Front Unrounded
Back Rounded
outer phonemes treated as vowels
outer phonemes treated as semi-vowels
outer phonemes treated as vowels
outer phonemes treated as semi-vowels
Close iau jaw ua wa
Close-Mid eu eo
ew oi
oj Mid
Open-Mid Open
short: au, ai, a ɯ
aw, aj, a ɰ
long: a ːu, aːi, aːw, aːj
The fact that there is no a length contrast in the diphthong a ɯ is explained by the fact that this modern diphthong developed from the PT əɯ and PT eɛɯ,
but Li did not reconstruct any a ɯ to develop into aːɯ in contrast to au aːu and ai aːi. The above table contains no palatalized or labialized onset
diphthongs, as we are treating these by proposing palatalized or labialized consonant phonemes. Most of these result from the simplification of consonant clusters, although a few, such as m
ʲ, which is mostly found in Chinese loan words, do not.
3.7.2 Consonants
The following table lists the Nong consonant phonemes:
place of articulation ⇒ means of articulation ⇓
labial dental
alveolar palatal
velar unaspirated voiceless plosive
p t
c k
aspirated voiceless plosive p
ʰ t
ʰ cʰ kʰ pre-glottalized voiced plosive
ʔb ʔd
voiced nasal plosive m n
ɲ ŋ
voiceless fricative f
θ [s] x [h]
voiced fricative ð
liquid l
semi-vowels w [
ʋ] ɰ y
In addition to the above consonants, it is possible to posit additional sets of palatalized and labialized consonants. A larger set of phoneme consonants would simplify the Nong syllable template, as it would eliminate the possibility of any consonant clusters e.g. to C V VVC. However, this would require us to
propose a large set of phonemic mergers in certain Nong dialects, rather than simply the elision of certain semi-vowels in certain words, these dialects. Also, we know that many of these “palatalized” and “labialized” initial consonants do, in fact, result from vowel + liquid consonant clusters or from simple consonants
followed, diphthongs at least as Li analyzed them. Therefore, we prefer to allow initial consonant clusters into our template, with the condition that the second consonant element be a semi-vowel: C SV V V C.
The only required element of a Nong syllable is the medial vowel. Syllables in Nong can begin with a consonant, which may be any of the above phonemic consonants, except for semivowels. The second option slot is filled by a semi-vowel, with or without another preceding consonant. Initial consonant p, p
ʰ, ʔb, m, t, t
ʰ, ʔd, n, l, ð, θ, t, l, k, kʰ, ŋ may be followed by one of two semi-vowels, j if the initial consonant is one of the following p, pʰ, ʔb, m, t, tʰ, ʔd, n, l, ð, θ, or w if the initial consonant is t, l, k, k
ʰ, and possibly ŋ. If both the C and the SV slots are not filled, then it is common to precede the medial vowel with a non- phonemic glottal stop. The medial vowel can be optionally followed by a single consonant, which can be an oral unaspirated plosive, a semi-vowel or labial,
alveolar or velar nasal p, t, k, y, w, ɰ, m, n, ŋ.
Specific examples for these phonemes including minimal pairs to illustrate phonemic contrasts will be presented in the following section on orthography.
4 Orthography
4.1 A Brief History of Zhuang Orthographies
