The Source of polokai 'knee' in Chinese Deep Contact between the Chinese and Non-Chinese Languages

This paper proposes that the word polokai 'knee', widely distributed in the dialects of northern China, did not have its source in the Chinese language itself, but come from substrate languages spoken by northern populations. It was probably transmitted through the Jurchenized Tungusic people. Historical documents show that during the formation of the Jurchen and Manchu, diverse tribes had been integrated into them. The linguistic data shows that the p-l-k (polokai 'knee') pattern in the northern Chinese dialects is likely to be related to the b-l-g 'knee' pattern in Tungusic languages. The morphological means observed in Tungusic languages may have a deep connection with that found in languages of nomadic, fishing-hunting populations in the North. This word is probably linked to a cognate root bul-/pal- shared between these ancient languages.