1. Languages of Asia Part 2: South Asia
Fieldwork: Process and Results
Zev Handel
Languages of Asia Part 2: South Asia
ASIAN 401
Spring 2009
Expand this talk for next year by including more info from the course packet/lecture notes on Sino-xenic; it was purposely shortened due to W2006 and W2007 time constraints
The University of Hong Kong 30/4/02

2. Fieldwork: Process and Results
Zev Handel
Review
Name the six language families of North/East/Southeast Asia
Name four countries in peninsular Southeast Asia
Name two language isolates
Name three Austronesian lgs.
Name a Sino-Tibetan language
The University of Hong Kong 30/4/02

3. Fieldwork: Process and Results
Zev Handel
SOUTH ASIA
The University of Hong Kong 30/4/02

4. Fieldwork: Process and Results
Zev Handel
SOUTH ASIA
China
Pakistan
Tibet
Urdu: Indo-Aryan family
Nepal
NE India
Sino-Tibetan Languages
India
Bangla-
desh
Munda lgs: Austroasiatic family
Hindi: Indo-Aryan family
Bengali: Indo-Aryan family
Sri Lanka
Tamil: Dravidian
family
The University of Hong Kong 30/4/02

5. Fieldwork: Process and Results
Zev Handel
Languages Families
Indo-Aryan: Pakistan, India
Dravidian: S India, Sri Lanka
Sino-Tibetan: NE India, Nepal, Bhutan, Tibet
Austroasiatic: E India
The University of Hong Kong 30/4/02

6. Fieldwork: Process and Results
Zev Handel
Sample Languages
Indo-Aryan: Hindi, Urdu, Bengali, Marathi, Gujarati, Punjabi
Dravidian: Tamil, Malayalam, Kannada, Telugu
Sino-Tibetan: Bodo, Garo, Naga
Austroasiatic: Santali
The University of Hong Kong 30/4/02

7. Fieldwork: Process and Results
Zev Handel
Indo-Aryan
Branch of larger Indo-European family; >600 million speakers
Most of the major languages of India and Pakistan, as well as Nepali
Four distinct consonants p, ph, b, bh
The University of Hong Kong 30/4/02

8. Fieldwork: Process and Results
Zev Handel
Dravidian
Major languages of S India and Sri Lanka (not found elsewhere)
~200 million speakers
Probably were spoken in all of India before the Indo-Aryan speakers arrived
The University of Hong Kong 30/4/02

9. Fieldwork: Process and Results
Zev Handel
Sino-Tibetan
Numerous small “hill tribe” languages in NE India; number of speakers small (~ 4 mil.), but number of lgs very large (>100?)
Also languages spoken in Nepal, Bhutan, Tibet
Very complex verb forms
The University of Hong Kong 30/4/02

10. Fieldwork: Process and Results
Zev Handel
Austroasiatic
The Munda languages are spoken in scattered areas of E India
Related distantly to the Austroasiatic languages of peninsular SE Asia
Only about 10 lgs, < 8 million speakers. Santali has the most speakers.
The University of Hong Kong 30/4/02

11. Fieldwork: Process and Results
Zev Handel
End
The University of Hong Kong 30/4/02