Inventory of Burmese sound changes (2014 ICHLL 21 Oslo)

Inventory of Burmese sound changes Nathan W. Hill • • • • • Burmish tonal split in checked syllables. Matisof's law: *ś-, *s- > s- and *č-, *ts- > tsBurling's law, loss of preglottalization consonants Maung Wun's law, *u>o₂ before velars Wolfenden's law, -*ik> -ac, *-iŋ > -aññ Trans-Himalayan Lolo-Burmese Proto-Burmish Atsi Maru Achang Proto-Burmic Old Burmese Loloish Lashi Bola Xiandao (Proto-Mranmaric) Arakanese Standard Burmese Intha Tavoyan Yaw etc. Figure 1: The Burmish language family §1. The Burmish tonal split in checked syllables: Although the phonological contrast in all Burmish languages is that of aspiration and not voicing, patterns of tone correspondence make clear that the distinction was originally one of voiced versus voiceless (Burling 1967: 16, 19 and Nishi 1999: 90-91). All of the Burmish languages outside of the Burmic subbranch undergo a tonal split in closed syllables (Nishi 1999: 53-54, 105-407). The low tone coincides with unaspirated initials and the high tone coincides with aspirated initials. §1a. Aspirate initials corresponding to Lashi high checked tone (H [55]): Wbur. ြြက် khwak 'bowl', Lashi khuʔH OBur. ြလုပ် khlup 'sew', Lashi khju:pH WBur. ေြြာက် khrok 'six', Lashi khjukH WBur. ြျက် khyak 'navel', Lashi čhɔʔH 1 WBur. ြျုတ် khyut 'dusk, twilight', Lashi čhɔʔHWBur. ဆတ် chat 'deer', Lashi tshatH WBur. ဆက် chak 'connect, join', Lashi tshɔ:ʔH WBur. ဖျက် phyak 'pull down; unseam', Lashi phjɔ:ʔH WBur. ေောက် thok 'lean on; support', Lashi thu:kH WBur. ေွက် thwak 'come out', Lashi thuʔH §1b. Non-aspirated initials corresponding to Lashi checked low (V [31]): WBur. ေကာက် kok 'paddy rice', Lashi kukV WBur. ြျလပ် klyap 'ten cents; kyat', Lashi kjɔV WBur. ေြကာက် krok 'be afraid', Lashi kju:kV WBur. ေောက် cok 'female genitals', Lashi čuʔV Wbur. ပေ် pac 'shoot', Lashi pə:kV WBur. ြပတ် prat '(thread) snap', Lashi pji:tV WBur. ပျက် -pyak 'collapse, damage', Lashi pjɔ:ʔV WBur. ေပျာက် pyok 'disappear, vanish', Lashi pju:kV WBur. တတ် tat 'know (how to)', Lashi ta:tV WBur. တက် tak 'go up, climb', Lashi tɔ:ʔV Voiced initials are known to have a depressing efect on the pitch of a syllable (CITATION). Consequently, this tonal split is best explained by the supposition that proto-Burmish had a voiced versus voicless contrast, which independently became an unaspirated versus aspirated contrast in the various Burmish languages. In the Burmic sub-branch the aspiration alone indexes the manner of the proto-initial, but in the non-Burmic Burmish languages a tonal split in checked syllables re dundantly conveys the same information. The reconstruction of a voicing contrast rather than an aspiration contrast in proto-Burmish also facillitates comparison with Tibetan and Chinese. §2. Matisof's law: *ś-, *s- > s- and *č-, *ts- > ts-. Maung Wun points out the correspondence of both Tibetan ś- and s- to Burmese s-, but does not explicitly claim that this distinction should be projected onto the proto-language (1975[1937]: 83). Burling (1967: 42), followed by Nishi (1999[1998]: 47), Mann (1998: 79), and Button (2012: 46) all point out the merger of protoBurmish *ś- and *s- as Burmese s-. Matisof frst