Thus the difference in realisation of Tone 6 is probably due to diffusion of a low Tone 6 originating in the Yang’an area. The fact that the outlying Sui areas tend to retain the older higher-pitched Tone 6 is
unsurprising given that, as Sidwell 2011:153 points out, “sound changes do not always propagate fully over a given speech community, or through the entire lexicon that are eligible to reflect a given sound
change.”
4.6.2 Tones 2 and 4
In most Sui dialects, Tone 2 is a low falling tone usually 31 and Tone 4 is a high falling tone 53, 52 or 51. The salient auditory difference between them seems to be the starting pitch, which is significantly
higher for Tone 4 than for Tone 2. In Southern Sui JQ, JR, SW, but not SY, Tone 2 is a high falling tone 52 or 51 and Tone 4 a mid falling tone 42 or 43. In Southern Sui’s case, the salient auditory
difference between these two tones seems to be the pitch range, which is much greater for Tone 2 than for Tone 4 the reverse is true in other Sui dialects. The distinctive pronunciation of Tones 2 and 4 in
Southern Sui has not been documented in previous literature. Readers may refer to the tonal pitch plots in appendix G for more detailed comparison.
4.6.3 Tone 1
Tone 1 is usually a low rising sometimes dipping tone 13 or 213. However, it is consistently realised as a low falling tone in the Pandong dialect area. Interestingly, even though Tone 1 is realised as a rising
or dipping tone by older speakers in all other locations, younger speakers sometimes exhibit a low level tone for example in ZH, TZ and DJ or low falling tone for example in TP and JQ. Stanford 2008a
found that non-mobile speakers from Shuilong just north of ZH tended to have lower pitch trajectories for Tone 1 than speakers from Sandong SD. Without further sampling from a larger number of speakers
in multiple locations, it is impossible to know whether this subtle Tone 1 variation in Sandong dialect areas is primarily regional-based or clan-based.
4.7 Summary of findings
To conclude, several things are clear from the data presented in this section: 1.
Yang’an Sui shares a significant number of tonal developments with Kam, Then and Mulam and is in almost total harmony with Kam in terms of its
yīn-yáng tone allocations, thus we posit that Yang’an is actually a dialect of Kam;
2. Southern Sui underwent the Great Tone Split at a slightly different point of time in relation to onset
developments than the other Sui dialects; 3.
Pandong Sui shares some onset innovation and tone split timings with Western Sui varieties suggesting a common ancestor dialect;
4. sesquisyllabic words in Proto-Kam-Sui are a persuasive explanation for some of the unlikely
yīn-yáng tone and onset voicing correspondences which we see in the Sui dialects, supporting Pittayaporn’s
2009 reconstruction of Proto-Tai; 5.
the range of evidence indicates that perhaps, as Wang Dewen 1988:131 suggests, “voicelessness or voicing of the initial did not alone cause the tone to develop from four into eight”, and that other
factors such as the presence of presyllables of a certain phonation type conditioned some of the tonogenetic processes of the Great Tone Split see Thurgood 2002;
6. “voiced-high” is an areal feature which diffused across many languages and dialects spoken in the
Sui region. All dialects of Sui are “voiced-high” in at least two tone categories. Local varieties of Bouyei, Miao, Yao and Chinese also exhibit “voiced-high” tendencies. Thus Yang’an dialect’s tonal
similarities to other Sui dialects provide no basis for assigning it to the Sui branch of Kam-Sui;
7. a low Tone B2 6 appears to have diffused through the Western and Central Sui regions, possibly
starting with the arrival of the Yang’an dialect speakers in the area, whose language was originally voiced-low.
53 Proto-Kam-Sui
Proto-Sui-Maonan Proto-Kam-Mulam
Maonan Ai-Cham
Mak Proto-Kam-Yang’an
Kam Yang’an Sui
BL,TN,LW
Western Sui TZ,TP,AT Proto-Central-
Pandong Sui Southern Sui
JQ,SW,JR,SY Mulam
Then
Eastern Sui DJ,SJ,RL Proto-Sui
Pandong Sui PD,JL Central Sui SD,ZH
5 Historical Development of Onsets and Rimes
Andy Castro
5.1 Introduction
