Table 5.12. PKS hn- PS n̥- and PS ȵ̥- and ŋ̥ reflexes. Regular voiceless nasals are indicated
by double lines, words showing vowel nasalisation are shaded in grey Sandong
Pandong Yang’a
n Kam
Central Southern Eastern
Gloss PKS
SD JQ
DJ SJ
PD JL
TN ‘winter’
hnu
A
n̥ɔ¹ n̥o¹
n̥ɔ¹ hõ¹
- hõ¹
n̥o¹ no¹ †
‘rat’ hnu
C
n̥ɔ³ n̥o³
n̥ɔ³ hõ³
hõ³ hõ³
n̥o³ no³
‘who?’ PS n̥- n̥u¹
n̥ɐu¹ nu¹
hũ¹ nau¹
nau¹ nɐu¹ nu¹, nəu¹
‘longbow’ PS n̥- n̥a³
n̥a⁵ n̥a³
hã³ hjã³
hjã³ n̥a³
na³ ‘pancreas’
- n̥ja⁵
m̥a⁵ n̥ja⁵
hjã⁵ hjãːk⁷ hjã⁵
ȵ̥ã⁵ -
‘to dive’ -
n̥jɐp⁷ n̥jɐp⁷
n̥jap⁷ hjɐ̃p⁷ hjap⁷ -
- ȵap⁷
‘top of rice stem’
- ȵ̥aːŋ³
ȵ̥aːŋ³ ȵ̥aːŋ³
hjãːŋ³ - -
ȵ̥aːŋ³ ȵaːŋ³ ‘stinky’
PS ȵ̥- ȵ̥ũ¹ -
ȵ̥u¹ hjũ¹
hjũ¹ hjũ¹
- ȵo³,
ȵəu¹‡ ‘to shut eyes’ khlap
D
- -
- -
ⁿdap⁷ jɜp⁷ ȵ̥ap⁷
ȵap⁷ ‘to move’
- ŋ̥ɜi¹
ŋ̥ei¹ n̥ɜi¹
hɐ̃i¹ hjãi¹
hjẽi¹ n̥ɜi¹ nəi¹
‘to hear’ PS ŋ̥- ŋ̥ɜi⁵
ŋ̥ei⁵ ŋ̥ɜi⁵
hjɛ̃i⁵ hjãi⁵
hjẽi⁵ - -
‘cold’ PS ŋ̥- -
ŋ̥aːn⁵ ŋ̥aːn⁵
hjaːn⁵ hjãːn⁵ hjãːn⁵ ŋ̥aːn⁵ ljaːk⁷ ‘to blow’§
- ŋ̥aŋ⁵
ɣaːŋ⁶ -
- ŋɡaːŋ⁶ -
ŋɡaːŋ⁵ jaːŋ³, jaːŋ⁶ ‘to open’
PS ŋ̥- ŋ̥ɜi¹ -
ŋ̥ɜi¹ hjɛ̃i¹
- -
qʰɜi¹ ʔəi¹, qʰəi¹
† ‘cold’ Northern Kam ‡ In Kam,
ȵo³ specifically refers to the stink of burning hair; ȵəu¹ means ‘to get angry’. § ‘to blow one’s nose’ Zeng 1994:75, Zeng and Yao 1996:218.
jaːŋ³ is the Northern Kam pronunciation. Thurgood offers one example of PKS
hȵ- in hȵiŋ
A
‘bedbug’ jiŋ¹ all varieties of Sui apart from RL
niŋ¹. His reconstruction is primarily based on the Mulam reflex ȵ̥iŋ¹. Reflexes in all other Kam-Sui languages and dialects, however, suggest that Liang and Zhang’s 1996 reconstruction of
ŋkiŋ
A
for this word is closer to the mark. The PTK
ŋk- regularly became a voiceless nasal in Mulam. In common with Sui, Ai-Cham, Mak and Mulam retain voiceless nasals. In Then and Maonan, as in
many Kam dialects, all voiceless nasals have merged with their voiced counterparts. However, unlike in Kam, a secondary aspirated-induced tone split did not occur before the merger in these languages.
