Palatalised onsets From onsets to rimes: Palatalisation, labialisation and glides

ȶiu⁵ and ‘fishy’ ju¹, ‘scissors’ jiu¹. 18 We have found no such distinction for the labialised group, the difference apparently due only to transcription preference i.e., kwi³ ‘stream’ = kui³ ‘stream’. Some dialects, in particular Pandong and northern and Western Sui varieties TP, AT and TZ in our survey 19 , realise many palatal onsets as extended vowel glides. For example, ‘hand’ mja¹ SD, miːa¹ TP, PD and ‘to raise one’s head’ tjem¹ SD, tiːam¹ TP, tiəm¹ PD. This, coupled with some accompanying mergers, provides weight to a Pandong-Western subgrouping. Stanford 2011:128 observes that in some western dialect areas Tangzhou TZ, Shuilong and Yang’an the final -a in - iːa is somewhat centralised, transcribing it as -iə we observed the same in PD, cf. ti əm¹. A similar phenomenon is true for the far rarer ‘labialised’ onsets, pronounced as glides in the Tingpai TP region, for example ‘Dwa festival’ twa³ SD, tuːa³ TP, tuə³ PD and ‘axe’ kwaːn¹ SD, kuːɐn¹ TP, kuən¹ PD. Again, -ua is often phonetically closer to -uə. The question this poses, then, is whether palatalised initials existed in the proto-language or whether they were induced by i- on-glides in PKS complex rimes Cia Cja. The former scenario is advocated by Thurgood 1988 and Li Fang-kuei 1965, the latter by Wang Dewen 1988:136 and Zeng 1994. For reasons which will become clear, we support the former hypothesis. It seems that, in Li Fang- kuei’s 1965:157 words, “the -j- is vocalised and the vowel -a is reduced” in Tingpai TP, geographically very close to Li’s “Pyo” and nearby dialects PKS Cj- Ciː-. This could also be described as palatal- induced diphthongisation of the rime nucleus. In the same dialects, a parallel process has occurred for labialised onsets, in which the -w- or -u- has lengthened and the vowel -a reduced Cwa Cuːə. Most phonologies of Central Sui analyse CjV- as a palatalised consonant segment followed by a vowel rather than as a consonant followed by a glide Li Fang-kuei 1948, 2008; SDB 1958; Zhang Junru 1980; Zeng and Yao 1996; James Wei 2008, 2011. Stanford 2007:167; 2011:128 suggests that these sequences may perhaps be better analysed as CVV. With regard to the labialised onsets, we agree with Stanford that Cw+V- may be better analysed as C+uV. With regard to palatalised onsets, however, historical evidence shows that Cj + V is the most appropriate analysis.

5.3.1 Palatalised onsets

