----- Original Message -----From: tgpedersenSent: Friday, February 02, 2007 5:53 PMSubject: [tied] Re: Fun with prenasalized stops.txt<snip>
Pre-nasalization is the heaviest among the Kamarupan languages
http://stedt. berkeley. edu/html/ STfamily. html#TBlg
Tangut (Xixia) had too, it seems.
Quote from the above URL:
"
...the extinct Xixia (=Hsi-hsia = Tangut) language, spoken in a
once-powerful empire in the Tibetan-Chinese- Uighur border regions,
finally destroyed by the Mongols in the 13th c.
"
Matisoff: Handbook of Proto-Tibeto- Burman
"
Of particular interest is the most anciently attested Qiangic
language, Xixia (Tangut), where Nishida (1964/66, 1976) reconstructs a
voiced prenasalized series. There are at least 5 striking etymologies
(discussed in JAM 1978b: 18) where there is independent Lolo-Burmese
evidence for the nasal prefix which Nishida reconstructs:
'ruler, lord, emperor'
Xixia *ndzï (N. 1976:35)
Proto-Lolo-Burmish *m-dz&w2 > Lahu jô-mô, Luquan nts'y, Nasu
dz'j33-mo33, WB cûi 'rule, govern'
'be settled; come to rest'
Xixia *ndîe~ (N. 1966:354)
PLB *m-din,1 <> *?-din,)1 > Lahu dè 'come to rest' <> te 'put sthg
down'. Cognate to
OC *d'ieng / Mandarin dìng .. (GSR #833z). ...
'drink'
Xixia *ndeh (N. 1966:415)
PLB *m-dan,1 <> *m-don,1 > Lahu dò 'drink' <> to (< *?-d-) 'give to
drink', Luquan nt'a11 Nasu d'o213, Yi Xide ndo33, Yi Dafang ndo21, Mpi
ton,5 <> tan,5. Cf. also WT h.thun,. ...
'shine'
Xixia *mbih (N. 1966:447) PLB *m-ba3 > WB pa', Lahu ba
The development of *-a > Xixia -i is quite regular, with many
examples. ...
'tail'
Xixia *mbih (N. 1966:464) PLB *m-ba3 > Mpi m2pa4.
"***
Why should anyone have to even point out that pre-nasalized /d/ (/Nd/) is not even vaguely related to /n/ + /d/ from /m/ + /d/?
Pre-nasalized stops, in those languages in which they _actually_ occur are phonemic.
Patrick
***