Journal of the Southeast Asian Linguistics Society JSEALS Vol. 13.1 (2020): 53-85 ISSN: 1836-6821, DOI: http://hdl.handle.net/10524/52460 University of Hawaiʼi Press RECONSIDERING THE DIACHRONY OF TONE IN RMA1 Nathaniel A. Sims University of California Santa Barbara
[email protected] Abstract Prior work has suggested that proto-Rma was a non-tonal language and that tonal varieties underwent tonogenesis (Liú 1998, Evans 2001a-b). This paper re-examines the different arguments for the tonogenesis hypothesis and puts forward subgroup-internal and subgroup- external evidence for an alternative scenario in which tone, or its phonetic precursors, was present at the stage of proto-Rma. The subgroup-internal evidence comes from regular correspondences between tonal varieties. These data allow us to put forward a working hypothesis that proto-Rma had a two-way tonal contrast. Furthermore, existing accounts of how tonogenesis occurred in the tonal varieties are shown to be problematic. The subgroup-external evidence comes from regular tonal correspondences to two closely related tonal Trans- Himalayan subgroups: Prinmi, a modern language, and Tangut, a mediaeval language attested by written records from the 11th to 16th centuries. Regular correspondences among the tonal categories of these three subgroups, combined with the Rma-internal evidence, allow us to more confidently reconstruct tone for proto-Rma. Keywords: Tonogenesis, Trans-Himalayan (Sino-Tibetan), Rma, Prinmi, Tangut, Historical linguistics ISO 639-3 codes: qxs, pmi, pmj, txg 1. Introduction This paper addresses the diachrony of tone in Rma,2 a group of northeastern Trans-Himalayan3 language varieties spoken in 四川 Sìchuān, China.