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Cathryn Yang

SIL International & Payap University
PhD in linguistics from La Trobe University (Australia)

Parallels between tone variation and tone change

Certain tone changes are more common than others—e.g., low falling > mid falling is observed in many more languages than mid falling > low falling (Yang & Xu 2019). These directionality trends suggest that there may be (near) universal phonetic constraints at play in tone change, but few studies have explored this possibility. Pittayaporn (2018) accounts for the changes observed in Bangkok Thai tone during the 20th century through biases in tone production and perception. In this talk, I extend Pittayaporn’s phonetically-based model by examining ongoing tone change in Lahu Na (Tibeto-Burman) and completed tone change in Standard Mandarin. In both cases, there are striking parallels between synchronic tone variation and diachronic tone change. Specifically, carryover effects and delay of f0 turning points generate allotones that over time expand beyond their original phonetic environment, thus engendering a tone change. Both carryover and delay result in retiming of the tonal alignment, which suggests that gestural retiming is not only an important mechanism underlying many common changes in segments, but also in tones.

References
Pittayaporn, Pittayawat. 2018. Phonetic and systemic biases in tonal contour changes in Bangkok Thai. In Haruo Kubozono & Mikio Giriko (eds.), Tonal change and neutralization, vol. 27, 249–278. Berlin: Mouton de Gruyter. 

Yang, Cathryn & Yi Xu. 2019. Crosslinguistic trends in tone change: A review of tone change studies in East and Southeast Asia. Diachronica 36(3). 417–459.

Weera Ost​apirat

PhD from the University of California, Berkeley

Proto-Kra-Dai consonants: 
an outline and outstanding issues

In this talk, I present an inventory of Proto-Kra-Dai (PKD) consonants and discuss their reconstruction. I have previously established that PKD etyma are basically disyllabic (Ostapirat 2018). Here I will focus on the reconstruction of the first syllable consonants and their influence on the consonants of final syllables. It is well-known that various Kra-Dai languages may have distinct laryngeal features (e.g. aspirated, glottalized, breathy) accompanying the reflexes of syllable onsets in monosyllabic words. These laryngeal features are usually residual of early first syllable consonants and responsible for diverse tonal splits in modern daughter languages. The nature of the relationships between Kra-Dai and Chinese and between Kra-Dai and Austronesian are also once again revealed by the exclusive layers of consonant series. Proto-Tai voiced stops (e.g. *b-, *d-), for example, are mainly found in words relatable to Chinese and cannot be traced back to any higher proto-levels. Proto-Tai pre-glotalized or implosive stops (e.g. *ɓ-, *ɗ-), on the other hand, appear in words distributed widely in various Kra-Dai branches and represent the true PKD voiced stop series. These PKD voiced stops usually correspond to Proto-Austronesian voiced stops in words relatable to Austronesian’s which attested to the Austro-Tai configuration.     

Keywords: Kra-Dai, Reconstruction, Sino-Tai, Austro-Tai   
 
References    
Ostapirat, Weera. 2018. Reconstructing disyllabic Kra-Dai. Keynote talk at 28th Southeast Asian Linguistics Conference, May 17-19, Wenzao University, Kaohsiung.

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