The Origins of the Tsou Phonemes /B/ and /D
『言語研 究 』 第62号(1972) The Origins of The Tsou Phonemes /b/ and /d/ Shigeru TSUCHIDA Summary It is suggested that some initial b's in Tsou are the regular re- flex of the cluster *km-. It is further suggested that some d's in the same position, parallel to b-, seem to have originated from *kN-, although the latter change is less certain because of the paucity of data. 0. Tsou is an Austronesian language spoken by approximately 3, 000 people in Central Taiwan. It is believed1) that Tsou, together with Kanakanabu and Saaroa, constitutes a subgroup called Tsouic, as against Atayalic (Atayal and Sedeq) and Paiwanic (Paiwan, Rukai, Puyuma, Ami, Bunun, Saisiyat). Three dialects of Tsou have been reported2): Tfuea, Tapane, and Diihtu. The dialectal differences are very slight, and the speakers of the different dialects face no problem in communicating with each other. The dialect treated here is Duhtu, spoken by about 150 people at Choumei Village (/mamahavana/) in Hsinyi County, Nant'ou Province (南投 縣信 義 郷久 美). The data were collected by the writer at the village during the summer of 1969. 1. Tsou phonemes are as follows: Consonants: /p, b, f, v, m; t, d, n; c, s, z; k, h, n;?; r/; 1) Ferrell 1966 and 1969, Dyen 1963 and 1965. 2) Ogawa & Asai 1935, Tung 1964. 24 The Origins of The Tsou Phonemes /b/ and /d/ 25 Vowels:/i, e, a, o, u, a/; Stress:/'/. /c/ is voiceless alveolar affricate [ts]. /c/ and /s/ are palatalized [tf, f] when immediately followed by /i/.
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