Linguistic and Cultural Approach to the History of Ethnic Groups residing along the Irrawady and Salween rivers

点击翻译按钮获取中文摘要

The ethnic groups residing along the Irrawady and Salween rivers have been less known compared to those of the Mekong river. Under such background, a huge amount of linguistic and cultural data on them was successfully obtained through our comprehensive fieldworks. By analyzing these data, a lot of striking outcomes were discovered. Among these, a way to clarify the old history of the Karenic groups was opened up and it became evident that the existing difference among the Northern Mon-Khmer groups is due to their ethno-linguistic contacts with the different Tay groups. Our data also suggest a possible explanation of the formation process of the present Kachin society. This project made it clear that our long term research method of using linguistic data in relation to the social and cultural aspect of the speakers concerned is very useful and extremely efficient.