{"word_count": 252, "character_count": 1973}
A term for the domesticated rice plant, pre-reconstructable as #am, occurs in three modern languages belonging to phylogenetically distant subgroups of Tibeto-Burman (TB) (note: by 'Tibeto-Burman' I mean a branch of the Sino-Tibetan family which includes all its languages except Chinese. There is evidence that Tibetan and Burmese are part of the same eastern subbranch of that subgroup: thus the name 'Tibeto-Burman' is over-restrictive, and a new name will eventually have to be found).Bengni (Tani group)am‘rice plant’Sun (1993)Dulong (a.k.a Trung, Nungish group)am55‘rice’ (paddy)Huang et al. (1992)Sak (Sal group)aŋ‘rice plant’Huziwara (2008)Final *-m regularly shifts to -ŋ in Sak.Apparently related forms occur in other TB languages.&#160; Chepang (Caughley 2000) ʔamʰ ‘cooked rice’ and yam ‘rice plant’ (these two forms are related to one another, compare Chepang ʔat and yat, both ‘one’). Jingpo, another Sal language, has #am apparently prefixed with m- of uncertain function:&#160;mam³³ 'rice' (paddy). Likewise, the Kiranti language Thulung (Allen 1975) has mam 'grain of rice remaining&#160;unhusked after milling'.References:Allen, N.J. 1975. Sketch of Thulung grammar. (East Asian Papers, No. 6). Ithaca: Cornell University China-Japan Program. Accessed via STEDT database &#60;http://stedt.berkeley.edu/search/&#62; on 2018-02-09.Caughley, R. (2000) Dictionary of Chepang. Canberra: Pacific Linguistics 502.Huang Bufan et al. 1992. Zang-Mian Yuzu Yuyan Cihui [A Tibeto-Burman Lexicon]. Beijing: Zhongyang Minzu Xueyuan Chubanshe.Huziwara Keisuke. 2008. Chakku-go no kijutsu gengogakuteki kenkyuu [A descriptive linguistic study of the Sak language]. (unpublished ms. contributed to STEDT). Accessed via STEDT database &#60;http://stedt.berkeley.edu/search/&#62; on 2018-02-09.Sun, Jackson Tianshin. 1993. Tani synonym sets. (unpublished ms. contributed to STEDT). Accessed via STEDT database &#60;http://stedt.berkeley.edu/search/&#62; on 2018-02-09.[cite]