Thomas' Mon-Khmer etyma

Wilson's Muong and Khmer word lists

Nguyễn Ngọc San's Muong and Cambodian wordlists

Vietnamese       Chinese
What Makes Chinese so Vietnamese?

An Introduction to Sinitic-Vietnamese Studies

(Ýthức mới về nguồngốc tiếngViệt)

DRAFT
Table of Contents

dchph

(Chapter Nine [IX] continued)

C) Comparative Mon-Khmer and Vietnamese basic words

Overall, lexical correspondences in those basic words among other Mon-Khmer languages that have cognates in Vietnamese could point to ancient Viet-Muong as the root because, anthropologically, traces of the ancient Mon-Khmer inhabitants in the ancient North Vietnam immigrated from today's southwest region in Lower Laos. Loanwords of from some ancient languages could be very fundamentally basic and borrowed from either direction, though. Etymologically, many of them were descended from the same Taic and Yue ancestral language families that had existed in China-South prior to the emergence of the proto-Chinese when the sixteen Bak tribes from the Southwest Asia moved in there and their early mixed ancient language that is grouped in what is known as Sino-Tibetan linguistic family. The new rulers of the land advanced southwards and mixed with other indigenes in Cochin-China (Lacouperie. Ibid. 1967 [1887]) who later on further infused again with the next waves of the Han-mixed Southern Yue who continued to emigrate from China-South; the fusion of all those people evolved into the ancient Annamese as discussed in the previous chapters. Linguistically, the mixture of all the languages spoken in China by the later northern resettlers with the local language spoken then gave birth to the earliest Annamese language that has evolved into modern Vietnamese over the time. Given the grouping of the Ancient Annamese language into the Austroasiatic family by modern Western linguistics, it might be considered as a sister – to be exact, 'cousin' – language of those Mon-Khmer ones as we know it. The fact that, on the one hand, Vietnamese is not a Sinitic language would not constitute it as a descendant of the Austroasiatic linguistic family as theorized by the "Mon-Khmerists". On the other hand, if Annam had not broken off from China in the 10th century and were a province like Canton, Annamese could have been now classed as a Chinesedialect. In the next sections, we are going to explore more of those Sino-Tibetan issues in a full chapter of its own.

For what "Mon-Khmerism" and its relationships with ancestral Taic-Yue sub-families were meant in this passage, I would like to paraphrase the lines set forth by Merritt Ruhlen (1994. Ibid. p. 92) by substituting certain nominal concepts and apply them to the cases being referred to in the theory below. Don't be dismayed if they sound similar to what Ruhlen spoke of Greenberg and the Amerind family that were criticized against by the "Bantuists" – where Greenberg's positions are adapted by myself and "the Amerind family" is to be substituted with the Taic-Yue family, plus the "Bantuisms" "the Austroasiatic Mon-Khmerism", so to speak, when Greenberg's classification of Native American languages appeared in 1987.

In support of the existence of earlier forms of the Taic-Yue family before what has been known about the Sinitic languages of the Sino-Tibetan family, I , the author of this paper, presented in this survey nearly 300 cognate words in all across Austroasiatic Mon-Khmer and Sino-Tibetan languages with those fundamental words found in Vietnamese in addition to grammatical elements such as prepositions and particles used in constructing composite sentences. I think I can borrow the written words by Ruhlen to mimick what was said that "the Mon-Khmerists" simply ignored regarding to those commonalities among Chinese dialects similar to those of Vietnamese that are on par with numerous fundamental core words – say, 'one', 'two', 'sky', 'heaven', 'father', 'mother', 'sister', 'head', 'eye', 'fire', 'water', 'eat', 'drink', etc., as listed in his multiple tables in Ruhlen's work The Origin of Language (1994) – that are concurrently cognate to some extant Mon-Khmer basic words as well. Surprisingly to the contrary, they are so commonplace in all southern Chinese dialects but absent in the Mon-Khmer languages spoken in the Indo-Chinese region. A myriad of explanations from Austroasiatic Mon-Khmer camp that suggested that those similarities in lexical and grammatical items – including the tonal system that matches on one-to-one basis among Chinese and Vietnamese languages – were due to "relationships of multilingualism and intense linguistic diffusions in Asia," before the various Taic-Yue groups migrated further southwards into Indo-China and to the west the present Thailand in the advance of the emreging Chinese in the upper northern region now known as China South throughout Chinese history. The "Austroasiatic Mon-Khmer" terminology for the root for the Vietnamese language is simply a euphemism to avoid admitting that there existed the Chinese connection with various Yue groups in China South that was identified by (De Lacouperie. Ibid. [1887] 1963). as "Bok" people (as in "百姓") and later "BaiYue" (百越) in Chinese history. In a similar vein – and towards the same end – those who proposed "Austro-Thai" hypothesis to explain the similarities between Tai-Kadai languages such as Siamese and Laotian. As the hypothesis of "Austro-Thai" did not catch on as well as that of the Austroasiatic Mon-Khmer family discussed in the Austroasiatic Mon-Khmer linguistic literature today, the latter has been discussed designating the Austroasiatic family has been the common origin for all the languages being spoken in China-South and the Indo-Chinese peninsula. The Mon-Khmerists' attack on the Taic-Yue theory of both Chinese and Vietnamese has been remarkably similar to that of Sino-Tibetan family eight decades earlier. At that time, the Austroasiatic Mon-Khmer pioneers would rather make a shortcut to initiate the new Austroasiatic family theory than devote time to study "China before the Chinese". They have done their best only to misunderstand and they acted with determination to miss the point – as if it was their business to act like the judges.

Categorically, on the whole, "it is possible to classify languages into language families on the basis of similarities in words, the assumption being that over time a single original word can change in various ways, through both phonetic and semantic shifts, in various daughter languages" (Ruhlen. 1994. Ibid. p. 29) as seen in the comparative Mon-Khmer Vietnamese tables below. To identify the relationship and changes in languages, the practice of mechanic tabulation has been commonly followed as a linguistic norm set off probably by a school initiated by Bloomfield. Ruhlen believed that in the 20th century there was a shift in focus from historical explanation to structural explanation, a change that essentially bequeathed historical linguistics to Indo-Europeanists and let them do it as they wished. The focus of theoretical linguistics became equated with Indo-European linguistics. (Ruhlen. Ibid. 1994. p. 80) Here is a word of caution for those newcomers who will rely heavily on such methodology to come up with something new for the Austroasiatic Mon-Khmer camp, that "language-specific problems can only be solved by considering that language in a larger context" (Ruhlen. Ibid. 1994. p. 99), and that such an approach needs to be proceeded with some reservation and adjustment herewith because related Mon-Khmer ~ Vietnamese basic correspondents under scrutiny have been found to be scattered widely among those Mon-Khmer languages and proved NOT uniformly to belong to specifically similar lexical classes nor even under the same realm of more broadly general categories in different languages of the same sub-family. For example, for the two numbers, especially, 'one' and 'two', between languages statistically being the most borrowed words, while Khmer numbers are based on 1 to 5, speakers in several other Mon-Khmer languages count 1 to 10 with ten-digit based numbers.

Etymologically, for those similarities in basic realm, such as vocables /ba/ and /pa/, /mama/, /mig/, /mwei/, /mua/, /mjəkw/, /myak/, /mat/... being equivalent to mean the concept 'eye' (VS 'mắt'), or even 'fly' (VS 'bay') in world's languages, they being similar to /bej/, /fej/, /par/, pere/, /puaRR/, /p'er/, /parV/, /phur/, /apir/, /paru/, etc., could be a mere coincidental factor that is oftentimes associated with monosyllabic words and their reduplicative ones, especially those starting with certain sounds such as b-, p-, m-, n-, etc.., and such phenomenon of cognacy seems to exist in almost all Austroasiatic, Austronesian, and Sino-Tibetan languages. Some authors account that as lexical residues from ancestral mother language of all world's languages today (see Roland Breton, J.-L. 1991; Merritt Ruhlen, 1994). However, with Chinese and Vietnamese samples such as 'cha' and 'tía' for the Chinese 爹 diè (father), 'mẹ' and 'mợ' for 母 mǔ (mother), 'bay' 飛 fei (fly), 'uống' 飲 yǐn (drink), 'xơi' 食 shí (eat), etc., all actually "belong to the basic vocabulary and are thus highly resistant to borrowings. In addition to the best of my knowledge, no one has ever proposed any sound-symbolic connection beetween these particular meanings and any particular sequence of sounds. So if we find that one meaning is consistently represented by the same phonetic shape in many different languages families, the only reasonale explanation is that all these forms have evolved from a common source." (Ruhlen. Ibid. 1994. p. 106) Besides, we normally have to sift loanwords as such from vocabularies under examination as opposed to those of true genetic affiliation from the same root.

In Vietnamese, historically, dialectal variants of the same words have been re-introduced – such as 'cha' vs. 'tía' and 'mẹ' vs. 'mợ' as cited above – partly due to migratory resettlements in a series of separately advancing southward movement that used the same original words that earlier emigrants had spoken when they left their homestead in addition to what was new they had brought to unrelated languages, which made them closer within their geographical peripheries, say, from a zero tone language to a new tonal language with 2 or more tones. Such migratory patterns mirrored the early advances that had not only caused the split-up of aboriginal Chamic speakers between today's Vietnam's central region and their cousin descendants of China's Hainan's Li ethnic tribes whose languages have evolved into distinct dialects in the Austronesian linguistic family but also recurred once again as the early Chinese colonialization broke up the linguistic unity of the ancient Viet-Muong group.

Methodologically, linguists of Vietnamese usually started out with a premise and followed some common approaches – such as techniques of comparative linguistics – set forth by many precedessors in the field to discover, establish, classify, and enforce novel theorization of language families, yet new theories always take the seat of the previous ones. There is no surprise that such an analytic methodology has been widely employed by most Vietnamese specialists in their surveys based on glossarial interchanges in Vietnamese with other Mon-Khmer languages because that is the safe way to start one's career in Vietnamese historical linguistics, unfortunately. Newcomers in the field would come up with some similar tabulation like the case of Danaw, a Tiberto-Burmic language sharing many of Mon languages, including those of Mon-Khmer, as previously cited in the wordlist provided by Luce, G. H. (ibid.) From the onset such Mon-Khmer basic words made widely available by predecessors in the Austroasiatic Mon-Khmer camp were extensively quoted. So what was their methodology then? They normally examined and compared only those scattered basic words in Vietnamese to identify cognates in those existing in neighboring languages of Mon-Khmer origin, on the one hand, but they have actually left out the Chinese correspondences, on the other hand, due to their lack of conversance in the latter.

To conduct a comparative analysis, the following table is set up in a similarly imitated arrangement after the table loaded with well established basic words as substantiated by Merritt Ruhlen (ibid. 1994. p. 44). Basic words are grouped together with regional neighboring languages to illustrate how one of the techniques of comparative linguistics has been employed in identifying a linguistic family that a language would supposedly belong to. Our particular words has been picked arbitrarily so as to avoid personal bias – i.e., not selectively chosen in favor of more lexical cognacy that is abundant in Chinese and Vietnamese correspondences as to appear in the tables of word lists below; hence, for what follows, that is why "snow" being included, instead of "cold", "rain", "wind", etc., that are mostly Chinese ~ Vietnamese cognates – and the words are tabulated in such as way that as they are as reliable as Ruhlen's original table. And for all the listings, I shall just post the data without elaboration saving it as an exercise worksheet later on so that readers to identify what language that listed items supposedly belong to (hint: the abbreviation by a single alphabet may give some).

The followings are two major Mon-Khmer wordlists that are frequently extracted and quoted for the reason that they have become influential works in the Vietnamese linguistics for their cognateness of basic etyma. Both lists were compiled by Thomas (1966. p.194) and Wilson (1966) in the sixties of the previous century. We are going to bring in other perspectives from an insider in Vietnam, Nguyễn Ngọc San (1993), who categorized all the wordlists in numerous tables. Note that all the listings of those basic words below are believed all what they found in Mon-Khmer languages that might have cognates in the Vietnamese language, inclusively. Meanwhile, in comparison, the listings for Chinese and Vietnamese appear to be inexhaustible. We are about to examine each list one after another.

Firstly, in the Mon-Khmer listing surveyed by Thomas, the author started out with the premise that "language relationships can only be established with certainty by a study of phoneme shifts and mergers, as their imprint is indelible, while lexical and syntactical features are easily erased." Interestingly, as one may or may not agree, the essence of that statement is also particularly true for the comparative work on many Vietnamese lexicons with those of Sino-Tibetan languages as languages changed. "In fact, it has long been clear that there is no single, simple reason why languages change; rather, there are a whole series of reasons – which interact in incredibly complex ways – to produce the linguistic variation that we perceive in the world's language family." (Ruhlen. Ibid. p. 29)

Let us first examine all the entries in the wordlist of Mon-Khmer languages as selected by Thomas who stated that those basic words are genetically related with those of Vietnamese. Be aware that Thomas completed the work with the help of local field recorders, though.

