The Historical Phonological Development Path of Sino-Tibetan as Seen through the Tense/Lax Vowel Opposition in Naxi
Yang Huandian argues, contrary to Hu Tan and Dai Qingxia's earlier hypothesis, that Sino-Tibetan phonological evolution began with a tense/lax vowel opposition that distinguished word meaning, followed by the gradual loss of tense vowels, and only afterward by the emergence of checked (stop-final) syllables and nasal-coda finals -- the reverse of Hu and Dai's proposed order. Comparing Naxi's tense/lax vowels against Hani, Lisu, Bai, and Written Tibetan cognates, and using Chinese dialects (Beijing Mandarin versus Cantonese) as a diachronic model, he proposes four developmental stages of the tense/lax-versus-checked/nasal-coda cycle and places Hani/Lisu/Lahu at stage one, Naxi and Bai at stage two, Tibetan and Cantonese at stage three, and Beijing Mandarin at stage four, arguing that Naxi's own emerging nasalized vowels may be an early sign of the next stage in this cycle.
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