Michael Weiss Department of Linguistics Cornell University
ECIEC XXVIII June 13, 2009 University of Iceland Reykjavk 1
Slide 3
The Cao Bang Theory The Helix Nebula 2
Slide 4
Things everyone in this audience will agree on The stop systems
of the attested IE languages are best derived from the
post-Brugmannian standard: Laryngeal ProcessCover voicelessT
voicedD breathy*DhDh *Was breathiness really obligatory? See Davis
1994 on Hindi. 3
Slide 5
Reconstruction of breathy series Both Indic and Proto-Armenian
have the breathy series. Since contrastive breathy stops are not
common, they should be reconstructed for PIE. On Armenian see
Garrett 1991, 1998. 4
Slide 6
Nonarchaism of Germanic and Armenian Loanwords in both Germanic
and Armenian show that they have innovated in devoicing the voiced
series. (Barrack 2003, et al.) Loanwords from Germanic into Finnish
with voiced stop exhibit pre- and post-Grimms Law treatments.
(Rasmussen 1987) 5
Slide 7
Distinctness of three series Some evidence for distinct
treatment of voiced and breathy series everywhere but Anatolian and
Albanian. Winters Law in PBS *g w *g wh in Celtic (Cowgill 1980) *d
> ts, *t, *dh > t in Tocharian (Pinault 2008) Some evidence
for distinct treatment of voiced and voiceless series everywhere.
6
Slide 8
Comparative evidence for Glottalic Theory dubious Lachmanns Law
See Jasanoff 2006 Winters Law lengthening before voiced stops
common cross- linguistically small qualm: vowels before breathy
stops tend to be longer than before voiced stops. So why
lengthening only before voiced stops? Other evidence of lesser
value 7
Slide 9
But are we satisfied with this? The specific 3-way contrast
reconstructed for PIE is very uncommon. Roman Jakobson 8
Slide 10
Jakobson 1957:528 To my knowledge, no language adds to the pair
/t/ /d/ a voiced aspirate /d h / without having its voiceless
counterpart /t h /, while /t/, /d/, /t h / frequently occur without
the comparatively rare /d h /, and such a stratification is easily
explainable (cf. Jakobson-Halle); therefore theories operating with
the three phonemes /t/ /d/ /d h / in Proto- Indo-European must
reconsider the question of their phonemic essence. 9
Slide 11
Jakobson and Halle 1956:27 The presence of B implies the
presence of A and, correspondingly, B cannot emerge in the phonemic
pattern of a language unless A is there. This is a non-explanation
explanation. Is Jakobsons observation still true? 10
Slide 12
The alleged cases of Kelabit, Madurese and Mbatto Kelabit
(Blust 1969, 2006) aspirated labial, alveolar, and velar stops,
respectively, which begin voiced and end voiceless. Except in the
environment after schwa, they have approximately twice the duration
of the stops in the other two series. They are found only
intervocalically. Kelabit, Sarawak, Malaysia 11
Slide 13
Kelabit does not exactly have murmured stops. t pu [t p:u ]
grandparent (vocative) tabuh [tabuh] container made from a dried
gourd t b h uh [t bp h uh] sugarcane 12
Slide 14
But the voiced aspirates are unitary segments. there are no
morpheme internal clusters. the voiceless stops are unaspirated. So
if b h etc. are really clusters where does aspiration come from?
13
Slide 15
Possible analysis after Kehrein 2002 The make-up of laryngeal
contrast for stops: with the three features voice, spread,
constricted there can be a maximum of six contrasting types. The
ordering of the laryngeal and super-laryngeal gestures cannot be
distinctive. spreadconstricted tthth t, t, t , implosive t [voice]d
d , d , d t h , d , d, dt 14
Slide 16
In the case of [+ spread], [+ voiced]: [+spread][+ spread][+
spread] [+ voice][+voice][+ voice] SL SLSL Igbo [ b ]Hindi [b
]Kelabit [ b p h ] (SL = Supra-laryngeal) If this is correct then
Kelabit is a true counter-example to Jakobsons claim. 15
Slide 17
Historical origin of Kelabit voiced aspirates: Voiced geminates
arising through assimilation or gemination after stressed schwa:
PMP *bakbak peel of skin or bark > BK b b h ak torn PMP *beduk
(kind of monkey) > *b dduk > BK b d h uk 16
Slide 18
Mbatto Mbatto was first brought into the literature by Comrie
1993 (and again in 2001), but the case is problematic. Mbatto does
have a three way stop contrast with two types of voiced series, but
the contrast is between non-implosive and implosive voiced stops.
