COM.on C.A.5:e21/143-147   Online published on Dec.15, 2011.
doi:10.4236/coca.2011.51021
PROCEEDING
 The homeland of Sino-Tibetan-Austronesian: where and when ?

Laurent Sagart

Centre de Recherches Linguistiques sur l'Asie Orientale, Paris, France

Abstract: The Sino-Tibetan-Austronesian (STAN) family includes Sino-Tibetan in the narrow sense (that is, Chinese and Tibeto-Burman) and the Austronesian languages, the Tai-Kadai languages being regarded as a subgroup within Austronesian. This paper examines the vocabulary of agriculture, animal husbandry and other relevant cultural vocabulary shared by these groups to characterize the subsistence strategies of the ancestral group. It is proposed that the ancestral group was a farming society with two cereals: foxtail millet and rice, where pigs were raised perhaps using Setaria by-products as fodder, and net fishing was practiced. Domesticated rice and foxtail millet were domesticated in separate regions. They began to overlap in middle Yangshao sites like Baligang and Nanjiaokou in present-day Henan, c. 4500-4000 BCE. This area, where pigs were also raised, fits the picture established based on the testimony of the proto-lexicon. It is therefore proposed that the middle Yangshao culture in the 5th millennium BCE corresponds to proto-STAN. Form there, thanks to their successful and diversified life-style, speakers of proto-Stan expanded east and west. The eastern group, reaching the seaside in the 4th millennium, is represented archaeologically by the Dawenkou culture sites, with its foxtail millet, rice, pigs and increased reliance on fishing. It is speculated that groups of these people, having developed advanced navigation skills, became active along the eastern Chinese seabord, establishing settlements around river estuaries where fishing and agriculture could be practiced. One of these groups, the Austronesian founder group, reached the Danshui river estuary in NW Taiwan in the late 4th millennium BCE. Meanwhile, the western group developed in situ into Sino-Tibetan, and perhaps in the 4th millennium BCE, this again split into an eastern group that was to develop into Chinese and a western group which further diversified in to Tibeto-Burman.

Key words: Sino-Tibetan-Austronesian, homeland, linguistic paleontology, reconstruction, food production

Recieved:  Sep.18, 2011   Accepted: Oct.4, 2011  Corresponding: laurent.sagart@gmail.com

《现代人类学通讯》第五卷e21篇 第143-147页  2011年12月15日网上发行

会议报告

华澳语系发源于何时何地?

沙加尔

法国科研中心东亚语言研究所，法国巴黎

摘要：华澳语系(Sino-Tibetan-Austronesian)包括狭义的汉藏(汉+藏缅)及南岛语族。侗台语被认为南岛语之下的一个语支。华澳语系的发源地在何时何地? 它扩散的原因是什么? 本论文通过对华澳共同词汇的考察, 特别是有关植物栽培,动物驯化,还有其他文化方面的词汇, 提出华澳语系的发源地是今河南省的仰韶文化中期(八里岗, 南交口等遗址, 公元前4500-4000年左右)的假设。也认为, 原始华澳社会已经有农业, 既有谷子(Setaria italica)又有稻子(Oryza japonica, 粳稻)。有了这两种谷物, 不管气候怎样, 每年都可以有收获。谷子对于猪的驯化也起重要作用。重点虽然在农业上, 但原始华澳社会也会用网来捕鱼。得到食物的方法多样化, 生活方式有灵活性, 比当时其他社会更先进, 使得人口能有膨胀, 地理上有扩散, 语言也随着扩散, 分成东西两组; 东组到海边, 成为大汶口文化, 渔业变得更重要, 航行技术有所发展。部分人坐船寻找适合捕鱼, 同时也可以种稻子和谷子的河口湾。这些人的一部分公元前3500-3000 左右到达台湾, 形成了大坌坑文化。他们的语言为原始南岛语。西组即将来的汉藏。到了公元前3500-3000 年左右, 汉藏组又分东西两组; 东组即将来的汉语,西组即将来的藏缅。

关键词：华澳语系; 发源地; 语言古生物学; 构拟;食物生产

 

收稿日期：2011年9月18日  修回日期：2011年10月4日 联系人：沙加尔 laurent.sagart@gmail.com


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