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Papers by Xun Gong

Journal of Language Relationship, 2019

While consonant clusters, taken broadly to include presyllables, are commonly hypothesized for Ol... more While consonant clusters, taken broadly to include presyllables, are commonly hypothesized for Old Chinese, little direct evidence is available for establishing the early forms of specific words.

A number of Vietnamese words borrowed from Chinese have initial consonant lenition in Vietnamese, which corresponds to presyllables in conservative Vietic languages, e.g.: Chinese 劍 kiæmH “sword” is borrowed as Vietnamese 劍 gươm [ɣ-] and Rục təkɨəm. Baxter and Sagart (2014) understand such words as reflecting Old Chinese preinitials, relying on conservative Vietic languages for the identity of the preinitial.

This essay examines a hitherto overlooked source: Old Vietnamese, a language attested in the single document 佛說大報父母恩重經 Phật thuyết Đại báo phụ mẫu ân trọng kinh (Nguyễn Ngọc San 1982, Shimizu 1996, Hoàng Thị Ngọ 1999), which writes certain words, monosyllabic in modern Vietnamese, in an orthography suggesting sesquisyllabic phonology, e.g. rắn ‘snake’ is written 破散 (phá tản < phaH sanX), cf. Rục pəsiɲ³. For a number of words, Old Vietnamese provides the only testimony of the form of the Vietic borrowing.

The small list of currently known sesquisyllabic words of Chinese origin attested in this document includes examples of both words with a secure initial Chinese cluster and words with plausible Vietic prefixation. On the one hand, we find the word *s–kương ‘mirror’ borrowed from Chinese 鏡 kiæŋH. Here, the Vietnamese *s- is corroborated by its morphological derivation, which is an instance of the Sino-Tibetan instrumental deverbal
*sV-. On the other hand, for the word 阿唱 *ʔ–ɕướng ‘to chant’, likely borrowed from Middle Chinese 唱 tɕhaŋH, the Old Vietnamese form could reflect a dummy prefix *ʔ- (Section 4) that exists in other Vietic languages.

Language and Linguistics

Tangut, a mediaeval Qiangic language (Sino-Tibetan family) has a distinction of three grades (děn... more Tangut, a mediaeval Qiangic language (Sino-Tibetan family) has a distinction of three grades (děng 等). The traditional Sofronov-Gong reconstruction of this distinction supposes different degrees of medial yod: Grade I {-Ø-}, Grade II {-i-}, Grade III {-j-}. The yods, however, are not supported by the transcriptional evidence.

Based on cognates between Tangut and Rgyalrongic languages, this study proposes the uvularization hypothesis: Tangut syllables have contrastive uvularization. Grade I/II syllables are uvularized, while Grade III syllables are plain. For phonological velars, uvularized syllables trigger a uvular allophone, while plain syllables trigger a velar allophone.

Tangut uvularization is an instance of a common typological feature in Qiangic languages, that of guttural secondary vocalic articulations (GSVA), variously termed uvularization, velarization, tenseness or Retracted Tongue Root (RTR). Recognizing Tangut grades as a case of Qiangic GSVA has far-ranging potential consequences for Sino-Tibetan comparative linguistics.

