Abstract
As previous scholars have shown, Tibetans have borrowed words from neighboring languages such as Chinese, Mongolian, Manchu, Sanskrit, and various Indic vernaculars since premodern times. This article advances the time-honored philological scholarship of Sino-Tibetan linguistic contact by applying a set of methods based on both historical phonetics and digital archives to identify, trace, and periodize historical Chinese loanwords in Tibetan. It also unveils patterns of lexical borrowing from Sinitic languages by Tibetans in pre-1950s Tibet, with a particular focus on issues of spelling and indirect borrowing.
| Original language | English |
|---|---|
| Pages (from-to) | 729-746 |
| Number of pages | 18 |
| Journal | Acta Orientalia |
| Volume | 78 |
| Issue number | 4 |
| Early online date | 12 Nov 2025 |
| DOIs | |
| Publication status | Published - Dec 2025 |
Bibliographical note
Publisher Copyright:© 2025 Akadémiai Kiadó, Budapest
Keywords
- Chinese loanword
- Digital archive
- Historical phonetics
- Periodization
- Sino-Tibetan linguistic contact