George van Driem | Bern University (original) (raw)
Papers by George van Driem
Nepali Times, 22 August 2020, 2020
Race against time: There can be no selective indignation as racism remains tenaciously ubiquitous... more Race against time: There can be no selective indignation as racism remains tenaciously ubiquitous around the world
Evolutionary Human Sciences, 2020 (2): e19., 2020
Over two decades ago, it was observed that the linguistic affinity of the language spoken by a pa... more 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.
Etymologus: Čas pro sladkou tečku, 2020
The Tocharians were thus named because the ancient speakers of Turfanian and Kuchean were misiden... more The Tocharians were thus named because the ancient speakers of Turfanian and Kuchean were misidentified with the historical Τόχαροι, but the misnomer has stuck. The question, however, remains moot as to whether the Tocharians might have been the same people as the Seres of the Silk Road. A misnomer need not be inadvertant but may be a deliberate part of an attempt at rebranding. The untold history of the origins and subsequent va- garies of lexicostatistics and glottochronology is particularly instructive in this regard. A recent attempt to rebrand this approach as “phylogenetics” has failed to alleviate the methodological problems afflicting this modus operandi, merely afforded temporary re- lief to its practitioners from the pressure to address persistent unresolved issues.
Nature Scientific Reports, 10: 5593, 2020
Both classical and recent genetic studies have unanimously concluded that the genetic landscape o... more Both classical and recent genetic studies have unanimously concluded that the genetic landscape of South Asia is unique. At long distances the 'isolation-by-distance' model appears to correspond well with the genetic data, whereas at short distances several other factors, including the caste, have been shown to be strong determinant factors. In addition with these, tribal populations speaking various languages add yet another layer of genetic complexity. The Kol are the third most populous tribal population in India, comprising communities speaking Austroasiatic languages of the Northern Munda branch. Yet, the Kol have not hitherto undergone in-depth genetic analysis. In the present study, we have analysed two Kol groups of central and western India for hundreds thousands of autosomal and several mitochondrial DNA makers to infer their fine genetic structure and affinities to other Eurasian populations. In contrast, with their known linguistic affinity, the Kol share their more recent common ancestry with the Indo-European and Dravidian speaking populations. The geographic-genetic neighbour tests at both the temporal and spatial levels have suggested some degree of excess allele sharing of Kol1 with Kol2, thereby indicating their common stock. Our extensive analysis on the Kol ethnic group shows South Asia to be a living genetics lab, where real-time tests can be performed on existing hypotheses.
The Ancestry of the Languages and Peoples of China (Journal of Chinese Linguistics Monograph Series № 29), 2019
van Driem, George. 2019. ‘The ancestry of the Chinese people based on language and genes’, pp. 87... more van Driem, George. 2019. ‘The ancestry of the Chinese people based on language and genes’, pp. 87–121 in Kong Jiangping, ed.,The Ancestry of the Languages and Peoples of China (Journal of Chinese Linguistics Monograph Series № 29). Hong Kong: Chinese University Press of Hong Kong.
The Social Dynamics of Pronominal Systems: A Comparative Approach, 2019
‘The dynamics of Nepali pronominal distinctions in familiar, casual and formal relationships’, pp... more ‘The dynamics of Nepali pronominal distinctions in familiar, casual and formal relationships’, pp. 151–203 in Paul Bouissac, ed., The Social Dynamics of Pronominal Systems: A Comparative Approach. Amsterdam: John Benjamins.
Bulletin of the School of Oriental and African Studies, 82 (1): 190-192., 2019
‘Review: Lauren Gawne and Nathan Wayne Hill (eds.): Evidential Systems of Tibetan Languages (Tren... more ‘Review: Lauren Gawne and Nathan Wayne Hill (eds.): Evidential Systems of Tibetan Languages (Trends in Linguistics Studies and Monographs, 302.) 472 pp. Berlin: Walter de Gruyter, 2017. £91. ISBN 978 3 11 046018 6. doi: 10.1017/S0041977X19000181’, Bulletin of the School of Oriental and African Studies, 82 (1): 190-192.
Journal of the Asiatic Society, LX (4): 1-38., 2018
‘The East Asian linguistic phylum: A reconstruction based on language and genes’, Journal of the ... more ‘The East Asian linguistic phylum: A reconstruction based on language and genes’, Journal of the Asiatic Society, LX (4): 1-38.
