Marco Contextual

Two implosive stops are posited for PT—*ɓ-, and *ɗ-. These phonemes are interesting in terms of tonal development. They usually pattern with voiceless onsets in tonal splits but there are plenty of cases where they pattern with voiced onsets, especially for tone *A (see §6.2 and §6.4). In addition to these two implosives, two glottalized consonants *ʔ- and *ˀj- are reconstructed. These two consonants always pattern with the implosives with respect to tonal splits and mergers. Phonologically, the glottalized palatal glide *ˀj- can be considered a palatal counterpart of the implosives.

106 3.6.2.1 *ɓ-

The PT labial implosive *ɓ- remains an implosive or preglottalized stop in many dialects, such as Debao and Wuming. In most dialects, it is simplified to plain voiced /b-/. These dialects include Siamese, Lao, Black Tai, White Tai, Lungchow, Leiping, Saek, Yay, Qiubei, Huanjiang, Bouyei, etc. Some dialects have turned this sound into a sonorant. For example, Southern Shan, Lungming, Yongnan, Fusui, Yongbei, and Long’an all reflect PT *ɓ- as /m-/. Similarly, Longsheng’s reflex of PT

*ɓ- is /w-/. Some dialects such as Yuanyang and Menglian have gone one step further and turned this resulting /w-/ into /v-/. That the implosive *ɓ- became sonorants in some languages is consistent with Clements and Osu (2002)’s view that implosives are neither obstruents nor sonorants. Li (1977: 68-71) reconstructs *ˀb- for this onset.

Table 3-22 gives examples of PT etyma with *ɓ-.

Table 3-22 Etyma with PT *ɓ-

Gloss PT SI LC Y Others

‘village’ *ɓa:n^C ba:n^C1 ba:n^C1 ba:n^C1 Wuming /ˀba:n^C1/

‘unmarried man’ *ɓa:w^B ba:w^B1 ba:w^B1 ba:w^B1 Wuming /ˀba:w^B1/

‘leaf’ *ɓaɰ^A baj^A1 baɰ^A1 baɰ^A1 Wuming /ˀbaɰ^A1/

‘to fly’ *ɓin^A bin^A1 bin^A1 bin^A1 Wuming /ˀbin^A1/

‘disgusted’ *ɓɯə^B1 bɯə^B1 bɯ^:B1 bɯə^B1 Wuming /ˀbɯ^B1/

Note a semantic change in Siamese from ‘village’ to ‘house’. In addition, the Siamese form for ‘unmarried man’ now means ‘servant’. It is also found in the compound /ca:w^C1 ba:w^B1/ ‘groom’.

107 3.6.2.2 *ɗ-

The PT alveolar implosive *ɗ- remains an implosive or preglottalized stop in many dialects, such as Debao and Wuming. In most dialects, it is simplified to plain voiced /d-/. These dialects include Siamese, Lao, Black Tai, White Tai, Lungchow, Leiping, Saek, Yay, Qiubei, Huanjiang, etc. Parallel to *ɓ-, some dialects have turned this sound into a sonorant. For example, Southern Shan, Tai Nüa, Liujiang, Yishan, Rong’an, and Bouyei all reflect PT *ɗ- as /l-/. In Qinzhou, Yongnan, and Long’an, the PT *ɗ- is reflected as /n-/. In addition, Longsheng is quite unique in having /r/ as reflex of PT *ɗ-. Like its labial counterpart, the fact that *ɗ- is reflected as a sonorant in some dialects but an obstruent in others is consistent with the view that implosives are non-obstruent and non-sonorant (Clements & Osu 2002). Li (1977: 107-111) reconstructs

*ˀd- for this onset. Table 3-23 gives examples of PT etyma with *ɗ-.

Table 3-23 Etyma with PT *ɗ-

Gloss PT SI LC Y Others

‘to scold’ *ɗa:^B da:^B1 da:^B1 da:^B1 Wuming /ˀda:^B1/

‘nose’ *ɗaŋ^A daŋ^C1 -t daŋ^A1 daŋ^A1 Wuming /ˀdaŋ^A1/

‘good’ *ɗɤj^A di:^A1 -v daj^A1 di:^A1 Wuming /ˀdoj^A1/

‘forest’ *ɗoŋ^A doŋ^A1 doŋ^A1 doŋ^A1

‘late at night’ *ɗɯk^D dɯk^DS1 dak^DS1 Debao /ɗak^DS1/

The meaning of ‘nose’ has been narrowed in Siamese to ‘nose bridge’, which also shows an unexpected tonal reflex, i.e. C1 rather than A1.

