Table 5.51. PKS - uːn. Words with o nuclei are shaded in grey
Sandong Pandong
Yang’an Kam
Central Western
Southern Gloss
SD TZ
TP JQ
SY JL
BL ‘to sleep’
nun² nun²
nun² nun²
nun² nun²
nun² nun²
‘thorn’ ⁿdun¹
ⁿdun¹ ⁿdun¹ ⁿdun¹ ⁿdun¹ ⁿdun¹
ⁿdun¹ sun¹
‘to vomit’ kun⁵
kun⁵ kun⁵ kun⁵ -
- kun⁵
- ‘maggot’
ʔnun¹ ʔnun¹ ʔnun¹ ʔnun¹ ʔnun¹ nɔn¹
nun¹ nun¹
‘stool, bench’ ʔun¹
ʔun¹ ʔun¹ ʔŋɔːn¹ -
ȵɔn¹ pun¹
pun¹ † ‘monkey’
m ɔn⁶
mun⁶ muːɐn⁶ mɔːn⁶ mun⁶ mun⁶ mun⁶
mun⁶ ‘mist, fog’
m ɔn¹
mun¹ mun¹ m
ɔːn¹ mun¹ mɔn¹ mun²
mun² ‘fist’
ȶɔn² ȶun²
ȶun² ȶuɐn² ȶun²
ȶɔn² ȶun²
ȶun² ‘to extend’
ɕɔn⁴ ɕun⁴ ɕun⁴
ɕuɐn⁴ - -
hun⁴ -
‘hat’ ȵɔn⁴
- ȵɔːn⁴
ȵuɐn⁴ - -
ȵuɔn⁴ -
‘first, before’ k
ɔn⁵ qun⁵ kuːɐn⁵ kɔːn⁵ koən⁵ kun⁵
q ʊn⁵
ʔun⁵, kun⁵
‘to be willing’ ȵɔn⁶
ȵɔːn⁶ ȵuːɐn⁶ ȵuɐn⁶ ȵʉən⁶ ȵun⁶ ȵuɔn⁶
ȵon⁶ ‡ ‘to go for a
walk’ q
ɔn⁶ q
ɔːn⁶ qɔːn⁶ -
- -
q ɔːn⁶
- † Means ‘pillow’ in Kam.
‡ Southern Kam only.
5.4.8 PKS -i-, -
ə- and -a- partial mergers conditioned by palatals
In closed syllables, a common phenomenon is for PKS - ə ours to raise to -i when preceded by palatal
or palatalised onsets. This often results in a merger with i, which is shortened from iː to [i] or [ɪ], and is
sometimes combined with a loss of palatalisation on the onset. Some examples from SY are given in table 5.52. This especially appears to happen among younger speakers, regardless of which dialect they speak.
Therefore it does not provide any historical basis for subgrouping Sui dialects. These data also show that Pandong dialect and TP have undergone a partial merger of -j
əC with - jaC compare ‘to fly’ PKS pwj
ən
C
vjan³ TP with ‘dream’ PKS pwjan
A
vjan¹ TP. Some more examples: ‘short’ PKS thr
ən
C
ⁿdjan³ PD, JL, TP, ⁿdjən³ elsewhere; ‘to wring’ PKS ʔbjət
D
ʔbjat TP,
ᵐbjat⁷ PD, ʔbjət⁷ elsewhere; and ‘seven’ PKS tsʰjət
D
ɕat⁷ TP, hjat⁷ PD, JL, ɕət⁷ elsewhere.
Table 5.52. PKS -j ə- and -i- mergers in SY indicated by double lines;
-j ə- and -ja- mergers in TP and Pandong shaded in grey
Gloss PKS ours
SD Central
SY Southern
TP Western
PD Pandong
‘yoke’ ʔit
D
ʔiːt⁷ ʔit⁷
ʔiːt⁷ ʔit⁷
‘one’ ʔjət
D
ʔjɪt⁷ ʔit⁷
ʔjat⁷ jat⁷
‘to exchange’ hlik
D
liːk⁷ lik⁷
liːk⁷ ljik⁷
‘strength’ lj
ək
D
l ɪk⁸
lik⁷ ljek⁸
lj ək⁸
‘porcupine’ ʔbin
C
ʔbin³ ʔbin³
ʔbin³ ᵐbin³
‘to fly’ pwj
ən
C
vj ɪn³
vjin³ vjan³
vjen³ ‘to hurt’
kjit
D
ȶiːt⁷ ȶit⁷
ȶiːt⁷ ȶit⁷
‘to sweep’ tsr
ət
D
tj ɪt⁷
tjit⁷ JR tjat⁷
tjat⁷ In section 5.3, we observed that diphthongisation of long vowels after palatalised and labialised
onsets occurs both in TP, AT and Pandong dialects. Viewed together, then, these rime innovations suggest a historical link between TP and Pandong dialects, even though some onset innovations in
particular, loss of preglottalisation and transfer of nasalisation from voiceless nasal onset to rime indicate that Pandong should be grouped with Eastern Sui.
Some common tonal developments see chapter 4, section 4.3.2 also indicate a historical link between Western and Pandong dialects. If Pandong and Western Sui truly descended from a common
ancestor dialect, the loss of preglottalisation and voiceless nasals must have been a later innovation which spread across the northern Sui region e.g., Pandong and Eastern Sui areas. Furthermore, the [24]
realisation of Tone 6 see chapter 4, section 4.6.1 must almost certainly have been a later sound change which possibly diffused across the Western Sui region under the influence of Yang’an dialect.
5.5 Phonetic variation