(Stewart 1993) 17
Slide 19
Mbatto, a member of Kwa branch of of Atlantic-Congo branch of
Niger-Congo family Mvmmb Mbatto region, Cte dIvoire 18
Slide 20
Mbatto The Mbatto system descends from a Proto- Potou system
with a four-way contrast between voiced and voiceless implosive and
non-implosives. Proto-PotouEbriMbatto vcl.*ttht vcl. imp. *t t vcd.
imp. ** vcd.*ddd 19
Slide 21
Madurese (Austronesian, Madura, Indonesia) has a three-way
phonation contrast, but it is simply voiced, voiceless, and
aspirated. The aspirated series is voiceless. (Cohn and Ham 1999)
20
Slide 22
But the Madurese case is still interesting.
Proto-Malayo-Polynesian had only a simple voicing contrast. The PMP
voiceless stops are retained. The PMP voiced stops become voiceless
aspirates. The new voiced series arises from glide hardening.
21
Slide 23
So how do we get from voiced to voiceless aspirate? *b > *p
> p h ? but the voiceless stops are unchanged. *b > *b h >
p h seems to be the only other option. 22
Slide 24
Conclusion: None of the languages alleged attest exactly the
reconstructed PIE system. Kelabit does not have breathy stops, but
it does have something which may be phonologically
indistinguishable. Mbatto does have two voiced series, but neither
is breathy. Madurese does not have breathy stops, but it seems
plausible that breathy stops were a mid-stage. 23
Slide 25
Does this mean Jakobson was right and that we must reject the
post-Brugmannian standard? Hale and Reiss 2008 on what is UG
Attested (English-type grammars, etc.) Attestable (Japanese in 200
years) Humanly computable (p > s/_r) Statable (V > V: in
prime numbered syllables) 24
Slide 26
There seems to be little doubt that a language with a three-way
phonation contrast is computable. Three-way contrasts (of various
sorts) are common. The primes of representation are independent.
either the breathy type is [+ voice], [+ spread glottis] or [+
breathy]. In either case nothing computational prevents the
separate manipulation of breathy and aspirated stops. If phonology
is substance-free, the phonetic realization of the the three series
is irrelevant. 25
Slide 27
The reason the PIE type is rare or unattested must be
diachronic, i.e. the pathways leading to it must be few or
non-existent. 26
Slide 28
In particular, the reason the breathy series typically
co-occurs with voiceless aspirates is either (a) because a sound
change producing breathy stops must also produce aspirated stops,
whereas the reverse is not true. (b) because there are more
diachronic pathways to aspiration than to breathiness and therefore
it is likely that a language which has breathy stops will also have
aspirated ones. Further there must be many pathways away from the
PIE system. 27
Slide 29
If (a) is the true explanation the PIE system should really be
excludable and we must despite everything revise the reconstruction
for PIE. If (b) is the true explanation, then the PIE system can
stand as such. It might indeed be a rare system and may have come
into existence relatively recently. 28
Slide 30
All this reasoning would be unacceptable to scholars who are
committed to incorparting markedness into phonology (OT, HS) or
Economy (Martinet, Clements), but Ill let them speak for
themselves. The crucial question is: Are there known sound changes
which produce breathy stops and do not simultaneously produce
aspirates? 29
Slide 31
Where do breathy stops come from? Languages with alleged
breathy stops Khoisan: !Xu Bantu: Xhosa, Copi, Tsonga Igbo Armenian
The Indosphere Indo-Aryan: all except Kashmiri and Punjabi
Austro-Asiatic: Kharia, Mundari, Santali Sino-Tibetan: Newari, etc.
