Language, gene and ethnos: The case of Yunnan
语言、基因与民族：云南的案例
Haichao Yang 杨海潮

Abstract 摘要
Recently, some genetic studies have directly related specific languages with specific genes and ethnos. At least so far, these ideas or speculations are too optimistic and confident. After all, ethnos is only a kind of distinguishing relationship between the different ethnic groups, language is a kind of culture that could be shared by different ethnos, and genes are a kind of biological fact of race. We cannot yet now make sure if there is one-to-one correspondence between the language, genes, and the ethnos. The field experiences from Yunnan showed that an ethnic group may speak two or more languages, and two ethnic groups may not identify with each other, although they are from the same ancestor and speak the same language. Based on these facts, this paper researches some literature and some archaeological studies on the early history of Yunnan, and speculates that Chinese spread to Yunnan in the Shang dynasty, and Bai language subsequently developed from it.

一些遗传学研究直接把特定的语言与特定的基因和特定的民族对应起来，至少到目前为止，他们的理论或猜测过于乐观和自信。毕竟，民族只是有着不同认同的人群之间的一种区别关系，而语言是可以由不同民族共享的一种文化，基因则是关于种族的一种生物学事实，语言、基因和民族之间未必有一一对应的关系。云南的田野经验表明，一个民族可能会说两种或更多种语言，而两个民族即使来自同一个祖先并且说同一种语言，他们也可能并不相互认同。基于这些事实，本文重新梳理了一些关于云南早期历史的文献记载和考古研究，推测汉语在商代就已经传播到云南，而白语就从它发展而来。

Subject Keywords 主题词

Language 语言 Gene 基因 Ethnos 民族 Chinese 汉语 Bai language 白语 Shang dynasty 商代


Journal of Chinese Linguistics Monograph Series (ISSN 2409-2878), Number 29 (2019): 242-263
Copyright © 2019 Journal of Chinese Linguistices. All rights reserved.

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