Let us continue to examine another representative work by Wilson (1966) in which the author sided with the views of J. Przyluski, Thomas, and Buttinger in her quoted statement: “Both the Vietnamese language and the Mường dialects are based on a Mon-Khmer (Cambodian) vocabulary. The words for numbers, family relationships, and domestic animals are of Mon-Khmer origin.” (p. 203) In that survey she calculated the percentage of

“196 basic Mường words compared with the Mon-Khmer family, 65 or 33% are apparent cognates with three or more Mon-Khmer languages. Another 30 possible cognates appear on the second list. Together the two lists yield 48%. Either of these percentages seems to establish Mường as a member of the Mon-Khmer family. This in turn would lend additional strength to the arguments for the inclusion of Vietnamese in the Mon-Khmer family.” (p.213)

Note that in the cited percentages above, the proposed cognates were actually scattered among "three or more Mon-Khmer languages" that might not be related and their cited items could possibly be loanwords from the highly Sinicized ancient Annamese – an ancestral form of modern Vietnamese — after the split of both Viet and Muong from the supposedly common parent language Vietmuong approximately 1,000 years ago (Nguyen Ngoc San. 1993. p. 5). We could further postulate that their basic cognates were likely influenced by those neighboring Mon-Khmer languages. This proposition will fit into Wilson's comment that “Mường seems to show greater similarities to the Mon-Khmer languages than does Vietnamese.” (p. 204)

Regarding to Wilson's statement we could assert the same argument for the Chinese and Vietnamese cogantes, much more plausible, in the realm of basic words with stronger supposition, e.g., virtually all words of family relationships are the same in both Vietnamese and Chinese, including, interestingly, dialects of the latter. Like all wordlists cited in the tables below, the point to be made here is that Wilson was unaware that many basic Chinese words (“Both the Vietnamese language and the Mường dialects are based on a Mon-Khmer (Cambodian) vocabulary.” ) also show similarity within her wordlist, which accordingly takes even a much higher command of percentage in terms of cognateness.

The same provision is made for what exactly appears in the list collected by Thomas above because many of the quoted words commonly listed between them are, again, partly shared by either or both Chinese and several Sino-Tibetan languages (see Chapter Ten on Sino-Tibetan etymologies.) In any cases, it is noted that this phenomenon is a typical and their approaches have been followed closedly or based on as a springboard for their research by many specialists of Vietnamese. Everything has been revolving around this worn-out axis and nothing new emerges from all those weather-beaten paths with faulty axioms, that is, 'Muong < Viet-Muong', and 'Muong ~ Mon-Khmer', hence, 'Vietnamese = Mon-Khmer', similar to those of Wilson's of which her conclusion had been drawn from a list compiled from local interpreters on some institute-funded summer fieldtrip.

The followings are all “the better attested cognates listed first in the list” (p. 204) and more.

Note: The Mon-Khmer languages considered are Bahnar (Bah), Sedang (Sed), Bơnam (Bnm), Jeh, Rơngao (Rng), Cua, Hre of the Kontum area; Mnong Gar (Gar), Mnong Biat (Biat), Chrao (Chr), Koho of the southern area of South Vietnam highlands; Katu, Bru, Pơkoh (Pko) of the northern area of South Vietnam; Boloven (Bol), Laʔven (Lv), Alak of southern Laos; Kui of east Thailand; and Khmer (Khm) of Cambodia. (p.204)

(Note for the immediate table below: Chinese correspondences as suggested by dchph. A count of stars from * to ****** indicates degrees of cognateness, i.e., plausibility, between the Chinese and Vietnamese etyma in relation with the respective cited Mon-Khmer etymon.)

Note by Ruth S. Wilson: The following words are possible cognates which may be more firmly established by further study.

Ruth S. Wilson's analysis:

"Four points can be seen from the cognate lists: First, frequent correspondences. Second, Mương form intermediate between Vietnamese and Mon-Khmer forms. Third, a wide geographical distribution of the cognates. Fourth, significant cognate percentages between Mương and the Mon-Khmer family."

Comments:

A different conclusion drawn from the same aforementioned lists demonstrates that the correspondences between those of Chinese and Vietnamese or Sino-Tibetan words (see Shafer's wordlists in Chapter Ten on their etymologies) are as much frequent and their frequency is much more with high percentage of plausible cognates.

The fact that the Mương forms stand in between Vietnamese with those of Mon-Khmer could be regarded as an intermediate vehicle that spreads those very words from one language to another, synchronically, possibly including numeral and basic words that scatter here and there. This view fits into the theory of "lexical ripling effect" of neighboring languages where, spatially, the Mương have been much more in geographical proximity closer to the Kinh people. Their languages undoubtedly intermingled and shared many comnunal words of the same origin, starting from the early stage of development of the basic to abstract concepts before the VietMuong split (Nguyen Ngoc San. ibid.), that are annotated with additional illustrations demonstrating possible Chinese matches, which could help substantiate postulates of cognates via cross-reference of different speeches in the Sino-Tibetan linguistic family.

What Thomas called “fundamental words” in Mon-Khmer are also fundamental to both Chinese and Vietnamese and, importantly, they are actually cognate to each other for more than 85% of the cases. As a result, the question of whether the Vietnamese genetic affinity with the Mon-Khmer languages can be established by being based solely on those wordlists is undoubtedly shadowed by the resemblance between Chinese and Vietnamese of the same words to the extent that they are reciprocal. Many of their basic words are proved to be closer than those of Mon-Khmer languages, not to mention their phonetic appearance and attributes are uniform in all other lexical features as well, i.e., tonality, semantics, etc., that is, all the subtleties existing only in genetically affiliated languages.

Let us go on to compare wordlists of Cambodian (the modern representative Khmer language spoken in the Kingdom of Cambodia), Mường, Vietnamese, Chinese by Nguyen Ngoc San (Ibid. 1993. pp. 48, 56) for which the author stated that they had no direct relation but did share commonn basic lexicons from the same origin (?) and where we can see that those fundamental words that are cognate to both Khmer and Mường may be cognate to Chinese as well, and that is likely the case, though. Similar to what is listed in both Thomas and Wilson above, note that all the listings below are inclusive, that is, no more plausible cognates or interchanges could be found among the cited Mon-Khmer languages. Meanwhile, the listings for Chinese and Vietnamese appear to be inexhaustible. That is to say, other etyma are not selected to list here for the reason that they do not bear any close commonalities to those etma under investigation.

Table 9C.4 – Basic words in Vietnamese and Khmer by Nguyễn Ngọc San ^(a)

English meaning	Vietnamese	Muong (Uýlô, Thavừng, Sách)	Cambodian	Chinese
(a) Body parts
belly	bụng		puok	******腹 fú
neck	cổ		ko	****喉 hóu
hand	tay	tay		***手 shǒu
hair	tóc		sok	***髮 fá (SV phát) \ ¶ /f- ~ t-/
armpit	nách		kliêk	***腋窩 yèwā
trunk	vòi		compuôi	***喙 huì
bone	xương		choâng	**腔 qiāng [ cf. 腔骨 qiānggǔ: VS 'xươngcốt' (bone) ]
chin	cằm		thkiêm	****頷 hàn
meat	thịt		sach	***膱 zhí (SV thức)
breath	hơithở		comhai	****氣息 qìxī
tail	đuôi	toy	atui	**尾 wěi (SV vĩ)
tooth	răhg	răng		***齡 líng
beard	râu	tho		****鬚 xū
heart	tim			******心 xīn (Amoy tim1, Hainanese tim1)
face	mặt			****面 miàn (Amoy menkh)
buttocks	đít			****臀 diàn (Amoy kđất)
swipe	gạc	kaak		*****擱 gē
leg	cẳng		keeng	****脛 jìng
nose	mũi	mus	chromuh	**鼻 bí
tongue	lưỡi	las		****脷 lì (Cant. /lei6/)
spine	sống(lưng)		khnong	***脊(梁) jǐ(liáng)
mouth	mỏ		chompuh	***嘴 zuǐ
testicle	dái	tar/kơtal		****玉(丸) yù(wăn) #VS '(hòn)dái'
knee	gối	kor/ơkul		***膝蓋 xīgài [ cf. 'đầugối' ]
eyelash	mí	bir (Uýlô)		***睫 jié
skin (thin)	vảy	paj		***皮 pí
mouth	mồm		moat	****吻 wěn
breast	vú	pu		****乳 rǔ
skin	da	ta		***膚 fū
gut	mật		promăt	*膽 dăn [ As Vietnamese names are mostly from Chinese, "mật" is more like "脾 pì", meaning 'spleen', though, not 'galebladder'. ]
sweat (oily)	mồhôi (nhớt)		nhơts	****冒汗 màohàn [ cf. 膩 nì ~ VS 'nhớt' (oily) ]

Table 9C.5 – Basic words in Vietnamese, Mường, Khmer, and Chinese ^(b)