5.2.3 Prenasalised voiced stops
Sound changes in the prenasalised voiced stop series provide clear evidence for grouping three Southern Sui lects JQ, SW and JR together in a separate cluster as well as some evidence for subgrouping
Yang’an with Kam. Although the fourth Southern lect which we surveyed, SY, appears to have undergone sound changes consistent with Central Sui for this series, other innovations, particularly in
PKS stop-lateral clusters see section 5.2.5, show that SY clearly belongs to Southern Sui.
Prenasalised stops are realised as plain voiced stops by some speakers in some locations, in particular in the Pandong dialect area. Hence we find in the literature that
ᵐb- and ⁿd- are sometimes
transcribed as b- and d- for example Li Fang-kuei 1948, 1965; SDB 1958. However, prenasalisation is clearly detectable in almost all of our recordings from throughout the Sui area and most scholars
represent this in their transcriptions for example Zhang Junru 1980, Zeng and Yao 1996, Zeng 2004, James Wei 2008, 2011.
In the Kam-Sui branch, only Sui and Maonan have prenasalised stops, although Mak and Ai-Cham do have a phonemic distinction between regular voiced and voiceless stops, the former usually
corresponding to prenasalised stops in Sui. The primary prenasalised stops are ᵐb- and ⁿd-, although ɣ
and ʁ are commonly pronounced as ŋɡ- and ɴɢ- respectively in many if not most Sui dialects and
thus could be viewed as part of this series. Prenasalised stop onsets are far less common than their regular voiceless counterparts. In Li Fang-
kuei’s 2008 glossary, there are 26 pages of words beginning with t- compared to five pages of words beginning with
ⁿd-, and 15 pages of words beginning with p- compared to three pages of words beginning with
ᵐb-. BL is unusual among Sui dialects in that it has almost completely lost all prenasalisation. There are only ten examples of prenasalisation in our BL data, occurring at four points of
articulation: bilabial, alveolar, velar and uvular. The apparent retention of prenasalisation in these few etyma may be due to close contact with other Sui dialects spoken in the BL region.
The origin of prenasalised voiced stops in Sui is problematic. As in other branches of Tai-Kadai, voiced stops in the proto language lost their voicing after the Great Tone Split see chapter 4, section
4.2 and merged with their voiceless counterparts, for example PKS ba
A
‘rake’
7
pa²; do
A
‘classifier for animal’ to².
Almost all words in Sui with prenasalised voiced onsets bear yīn tones, suggesting that they were
originally voiceless in PKS. As Li Fang-kuei 1948:167 points out, “comparison with the Tai languages seems to indicate that the [prenasalised] voiced b-, d- are not original,” citing ‘eye’
ⁿda¹ Sui, ta¹ Siam Proto-Tai PT t-; ‘low’
ⁿdim⁵ Sui, tam⁵ Siam PT t-; ‘year’ ᵐbe¹ Sui, piː¹ Siam PT p- etc. Li suggests that prenasalisation on such words was a secondary development, the conditions for
which are “at present unknown” see also Li Fang-kuei 1965. We suggest that prenasalised stops actually originate in PKS sesquisyllabic forms which had nasal presyllables. We discuss this in more
detail in the relevant sections below.
5.2.3.1 Prenasalised bilabial stops
Thurgood 1988:190 and Ferlus 1996:263 both propose PKS mp- for words with ᵐb- in Sui; reflexes
are given in table 5.13. For these words to have acquired yīn tones, the m- prefix presumably
constituted a presyllable as part of a sesquisyllabic form m ə-p-, represented as m.p- in Pittayaporn’s
2009 notation. Maonan also has ᵐb- for these words, agreeing with most of the Sandong Sui dialects.
Reflexes for ‘to plant’, ‘ear of grain’ and ‘leech’ support a Yang’an-Kam subgrouping as well as suggesting a historical relationship between Pandong and Western Sui see also chapter 4, section 4.3.2.
However, given the internal consistency of Pandong and Central and Western Sui with respect to other sound changes, we do not propose grouping Pandong with Yang’an.
