Out of Southern China?

Pnar, a Mon-Khmer language of Meghalaya, India, has 28 phonemes: 7 vowels and 21 consonants. The language also exhibits onset clusters that go against traditional views of sonority sequencing principles. I consulted two Jowai-Pnar male speakers of 26 and 25 years of age for this analysis, recording around 680 words which each speaker uttered twice. This resulted in over 1,400 tokens per speaker (some words were said more than twice). The resulting sound files were segmented using Praat for detailed acoustic analysis including duration, intensity, and formant measurements, allowing for quantitative as well as qualitative analysis of individual sounds.

A tree-configuration of the re1ationships among the four 1anguages as determined by 1exicostatistics is as fo11ows: Sundanese Ma1ay Madurese Javanese The four 1anguages 1.4. Sundanese. Sundanese is the first (i.e. the native) language of about 15 mi11ion people in the Pasundan region, West Java. In the north, the Sundanese speaking area reaches the Java Sea on1y in the area of Pamanukan. Otherwise, it is separated from the sea main1y by a thin strip of Javanese and the much deeper wedge-shaped area of Jakarta-Ma1ay which inc1udes Jakarta and thins toward the south with its southernmosttip just north of Bogor. Map 1 shows the 1anguage borders between Sundanese and Javanese, and Jakarta Ma1ay as they were found in a recent study.5 1.4.3. Sundanese morphophonemic alternations 8 1.4.3.1. Initial alternations. A major type of alternation involves the initials of bases whose post-pausal form has an initial p, t, c, s, k, q, and a number of bases whose post-pausal form has an initial b. This alternation appears in combination with an active prefix which itself has many alternants. For convenience we will call all of the alternants of the active prefix the N-alternation. The alternations are as follows: {a} The N-alternation appears as m-before a base whose postpausal form has an initial pand a number of bases whose post-pausal form has an initial b. Af ter the active prefix alternant m-, the p or b of the post-pausal form is replaced by 0: e.g., pakeq, makeq (L) 'to use'; b~~k~t, m4uk4t 'to bind'. 6 (b) The N-alternationappears as n-before a base whose postpausal form begins with t. Af ter the active prefix alternant n-, the t of the post-pausal form is replaced by 0: e.g., tutup, nutup (L) 'to close'. Cc} The N-alternation appears as n-before a base whose postpausal form begins with s or c. Af ter the active prefix alternant n-, the s or c of the post-pausal form is replaced by 0: e.g., susul, nusul 'to pursue'; cokot, iiokot (L) 'to take away'. (d) The N-alternation appears as ubefore a base whose postpausal form begins with k or q. Af ter the active prefix alternant u-, the k or q of the post-pausal form is replaced by 0: e.g., kirim, ~irim (L) 'to send'; qinum, ninum (L) 'to drink'. Ce} The N-alternation appears as ~abefore non-alternating initials. Examples of non-alternating initials are the following: bacir, nabacir 'to flee'; dapan, ~adapan (L) 'to lie on the belly'; jinjin, naji~jin 'to lift up with the hand'; g~in' nag~i~ 'to wake up'; minak, naminakan 'to oil s.t.'; nuhun, Uanuhunk4n 'to thank s.o. for', nawaq, nanawaqan 'to reach for, attempt'; naran, ~anarank~n 'to name 10 (h) The penultimate vowels é and ~ in an open or closed syllable in the Eastern subgroup correspond to i and u in the Central subgroup: e.g., Eastern subgroup séséh, Central subgroup siséh 'side' ; Eastern subgroup sósóh, Central subgroup susó'h 'nest'. 13 (i) The phoneme k occurs before pause only af ter a. According to Kiliaan (1919:53) Javanese-ak and-aq vary freely: e.g. jdaq. idak 'to step on'. In the citation of Javanese forms we will list both alternants only if both are given in Pigeaud (n.d.). 1.5.3. Javanese morphophonemic alternations 14 • 1.5.3.1. Initial alternations. The major initial aTternation in Javanese involves the initials of bases whose post-pausal form begins with p, w, t, ~, s, c, or k. This alternation appears in combination with the N-alternation. The alternations are as follows: (a) The N-alternation appea~s as m-before a base whose postpausal form begins with p, w, or b, and a few bases whose post-pausal form begins with avowel. Af ter the active prefix alternant m-, the p or w of the post-pausal form is replaced by 0 and the b of the post-pausal form remains: e.g., pillh, miléh 'to choose'; woco, màc~ (L) 'to read'; bukaq, mbukaq (L) 'to open'; uléh, muléh (L) 'to return home'. (b) The N-alternation appears as n-before a base whose postpausal form begins with t, ~, d, ~, or j. Af ter the active prefix alternant n-, the t or ! of the post-pausal form is rep1aced by ~ and the d, 9, or j of the post-pausa1 form remains: e.g., tipés, nipés 'to become thin or flat', ~intéo' nin~é~ 'to strike a note'; dadi, ndadi (L) 'to become worse'; quwór, nçuwóraké (L) 'to make higher'; j3n3~, nj3na~aké (L) 'to name, ca11'. 