English meaning	Vietnamese	Muong (Uýlô, Thavừng, Sách)	Cambodian	Chinese
(b) Action verbs by men and animals
lose	mất		bât	****失 shī (SV thất)
jump	(nhảy)cởn	kal		****跳 tiāo (SV khiêu)
swallow	(nuốt)ực		ak	****咽 yàn (SV 'yết')
swagger	nghênhngang		srônghanh srôngngang	****昂揚 ángyáng [ cf. symnonymous doublet VS 'ngôngnghênh' ]
sway	chạngnạng		changnang	***儣俍 kuăngliáng [ Also, variant VS #'lạngchạng' }
stagger	kềng(càng), khệnh(khạng) (?)		nokiêng	****蹌 蹌) qiāngqiāng
wait	chămchắm (đợi)		chăm	****等等 děngděng
?	thelè		tlec	?
squat	chồmhỗm (ngồi trướcmặt)		chrohok [in Khmer: 'sit in the front of' ]	****犬坐 quánzuò [ in Vietnamese: 'sit like a dog' (straight up with fore legs and squatting hind legs) ]
stand	chànghãng, chòhõ	chòhõ (đứng)		***伸腳 shēnjiăo, [ Also, 'dangchân' (stretch out legs). For the meaning of 'stand', however, ****站 zhàn will be the word. ]
gaze	lóngngóng		lngong	***望望 wàngwàng [ cf. variants 'trôngngóng', 'ngótrông'... ]
stupified	lơngơ		lngơơ	***愣著 lèngzhe [ cf. variant 'chếtsững', 'sữngsờ'... ]
lead along	dắt		đâc	***牽 qiān [ cf. VS 'kéo' (pull) ]
wear	mặc		pẹc	***披 pī [ Also, VS 'bận' ]
buzzling	laoxao		rôsao	****嘵嘵 xiāoxiāo
handcuffs	còng		kong	****銬 kào
fell	ngả		p'nga	***逵 kuí
break off	bẻ		bec	****掰 bāi
beg	nài(xin)		nai	***央 yāng [ cf. 央請 yāngqing: VS 'nàixin' (entreat) ]
cover	đùm		đum	**包袱 bāofú \ ¶ /-f ~ -m/ [ cf. 包庇 bāobì: VS 'đùmbọc' (protect) ]
peel	bóc		booc	****剝 bō (SV bác) [ cf. 'variant VS 'lột' (peel off)]
squeeze	nén		nén	***捏 niè
follow	đòi(theo)		đoi	**隨(著) suí(zhe)
shave	cạo		kao	****刮 guā
pretend	vờ		pó	***偽 wěi
rush	chạy(rút)		rut	****走 zǒu
exchange	đổi		đôr	****兌 duì
urgent	cập, gấp		thkiep	****急 jí (SV cấp)
open	mở		baơt	***開 kāi
close	bít, đóng		baôt	****閉 bì (SV bế), ***關 guān (SV quan)
pour	đổ		đôh	****倒 dào
clap	vỗ		baôk	****拍 pāi (SV phách)
sunbake	phơi (hong)		hal	***曬(烘) shāi(hōng) [ Also, VS 'sấy(hong)' \ ¶ sh- ~ ph-, ex. 煽 shăn (SV phiến) ]
fry	chiên (rán)			****煎 jiān
meet	gặp		chuôp	****遇 yù
delimit	vạch, vỡ		bach	****劃 huà
wash	gội		kooc	***浴 yù
bake	thui		thui	****燒 shāo (SV 'thiêu')
surpass	vượt		foat	****越 yuè
slice	vót		bâât	***刮 guā (SV quát) [ Also, SV 'khoát' > VS 'cạo' (shave), 'gọt' (shed) ]
cut, tear	chẻ, xé		cheek	****切 qiè, ****撕 sī
break off	bẻ		beeh	****掰 bāi
pluck	bứt		baoc	****拔 bā
carry	mang, bưng		băng	***盤 pán, ****捧 pēng [ With 盤 pán (SV bàn), it additionally carries several other meanings, most of them cognate to those in Vietnamese, among which are vocable "bàn" (table), VS 'mâm' (tray), 'ván' (a round, such as checker games), etc. ]
prick	chọc		crok	****戳 chuō
grip	nắm		noăm	****拎 lìng
drill	khoan		khvan	****鑽 zhuān
shoot	bắn		banh	****放 fàng
hold	cầm		kăn	**** 擒 qín
cover	đậy		das	***套 tào
stroke	vuốt		chbôôt	***捋 lǚ (SV loát)
shake	đun, dun(dẩy)		tuul	***動 dòng [ cf. 'dundẩy' doublet 悸動 jìdòng: VS 'runrẩy' ]
rinse	gột	kot		***溉 gài
hook up	gài	kaaj		***扣 kòu [ cf. 'cài' ]
reach	với	pơơj		**騖 wù [ Also, VS 'bói' ]
stick in	cắm		koăm	***𢳍 qiān
run	chạy	chăl		****走 zǒu;
rise	dậy	yơl		****起 qǐ
bundled hairdo	búi	pul		****襆 pú
net fishing	chài	char;		****羅 luó (OC *jraih)[ cf. also VS 'lưới' = SV 'la' (net) ]
comb	chải;	chas		***梳 shǔ
firewood	củi	cus		***棷 (棸) zōu
crow	gáy	tơkel		**呝 è (OC *ʔre:k)
give birth	đẻ	teh		****生 /te1/ (Hai.) [ cf. 生 shēng: VS 'sống' (live, unripen) ~> VS 'tái' (raw) ]
wave	vẫy	kơpêh	booc	****揮 huī
knock	gõ			****敲 qiáo
jump(?)	cò(?)	kò		*跳 tiāo (SV khiêu)
scratch	gãi			****抓 zhuā
open mouth	há		ha	***哈 hā (SV ha)
burn	cháy		chle	****灼 zhuó
sway	chaođảo		chao	***搖動 yáodòng (SV daođộng)
burn	đốt		dot	****燒 shāo
close eyes	nhắm		nhăm	****眠 mián
cough out	khạc		khac	******咳 kè
choke	hóc		khok	***噎 yè
glide	lượn		grôlang	****翔 xiáng [ Also, VS' lạn' ]
shelter	nép		kneep	****匿 nì [ cf. 隱匿 yinnì: VS 'ẩnnáu' (hiding) ]
hurry;	rảo		srao	***繞 rào
yawn	ngáp		sngap	***(哈)欠 (hā)qiān
eat	xơi		pixa, saơi	******食 shí
wide	tùmlum		tlum	**混亂 húnluàn (SV hỗnloạn) [ VS 'tùmlum' means 'chaotic', not 'wide'. In addition, this word should not belong to this category, i.e., action words. That said, the Mon-Khmer binome is probably coincidental in sound. ]
wailing	lu loạ (?)		lu	***號哭 hàokù [ Note: the Vietnamese meaning for 'lu loạ' is unclear but there exists the binome 'luloa' (wailing). It is uncertain that the cited vocable is a dialectal, archaic, or simply sole Mon-Khmer word. ]
consume	xài (tiêu)		chai	****消 xiāo
gnaw	cắn, gặm		khăm	****啃 kěn
go	đi		đảơ	****去 qù
ascend	lên		laơng	***上 shàng
wear	mặc		pek	****披 pì (Also, VS bận)
wear	đội		tuôl	****戴 dài
lead along	dắt		đak	****牽 qiān
descend	tụt		trut	***滑 huá
carry in arms	bế		bây	****抱 bào
embrace	ôm		aôm	****擁 yōng
clip	cặp, kẹp		kiep	****夾 jiá
weave	bện, quấn		kbên	***編 biān, ***捲 juān
rocking	lúclắc		hroluk	***搖搖 yáoyáo [ Note the interchange ¶ /y-~ l-/ ]
?	dong (?)		đong	?
spread(?)	dàn(?)		đal	*陳 chén (SV trần) (?) ]
hide	giấu	chu		****隱 yǐn
move	dọn	ktoon		****搬 bān
scatter	vãi		khvai	***播 bō
pour	đổ		đôh	****倒 dào
choose	chọn		chrơs	****選 xuăn
transport (?)	vấn (?), vận		voan	*****運 yùn

Table 9C.6 – Basic words in Vietnamese, Mường, Khmer, and Chinese ^(c)

English meaning	Vietnamese	Muong (Uýlô, Thavừng, Sách)	Cambodian	Chinese
(c) terms indicating family relationship
mother	mẹ		mđây, mây	****母 mǔ
older sister	chị		chêê	******姊 zǐ [ cf. 姐 jiě, Tchiewchow-Vietnamese reads 'chế' ]
father	bố		âupuk	****父 fù
other (people)	kẻ (ngườita)		kê	***其(他) qí(ta) [ cf. variants of 其他 qíta: VS 'kẻkhác', 'ngườita' ]
child	con		kôôn	****子 zǐ (Minnan: kẽ)
grandchild	cháu		chău	****姪 zhí
you	mày		mi	***你 nǐ
s/he	nó		no	****他 tā

Table 9C.7 – Basic words in Vietnamese, Mường, Khmer, and Chinese ^(d)

English meaning	Vietnamese	Muong (Uýlô, Thavừng, Sách)	Cambodian	Chinese
(d) Terms indicating natural phenomena
lightening	chớp	ơchơp		***閃 shăn
soil	đất	dak		****土 tǔ
water	nước;		tưk	***水 shuǐ [ Note: ancient Vietic forms /dak5/, /nak4/, which is 淂 dé (SV đắc): Vietic "đắk" || cf. 踏 tă ~ VS 'đạp' (trample). ]
wind	gió		khzol	****風 fēng [ Also, VS 'giông' (windstorm) ]
sunshine	nắng		prăng	****陽 yáng
warm	ấm	đăng (Mường khến)	saơm	****溫 wēn
dust	bụi	pul		***粉 fěn
vapor (sparse?)	thưa (?)	hơr		***氣 qì (Cant. /hej1/ ?), 疏 shū (SV thơ) (?)
bubble	bọt (nước)		popuh	****泡 pào
sand	cát		khsach	***沙 shā
mount	doiđất		chroi	****土岳 tǔyuè [ VS /tu2/ > /dɐt7/, /jwe5/ > /joj1/ ]
hill	đồi		tuôl	***堆 duī
mountain	non (núi)		phnom	****山 shān [ VS 'non' > 'núi' \ ¶ /sh- ~ n-/, /-n ~ -i/ ]
creek	lạch		preek	****澤 zé (SV trạch) [ Also, cognate VS 'rạch' ]
salt	muối		ombâl	*** M 硭 máng ~ phonetic stem 亡 wáng (vong, vô) < MC mwaŋ < OC *maŋ | *OC 硭 亡 陽 亡 maŋ | cf. 衁 huáng: 'máu' (blood) ]
day	ngày		thngay	***日 rì
copper	đồng	toang (Sách)		****銅 tóng
root	rễ		rưs	****蒂 dì
level ground	bãi		vial	***坪 píng
cluster	khóm		cum	***群 qún
deep	sâu		ch'râu	****深 shēn
stream	suối		chrôôt	****泉 quán

Table 9C.8 – Basic words in Vietnamese, Mường, Khmer, and Chinese ^(e)

English meaning	Vietnamese	Muong (Uýlô, Thavừng, Sách)	Cambodian	Chinese
(e) Terms indicating space
next	sau		kraoi	****後 hòu
left	đăm (bêntrái)		sđăm	**左 zuǒ (SV tả, VS trái)
right	chiêu (bênphải)		chvênh	**右 yōu (SV hữu)
next to	kề		kịa	***切 qiè
everywhere	khắp		krupp	*處處 chuchu
this	này		ni	***茲 zī [ modern M 這 zhè ]
that	đó		nu	****那 nà
region	vùng	pùung	dombon	****域 yù (SV vực)
scattering	rải (rác)	prai		***散 sàn
large	rộng		tuliây	***廣 guăng (SV quãng) [ The Mon-Khmer form "tuliây" appears to be similar to Vietnamse "tolớn" that means "large" rather than "rộng" 廣 guăng (wide). Even Nguyễn Ngọc San, a Vietnamese scholar and a linguistic teacher, does not seen to grasp the precise concept of the cited term, let alone Thomas or Wilson. The etymon of "tolớn" is "龐大 pángdà". It is no doubt that Chinese 大 dà is cognate to Vietnamese "to", hence, 龐 páng ~ 'lớn', 'bự' in association within the context.
tight	chật		chứt	****窄 zhăi
far	xa		chngai	****遐 xiá

Table 9C.9 – Basic words in Vietnamese, Mường, Khmer, and Chinese ^(f)

English meaning	Vietnamese	Muong (Uýlô, Thavừng, Sách)	Cambodian	Chinese
(f) Terms indicating animals
pig	cúi (lợn)	kur	khun	**豬 zhū, ****腞 dùn (SV độn, VS lợn)
bear	gấu	kù		****熊 xiōng (OC *whǝm, Bernhard Kargren: PC **g'ium) [ See more on this etymon in the previous chapters or later in the next chapter on Sino-Tibetan etymologies.
leech	đỉa	te		****蛭 zhì
fish	cá	kả	pơka (Mãliềng)	****魚 yú (OC *ŋa) [ Note the interchange between the ¶ /*ŋ- ~ k-/ ]
cricket	dế	tiêl		***蟋蟀 xìshuài
snake	rắn	than		***蛇 shé (SV xà)
scorpion	rết	thút		***蝑 xū (SV tu)
ant	kiến	ken		**蟻 yǐ (SV nghĩ) [ Note the interchange between the ¶ /*ŋ- ~ k-/, ex. 魚 yú (OC *ŋa): VS "cá" ]
louse	chí, chấy	chi (Pakatan)		***虱 shī
horde	ngựa	mangơ (Pakatan)		**馬 mă (PC **mra:h, **mra:ŋ), ****午 wǔ (SV ngọ) [ Note: Besides 午 wǔ (SV ngọ) ~ VS 'ngựa', interestingly, the Pakatan form "mangơ" is cognate to 馬 mă **mra:ŋ. ]
dog	chó	ơcho	chke	***狗 gǒu (SV cẩu, cf. 'cầy')
goose	ngan		kngan	****鵝 é (SV nga, cf. 'ngỗng')
anaconda (?), wall lizard,	trăn, thằnlằn		thlan	***蟒 măng (?), ***蝘蜓 yǎntíng]
flies, maggot	ruồi, dòi		roi	***蠅 yíng, ***蛆 qū
crab	đam (cua) (?)		kđam	***蟹 xiè [ VS: (1) cua, (2) cáy, (3) ghẹ. Note: Hainanese /χoj/ ]
mosquito	muỗi		mụ	***蚊 wén

Table 9C.10 – Basic words in Vietnamese, Mường, Khmer, and Chinese ^(g)

English meaning	Vietnamese	Muong (Uýlô, Thavừng, Sách)	Cambodian	Chinese
(g) Terms indicating plants
fruit	trái(quả)		phlee	****(果)實 (guǒ)shí
gourd	bí	pir		***匏 pāo (SV biều, VS bầu)
tree	cây	kâr		**樹 shù
motar	cối	kor		****臼 jìu (SV cựu)
sugar cane	mía		ompẩu	?
paddy	tẻ (lúa)		sai;	**(稻)米 (dào)mǐ
glutunous rice	nếp		domnip	****糯 nuò
?	gài	kaaj		?
banana	chuối		chec	****蕉 jiāo (SV chiêu)
root	cội, gốc		kul	****根 gēn
shoot (bamboo)	măng		tumpeng	***萌 méng
sugar palm	thốtnốt		thnaốt	?
mango	soài		svai	**** 檨 shē (SV soa) [ suã (Amoy) ]
betel	trầu		mlu	****檳榔 bīnláng
fruit skin	vỏ	pỏ		****皮 pí
?	vả	pả		?
?	vọp (?)	poap		?
sprout	đâm(chồi), mọc	đăm		**萌芽 méngyá
cluster	khóm, cụm	cum		***群 qún
paddy	lúa (dialect: lọ)		srâu	****來 lái (Starostin: 稻 dào SV đạo)