Ferlus 1996:247 proposes PKS Cmr- for ‘to plant’, ‘ear of grain’ and ‘leech’ and suggests that Cmr- Cmbr-
yīn tone assigned mbj- in Sandong Sui and Maonan, and Cmr mr- yáng tone assigned mj- Kam, merging with mj-, m
ɣ- Mulam.
For ‘leech’, Sandong Sui usually use the word ᵐbi³, but Maonan uses ᵐbiŋ¹ a homonym with
‘expensive’, cognate with Kam, Yang’an, Pandong and Western Sui.
7
PKS here from Ferlus 1996. Thurgood 1988:187 hesitates to reconstruct the voiced stops PKS b- and d- because words with p- and t- initials bearing yáng tones are rare and most are clearly Chinese loans Middle Chinese,
incidentally, did have voiced stops. Presumably he believes that the Chinese loans were borrowed into Sui after the Great Tone Split and after the voiced onsets had lost their voicing.
Table 5.13. mp- PS ᵐp-. Plain voiceless stops are indicated by double lines.
Simple nasal onsets are highlighted in grey Sandong
Pandong Yang’an
Kam Central Western Southern Eastern
Gloss PKS
SD TP
JQ DJ
JL TN
BL ‘male’
mpaːn
A
ᵐbaːn¹ ᵐbaːn¹ ᵐbaːn¹ ᵐbaːn¹ ᵐbaːn¹
ᵐbaːn¹ paːn¹ paːn¹ ‘year’
mpe
A
ᵐbe¹ ᵐbɛ¹
ᵐbɛ¹ ᵐbɛ¹
ᵐbæ¹ ᵐbɛ¹
pɛ¹ pe¹ †
‘expensive’ mpiŋ
A
ᵐbiŋ¹ ᵐbiŋ¹
ᵐbiŋ¹ ᵐbiŋ¹
- ᵐbiŋ¹ ᵐbiŋ¹ ȶui⁵‡
‘to love’ -
ᵐbjum¹ - -
ᵐbjum¹ mjum²
PD § -
- -
‘chicken flea’
- ᵐbjaːi¹ mjaːi⁵ ᵐbjaːi¹
SL -
mjaːi² JC
- -
- ‘to plant’
mpra
A
ᵐbja¹ miːa²
ᵐbja¹ ᵐbja¹
miɛ² mja²
mja² mja²
‘ear of grain’
mpraːŋ
A
ᵐbjaːŋ¹ mjaːŋ² ᵐbjaːŋ¹ ᵐbjaːŋ¹ mjaŋ² mjaːŋ² mjaːŋ² mjeŋ²
‘leech’ mpliŋ
A
- miŋ²
- -
miŋ² miŋ²
miŋ² mjiŋ²
† From Kam ‘last year’ ȵin¹ pe¹. In Kam, pe¹ refers to the previous year and appears to be cognate with the
general word for ‘year’ in Sui ᵐbe¹ cf. Northern Kam ‘last year’ we¹ and ‘male’ waːn¹.
‡ Southern Kam Dayun, western Rongshui county: p əŋ¹.
§ Means ‘to miss somebody’ in PD. BL, in common with all Kam dialects, has no prenasalisation on ‘male’ and ‘year’. It is possible that
an original nasal prefix was dropped in Kam and BL at around the same time whereas in most Sui dialects, including other Yang’an dialects, it reduced to prenasalisation. In modern Sui, no
ᵐb- p- merger was observed. Instead, we found a widespread tendency for
ᵐb- to merge with v- among young speakers in PD, JL both Pandong and SY Southern.
5.2.3.2 Prenasalised alveolar stops
Thurgood 1988 suggests that neither prenasalisation nor a nasal presyllable was present in PKS for this series, but rather that prenasalisation developed at a later stage concurring on this point with Li Fang-
kuei 1948, 1965. However, we think it an unlikely morphemic or phonemic restriction that only bilabial onsets could have a nasal prefix or bear prenasalisation in the proto language. We therefore
posit PKS nasal presyllables for Sui prenasalised alveolar stops.
Correspondence sets for prenasalised alveolar stops are given in table 5.14. They provide strong evidence for grouping three Southern Sui lects, JQ, SW and JR, together, as well as backing up a
Yang’an-Kam subgrouping.