proposed a merger of *ts- and *č- in Burmese as c- [ts-] (1968: 889); Mann (1998: 119) and Nishi (1999: 70) adopt his proposal. Although this sound law could aptly be named after Maung Wun or Burling, because it is convenient to name other sound changes after these two gentlemen (Maun Wun's law cf. §5, Burling's law cf. §3), and because Matisof discovered a novel component of the law, it is appropriately named 'Matisof's law'. §2a. Examples of *s-: Bur. သက် sak < *sak 'breath', Lashi sɔʔH Bur. သုတ် sut < *sut 'wipe', Lashi su:tH Bur. သုမ်း sumḥ < *sumḥ 'three', Lashi sɔmH 2 OBur. သုယ်း suyḥ < *suyḥ 'blood', Lashi suiH §2b. Examples of *ś-: Bur. သား sāḥ < *śāḥ 'lesh', Lashi śɔH OBur. သိယ် siy < *śi 'die', Lashi śe:i Bur. သီး sīḥ < *śeḥ 'fruit', Lashi śɔH Bur. ေသာက် sok < *śuk 'drink', Lashi śu:kH Bur. သမ် sam < *śam 'iron', Atsi śamH §2c. In general Achang and Xiandao appear not to have undergone Matisof's law. Quite naturally when Burmese and Lashi both have s-, so do Achang and Xiandao. Bur. သက် sak < *sak 'breath', Achang -sɔʔ, Xiandao sɔʔ, Lashi sɔʔH Bur. သုတ် sut < *sut 'wipe', Achang sut, Xiandao sut, Lashi su:tH Bur. သုမ်း sumḥ < *sumḥ 'three', Achang sumH, Xiandao sumH, Lashi sɔmH OBur. သုယ်း suyḥ < *suyḥ 'blood', Achang suiH, Xiandao suiH, Lashi suiH When Burmese has s- and Lashi has ś- Achang and Xiandao agree with the archaism maintained in Lashi. Bur. သား sāḥ < *śāḥ 'lesh', Achang ʂuaH, Xiandao ʂɔ³, Lashi śɔH OBur. သိယ် siy < *śi 'die', Achang ʂï, Xiandao ʂï, Lashi śe:i Bur. သီး sīḥ < *śeḥ 'fruit', Achang ʂəH, Xiandao ʂïH, Lashi śɔH Bur. ေသာက် sok < *śuk 'drink', Achang ʂɔʔ, Xiandao ʂuʔ, Lashi śu:kH Bur. သမ် sam < *śam 'iron', Achang ʂam, Xiandao ʂam, Atsi śamH Nonetheless, Achang and Xiandao appear to have undergone a secondary palatalization before high front vowels, so in this environment their testimony on the etymological status of the silibant is less reliable than the evidence of other Burmish languages such as Lashi. Bur. သညး saññḥ < *siŋḥ 'liver', Achang -ʂəŋH, Xiandao -ʂɯŋH, Lashi səŋH Bur. သညး saññḥ < *siŋḥ 'nails', Achang -ʂəŋH, Xiandao -ʂɯŋH, Lashi -səŋH Bur. သေ် sac < *sik 'tree', Xiandao ʂɯk, Lashi sə:kH The change ś > s sets Burmese apart from all of the rest of the Burmish languages, it may be seen as an isogloss constitutive of the Mranmaic language family. §2d. Examples to be reconstructed *ts-: Bur. ေား cāḥ < *dzāḥ 'eat', Lashi tsɔ: WBur. ေောင့် coṅʔ < **dzuŋʔ 'guard', Lashi tsu:ŋH Bur. ေုံ -cuṃ < *dzuṃ 'pair', Lashi tsɔmH WBur. ေိုး cuiḥ < *dzuiwḥ 'rule(r)', Lashi tshou³⁵ Bur. ဆား chāḥ < *tsāḥ 'salt', Lashi tshoH Bur. ဆူ chū < *tsū 'fat', Lashi tshu: Bur. ဆိုး chuiḥ < *tsuiwḥ 'cough', Lashi ˀtsa:uH WBur. ဆိုး chuiḥ 'dye', Lashi tsha:uH Bur. ဆတ် chat 'deer', Lashi tshatH Bur. ဆုတ် chut < *tsut 'lungs', Lashi ˀtsɔtH Bur. ဆယ် chay < *tsay 'ten', Lashi -tshe Bur. ဆပ် chap 'repay', Lashi tsha:pH 3 Bur. ဆံ chaṃ- < *tsaṃ 'hair', Lashi tsham §2e. Examples to be reconstructed *č-. WBur. ဆိုး -chuiḥ- < *čuiwḥ 'widow', Lashi čhouHWBur. ေောက် cok < *ǰo₂k 'vagina', Lashi čuʔV WBur. ေွတ် cwat < *ǰo₁t 'wet', Lashi ˀču:ʔH Bur. ဆန် chan < *čan 'rice', Lashi čhɛn WBur. ေဆး cheḥ < *čiyḥ 'medicine', Lashi čheiH Bur. ဆုတ် chut < *čut 'tear', Lashi