proto-southwestern-tai revised: a new reconstruction - seals 22

Proto-Southwestern Thai 123
2.3 Uncovering the uvular seriesː *q- and *χ
Unlike other simple initials, dorsal consonants present some crucial problem to the
reconstruction of the PSWT phonology. Li (1977:192-198, 207-214) reconstructs five
phonemes in the velar region for PT: *kʰ-, *k-, *g-, *x-, and *ɣ-. He discusses the fact that
PT *kʰ- and *x- had merged by the time of SWT but the resulting sound may have two
different reflexes in White Tai (WT) and some dialects of Lue; kʰ- or x-. Jonsson (1991:
74), in contrast, proposes that WT x- is reflex of PSWT *x- that contrasted with *kʰ- 2 . Data
from Phuan (PH) and Kapong dialect of Phu Thai (KP), which have now become available,
indicate that a distinct series of uvular consonants must be reconstructed. Although data
unequivocally indicates PSWT *q- and *χ-, evidence for * - is lacking. The relevant
correspondent sets are given in Table 4.
Table 4: Reflexes of PSWT velar and uvular consonants
*k-
*kʰ-
*x-
*q-
*χ-
BT WT TL TH KP PH
k-
kʰkʰkʰkʰ-
k-
kʰ-
x-
x-
x-
k-
kʰkʰkʰkʰ-
k-
kʰkʰkʰkʰ-
k-
kʰkʰh-
h-
k-
kʰkʰkʰh-
Although these uvular consonants are not preserved in any modern varieties, the
correspondence sets pointing to another series of dorsal initials are very robust. The first
newly-reconstructed phoneme in PSWT is the voiceless unaspirated uvular stop *q-. It is
reflected as kʰ- in most varieties, but as x- in WT and h- in KP. It is then likely that this
phonemes became affricated and then fronted to the velar region in all dialects, except in
KP where it lenited and merged with PSWT *h-. Similarly, *χ- merged with *kʰ- in most
SWT varieties including Black Tai (BT), Tai Long (TL), Thai (TH), and Lao (LA).
However, this PSWT phoneme is realized as x- in WT, suggesting that the reflexes in other
varieties might have also gone through an affricated stage. KP and PH agree in reflecting
this phoneme as *h-. Some etyma reconstructed with uvular consonants are given in Table
5. The forms for ‘needle’ and ‘leg’ in KP and PH unexpectedly show kʰ- and h-
respectively. Note that in PH both the expected kʰaː A1 and the irregular haː A1 are attested.
2 Note that many words that go back to PSWT *kʰ- are words with ‘voicing alternation,’ i.e. etyma whose
SWT and CT reflexes point to earlier voiceless onsets but whose NT reflexes suggest their voiced
counterparts. Li (1977:192-198, 207-214) notes that whether the modern WT reflex is a stop or a fricative
tends to correlate with the so-called ‘voicing alternation’. Diller (1988) adopts this view and claims a
strong correlation between WT kʰ- and forms without voicing alternation on one hand and between x-
with etyma that show voicing alternation on the other. This question is however orthogonal to the question
of PSWT uvular consonants.