Table 5.14. PKS thr-, tr-, thl-. Non-prenasalised voiceless stop initials are indicated by double lines. Words with lateral or grooved fricative onsets are shaded in grey
Sandong Pandong
Sandong Southern
Yang’an Kam†
Central Eastern
Gloss PKS
SD DJ
JL JQ
TN BL
‘wasp’ -
ⁿdin¹ -
- -
ⁿdin¹ ⁿdin¹
lin ¹
‘sand’ -
ⁿde¹ ⁿde¹
ⁿdæ¹ ⁿdɛ¹
ⁿdɛ¹ ⁿdɛ¹
ɕe¹ ‘thorn’
- ⁿdun¹
ⁿdun¹ ⁿduən¹
ⁿdun¹ lun¹
ⁿdun¹ sun¹ ‘hot’
- ⁿdu³
ⁿdu³ ⁿdu³
tu³ laːu³
laːu³ saːu³
‘body’ thrun
A
ⁿdən¹ ⁿdən¹
ⁿdən¹ tən¹
zən¹ sən¹
ɕən¹ ‘low’
thram
B
ⁿdɐm⁵ ⁿdam⁵
ⁿdam⁵ tɐm⁵
tʰam⁵ tʰɐm⁵ tʰam⁵
‘short length’
thrin
C
ⁿdjɪn³ ⁿdjɪn³
ⁿdjɜn³ tjɪn³
tʰjen³ tʰjɪn³
tʰən³ ‘locust’
thrak
D
ⁿdjɐk⁷ ⁿdjak⁷
ⁿdjɐk⁷ tjɐk⁷
ⁿdjak⁷ tjak⁷
ȶak⁷ ‘to vomit’
trwak
D
- -
ⁿdɯə⁵ taːk⁷
- -
- ‘dry
field’ traːi
B
ⁿdaːi⁵ ⁿdaːi⁵
ⁿdaːi⁵ taːi⁵
ⁿdaːi⁵ taːi⁵
- ‘to buy’
trai
C
ⁿdjei³ ⁿdjɜi³
ⁿdjei³ tjei³
ⁿdjɜi³ tjei³
ȶəi³ ‘firewood’ trit
D
ⁿdjɪt⁷ ⁿdjet⁷
ⁿdjɜt⁷ tjet⁷
ⁿdjet⁷ tjɪt⁷
ȶət⁷ ‘we inc.’
traːu
A
ⁿdaːu¹ ⁿdaːu¹
ⁿdaːu¹ taːu¹
ⁿdaːu¹ taːu¹
taːu¹ ‘eye’
thla
A
ⁿda¹ ⁿda¹
ⁿda¹ ⁿda¹
ⁿda¹ ta¹
ta¹ ‘large
pool’ thlam
A
ⁿdɐm¹ ⁿdam¹
ⁿdam¹ ⁿdɐm¹
ⁿdam¹ tɐm¹
tam¹ ‘to meet’
- ⁿdɐm¹
ⁿdam¹ ⁿdom³
- ⁿdam¹
tɐm¹ təm¹
‘place’ -
ⁿdjɔŋ³ ⁿdjɔːŋ³ ⁿdjɔɐŋ³
ⁿdjuɐŋ³ ⁿdjɔːŋ³
tjɔŋ³ -
‘fragrant’ -
ⁿdaːŋ¹ ⁿdaːŋ¹
ⁿdaːŋ¹ ⁿdaːŋ¹
ⁿdaːŋ¹ ⁿdaːŋ¹ taːŋ¹
† Kam is almost entirely internally consistent for all reflexes in this table. The obvious exception is Northern Kam Zhongzhai, Xinhuang county: ‘to buy’, ‘firewood’ and ‘we inc.’ all have lj- onsets;
‘fragrant’ and ‘eye’ have n- onsets.
Zeng 1994 reconstructs PS ⁿt- for all of these words. Mulam reflexes, which often have hɣ- onsets
e.g., ‘short’ h ɣən³, ‘to buy’ hɣəi³, ‘body’ hɣən¹, etc., make reconstructing only PKS nt- without
consonant clusters problematic. Because of the Mulam reflexes, Thurgood proposes PKS consonant clusters tr, thr- and thl- and suggests that prenasalisation developed at a later stage. Liang and Zhang
1996 reconstruct PTK nt-, nd-, ntr- and ndr-, complementing their bilabial counterparts mp- and mpr-.
