Handbuch der orientalistik section eight central asia

88 INTRODUCTION

PA	PT	PM	FTM	Kor.	Jpn.	Roots
hi	i	1	1	0(i)	(n)s	rbojle, *najlV, rzejlu
kv	()V)k	k	(j)k	k	k	rk'jujk'e, rlejk'a, *p'ejkrV, rsajk'V, *s6jVi, rtujk'u, *g[io]jk'u, j *p'ijk'e
r?k	8(	8	ik			*ujkV
hf?	8	Y	i~g	0(i)	0	*sajgo
*jr>	J(V)r)	n/y/j	r)	0(i),ri	m,j,n	^majrji^mujrji, *k'i6jr)0, "mjrjula, *sejr)i, *sijrjo
*bd			bd		t	*3abda
*pr	r(b)	wr (yVr)	rp	r		*k'apra, *k'apri |
*br	r	wr, r	(bV)r	r	r	*kabro, *obri, *t'6bru
fbl	(bV)l	yVl/jVl/wl	1(b)	r	r	*nable, *ebla, *goblu, *lable, *dible, Miublu
*bcf	(b)c	wc	c			*ubc'V
*bc		c	[b]s		s	*m[a]bci
*b.1	(b)j	3	.1		*eb30
rp'f	pVf	yVr			t	*kup fo
*bf	(b)r	yVr			r	*nibfo
*bl	(b)I		bl		s	*nibla
*bs	s	s	bs		s	*ziabsa |
*bkr	k	k	bk		k(Vp)	*ibk'V
*b£	s(i)	b/R	bs			*subga
*bri	b	mVy	bn			*tribi)e
*pn?	gVn	yVm	m			*egmV
*ktr	t	gt	kt	t(h)	t	*diokt'V, *pfoktro(-rV), *zakt'i
*kt	t	gd/g3	gd	t(h)	t	*buktV, *cakte, *miuktu, *t'akta, *gagta
!gt?_	(E)*	XY3	Jd			*ziogtu 1

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89

PA	PT	PM	PTM	Kor.	Jpn.	Roots
*gd	d	d/3	g<*	t(h)/r	(n)t	*b6gdu, *mugda, *plgdi, *p'agdi, *siogdu, *3ugdV, ; *mugdo !
*kr	r	YVr	kVr	(h)	kVr	•bukrV, *riikrV
V	gVr	YVr	rg	rh	r	*kiagru
*kl?	gl	gl	l&gO)		(n)k	*t'aklu, (*lekleKV)
*P»		wl	lR	r	(0)	*negle
*kf	gr/ gVf	YVr	kt	rk	kVr	*cikfo
*gi	gVl	yvi	1			*koglu
>	gn	yVY	ng,n		nk,-N	*degni, *zjognV
*gs	gVs	gs	ks	(h)s		*segsV, *t'ogsu
*k'n	k	Dg	nk		k	*p'ukfni
*kn	g	98	rj			*kekrjV
*grj	g	YVg	rjfe)	n	m	*agrja, *sogrjV 1
*8*	g		nh	h		*riugria
*kcf			kc	ch	t	*miukc'[a]
*kc		gc	ks	c		*rjiakca
*k3	c	gl	£1			*pruk3i
*trk?	t	t	kt			*6tfkfV
*tk?	dg (gd)	d(Vg)	kt			*^iutke
*dg?	gd	d	(R)d			*zodgV
*crk	ck		cVk	sk		*siocfko
*sk		sk	sk		(n)sVk	*pfuske j

It may be noted that some consonants behave differently in clusters than in plain intervocalic position. Exact rules, however, are rather dif­ficult to formulate because of the general instability and rarity of con­sonant clusters. Especially unstable are the clusters with -j- as the first component: this consonant may leave direct traces in Turkic and TM (but may also disappear without a trace there), but tends to disappear elsewhere. A number of *-j-clusters are reconstructed on indirect evi­dence: preservation of *-b- (instead of regular *-y-) in Mongolian (where *-jb- thus behaves similarly to *-rb-, *-lb-); fricativization of *-jb-, *-jg- in Japanese; development *-jR- > -0- in Korean. It is also tempting to reconstruct *-j-clusters in two small groups of cases:

