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

124 Pittayawat Pittayaporn
Table 5: Some etyma reconstructed with uvular consonants *q- and *χ-
*q- BT WT TL Thai KP PH Saek
1. to kill
2. knee
3. torn
4. needle
5. leg
C1
B1
D1
A1
A1
kʰaː
kʰaw
kʰaːt
kʰem
kʰaː
xaː
xaw
xaːt
xim
xaː
kʰaː
kʰaw
kʰaːt
kʰem
kʰaː
kʰaː
kʰaw
kʰaːt
kʰem
kʰaː
haː
haw
haːt
kʰem
kʰaː
kʰaː
kʰaw
kʰaːt
hem
haː~kʰaː
kaː
kɔː
kaːt
kim
kwaː
*χ- BT WT TL Thai KP PH Saek
1. horn
2. tooth
3. to cross
4. to ascend
C1
A1
C1
C1
kʰaw
kʰɛw
kʰaːm
kʰɯn
xaw
xɛw
xaːm
xɯn
kʰaw
kʰew
kʰaːm
kʰɯn
kʰaw
kʰiəw
kʰaːm
kʰɯn
haw
hɛːw
haːm
hɯn
haw
hɛːw
haːm
hɯːn
haw
-
haːm
hɯn
Although [q], [kʰ], [x] and [h] differ from each other in terms of manners of
articulation, places of articulation, and phonation-types, a change from [q] to [kʰ] or [h] is
phonetically very plausible. First of all, the vocal tract shape is very similar in the stops
and in the fricatives at dorsal places of articulation (Ladefoged and Maddieson 1996: 166-
167), making it likely for the uvular stop [q] to develop a frication component and become
an affricate [qχ] or a full-fledge fricative [χ]. If *q- has gone through an intermediate stage
when it was realized as [χ], it is not surprising that kʰ-, x- or h- are the final outcomes in
KP and PH respectively. [χ] can easily turn into [x] and [h] as they are all turbulent noises
produced lower in the vocal tract, characterized by spectral peaks in the lower region of the
frequency range (Jesus and Shadle 2005; Johnson 2003: 121, 129-132). It is also natural
for [χ] to be perceived as [kʰ] because the low-frequency frication noise that makes up the
former resembles the low-frequency turbulent noise in the aspiration phase of the latter
(Johnson 2003: 121). Therefore, the changes from PSWT *q- to modern kʰ-, x-, and h- are
very natural.
One may argue that the uvular consonants developed secondarily in certain groups
of SWT languages and therefore should not be reconstructed for PSWT. For example,
PSWT *x- before back vowels may have been retracted to the uvular point of articulation,
i.e. *xaw A > *χaw A > haːw A ‘horn’. However, this cannot be the case because no
conditioning environment can be identified. With regards to the vowels, these forms may
have either high or non-high, and either front or back vowels. As for tones, forms in these
correspondence sets may have PSWT tone *A, *B, *C, or *D. Therefore, the data from
KP, e.g. hɛːw C1 ‘tooth’ and haw A1 ‘horn’ as well as PH, e.g. hem A1 ‘needle’ and haː A1 ‘leg’,
strongly suggest that a distinct series of uvular consonants consisting of *q- and *χ- should
be reconstructed for PSWT. Although no modern dialects have a distinctive set of uvular
initials, the systematic correspondence among the varieties included in this paper point to
the conclusion.