SOAS Research Online

Abstract

W. S. Coblin, in a contribution (2002) to the ongoing iscussion about the phonetic value of the Tibetan letter ༢ (transcribed as v), has argued that this character has no phonetic value per se but is rather an orthographic device. A review of the previous literature and consideration of Coblin’s arguments in contrast agree with the finding that before vowels and the glide -w- the letter v represents a voiced fricative, while before consonants it stands for prenasalization; in the former position, the value [ɣ] is argued for. The use of final -v in Old Tibetan inscriptions suggests that in that position too -v has the value [ɣ]. Finally, with a view to the internal reconstruction of the Tibetan verbal system, consideration is given to the question of whether the various phonetic values of v- represent a unitary phoneme.