THE HYPOTHESIS OF A PRE-GLOTTALIZED SERIES OF CONSONANTS IN PRIMITIVE TAI

THE HYPOTHESIS OF A PRE-GLOTTALIZED SERIES OF CONSONANTS IN PRIMITIVE TAI

1. In modern Siamese, for example, there are three series of stop consonants as initials, namely, unaspirated surds p-, t-, etc., aspirated surds p'-, t’-, etc., and the so-called sonants b-, d- . 1) In Dioi, a Tai language in Southwestern Kwei-chow, there are only two series, namely, unaspirated surds p-, t-, .etc., and the voiced b- and d-. 2) It can be shown decisively from a comparative study of the Tai languages and their tonal scheme that Siamese p- and t- go back to Primitive Tai *p- and •t-, Siamese p'- and 't- go back to *p’- and *t’- and *d- respectively, and that Dioi p- and t- go back to *p-, *p'-, *b-, and *t-, *t’-, *d- respectively.