Liquid Initials in Nong and Min Zhuang Li 1977, ch. 8

so possibly for reasons that we lack the data to determine in this particular lexeme, the nasal disappeared rather than the liquid when the cluster simplified. Or, possibly Li’s reconstruction for this item is not correct and the PT form ought really to be ra ŋ A2.

3.4.7 Liquid Initials in Nong and Min Zhuang Li 1977, ch. 8

PT l-, PCT l- Li 1977, §8.1 English Chinese PT Form PT Tone WSMLW YSKX GNBH MGXZ wjgwn MLPJD XCGJ WSLHL GNSFZ GNXGN FNBL npdgl tongue 舌头姓 lin C2 lin⁵⁵ lin⁵⁵ lin⁵⁵ lin⁵⁵ lin⁵⁵ lin⁵⁵ lin⁵⁵ lin⁵⁵ lin⁵³ lin⁵³ lin⁵³ lɪn⁵³ monkey 猴子姓 liŋ A2 liŋ³³ liŋ³³ liŋ³³ liŋ³³ liŋ⁴⁴ liŋ³³ liŋ³³ liŋ³³ liŋ³³ liŋ³³ liŋ³³ lɪŋ⁵⁵ to select 挑选姓 lɯak D2L lɯk³³ tʰʲau²¹ cɯt⁵⁵ lɯk³¹ lɯk³¹ lɤk³¹ ʔaw¹⁴ lɯk³¹ lɯk³³ lɩk⁵⁵ ciɛn³¹ cf. Ch. ฀ lɯk³¹ lɯk³¹ lɯːk̚⁵⁵ blood 血姓 lɯet D2L lɯt³³ lət³³ lɯt³³ lɯt³¹ lɤt³¹ lɯt³¹ lət³¹ lit³³ lɯt³¹ lɯt³¹ lɯt³¹ lɯːt̚³¹ child 孩子姓 lɯ̥uk D2L luk³³ lɔk³³ lok³³ lɔk³¹ luk³¹ lɔk³¹, lɔk³³ lok³¹ luk³³ luk³¹ lɔk³¹, lɔk³¹ luk³¹, luk³³ lok̚⁵⁵ ʔeːŋ²⁴ forget 记姓 lɯum A2 lum³³ ɛʔ¹¹ lɯm³³ lum³³ ja¹¹ ləm³³ lum⁴⁴ lum³³ lɯm³³ luəm³³ ɛ¹¹ lum³³ lum³³ naːu²⁴ lum³³ leːo⁵³ lʊm⁵⁵ PT hl-, PCT hl- Li 1977, §8.2 English Chinese PT Form PT Tone WSMLW YSKX GNBH MGXZ wjgwn MLPJD XCGJ WSLHL GNSFZ GNXGN FNBL npdgl many 多姓 hlai A1 lai²⁴ laːi²⁴ laːi²⁴ laːi²⁴ laay¹⁴ laːi²⁴ laːi²⁴ laːi²² laːi³⁵ laːi³⁵ laːi³⁵ laːi²⁴ to flow of a river 流姓 hləi A1 lai²⁴ laːi²⁴ laːi²⁴ laːi²⁴ lay¹⁴ lei²² lai²⁴ lai²² lai³⁵ ləi³⁵⁴ laːi³⁵ lai²⁴ iron 铁姓 hlek D1S liak⁵⁵ liak⁵⁵ leak⁵⁵ liak⁵⁵ lɛk⁵⁵ liak⁵⁵ liak⁵⁵ liak⁵⁵ liɛk⁵⁵ leak⁵⁵ lɛk⁵⁵ lɛk̚⁵⁵ back 背姓 hləŋ A1 laŋ²⁴ piŋ³³ laːŋ²⁴ pu²⁴ laŋ²⁴ pai³¹ laːŋ²⁴ paay³¹laŋ¹⁴ pɪŋ³³ laŋ²⁴ ʔbai³¹ laŋ²⁴ miɛ³¹ laːŋ²⁴ paːi³¹ laŋ³⁵ pei³³ laŋ³⁵ lam⁵³ laŋ³⁵ lɘm³¹laŋ²⁴ liquor 酒姓 hləu C1 lau²² lou³³ lau²² lau²² law²² lau²² ləu²² lau²² lau²² lau²² lau²² lau³³ PT r-, PCT r- Li 1977, §8.3 English Ch. PT Form Tone WSMLW YSKX GNBH MGXZ wjgwn MLPJD XCGJ WSLHL GNSFZ GNXGN FNBL npdgl to shout 喊姓 rɔŋ C2 ðo⁵⁵ ðoːŋ⁵⁵ ɾoaŋ⁵³ ðoːŋ⁵⁵ ðoŋ⁵⁵ ðɔːŋ⁵⁵ ʑoːŋ⁵⁵ ðoŋ⁵⁵ ðoːŋ⁵³ loːŋ⁵³ heːu³¹ ʋeːu⁵⁵ hole shallow 姓 进小 姓 ru A2 tʰaːi⁵⁵, te³³ kʰat⁵⁵ ʔan²²ðu³³ “cave” ɾu³³nam³¹ cok³³ ðuu⁴⁴ ðu³³ pen³³cɔŋ ðu³³ lu³³, o³⁵⁴, lɑːŋ³³ kʰɔm³⁵ long 长姓 rei A2 ði³³ ði³³ ɾi³³ ði³³ ðii⁴⁴ ði³³ ʑi³³, zi³³ ði³³ ði³³ li³³ ði³³ ɹ̝i⁵⁵ we incl. 们姓 rəu A2 kai¹¹ðou³³ pɔŋ⁵⁵ðəu³³ tən³³ku⁵⁵, moŋ³³tau³³ ðo³³ ðaw⁴⁴ ke²² ðo³³ pɔŋ⁵⁵ ʑou³³ ðau³³ liɛ³⁵ ðəɯ³³, pʰan¹¹ðəɯ³³ hɔ⁵⁵ lau³³ kaːi³³ ðau⁵⁵ ɹ̝au⁵⁵ house 子姓 rɯan A2 ðɯn³³ ʔan²² ðɯn³³ an²⁴ ɾɯn³³ ʔan²² ðɯn³³ ðɯn⁴⁴, ðaan⁴⁴ an²² ðɯn³³ ðən³³ an²² ðin³³ ðɯən³³ an²⁴ lɤːn³³ ðɯn³³ candle 蜡烛姓 rɯək “wax” D2L la³¹cu³¹ cf. Ch. 