čhɛ:ʔH §2f. Since Achang and Xiandao did not change *ś- to s- as Burmese does, one would expect them to also not change *č- to ts-. Unfortunately, as Nishi points out (1999: 70), Achang and Xiandao africates have complicated correspondences. For example, corresponding to Burmese chXiandao furnishes cognates with ch-, th-, tsh- and tʂh-. WBur. ဆိုး chuiḥ 'dye', Xiandao tʂhauH Bur. ဆင် chaṅ 'elephant', Xiandao chaŋ Bur. ဆတ် chat 'deer', Xiandao thɛt Bur. ဆယ် chay 'ten', Xiandao -tshi Although these complications assuredly deserve further study, because the correspondences between Burmese and the Burmish languages other than Achang and Xiandao are clear-cut, these complications will probably have little impact on the proto-language. §3. Burling's law, loss of preglottalization consonants. At variance with the two way contrast that Old Burmese exhibits for all consonants apart from s-, Proto-Burmish maintains a three way manner contrast for obstruents and a two way contrast for resonants (Burling 1967: 6, 31-40, 1 Bradley 1979: 127; Mann 1998: 67-70; Nishi 1999: 68, 94-96). Lashi maintains the original preglottalized consonants in the widest variety of contexts (Nishi 1999: 70), consequently Lashi is particularly useful in trying to establish the proto-Burmish value of a stop. §3a. Examples to be reconstructed *C-: OBur. ြိုဝ်း -khuiwḥ < *kuiwḥ 'smoke', Lashi -khouH OBur. ြလျပ် khlyap < *klap 'lat object', Lashi khjapH Bur. ဆင် chaṅ < *tsaŋ 'elephant', Lashi tshaŋ Bur. ဆပ် chap < *tsap 'repay', Lashi tsha:pH Bur. ဆန် chan < *čan 'rice', Lashi čhɛn WBur. ေဆး cheḥ < *čiyḥ 'medicine', Lashi čheiH Bur. ဆုတ် chut < *čut 'tear up, rip', Lashi čhɛ:ʔH Bur. ေူ thū < *tū 'thick', Lashi thu: Bur. ေုတ် thut < *tut 'take out; pull out', Atsi tʰoʔ⁵ 1 Burling and Mann reconstruct the three series as voiceless unaspirated, voiceless aspirated, and voiceless glottalized (Burling 1969: 31-35; Mann 1998: 71). Nishi in contrast regards the proto-forms as voiced, voiceless, and voiceless preglottalized (1999: 68). The Burmese tonal split in checked syllables ensures that Nishi's proposal is correct. 4 Bur. ဖ -pha < *pa 'male', Lashi -phoH OBur. ဖလူ phlū < *plū 'white', Lashi phju: Bur. ဖျက် phyak < *pyak 'pull down; unseam', Lashi phjɔ:ʔH §3b. Examples to be reconstructed *ˀC-: Bur. ြတ် khat < *ˀkat 'put in (to); pack', Lashi ˀka:tH Bur. ြြင် khraṅ < *ˀkraŋ 'mosquito', Lashi ˀkjaŋ Bur. ြျက် khyak < *ˀkyak 'cook, boil', Lashi ˀča:uX Bur. ဆိုး chuiḥ < *ˀtsuiwḥ 'to cough', Lashi ˀtsa:uH Bur. ဆုတ် chut < *ˀtsut 'lungs', Lashi ˀtsɔtH Bur. ေ tha < *ˀta 'rise, stand up', Lashi ˀtɔ:X Bur. ေူး thūḥ < *ˀtūḥ 'to answer', Lashi ˀtu:H Bur. ဖား phāḥ < *ˀpāḥ 'frog', Lashi ˀpɑH WBur. ြဖူ phrū < *ˀprū 'porcupine', Lashi -ˀpju §3c. Examples to be reconstructed *s-. Bur. သုမ်း sumḥ < *sumḥ 'three', Lashi sɔmH Bur. သုတ် sut < *sut 'wipe, erase', Lashi su:tH §3d. Examples to be reconstructed *ˀs: Bur. သတ် sat < *ˀsat 'kill', Lashi ˀsa:tH Bur. သိ si < *ˀsiʔ 'know', Lashi ˀsɛ:X §3e. By combining Burling's law and Matisof's law it is possible to further distinguish preglottalized *ˀs and *ˀś. Examples of *ˀs- have just been given. I fnd evidence for only one example of *ˀś. Bur. သန်း sanḥ < *ˀśanḥ 'louse', Lashi