Journal of the Southeast Asian Linguistic Society, 11 (2): xcviii-cx., 2018
It has been fourteen years since the appearance of the first edition of this compendium of Trans-... more It has been fourteen years since the appearance of the first edition of this compendium of Trans-Himalayan languages. In its second edition, the volume has swollen to encompass 53 chapters. As Simon and Hill (2015: 381) noted, the language family "is known by names including 'Tibeto-Burman', 'Sino-Tibetan' and 'Trans-Himalayan', of which the last is the most neutral and accurate". McColl et al. (2018: 362) put it more succinctly in their Science article, stating simply: "Trans-Himalayan (formerly Sino-Tibetan)". In the very title to this volume, the two editors, Graham Ward Thurgood and Randy John LaPolla, loudly proclaim their adherence to the obsolete and empirically unsupported "Sino-Tibetan" phylogeny, but many of the contributors to this Routledge volume do not themselves subscribe to the same antiquated Indo-Chinese understanding of the language family. Outside of this volume, a good number of the contributing scholars openly abjure this family tree model. Later, we shall examine how the outspoken bias of the two editors pervades the volume in a thorough and more insidious manner than in the first edition. The anthology comprises 44 grammatical sketches, two of which are devoted to dead Trans-Himalayan languages, five survey articles, two editorial pieces, a piece on the Chinese writing system and a discussion of word order. Editorial misrepresentations, the state of the art and Gerber's Law This volume contains many valuable, some truly wonderful and a few problematic instalments, but the Routledge compendium is truly marred by the two editorial pieces authored by Thurgood and LaPolla and positioned at the very beginning of the book. In addition to the two large editorial pieces, the first section also contains a brief study of word order in Trans-Himalayan languages by Matthew Synge Dryer. A volume that purports to present a general overview of the field should dispassionately present different positions held by specialists in that field, and the failure even just once to mention that alternative views exist that are quite at variance with Thurgood and LaPolla's own particular view characterises an unfair comportment on the part of the two editors that is not just unsportsmanlike, but unscholarly and unworthy of our field. For well over a century, the phylogeny of the language family has been a matter of considerable controversy. Yet both editors are careful to cite and quote only such sources as happen to agree with their own model. The empirically unsupported Indo-Chinese taxonomy relentlessly propounded by an ever dwindling number of "true believer" Sino-Tibetanists permeates the very arrangement of the book, and the two editors have even wilfully skewed the contents of the volume in order to fit their obsolete Indo-Chinese family tree. In keeping with this "Sino-Tibetan" conceit, the editors have included six instalments on Sinitic, though the sheer brevity of Dah-an Ho's instalment on Mandarin could reflect a reluctance on the part of its contributor to indulge the paradigm championed by the two editors. Indeed, as already noted, many of the scholars who have contributed to this volume reject the language family tree model touted by the editors. Moreover, the editorial twosome surreptitiously sneak their own "Rung" subgroup into the table of contents, thereby falsely suggesting that this fiction represents a valid taxon within the family. To exacerbate matters, their table of contents incompetently groups Tshangla and Newar as "Bodish" languages.
Nicolaas Witsen, the Tibetan script and the Tangut languages, 2018
‘Nicolaas Witsen, the Tibetan script and the Tangut languages’, pp. 539-564 in Bruno Naarden, Tom... more ‘Nicolaas Witsen, the Tibetan script and the Tangut languages’, pp. 539-564 in Bruno Naarden, Tom van Brederode, Tjeerd de Graaf, Wim Honselaar, Janine Jager, Cecilia Odé, Lisa van Schaik en Nicoline van der Sijs, eds., The Fascination with Inner Eurasian Languages in the 17th Century: The Amsterdam mayor Nicolaas Witsen and his collection of ‘Tartarian’ vocabularies and scripts. Amsterdam: Uitgeverij Pegasus.
Linguistics of the Tibeto-Burman Area, 41 (1): 106-127., 2018
This invited response to a piece by LaPolla, published in issue 39/2 of LTBA, addresses both LaPo... more This invited response to a piece by LaPolla, published in issue 39/2 of LTBA, addresses both LaPolla's misrepresentations of the history of linguistics and his flawed understanding of historical linguistics. The history of linguistic thought with regard to the Tibeto-Burman or Trans-Himalayan language family vs. the Indo-Chinese or "Sino-Tibetan" family tree model is elucidated and juxtaposed against the remarkable robustness of certain ahistorical myths and the persistence of unscientific argumentation by vocal proponents of the Sino-Tibetanist paradigm, such as LaPolla.
Science, 361: 88-92., 2018
The human occupation history of Southeast Asia (SEA) remains heavily debated. Current evidence su... more The human occupation history of Southeast Asia (SEA) remains heavily debated. Current evidence suggests that SEA was occupied by Hòabìnhian hunter-gatherers until ~4000 years ago, when farming economies developed and expanded, restricting foraging groups to remote habitats. Some argue that agricultural development was indigenous; others favor the "two-layer" hypothesis that posits a southward expansion of farmers giving rise to present-day Southeast Asian genetic diversity. By sequencing 26 ancient human genomes (25 from SEA, 1 Japanese Jōmon), we show that neither interpretation fits the complexity of Southeast Asian history: Both Hòabìnhian hunter-gatherers and East Asian farmers contributed to current Southeast Asian diversity, with further migrations affecting island SEA and Vietnam. Our results help resolve one of the long-standing controversies in Southeast Asian prehistory.
