamese word has a tone that matches the Tai tone category, not *-ʔ of the Austroasiatic word.
- Table 4: Austroasiatic etyma in Vietnamese with Comparative Tai Data Word Austroasiatic Vietic Tai bửa ‘to cleave *buuh ‘to split’ (in 9 branches) *bah/pah NA (a tree)’ bứt ‘pluck’ *pic, *piic, *piəc, *pəc ‘to pluck’ *pəc NA (in 7-9 branches) đỉa ‘leech’ NONE (cf.
- *xəuC (Li) lội ‘to wade’ *lujʔ ‘to wade, to swim’ (in 9 #lo:jʔ *lo:jA ‘to swim’ (Pittayaporn branches) 2009) lụt ‘flood’ *laac, *ləc, *ləəc ‘to be flooded, #lu:t *thuemC (Li 1977) to sink’ (in only 4 branches, but cf.
- NTC himself mentioned in a footnote (NTC 1995:322) that some of the words could be Chinese loanwords, while still claiming these were borrowed into Viet-Muong through Tai-Kadai.
- This scenario is not impossible, and many of the same early Chinese loanwords are in both Tai and Vietnamese.
- However, based on available lexical data, I have observed that many of the types of early Chinese loanwords into Vietnamese and Tai differ significantly.
- NTC notes that Vietnamese ‘e’ comes from *ɛ (NTC as in the Tai reconstruction, not *a, as in most modern Chinese languages, but with ɛ in a few dialects in Guangdong.
- The association between ‘cotton’ and ‘blanket/quilt’of 棉 mián is part of the semantic range of this word in Chinese.
- Moreover, there is no Proto-Tai reconstruction for ‘blanket’ to be the source in Vietnamese.
- Ngan ‘goose’ has a complex and vague history in the region of China and Southeast Asia (see Alves 2015).
- An interesting matter is that the Proto-Tai form appears similar to the Austroasiatic reconstruction.
- Table 5: Early Chinese loanwords in Vietnamese and Tai Vietnamese LSV Chinese OC MC Tai bánh ‘pastry’ bính 餅 bǐng *peŋʔ pjiengX *pi̥ ɛŋC (Li 1977) bừa ‘rake’ bà 耙 pá *[b]ˤra bae *fɯeA (Li 1977) chèo ‘oar/to trạo 棹 zhào NONE ([tsau] or NONE *thɛuA (Li 1977) row’ [tʃau] in Yue 小學 堂) cuốc ‘hoe’ quắc h 鐝/钁 jué NONE ([k uak] in NONE NA Yue 小學堂) đực ‘male đặc 特 tè *dˤək dok *thɯkD (Li 1977) animal’ mền ‘blanket’ miên 棉 mián NONE ([min] in NONE NA Yue 小學堂) ‘cotton’ ngan ‘goose’ nhạn 雁 yàn *C.[ŋ]ˤrar-s ngaenH *ha:nB (Pittayaporn 2009) phân ‘feces’ phấn/phẫn 糞 fèn *p[u]r-s pjunH NA quýt ‘tangerine’ quất 橘 jú *[s.k]ʷi[t] kjwit *kruutD ’citrus, a kind of’ (Li 1977) tỏi ‘garlic’ toán 蒜 suàn *[s]ˤor-s swanH NA 2.3 Regional words Six of the words appear in languages throughout Southeast Asia and southern China and therefore cannot be considered Tai loanwords.
- This is a standard Sino-Vietnamese reading of the Chinese character 柑 gān.
- the appearance of that word in ancient Chinese texts is in the Han Dynasty, and the geographic range of this word is in southern China and northern Vietnam.
- Thus, it is possible that the Chinese people are the earliest domisticators of pigeon domestication in the region.
- Hopefully, archaeological data can clarify the matter in the future.
- The Proto-Tai word has tone C, which suggests a final pharyngeal sound that is lacking in the Austroasiatic form, and also nong in Vietnamese, with a Type A tone.
- This is noted in archaeological literature such as a Đồng Đấu era site (Hoàng and of course, the word đan ‘to weave’ is deep in Austroasiatic since *t1aaɲ is seen in all 13 branches.
- It is not reconstructed in Proto-Tai.
- Tai (Lao kʰɔ̆ːŋ ‘the Mekong River’.
- Thai kʰǒoŋ ‘the Mekong river.
- Tibeto-Burman (various languages in STEDT) 2.4 Words with unknown etymological origins Because NTC did not provide comparative Tai evidence, I am sometimes uncertain which words in Tai he thought were the source of the Vietnamese words.
- I have provided notes in the table.
- Table 7: Words of unknown origin in Vietnamese Vietnamese Comparative Notes ao ‘pool’ no relevant data was found dầm ‘to soak’ cf.
- Proto-Tai *čumB ‘to soak’ (Li 1977) (problems with tone and vowel) (con) mái ‘hen’ cf.
- Proto-Tai *mɯeB ‘time’ (Li 1977) (problems with tone, month harvest’ vowel, and semantics) nụ ‘bud’ no relevant data was found phai ‘to fade (of no relevant data was found material or fragrance)’ 2.5 Vietic Six of NTC’s proposed loanwords are reconstructed in Vietic and have no viable sources in Tai.
- gà ‘chicken’ vaguely resembles the Proto-Tai etymon.