Ferlus 1996 agrees with Thurgood that PKS nt- is unlikely, due to reflexes in Mulam h ɣ- and
Lakkia pl- , pʰl-, s-, and posits sesquisyllabic forms such as PKS pt- ‘eye’ and ‘fragrant’, Ct- ‘we inc.’
and ‘field’, Cts- ‘thorn’ and ‘hot’, Ctsʰ ‘short’ and ‘low’ and tsⁿr- ‘locust’ and ‘firewood’. For ‘eye’
and ‘fragrant’, Liang and Zhang 1996 propose PTK mpr- to account for Lakkia reflexes, but mpr- for these words does not square with reflexes of words such as ‘ear of grain’
mpraːŋ
A
discussed above. Overall, this set of correspondences, especially in the light of cognate forms in Mulam and Lakkia, is
hard to explain from a historical perspective. Perhaps the neatest solution is to reconstruct sesqui- or disyllabic forms with initial minor syllables containing a nasal element. For example, PKS N.tsren
‘wasp’, N.tsrun
A
‘thorn’, m.trak
D
‘locust’ cf. Lakkia plak⁷, m.tla
A
‘eye’ cf. Lakkia pla¹, m.tlaːŋ
A
‘fragrant’ cf. Lakkia plaːŋ¹, N.tsʰram
B
‘low’, N.tam
A
‘large pool’, N̥.traːi
B
‘dry field’ cf. Mulam h ɣaːi⁵,
N̥.traːu
A
‘we inc.’ cf. Mulam h ɣəːu¹ etc. Some words in Buyang Li Jinfang 2000, though not
necessarily direct correspondences, make for interesting comparisons: Table 5.15. Comparison between Buyang Li Jinfang 2000 and Sui
It is possible that the sporadic l- onsets in ‘wasp’, ‘thorn’ and ‘hot’ Kam, Yang’an are the result of a later
ⁿd- l- partial merger. We have observed ⁿd- l- currently taking place in Pandong JL and Southern JQ, JR, SY dialect areas. An s-l- alternation in Kam and Yang’an is also seen in words which
commonly have h- in other Sui dialects see sections 5.2.5.3 and 5.2.7.1, possibly originating in a voiceless lateral
l̥- cf. Mulam l̥yn¹ ‘thorn’ or a consonant cluster such as stl- proposed by Liang and Zhang 1996 or tsr-. Aspiration on ‘low’
tʰam⁵ and ‘short’ tʰjen³ Yang’an Sui, Kam could be a secondary development just like many aspirated stops in Standard Thai which originated in voiced stops Li Fang-
kuei 1977a. As with m.p- above, BL and Kam and Then appear to have dropped the nasal presyllable in most
words whereas it has reduced to prenasalisation in other Yang’an dialects. Conditioning factors are unclear. Furthermore, words with a medial -r- in PKS as reconstructed by Thurgood have no
prenasalisation in Southern Sui with the exception of SY which has ⁿd- for all of these words, setting it
apart from Central and Eastern varieties. These words consistently have r- in Then e.g., ‘hot’ riu³, ‘to
buy’ re³, ‘low’ ram⁵, etc..
The sound changes all phonemic mergers observed here can be summarised as in 3 PKS is ours: 3
Sound changes with prenasalized alveolar stops N.tsr- l-
ɕ-s- Kam, some Yang’an, ⁿd- all other Sui N.tsʰr- tʰ- Kam, Yang’an, t- Southern, ⁿd- Central, Western, Eastern, Pandong
N.tr-, N.thr- t- ȶ- Kam, t-tj- BL, Southern, lj- Zhongzhai Kam,
ⁿd- Yang’an TN, LW, Central Eastern, Pandong N.t-, N.tl- t- Kam, Yang’an BL,
ⁿd- all other Sui, n- Zhongzhai Kam 5.2.3.3
Prenasalised velar stops Sui
ŋɡ- is usually transcribed as ɣ- in the literature even though our data shows that ŋɡ- is the more common pronunciation in most Sui dialects. Correspondences are shown in table 5.16. The widespread
Gloss Buyang
Sui ‘wasp’
ma⁰ tɛn³¹² ⁿdin¹
‘locust’ ma⁰ tak¹¹
ⁿdjak⁷ ‘eye’
ma⁰ ta⁵⁴ ⁿda¹
‘pool’ ɔŋ²⁴ tam¹¹†
ⁿdam¹ ‘we inc.
