Sino-Tibetan *w in Tibetan and Old Chinese

Abstract

Abstract From the perspective of Baxter’s (1992) Old Chinese (OC, which is generally followed by Schuessler 2009), the fate of a putative Sino-Tibetan (ST) *w in Tibetan and Old Chinese is quite straight-forward: In Tibetan *w was deleted everywhere in all environments; in word-initial position loss of *w‑ resulted in (smooth) vocalic onset, it is argued here that this feature is represented by the letter ’a-chung, e.g. ’oŋ ‘come’ from *waŋ; some such words have developed a new, or alternative, y-initial (e.g. yoŋ beside ’oŋ). Vocalic onset (with ’a-chung) is also the outcome of loss of other initial consonants (e.g. suffix ’u from bu). In Old Chinese *w survived only as part of labiovelars, in absolute word initial position (later Middle Chinese initial jwi̯-), and in configurations *hw‑ (voiceless *w), *ʔw‑ and *sw‑ (s-prefix). Drawn into the discussions are side-issues, like the elimination of *ɦ‑ from the Old Chinese phonemic inventory; OC final *-r metathesis, monophthongization in closed syllables, ST labiovelars, as well as a number of new etymologies. This paper confirms by and large the conclusions of Handel (2009) and Jacques (2013), but with some adjustments and elaborations.