Logographic writing systems for morphologically rich languages bring into sharp relief the inher... more Logographic writing systems for morphologically rich languages bring into
sharp relief the inherent tension in all human writing systems between the
lexico-morphemic and the phonetic tendencies. When the same lexical root
has, by allomorphy, several different phonetic forms, the writing system
cannot avoid either different graphemes for the same root or different
readings for the same grapheme.
This essay examines the case of verb stem alternation in Tangut, an extinct
Sino-Tibetan language mainly attested from the 11th to the 13th century,
with a syllabic and logographic writing system modeled after the Chinese. It is
shown that both the form and the distribution of the stems are closely related
to Rgyalrongic languages, especially Zbu Rgyalrong and Gexi Horpa.
This essay proposes a typology of three possible strategies of logographic
writing systems to represent root allomorphy, under which the Tangut case
is analyzed: underdifferentiation, with all phonetic forms represented by the
same grapheme, overdifferentiation, with different phonetic forms represented
by different graphemes as if they are different roots, and categoriography,
with systematic means of distinguishing between different allomorphs of the
same root. Tangut predominantly prefers overdifferentiation, followed by an
incipient form of categoriography. The Tangut orthography stands in stark
contrast to other logographic writing systems (Sumerian, Chinese, Japanese
and Middle Iranian), where underdifferentiation is predominant, followed by
categoriography. The highly deviant nature of Tangut script is hypothesized
as resulting from the imitation of the mature Chinese script, where one
character has ideally one single reading.

(The article was deleted from Academia by some error caused by an unexpected behaviour of the Aca... more (The article was deleted from Academia by some error caused by an unexpected behaviour of the Academia UI. Sorry for the spamming.)

In this study, a reconstruction is offered for the phonetic evolution of rhymes from Old Tibetan ... more In this study, a reconstruction is offered for the phonetic evolution of rhymes from Old Tibetan to modern-day Amdo Tibetan dialects. e relevant sound changes are proposed, along with their relative chronological precedence and the dating of some specific changes. Most interestingly, although Amdo Tibetan, identically to its ancestor Old Tibetan, does not have phonemic length, this study shows that Amdo Tibetan derives from an intermediate stage which, like many other Tibetan dialects, does make the distinction.

Encyclopedia of Chinese Language and Linguistics

Consonant clusters like *pr-, *sn- and *-ks are postulated by various scholars for Old Chinese (O... more Consonant clusters like *pr-, *sn- and *-ks are postulated by various scholars for Old Chinese (OC). The debate about their existence and inventory runs through the modern history of Chinese historical phonology and remains the most thorny and interesting aspect of the field...

Conference Presentations by Xun Gong

Books by Xun Gong

PhD Thesis by Xun Gong

This thesis focuses on Zbu Rgyalrong, a Sino-Tibetan language of the Rgyalrongic branch, and cons... more This thesis focuses on Zbu Rgyalrong, a Sino-Tibetan language of the Rgyalrongic branch, and consists of both a phonological and morphological description of the language and a reconstruction of the history of its verb inflection. This thesis aims at descriptive exhaustivity for its phonology and attempts to lay the foundation of a reference grammar, in order to characterize its inflectional morphology in the perspective of general linguistics. Based on the description of this highly endangered language, the thesis contains a diachronic discussion, which contributes to the project of reconstructing Proto-Rgyalrongic, a collective enterprise which has important implications for the reconstruction of Sino-Tibetan as a whole. Notably, a reconstruction is
proposed of the time-aspect-modality (TAM) marking system of Proto-Upper-Rgyalrong, the most recent common ancestor of Japhug, Tshobdun and Zbu. This reconstruction provides new perspectives for
distinguishing between inherited elements and secondary developments in each Rgyalronguic language, as well as within the kindred Qiangic languages. Also included in the diachronic part is a comparative treatment of some verbs in Zbu, examined with data from other Qiangic and Lolo-Burman languages, which can serve as a model for an etymological dictionary of Rgyalrongic verbs.

Journal articles (peer reviewed) by Xun Gong

Folia Linguistica Historica, 2020

This paper proposes that Tangut should be classified as a West Gyalrongic language in the Sino-Ti... more This paper proposes that Tangut should be classified as a West Gyalrongic language in the Sino-Tibetan/Trans-Himalayan family. We examine lexical commonalities, case marking, partial reduplication, and verbal morphology in Tangut and in modern West Gyalrongic languages, and point out nontrivial shared innovations between Tangut and modern West Gyalrongic languages. The analysis suggests a closer genetic relationship between Tangut and Modern West Gyalrongic than between Tangut and Modern East Gyalrongic.This paper is the first study that tackles the exact linguistic affiliation of the Tangut language based on the comparative method.

