Voiceless Sonorant Initials in Hmong-Mien Sino-Tibetan Correspondences
Author(s):
Ratliff, Martha
Format:
Conference presentation
Publisher:
2001.
Language:
English
Abstract:
Although both voiceless & glottalized sonorant series must be reconstructed for Proto-Hmong-Mien, an examination of voiceless sonorant initial etyma with clear correspondences in Sino-Tibetan languages shows that most such forms are borrowings from Chinese or Tibeto-Burman languages. Twelve of the latter set of loanwords consist of Tibeto-Burman etyma with an *s- prefix having directive, causative, or intensive meaning with verb roots, marking animals or body parts with nominal prefixes, & found frequently in other functions. Six borrowings from Chinese are reconstructed with prefixed etyma, & four correspond to widely accepted Chinese etyma with voiceless sonorants; 13 examples are cited of voiceless initial resonants, mostly in Mien, that correspond to unexpected high tone after voiced resonants in Chinese. Borrowing from Hmong-Mien to Chinese is suggested for eight lexical correspondences in which a Hmong-Mien initial voiceless resonant matches a Chinese voiced resonant with expected tones. 22 References. J. Hitchcock