Encyclopaedia of Life Sciences, Wiley Online Library eLS, 14 June 2018, 2018
Although the tribal populations represent a fraction of the South Asian population, there are onl... more Although the tribal populations represent a fraction of the South Asian population, there are only very few tribal populations ranging in the millions. The Central Indian tribal population Gond is one of them, with a census size of approximately 12 million people. Various disciplines of the humanities have drawn conflicting conclusions with regard to their origin. Therefore, in our previous study, we analysed hundreds of thousands of autosomal markers and found out that Gonds share their closest genetic similarity with the Aus-troasiatic (Munda) populations. While our findings support our previous contention, the current analysis has revealed that the Gonds occupy a transitional position between Dravidian and Munda groups. Sex-specific markers also differentiate the Gond substantially from the Indian Austroasiatic (Munda) and Dravidian (Telugu) speakers. Taken together, we suggest a unique and distinct genetic ancestry of the Gond population of South Asia.
Molecular Biology and Evolution, 35 (8): 1916–1933, 2018
We genotyped 738 individuals belonging to 49 populations from Nepal, Bhutan, North India, or Tibe... more We genotyped 738 individuals belonging to 49 populations from Nepal, Bhutan, North India, or Tibet at over 500,000 SNPs, and analyzed the genotypes in the context of available worldwide population data in order to investigate the demographic history of the region and the genetic adaptations to the harsh environment. The Himalayan populations resembled other South and East Asians, but in addition displayed their own specific ancestral component and showed strong population structure and genetic drift. We also found evidence for multiple admixture events involving Himalayan populations and South/East Asians between 200 and 2,000 years ago. In comparisons with available ancient genomes, the Himalayans, like other East and South Asian populations, showed similar genetic affinity to Eurasian hunter-gatherers (a 24,000-year-old Upper Palaeolithic Siberian), and the related Bronze Age Yamnaya. The high-altitude Himalayan populations all shared a specific ancestral component, suggesting that genetic adaptation to life at high altitude originated only once in this region and subsequently spread. Combining four approaches to identifying specific positively selected loci, we confirmed that the strongest signals of high-altitude adaptation were located near the Endothelial PAS domain-containing protein 1 and Egl-9 Family Hypoxia Inducible Factor 1 loci, and discovered eight additional robust signals of high-altitude adaptation, five of which have strong biological functional links to such adaptation. In conclusion, the demographic history of Himalayan populations is complex, with strong local differentiation, reflecting both genetic and cultural factors; these populations also display evidence of multiple genetic adaptations to high-altitude environments.
Human Genetics, 137 (2): 129–139, 2018
Rakesh Tamang, Gyaneshwer Chaubey, Amrita Nandan, Periyasamy Govindaraj, Vipin Kumar Singh, Niraj... more Rakesh Tamang, Gyaneshwer Chaubey, Amrita Nandan, Periyasamy Govindaraj, Vipin Kumar Singh, Niraj Rai, Chandana Basu Mallick, Vishwas Sharma, Varun Kumar Sharma, Anish M. Shah, Albert Lalremruata, Alla G. Reddy, Deepa Selvi Rani, Pilot Doviah, Neetu Negi, Yarin Hadid, Veena Pande, Satti Vishnupriya, George van Driem, Doron M. Behar, Tikaram Sharma, Lalji Singh, Richard Villems and Kumarasamy Thangaraj. 2018. ‘Reconstructing the demographic history of the Himalayan and adjoining populations’, Human Genetics, 137 (2): 129–139.
Gender, Poverty and Livelihood in the Eastern Himalaya, 2018
‘The Eastern Himalaya and the Mongoloid myth’, pp. 12-41 in Sanjoy Hazarika and Reshmi Banerjee,... more ‘The Eastern Himalaya and the Mongoloid myth’, pp. 12-41 in Sanjoy Hazarika and
Reshmi Banerjee, eds., Gender, Poverty and Livelihood in the Eastern Himalaya.
Abingdon: Routledge.
The domestications and the domesticators of Asian rice, 2017
van Driem, George. 2017. ‘The domestications and the domesticators of Asian rice’, pp. 183-214 in... more van Driem, George. 2017. ‘The domestications and the domesticators of Asian rice’, pp. 183-214 in Martine Robbeets and Alexander Savelyev, eds., Language Dispersal Beyond Farming. Amsterdam: John Benjamins.
Oxford Research Encyclopaedia of Linguistics, 2017
Several language families and a few language isolates are represented in the Himalayas, the world... more Several language families and a few language isolates are represented in the Himalayas, the world's greatest massif, running a length of over 3,600 km. The most well-represented language family in this region happens to be the Trans-Himalayan language family, whose very centre of gravity and phylogenetic diversity is situated within the Eastern Himalaya. This most populous language family on our planet in terms of numbers of speakers used to be known as Tibeto-Burman but, in some circles, the family formerly also went by the names "Indo-Chinese" or "Sino-Tibetan", the latter two labels actually designating empirically unsupported and now obsolete models of language relationship. The study of Trans-Himalayan historical grammar began with Brian Houghton Hodgson in the 1830s, who during this time served at Kathmandu as the British Resident to the Kingdom of Nepal. Periodically, minor studies devoted attention to several of the more salient morphosyntactic phenomena of Trans-Himalayan historical grammar, but Stuart Wolfenden contributed the first major monograph to the subject in the 1920s. Finally, the historical morphosyntax of the Trans-Himalayan language family came to be the focus of numerous linguistic studies from the 1970s onward, and since that time our understanding of the historical grammar of the language family has changed drastically.
