Reconstruction:Proto-Mongolic/bi

This Proto-Mongolic entry contains reconstructed terms and roots. As such, the term(s) in this entry are not directly attested, but are hypothesized to have existed based on comparative evidence.

Proto-Mongolic

Reconstruction

Nugteren derives earlier *bï by comparison with other first-person pronouns, but all descendants clearly derive from *bi and some authorities even reject *ï as a separate phoneme.

Etymology

Compare Proto-Turkic *bẹ and Proto-Tungusic *bi. Compare Turkish ben, Evenki би (bi).

Whether this similarity is due to inheritance (now considered highly unlikely), borrowing or coincidence is a highly contentious question among specialists in these languages which is of crucial significance for the Altaic debate.

Pronoun

*bi

1. I (personal pronoun)

Derived terms

• *bi-da (“first person plural; we”)

Descendants

• Middle Mongol:
  • Mongolian: ᠪᠢ (bi)
  • Phags-Pa: ꡎꡞ
  • Arabic: بي (bi) (Muqaddimat)
  • Chinese: [script needed] (bi) (Secret History)

• Central Mongolic:
  • Classical Mongolian: ᠪᠢ (bi)
    • Khalkha Mongolian: би (bi)
  • Buryat: би (bi)
  • Khamnigan Mongol: bi
  • Ordos: /bi/
  • Oirat:
    • Kalmyk: би (bi)
• South Mongolic:
  • East Yugur: bu
  • Shirongolic:
    • Mangghuer: bi, bu
    • Bonan: be
    • Kangjia: bi
    • Dongxiang: bi
• Daur: bii
• Mogholi: bi

References

• Nugteren, Hans (2011) Mongolic phonology and the Qinghai-Gansu languages (dissertation)‎^[1], Utrecht: LOT, page 281
• Janhunen, Juha (2013) Personal pronouns in Core Altaic. In Shared Grammaticalization With Special Focus on the Transeurasian Languages [Studies in Language Companion Series 132], Martine Robbeets & Hubert Cuyckens (eds)
• Schütz, Edmond (1974) Remarks On Altaic Personal Pronouns. In Acta Orientalia Academiae Scientiarum Hungaricae, Vol. 28, No. 1