Austro-Tai

English

Alternative forms

  • Austro-Thai (obsolete)

Etymology

From the names of the component Austro(nesian) and Tai(-Kadai) families; coined by Paul K. Benedict in 1966, referring to his 1942 proposal of the family.[1][2]

Pronunciation

  • (UK) IPA(key): /ˈɒstɹəʊˌtaɪ/, (dated) /ˈɔːstɹəʊˌtaɪ/
  • (US) IPA(key): /ˈɔstɹoʊˌtaɪ/, (cot–caught merger) /ˈɑstɹoʊˌtaɪ/

Proper noun

Austro-Tai

  1. A proposed language family comprising the Austronesian and Kra-Dai/Tai-Kadai families.
    Hyponyms: Austronesian, Kra-Dai, Tai-Kadai
    She thinks the evidence for Austro-Tai is more convincing than for Dene-Yeniseian.
    • 2025 February 28, Laurent Sagart, “Zhengzhang Shangfang: 华澳语系同源词根研究 Huáo Aò Yŭ xì Tóng yuán Cígēn Yánjiū (Researches on the cognate roots of the Pan-Sino-Austric family) Shanghai: Jiaoyu Chubanshe, 2024. ISBN 978 7 5444 7681 2.”, in Bulletin of SOAS, volume 88, number 1, Cambridge University Press, →DOI, page 188:
      Simultaneous membership of Tai-Kadai in Li Fang-kuei's Sino-Tibetan and Benedict's Austro-Tai had posed a problem to Zhengzhang, as he had found both of these mutually exclusive proposals to be well-grounded: Sagart's 1990 suggestion that Chinese and Austronesian are genetically related, soon supported by Xing Gongwan, provided a solution to the conundrum, leading Zhengzhang to the present proposal.

Adjective

Austro-Tai (not comparable)

  1. Pertaining to that language family.
    Hyponyms: Austronesian, Kra-Dai, Tai-Kadai
    The paper contained some newly-proposed Austro-Tai etymons.
    • 1966, Paul K. Benedict, “Austro-Thai”, in Behaviour Science Notes, volume 1, number 4, New Haven: Human Relations Area Files, →DOI, page 230:
      One striking illustration will suffice here: the writer had not even included IN °kutu, Thai (T) °hraw "head louse"; in his list of possible correspondences, but the KS forms (Sui tu, Mak tau, Then tiu) led him to reconstruct T °[t]hraw, and he was delighted to uncover OB kat "lice"; he was then able to interpret the already recognized Li cognate sau~su as a development from a °tl- initial cluster, exactly paralleling IN °təlu "3", Li śu~su, and on this basis was able to reconstruct Austro-Thai (AT) °kut(a)lu.
    • 2005 November 24, L[awrence] A. Reid, “Austro-Tai Hypotheses”, in Keith Brown, editor, Encyclopedia of Language and Linguistics, second edition, Elsevier Science, →DOI, →ISBN, page 609:
      Sagart rejected the possibility that Proto-Kra-Dai and Proto-Austronesian are sister languages, therefore rejecting the Austro-Tai hypothesis in its original formulation.

See also

  • Appendix:Austro-Tai comparanda

References

  1. ^ Robert Blust (June 1998), “In Memoriam: Paul King Benedict 1912-1997”, in Oceanic Linguistics‎[1], volume 37, number 1, University of Hawai'i Press, →DOI, →ISSN: “At this point, Paul coined the name "Austro-Thai" (later: "Austro-Tai") for the putative genetic grouping that included Tai-Kadai and Austronesian.”
  2. ^ Lawrence A. Reid (1985), “Benedict's Austro-Tai Hypothesis-An Evaluation”, in Asian Perspectives‎[2], volume 26, number 1, University of Hawai'i Press, →ISSN: “In 1966 and 1967 Benedict published a series of three articles which developed more fully the thesis introduced in 1942. These are the articles in which the term "Austro-Thai"4 first appeared.”
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