Handbuch der orientalistik section eight central asia

CHAPTER THREE 153

x Notes.

) 1. Voiceless variants in Southern Mongolian languages appear before a

voiceless consonant of the next syllable. *-b- is not fricativized after nasals; in Khalkha, Ord. and Dag. also after -1~.

2. Northern languages and Dagur have a variation -m/-n at the end of a
) non-initial syllable.

3. In all modern languages and Middle Asiatic MMong. sources not

distinguished from *-y-. A difference may be observed, however, in
WMong. and in Chinese MMong. sources, where the sequence -Vw-

) tends to be rendered by a single character as opposed to the sequence

-Vyu-, usually rendered by a pair of characters.

4. In Ord. d- before the following voiceless stops. In Mongor d before

following fricatives ( < *s, *c) and intervocalically; voicing did not oc-

} cur, however, if the initial syllable started with a resonant or 0-. In

S.-Yugh. *t- > d- before the following *-k-; intervocalic voicing occurred more or less in the same positions as in Mongor. Dong, also usually has voiced -d- between vowels, although dialectal variation is observed; *t-

i > c- before *-e-.

5. Occasional intervocalic devoicing can be observed in Dong, (motu
'tree') and Baoan (hotorj 'feather'). Mongor usually (although not com­
pletely consistently) has a devoiced t- in cases when the next syllable

i started with a voiceless consonant (thus *ZVCV > *CVZV). In Dong. *d-

> 3- before *-e-.

6. Syllable-final -1 yields -r in Mongor, but is preserved in some dia­

lects.

, 7. In Ord. - y before the following voiceless stops. In Northern Mongo-

lian languages front ("hissing") reflexes are observed before all vowels except *i, and occasionally also before *i - in combinations like *ciya-, *ciye-, as well as before the syllables with labial *-u- or *-u-. Mongor

j and S.-Yugh. have a voiced intervocalic reflex; in a few cases initial

voicing (probably assimilative) or spirantizantion are also observed. Dong, and Bao. also have intervocalic voicing of *-<:-, but here it ap­pears to be restricted to a position after initial voiceless consonants and *h-, with some dialectal variation.

8. Devoicing is observed in Mongor and S.-Yugh. before some origi­nally voiceless consonants (which may become voiced themselves, thus *ZVCV > *CVZV). In Northern Mongolian languages front ("hissing") reflexes are observed before all vowels except *i, and occasionally also before *i - in combinations like *3iya-, *5iye-, as well as before the syl­lables with labial *-u- or *-ii-.

154

INTRODUCTION

9. In most modern languages *j is lost before a following M-, frequently
resulting in vocalic contractions.

Mongor has voicing *-s- > -3- in the nominal suffix -su; it occurs, with few exceptions, after initial voiceless consonants and *h-, as well as after initial nasals and *j-. Palatalization *s > s occurs in all languages before the vowel *i; in Dong, also before *e.

This row of correspondences describes the behaviour of *k before or after back vowels (or *i in back-row words). Ord. has a voiced reflex before the following voiceless stop. Mongor and S.-Yugh. have initial G- before the following -(r)d-, -3-. Between vowels *-k- is usually voiced in these languages (in S.-Yugh. also fricativized: -y-), but it can stay voiceless if the first syllable starts with a resonant (therefore in situations when the "transfer of voice" - *ZVCV > *CVZV - was impos­sible). In Mongor *k is palatalized ( > c) before *i. Dong, and Bao. have voicing in basically the same positions as in Mongor, but initial voicing may also occur before following resonants, and intervocalic voicing may sometimes occur even after a syllable starting with a resonant.

This row of correspondences describes the behaviour of *k before or after front vowels. The distribution of voiced / voiceless reflexes is simi­lar to *kA.

This row of correspondences describes the behaviour of *g before or after back vowels (or *i in back-row words). In Mongor and S.-Yugh., voiceless x- appears before an original voiceless consonant in the next syllable (*ZVCV > *CVZV); in Mongor *k is palatalized ( > c) before *i. Dong, and Bao. have voiceless reflexes in monosyllabic stems before a liquid (also in a few other cases, like *gasi-yun, probably due to assimi­lation).

