Abstract
Over two decades ago, it was observed that the linguistic affinity of the language spoken by a particular population tended to correlate with the predominant paternal, i.e. Y-chromosomal, lineage found in that population. Such correlations were found to be ubiquitous but not universal, and the striking exceptions to such conspicuous patterns of correlation between linguistic and genetic phylogeography elicit particular interest and beg for clarification. Within the Austroasiatic language family, the Munda languages are a clear-cut case of father tongues, whereas Japanese and Korean are manifestly not. In this study, the cases of Munda and Japanese are juxtaposed. A holistic understanding of these contrasting cases of ethnolinguistic prehistory with respect to the father tongue correlation will first necessitate a brief exposition of the phylogeography of the Y chromosomal lineage O. Then triangulation discloses some contours and particulars of both long lost episodes of ethnolinguistic prehistory.
Highlights
Media summary: The origins of the Japanese and the origins of the Munda peoples of India provide contrasting cases of ethnolinguistic prehistory
Historical accounts record that the campaigns led by Genghis Khan, Tamerlane and other conquerors availed themselves of the same tactic, and Kivisild (2014) has wryly qualified warfare as a Y chromosome-linked pathology
Over the course of time, as temperature and humidity increased after the last glacial maximum, haplogroup O split further into the paternal lineages that serve as tracers for the spread of Trans-Himalayan, Hmong-Mien, Austroasiatic and Austro-Tai
Summary
The East Asian linguistic phylum was proposed by Starosta in Périgueux in 2001, one year before his death. In proposing to unite the Kradai, Austronesian, Trans-Himalayan, Hmong-Mien and Austroasiatic language families into a single East Asian linguistic phylum, Starosta had numerous precursors. A discussion of the merits of this evidence strikes us as being of little utility, since we consider the antiquity of the proposed linguistic phylum to lie at the ‘linguistic event horizon’ or maximal time depth reconstructible through methodologically sound historical linguistic comparison. Beyond this epistemological boundary hypotheses regarding long-distance linguistic relationship are reduced to sheer speculation. Following Ostapirat, Starosta’s East Asian linguistic phylum may be construed to comprise four recognised language families: Austro-Tai, Trans-Himalayan, Hmong-Mien and Austroasiatic
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