Sino-Tibetan kin term *-i suffix

Abstract

In an earlier paper (Benedict 1990:168, fn.5), the writer has presented evidence for a kin term *-i suffix at the Proto-Sino-Tibetan (PST) level. Further examination of the matter, with material drawn from his study of ST kinship terminology (Benedict 1941) has shown that this affix is represented in a number of ST kin term etyma, with cognates in a wide variety of ST languages. The following examples have been taken largely from the above-cited sources (generally with tones unmarked, as in the latter); final *-y forms are interpreted as < *-i; see also Benedict 1972 for semantic details and phonology.