Abstract
This paper looks at the vowel harmony system of Ronghong Rma (Qiang). This system has previously been described in terms of synchronic vowel alternations. This paper takes a different approach to explore the diachronic element of vowel harmony. The finding is that ‘harmonization’ is epiphenomenal and that the vowel alternations are the results of regular sound changes from an earlier stage in the language. This diachronic perspective brings into focus a chain shift in the vowel system and clarifies the etymologies of forms that have undergone these changes. It also reveals the importance of uvular consonants as conditioning environments for vowel changes in Ronghong Rma.
List of abbreviations
- 1
-
first person
- 2
-
second person
- 3
-
third person
- adv
-
adverbial marker
- agt
-
agentive marker
- asp
-
aspect marker
- atr
-
advanced tongue root
- caus
-
causative marker
- cl
-
classifier
- cop
-
copula
- csm
-
change of state marker
- dat
-
dative marker
- def
-
definite marker
- det
-
determiner
- dir
-
directional prefix
- dtv
-
directive particle
- gp
-
generic person
- hs
-
hearsay marker
- indf
-
indefinite marker
- inf
-
inferential evidence
- ins
-
instrumental marker
- ipfv
-
imperfective aspect
- lnk
-
clause linker
- loc
-
locative marker
- med
-
mediative evidential
- n.
-
noun
- nar
-
narrative (hearsay) form made up of the inferential and hearsay particles
- neg
-
negative prefix
- nmlz
-
nominalizer
- nom
-
nominalizer
- part
-
clause/sentence final particle
- pl
-
plural
- pn
-
personal or place name
- poss
-
possessive marker
- seq
-
sequentializer
- sg
-
singular
- tr
-
transitive
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Articles in the same Issue
- Frontmatter
- Articles
- Tomorrow I’ll go (a) shopping: on the history of the Expeditionary Go construction and its relation to the absentive
- A synchronic and diachronic analysis of potential dāk 得 in Cantonese
- Down the paths to the past habitual: its historical connections with counterfactual pasts, future in the pasts, iteratives and lexical sources in Ancient Greek
- On the survival of the Spanish absolute construction: a qualitative diachronic study based on a corpus of translations from Latin
- Transient subordinate clauses in Balkan Turkic in its shift to Standard Average European subordination. Dialectal and historical evidence
- An integrated tone box scheme for determining tones in Tai varieties beyond Southwestern Tai: diachronic and synchronic concerns
- Vowel harmony in Rma: a diachronic perspective
- Some remarks on h-anticipation in Ancient Greek
- Book Reviews
- Don Ringe: A historical morphology of English
- Thomas Olander (ed.): The Indo-European language family: A phylogenetic perspective
- Ingrid Paulsen: The emergence of American English as a discursive variety: Tracing enregisterment process in nineteenth-century U.S. newspapers
- Lynn Anthonissen: Individuality in language change
- Sam Wolfe: Syntactic change in French
- Program Review
- IE8.com. IEGPT
Articles in the same Issue
- Frontmatter
- Articles
- Tomorrow I’ll go (a) shopping: on the history of the Expeditionary Go construction and its relation to the absentive
- A synchronic and diachronic analysis of potential dāk 得 in Cantonese
- Down the paths to the past habitual: its historical connections with counterfactual pasts, future in the pasts, iteratives and lexical sources in Ancient Greek
- On the survival of the Spanish absolute construction: a qualitative diachronic study based on a corpus of translations from Latin
- Transient subordinate clauses in Balkan Turkic in its shift to Standard Average European subordination. Dialectal and historical evidence
- An integrated tone box scheme for determining tones in Tai varieties beyond Southwestern Tai: diachronic and synchronic concerns
- Vowel harmony in Rma: a diachronic perspective
- Some remarks on h-anticipation in Ancient Greek
- Book Reviews
- Don Ringe: A historical morphology of English
- Thomas Olander (ed.): The Indo-European language family: A phylogenetic perspective
- Ingrid Paulsen: The emergence of American English as a discursive variety: Tracing enregisterment process in nineteenth-century U.S. newspapers
- Lynn Anthonissen: Individuality in language change
- Sam Wolfe: Syntactic change in French
- Program Review
- IE8.com. IEGPT