Himalayan Linguistics, 16 (1): 151-156, 2017
Nepali Times, 22 August 2020, 2020
Race against time: There can be no selective indignation as racism remains tenaciously ubiquitous... more Race against time: There can be no selective indignation as racism remains tenaciously ubiquitous around the world
Evolutionary Human Sciences, 2020 (2): e19., 2020
Over two decades ago, it was observed that the linguistic affinity of the language spoken by a pa... more 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.
Etymologus: Čas pro sladkou tečku, 2020
The Tocharians were thus named because the ancient speakers of Turfanian and Kuchean were misiden... more The Tocharians were thus named because the ancient speakers of Turfanian and Kuchean were misidentified with the historical Τόχαροι, but the misnomer has stuck. The question, however, remains moot as to whether the Tocharians might have been the same people as the Seres of the Silk Road. A misnomer need not be inadvertant but may be a deliberate part of an attempt at rebranding. The untold history of the origins and subsequent va- garies of lexicostatistics and glottochronology is particularly instructive in this regard. A recent attempt to rebrand this approach as “phylogenetics” has failed to alleviate the methodological problems afflicting this modus operandi, merely afforded temporary re- lief to its practitioners from the pressure to address persistent unresolved issues.
Nature Scientific Reports, 10: 5593, 2020
Both classical and recent genetic studies have unanimously concluded that the genetic landscape o... more Both classical and recent genetic studies have unanimously concluded that the genetic landscape of South Asia is unique. At long distances the 'isolation-by-distance' model appears to correspond well with the genetic data, whereas at short distances several other factors, including the caste, have been shown to be strong determinant factors. In addition with these, tribal populations speaking various languages add yet another layer of genetic complexity. The Kol are the third most populous tribal population in India, comprising communities speaking Austroasiatic languages of the Northern Munda branch. Yet, the Kol have not hitherto undergone in-depth genetic analysis. In the present study, we have analysed two Kol groups of central and western India for hundreds thousands of autosomal and several mitochondrial DNA makers to infer their fine genetic structure and affinities to other Eurasian populations. In contrast, with their known linguistic affinity, the Kol share their more recent common ancestry with the Indo-European and Dravidian speaking populations. The geographic-genetic neighbour tests at both the temporal and spatial levels have suggested some degree of excess allele sharing of Kol1 with Kol2, thereby indicating their common stock. Our extensive analysis on the Kol ethnic group shows South Asia to be a living genetics lab, where real-time tests can be performed on existing hypotheses.
The Ancestry of the Languages and Peoples of China (Journal of Chinese Linguistics Monograph Series № 29), 2019
van Driem, George. 2019. ‘The ancestry of the Chinese people based on language and genes’, pp. 87... more van Driem, George. 2019. ‘The ancestry of the Chinese people based on language and genes’, pp. 87–121 in Kong Jiangping, ed.,The Ancestry of the Languages and Peoples of China (Journal of Chinese Linguistics Monograph Series № 29). Hong Kong: Chinese University Press of Hong Kong.
The Social Dynamics of Pronominal Systems: A Comparative Approach, 2019
‘The dynamics of Nepali pronominal distinctions in familiar, casual and formal relationships’, pp... more ‘The dynamics of Nepali pronominal distinctions in familiar, casual and formal relationships’, pp. 151–203 in Paul Bouissac, ed., The Social Dynamics of Pronominal Systems: A Comparative Approach. Amsterdam: John Benjamins.
Bulletin of the School of Oriental and African Studies, 82 (1): 190-192., 2019
‘Review: Lauren Gawne and Nathan Wayne Hill (eds.): Evidential Systems of Tibetan Languages (Tren... more ‘Review: Lauren Gawne and Nathan Wayne Hill (eds.): Evidential Systems of Tibetan Languages (Trends in Linguistics Studies and Monographs, 302.) 472 pp. Berlin: Walter de Gruyter, 2017. £91. ISBN 978 3 11 046018 6. doi: 10.1017/S0041977X19000181’, Bulletin of the School of Oriental and African Studies, 82 (1): 190-192.
Journal of the Asiatic Society, LX (4): 1-38., 2018
‘The East Asian linguistic phylum: A reconstruction based on language and genes’, Journal of the ... more ‘The East Asian linguistic phylum: A reconstruction based on language and genes’, Journal of the Asiatic Society, LX (4): 1-38.