In Western and Pandong dialects, the -j- in Cja is vocalised and lengthened unless the onset is a voiceless bilabial stop. The original long vowel - aː is subsequently shortened and sometimes raised to -ɛ or -e or centralised and weakened to - ə resulting in a similar overall rime duration. 20 In other words, vowel lengthening is transferred from the nucleus to the preceding glide, in some instances resulting in -i- becoming the vowel nucleus and -e or - ə constituting a light off-glide. This also occurs when the initial consonant is alveolopalatal. Examples involving a wide range of onsets are shown in table 5.39. As far as we know, this phenomenon has not been observed in other Kam-Sui languages or dialects, although it does occur in Lakkia for example ‘river’ tsiẽ¹ and ‘seedling’ cie³. This sound change therefore provides fairly weighty backing for a Pandong-Western Sui subgrouping. 18 The auditory distinction between -ju and -iu in such words is actually quite clear: the [j] medial in the former is part of a palatalised onset e.g., ‘tough’ tʲu⁵ and the [i] onglide in the latter is lengthened e.g., ‘to hang’ tiːu⁵. Chinese loanwords indicate that Ciaw, C ɛw Ciu SD and Cjuw Cju SD. For example all proto forms are EMC: ‘hawk’ jiaw C jiu⁶ SD, ‘bridge’ ɡiaw A ȶiu² SD, ‘strip’ dɛw A tiu² SD; and ‘willow’ luw B lju⁴ SD, ‘10th earthly branch’ juw B ju⁴ SD, ‘to keep guard’ ɕuw B sju³ JQ, su³ SD. Southern Sui retains the ew glide in words such as ‘hawk’ jeu⁶ JQ and ‘strip’ tjeu² SY. 19 Stanford’s 2011 observations suggest that all Sandong Sui varieties north of Zhonghe ZH and west of Sandong SD have undergone this sound change. 20 Sarawit 1973 and Pittayaporn 2009 argue strongly that Proto-Tai vowels in open syllables were always long. We believe that the same is true for Proto-Kam-Sui. The particular sound change observed here, which also took place for long vowels but not for short vowels in closed syllables see tables 5.39, 5.40 and discussion, provides convincing evidence in support of this view. Although we did not generally transcribe - ə, we noticed that many speakers in TP exhibited a final centralised vowel instead of the original -a. Table 5.39. -j- lengthening to -i- on -ja, lengthening indicated by double lines Sandong Pandong Yang’an Kam Eastern Southern Central Western Gloss PKS DJ JQ SD TP AT PD JL BL ‘rock’ † pra A - pja¹ pja¹ - - pja¹ pja¹ pja¹ pja¹ ‘to turn over’ - pʰja³ pʰja³ pʰja³ pʰja³ pʰja³ pʰja³ pʰja³ pʰja³ pʰja³ ‘to plant tree’ mpra A ᵐbja¹ ᵐbja¹ ᵐbja¹ miːa² miːɛ² mia² miɛ² mja² mja² ‘hand’ k-mja A mja¹ mja¹ mja¹ miːa¹ miːɛ¹ mia¹ miɛ¹ mja² mja² ‘bored’ ɓja B ᵐbja⁵ ʔbja⁵ ʔbja⁵ ʔbiːa⁵ ʔbiːɛ⁵ ᵐbia⁵ ᵐbiɛ⁵ mja⁵ mja⁵ ‘river’ ʔnja A ʔnja¹ ʔnja¹ ʔnja¹ ʔniːa¹ ʔniːɛ¹ nia¹ - nja¹ ȵa¹ ‘seedling’ kla C ⁿdja³ ȶa³ ʔdja³ ʔdiːa³ ʔdiːɛ³ ⁿdia³ ⁿdiɛ³ ka³ ka³ ‘tea’ - tsja² tsja² tsja² tsiːa² tsiːɛ² ȶia² ȶie² tsɛ² ɕe² ‘pointed’ - hja¹ ȶʰa¹ ɕa¹ ɕiːa¹ hiːɛ¹ hia¹ hiɛ¹ kʰa¹ ɕo⁵ ‘cloth’ - ʔja¹ ʔja¹ ʔja¹ ʔiːa¹ ʔiːɛ¹ jia¹ j iɛ¹ ja¹ ja¹ † This means ‘mountain’ in Southern Sui. In most other Sandong dialect areas, we elicited tin² for ‘rock’ and nu² for mountain. Many palatalised onsets originating in Thurgood’s PKS -r- and -l- correspond to C ɣ- clusters in Mulam, for example ‘to plant’ m ɣa², ‘seedling’ kɣa³ and ‘rock’ pɣa¹. For such