Table 9C.11 – Basic words in Vietnamese, Mường, Khmer, and Chinese ^(h)

English meaning	Vietnamese	Muong (Uýlô, Thavừng, Sách)	Cambodian	Chinese
(h) Terms indicating tools and utensils
fabric	vải		kbas	****布 bù
fabric	vải(vóc)	pas		***布(料) bù(liào)
lime	vôi	pôôl		****灰 huì (SV muội)
axe	rìu	siw		****鉞 yuè (SV việt)
lamp	đèn	kơten		****燈 dēng
lid	nắp	dap		**套 tào
knob	núm	kảdum		***鈕 nǐu [ Also, VS 'nút' (button) ]
basket	nong	kảdong;		**囊 nàng (SV nanf)
chop	bửa	pwa		***礕 pī
mosquito net	mùng	mung		***網 wăng
sarong	khố	khao		****褲 kù (archaic SV 'khố', mod. M = 'pants')
barn	cót, vựathóc	caot		***庫 kū (SV khố, VS kho)
pestle	chày	ksay (Thạchbì)	khay (Vânmông)	***杵 chǔ (SV xử)
ferry	đò		đo	***渡 dù (SV độ)
row	chèo		cheo	***棹 zhào
raft	phà	vac (Mon)		***筏 fá
steering oar	sào		sao	****梢 shāo (SV sao)
screen panel	phênh		pheeng	****屏 píng (SV bình)
jar	lọ		krolo	***罍 léi
string	dây		khse;	****線 xiàn
milk	sữa(tươi)		ksây	**乳汁 rǔzhī

Table 9C.12 – Basic words in Vietnamese, Mường, Khmer, and Chinese ⁽ⁱ⁾

English meaning	Vietnamese	Muong (Uýlô, Thavừng, Sách)	Cambodian	Chinese
(i) Terms indicating burning and cooking
stew	kho		kho	****扣 kòu (Cant., ex. 扣肉 kòuròu: VS 'ruốckho')
burn	đốt	tut	đot	***燒 shāo
charred burn	xém		chnghiem	***煓 tuān
burn	cháy		chhe	****灼 zhuó
broil	chườm		choom	***炙 zhì
fry	chả		cha	***炸 zhà
deep fry	chiên		chhien	****煎 jiān [ Also, VS 'rán', 'rang' ]
burnt	bỏng		kropoung	****炃 fén
fry in shallow oil	rang		ling	***煎 jiān [ Also, VS 'rán', 'chiên' ]
deep fry	rán		comranh	***煎 jiān [ Also, VS 'rán', 'rang' ]
roast	ang, nướng		ăng	***烘 hōng [ Also, VS 'hong' (dry) ]
bake in coal	vùi	pur	popuur	****烙 lào [ Also, VS 'lụi' ]
dry on fire	hơ		chlơ	****烘 hōng [ Also, VS' hong' ]
broil	thui		thui	***燒 shāo (SV thiêu) [ Also, VS 'đốt' (burn) ]
delicious	ngon		chngan	***香 xiāng
roast	quay (rán)		khvay	****烤 kăo
forge	đập		teh	***煅 duàn

Table 9C.13 – Basic words in Vietnamese, Mường, Khmer, and Chinese ^(j)

English meaning	Vietnamese	Muong (Uýlô, Thavừng, Sách)	Cambodian	Chinese
(j) Terms indicating senses
spicy hot	cay	kar		****苦 kǔ (SV khổ) [ Note that modern M 苦 kǔ means 'bitter' while for the connotation of 'spicy' is M 辣 là. ]
deaf	điếc	tek		*失聰 shīcōng [ <= (contraction of) SV 'thấtthông' /t'ât7t'oņʷ1/: '失聰 shīcōng' (loss of hearing) ]
salty	mặn		prăn;	***鹹 xián (Cant. /ham2/)
sour	chua		chu	****酸 suān
puckery	chát		chot	***澀 sè
sweet	êm (ngọt)		phớêêm	***𩜌 yuē (SV ngạt), VS 'êm' (?) [ This etymon is rediculously posited for V 'ngọt'. ]
smelly	thối, thúi		sôui	******臭 chòu (SV 'xú')
strong order (garlickery)	hăng		hăng	***濃 nóng [ Also, VS 'nồng' ]
ill-smelling	khắm (?)		khmoh	*餿 sòu
appetite	thèm (nhem nhẻm nhèm nhem)		banhem	****thèm 饞 chán (SV 'sàm')
fishy	tanh		srêêng	****腥 xīng

Table 9C.14 – Basic words in Vietnamese, Mường, Khmer, and Chinese ^(k)

English meaning	Vietnamese	Muong (Uýlô, Thavừng, Sách)	Cambodian	Chinese
(k) Terms indicating state of appearance (adjectives)
skinny	còm		skom	***瘦 sòu [ Derivatives: VS 'còm' < 'còi' < 'gầy' < 'gò' < 'sỏ' < 瘦 sòu (SV sấu) ]
weak	yếu		khaoi	****弱 ruò
tattered	rách		rôyêk	***襤 lán
limp	thọt		khchook	**腿瘸 tuǐqué [ <~ ® contraction of VS 'càthọt' ('be lame) ]
weary	chán		chal	****倦 juàn [ cf. 厭倦 yānjuàn: VS 'chánchường' ]
sad	buồn		pruôi	****悶 mèn (SV muộn)
happy	vui		prơi	****快 kuài (Cant. /fai1/)
greedy	chướng (thamlam)		chkoong	***貪(婪) tān(lán) [ modern Vietnamese is derived from the Sino-Vietnamese form 'tham(lam)'. For 'chướng' it is possible that is the sound change result of the interchange ¶ /th- ~ ch-/ ]
young	trẻ		khchây	***稚 zhǐ (SV trĩ)
tired	mệt		khmaơt	****疲 pí
new	mới		thmây	***萌 méng
old	già, cha		chas	***耆 qí
skinny	còi		khsaoi	***瘦 sòu [ Other derived variants VS 'còm' < 'còi' < 'gầy' < 'gò' < 'sỏ' < 瘦 sòu (SV sấu) ]
narrow	quắt(hẹp)		chongyết	****狹窄 jiázhǎi (VS chậthẹp)
aggressively strong	hăng(mạnh)		kh'lăng	****兇(猛) xiōng(měng) [ SV hung(mãnh) ]
haughty	căng		kênh	****嬌 jiāo (VS 'kênh')
lowly mean	bậpbềnh (?)		pêpao	***卑賤 bēijiàn [ VS 'bêbối', also, SV 'đêtiện', plausibly means 'lowly mean' while 'bậpbềnh' is 'floating, drifting in the water' (漂浮 piāofú). ]

Table 9C.15 – Basic words in Vietnamese, Mường, Khmer, and Chinese ^(l)

English meaning	Vietnamese	Muong (Uýlô, Thavừng, Sách)	Cambodian	Chinese
(l) Terms indicating counting numbers
one	một		muôi	***一 yī [ SV 'nhất' /ŋjɒt7/ > VS 'một' /ɱot8/ ]
two	vài, hai	bar (Ủylô)	pir	***二 èr [ SV 'nhị' /nhej6/ > /haj1/ | Note: compare the initial /b-/ (p-) with number 'two' in those Mon-Khmer languages. See more on this etymon in Chapter Ten on Sino-Tibetan etymologies. ]
three	ba		bây	***三 sān [ SV 'tam', Hai. /ta1/; also, 仨 sā: SV 'ta', VS 'ba' | Note: . See more on this etymon in Chapter-Ten on Sino-Tibetan etymologies. ]
four	bốn		buôn	*四 sì (SV 'tứ', VS 'tư')
five	năm		prăm	**五 wǔ [ SV ngũ, /w-/ ~ /n-/, Hainnaese /ŋaw2/ 五十 /ŋaw2tap8/: VS 'nămchục' (fifty-five); for /lăm/ \ /-lan2/, as in '三十五 ta1tapu8lan2: VS 'bamươilăm' (thirty-five) ]
seven	bảy	píh (Sách)		*七 qī [ SV thất, interchange ¶ /q-/ ~ /b-/. cf. 匹 p (SV 'thất) ]

Table 9C.16 – Basic words in Vietnamese, Mường, Khmer, and Chinese ^(m)

English meaning	Vietnamese	Muong (Uýlô, Thavừng, Sách)	Cambodian	Chinese
(m) Terms indicating adverbs
about to	sắp		somrăp	***將 jiāng
very	rất		rưt	***極 jí (SV cực)
conspire	rắp (?)		răp	***協 xié (SV hiệp) [ cf. VS 'rắptâm' 協心 xiéxīn (make concerted efforts)
suddenly	chợt, suýt		chơt	***突 tù (SV đột) ['suddenly'], ***差點兒 chàdiănr (VS 'suýt') [ 'narrowly', contraction ]
miss	dỡ(dang)		stơr	***(耽)誤 (dàn)wù
otherwise, or else	kẻo		krêêng	***要不(然) yàobù(rán) [ contraction ]
about	khoảng		khtuông	***差不多 chàbùduo [ contraction ]
leftover	thừa		sol	***乘 chēng (SV thừa)

Table 9C.17 – Basic words in Vietnamese, Mường, Khmer, and Chinese ⁽ⁿ⁾

English meaning	Vietnamese	Muong (Uýlô, Thavừng, Sách)	Cambodian	Chinese
(n) Other words
spill	đổ	kơtoh (Thavừng)		***倒 dào (SV đảo)
overturn	đỗ	tuh (Thavừng)		***倒 dăo (SV đảo)
black	đen	ten (Sách)		***縝 chēn
crinkle	chau(mày)	cho (Thàvừng)		****皺(眉) zhóu(méi)
lucky	hên (may)		hêng	****幸 xìng (SV hạnh)
turn	lượt		lơc	***輪 lún
clearly(?), be	rõ, là		la	**是 shì [ Note on the interchange ¶ /sh-/ ~ /l-/ ]
misfortune	rủi, sui		khsui	****祟 suì [ Note on the interchange ¶ /s-/ ~ /r-/ ]

In all the wordlists above, there exist the same issues with the affiliation of the Vietnamese and Mon-Khmer languages. What matches in Vietnamese and Mon-Khmer at the same time also matches both Chinese and Vietnamese, formularily, { Vietnamese ~ Mon-Khmer => Chinese ~ Vietnamese }, e.g., Thavừng /cho/ vs. C 皺(眉) zhóu(méi) ~ VS 'chau(mày)' (crinkle); however, it is not always true with the opposite direction, i.e., { Chinese ~ Vietnamese > Vietnamese ± Mon-Khmer } for the reason that there are so many SInitic-Vietnamese basic words that are cognate to those of Chinese origin but do not have equivalents in the Austroasiatic Mon-Khmer languages whatsoever. For those Mon-Khmer ~ Vietnamese words cited above, the real problem with the interposed Mon-Khmer ~ Vietnamese cognates is that their cases appear to be isolated and scattered among different Mon-Khmer languages. The phenomenon is not uniform in all Mon-Khmer languages. Besides, several words are plausibly dubious.

The point to be emphasized here is that analyses that underline theories of the Austroasiatic Mon-Khmer origin of the Vietnamese language are basically drawn from such similar wordlists, from false premises to reach a false conclusion. Nguyễn Ngọc San (1993) in his notable Tìm hiểu về Tiếng Việt Lịch sử (Research on the historical linguistics of Vietnamese) has the following Austroasiatic Mon-Khmer to Vietnamese summary as translated from his original Vietnamese passage that contains typically faulty interpretation of the misleading data as foresaid. Besides that, several wordlists and many of his valid pro-Austroasiatic Mon-Khmer arguments are quoted in this paper.

