A BRIEF INTRODUCTION ON HISTORICAL LINGUISTICS


 - Thangcha Chongloi

I am not a linguistics student but I would like to share some words on Comparative (Historical) linguistics that I believe would be of much academic benefit to all concerned members here myself included.
To begin with, Comparative Linguistics is a branch of Linguistics that helps Linguists to identify and establish the relatedness of two or more different languages by comparing their lexical similarities. The main application or purpose of the study of Comparative Linguistics is to group the languages of the world into linguistic families.
Today, there are currently around 6000 approximate said to be existing languages in the world that have been classified by linguists into groupings in a much simpler number accordingly based on their common linguistic genetic origin and shared historical past. Some of the prominent classifications are: -
01. The Indo-European language family
02. The Sino-Tibetan language family
03. The Niger-Congo language family
04. The Afro-Asiatic language family
05. The Austro-Asiatic language family
06. The Austronesian language family
07. The Dravidian language family
08. The Uralic language family
09. The Turkic language family
10. The Tai-Kadai language family
11. The Mongolic language family etc
To get a clearer picture of how comparative linguistics is done, I have compiled below an example containing a list of languages on the left, all belonging to the same family and a particular word on the right for each respective language all having the same meaning! The list of languages provided below are from Indo-European and Sino-Tibetan languages. It is worth Comparing the similarity of the given words knowing that they are all cognates meaning - they descended from a common ancestry!
* INDO-EUROPEAN LANGUAGE FAMILY
01. French ----------- Prenom
02. Spanish ---------- Nombre
03. Catalan ---------- Nom
04. Greek ------------- Onoma
05. Esperanto ------- Nomo
06. Slovak ------------- Meno
07. Yiddish ------------ Nomen
08. Portuguese ----- Nome
09. Italian -------------- Nome
10. Latin ---------------- Nomine
11 .Romanian -------- Nume
12. Luxembourgish - Numm
13. German ------------ Name ( Nahme)
14. Frisian ------------- Namme
15. English ------------ Name (Pronounced Neym)
16. Dutch --------------- Naam
17. Kurdish ------------ Naam
18. Persian ------------ Naam
19. Hindi ---------------- Naam
20. Swedish ----------- Namn
21. Punjabi ------------- Nam
22. Sanskrit ------------ Nama
23. Gujarati ------------- Nama
24. Bangla -------------- Nama
25. Nepali --------------- Nama
26. Marathi ------------- Nava
27. Norwegian -------- Navn
28. Danish -------------- Navn
29. Icelandic ----------- Nafn
30. Sinhalese ---------- Namaya
31. Russian ------------- Imya
32. Belarusian --------- Imia
33. Polish (Poland)-- Imie
34. Bulgarian ----------- Ime
35. Slovenian ----------- Ime
36. Macedonian ------- Ime
37. Croatian ------------- Ime
38. Bosnian -------------- Ime
39. Serbian --------------- Ime
40. Assamese ------------ naam
41. Nagamese Creole - naam
* SINO -TIBETAN LANGUAGE FAMILY
A. Cantonese Chinese ---- Meng
B. Mandarin Chinese ------ Ming
C. Tibetan -------- Ming
D. Manipuri ------ Ming
E. Tangkhulic --- Ming
F. Kachari ( Includes the following)
1. Bodo ------------ Mung
2. Tiwa ------------- Mung
3. Koch ------------- Mung
4. Rabha ----------- Mung
5. Garo -------------- Bimung
6. Tripuri ----------- Bumung
7. Dimasa ---------- Bumu
G. KUKISH (Includes the following)
01. Mara ---------- Moh
02. Khumi --------- Myn
03. Bawm --------- Min
04. Gangte -------- Min
05. Hakha -------- Min
06. Khualsim ----- Min
07. Maring --------- Min
08. Ngawn -------- Min
09. Paite ------------ Min
10. Simte ----------- Min
11. Siyin ------------ Min
12. Tedim ----------- Min
13. Thadou Kuki - Min
14. Vaiphei -------- Min
15. Zotung -------- Min
16. Zou ------------- Min
17. Zahau ---------- Min
19. Falam ---------- Hmin
20. Aimol ----------- Ming
21. Bualkhua ----- Ming
22. Chothe --------- Ming
23. Kaipeng ------- Ming
24. Zophei ------ Ming
25. Lautu ----------- Ming
26. Matu ------------ Ming
26. Koireng -------- Ming
27. Muun ----------- Ming
28. Tarao ----------- Ming
29. Lamkang -------Miing
30. Anal -------------- Hmiing
31. Hmar ----------- Hming
32. Mizo ( Standard Mizo) --- Hming
33. Ralte ------------- ming
34. Zanniat --------- Hming
35. Hrangkhawl --- Hming
36. Kom -------------- Rahming
37. Darlong --------- Rihming
38. Monsang ------ Romhing
39. Moyon ---------- Ruming
40. Pangkhua ----- Raming
41. Ranglong ----- Raming
42. Purum ----------- Raming
43. Chorei ----------- Raming
44. Kharam --------- Raming
45. Biate ------------- Riming
46. Bongcher ------ Riming
47. Bong ----------- Riming
48. Chiru ------------- Riming
49. Molsom -------- Riming
50. Sakachep ------ Riming
51. Daai -------------- Ng'ming
52. Inpui (Kabui) - Meng
53. Lemi ------------- Amung

Comparative Linguistics help linguists to travel back centuries in time to reconstruct and reconnect with our ancestry past. It helps them to identify and locate the potential point of Origin for any given dialect or language along with the possible migration route of the speakers of the given particular language under study. For example, the origin of the Sino -Tibetan languages is traced to have their roots in the present-day Tibetan-China region. That is to say that the languages that you and I speak today which we inherited from our forefathers are an ancient relative of the Chinese languages and a nearer relative of Tibetan and Burmese languages. Likewise, Sanskrit, Latin, Greek etc are ancient relatives of each other.
There are many more languages left that I am not able to cover hereunder Indo-European and Sino-Tibetan languages. Whatsoever, I hope this article helps us to broaden our intellectual view of our world in a new and better perspective. Thangcha Chongloi is a linguistic hobbyist with particular interest and proficiency in Kuki-Chin-Mizo languages. He has written and produced several write-ups and videos on the subject of languages in the Northeast of India and beyond. Check out his YouTube Channel - https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCwXK5EFtWCMnZugwDc1A8sA
The Mizos

The Mizos is a one-man team news blog, that brings you news and stories from Mizoram, Northeast India and the rest of the World.

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