Reconstruction talk:Proto-Sino-Tibetan/k-m-raŋ ~ s-raŋ

The existence of a Proto-Sino-Tibetan word for horse

A new paper by Sagart et al (2019) (article & supplementary) propose that the PST lacked a word for horse (equus ferus caballus) owing to these reasonsː

• Horses appeared late in archaelogical records in East Asia;
• A root verb √raŋ (not glossed) might have yielded indigenous derivations when prefixed with nominalizers *m- (> Taraon: mɑ31 ɹoŋ55; Sak: məráŋ; Japhug mbro) or *s- (> Chepang sĕraŋ, Bunan ʂaŋs) or ∅ (> Lai Hakha ràŋ).
• The forms already cited express regular sound correspondence; yet irregular forms like Jingpo kum31 ʒa31 and OC 馬 *mˤraʔ lack nasal endings, thus indicating that these might've been loanwords from a ST lg wherein [mraŋ]'s rhyme had become [mrã] as well as the "secondary spread of domesticated horses within the family" (sup., p. 32-33).

I will add Sagart et al (2019) into the About Chinese/References page. Do other editors think we should include these findings? Erminwin (talk) 16:12, 17 May 2019 (UTC)