Re: Sanskrit v- > S.E. Asian b-

--- In cybalist@yahoogroups.com, "Richard Wordingham"
<richard.wordingham@...> wrote:

> In S.E. Asian languages such as Thai and Malay, many words
> ultimately deriving from Sanskrit words in v- show b- (in Thai,

this

> has subsequently become ph-). Other Sanskrit words in v- yield w-

.

> Thai in particular shows a great many doublets. The explanation
> usually given for Thai is that the words in ph- derive from

Sanskrit

> through Pali.

In http://groups.yahoo.com/group/austronesian/message/2497 , Waruno
Mahdi remarks that Proto-Malayic lacked a contrast between w- and b-
, which lack is reflected in the early Old Malay. Thus the Malay
examples are *not* parallel to the Thai case.

Richard.