蜡烛 la²²cu²² la³¹cu²² ðak³¹ ðaak³¹ cɔk⁵⁵ ðak³¹ ðak³¹ la³¹ cu³¹ cuk⁵⁵ cuk⁵⁵ lap⁵³ ɹ̝ɯːn⁵⁵ vomit V 呕吐姓 ru̥ak D2L mei³³tʰau³³ xɔi²² hɔi⁵³ tʰaːu³³ tʰaaw²² tʰaːu²² tʰaːu³³ tʰaːu³³ ðak³¹ lɑk³¹, taːu²² ðak³¹ ɹ̝aːk̚³¹ to know 知道姓 ruo C2 ðu⁵⁵ ʔde¹¹ ðu⁵⁵ ʔde¹¹ ɾu⁵⁵ ʔde¹¹ ðu⁵⁵ ʔdʲe¹¹ ðuu⁵⁵ ðu⁵⁵ ʔde¹¹ ðu⁵⁵ ʔdi¹¹ ðu⁵⁵ ʔdɛ¹¹ ðu⁵³ ʔdie¹¹ lu⁵³ ʔde¹² ðu⁵⁵ na³³ ɹ̝u⁵³na³³ bright; light 亮姓 ruoŋ “dawn” B2 tei¹¹ðuŋ³¹ ðoŋ³¹ ɾuŋ³¹ ðoŋ³¹ ðuŋ³¹ ðoŋ³¹ ðoŋ³¹ ðoŋ³¹ ðuŋ³¹ loŋ³¹ ðuːŋ³¹ ɹ̝oŋ³¹ English Ch. PT Form Tone WSMLW YSKX GNBH MGXZ wjgwn MLPJD XCGJ WSLHL GNSFZ GNXGN FNBL npdgl birds nest 窝姓 raŋ A2 moŋ⁵⁵ muŋ⁵⁵ nʷɔk³³ muŋ⁵³ nɔk³³ moŋ⁵⁵ nɔk³³ muŋ⁵⁵ nɔk⁴⁴ moŋ⁵⁵ nɔk³³ muŋ⁵⁵nɔk³³, muŋ⁵⁵nʷɔk³³ moŋ⁵⁵ nʷɔk³³ moŋ⁵³ nɔk³³ moŋ⁵⁵ naːk³³ ðoːŋ³³ nɔk⁵⁵ ɹ̝uːŋ⁵⁵ Li described the PT initial r as “probably a Proto-Tai tongue-tip vibrant or trill, which probably required strong breath to achieve. Words with this initial have series 2 of the tones, thus indicating its voiced origin…. Among the CT dialects it is represented by r- or l- where l- and r- are merged in Nung, Tay and Tho; by ɬ, a voiceless lateral in Lungchow; and by hr- in Tienpao” Li 1977:142. PTPCT r has developed into an interdental voiced fricative in Min Zhuang and most Nong Zhuang locations, thoug this phoneme can have several different realizations in different areas, such as an alternation between [ð] and [ ʑ] in Xichou County XCGJ, and a flap [ɾ] in nearby southeastern Guangnan County GNBH in Nasa Township, which borders northern Xichou County’s Jijie Jigai Township, another Nong Zhuang area. In a single datapoint, Xiao Guangnan GNXGN our furthest northeastern Nong datapoint, we see what appears to be a complete phonemic merger between what elsewhere we posit ð written ‘r’ and l into l in Xiao Guangnan Nong. Mr. Lu Baocheng, a Nong Zhuang-speaking linguist with the Yunnan Province Language Commission, whose hom village is near Xiao Guangnan, has confirmed that, in addition to Xiao Guangnan, the other Nong villages in Liancheng Township which has around 30,000 Zhuang, mostl Nong-speaking and some in surrounding districts, such as Nalun District, also exhibit this phonemic merger a single liquid phoneme. However, Nong areas further to the west, such as Zhetu District, show a clear divide between the ð and l. In historical terms, this represents a complete merger of three of the four PT liquid initials l, hl, and r into a single liquid phoneme in Northeastern Nong Zhuang. Our Nasa Township datapoint GNBH to the south of the same county shows some approachment between these two phonemes, with the ð showing a [ ɾ] allophone in all environments so were we analyzing Nasa Nong in isolation, we would label this phoneme ɾ instead of ð, so possibly the northeastern Nong went through this intermediate stage earlier before arriving at this phonemic merger. CASS wordlists from Zhang et al. 1999, primarily reflecting data elicited in the 1950s, transcribe words resulting from PT r with a “r” for certain lexemes and “l” for others, with both forms present for a few items, such as ‘house’ lo ːn³³; r ɯən³³ for Xiao Guangnan, but with ‘l’ for all forms descending from PT l. In the CASS data Zhang et al. 1999 for the bordering Northern Taic language of Yei Zhuang Guibian Northern Zhuang, all PT r- initial lexemes show a reflex of ‘ð’ and all PT l- initial lexemes show a reflex of ‘l.’ The CASS data is somewhat phonemicized so it is hard to know how much actual phonetic divergence there was between the sounds transcribed with ‘r’, ‘l’ and ‘ð’, but assuming that their phonemicization accurately reflects the state of these languages at that point, it appears that at the time of their fieldwork the merger between l and ð may have been in progress in Northeastern Nong Xiao Guangnan, but doesn’t appear to be influenced by the neighboring Yei Zhuang, which showed no signs of phonemic merger between these two liquids. One lexeme in our data does not fit this pattern: ‘nest’. The Min form shows the expected reflex, including tone, for Li’s reconstruction ra ŋ A2, but the Nong forms all show a nasal labial initial with a tonal reflex consistent with C2 rather than A2, though the coda of the words do look as though they could be related to Li’s reconstruction. From this, we conclude that the Nong forms must descend from a different etymon than Li’s reconstruction, although at a pre-Proto-Tai period, the etymon from which the Nong form derives may be related to Li’s form from which the Min Zhuang form derived, or was later borrowed, perhaps from the surrounding Zhuang languages of Yei Zhuang Guibian Northern Zhuang and Yang Zhuang Dejing Southern Zhuang, which both show a reflex of liquid initials for this lexeme as well as tonal reflexes consistent with PT tone category A2. PT hr-, PCT hr- Li 1977, §8.4 English Chinese PT Form PT Tone WSMLW YSKX GNBH MGXZ wjgwn MLPJD XCGJ WSLHL GNSFZ GNXGN FNBL npdgl to cut meat 切 肉 姓 hran B1 cʰiɛn¹¹ cʰiɛn¹¹ cʰjen¹¹ cʰiən¹¹ hɛɛ³¹ cʰiɛn¹¹ cʰien¹¹ cʰiɛn¹¹ cʰiɛn¹¹ hei³¹, cʰiɛn¹¹ ðɔan¹¹ he³¹ lance; spear 矛姓 hrɔk D1L cʰɔk¹¹ mak³³ cʰɔk¹¹ mɑk³³ tʰɔɑk¹¹ mak³³ cʰɔk¹¹ cʰɔk²¹ mak²² cʰɔk¹¹ cʰʷɔk³¹ mak³¹ ba²² laːu⁵⁵ cʰok¹¹ lei³³cʰok¹¹ - mushroom 菌子姓 hret D1S hat⁵⁵ hat⁵⁵ hat⁵⁵ hɛt⁵⁵ hat⁵⁵ xat⁵⁵, xɛt⁵⁵ hat⁵⁵ hat⁵⁵ hat⁵⁵ hɛ̤t⁵⁵ cɔp¹¹ tɕoːp̚⁵⁵ Of the PT initial hr-, Li wrote, “Words with this initial have series 1 of the tones, indicating the original voiceless nature of the consonant. It is only in some but not all CT dialects that it is distinguished from PT thr- andxr-. We put the indeterminate examples under this heading tentatively pending further evidence from the crucial CT dialects.” Li 1977:148–149 From the data available to us, it is difficult to determine how the PTPCT hr phoneme has developed in Nong and Min Zhuang. From the lexemes glossed ‘to cut’ and ‘lance; spear’ it appears that this PT phoneme has an aspirated palatal reflex cʰ- in Nong Zhuang, but possibly an interdental voiced fricative ð in Min Zhuang, thus indicating a merger with PTPCT r, though we only have one example. We also have the example of ‘mushroom,’ which Li posits also to derive from a PTPCT hr initial, hret D1S, but which in Nong Zhuang shows a velar or uvular fricative [hx] in all locations as opposed to a palatal stop. This could be conditioned by the environment, e.g. following front vowel versus back vowel, but we simply have too few data to make a conclusion on this. The Min Zhuang reflex for this word does not appear to be cognate with this etymon.

3.4.8 Sibilant Initials in Nong and Min Zhuang Li 1977, ch. 9