Journal of the Southeast Asian Linguistic Society, 11 (2): xcviii-cx., 2018
It has been fourteen years since the appearance of the first edition of this compendium of Trans-... more It has been fourteen years since the appearance of the first edition of this compendium of Trans-Himalayan languages. In its second edition, the volume has swollen to encompass 53 chapters. As Simon and Hill (2015: 381) noted, the language family "is known by names including 'Tibeto-Burman', 'Sino-Tibetan' and 'Trans-Himalayan', of which the last is the most neutral and accurate". McColl et al. (2018: 362) put it more succinctly in their Science article, stating simply: "Trans-Himalayan (formerly Sino-Tibetan)". In the very title to this volume, the two editors, Graham Ward Thurgood and Randy John LaPolla, loudly proclaim their adherence to the obsolete and empirically unsupported "Sino-Tibetan" phylogeny, but many of the contributors to this Routledge volume do not themselves subscribe to the same antiquated Indo-Chinese understanding of the language family. Outside of this volume, a good number of the contributing scholars openly abjure this family tree model. Later, we shall examine how the outspoken bias of the two editors pervades the volume in a thorough and more insidious manner than in the first edition. The anthology comprises 44 grammatical sketches, two of which are devoted to dead Trans-Himalayan languages, five survey articles, two editorial pieces, a piece on the Chinese writing system and a discussion of word order. Editorial misrepresentations, the state of the art and Gerber's Law This volume contains many valuable, some truly wonderful and a few problematic instalments, but the Routledge compendium is truly marred by the two editorial pieces authored by Thurgood and LaPolla and positioned at the very beginning of the book. In addition to the two large editorial pieces, the first section also contains a brief study of word order in Trans-Himalayan languages by Matthew Synge Dryer. A volume that purports to present a general overview of the field should dispassionately present different positions held by specialists in that field, and the failure even just once to mention that alternative views exist that are quite at variance with Thurgood and LaPolla's own particular view characterises an unfair comportment on the part of the two editors that is not just unsportsmanlike, but unscholarly and unworthy of our field. For well over a century, the phylogeny of the language family has been a matter of considerable controversy. Yet both editors are careful to cite and quote only such sources as happen to agree with their own model. The empirically unsupported Indo-Chinese taxonomy relentlessly propounded by an ever dwindling number of "true believer" Sino-Tibetanists permeates the very arrangement of the book, and the two editors have even wilfully skewed the contents of the volume in order to fit their obsolete Indo-Chinese family tree. In keeping with this "Sino-Tibetan" conceit, the editors have included six instalments on Sinitic, though the sheer brevity of Dah-an Ho's instalment on Mandarin could reflect a reluctance on the part of its contributor to indulge the paradigm championed by the two editors. Indeed, as already noted, many of the scholars who have contributed to this volume reject the language family tree model touted by the editors. Moreover, the editorial twosome surreptitiously sneak their own "Rung" subgroup into the table of contents, thereby falsely suggesting that this fiction represents a valid taxon within the family. To exacerbate matters, their table of contents incompetently groups Tshangla and Newar as "Bodish" languages.
Nicolaas Witsen, the Tibetan script and the Tangut languages, 2018
‘Nicolaas Witsen, the Tibetan script and the Tangut languages’, pp. 539-564 in Bruno Naarden, Tom... more ‘Nicolaas Witsen, the Tibetan script and the Tangut languages’, pp. 539-564 in Bruno Naarden, Tom van Brederode, Tjeerd de Graaf, Wim Honselaar, Janine Jager, Cecilia Odé, Lisa van Schaik en Nicoline van der Sijs, eds., The Fascination with Inner Eurasian Languages in the 17th Century: The Amsterdam mayor Nicolaas Witsen and his collection of ‘Tartarian’ vocabularies and scripts. Amsterdam: Uitgeverij Pegasus.
Linguistics of the Tibeto-Burman Area, 41 (1): 106-127., 2018
This invited response to a piece by LaPolla, published in issue 39/2 of LTBA, addresses both LaPo... more This invited response to a piece by LaPolla, published in issue 39/2 of LTBA, addresses both LaPolla's misrepresentations of the history of linguistics and his flawed understanding of historical linguistics. The history of linguistic thought with regard to the Tibeto-Burman or Trans-Himalayan language family vs. the Indo-Chinese or "Sino-Tibetan" family tree model is elucidated and juxtaposed against the remarkable robustness of certain ahistorical myths and the persistence of unscientific argumentation by vocal proponents of the Sino-Tibetanist paradigm, such as LaPolla.
Science, 361: 88-92., 2018
The human occupation history of Southeast Asia (SEA) remains heavily debated. Current evidence su... more The human occupation history of Southeast Asia (SEA) remains heavily debated. Current evidence suggests that SEA was occupied by Hòabìnhian hunter-gatherers until ~4000 years ago, when farming economies developed and expanded, restricting foraging groups to remote habitats. Some argue that agricultural development was indigenous; others favor the "two-layer" hypothesis that posits a southward expansion of farmers giving rise to present-day Southeast Asian genetic diversity. By sequencing 26 ancient human genomes (25 from SEA, 1 Japanese Jōmon), we show that neither interpretation fits the complexity of Southeast Asian history: Both Hòabìnhian hunter-gatherers and East Asian farmers contributed to current Southeast Asian diversity, with further migrations affecting island SEA and Vietnam. Our results help resolve one of the long-standing controversies in Southeast Asian prehistory.