"Most of the basic words hard to verify their timeline are of Mon-Khmer and Tai-Kadai origin. While other words of Tai-Kadai linguistic origin in fact changed a little less because their phonological system has been more like that of Vietnamese since the 10th century, for those words of Mon-Khmer roots it is more difficult to pinpoint the period because they have changed a lot. Our observation is that those derived words that were lately formed show futher diversion from the original meaning. For example, the Vietnamese word chẻ [ dchph: actually, it is cognate to 切 qiè (cut) (all notes in bold within square brackets are made by dchph) ] evolved from the Khmer cheek and they both are close in semantics. When the same root diverted more to become xé [ actually it is cognate to Chinese 撕 sī (tear off) ] (following the pattern ch > x), the derived form conveys a new meaning, though. And while the word cắn [ Chinese 嗑 kè (bite) ] is still close to khăm, its derived gặm [ Vietnamese cognates of Chinese 啃 or 豤 kěn (gnaw) ] drifts further. Similarly, the meaning of cụt [孑孒 jiéjué as in 'cụtngủn' (pretty short) ] appears to be close to cot, yet, it departs further away when ngủn [ as a matter of fact, Chinese 短 duăn ~ Vietnamese 'ngắn' > 'ngủn' (short in length), 'lùn' (short in height) ] evolved as a derivative with its semantics having changed much more. When a new word was formed, it took over the function of the older form and its newly emerged significance will have evolved accordingly. For instance, the chas of Mon-Khmer origin that indicates the head of a village, equivalent to the word pò in those Tai-Kadai languages, changed its meaning when it evolved into cha [ actually V 'cha' is doubtless a highly plausible cognate of C 爹 diè (father) – with the interchange /t-/ ~ /ch-/ – that is also the etymon of VS 'tía' (daddy);. hence, the rest of the following of his statement is false then ] in Vietnamese but their meaning was still close when it changed into già (following the pattern /ch-/ > /gi-/) as in giàlàng [ probably equivalent to either C 鄉長 xiāngzhăng or 里長 lǐzhăng (village chief) where 鄉 xiāng or 里 lǐ could plausibly evolve into 'làng' (village) ] , and it still retains the original meaning by the time the word cha emerged, which then was used to convey the meaning of the head of the household, the leader of a small agricultural unit of a family." (Nguyen Ngoc San. ibid. 1993. p. 110)

This kind of postulation is typical and widespread in most works citing similar wordlists in order to support the theory of Austroasiatic Mon-Khmer origin of Vietnamese. Readers with limited historical linguistic background would take the short rebuttals on randomly picked etyma cited above seriously as true statements abot the Vietnamese language. Don't take me wrong, Nguyen Ngoc San's book on the historical Vietnamese is a very good one on which I have extracted so much valuable etymological data for this research; however, a bit of misleading and incorrect statements here and there will be taken and started therefrom as the baseline for the next generation of linguists. Pick a passage in any page of the cited book, we will find flaws. For example, on pages 154 and 155 (Nguyen Ngoc San, ibid.) on the implementation of historical Vietnamese to teach at grammar school of what the author drew from his conclusion that all the Vietnamese basic words started with the initial /ch-/ instead of /tr-/ are of "pure Vietnamese" native words (?), which is far from the truth. For this matter, what he actually meant is the 'true Vietnamese sound' vs. 'Chinese sound'. Let us pick only a few:

• chổi (broom): 帚 zhǒu (SV trửu, chửu),
• chuồng (animal pen): 圈 quān, quăn, juān, juàn (SV khuyên, quyển),
• chén (bowl): 盞 (琖) zhăn (SV tràn, trản),
• cha (father): 爹 diè (SV đa),
• chị (older sister): 姊 zǐ (SV tỷ),
• chú (paternal uncle): 叔 shù (SV thúc),
• cháu (nephew): 侄 zhí (SV chí),
• chấy (louse): 虱 shī (SV siết),
• chuột (mouse): 鼠 shǔ (SV thử),
• chuồnchuồn (dragonfly): 蜻蜓 qīngtíng (SV thanhđình),
• chài (net fishing): 羅 luó (SV la, VS 'lưới'),
• chỉ (point finger): 指 zhǐ (SV chỉ, VS 'trỏ'),
• chạy (run): 走 zǒu (SV tẩu),
• chèo (paddle): 棹 zhào, zhuō (SV trạo, trác),
• chôn (bury): 葬 zàng (SV táng),
• chừa (exclude): 除 chú (SV trừ),
• chèo (laugh at): 嘲 cháo (SV trào, VS 'trêu'),
• chém (chop): 斬 zhăn (SV trảm),
• chầy (slow): 遲 chí (SV trì, VS 'trễ'),

Mostly all of the above have nothing to do with any Austroasiatic Mon-Khmer languages. You could play both the roles of a historical linguist and the judge, but you would better give an explanation for those words that are cognates in all languages under consideration.

While giving final judgement, cultural factor should be given with the high regard. Given the implication regarding "chas", "già", "cha" etyma as cited above, the Chinese 爹 diè is a better fit in the overall picture. Etymology of a word is not only about the phonetic shell, or vocable, and the semantic core, e.g., "tía" for 'daddy', but also the cultural story of it, e.g., what it means to be different from "tía" (daddy) vs. "cha" (father) with the same root '爹 diè' ~ SV 'đa' vs. 爸 bā ~ Shaanxi 'ta', of which all doublets are purely basic words that any languages on earth must have possessed and had not had the need to loan as recognized by the historical linguistic world. As doublets, their cognacy could be explained as etyma of the same human root that are having the nature of those universally basic words similar to /mat/ with Vietnamese 'mắt' (eye) found in many Asian languages, but only Chinese 目 mù (SV mục) 'eye' being regarded as culturally related with, that is, given similar usages in a variety of contexts, for instance, 盲目 mángmù ~ VS 'mùquáng' (blindly), 目擊 mùjí (SV mụckích) ~ VS 'mắtthấy' (witness), etc. In other words, unless etymologically proven otherwise, Sino-Tibetan etymologies -- assumedly having more cognacy with Vietnamese etyma -- ought to take antecedence on all else in favor of those Chinese ~ Vietnamese cognates because, along with their peculiar linguistic features, other cultural implications are naturally embedded in within that dominantly display in both tonal languages syllable by syllable. For example, with 葉落歸根 yèluòguīgēng there is the corresponding Vietnamese "lárụngvềcội" ('the dying leaf falls back to the tree root', figuratively to mean 'people long to die in their birthplace', where 'people' hereof embrace both the Chinese and the Vietnamese collectively) or similarly, 衣架飯囊 yījiàfànnáng "giááotúicơm" (good for nothing bum)', in all of which any Mon-Khmer languages are involved could not match. As far as we are concerned with the historical linguistics of the ancestral forms dated back some 2,000 years ago, after the long 1,000 years under the Chinese rule, it is logical to opt for the assumption that those modern Vietnamese words were either derived from Chinese or evolved from the same roots without regards to any individual Mon-Khmer match for each individually peculiar Vietnamese "lá" (leaf), "rụng" (fall), "về" (back), and "cội" (root), simply because they together could not make the complete whole idiomatic expression.

Forrest (1948, p.25) put it well when he paraphrased Karlgren’s words (K) in his work that:

“it is faulty method to compare [..] an isolated word in each of the languages; rather must the comparison begin with related groups of words in one and in the other language, words which, linked in both form and meaning, involve a buried phonetic element common to their group, beside which may be placed a similarly constituted group in other language.”

With respects to grouping, categorically, cognates should be examined in related batches of words in the same class. For example, since we have already known Sinitic-Vietnamese words for 'đầu' 頭 tóu (head), 'mặt' 面 miàn (face), 'mắt' mù 目 (eye), 'tim' 心 xīn (heart), 'trán' 顙 săng (forehead), and the likes, of which many are so obvious that they are barely mentioned in this paper, chances are that names of other body parts human anatomy could be also found for plausible etyma in the same class. For example, if 'phổi' 肺 fèi (lung), 'gan' 肝 gān (liver), 'thận' 腎 shèn (kidney), and so on, are cognates with those in Chinese of the same category, then other lexicons of the same class such as 'bụng' 腹 fú (abdomen), 'dạ' 胃 wèi (stomach), etc., are highly plausibly cognate as well. Furthermore, in the Chinese language there may exist parallel native entities -- that have been totally Sinicized -- within each class of the etyma that are synonymous but in different usages due to their geo-historical origin, of which one could be postulated with the plausibility that it had a southern origin, i.e., China South, e.g., 'river' 江 jāng vs. 河 hé, 'water' 水 shuǐ vs. 淂 dé, 'creek' 川 chuān vs. 泉 quán, 'dog' 犬 quán vs. 狗 gǒu, 'face' 面 miàn vs. 臉 liăn, 'blood' 血 xuè vs. 衁 huāng, 'head' 首 shǒu vs. 頭 tóu, 'eye' 目 mù vs. 眼 yăn, 'leg' 足 zú vs. 腳 jiăo, etc. Within each each class, for each basic word we can possibly identify at least some extended forms combined from the monosyllabic root such as 犬坐 quánzuò which is plausibly cognate to VS "chồmhỗm" (squat) rather than what is posited in the Khmer language as 'chrohom' (sit in the front of) (Nguyen Ngoc San, ibid., p. 49.), etc. In any cases, our new dissyllabicity approach that will include not only Forrest's "categorical principle" but also, collectively, derived words in dissyllabic formation, e.g., 'dạ' 胃 wèi > 'baotử' 胃子 wèizi (stomach), 'tâm' 心 xīn (heart) > 'tấmlòng' 心腸 xīnchăng (inner heart).

As mentioned before, works on the Vietnamese etymology by old scholars were normally done with a general comparative methodology based on the premise that Vietnamese is a monosyllabic language. We will also retain all old achievement as well, such as Thomas' axiom of sound changes, or to be exact, "phoneme shifts and mergers, as their imprint is indelible". (Thomas, ibid.) In comparison with those roots of monosyllabicity, altogether we will analyze their postulation of subsequent sound changes and what could have affected the whole process under different conditions and circumstances, phonetically and semantically, and how their dissyllabic variants appear in certain cultural context.

In other words, Vietnamese etyma should be studied in such contextual framework with their complete wholeness – consisting of both monosyllabic and dissyllabic forms and linguistic pecularities as well as cultural accentuation – so that specific words can be reliably assessed for their kinship and original meanings and even a timeline for their root, i.e., when a specific word was loaned, even in the case that without chronological hints linguists are still be able to secure and posit an etymon individually with certainty based on possible lexical residuals scattered in different topologies. From some of the cited words below, we can determine archaic Vietic and old Chinese etyma in a cutural framework. Except for the first 5 Vietnamese vocables taken fron Nguyen Ngoc San's wordlists (Ibid., pp. 98, 161) the etymology of other cases may be a bit more complex than what is shown here, though.

1. anhtam: 兄弟 xiōngdì (brothers) [ ~> 'anhem' (possibly from '兄妹 xiōngmēi' to mean 'older brother and younger sister') ],
2. cổlỗ: 古老 gǔlăo (antiquated) [ 'cổ' 古 gǔ (SV cổ) 'ancient' + 'lỗ' 老 lăo (SV lão) 'old'; Vietic /klũ/ ],
3. cáisọ: 骷髏 gǔlóu (skeleton) [ <~ 'càlồ' 骷髏 gǔlóu (cổlâu) = 骨骼 gǔgé (SV cốtcách); Vietic /kro/ ],
4. thiêngliêng: 神靈 shénlíng (sacred) [ <~ SV 'thầnlinh', Vietic /tliêng/ ~> 'thiêngliêng' ~> 'lành', ex. đấtlành: 地靈 dìlíng (good earth) ],
5. chồmhỗm: 犬坐 quánzuò (squat) [ (literally) 'squat like a dog' ],
6. hiềnlành: 善良 shànliáng (kindness) [ #<~ SV lươngthiện' ],
7. sumvầy: 團聚 tuánjǔ (reunion) [ <~ SV 'đoàntụ' ],
8. nóichuyện: 嘮嗑 làokè (chat) [ (C northeastern dialect), cf. 聊天 liáotiān (talk) ],
9. luitới: 溜達 lìudà (stroll) [ (C northhineseeastern dialect) ],
10. xarời: 疏離 shūlí (stay away),
11. điđám: 隨錢 suíqián (give a monetary present) [ also, VS 'đitiền' ],
12. đầunậu: 頭腦 tóunăo (big shot) [ SV 'đầunão' ('head' = VS 'đầunão' that means 'headquarter') = 首腦 shǒunăo (SV thủnão) ~ VS 'đầunão' > 'sọnão' (brain) ],
13. khốnnạn: 混蛋 húndàn (son of a bitch) [ SV 'hỗnđản' @ 困難 kùnnán: SV 'khốnnạn' (hardship) ],
14. hỗnhào: 溷肴 húnxiáo (confused) [ ~> 'impolite' in Viet. | cf. 溷淆 húnxiáo, 溷肴 hùnyáo, 渾殽 hùnyáo, 混淆 hùnxiáo, all 'hỗnhào' in V. ],

etc.

To adapt such new holistic approach, we shall not only focus on their phonological resemblance and associated meanings but also, in addition among other linguistic peculiarities, their cognates in related categorical items. We will take Forrest's concept of "related groups of words" one step further to apply it to words impeccably associated with certain concepts of the same group and their expanded variants in dissyllabic forms that convey similar contents to embrace both phonological and peculiar semantic expression for the reason that in Forrest's time many specialists of Vietnamese still contended with the perception of dissyllabicity as a prominent characteristic of vocabulary of a language such as Vietnamese or Chinese.

