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Volume 25, Issue 1
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Abstract

Abstract

From the perspective of Baxter’s (1992) Old Chinese (OC, which is generally followed by Schuessler 2009), the fate of a putative Sino-Tibetan (ST) * in Tibetan and Old Chinese is quite straight-forward: In Tibetan * was deleted everywhere in all environments; in word-initial position loss of *‑ resulted in (smooth) vocalic onset, it is argued here that this feature is represented by the letter , e.g. ‘come’ from *; some such words have developed a new, or alternative, -initial (e.g. beside ). Vocalic onset (with ) is also the outcome of loss of other initial consonants (e.g. suffix from ). In Old Chinese * survived only as part of labiovelars, in absolute word initial position (later Middle Chinese initial jwi̯-), and in configurations *‑ (voiceless *), *‑ and *‑ (-prefix). Drawn into the discussions are side-issues, like the elimination of *‑ from the Old Chinese phonemic inventory; OC final *- metathesis, monophthongization in closed syllables, ST labiovelars, as well as a number of new etymologies. This paper confirms by and large the conclusions of Handel (2009) and Jacques (2013), but with some adjustments and elaborations.

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2024-01-02
2024-10-16

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Sino-Tibetan *w in Tibetan and Old Chinese
Language and Linguistics 25, 80 (2024); https://doi.org/10.1075/lali.00150.sch
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  • Article Type: Research Article
Keyword(s): Old Chinese; Sino-Tibetan *w; Sino-Tibetan ‘friend’; Tibetan wa ‘fox’; Written Tibetan; ’a-chung

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