11 (c) The N-a1ternation appears as n-before a base whose post-pausa1 form begins with s or c. Af ter the active prefix a1ternant n-, the s or c of the post-pausa1 form is rep1aced by ~: e.g., si1éh, ni1éh (L) 'to borrow'; campór, namp6r 'to mix'. (d) The N-a1ternation appears as nbefore a base whose post-pausa1 form begins with k or g, and before a base whose post-pausa1 form begins with avowel. Af ter the active prefix a1ternant u-' the k of the post-pausa1 form is rep1aced by ~ and the g of the post-pausa1 form remains: e.g., kumbah, Dumbah 'to wash'; górèO' ogórèn 'to fry in oi1'; 61ah, nó1ah 'to cook a dish'. (e) The N-a1ternation appears as Oa-, U3-, m3-, or a-before monosy11abic bases. The na-and D3alternants on1y appear with transitives and the m3-and a-alternants on1y appear with intransitives: e.g., kon, Uakon (L) 'to order'; lap, D31ap 'to wipe'; qón, m39ón 'to descend'; d6s, ad6s 'to take a bath'. (f) The N-a1ternation appears as n3-or m3-before a base whose post-pausal form begins with 1 and r. The Oa-alternant appears with transitives, the m3w alternant with intransitives: e.g., liwat, naliwat 'to boil rice'; laku, malaku (L) 'ghost'. (4) If the pre-pausal form of a base ends in u, the sequence u + a is replaced by 0: e.g., turu (L) 'go to bed', turon (L) 'place to sleep'. In some instances the sequence of vowels remains: e.g., adu (L) 'to fight', aduan 'a fight'. (5) If the pre-pausal form of a base ends in é, the sequence é + a is replaced by è: e.g., 6mbé 'to drink', ómbèn 'a drink'. In some instances the sequence of vowels remains: e.g., gawé (0) 'to work', gawéan (L) 'action, work'. (6) If the pre-pausal form of a base ends in ó, the sequence 6 + a is replaced by 0: e.g., aog6 (L) 'to use, augon (L) 'act of doing'. In some instanees the sequence of vowe1s remains: e.g., jaró (L) 'inside', jaróan 'intestines'. 14 (d) Base-a1ternations before-ni ~-i,-nono ~-onb,-nan ~-an, and-nipón ~-ipón: (1) If the pre-pausa1 form of a base ends in 0, this 0 and any preceding consecutive 0 of the pre-pausa1 form is rep1aced by a: e.g., biso (L) 'can, be ab1e to', dibisani 'be ab1e to be done'. (2) If the pre-pausa1 form of a base has é or ó in the fina1 c10sed sy11ab1e, the é or ó of the pre-pausa1 form is rep1aced by i or u respective1y: e.g., tu1és (L) 'to write', nu1isi 'to write on, to'; wis6h 'to wash one's hands', misui 'to wash hands (s.o. else's)'. (3) If the pre-pausa1 form of a base ends in i or u, the or u of the pre-pausa1 form is rep1aced by è or 0 respective1y: e.g., ga ni (L) 'fire', oganèni (L) 'to cook'; 1aku (L) 'to walk', Ua1akoni (L) 'to undergo, endure'. (4) If the pre-pausa1 form of a base ends in é or 6, the é or 6 of the pre-pausa1 form is rep1aced by è or 0 respective1y: e.g., 6mbé 'to drink', Dómbèni 'to give a drink to'; jaró (L) 'inside', jaroni (L) 'to make deeper'. (e) Base-a1ternations before-qaké ~-aké,-qakan ~-akan, and-qno ~-no: (1) If the pre-pausal form of a base ends in O. this 0 and any preceding consecutive 0 of the pre-pausal form is replaced by a: e.g •• toto 'to arrange'. nataqaké 'to arrange for s.o.'. 15 (2) If the pre-pausal form of a base ends in i or u. the i or u of the pre-pausal form •is replaced by è or 0 respectively: e.g .• lali (L) 'to forget'. Ualalèqaké (L) 'to try to forget'; tamu (L) 'to meet'. namoqaké 'to find for s.o.'. (3) If the pre-pausal form of a base ends in é or 6. the é or ó of the pre-pausal form is replaced by è or 0 respectively: e.g .• suwé (L) 'long time'. nuwèqaké (L) 'to cause to take a long time'; b6d6 'stupid'. mbódoqaké 'to make a fool of'. (4) If the pre-pausal form of a base ends in U or n. the U or n of the pre-pausal form is replaced by q in some instances: e.g .• takon (L) 'to ask'. nakoqaké (L) 'to ask for information'. 1.5.4. The Javanese material. The material for Javanese is mainly drawn from Pigeaud (n.d.). The orthography of the source has been modified in the citations. As in the case of Coolsma's symbols for Sundanese. Pigeaud's dj. tj. j. nj. ng. and oe have been replaced by j. c. y. n. n. and u; Pigeaud's e has been replaced by the symbol a. Furthermore the following modifications have been made to bring the material into a phonemic writing. Pigeaud's final k has been replaced by final q except when it occurs af ter a: e.g .• his pijak 'to separate' *B: *BahuR 'mix' *Bajaq 'i nform' *Balas 'repay' *Baliw 'change' *BaRa(h) 'ember' *BaRqan 'molar,5 *Batu 'stone' *Bauk 'chin whiskers' *Bana!) 'win' *BaRqat 'heavy' *Buaq 'fruit' *BuBun 'roofri dge' *Buku 'knot' *Bulan 'moon' *Bulu 'hair' *aBuh 'ash' *iB3R 'appetite. saliva' *luBan 'hole' *quBan 'grey hair' *Ra(m)Bun 'cloud' *saBu!) 'cockfighting' *ta(m)BaR 'antidote' *tu(m)Buq 'grow' *b: *bawan 'onion' *bi bi 'duck' •binkuk 'crooked' *butbut 'pl uck' *t3(m)buk 'pierce' *t3bas 'cut down' 295 Let us now consider •w. The Kadazan reflex of this proto-phoneme is w in initial and intervocalic position and the Timugon reflex is b or ~ (the latter af ter a CV-prefix) in initial position and w in intervocalic position.