90

INTRODUCTION

a) since clusters with *-j- occasionally result in vowel diphthongization

in Japanese (cf. the cases *ldjpV, *kajta, *k'iujfo, *lejkrd), we could re­construct similar clusters in a few other cases where PJ has *-ia- in the structure *CiaC- (generally very rare), namely, in *del\ 'mane, collar' ( - *dejli), PJ *(d)iari; *l['u]kV 'wild cat' ( = *lojkV, PJ *niakua), *miore 'hurt, damage' ( = *miojre or *mojre, PJ *miar-)f *per\ 'edge' ( = *pejri, PJ *piari).

b) since clusters with *-j- occasionally transfer this -j- to the beginning
of the syllable in Korean (d. the cases *caj$V, *k'iojr)o, *lejkrd, *mojno,
*p'ejne, *sajri), we could reconstruct similar clusters in several other
cases when Korean has -je- but without any trace of a PA
*-jhdiphthong (which is the usual source of Korean -je-), namely in
*tukru 'make a sign' (= *tujkru, PK *tjdk-), *mdr)V 'go-between' (=
*mdji]V, PK *mjdniri), *cak'e 'forearm' (= *crajkre, PK *cjdkdi'), *crekV'k.
of cloth' (= *cfejkV, PK *cjdk~), *c'ep'u 'ulcer' (= *cejpu, PK *qupok),
*c[a]ge 'bast' (= *c[a]jge, PK *cjbhai), *dald 'hide, enclosure' (= *dajla,
PK *tjdr), *kesa 'suffer' (= *kejsa, PK *kjds~), *keca 'slanting' (= *kejc'd,
PK *kjach), *nera 'thin, flat' (= *nejra, PK *jdr-p~), *^apV(lV) 'worm­
wood' (= *3fl/pV(/V)/ PK *cjdpii-). Absence of the standard develop­
ment *-jr- > -0- in some of these cases (*k'iojr)o, *mdjrjV, *dtijld, *nejra)
could in fact be explained by an early shift of *-j- to a different posi­
tion within the syllable.

Since these phenomena in Japanese and Korean are difficult to link to each other and to any evidence in other Altaic languages, the recon­struction of *-j- in such cases still remains problematic.

2.4. Vowels

The traditional system of vowel correspondences proposed by Ramstedt and Poppe was already perceived %as outdated during the writing of "The Altaic Problem and the Origin of Japanese" (AIliinSLH). Further research led to its complete revision. We now sup­pose that the PA vowel system was completely devoid of vowel har­mony which evolved in all the subgroups later as a result of complex interaction between the vowels of the first and the second syllables in polysyllabic roots and derivatives.

The system assumed to be Proto-Altaic consisted of five vowels (*i, *e, *u, *o, *a) and three diphthongs (*iu, *io, *ia), the diphthongs being restricted to the first syllable of the word. The interaction of eight vo­calic units of the first syllable and five vocalic phonemes of the second syllable leads to an extremely diverse system of correspondences, of

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which the traditional Ramstedt-Poppe correspondences are only a small subset.

The diphthongs with *-i- are basically reconstructed where Turkic and TM have specific reflexes (Ma- in Turkic, *-ia- and *-ii- (-iu-) in TM); in several cases, however, diphthongs have been lost in those subgroups as well and can be reconstructed only on circumstantial evi­dence, see below.

The phonetic nature of PA diphthongs is still debatable. We prefer to treat them as diphthongs because they are preserved as such in a number of cases in PT, PTM and Korean, but an interpretation of diph­thongs as front vowels could also be possible. In that case, *ja = *a; *io = *6; *iu = *ii. Further research is needed to choose one of these two alter­native solutions.