Dravidian: Telugu, Kurux 30
Slide 32
We can eliminate the Indosphere languages since the
non-Indo-Aryan languages have acquired them from the Indo-Aryan
ones (Neukom 1999) and we dont know where those breathy voiced
stops came from. 31
Slide 33
Armenian dialects probably inherited them from PIE, but if they
didnt, they changed the voiced stops into breathy stops and also at
some time changed voiceless stops into aspirates. As far as we know
these could have resulted from the same sound change. 32
Slide 34
The African languages are tricky Most of the Southern Bantu
examples are debatable. The consonants which act as tone depressors
are not necessarily breathy voiced stops. See Traill 1990. The Igbo
examples are very well established,
http://www.phonetics.ucla.edu/vowels/chapter12/igbo.html (Ladefoged
1976) According to Hyman 1972 they derive from earlier consonants
with nasal release. Both the voiceless and the voiced aspirates
arose in this way. (Matisoffs rhinoglottophilia) 33
Slide 35
So in the one certain case (Igbo) and the one possible case
(Armenian) the same sound change that introduced the breathy stops
also introduced or may have introduced the voiceless aspirates.
Here we finally come to Cao Bang. 34
Slide 36
Cao Bang Cao Bang is the name of a Central Tai language spoken
in Northern Viet Nam. The Cao Bang province of Viet Nam 35
Slide 37
Pittayawat (Joe) Pittayaporn. 2009. The phonology of Proto-Tai,
Cornell University Ph.D. thesis. Li, Fang-Kuei. 1977. Handbook of
Comparative Tai. Proto-Tai Stops LiPittayaporn voiceless*t
voiceless aspirated *t h voiced*d implosives ** ** 36
Slide 38
Pittayaporn demonstrates that the voiceless aspirates are not
to be reconstructed for Proto-Thai. They arise in CT and SWT from
PT *Tr GlossLiSiameseDebaoPo-aiSaekPT forehead*p h r-p h ak D p h
jak D pjak D p h rak D *pr- headlouse*t h r-haw A t h aw A law A
raw A *tr- to seek*xr-ha: A k h ja: A la: A ra: A *kr- 37
Slide 39
So Proto-Tai had a three-way contrast phonologically identical
to that of Mbatto: *t, *d, * What happened to this system? In most
dialects the voiced series is devoiced merging with the voiceless
series and the implosives become simple voiced stops. 38
Slide 40
In a few languages on the Sino-Vietnamese border voicing is
retained in the voiced series (Wenma), but in Cao Bang the voiced
series become breathy. The implosives become voiced stops.
GlossPTSiameseYayCao Bang to fold*bap D p h ap DS2 pap DS2 b ap DS2
ashes*daw B t h aw B2 taw B2 d w B2 pair*gu: B k h u: B2 ku: B2 g
u: B2 39
Slide 41
Cao Bang labial stops / b a B2 / to mate /ba B1 / shoulder /pa
B1 / grove /p h a B1 / to split < Chinese . 40
Slide 42
A Spectrogram of b a 41 voicing aspiration bb
Slide 43
In the closely related dialect Dao Ngan Day studied by Ross
(1996), the implosives are realized as preglottalized stops and the
voiced series are phonetically either simple voiced stops, breathy
stops, or breathy fricatives. Cao Bang does have voiceless
aspirates from the Tr- clusters and loanwords. 42
Slide 44
But the interesting point is that, for the first time to my
knowledge, we have an example of breathy stops originating through
a sound change totally independent of the origin of aspirates.