For illustration of how dissyllabicity will affect sound changes categorically, let us examine etyma of the human body parts and their related derivatives in dissyllabic forms and then expand further to explore other basic realm such as human kinship which is considered by the linguistic world as the most stable words that resist to changes. While we have distinct denotation of each word, it is also connotatively related to other polysyllabic word-concepts within the same lexical class, for example,

• mù 目 SV mục, VS mắt (eye), which must be a cognate because this lexeme, as an integral part of a whole lexical set within its semantic sphere and makes peculiar sense out of its fixed connotative expressions as follows:
• mùguāng 目光 (SV mụcquang): VS # 'ánhmắt' (the look of one's eyes) [ by means of reverse order (#) with 光 guāng as 'ánh' | M 光 guāng < MC kwɑŋ < OC *kwa:ŋ | ¶ w- ~ Ø- || According to Starostin: Also read *kʷa:ŋ-s, MC kwʌ\ŋ, Mand. guàng 'be extensive' (probably < *kʷa:ŋʔ-s, cf. 廣). Schuessler prefers to read it as *kʷa:ŋ with level tone, but Karlgren seems to be right in distinguishing it phonetically from *kʷa:ŋ 'be bright' (a level-tone rhyme for *kʷa:ŋs > EZ *kʷa:ŋh is quite normal). Viet. quáng 'to dazzle, blind' is a colloquial loan (reflecting an unattested *kʷa:ŋ-s > MC *kwʌ\ŋ 'be bright, dazzle' ?); standard Sino-Viet. is quang. ],
• máng 盲 (SV manh): VS 'mù' (blind) [ M máng 盲 < MC maiŋ < OC *mhra:ŋ ] which makes
• mángmù 盲目 (SV manhmục): VS # 'mùquáng' (blind, blindly, indiscriminately) [ whole contextual loan with dissyllacity approach applied, simlar evoultion as 'mùguāng 目光' above. ]
• dí 睇 [Cant./t'aj3/]: VS 'thấy' (see) [ vsersus base meaning of a cognate with modern Cantonese to mean 'gaze') ],
• chǒu 瞅 (SV thiễu): VS 'xem' (look) [ Vh @ M 瞅 chǒu ~ phonetic M 愁 chóu < MC ʐjəw < OC *dhu ],
• qiáo 瞧 (SV tiều): VS 'coi' (look) [ Vh @ M 瞧 qiáo < MC tsɦaw < OC *dzaw ],
• yăn 眼 (SV nhãn): VS 'nhìn' (look') [ vs. modern Mand. 'eye' via semantic extension ],
• qīnyăn 親眼: VS 'chínhmắt' (see with one's own eyes) [ via association with 目擊 mùjí (SV mụchkích) ~> VS 'chínhmắt' ],
• yănguāng 眼光: VS # 'cáinhìn' (view, sight) [ by means of innovation. cf. 'ánhmắt' 目光 mùguāng (the look) ],
• yănlì 眼力 (SV nhãnlực): VS # 'sứcnhìn' (eyesight) [ by means of conceptualization ]
• yănlèi 眼淚: VS # 'nướcmắt' (tear) [ by means of association ]
• yănkuāng 眼眶: VS # 'khoémắt' (rim of the eye) [ via reverse order ],
• yănshǐ 眼屎: VS 'ghèn' (gum in the eye) [ by means of contraction],
• yănpí 眼皮: VS # 'mímắt' (eyelid) [ via reverse order ],
• yănjìng 眼鏡: VS # 'kínhmắt' (eye glasses) [ Also, 'mắtkính' 目鏡 mùjìng (Hainanese /mat7keng1/ ],
• yănqián 眼前: VS # 'trướcmắt' = 目前 mùqián [ hence, 'trướcmặt' (at the moment), via reverse order ]
• méimù 眉目: VS 'manhmối' (leads, prospect of a solution), 'vẻmặt' (countenance, look) [ via adaptation ]
• méimáo 眉毛: VS 'mimắt' (eyelash) [ via association ]
• méishāo 眉梢: VS # 'chânmày' (eyebrow) [ via reverse order ],
• cìyăn 刺眼: VS 'ngứamắt' (unpleasant to the eye) [ also, doublet 'gaimắt' ],
• xiăoxīnyăn 小心眼: VS 'nhỏnhen (narrow-minded) [ by means of contraction],
• lăotiānyǒuyăn 老天有眼: VS # 'trờicaocómắt' (the Heaven is watching) [ via association ],
• méiláiyănqù 眉來眼去: VS # 'liếcmắtđưaduyên' (make eyes) [ via innovation ],
• ěrwénmùjiàn 耳聞目見: VS 'tainghemắtthấy' (seeing and hearing in person) [ via association ],
• ěrwén bùrú mùjiàn 耳聞不如目見: VS # 'trămnghe đâubằng mắtthấy' = 耳聞不如眼見 ěrwén bùrú yănjiàn (Seeing for oneself is better than hearing from others) [ via association ],
• guǒbàoyănqián 果報眼前: VS # quảbáonhãntiền (karmic retribution within one's lifetime) [ via loaning and translating '現世報 xiànshìbào' ],

and so on so forth.

For those specific examples above, besides the natural adoption of Sino-Vietnamese words such as "nhãn" for 眼 yăn, while it is noted that the Mon-Khmer form /phnek/ could possibly be cognate to V 'mắt' for the 'eye' by means of the sound change /phn-/ ~ /m-/ in either direction some time in the past, let us now raise the question of how their speakers 'look' and 'see', how they 'perceive' with their eyes, what resulted idioms relating to "seeing" could have evolved from their language, and what expression their 'eyes' are implicitly extended to related compounds beyond monosyllabcity into polysyllabicity realm? For all those cases both Chinese and Vietnamese cognates go hand in hand indiscriminately phonologically and semantically, uniformly and beautifully, which is simply because they evolved from the same source etymologically even before the Vietic and Muong speeches separated for at least the last 2,100 years or so in the face of the influx of different Chinese dialects that came with each repeated wave of the Han invaders from China for the following 1,000 years who have tried to attack Vietnam almost every decade continually after Vietnam's independence in the 10th century. Readers could easily get the linguistic point once they look into the history of the invasion of the Southern America by the Spanish conquistadors in the 15th century and and they will find relevant answers to the question that why more than half of the population in South America speak Spanish and how long did it take the Spaniards to have made them to speak their Spanish long after their nations became independence?

We can continue on with countless other Chinese and Vietnamese examples and relate them and almost any other etyma with the same contextual association, monosyllabically and dissyllabically. For more illustrations of similar cases let us examine more etyma on human body parts and related concepts existing in both languages as follows.

• zuǐ 嘴: môi 'lip',
• zuǐbā 嘴巴:VS # 'bờmôi' (lip),
• zuǐyìng 嘴硬 : VS # 'rángcải' (long-tongued),
• duōzuǐ 多嘴: VS 'giàmồm' (talk back verbosely) [ for 'già', cf. 多 duō (SV 'đa') ~ 'già' <~ 'cha' <~ 'tía' 爹 diè (SV 'đa') ]
,
• dòuzuǐ 鬥嘴: VS 'đấukhẩu' (quarrel ) [ associate of 嘴 with a symnonym 口 kǒu (mouth), a common linguistic phenomenon. ],
• wāizuǐ 歪嘴: VS 'méomõ' (wry mouth) ],
• piě​zuǐ 撇嘴: VS 'bĩumôi' (curl one's lips) [ Aslo, doublet 'trềmôi' ],
• wénzuǐ 吻嘴: hônmôi 'lip kissing', [ 吻 wén: VS: 'hôn' ~> 'hun' (kiss). Also, wén 吻: mồm 'mouth' (doublet of 'miệng') ],
• 嘴
• dìng 腚: đít 'buttocks',
  • dìng 腚: VS 'đít' (buttocks),
  • tún 臀: VS 'trôn' (buttocks) [ cf. SV 'đồn' ].
  • pì 屁: VS địt (fart) [ cf. SV 'tí '| M 屁 pì < MC phji < OC *phijs, *phijts ],
  • pìgǔ 屁股: VS 'phaocâu' (chicken's butt) [ modern M 'buttocks' vs. VS 'lỗđít' (anus) ],
• shǐ 屎: VS 'cứt' (feces) [ cf. SV 'thiệt'. Also, VS 'dử', 'ráy' (excrement) | M 屎 shǐ < MC shǐ < OC *ʂij < PC *kijh, ʂijh (Zhou zyxlj ]., p.251) | Shafer: TB *kip, Burmese: khjijh excrement, Kachin: khji3 excrement, Dimasa: khi, Garo: khi, Bodo: kí, Kham kī; Kanauri khoa, Bahing khl, Digaro: klai. Simon 19; Sh. 44; Ben. 39; Mat. 191.];
• èshǐ 屙屎: 'ỉa(cứt)' (poop),
• gǒushǐ 狗屎: VS # 'cứtchó' (dog's feces),
• ěrshǐ 耳屎: VS # 'cứtráy' (ear wax),
• ěrduo 耳朵: VS lỗtai (ear) [ by association and assimilation ],

of which 耳 ěr is associated with


• ěrlóng 耳聾: VS # 'lãngtai' (partially deaf) [ VS 'lãng' <~ lãngtai <~ @ ®M 耳聾 ěrlóng ('deaf') | M 聾 lóng < MC luŋ < OC *rho:ŋ ]
• tīng 聽: VS 'nghe' (hear) [ cf. (Hainanese /k'e1/) ],


• jiăo 腳: VS 'chân' (leg) [ M 腳 jiăo < MC kak < OC *kak | cf. zú 足: VS 'giò' ]

which makes
• bājiăo 巴腳: VS 'bànchân' (foot sole) [ (literally) "a 'panel' of the foot". cf. 腳板 jiăobăn (dialectal) 'sole'; cf. bàntay 手板 shǒubăn (palm) ],
• què 瘸: què 'limp' (SV cài) [ M 瘸 què < MC gwa < OC *gwjaj ];
• shǒu 手 (SV thù) ~ zhăng 掌 (SV chưởng): tay 'hand', which makes the
  • shǒubăn 手板: VS 'bàntay' (palm) [ (literally) "a 'panel' of the hand". cf. bàntay 巴掌 bāzhăng (dialectal) 'hand' ].
  
  Like 掌 zhăng (palm) in bāzhăng 巴掌 'hand', a later development 手板 shǒubăn after 手 shǒu 'tay' (hand), at the same time 手 appears in other related compounds that have given rise to many Vietnamese words with the same structure as in:
  
  • kōngshǒu 空手: VS 'taykhông' (empty-handed)' [ Also,' (bare hand', cf '空手道 Kōngshǒudào': SV 'Khôngthủđạo' (Karate) ] ,
  • xiàshǒu 下手: VS 'hạthủ' (put one's hand to) [VS 'ratay' ],
  • shǒuxià 手下: VS 'thủhạ' (subordinate) [ VS 'taydưới' (underdog) ],
  • chàshǒu 插手: VS 'ratay' (put hand in),
  • dòngshǒu 動手: VS 'độngthủ' (put one's hand to),
  • shǒuruăn 手軟: VS 'nươngtay' (lenient),
  • qiáoshǒu 巧手: VS 'khéotay' (skillfu)',
  • gāoshǒu 高手: VS 'caotay' (upper hand),
  • shùnshǒu 順手: VS 'thuậntay' (handy, at one's convenience),
  • qīngshǒu 輕手: VS 'nhẹtay' (light-handed),
  • zhòngshǒu 重手: VS 'nặngtay 'heavy-handed',
  • shǒuzhú 手足: VS 'taychân' (hands and feet) [ cf. 手腳 shǒujiăo 'taychân' (in the context of 'close kinship'), ]
  • yīshǒu 一手: VS 'mộttay' (connoisseur) [ Also, VS 'mộtcây' which might have evolved from yī shǒu 一手, literally meaning 'one hand' or 'single-handed' (subsituting 'cây' for shǒu while in Chinese it means 'he himself, he with his hand... doing something). cf. cây 樹 shù (SV thụ) 'tree' ],
  
  and sometimes with alternations as the result of local innovation while the main core meaning still remains sticky, such as
  