Journal of Language Relationship, 2019

While consonant clusters, taken broadly to include presyllables, are commonly hypothesized for Ol... more While consonant clusters, taken broadly to include presyllables, are commonly hypothesized for Old Chinese, little direct evidence is available for establishing the early forms of specific words.

A number of Vietnamese words borrowed from Chinese have initial consonant lenition in Vietnamese, which corresponds to presyllables in conservative Vietic languages, e.g.: Chinese 劍 kiæmH “sword” is borrowed as Vietnamese 劍 gươm [ɣ-] and Rục təkɨəm. Baxter and Sagart (2014) understand such words as reflecting Old Chinese preinitials, relying on conservative Vietic languages for the identity of the preinitial.

This essay examines a hitherto overlooked source: Old Vietnamese, a language attested in the single document 佛說大報父母恩重經 Phật thuyết Đại báo phụ mẫu ân trọng kinh (Nguyễn Ngọc San 1982, Shimizu 1996, Hoàng Thị Ngọ 1999), which writes certain words, monosyllabic in modern Vietnamese, in an orthography suggesting sesquisyllabic phonology, e.g. rắn ‘snake’ is written 破散 (phá tản < phaH sanX), cf. Rục pəsiɲ³. For a number of words, Old Vietnamese provides the only testimony of the form of the Vietic borrowing.

The small list of currently known sesquisyllabic words of Chinese origin attested in this document includes examples of both words with a secure initial Chinese cluster and words with plausible Vietic prefixation. On the one hand, we find the word *s–kương ‘mirror’ borrowed from Chinese 鏡 kiæŋH. Here, the Vietnamese *s- is corroborated by its morphological derivation, which is an instance of the Sino-Tibetan instrumental deverbal
*sV-. On the other hand, for the word 阿唱 *ʔ–ɕướng ‘to chant’, likely borrowed from Middle Chinese 唱 tɕhaŋH, the Old Vietnamese form could reflect a dummy prefix *ʔ- (Section 4) that exists in other Vietic languages.

Language and Linguistics

Tangut, a mediaeval Qiangic language (Sino-Tibetan family) has a distinction of three grades (děn... more Tangut, a mediaeval Qiangic language (Sino-Tibetan family) has a distinction of three grades (děng 等). The traditional Sofronov-Gong reconstruction of this distinction supposes different degrees of medial yod: Grade I {-Ø-}, Grade II {-i-}, Grade III {-j-}. The yods, however, are not supported by the transcriptional evidence.

Based on cognates between Tangut and Rgyalrongic languages, this study proposes the uvularization hypothesis: Tangut syllables have contrastive uvularization. Grade I/II syllables are uvularized, while Grade III syllables are plain. For phonological velars, uvularized syllables trigger a uvular allophone, while plain syllables trigger a velar allophone.

Tangut uvularization is an instance of a common typological feature in Qiangic languages, that of guttural secondary vocalic articulations (GSVA), variously termed uvularization, velarization, tenseness or Retracted Tongue Root (RTR). Recognizing Tangut grades as a case of Qiangic GSVA has far-ranging potential consequences for Sino-Tibetan comparative linguistics.

