Tibetan as a “model language” in the Amdo Sprachbund: evidence from Salar and Wutun

Erika Sandman (1) , Camille Simon (2)

1 Helsingin yliopisto = Helsingfors universitet = University of Helsinki
2 LACITO - Langues et civilisations à tradition orale

This paper outlines Tibetan morphosyntactic features transferred into two genetically unrelated and typologically distinct languages, Salar (Turkic) and Wutun (Sinitic), both spoken in the same linguistic area, the Amdo Sprachbund located in the Upper Yellow River basin in Western China. 1 Due to long-term linguistic contact with Amdo Tibetan, the culturally dominant language in the region, Salar and Wutun have undergone many parallel convergence processes, and they have developed shared grammatical features not found in their genetic relatives spoken elsewhere. By comparing the grammatical structures transferred from Tibetan into both Salar and Wutun, we aim to identify the most prominent Tibetan grammatical features that tend to be copied into neighboring languages despite their different genetic affiliations and typological profiles. Our study highlights the role of Tibetan as the dominant language of the Sprachbund, serving as a model for linguistic convergence for its neighboring languages.

Mots clés: Tibetic; Sinitic; Turkic; Amdo Tibetan; Salar; Wutun; Amdo Sprachbund; linguistic convergence; language contact; morphosyntax; copy

Domaines: Linguistique

Erika Sandman, Camille Simon. Tibetan as a “model language” in the Amdo Sprachbund: evidence from Salar and Wutun. Journal of South Asian Languages and Linguistics, 2016, 3, ⟨10.1515/jsall-2016-0003⟩. ⟨hal-03427697⟩