  
  • shuǐshǒu 水手: VS 'thuỷthủ' (sailor) ~> 'taychèo' (rower),
  • qiáoshǒu 巧手: VS 'khéotay' (skillful) ~> 'hoatay' (magic hand),
  • xiàshǒu 下手: VS 'ratay' (act with one's hands) ~> 'xuốngtay' (put one's hand to),
  • shǒuxià 手下: VS 'kẻdưới' (assistant) ~> 'dướitay' (subordinate),
  • chàshǒu 插手: VS 'xíavào' (interfere),
  • dòngshǒu 動手: VS 'nhúngtay' (have one's hand in),
  • shǒuruăn 手軟: VS 'nhẹtay' (lenient),
  • shùnshǒu 順手: VS 'sẵntay' (handy, at one's convenience),
  • gēshǒu 歌手: VS 'casĩ 'singer' [ <~ Viet. @ 歌星 gēxīng; substituting shǒu 手 SV 'thủ' or xīng 星 for 'sĩ ' 士 shì, that is a common affix in building Vietnamese composite words, such as 'hoạsĩ' 畫家 huàjiā (painter), 'thisĩ' 詩人 shīrén (poet), etc. ]

• fù 父: bố 'dad',
  • fùqīn 父親: VS # 'bốruột' (biological father) [ SV 'phụthân'. cf. qīnfù 親父 (SV thânphụ) with both Sino-Vietnamese compounds used interchangeably in Vietnamese while associating @ M 親 qīn < MC chjin < OC *shjən with 'ruột' (blood-related) ],
  • qīndiè 親爹: VS 'charuột' (biological father),
  • diè 爹: VS 'tía' (daddy) [ also, VS 'cha' is a doublet of 'tía' that is evolved from 'ba' 爸 bā: Shanxi dialect /tá/ ],
  • bā 爸: VS 'ba' (father) [ Shaanxi dialect: /tá/, a doublet of '爹 diè (SV 'đa'): VS 'tía' and 'cha' (daddy) ],
  
  or
  
• mǔ 母: VS 'mẹ' (mother) [ VS 'mệ', 'mợ', 'mạ', 'mái', 'cái'... ],
• mā 媽: VS 'má' (mother),
• mǔqīn 母親: VS # 'mẹruột' (biological mother) [ SV mẫuthân | cf. M 親母 qīnmǔ (SV thânmẫu). Note that the Sino-Vietnamese forms for 'thânmẫu' or 'mẫuthân' for 'mother' and 'thanphụ' or 'phụthân' #父親 for 'father' are also in common usage, yet, a bit more, not only using the Sinitic-Vietnamese ones to address parents.],
• niáng 娘: 'nạ' (mommy) [ archaic and dialectal usages ],

and other compounds such as VS 'bốmẹ' 父母 fùmǔ, VS 'chamẹ' 爹媽 dièmā, VS 'bamá' 爸媽 bāmā (parents), etc.

We can go on with other items such as 'anh' 兄 xiōng (older brother), 'con' 子 zǐ (child), 'chị' 姊 zǐ, 姐 jiě (older sister), 'em' 妹 mēi (younger sister), etc., even more with al other genetically-affiliated items. In short, all these words are interconnected in categorically-grouped settings.

As Forrest's concept of "related groups of words" could be expanded to other words based on "dissyllabicity" as sampled above, they can be also further applied to those derivatives as a result of "corollary", "association", and "analogy" (as reflected in Case study worksheet.) Derived words from the same root usually appear much different from the actual original sound base as a result that they are hardly seen as having originally shared the same roots at all because the dissyllabicity approach has not been utilized to substantiate evidences for those other sound-changed variants as in the case of the same monosyllabic core-rooted words, such as

• 'tập' vs. 習 xí (practice) and its derivatives 'tậpdượt' #演習 yănxí (drill), 'họchỏi' 學習 xuéxí (learning), 'thóiquen' 習慣 xíguàn (habit), 'tậtxấu' #陋習 lòuxí (bad habit), etc.(習)

Similarly,


• dòu 逗: VS 'đùa' [ Also, variant doublets: ''chọc', trêu', 'tếu' (funny, make fun of). cf. SV 'đậu' ~ M 逗 dòu < dow < OC *dho:s. For 'tếu', by associating 逗 dòu with 笑 xiào (SV tiếu) ],
• dòuxiào 逗笑: VS 'trêughẹo' (make fun of) [ variants 'chọcghẹo', 'đùacợt', 'chọccười' (joke), 'thọclét', 'cùlét' (tickle) (Hai. /ka1lɛt7/) ],
• dòuwán 逗玩: VS 'đùagiỡn' (play) [ variants 'chơigiỡn', 'giỡnchơi' , 'đùabỡn' (VS # 'bôngđùa'), 'đùadai' (play a trick on),
• zhēndòu 真逗: VS 'tếulâm' [ being associated with '笑林 xiàolín (SV tiếulâm)', non-extant word in Chinese, via localization as in "這個 人 真逗! Zhègè rén zhēndòu!: 'Cái anhnày tếulâm quá!' (This person is so funny!) ],

or

• diăn 點 /tjen2/: 'tiếng' (hour), 'châm' (ignite), 'chấm' (dip), 'tí' (a bit), 'điểm' (point), 'đếm' (count), 'đốm '(dot), 'chọn', etc.,


• zhòngdiăn 重點: VS 'điểmchính' (SV 'trọngđiểm') (main point),
• diănmíng 點名: VS 'đọctên' (SV 'điểmdanh') (roll callng),
• diănxīn 點心: VS 'lótlòng' (SV 'điểmtâm') ("dimsum", snack, breakfast),
• kuàidiăn 快點: VS 'maulên' (hurry up), 'mauđi' (Be quick!),
• màndiăn 慢點: VS 'chậmtí' (slow down),
• diándiăn 點點: VS 'títi' (a little bit, sparingly) [ variant doublets: 'tíxíu', 'chútxíu', 'lèotèo' ], etc.

	Viet.	Khmer	unknown

	thelè 	tlec 	? 
	đùm   	đum 	? 
	lu 	loạlu 	? 
	dong 	đong 	? 
	dàn  	đal 	? 

With the aid of our new dissyllabic approach, or that of polysyllabicity for the same matter, we should be able find many Chinese etyma in Vietnamese with sheer confidence of their plausibility. Take those Vietnamese phrases or fixed expressions as illustrated above and you can conveniently identify even more Chinese and Vietnamese correspondences on the very same etymon that is capable ot evolving into one-to-many relationship, well beyond the limit of one-to-one basis as currently bonded, that is, etymologically, the old thinking has posed some mental block on current historical linguists, of which the interchange correspondences appear to be just like what have credited to Pre-Sino-Vietnamese (pre-SV or "Tiền-HánViệt) lexical stock to be known as cognates with those Old Chinese and ancient Chinese roots and Sino-Vietnamese (SV or HánViệt) to Middle Chinese (MC) words, that is to say, those scholiasts have missed one or more of the Sinitic-Vietnamese variants from the same words that can be explored under the dissylabic methodology, e.g., 湯匙 tāngchí: VS 'thìacanh' (spoon) vs. 鎖匙 suǒchí" VS 'chìakhoá' (key), etc.

Phonologically and semantically, examine the sound interchanges carefully and you may notice that their phonetic contours were altered accordingly to match the Chinese counterparts along with semantic modifications in accordance with the original patterns of sound changes, regardless of their original form, for example,

• M 除 chú (SV trừ) ~ Pre-SV 'chừa' ~ VS 'chia' (division),
• M 嘲 cháo (SV trào) ~ Pre-SV 'chèo' ~ VS 'trêu' (laugh at),
• M 朝 cháo (SV trào) ~ Pre-SV 'triệu' ~ VS 'chầu' (attend in the imerial court),
• M 遲 chí (SV trì) ~ Pre-SV 'chầy' ~ VS 'chậm' (slow),
• M 傳 chuán (SV truyền) ~ Pre-SV 'chuyền' ~ VS 'sang' (transit),
• M 利 lì (SV lợi) ~ Pre-SV 'lời' ~ VS 'lãi',
• M 染 răn (SV nhiễm) ~ Pre-SV 'nhuộm' ~ VS 'lây' (contract),
• M 順 shùn (SV thuận) ~ Pre-SV 'suôn' ~ VS 'xuôi' (smoothly),
• M 師 shī (SV sư) ~ Pre-SV 'thầy' ~ VS 'sãi' (monk) ,
• M 時 shí (SV thì) ~ Pre-SV 'thời' ~ VS 'giờ' (time),
• M 似 sì (SV tự) ~ Pre-SV 'tựa' ~ VS 'tợ' (just like),
• M 斬 zhăn (SV trảm) ~ Pre-SV 'chém' ~ VS 'chặt' (chop),

etc.

For those sound changes of syllabic clusters from a polysyllabic word, they would occur to the whole chained string of sounds. That is different from what could have happened on the one-to-one correspondence basis for each element, phonemically and syllabically, e.g.,

• 傳染 chuánrăn (SV truyềnnhiễm) ~> VS 'lâysang' (infect),
• 順利 shùnlì (SV thuậnlợi) ~> VS 'suônsẻ' (smoothly),
• 巫師 wūshī (VS 'thầymô', also, 'phùthuỷ' (thầymô) ) (shaman)

etc.

• 爸爸 bāba <= '爸 bā' => Shaanxi /tá/ => 'tiá' 爹 diè: SV 'ta' => 'cha' (daddy),
• 兄弟 xiōngdì => 'anhtam' => 'anhem' (brothers), 俺兄 ăn xiōng => 'ônganh' => anh em (my older brother) => 'anh' (brother),
• 妹妹 mēimei => 'emgái' (younger sister) => 'em' ('younger sister' > 'miss') [ For 妹 mēi: SV 'muội' ~> VS 'bậu' ]
• 姑娘 gūniáng (SV cônương) => 'cônàng' (the girl) => 'côem' (young lady) => 'cô' (miss),
• 亮子 Cantonese /liāngzéi/ => 'xinhtrai' (handsome boy) vs. Hainanese /liānggē/ => 'xinhgái' (pretty girl) => 'trai' (boy), 'gái' (girl) [ cf. also, 'trái' (fruit). Note: in Ancient Chinese, among other dozen meanings, 子 zǐ, cf. Fukienese 仔 /kẽ/ 'con' (offsring) : 古代 指 兒、女，現在 專指 兒子。 ]
• 家公 jiāgōng (SV giacông) => 'ôngnhà' (my man) => 'ôngxã' (my husband) => 'chồng' (husband),
• 主公 zhǔgōng (SV chúacông) 'my Lord' => 'ôngchủ' (master) => 'ông' (mister. mr.) [ cf. VS 'ôngchúa' (lord) ],
• 叔叔 shùshù (SV thúcthúc) 'my uncle' => 'chú' (uncle) => 'cácchú' (Chinamen) => 'chệt' => ("my Chinese uncle"),

etc.

Which vocable or pattern that comes out the most frequency from the dissyllabic forms will prevail. Phonetically, just like pre-Han loanwords (假借 -- see Bernard Karlgre. 1964. Loan Character from pre-Han Texts II, many morphemic changes in syllabic strings would no longer necessarily be governed by strict sound-change rules, i.e., that of regularity rules, especially those secondary final syllables, that are normally applied to monosyllabic words and mostly true in the scholarly version of Sino-Vietnamese phonological system.

For rules of irregular sound changes, Hauricourt observed that "at first sight it may seem dangerous to abandon the principle of regular phonetic change, even in specified cases, but one is forced to admit that the blind application of the principle of regular correspondence leads to the proliferation of reconstructed phonenes and hence to the proliferation of pruely accidental coincidences." (Haudricourt 1966. pp. 328-29.) Closely examine the Mon-Khmer wordlists above will find numerous cases as such, for example, Mon-Khmer 'chas' ~> V 'già' and 'cha', Mon-Khmer 'cho' ~> V 'chaumày'.

The novel notion for such multiple derivatives from words of dissyllabicity that account for new etymological approach is a detrimentral strike against the long-rooted belief of monosyllabicity that has always been labeled on the Vietnamese language. Vietnamese polysyllabic words originated mostly from the Chinese language that used to be also wrongly labeled as of monosyllability in the past is even more obviously in conflict with respects to the polysyllabism of Khmer forms, such as 'chromuh' posited for V 'lỗmũi' (nostrils), or 'tamboi' for 'muối' (salt). The fallacy, i.e., the notion of monosyllabic Vietnamese, has posed as an antiquated regressive force that pulled back or sidelined many linguists in their efforts to reinvigorate this historical linguistic field.