tsum⁵⁴ tu⁵⁴‡ ⁿdaːu¹
† ɔŋ²⁴ means ‘water’ in Buyang
‡ tsum⁵⁴ is a plural marker in Buyang, cf. Sui ȶin¹ ⁿdaːu¹
practice of transcribing a velar fricative is perhaps due to the convention established by Li Fang-kuei, most of whose descriptive work on Sui is based on Southern Sui varieties spoken in Libo county in
particular SL “Ngam-Li”. Our research shows that speakers of all ages from all four of our Southern Sui data points consistently pronounce this onset as
ɣ-. This fact and a distinctive tonal development discussed in chapter 4, section 4.3.3 both provide evidence for a separate Southern Sui subgrouping.
Zeng 1994 reconstructs PS x- and ɣ- for these words. Thurgood reconstructs one PKS initial,
hr-, but our data indicates that there were two forms at the PKS stage, possibly both with a preceding nasal minor syllable, for example N.k- cf. PTK
ŋkl- for ‘spider’, Liang and Zhang, 1996:345 and N.kr-. The latter corresponding to Thurgood’s hr- could have acquired voicing after the Great Tone
Split in Southern Sui but before the Great Tone Split in other Sui varieties and Kam. Alternatively, the prenasalisation in many Sui dialects could have been a secondary development, as Thurgood 1988 and
Li Fang-kuei 1965 imply.
Table 5.16. PKS hr-. Voiced fricative initials are indicated by double lines Sandong
Pandong Yang’an Kam
Central Eastern
Southern Gloss
PKS SD
DJ JQ
SY JL
BL ‘cool’ Kam: ‘ice’
- ŋɡaːŋ⁵
ŋɡaːŋ⁵ ɣaːŋ⁵ laːŋ⁵
h̃jaːn⁵ kaːŋ⁵
kaːŋ⁵, ʔaːŋ⁵
‘to soak rotten’ † -
ŋɡɐm¹ -
ɣɐm¹ - -
- kɐm¹
‘spider’ ‡ -
ŋɡɔ¹ -
ɣo¹ ɣo¹
- ŋɔ²
ŋo² ‘pear’
- ŋɡɜi²
ŋɡɜi² ɣei¹
ɣɜi¹ ŋɡei²
ŋɡei² jai²
‘home, house’ hraːn
A
ŋɡaːn² ŋɡaːn²
ɣaːn¹ ɣaːn¹ ŋɡaːn² ŋɡaːn²
jaːn² ‘two’
hra
A
ŋɡa² ŋɡa²
ɣa¹ ɣa¹
ŋɡa² ŋɡa²
- ‘to drink’
- ŋɡʊm⁴
ŋɡʊm⁴ ɣʊm³ ɣʊm³ ŋɡom⁴
ŋɡom⁴ hum⁴
† Data from our own field notes. ‡ Sui data from Zeng 2004:273; Stanford 2007:76 has
ŋɔ² for ‘spider’ in Shuilong just north of our ZH data point.
5.2.3.4 Prenasalised uvular stops
Like its velar counterpart, the prenasalised uvular stop is also sometimes always in Southern Sui realised as a voiced fricative, usually transcribed as
ʁ-. Correspondences are shown in table 5.17. Yang’an onset and tonal reflexes both support grouping Yang’an with Kam dialects. PD is unique in that
PKS hŋl- Thurgood has retained its velar point of articulation and merged with ɣ- or ŋɡ- for some
speakers. In common with Maonan, Mulam, Then, Ai-Cham and Mak, PD Sui has no uvular onsets at all.