words, PKS Cia seems unlikely and the directionality of sound change in Pandong and Western Sui is presumably CraCla Cja Ciːa. The reasons for pja and pʰja retaining palatalisation are unclear. When Cj- is followed by long monophthongs - aː or -e and a nasal or stop coda, the same phenomenon has occurred in Western Sui and PD Pandong, provided that the onset is not a voiceless bilabial stop. 21 Some examples involving nasal codas are given in table 5.40. We do not show Thurgood’s PKS because most of these words are not included in his data. Southern Sui pronunciation is identical to SD with the exception of ‘moon’ njaːn² instead of SD njen². Eastern Sui RL and SJ are consistent with DJ. 21 Although we do not transcribe -e- as a long vowel when it occurs before a nasal, phonemically it can be viewed as a long vowel. When -e- occurs before -p, -t or -k codas it is always long thus there is always a clear pitch contour on tones 7 and 8. Table 5.40. -j- lengthening to -i- on - jaːN first seven words and -jeN final eight words, -i- lengthening indicated by double lines, words showing loss of original vowel nucleus shaded in grey Sandong Pandong Yang’an Kam Eastern Central Western Gloss DJ SD TZ TP AT PD JL BL ‘to disappear’ pʰjaːm¹ pʰjaːm¹ pʰjaːm¹ pʰjaːm¹ pʰjaːm¹ pʰjaːm¹ - pʰjaːm¹ pʰjaːm¹ ‘to touch’ fjaːm⁵ fjaːm⁵ fjaːm⁵ fiːam⁵ fiɛm⁵ - - fjaːm⁵ - ‘otter’ ᵐbjaːn³ ʔbjaːn³ ʔmjaːn³ ʔbiːɛn³ ʔbiɛn³ ᵐbien³ vin³ mjaːn³ mjaːn³ ‘chilli’ ljaːn⁵ ljaːn⁵ ljaːn⁵ liːɛn⁵ liɛn⁵ lien⁵ lin⁵ ljaːn⁶ ljaːn⁶ ‘garden’ fjaːn¹ ɕaːn¹ fjin¹ viːɛn¹ fiɛn¹ ɥːen¹ vin¹ fjaːn¹ jaːn¹ ‘to warm’ ɕaːŋ⁴ sjaːŋ⁴ - siːaŋ⁴ siɛŋ⁴ ɕiəŋ⁴ ɕiŋ⁴ - ɕaːŋ⁴ ‘to turn pages’ ʔdjaːŋ³ ʔdjaːŋ³ - ʔdiːaŋ³ ʔdiɛŋ³ ⁿdiəŋ³ ⁿdiəŋ³ - - ‘to raise’ tiɛm¹ tjem¹ tim¹ tiːam¹ tiɛm¹ tiəm¹ tim¹ tim¹ tim¹ ‘sickle’ liɛm⁴ ljem⁴ ljim⁴ liːam⁴ ljɛːm⁴ liəm⁴ ljim⁴ jaːu¹ kwaːŋ³ ljim⁴ ‘quilt’ miɛn² mjen² min² miːɛn² miɛn² - min² min² min² ‘money’ hiɛn² ɕen² ɕin² ɕiːɛn² hiɛn² hien² hin² hin² hin² ‘toilsome’ hiɛn⁶ ɕen⁶ ɕin⁶ ɕiːɛn⁶ hiɛn⁶ hien⁶ hin⁶ hin⁶ ‘moon’ niɛn² njen² nin² niːɛn² njɛːn² nien² nin² njaːn¹ ȵaːn¹ ‘cheap’ ȶiɛn⁶ tsjen⁶ tsien⁶ tsiːɛn⁶ tsiɛn⁶ ȶien⁶ - tsɛːn⁶ jin ⁶ † ‘resemblance’ hiɛŋ⁵ ɕeŋ⁵ ɕiəŋ⁵ ɕiːaŋ⁵ hiɛŋ⁵ hiəŋ⁵ hiəŋ⁵ hiŋ⁵ † In Kam, the more common word for ‘cheap’ is t əu⁶ or the modern Chinese loan pjen²ȵi². Even though Thurgood did not have enough data to reconstruct them, it is clear from our data that there were two phonemically distinct vowel nuclei - aː- and -e- in PKS Liang and Zhang posit -a- and - ɛ- respectively at the PTK stage. Yang’an and most varieties of Sandong Sui, as well as all known Kam dialects, retain a phonemic contrast between these two vowels, whereas they have partially merged in Western Sui TP, AT and Pandong when they occur after palatalised or palatal onsets. Rare examples of retention of -a- in TP include ‘ear of grain’ mjaːŋ² TP, ‘tooth’ vjaːn¹ TP and ‘not old and not new’ m̥jaːn³ TP. It seems that - jaːN is more resistant to change than -jeːN, with a clear -j- lengthening seen in the latter in far more dialects TP, AT, DJ, RL, SJ, PD and occasionally TZ. In all three locations where -j- in - jaːN has seen a lengthening TP, AT and PD, either the -a- has raised to -e- or the -e- has lowered to -a- resulting in a merger with their - jeːN counterparts. In TZ, JL, Yang’an and Kam all known dialects, - jeN has mostly merged with -iN. In JL, - jaːN has also merged with -iN. It is likely that PKS -eN developed secondarily from Chinese loanwords. Unambiguous Chinese loanwords in table 5.40 are: ‘garden’ 園 EMC wuan A ; ‘sickle’ 鐮 EMC liam A ; ‘quilt’ 棉 EMC mjian A ; ‘money’ 錢 EMC dzian A ; ‘cheap’ 賤 EMC dzian C ; and ‘resemblance’ 相 EMC s ɨaŋ C . Table 5.41 shows words with Cj- followed by long monophthongs - aː or -eː and a stop coda. Southern Sui is consistent with SD. We do not have examples of every coda in our data because some are particularly rare. 22 A similar lengthening of -j- to - iː- as seen with nasal finals is evident. In TZ and AT, - a- raises to - ɛ- or -e-, as with Cjaː. Again, it is likely that -eC developed secondarily from Chinese loanwords, cf. ‘along the road’ 貼 EMC tʰɛp D ; ‘plate’ 碟 EMC d ɛp D ; ‘to bear fruit’ 結 EMC k ɛt D . As with their nasal coda counterparts, words with bilabial voiceless stop onsets have not undergone -j- lengthening in any dialect, perhaps because the palatalisation in ‘blood’ and ‘forehead’ originates in PKS phl- and pr- respectively rather than in PKS palatalised onsets cf. ‘female’ PKS ɓjaːk D . Table 5.41. -j- lengthening to -i- on - jaːC first six words and -jeC final four words, -i- lengthening indicated by double lines, words showing loss of original vowel nucleus shaded in grey Sandong Pandong Yang’an Kam Eastern Central Western Gloss DJ SD TZ TP AT PD JL BL ‘blood’ pʰjaːt⁷ pʰjaːt⁷ pʰjaːt⁷ pʰjaːt⁷ pʰjaːt⁷ pʰjaːt⁷ pʰjaːt⁷ pʰjaːt⁷ pʰaːt⁹ ‘forehead’ pjaːk⁷ pjaːk⁷ pjaːk⁷ pjaːk⁷ pjaːk⁷ pjaːt⁷ pjaːk⁷ pjaːk⁷ pjaːk⁹ ‘to smear’ vjaːt⁷ vjaːt⁷ viet⁷ - - - - - ȶaːt⁹ ‘female’ ᵐbjaːk⁷ ʔbjaːk⁷ ʔmiek⁷ ʔbiːak⁷ ʔbiɛk⁷ ᵐbiɐk⁷ ᵐbiɛʔ⁷ mjaːk⁷ mjek⁹ ‘to lick’ ljaːk⁷ ljaːk⁷ liek⁷ liːak⁷ liɛk⁷ liɐk⁷ liɛʔ⁷ - - ‘hungry’ ʔjaːk⁷ ʔjaːk⁷ ʔiek⁷ ʔiːak⁷ ʔiɛk⁷ jiɐk⁷ jiɛ⁵ jaːk⁷ jaːk⁹ ‘along’ - tʰjeːp⁷ tʰiːp⁷ tʰiːap⁷ ȶɛːp⁷ tʰjeːp⁷ - tʰiːp⁷ - ‘plate’ tj ɛːp⁸ tjeːp⁸ - - - - - - - ‘to bear fruit’ ȶɛːt⁷ ȶeːt⁷ ȶet⁷ ȶiːɛt⁷ ȶɛːt⁷ ȶeːt⁷ hiɛt⁷ ȶeːt⁷ - ‘to turn pages’ siɛt⁷ sjeːt⁷ siet⁷ - siɛt⁷ - - - - When Cj- is followed by a short vowel, a back vowel or a diphthong, no -j- lengthening occurs. Here are a few words by way of illustration: ‘a long time’ tjaŋ¹, ‘bamboo hat’ tjum¹, ‘shallow’ ʔdjai⁵, ‘strength’ lj ək⁸, ‘to steal’ ljak⁷, ‘narrow’ ʔnjap⁷, ‘to buy’ ⁿdjai³, ‘place’ ⁿdjoŋ³ etc. All these words exhibit palatalised onsets and their rimes are identical in all Sui dialects.

5.3.2 Labialised onsets