Our new dissyllabicity approach has positively identified massive etyma of Chinese origin, which raises a turning note in the repertoire of an old Mon-Khmer long-play phono-disc in the field of Vietnamese etymology study. Apart from the recognition that the Chinese cultural factors have actively played their crucial part in contributing to the formation of the Sinitic-Vietnamese vocabulary stock, that also led to the revelation of the new layer of fossifized dissyllabic lexicons, i.e., stablized forms of dissyllabic words that constantly go with the same two two syllables together most of the time, the Vietnamese vocabulary stock should be regarded as independent of the talk of genetic affiliation. Per Nguyen Ngoc San, according to today's viewpoint, all Pre-HanViet words should be considered as parts of pure Vietnamese elements with respects to their indispensibility and roles. For example, the Vietnamized "phòng" can pair with certain "Vietnamese words" to coin new words just like the case of the Pre-SV 'buồng' 房 fáng (SV 'phòng') (room). Both 'buồng' and 'phòng' can serve as lexical building blocks as a morphemic root each besides the original meaning 'room', such as 'buồngtắm' (bathroom) or 'buồnglái' (navigational control room on a vessel) – both words semantically are identical to 'phòngtắm' and 'phònglái' (but not 'lên+sơn' or 'xuống+hải' that are unsuccessfully built with one Sinitic-Vietnamese element with the other Sino-Vietnamese. – Similarly, in these specific cases when "buồng" conveys somewhat the concept equivalent to the Chinese 室 shì (SV thất) (chamber), the "phòng-" prefix then would become highly restricted – While the "buồng" could give rise to other dissyllabic variants that implicates something 'chamber-like', such as buồngtrứng, buồngcau, buồngchuối, etc., meaning 'ovary' (卵巢), 'a hand of areca-nuts' (串檳榔), 'a hand of bananas' (串香蕉), repectively, the Sino-Vietnamese "phòng" (房 fáng) could not be used. That is why the prefix 'buồng-' is best regarded as a purely native element (Ibid, p. 67) even though it is apparently the Pre-Sino-Vietnamese form originated from the Old Chinese. We can go on with many other examples that include 子 zǐ that would be associated with several classifers used in Vietnamese, such as the classifier 'cái-' (the item of), 'con-' (the living thing of), 'trái-' (the fruit of), or 場 chăng ~ 'sân-', 'giấc-', 'trận-', cơn-', etc., as discussed in the introductory chapters.

No Mon-Khmer cognates in Vietnamese could play such multiple functions of word elelements as described above. However, advocates of the Sino-Tibetan camp still face the same old issues such as basic cognates of undeniable Mon-Khmer origin. While we reckon the Mon-Khmer stratrum in Vietnamese for historical reason, acknowledging the resemblance of basic words in Vietnamese that go hand in hand with the Khmer counting numbers from 1 to 5, nevertheless, does not constitute the acceptance of the Austroasiatic Mon-Khmer theorization of the origin of Vietnamese. As a matter of fact, other lexical correspondences in the Mon-Khmer languages are closer to the Muong speeches than they are with what already exists in Vietnamese. Today's Vietnamese and Muong are not the same as they split from the common Viet-Muong group hundreds of years ago when the admixture of the earlier Han Chinese with the natives formed the Kinh people. The colonization by the Han and its long Sinicization process that had lasted for hundreds of years later since 111 B.C. resulted major change in racial components ot the population the Vietnam's major Kinh people who, historically, even called these Mon-Khmer speakers as "Mọi", that means "barbarous people" and insulted them with other names such as 'ngườimọi', 'tụimọi', 'Mán', or 'Mường Mán', etc., just like the term 蠻 Man used by the historical Chinese to refer to those minorities in China South region now known as 冒南 Maonan, 南蠻 Nanman, 猛 Meng, 水 Shui, 瑤 Yao, 苗 Miao, 侗 Dong, etc. As a matter of fact, their etymological substratum imprints do not necessarily negate other confirmed connections between Chinese and Vietnamese for other proven etyma, especially with many words that are cognate to those of Chinese and Mon-Khmer at the same time.

On the one hand, here is a word of caution for Mon-Khmer and Vietnamese correspondences, "too close a likeness is even more suspicious than too distant a one" (Forrest 1958). For example, given their cognacy, there was ac chance that a loanword from Muong, which had separated from the Vietmuong linguistic sub-family for hundreds of years ago, penetrated into a Mon-Khmer language and the latter could spread out rapidly to other Muong subdialects and the originally ancestral form would have crept back the the ancient Vietnamese language under a new shell. The Muong form in turn would certainly make unavoidably look-alike cognates in the Vietnamese and Mon-Khmer languages as a result that appear as if they all originated from the same root, in this case being postulated as the Austroasiatic linguistic family as we have seen in those basic words as sampled below.

• 衁 huāng = 'máu' (blood) [ M 衁 huāng ~ phonetic stem M 亡 wáng (vong, vô) &t MC mwaŋ &t OC *maŋ | Shuowen: 血 也。从 血 亡 聲。《春秋傳》曰：“士 刲 羊，亦 無 衁 也。” | Kangxi: 【唐韻】【集韻】【正韻】𠀤 呼光切，音 荒。【說文】血也。【左傳·僖十五年】士 刲 羊，亦 無 衁 也。【韓愈詩】衁 池 波 風 肉 陵 屯。| According to Bodman, Nicholas C. 1980. 'Proto-Chinese and Sino-Tibetan,' (in Frans Van Coetsem et al. (eds.) Contributions to Historical Linguistics) (p.120) : "An interesting hapax legomenon for 'blood' appears in the Dzo Zhuan (左傳) which has an obvious Austroasiatic origin: Proto-Mnong *mham, Proto-North Bahmaric *maham, 衁 hmam > hmang > ɣuáng." ].

There are not many Chinese and Vietnamese basic words that are analogous to the case for 衁 /hmam/ for 'máu', but the reverse course appears to be likely such as 'tiết' 血 xiè (SV huyết) as in 'tiếtcanh' 血羹 xiègēng (blood pudding), 'huyếtthanh' 血清 xiěqīng (serum), 'xơitái' 吃生 chīshēng (eat uncooked meat), 'treo đầu dê bán thịt chó' 掛羊頭賣狗肉 guà yáng tóu mài gǒu ròu (hanging goat heads but selling dog's meat), etc., which is not the case for those Mon-Khmer Vietnamese cognates for each and evry word that counts as a cognate for cultural reasons.

On the other hand, closeness in Vietnamese and Chinese corresponding sounds in several shared etyma in basic realm is usually taken as Chinese loanwords in Vietnamese even though they are ancient Yue loanwords in Chinese (Refer to the classical 爾雅 Éryá diplomatic glossary and 楊雄 Yang Xiong's 方言 Dialect dictionary). Their resemblance still show clearly, for example, 'sông' 江 jiāng (river), 'chuối' 蕉 jiāo (banana), 'dừa' 椰 yě (coconut), 'gạo' 稻 dào (rice), 'đường' 糖 táng (sugar), etc., which, of course, have all become part of the Chinese language, exactly as the role of many Old Chinese words that become indispensable in Vietnamese in addition to all the cited words above, inexhaustibly, so to speak. Such plausibility of VIetnamese cognates with Chinese basic elements lends supports to not only the theory of the Vietnamese affiliation with Chinese but also common Sino-Tibetan etymologies as well.

While basic words are what most linguists of Southeast Asian languages commonly started with in order to establish ancient genetic affinity among those supposedly related languages, at least for greater parts of different Mon-Khmer listed items, the purpose of reciting of a broad range of extraordinary words beyond the copycats of basic words in those languages spoken by ethnic groups who are living on high plateau in today's western mountainous plains of Vietnam.

Such observation leads to the supposition that those minority groups who share some similar Mon-Khmer linguistic features that distributed widely throughout China South to Southeast Asian regions were also descents of the proto-Taic family having the same ancestral linkage with the Yue, who had been inhabiting the whole China South region in ancient times before the proto-Chinese came in. That is to say, ancestors of the Austrasiatic Mon-Khmer people were affiliated with the ancient Taic racial stock as well.

On the composition of the present Vietnamese nationals, while the majority of them are known as the Kinh people, others are descendants of former Yue people like those of LacViet and AuViet. Per Nguyen Ngoc San, approximately 4,000 years ago, the overwhelming population of Mon-Khmer speakers southwestern region in the ancient region of today's North Vietnam had moved in, resettled, replaced, and mixed with those Taic-Kadai natives. Linguistically, the author proposed that their languages spoken at that time supposedly of the King Hungs' era postulated as the proto-Vietmuong language. He also theorized that after the split of the common Viet-Muong language under the heavy infuence of the Ancient Chinese after the Han 'conquistadors', the direct ancestral language of ancient Vietnamese in the linguistic sense only started some 1,000 years ago. (Ibid. pp. 12, 13)

Historically, to recap, the "ancient Annamese" – the early ancestors of the Kinh people – were already of mixed race. The whole process of racial admixture had taken place during the periods of the Han's occupation starting in 111 B.C. and thereafter. Throughout the period of colonization of the northern region of today's Vietnam's territory, the transformation of the "Annamese" populace had been an on-going process of integration of a growing number of 'Chinese' immigrants (I) into larger population of earlier racially-mixed migrants that included those aboriginal Taic-Kadai speakers and also the later Yue emigrants out od the China South region, including all the indigenous subjects of the earlier NamViet Kingdom ruled by King Trieu Da in the territory now known as Northeastern region of today's Vietnam, Guangxi, Hunan, Guangdong, and Fujian provinces of China (See Lacouperie. Ibid. Taiwan. 1963 [1887]) After 1,000 years as a prefecture of China lasted past the end of the Tang Dynasty into the NanHan Kingdom (南漢帝國) that then expanded from present Guangdong and Guangxi provinces of China to northeastern region of her present territory, the becoming of the modern Vietnam has been the continuation of the ancient Annamese entities that emerged from what the prior Chinese dynasties had brought to the nation throughout their past domination, anthropologically and linguistically (A). The process had continued on since Annam became an independent state in 939 A.D., years before the upcoming collapse of the NanHan Kingdom.

In conclusion, linguistically, James Campbell, in Vietnamese Dialects states it best:

"I originally included Vietnamese in this study/website because of the fact its phonological makeup is very similar to Chinese and, indeed, its tonal system matches the Chinese one. Originally I wrote at this site: "Vietnamese is neither a Chinese language nor related to Chinese (It is an Austroasiatic > Mon-Khmer language more closely related to Khmer/Cambodian). Besides having a very similar phonological system, and due to the heavy Chinese influence on the language, it also has a tone system that matches the Chinese one." However, after reading and conducting a bit more research, it appears that Vietnamese' affiliation with Việt-Mương, Mon-Khmer, and Austroasiatic, may in fact be a faulty case."

[...]

"[Vietnamese] may not be considered a Sinitic language or one of the Chinese dialects, but the Kinh have a lot in common with the Chinese culture, and the language leaves little to doubt. I will not go into great detail about how this is claimed, as a great deal has been posted at some other websites (see below) and that is not the purpose of this site. However, one can see that Vietnamese shares many traits in common with Chinese: 60-70% Sinitic vocabulary, another 20% of vocabulary is substrata of proto-Sinitic vocabulary, much of the grammar and grammatical markers share similarities with Chinese, along with classifiers. One would find it very difficult to draw similar parallels between Chinese and other Mon-Khmer languages. It seems that after considering all of this, what is left that is Mon-Khmer is actually very little, and probably acquired over time through contact with bordering nations. For example, the numbers are of distinct Mon-Khmer origin, however, used in many compound words, Vietnamese uses instead Chinese roots (as is common in the other Sino-Xenic languages, Japanese and Korean)."

As previously mentioned, in this paper I am not at all trying to prove genetic affinity of Vietnamese and Chinese, but only to show what they have in common etymologically along with other linguistic peculiarities and characteristics so unique that no other languages in the Sino-Tibetan linguistic family could equally match those commonalities that exist in Chinese and Vietnamese. In any cases what actually excludes Vietnamese from those of Mon-Khmer is its distinctiveness given all similarities of what makes up the wholeness of a language, which would put Vietnamese under the Sinitic umbrella. .(V)

Based on the comparative analysis of the the basic wordlists above, they should be considered as loanwords to and from neighboring Mon-Khmer languages. What shall we classify the Vietnamese language to better reflect the true nature of it? While its undeniable kinship with Chinese needs to be investigated further in addition to the historical Sinitic background as discussed previously with a larger portion of its basic words cognate to those of Chinese plus all of their share of common peculiarities, then Vietnamese should be seen as a member of the Sino-Tibetan linguistic family, or at least a sub-family, in par with those southern Sinitic branches such as Cantonese and Fukienese. We will explore this matter in detail in the next chapter regarding the Sino-Tibetan connections for such purpose.

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