- As for bơi ‘to swim’, I have found no Tai words that are similar.
- Gáy ‘to crow’ has a reconstruction with a presyllable.
- As for pheo ‘type of bamboo’, the Proto-Tai reconstruction *phəiB ‘bamboo’ does not match the vowel or tone category of Vietic.
- Table 8: Vietic words in Vietnamese Vietnamese Proto-Vietic Proto-Tai gà ‘chicken’ *r-ka: *kajB (Pittayaporn 2009) Old Chinese *kˤe, Middle Chinese ki (雞 jī) bơi ‘to swim’ #pɤ:j NA cỏ ‘grass’ *kɔh *ɣaA ‘grass’ (unrelated.
- unrelated gáy ‘to crow’ *t-karʔ *χalA (Pittayaporn 2009).
- unrelated bamboo’ 2.6 Tai Loanwords After excluding the other words, only five of the 40 words that NTC proposed have some supporting evidence, but not all of them have perfect sound correspondences.
- Đâm ‘to pound (rice)’ has a syllable shape, tone, and semantics that are similar to the Proto-Tai word.
- However, in Tai, it means only ‘to pound’, while ‘to pound rice’ is a different etymon *zo:mC (Pittayaporn 2009).
- It is also worth noting that Vietnamese has (at least) two other relevant words: giã ‘to pound’, which has no identifiable etymological source, and đập ‘to pound’, which is listed in Section 3 as possible additional Tai loanwords.
- I have found no similarly word forms in other language groups in the region (i.e.
- Plums were already domesticated by Chinese in the Han Dynasty (Wang .
- I have found no studies of the history of the practice among Tai groups in southeastern China, but based on the tone, this word could have been borrowed in the pre-Qin period.
- In vịt ‘duck’, the [v] onset could be the result of a palatal feature of the Tai word, perhaps due to the main vowel *i.
- Table 9: Words that NTC proposed as loanwords that have supporting evidence Vietnamese Vietic Tai đâm (gạo) ‘to pound (rice)’ *təm *tamA ‘to pound’ (Pittayaporn 2009) đồng (ruộng) ‘wet rice field’ #to:ŋ *doŋB (Pittayaporn 2009) mận ‘plum’ #mən *manC (Pittayaporn 2009) mương ‘ditch/canal’ *-mɨəŋ *ʰmɯəŋA (Pittayaporn 2009) vịt ‘duck’ *vi:t *pitD (Pittayaporn 2009).
- Only eight of these have Proto-Vietic reconstructions, the other three are only in Vietnamese, and two of the Proto-Vietic words are not in Vietnamese.
- It is scattered through Austroasiatic languages in the region (Bahnaric, Katuic, Khmer, Khmuic), apparently a widespread loanword.
- A small matter is that the Proto-Tai initial is not imploded, as it is in the Proto-Vietic reconstruction.
- Quét ‘to sweep’ is not a perfect match.
- In Austroasiatic, it is seen in six branches in the region , but not Munda or Nicobaric, which is reasonable if this is a Tai loanword in a later period (see Alves 2014.
- Trống ‘drum’ is a very important word because it could be related to the Dong Son bronze drums of the 1st millennium BCE.
- Also, onomatopoeia may be involved, but it is interesting that we find no other Austroasiatic languages with this word form in the MKED (only different words for ‘drum.
- While the history of the bronze drums is not entirely clear, (a) Heger I drums spread geographically, while Heger II to IV drums are largely localized, (b) comparative archaeological evidence suggests a connection between Heger I drums and the Dong Son culture, and (c) dating of the bronze drums suggests Heger I drums were developed earlier than the other types (Calo 2009:4-6).
- Đập ‘to thresh rice’ is similar to *tɤpD ‘to slap’ (Pittayaporn 2009).
- It is reconstructed as *dəp in Vietic, though only seen in the Viet-Muong and Pong-Cuoi groups, which suggests the possibility of borrowing.
- Table 10: Proposed shared Tai-Vietic words and possible Tai loanwords Vietnamese Vietic Tai kèn ‘reed flute / khene’ *gɛ:n ‘khene / reeded wind *gɛnA (Li 1977) instrument’ lam ‘kind of sticky rice’ NR *hlamA (Li 1977) máng ‘water pipe of *ɓaːŋʔ ‘water pipe of bamboo’ *baŋB/C ‘tube, bamboo’ bamboo’ (Pittayaporn 2009) mường ‘mountain village’ NR *mɯəŋA (Pittayaporn 2009) muống ‘water spinach’ *ɓɔːŋʔ ‘water spinach’ *ɓuŋC (Pittayaporn 2009) què ‘crippled / lame’ #gwɛ: *gwɛA (Li 1977) quét ‘to sweep’ NR *kwa:tD (Pittayaporn 2009) ra.
- Summary of a new perspective To review, of the 40 words NTC hypothesized were Tai loanwords in Vietnamese, only 5 are supported by comparative data.
- It is much smaller than over 600 early Chinese loanwords in Vietnamese (many of which are also in Muong, but I have not yet checked completely).
- Thus, we can tentatively accept that more of these hypothesized Tai words were borrowed in the Dong Son period.
- 500 BCE-100 CE) cultures were already of the Bronze Age (cf.
- 2018), there is reason to assume that Vietic speakers were part of the Bronze Age in this region at the time of Tai-Vietic language contact.
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