Table 5.17. PKS hŋr-, hŋl-. Voiceless stop onsets are indicated by double lines. Words exhibiting velar
fricative onsets are shaded in grey Sandong
Pandong Yang’an
Kam † Central Eastern Southern
Gloss PKS
SD DJ
JQ JL
PD TN
BL ‘skin’
hŋra
A
- -
ʁa¹ -
- -
- ʔa¹, ka¹‡
‘ramie’ -
ɴɢaːn¹ - ʁaːn¹
- -
ɴɢaːn¹ - ʔaːn¹
‘to carry over one’s arm’
- ɴɢaːi⁵
ɴɢaːi⁵ ʁaːi⁵
- ɣaːi⁵ -
ɴɢaːi⁵ - ‘mushroom’
hŋla
A
ɴɢa¹ ɴɢa¹
ʁa¹ ʁa¹
ɣa¹ qa²
qa² la², ʔa²
‘shoulder pole’ hŋlaːn
A
ɴɢaːn¹ ɴɢaːn¹ ʁɐːn¹ ʁaːn¹ ɣaːn¹ qaːn²
qaːn² laːn², ʔaːn²
‘young chicken’
hŋlaːŋ
B
ɴɢaːŋ⁵ ɴɢaːŋ⁵ ʁaːŋ⁵ ʁaːŋ⁵ ɣaːŋ⁵ qaːŋ⁶
qaːŋ⁶ ʔaːŋ⁶ ‘in inside’
- ɴɢaːu³ ɴɢaːu³ ʔaːu³
ʔaːu³ ʔaːu⁴ qaːu⁴ qaːu⁴ ʔaːu⁴
† These words all have q- onsets in many Kam dialects. In “Standard” Southern Kam, q- ʔ-.
‡ ʔa¹ Xiaoguang, ka¹ Shidong. Southern Kam, in common with all varieties of Sui apart from Southern, uses old
Chinese loan pi². Liang and Zhang reconstruct PTK
ʁ- and Pittayaporn 2009 reconstructs r- for cognates in Proto- Tai. Zeng 1994 reconstructs PS
ʔʁ-. Thurgood 1988:200 supposes that the nasal elements of the corresponding onsets in Maonan,
ŋɡ-, and Mulam, ŋ̥-, are retentions from the PKS stage, although he does caution that his reconstructions are very speculative. The fact that this onset is regularly
pronounced as a prenasalised stop in Central, Western and Eastern Sui supports Thurgood’s hypothesis of a nasal element at the PKS stage, although a uvular equivalent e.g., N.q-, N.ql- or N.qr- is a neater
proposal given the evidence presented in the previous section regarding prenasalised velars.
The Chinese loanwords ‘hai’ and ‘narrow’ provide an interesting comparison. Pulleyblank 1991 reconstructs EMC
ɣ- for these words along with several others that are still used in Sui character script, whereas Baxter and Sagart 2011 reconstruct h- see table 5.18. The voicing on Pulleyblank’s
reconstruction is probably a reflection of an earlier sound scholars agree on OC ɡ- ‘hai’ and OC ɡr-
‘narrow’, see SGYCX, 2011, suggesting that these two words were borrowed at an earlier stage than the other words in table 5.17.
Table 5.18. EMC ɣ- h- loanwords in Sui and Kam
Gloss Source
character EMC pronunciation
Pulleyblank EMC pronunciation
Baxter and Sagart Sui
Southern Kam
‘hai ’ 亥
ɣəj
B
hoj
B
ʁaːi³ † ʔəi⁴
‘narrow’ 狹
ɣɛːp
D
heap
D
ʁɛːp⁷ ʔəp⁸
‘summer’ 夏
ɣaɨ
C
ɣɛː
C
hae
C
ja³ ha⁵
‘malign’ 害
ɣaj
C
haj
C
haːi⁵ haːi⁵
‘obtain’ 獲
ɣwaɨjk
D
hweak
D
fak⁷ -
‘slow’ 緩
ɣwan
B
hwan
B
faːn¹ -
† PD has ʔaːi³ Zeng 1994:83 and TN has qaːi⁴ Burkiewicz 2012 for this word.
5.2.4 PKS -w- clusters