Encyclopaedia of Life Sciences, Wiley Online Library eLS, 14 June 2018, 2018
Although the tribal populations represent a fraction of the South Asian population, there are onl... more Although the tribal populations represent a fraction of the South Asian population, there are only very few tribal populations ranging in the millions. The Central Indian tribal population Gond is one of them, with a census size of approximately 12 million people. Various disciplines of the humanities have drawn conflicting conclusions with regard to their origin. Therefore, in our previous study, we analysed hundreds of thousands of autosomal markers and found out that Gonds share their closest genetic similarity with the Aus-troasiatic (Munda) populations. While our findings support our previous contention, the current analysis has revealed that the Gonds occupy a transitional position between Dravidian and Munda groups. Sex-specific markers also differentiate the Gond substantially from the Indian Austroasiatic (Munda) and Dravidian (Telugu) speakers. Taken together, we suggest a unique and distinct genetic ancestry of the Gond population of South Asia.
Molecular Biology and Evolution, 35 (8): 1916–1933, 2018
We genotyped 738 individuals belonging to 49 populations from Nepal, Bhutan, North India, or Tibe... more We genotyped 738 individuals belonging to 49 populations from Nepal, Bhutan, North India, or Tibet at over 500,000 SNPs, and analyzed the genotypes in the context of available worldwide population data in order to investigate the demographic history of the region and the genetic adaptations to the harsh environment. The Himalayan populations resembled other South and East Asians, but in addition displayed their own specific ancestral component and showed strong population structure and genetic drift. We also found evidence for multiple admixture events involving Himalayan populations and South/East Asians between 200 and 2,000 years ago. In comparisons with available ancient genomes, the Himalayans, like other East and South Asian populations, showed similar genetic affinity to Eurasian hunter-gatherers (a 24,000-year-old Upper Palaeolithic Siberian), and the related Bronze Age Yamnaya. The high-altitude Himalayan populations all shared a specific ancestral component, suggesting that genetic adaptation to life at high altitude originated only once in this region and subsequently spread. Combining four approaches to identifying specific positively selected loci, we confirmed that the strongest signals of high-altitude adaptation were located near the Endothelial PAS domain-containing protein 1 and Egl-9 Family Hypoxia Inducible Factor 1 loci, and discovered eight additional robust signals of high-altitude adaptation, five of which have strong biological functional links to such adaptation. In conclusion, the demographic history of Himalayan populations is complex, with strong local differentiation, reflecting both genetic and cultural factors; these populations also display evidence of multiple genetic adaptations to high-altitude environments.
Human Genetics, 137 (2): 129–139, 2018
Rakesh Tamang, Gyaneshwer Chaubey, Amrita Nandan, Periyasamy Govindaraj, Vipin Kumar Singh, Niraj... more Rakesh Tamang, Gyaneshwer Chaubey, Amrita Nandan, Periyasamy Govindaraj, Vipin Kumar Singh, Niraj Rai, Chandana Basu Mallick, Vishwas Sharma, Varun Kumar Sharma, Anish M. Shah, Albert Lalremruata, Alla G. Reddy, Deepa Selvi Rani, Pilot Doviah, Neetu Negi, Yarin Hadid, Veena Pande, Satti Vishnupriya, George van Driem, Doron M. Behar, Tikaram Sharma, Lalji Singh, Richard Villems and Kumarasamy Thangaraj. 2018. ‘Reconstructing the demographic history of the Himalayan and adjoining populations’, Human Genetics, 137 (2): 129–139.
Gender, Poverty and Livelihood in the Eastern Himalaya, 2018
‘The Eastern Himalaya and the Mongoloid myth’, pp. 12-41 in Sanjoy Hazarika and Reshmi Banerjee,... more ‘The Eastern Himalaya and the Mongoloid myth’, pp. 12-41 in Sanjoy Hazarika and
Reshmi Banerjee, eds., Gender, Poverty and Livelihood in the Eastern Himalaya.
Abingdon: Routledge.
The domestications and the domesticators of Asian rice, 2017
van Driem, George. 2017. ‘The domestications and the domesticators of Asian rice’, pp. 183-214 in... more van Driem, George. 2017. ‘The domestications and the domesticators of Asian rice’, pp. 183-214 in Martine Robbeets and Alexander Savelyev, eds., Language Dispersal Beyond Farming. Amsterdam: John Benjamins.