Oceanic Linguistics , 2021

This paper describes the function and distribution of the main morphological markers of voice and valency in the Oceanic language Äiwoo: the undergoer-voice suffixes -i, -nyi(i), -ive, -eâ, and -nâ, and the circumstantial voice clitic =Cä. It compares these functions and distributions to those reconstructed for the Proto-Oceanic transitivizing morphemes *-i and *akin[i], and suggests pathways of change that can account for many of the present-day Äiwoo forms as being reflexes of these morphemes and of the 3SG object clitic *=a, though some of the formal differentiation remains unexplained. This analysis implies that Äiwoo has a Philippine-type symmetrical voice system with Oceanic morphology, an unusual state of affairs which has implications for our understanding of the transition from Proto-Malayo-Polynesian to Proto-Oceanic.

In a recent publication titled "Proto-Japanese: Issues and Prospects", Frellesvig and Whitman revise the re-construction of proto-Japanese, which they define in the opening line as (1:) "the reconstructed language from which all later varieties of Japanese descend." Reconstructions proposed by various specialists in the field are organized in four subject areas: I phoneme inventory, II use of dialects, III accent and IV morpho-syntax. The methods that are employed are internal reconstruction, especially applied to Old Japanese and, dialect comparison, including the varieties of the Ryukyus. Incorporating some references to Korean parallels in passing, external comparison is limited to an absolute minimum. The primary goal of this book is described as (2): "to present new research which advances our understanding of pJ". In the present review article I will argue that al-though this volume gives a clear overview of recent research and presents a state-of...

2012

A voicing alternation in the Middle Chinese pronunciation of the initial consonant of Chinese verbs has long been recognized as the reflection of a morphological process dating to the Old Chinese period or earlier. As illustrated by the pair of words zhāng 張 (MC trjang) ‘to stretch (trans.)’ : cháng 長 (MC drjang) ‘to be long (intr.)’, this morphological process is associated with transitive/intransitive word pairs. There is disagreement among historical phonologists about whether this alternation should be attributed to a detransitivizing nasal voicing prefix *N- or to a causativizing sibilant devoicing prefix *s-. In this paper I summarize the internal and comparative evidence and review the recent arguments put forth by specialists in support of both views, and conclude that both explanations are not entirely satisfactory. I propose that further research must consider the possibility that several processes were at work, and that productive and frozen morphological processes may have co-existed with analogical leveling at various points before and during the Old Chinese period. 中古漢語動詞聲母清濁別義的現象，例如:“張”和“長～短”，被認為是上古音或者更早構詞現象的反映。這種清濁別義的現象，有的學者認為其上古音的來源是起濁化作用的去及物性前綴*N-，也有的學者認為是起清化作用的使動化前綴*s-。本文總結介紹來自漢語內部的證據和來自比較語言學的證據，以及學者就這兩種假設提出的最新的意見。由於這兩方面假設都不能令人完全滿意，本文作者根據以上材料進一步提出新的看法, 認為上古漢語時期可能有不同的構詞過程並存，但各種詞綴不一定都同時具備構詞能力，有的到了上古時期可能已經失去了構詞能力。