Spring 2010 Colloquium 9
國立清華大學語言所九十八學年度下學期專題演講（九）
演講者: Prof. Laurent Sagart (CRLAO, Paris)
演講題目: Why does the Tai-Kadai word for 'ten' end in -t ?
時間: 2010.6.23 (星期三) 中午12:30
地點: 語言所研討室(人社院B305室)
The Tai-Kadai family has three branches: the Li languages of Hainan, the Kra languages, and the Kam-Tai languages. The Kam-Tai languages have borrowed the Chinese numerals, but the other two branches preserve the original Tai-Kadai numerals. Benedict (1942) showed that these numerals, like a significant part of the Tai-Kadai basic vocabulary, can be compared to the corresponding Austronesian words: this led him to argue that the Tai-Kadai languages must be genetically related to Austronesian, and not to Chinese as had been believed until then. Ostapirat (2005) reinforced the sound correspondences between Tai-Kadai and Austronesian. Sagart (2004) showed that the Tai-Kadai numerals correspond more closely to those of Malayo-Polynesian, a subgroup within Austronesian, than to the proto-Austronesian numerals, concluding that the TK family as a whole is a subgroup within Austronesian.
The TK word for 'ten' presents an interesting problem: the MP word is *puluq. Ostapirat (2005) showed that PMP *-q corresponds to TK -k; yet the TK word for '10' is *plut, not *pluk. A solution to this problem will be presented in light of comparable forms in certain Philippine languages.
演講者: Prof. Laurent Sagart (CRLAO, Paris)
演講題目: Why does the Tai-Kadai word for 'ten' end in -t ?
時間: 2010.6.23 (星期三) 中午12:30
地點: 語言所研討室(人社院B305室)
The Tai-Kadai family has three branches: the Li languages of Hainan, the Kra languages, and the Kam-Tai languages. The Kam-Tai languages have borrowed the Chinese numerals, but the other two branches preserve the original Tai-Kadai numerals. Benedict (1942) showed that these numerals, like a significant part of the Tai-Kadai basic vocabulary, can be compared to the corresponding Austronesian words: this led him to argue that the Tai-Kadai languages must be genetically related to Austronesian, and not to Chinese as had been believed until then. Ostapirat (2005) reinforced the sound correspondences between Tai-Kadai and Austronesian. Sagart (2004) showed that the Tai-Kadai numerals correspond more closely to those of Malayo-Polynesian, a subgroup within Austronesian, than to the proto-Austronesian numerals, concluding that the TK family as a whole is a subgroup within Austronesian.
The TK word for 'ten' presents an interesting problem: the MP word is *puluq. Ostapirat (2005) showed that PMP *-q corresponds to TK -k; yet the TK word for '10' is *plut, not *pluk. A solution to this problem will be presented in light of comparable forms in certain Philippine languages.