Oxford Research Encyclopaedia of Linguistics, 2017
Several language families and a few language isolates are represented in the Himalayas, the world... more Several language families and a few language isolates are represented in the Himalayas, the world's greatest massif, running a length of over 3,600 km. The most well-represented language family in this region happens to be the Trans-Himalayan language family, whose very centre of gravity and phylogenetic diversity is situated within the Eastern Himalaya. This most populous language family on our planet in terms of numbers of speakers used to be known as Tibeto-Burman but, in some circles, the family formerly also went by the names "Indo-Chinese" or "Sino-Tibetan", the latter two labels actually designating empirically unsupported and now obsolete models of language relationship. The study of Trans-Himalayan historical grammar began with Brian Houghton Hodgson in the 1830s, who during this time served at Kathmandu as the British Resident to the Kingdom of Nepal. Periodically, minor studies devoted attention to several of the more salient morphosyntactic phenomena of Trans-Himalayan historical grammar, but Stuart Wolfenden contributed the first major monograph to the subject in the 1920s. Finally, the historical morphosyntax of the Trans-Himalayan language family came to be the focus of numerous linguistic studies from the 1970s onward, and since that time our understanding of the historical grammar of the language family has changed drastically.
Himalayan Linguistics, 16 (1): 151-156, 2017
Journal of South Asian Languages and Linguistics, 2016
The journal provides a peer-reviewed forum for publishing original research articles and reviews ... more The journal provides a peer-reviewed forum for publishing original research articles and reviews in the fi eld of South Asian languages and linguistics, with a focus on descriptive, functional and typological investigations. Descriptive analyses are encouraged to the extent that they present analyses of lesserknown languages, based on original fi eldwork. Other areas covered by the journal include language change (including contact-induced change) and sociolinguistics. The journal also publishes occasional special issues on focused themes relating to South Asian languages and linguistics for which it welcomes proposals.
Journal of South Asian Languages and Linguistics, 2 (2): 263-267., 2015
Bulletin of the School of Oriental and African Studies, 77 (3): 618-620., 2014
Tijdschrift voor Geschiedenis, 119 (2): 265-266., 2006
Language, 82 (2): 450., 2006
Language, 82 (2): 450., 2006
![Research paper thumbnail of ‘Keith W. Slater, A Grammar of Mangghuer: A Mongolic Language of China’s Qinghai-Gansu Sprachbund. London and New York: Routledge Curzon [Routledge Curzon Asian Linguistics Series]. 2003. xviii + 382’](https://attachments.academia-assets.com/36271357/thumbnails/1.jpg)
](Studies in Language, 29 (2): 547-549., 2005
![Research paper thumbnail of Keith W. Slater, A Grammar of Mangghuer: A Mongolic Language of China’s Qinghai-Gansu Sprachbund. London and New York: Routledge Curzon [Routledge Curzon Asian Linguistics Series]. 2003. xviii + 382](https://attachments.academia-assets.com/39105362/thumbnails/1.jpg)
](Studies in Language, 2005
Journal of Asian Studies, 63 (4): 1127-1128., 2004
obstacle for those wishing to further pursue the arguments and insights offered by the contributors.
Language, 80 (1): 163-165., 2004
Bulletin of the School of Oriental and African Studies, 66 (2): 282-284., 2003
Asiatische Studien — Études Asiatiques, LVII (2): 447-448., 2003
Cahiers de Linguistique, Asie Orientale, 32 (2): 307-314., 2003
Lingua, 113: 161-165., 2003
The Tibet Journal, XXVII (3-4): 191-193., 2002
Tibet Journal, XXVII (1): 237-240., 2002
Cahiers de Linguistique: Asie Orientale, XIX (2): 267-285, 1990
Bulletin of the School of Oriental and African Studies, LIII (3): 565-571., 1990
Bhasha Journal of South Asian Linguistics, Philology and Grammatical Traditions, 2022
Bhasha. Journal of South Asian Linguistics, Philology and Grammatical Traditions is an internatio... more Bhasha. Journal of South Asian Linguistics, Philology and Grammatical Traditions is an international journal that welcomes submissions that adopt evidence-based approaches to all areas of linguistics related to South Asian literary (classical and modern/contemporary), spoken and/or endangered languages. The aim of the Journal is to collect papers devoted to the general synchronic linguistic analysis (including sociolinguistic analysis pertaining to today’s languages) of particular languages and/or particular texts, even those that incorporate a comparative analysis with other languages or texts. From the point of view of linguistics, one of the other areas of interest is understanding the evolution of the various languages employed in South Asia today and in the previous historical phases. The term ‘evolution’ is here understood from the point of view of linguistic history – according to a pure diachronic linguistic perspective – as well as from the point of view of the history of these languages, concerning thus the dynamics existing between a specific language and the culture and socio-political context of the society where this language is spoken. For this reason, the Journal also includes in its scope the analysis of the history of reading and reception studies in South Asia. Articles focusing on textual details and criticism and on the history of manuscript traditions and circulation will also be considered. Last but not the least, particular emphasis is also placed on the study of grammatical traditions that have thrived in the South Asian regions. An important part of Bhasha will be devoted to reviews of new books or specific important papers related in some way to the aims of the Journal. The Journal predominantly publishes articles in English but will occasionally also publish in Italian, French and German.
