Distribution and Dating of the *s- > /th-/ Shift in Central Trans-Himalayan Languages

Abstract

There is a well-known phenomenon of Proto-Tibeto-Burman *s- shifting to /th-/ in several languages and groups of Northeast India and Western Myanmar, most strikingly in the Baric or Bodo-Garo and South Central or Kuk-Chin languages. The distribution of the shift does not follow any likely genealogical lines, and so must be interpreted as areal. In this paper we see that the shift must have occurred in Proto-Baricand Proto-Kuki-Chin, and thus dates to 1,000-1,500 years ago. It is suggested that the original areally spread of the shift involved contact between the Kamarupan state of the Brahmaputra Valley and the urbanized states of the Chindwin Valley.

Keywords

• tibeto-burman
• historical linguistics
• sound change
• areal contact