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

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: би
- Ordos: /bi/
- Oirat:
  - Kalmyk: би (bi)
South Mongolic:
- East Yugur: bu
- Shirongolic:
  - Monguor:
    - Mangghuer: bi
    - Mongghul: 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