[Added July 12, 2024. This post is in error. The morpheme in words beginning in Baoding tsɯ²-, Heitu kɯ2– , Tongshi ʔɯ3 is a general nominal classifier, glossed as ‘一(一个)’ in Ouyang and Zheng (1983:510). The apparent correspondence with Buyang qa- must be coincidental. Oops !]
The three principal subgroups of Kra-Dai are Kra (a.k.a Ge-Yang), Hlai (Hainan Island) and Kam-Tai. While many Kra-Dai (or Tai-Kadai) languages are largely monosyllabic, in some languages main syllables are preceded by CV minor syllables (‘preinitials’) which correspond to the initial syllables of Austronesian words, as first noted by Li Jinfang for the Kra language Buyang, where an unusually large number of these forms can be found. A list of these, with their Austronesian cognates, was given in Sagart (2005). Guillaume Jacques (2017) has studied the correspondences of the Buyang (Langjia) preinitial qa0– in the Kam-Tai branch.
A correspondence for Buyang preinitial qa0– has now been observed in Hlai dialects: tsɯ²- in Baoding and kɯ2– in Heitu. Although not shown here, the corresponding words in Tongshi, also a Hlai dialect, have preinitial ʔɯ3. Buyang Langjia data are from Li Jinfang (1999); Hlai data from Ouyang and Zheng (1983). The first three words originate in Austronesian prototypes beginning in *q-.
|
source |
Buyang |
Baoding |
Heitu |
|
|
shoulder |
PAN qabaRaX |
qa⁰ʔba¹¹ |
tsɯ²va² |
kɯ²va² |
|
mortar |
PAN qaS1elu |
— |
tsɯ²rau¹ |
kɯ²rau³¹ |
|
nail |
PAN qurip |
qa⁰lip¹¹ |
tsɯ²li:p7 |
— |
|
grass ash |
qa⁰tu¹¹ |
tsɯ²tau³ |
kɯ²tou³ |
|
|
back |
qa⁰ʔdiŋ²⁴ |
tsɯ²tsʰuɲ³ |
kɯ²tsʰun³ |
|
|
neck |
qa⁰ʑɔ³¹² |
tsɯ²zoŋ³ |
kɯ²zuŋ³ |
References
Jacques, Guillaume. 2017. On the status of Buyang presyllables: a response to Professor Ho Dah-an. Journal of Chinese Linguistics vol. 45, no.2 (June 2017): 451-457.
Li Jinfang (1999) Buyang Yu Yanjiu. Beijing: Zhongyang Minzu Daxue.
Ouyang Jueya 歐陽覺亞 and Zheng Yiqing 鄭貽青. 1983. Li Yu Jian zhi 黎語簡誌. Beijing: 北京, Chinese Academy of Social Sciences中国社会科学院.