< Reconstruction:Proto-Mongolic
Reconstruction:Proto-Mongolic/bi
 | This Proto-Mongolic entry contains reconstructed words and roots. As such, the term(s) in this entry are not directly attested, but are hypothesized to have existed based on comparative evidence. |
Proto-Mongolic
Reconstruction
Nugteren derives earlier *bï by comparison with other first-person pronouns, but all descendants clearly derive from *bi and some authorities even reject *ï as a separate phoneme.
Etymology
Very similar to Proto-Turkic *ben and Proto-Tungusic *bi. Compare Turkish ben, Evenki би (bi).
Whether this similarity is due to inheritance, borrowing or coincidence is a highly contentious question among specialists in these languages which is of crucial significance for the Altaic debate.
Adjective
*bi
- I (personal pronoun)
Descendants
- Middle Mongolian:
- Arabic: بي (bi) (Muqaddimat)
- Chinese: [script needed] (bi) (Secret History)
- Phags-Pa: ꡎꡞ
- Uighur: ᠪᠢ (bi)
- Mongolian:
- Classical: ᠪᠢ (bi)
- Khalkha: би (bi)
- Ordos: /bi/
- Buryat: би (bi)
- Khamnigan Mongol: bi
- Kalmyk: би (bi)
- Daur: bii
- Eastern Yugur: bu
- Monguor:
- Mangghuer: bi
- Mongghul: bu
- Bonan: be
- Kangjia: bi
- Dongxiang: bi
- Mogholi: bi
Further reading
- Nugteren, Hans (2011) Mongolic phonology and the Qinghai-Gansu languages (dissertation), Utrecht: LOT, page 281
- Janhunen, Juha (2013) Personal pronouns in Core Altaic. In Shared Grammaticalization With Special Focus on the Transeurasian Languages [Studies in Language Companion Series 132], Martine Robbeets & Hubert Cuyckens (eds)
- Schütz, Edmond (1974) Remarks On Altaic Personal Pronouns. In Acta Orientalia Academiae Scientiarum Hungaricae, Vol. 28, No. 1