108 3.6.2.3 *ˀj-

This glottalized glide *ˀj- is the palatal counterpart of the implosives *ɗ- and

*ɓ-. It is usually simplified to a simple /j-/, as in Siamese, Lao, Black Tai, White Tai, Lungming, Lungchow, Shangsi, Long’an, Jingxi, Wenma, etc. In Qiubei, the /j-/ has been hardened to /dʑ-/. Moreover, younger speakers of Sapa and Bao Yen, both spoken in Vietnam, now have a fricative pronunciation /z-/. In some dialects, it is still preserved as /ˀj-/. These conservative dialects include Wuming, Daxin, Pingguo Tiandong, Donglan, etc. Li (1977: 181-185) also reconstructs *ˀj- for this set of data.

Examples of PT *ˀj- are given in Table 3-24.

Table 3-24 Etyma with PT *ˀj-

Gloss PT SI LC Y Others

‘medicine’ *ˀjɯa:^A ja:^A1 ja:^A1 jiə^A1 Wuming /ˀjɯ^A1/

‘hungry’ *ˀjɯək^D ja:k^DL1 ja:^DL1 jiək^DL1 Wuming /ˀjɯək^DL1/

‘to be at’ *ˀju:^B ju:^B1 ju:^B1 ju:^B1 Wuming /ˀjaw^B1/

‘to stretch’ *ˀjiət^D jiət^DL1 ji:t^DL1 Wuming /ˀjiət^DL1/

‘to roast’ *ˀjɯa:ŋ^C ja:ŋ^C1 jiəŋ^C1 Wuming /ˀjɯəŋ^C1/

In addition to *ˀj-, Li (1977: 178-181) also reconstructs *j- for the following set of data. He includes more etyma than those listed in Table 3-25 but most of them show irregularities, only occur in SWT, or should be reconstructed with other onsets.

109

Table 3-25 Some etyma that Li reconstructs with *j-

Gloss SI LC Y Others

‘paternal grandmother’ ja:^B2 ja:^B2

‘to mend’ ja:^A1 ja:^A2

‘difficult’ ja:k^DL2 Lingyue /ˀja:k^DL1/

‘web’ jaj^A2

‘slack’ ja:n^A2 Saek /ja:l^A2/

The above data show clearly that the reconstruction of PT *j- is dubious as most etyma are found only in SWT. Etyma that are found outside of SWT either show irregularities in the correspondence, or can be identified as loans. For example, the etymon ‘difficult’ is also found outside SWT, but the NT forms point to *ˀj- rather than *j-. As for ‘paternal grandmother’, it is found in both SWT and NT and clearly points to *j-. However, it most likely have a Mon-Khmer origin, cf. Proto-Mon-Khmer

*yaʔ ‘grandmother’ (Shorto 2006). Therefore, Li’s *j- cannot be reconstructed for PT.

3.6.2.4 *ʔ-

The PT glottal stop is retained intact in all attested modern Tai varieties. Etyma that go back to this PT initial show tones in the first series, which indicates that this PT phoneme was voiceless. It is also reconstructed as *ʔ- in Li (1977: 243-250).

Examples of PT etyma with *ʔ- are given in Table 3-26.

110 Table 3-26 Etyma with PT *ʔ-

Gloss PT SI LC Y Others

‘to bathe’ *ʔa:p^D ʔa:p^DL1 ʔa:p^DL1 ʔa:p^DL1

‘to open the mouth’ *ʔa:^C ʔa:^C1 ʔa:^C1 ʔa:^C1

‘satiated’ *ʔi:m^B ʔim^B1 ʔim^B1 ʔim^B1

‘chest’ *ʔɤk^D ʔok^DS1 ʔɤk^DS1 ʔak^DS1

‘to exit’ *ʔo:k^D ʔɔ:k^DL1 ʔo:k^DL1 ʔok^DL1