A historical study of rGyarong initials and prefixes

Abstract

This paper is designed to discuss the possibility of reconstructing the Proto-rGyarong initials and prefixes and to examine their relationship with Proto-Tibeto-Burman (PTB). The rGyarong language has attracted the attention of many scholars for a long time, and it is generally thought that the language would be a sort of link between Tibetan and Burmese. In fact, Wolfenden pointed this out as early as the 1930's (see Wolfenden 1936), adding that Ao also had a system of prefixes comparable with Written Tibetan (WT), Written Burmese (WB), and Kachin (Jingpaw).