43
Slide 45
One could argue that Jakobsons observation is still valid (as
descriptively it may befor historically attested languages) and
that the creation of the voiceless aspirates primed learners to be
sensitive to the potential distinctiveness of [ spread glottis]
44
Slide 46
Although priming is plausibleand hence might explain the rarity
of the PIE systemthere is no necessity that a feature be expressed
at time n in order to make us of that distinction at time n+1. Most
compensatory lengthenings introduce new instances of length to
languages where length was already distinctive, but in Friulian
compensatory lengthening introduces distinctive vowel length into a
language which previously didnt have it. 45
Slide 47
The example of Cao Bang shows that breathy stops may arise by a
sound change not creating aspirates. The standard post-Brugmannian
reconstruction cannot be rejected out of hand. Its rarity and
shortlivedness can be explained as the result of the diachronic
filter. 46
Slide 48
Speculations on Prehistory Some oddities of the voiced series
are not indicative of much the rarity of *b: became *w initially?
(Barrack 2006, et al.) The ban on DeD: In fact identical manner is
disfavored in CVC. So what is odd is not the rarity of DED but the
frequency of TET (O/E = 1.31) and especially D h eD h (O/E = 2.46).
[O/E = Observed/Expected] 47
Slide 49
M ANNER OF ARTICULATION Second segment (-VC-)
StopsFricativesNasalsLiquidsGlides First segment (-CV-)
Stops0.790.821.311.350.80 Fricatives1.230.501.001.211.07
Nasals0.981.290.670.981.05 Liquids1.051.390.890.001.63
Glides1.191.210.681.10.60 48
Slide 50
Some additional oddities The voiced stops dont occur in
inflectional morphology, but the breathy series does. Final voicing
49
Slide 51
It has often been suggested that the voiced series was or
continues a non-modal series. ejectives (Gamkrelidze and Ivanov
1973, Hopper 1973, etc.) implosives (Haider 1985) both (Kortlandt)
50
Slide 52
But the key question about the PIE stop system is actually the
breathy series they are cross-linguistically rare yet they are of
freer distribution than the voiced series they are the series that
falls afoul of Jakobsons observation 51
Slide 53
A not-so-new proposal The Pre-PIE system was like that of
Mbatto or Proto-Tai. It had two series of voiced stops: implosive
and voiced. (implosive to be further defined) PIE underwent the Cao
Bang shift, i.e. the voiced stops became breathy and the implosives
became simple voiced stops. 52
Slide 54
Pre-Proto-Indo-EuropeanProto-Indo-European *t *d*d h ** *d
53
Slide 55
. Problem for Implosive theory: is the most common implosive:
SegmentPercentage of UPSID languages 10.86 5.1 1.1. 54
Slide 56
Solution * > *w before C? The best examples of initial *b
(*bel- strong and *bak- stick) are prevocalic. (Matasovi 1994)
*#wr-, *wl- surprisingly common. Cf. Longsheng w, Yuanyang,
Menglian v < PT * 55
Slide 57
The nonexplosives after Clements and Osu 2005 Nonexplosives
(i.e. lacking explosion at release) occur in about 20% of the
worlds languages. The traditional definition as involving
ingressive glottalic airstream is inadequate. Nonexplosives may be
produced with modal voicing, without ingressive airstream, or
rarefaction. 56
Slide 58
So what characterizes nonexplosives? The absence of air
pressure buildup in the oral cavity In other words, nonexplosives
are nonobstruent stops. A detailed study of Ikwere b shows no
glottal involvement different from b, no lowering of the larynx,
and no air pressure buildup. 57
Slide 59
My suggestion The Pre-PIE voiced stops were nonexplosive voiced
stops, not classical implosives. One fact that might be explained
in this way: final voicing was actually final nonexplosion. This
idea is also not new. (Lenisartikulation: Szemernyi 1973; Kmmel
2007) 58
Slide 60
Further Issues Are there other phenomena that can be explained
by the Cao Bang theory? Proto-Indo-European or Nuclear Proto-Indo-
European? Thanks to Adam Cooper, Abby Cohn, Pittayawat Pittayaporn,
and Draga Zec for advice and assistance in various forms. 59
Slide 61
Thank You! 60
Slide 62
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