Approaching the historical phonology of three highly eroded Sino-Tibetan languages: Naxi, Na and Laze

John Benjamins Publishing Company, Diachronica 28:4, 2011. — 468 - 498 p.Naxi, Na and Laze are three languages whose position within Sino-Tibetan is controversial. We propose that they are descended from a common ancestor ('Proto-Naish'). Unlike conservative languages of the family, such as Rgyalrong and Tibetan, which have consonant clusters, Naxi, Na and Laze share a simple syllabic structure due to to phonological erosion.