Michel Ferlus
Independant researcher (CNRS, Retired)
Toward Proto Pearic:
Problems and historical Implications
Since the founding works of Robert Headley on Proto
Pearic, new data on Pearic languages were published by Thai scholars. A four
registers system is now clearly attested.
Only the most striking problems will be examined here
:
-Consonantal series shifts of
plosives initial (17th century) show two types of changes: */p t c k/>/pʰ tʰ cʰ kʰ/
regular phonetic change in Pearic, and */p t c k/>/p t c k/ phonetic change
under Khmer influence.
-Periodization
of shifts of finals *-s, *-r and *-l.
-It
will be shown that the final -ʔ
in Pearic languages was generated by an old laryngeal tenseness on main
syllables and does not correspond to PMK *-ʔ at all. Proto Pearic must be
reconstructed without a final glottal stop.
A
sketch of the stages of evolution of Pearic languages from PMK until modern
languageswill be proposed :
(i)
Original stage: Proto Pearic close to PMK with final *-ʔ. The Pearic
branch starts to separate from MK by the loss of PMK *-ʔ.
(ii)
Stage of Early Proto Pearic (no final -ʔ): Development of a syllabic contrast
tense-lax which will generate the future creaky voice feature.
(iii) Stage of Late Proto Pearic: Shift of
initial plosives series (reinforcement of unvoiced ones and devoicing of voiced
ones) with formation of a breathy voice feature.
(iii)
Actual stage : A four registers system.
It
will be shown how the Old Chinese tense-lax syllabic contrast was propagated in
Vietic, then in Katuic (exactly East Katuic) and in Pearic, along the Han trade
route from North-Vietnam to the