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Hill, Nathan W. (2014) 'Proto-Kuki-Chin initials according to Toru Ohno and Kenneth VanBik.' Journal of the Southeast Asian Linguistics Society, 7. pp. 11-30.

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Abstract

Relying on the legacy of Ohno (1965), several scholars have made more recent forays into the reconstruction of Kuki-Chin initials (Khoi 2001, VanBik 2009, Button 2011). A comparison of Ohno’s and VanBik’s systems permits an overview of progress made so far. VanBik accepts all of Ohno’s correspondences, adding a few of his own. Mizo provides a convenient language to contrast their proposals in detail. As the source of Mizo f-, Löffler’s *dz- has advantages over Ohno’s *ź- [ʒ-] and VanBik’s *θ-. VanBik’s is right to distinguish *s- and *sʰ, although the phonetic value of *sʰ is not clear. The evidence for his *pr- and *phr- is unsatisfactory. In light of their importance, I propose to name two sound la ws (*kr, *kl > ṭ- [ʈ], tl - ‘Ohno’s law’ and *r > g- ‘Shafer’s law’). Considering proposals not known to VanBik, there is good evidence for Peterson’s *yh- (2000), but little for Button’s (2011) labio-velars. A number of splits, especially of *r-, require further attention.

Item Type: Journal Article
Keywords: Kuki-Chin, Trans-Himalayan, historical phonology, reconstruction
SOAS Departments & Centres: Departments and Subunits > Department of East Asian Languages & Cultures
Legacy Departments > Faculty of Languages and Cultures > Department of the Languages and Cultures of China and Inner Asia
Legacy Departments > Faculty of Languages and Cultures > Department of Linguistics
Subjects: P Language and Literature > PI Oriental languages and literatures
P Language and Literature > PL Languages and literatures of Eastern Asia, Africa, Oceania
ISSN: 18366821
Date Deposited: 29 Apr 2014 09:05
URI: https://eprints.soas.ac.uk/id/eprint/18355

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