This row of correspondences describes the behaviour of *g before or after front vowels. In Mongor and S.-Yugh., devoicing occurs according to the same rules as for *gA; other Southern Mongolian languages, however, do not have devoicing here.

In most cases *n is just a variant of *n in combinations with velar consonants; it never occurs word-initially or between vowels. How­ever, there is a distinction between *-n and *-n in syllable-final position.

Initial *h- is well preserved in Dagur and Southern Mongolian lan­guages. The distribution of reflexes in Mongor, Dong, and Bao. de­pends on following vowels. Generally (omitting some subtle details), the labial reflex is found before *u, *ii, sibilant reflexes before *i, laryn­geal and velar reflexes elsewhere.

Intervocalic *-y- is in complementary distribution with *h- (and may in fact be reconstructed as *-h-). It is rendered as -y- (in the back row)

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155

or -g- (in the front row) in WMong., reflected as -0- (or a laryngeal) in MMong. and is lost in all modern languages, usually causing vowel contractions.

In Kalm., a before a following *i. In Mongor the basic reflex is a; af­ter palatal affricates and j before a lengthened second vowel the reflex is i. In a number of disyllabic and trisyllabic words the initial *a- is lost; on the other hand, *a is lengthened > a in disyllables with *-u in the second syllable. Dong, and Bao. have a reduction (*a > a) in a number of disyllabic words, and Bao. has -i- after affricates. Mog. has -o- before liquids, and a lengthened reflex before *u, *i of the second syllable.

In Kalm. u before a following *i. Dag. has a diphthong before a short -a- of the second syllable (the sequence *bu- in such case > *bua- > ba-), but -u- before a lengthened second -a-. Bao. has -o- after G-, -a-after b-. Mongor has a frequent reduction *u > a > 0, following a rather complicated system of rules. In S.-Yugh. the reduction occurs before liquids, in non-initial syllables the usual reflex is a.

In Kalm. 6 before a following *i. The distribution of reflexes in Dag. is similar to *u. Ord. has u in an open syllable before *-u- in the follow­ing syllable; a similar distribution is observed in Mog. Mongor has lengthening o > 6 before the following *-u-; in Anlaut u- is preserved only before liquids, otherwise a reduction *u- > 0- occurs; in Inlaut Mongor has -o- or -u-, with a rather complicated distribution of re­flexes. S.-Yugh. has long 6 in the same context as in Mongor (i.e. before -u- of the second syllable); next to *m *o is sometimes reflected as u. The rules of variation o~u in Dong, and Bao. are not quite clear.

*i is the least stable vowel in all Mongolian languages. It usually becomes assimilated to the vowel of the second syllable (the so called "breaking of the vowel *i"). The particular rules of "breaking" differ from language to language; see the description, e. g., in Poppe 1955.

In Khalkha, i before back affricates and clusters of -l-+affricates. In Kalm., i after j- and before back affricates. In Ord., i after j-, c-, 3-. In Mongor, a complicated distribution of reflexes (usually u after labials, and a variety of reflexes before liquids *r, *1, depending on preceding consonants). Dong, has -e- after affricates and j-, otherwise usually a diphthong -ie-. Labialized reflexes in all languages usually occur in Anlaut before an *-ii- of the next syllable. A labial u- (=u-) is regular in Chinese MMong. transcriptions, MA and in Mogol; Ord. has 6- before labials, otherwise u-; Dag. has e- before labials, otherwise ii-; Dong., Bao. and Mongor have 0- before labials, otherwise u-; S.-Yugh. has 0-before labials, otherwise o-.

156

INTRODUCTION

The distribution of reflexes in Mongor and S.-Yugh. is similar to *u. In Southern Mongolian languages one has to assume an early merger of front and back labialized vowels in many contexts.

Ord. has ii in open syllables before the following *-ii-. The reflexes in Southern Mongolian languages are generally the same as those of *o.

3.3. Tungus-Manchu [by A. Dybo and S. Starostin]

While dealing with the TM protoforms, we have basically adopted the classical reconstruction of V. Tsintsius (LJmhiimvc 1949) rather than its somewhat reduced version in Benzing 1955; some modifications were also introduced in VLiAim-CBUTbm 1965, in Anuria and 4m6o 1990.