Logographic writing systems for morphologically rich languages bring into sharp relief the inher... more Logographic writing systems for morphologically rich languages bring into
sharp relief the inherent tension in all human writing systems between the
lexico-morphemic and the phonetic tendencies. When the same lexical root
has, by allomorphy, several different phonetic forms, the writing system
cannot avoid either different graphemes for the same root or different
readings for the same grapheme.
This essay examines the case of verb stem alternation in Tangut, an extinct
Sino-Tibetan language mainly attested from the 11th to the 13th century,
with a syllabic and logographic writing system modeled after the Chinese. It is
shown that both the form and the distribution of the stems are closely related
to Rgyalrongic languages, especially Zbu Rgyalrong and Gexi Horpa.
This essay proposes a typology of three possible strategies of logographic
writing systems to represent root allomorphy, under which the Tangut case
is analyzed: underdifferentiation, with all phonetic forms represented by the
same grapheme, overdifferentiation, with different phonetic forms represented
by different graphemes as if they are different roots, and categoriography,
with systematic means of distinguishing between different allomorphs of the
same root. Tangut predominantly prefers overdifferentiation, followed by an
incipient form of categoriography. The Tangut orthography stands in stark
contrast to other logographic writing systems (Sumerian, Chinese, Japanese
and Middle Iranian), where underdifferentiation is predominant, followed by
categoriography. The highly deviant nature of Tangut script is hypothesized
as resulting from the imitation of the mature Chinese script, where one
character has ideally one single reading.

(The article was deleted from Academia by some error caused by an unexpected behaviour of the Aca... more (The article was deleted from Academia by some error caused by an unexpected behaviour of the Academia UI. Sorry for the spamming.)

In this study, a reconstruction is offered for the phonetic evolution of rhymes from Old Tibetan ... more In this study, a reconstruction is offered for the phonetic evolution of rhymes from Old Tibetan to modern-day Amdo Tibetan dialects. e relevant sound changes are proposed, along with their relative chronological precedence and the dating of some specific changes. Most interestingly, although Amdo Tibetan, identically to its ancestor Old Tibetan, does not have phonemic length, this study shows that Amdo Tibetan derives from an intermediate stage which, like many other Tibetan dialects, does make the distinction.

Encyclopedia of Chinese Language and Linguistics

Consonant clusters like *pr-, *sn- and *-ks are postulated by various scholars for Old Chinese (O... more Consonant clusters like *pr-, *sn- and *-ks are postulated by various scholars for Old Chinese (OC). The debate about their existence and inventory runs through the modern history of Chinese historical phonology and remains the most thorny and interesting aspect of the field...

This thesis focuses on Zbu Rgyalrong, a Sino-Tibetan language of the Rgyalrongic branch, and cons... more This thesis focuses on Zbu Rgyalrong, a Sino-Tibetan language of the Rgyalrongic branch, and consists of both a phonological and morphological description of the language and a reconstruction of the history of its verb inflection. This thesis aims at descriptive exhaustivity for its phonology and attempts to lay the foundation of a reference grammar, in order to characterize its inflectional morphology in the perspective of general linguistics. Based on the description of this highly endangered language, the thesis contains a diachronic discussion, which contributes to the project of reconstructing Proto-Rgyalrongic, a collective enterprise which has important implications for the reconstruction of Sino-Tibetan as a whole. Notably, a reconstruction is
proposed of the time-aspect-modality (TAM) marking system of Proto-Upper-Rgyalrong, the most recent common ancestor of Japhug, Tshobdun and Zbu. This reconstruction provides new perspectives for
distinguishing between inherited elements and secondary developments in each Rgyalronguic language, as well as within the kindred Qiangic languages. Also included in the diachronic part is a comparative treatment of some verbs in Zbu, examined with data from other Qiangic and Lolo-Burman languages, which can serve as a model for an etymological dictionary of Rgyalrongic verbs.

Folia Linguistica Historica, 2020

This paper proposes that Tangut should be classified as a West Gyalrongic language in the Sino-Ti... more This paper proposes that Tangut should be classified as a West Gyalrongic language in the Sino-Tibetan/Trans-Himalayan family. We examine lexical commonalities, case marking, partial reduplication, and verbal morphology in Tangut and in modern West Gyalrongic languages, and point out nontrivial shared innovations between Tangut and modern West Gyalrongic languages. The analysis suggests a closer genetic relationship between Tangut and Modern West Gyalrongic than between Tangut and Modern East Gyalrongic.This paper is the first study that tackles the exact linguistic affiliation of the Tangut language based on the comparative method.