Himalayan Linguistics Monographs, 2019
The Grammar of Dzongkha Revised and Expanded, with a Guide to Roman Dzongkha and to Phonological ... more The Grammar of Dzongkha Revised and Expanded,
with a Guide to Roman Dzongkha and to Phonological Dzongkha
Hardback (xx, 904 pp.) (approx. 450 color illustrations) ISBN 9789004386259
Himalayan Linguistics Archive, 6: 1-77., 2015
A synoptic grammar of the Bumthang language of the central Bhutan highlands
Parlons dzongkha — langue du Bhoutan, May 2014
Le Bhoutan est un petit royaume himalayen qui sort peu à peu de l'oubli et connaît un certain ren... more Le Bhoutan est un petit royaume himalayen qui sort peu à peu de l'oubli et connaît un certain renom sur la scène internationale à cause de son tourisme et du concept du « Bonheur National Brut » (BNB). En fait un de ses titres de gloire est certainemnet la grande diversité de ses langues (19), sur un territoire plus petit que la Suisse et une population de 700 000 habitants. Ses langues font toutes partie de la famille linguistique tibéto-birmane, sauf le népalais qui appartient à la famille indo-européenne. Pour communiquer dans une telle diversité et créer une identité nationale, la langue nationale, adoptée dans les années 1960, est le dzongkha, « la langue des forteresses », langue de l'ouest du pays apparentée au tibétain et au dränjoke, la langue du Sikkim. Toutefois, malgré une proximité linguistique certaine et de nombreux emprunts de termes religieux bouddhiques au tibétain, ces langues sont mutuellement inintelligibles. Aujourd'hui, hormis au Bhoutan et à l'université de Berne, le dzongkha n'est enseigné par aucune institution académique dans le monde, malgré un intérêt croissant pour ce pays et sa langue nationale. Ce livre, qui présente le pays et une grammaire du dzongkha raisonnée, cherche à pallier le manque de documentation pour le public francophone. Les fichiers audio qui accompagnent le livre «Parlons dzongkha» sont disponibles ici.
Mysteriously missing page that should have appeared between pages 11 and 12 of Languages of the Himalayas: An Ethnolinguistic Handbook of the Greater Himalayan Region, containing an Introduction to the Symbiotic Theory of Language (2 volumes). Leiden: Brill, 2001
Mysteriously missing page that was somehow omitted but should have been printed between pages 11 ... more Mysteriously missing page that was somehow omitted but should have been printed between pages 11 and 12 of Languages of the Himalayas: An Ethnolinguistic Handbook of the Greater Himalayan Region, containing an Introduction to the Symbiotic Theory of Language (2 volumes). Leiden: Brill
Languages of the Himalayas: An Ethnolinguistic Handbook of the Greater Himalayan Region, containing an Introduction to the Symbiotic Theory of Language, 2001
The survey work Languages of the Himalayas provides a bird's eye view of Himalayan languages and ... more The survey work Languages of the Himalayas provides a bird's eye view of Himalayan languages and language communities. It also constitutes a primary source for much new, hitherto unpublished data on several languages. The demographic mosaic of the Himalayas today is viewed in a historical and comparative linguistic perspective. The reader will find an outline of the historical and prehistorical developments that have determined the modern ethnolinguistic composition of the Himalayan region, involving various independent linguistics stocks or language families. Maps illustrate the distribution of language communities and trace the routes of ancient migrations. There is an illuminating discussion of grammatical features found in Himalayan languages. All those interested in linguistics and language groupings, Asian history and prehistory, languages and cultures of the Himalayas and surrounding regions.
Een eerste grammaticale verkenning van het Bumthang, een taal van midden-Bhutan, met een overzicht van de talen en volkeren van Bhutan, 1995
De eerste helft van dit boek is een grammaticale beschrijving van het Bumthang, met zo'n 30.000 s... more De eerste helft van dit boek is een grammaticale beschrijving van het Bumthang, met zo'n 30.000 sprekers een belangrijke regionale taal van het Himalaya-koninkrijk Bhutan. Het Bumthang behoort tot de archaïsche Oost-Bodische tak van de Trans-Himalayische oftewel Tibeto-Birmaanse taalfamilie. Deze verkenning beschrijft de meest in het oog springende grammaticale bijzonderheden in de vier hoofddialecten van de taal, waarbij de nadruk is gelegd op de klank- en vormleer. Ook zijn er een bescheiden woordenlijst en een beschrijving van de verwantschapsterminologie toegevoegd. De tweede helft van het boek biedt een overzicht van de inheemse talen van Bhutan die George van Driem eveneens in opdracht van de Bhutanese overheid in kaart heeft gebracht. De hier geboden taalkundige informatie over Bhutan en zijn inwoners wordt met het verschijnen van het boek voor het eerst in het Westen toegankelijk gemaakt.
རྫོང་ཁའི་བརྡ་སྤྲོད་པའི་གཞུང། The Grammar of Dzongkha, 1992
གཞུང་འབྲེལ་རྫོང་ཁ་རོ་མཱན་ (འཛམ་གླིང་ནུབ་ཕོགས་པའི་ཡིག་ཐོག་) འབྲི་ལུགས་ལམ་སྟོན། Guide to Official Dzongkha Romanization, 1991