Consonants

p b m

t d s 1, r n

c 3 s j ri

k g x n

The resonants *r and *j are reconstructed only word-medially.

All TM languages distinguish velar and uvular consonants; both, however, go back to a single row of velars, split according to the posi­tion adjacent to front or back vowels. In the table below we give only velar reflexes, but one should keep in mind that they are always split (k/q, g/G, x/y, x/k).

Vowels

i ii u

e o

a

One diphthong (*ia) is also reconstructed, although it is possible that the phoneme reconstructed as *ii could have also been a diphthong (*iu or *ui). All vowels could be short or long.

All vowels except *o could occur both in the first and the following syllables. Unlike Turkic and Mongolian, Proto-Tungus-Manchu ap­pears to have had no vowel harmony. Some restrictions on the coexis­tence of different vowels in adjacent syllables were, however, present: the back vowels *a, *o could not be combined with the front vowel *e; *u could not follow *o, *ii could not follow *i.

All modern languages have developped a specific variety of vowel harmony (probably under Mongolian influence): every word may be

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157

characterized as "back" or "front", depending on the particular combi­nation of vowels. Words with -a- or -o- in the fir£t or second syllable are always "back"; words with -e- in the first or second syllable are al­ways "front". The -i- and -u- vowels are neutral, i. e. they may occur both in "back" and "front" words (but frequently have different allo-phones, depending on the row of the word). The *-ii- vowel usually occurs in "front" words, but combinations *aCu and *oCii seem also to be attested. Velars shift to uvulars in "back" words, but are preserved in "front" words. It should be mentioned that the combinations of the neutral vowels -u- and -i- are usually treated as "back", with velars shifting to uvulars in combinations *CiCi, *CuCu, *CiCu and *CuCi, although there may be occasional variation. Basic correspondences of TM consonants:

P1M	Evk	Evn	Sol	Neg	Oroch	Ud	Ulcha	Orok	Nan	Man	Jurch
P"	h-«	h-2	0-	X-	X-3	X-4	P-	P-	p-/P	f-	f-
Pb	p/w/0	b/w/0	b/w/g	p/w/0	p/w/0	f/w	p/b	p/b	p/f/b	f/b	f
b-	b-	b-	b-	b-	b-	b-	b-	b-	b-	b-	P"
;b'>	w/0	w/0	w/0	w/0	b/w/0	b/w/0	b/w/0	b/w/0	b/w/0	b/f/w/0	b/w
m-	m	m	m	m	m	m	m	m	m	m	m
m	m	m	m	m	m	m	m	m	m	m8	m
t-	t	t	t	t	t^	t9	t9	t9	tio	tio	tio
t	t	t	t	t	t9	t9	t9	t9	tio	tio	tio
d-	d	d	d	d	d11	d»	d»	d»	d12	d>2	d12
d	d	d	d	d	d"	d»	d»	d»	d12	d12	d12
s-	s.13	h-14	s-15	s-	s-	s-	s-	s-	s-	s-/s-	s- 1
s	S13	S16	s15	s	s	s,h	s	s	s	s	s
n-	n	n	n	n	n	n	n	n	n	n	n 1
n	n	n	n	n	n	n	n	n	n	n	n 1
J.17	1/n	1/n	1/n	1/n	1/n	1/n	1/n	1/n	1/n	1/n	1/n
1	1	1	1	1	1	1	1	1	1	1	1 1
r	r	r	r	i,o	i,o	\.o	r	r	r	r	r 1
c-	c-	c-	s-	c-	c-	o	c-	c->t-	C_18	c-	c- |
c	c	c	s	c	c	s	c	c>t	c	c	c 1
?-	?"	3"	3-	3"	3"	3"	3-	3->d	y	3"	3-
5	,1	3	3	3	3	3	3	3>d	r	3	3
s-20	c	c	s	c	c	c	c	c>t	c	s/s	s, c 1
§20	c	c	s	c	c	s	c	c>t	c	s/s	s, c
ri-21	ri	ri	n	n	n	n	n	n	n	n	n 1
ri	ri	ri	n	n	n	n	n	n	n	h	n 1