Book Title: Indian Antiquary Vol 11
Author(s): Jas Burgess
Publisher: Swati Publications

View full book text
Previous | Next

Page 210
________________ 184 distinguish roots by tonal inflexion, diminish; as in Khyen and Burmese. THE INDIAN ANTIQUARY. 3. Phaloung and Talaing have developed, besides the usual finals, also k, h, r, rh, l, lh; the initials are very numerous; the tonal system has been discarded-because the language possessed in its consonants and simple a-tonal vowels sufficient means of differentiation of roots. 4. Where final consonants have been partly or wholly disposed of (as in the Mandarin and Sgō Karen), vowel-accidents (tone, pitch of voice, emphasis) and initial consonants increase correspondingly. In Burmese, Arakanese (a dialect of Burmese), Phaloung and Kachyen the words for "pony" show a final nasal; it is not, however, an organic nor ng, produced by an actual contact of the organs of speech, but a mere nazalised vowel, which can be easily ascertained by a phono-physiological examination of the parts concerned in its pronunciation. But we shall be brought to the same conclusion by induction from the phonetic law that in the Indo-Chinese languages a final sound, to the enunciation of which a renewed effort of the voice or a separate contact of the organs of utterance are necessary, is never lost without affecting and changing the remainder of the root. In the Burmese-Phaloung group, we find a double initial consonant, and to infer from the way in which these words are written with native characters, or the usual systems of transliteration-also a final nasal, a separate phonetic entity from the preceding vowel. In the Shan-Chinese representatives ma, mi, ba, a simple initial consonant and the same vowels occur. Now, a double initial consonant in mra", myin, with a supposed final nasal, cannot be reduced by phonetic tear and wear to such forms as ma and mi; wherever a final nasal is lost, a preceding a is changed to the deep-toned ô or ú or ö Hokkien bang, to dream Shan phún Anam. : mō Karen mộ, in mẻ mô tả Phaloung po Hokkien bäng to hope, expect. Shangai wäng Anam. wong Amoy bang Karen mú [JULY, 1882. Shan mōng Burm. myô, hmyo Hokkien ban a curtain, to cover Anam. Amoy Shan pan-pin Khyen päng Karen bhö Burmese mo Shangai mú In these examples a well-defined nasal follows the vowel, and where it disappeared, the preceding vowel changed from a to o, ö or û. We can therefore with safety draw the inferences, that Shan-Chinese ma, mi, ba, have either no affinity at all with the Burmese-Phaloung equivalents, or, if their kinship be supported by other evidences, the final in mra", myi" is not a nasal consonant, but merely an accident of the preceding vowel, in the utterance of which the vibration, caused by the passing column of air in the vocal cords of the larynx, is communicated to the nose and the roof of the mouth, and the current of breath, bearing the vowel-sound, is slightly modified by the resonance-capacity of the organs through which it passes. In Burmese, Khyen, Pgo Karen, Talaing and Kachyen, nazalised vowels are of common occurrence; nasalization forms a volatile concomitant to the vowel-element, leaving at its disappearance no inheritance to the survivors, which, in return, are not affected by the bereavement. The nature of the final element in the several roots for "pony" in the Burmese-Phaloung and Shan-Chinese groups offer no feature opposed to the assumption of their genetic connection. We now proceed to consider the initial consonants in the examples given, viz. mr, my (Burmese y corresponds nearly always to Arakanese r) pr, b and m. As already intimated, the number of initial consonants stand in a definite relation to the number of final consonants and the tone-scale of the root-vowel. Shan-Chinese requires fewer consonants than Burmese, Talaing, Khyen and Phaloung, by reason of its six finals and fully developed tonesystem. Double initials in the latter occur in the former as simple initials, media and media aspirate as tenues and tenues aspirate without any compensation for the loss or change. Besides, several other initials in Burmese, Talaing, Phaloung and Khyen coalesce into one in máng bán

Loading...

Page Navigation
1 ... 208 209 210 211 212 213 214 215 216 217 218 219 220 221 222 223 224 225 226 227 228 229 230 231 232 233 234 235 236 237 238 239 240 241 242 243 244 245 246 247 248 249 250 251 252 253 254 255 256 257 258 259 260 261 262 263 264 265 266 267 268 269 270 271 272 273 274 275 276 277 278 279 280 281 282 283 284 285 286 287 288 289 290 291 292 293 294 295 296 297 298 299 300 301 302 303 304 305 306 307 308 309 310 311 312 313 314 315 316 317 318 319 320 321 322 323 324 325 326 327 328 329 330 331 332 333 334 335 336 337 338 339 340 341 342 343 344 345 346 347 348 349 350 351 352 353 354 355 356 357 358 359 360 361 362 363 364 365 366 367 368 369 370 371 372 373 374 375 376 377 378 379 380 381 382 383 384 385 386 387 388 389 390 391 392 393 394 395 396