ˀśɛnH §3f. Whereas the aspirate obstruents and s- have two origins, aspirated nasals and liquids have only one: they derive from proto-Burmish pre-glottalized consonants. Bur. ငှါး ṅhāḥ < *ˀṅāḥ 'borrow', Lashi ˀŋɔ:H Bur. ငှက် ṅhak < *ˀṅak 'bird', Lashi ˀŋoʔH Bur. နှါး nhā < *ˀnā 'nose', Lashi ˀno Bur. နှပ် nhap < *ˀnap 'mucus', Lashi ˀnapH Bur. ှာ rhā < *ˀrā 'search', Lashi ˀśɔ: Bur. ှက် rhak < *ˀrak 'be bashful', Lashi ˀśɔ:ʔH Bur. လှံ lhaṃ < *ˀlaṃ 'spear', Atsi ˀlam³¹ §3g. Nishi reports that he has “not found any cognates whose initial derives from PBsh [Proto-Burmish] *ʔy-” (1999: 47), but he does posit the three words ယှာ yhā 'scarce', ယှန် yhan 'yoke', and ယုံ yhuṃ (no defnition given) (1999: 47). The initial ယှန် yh- for 'yoke' is confrmed by the pronunciation with ś- rather than hr- in Arakanese (Okell 1995: 12). 2 §3h. Burmese words with zero initial almost always have preglottalized cognates in the other Burmish languages. This confrms the widespread suspicion that zero initial in Old Burmese was articulated with a glottal stop initial (CITATION). 2 Mastisof (1968: 893) without evidence claims that proto-Lolo-Burmese ʔy- becomes ʔ- in Burmese. 5 Bur. အိမ် im 'house', Lashi ˀjɔm Bur. အပ် ip 'sleep', Lashi ˀju:pH Bur. ဥ u 'egg', Lashi ˀuX Bur. ဦ ū 'intestine', Lashi ˀu Bur. ဦး ūḥ 'head', Lashi ˀwɔH§3i. Achang and Xiandao like Burmese lack preglottalized initials. It is only necessary to give a few examples because the pattern is pervasive. Bur. ေြြာက် khrok < *ˀkro₂k 'frighten', Achang xʐoʔ, Lashi ˀkju:kH, Bur. ဆုတ် chut < *ˀcut 'lungs', Achang -tɕhot, Lashi ˀtsɔtH Bur. ေူး thūḥ < *ˀtūḥ 'to answer', Achang thuH, Lashi ˀtu:H Bur. ဖား phāḥ < *ˀpāḥ 'frog', Achang phɔH, Lashi ˀpɑH Bur. သေ် sac < *ˀsik 'new', Achang ʂək, Lashi ˀsə:kH Bur. သန်း sanḥ < *ˀśanḥ 'louse', Achang ʂanH, Lashi ˀśɛnH Bur. ငှက် ṅhak < *ˀṅak 'bird', Xiandao ŋ̊ɔʔ, Lashi ˀŋoʔH Bur. နှပ် nhap < *ˀnap 'mucus', Achang n̥ap, Lashi ˀnapH OBur. မလုပ် mhlup < *ˀmlup 'bury', Achang m̥ʐop, Atsi ˀmjup Bur. ှည် rhaññ 'long' < *ˀriŋ, Achang səŋ, Lashi ˀśe:ŋ, Tib. ིང་ riṅ Bur. လှပ် lhyap < *ˀlyap 'lash', Xiandao l̥ɛp, Lashi ˀlapH Burling's law afects Achang and Xiandao and thus provides an iso-gloss for the Burmic languages. §4. Exceptions to Burling's law. There are exceptions to Burling's law. In several words Burmese aspirates have cognates in the Burmish languages which lack aspiration or pre-glottalization. It is remarkable that most such words have initial mh- in Burmese. Bur. ြျင် khyaṅ 'bolt', Lashi kja:ŋX Bur. ဆုတ် chut 'back up', Atsi tsut²¹ Bur. မု -mhu 'matter, afair', Lashi -moH Bur. မို mhui 'mushroom', Lashi mouVBur. မုတ် mhut 'ladle', Atsi mut¹ Bur. မုတ် mhut 'blow away', Lashi mu:tV 3 Bur. အိုး ʔuiḥ 'pot', Bola -ˀau³⁵ Bur. ေအာင် ʔoṅ 'win', Lashi ɔ:ŋ §4a. In some words Burmese lacks aspiration when the Burmish languages have pre-glottalized initials. Bur. ကျပ် -kyap 'narrow', Lashi ˀčapH Bur. ြကယ် kray star', Lashi ˀkji WBur. ေွပ် -cwap 'ring', Lashi -ˀčɔʔH WBur. ေွတ် cwat 'wet', Lashi ˀču:ʔH Bur. တင်း taṅḥ 'tense, tight, taut', Lashi ˀtə:ŋH Bur. တပ် tap 'to stick down', Lashi ˀta:pH Bur. တုတ် tut 'short (length)', Atsi ˀtot⁵ 3 Although Lashi -ouH does not have an initial glottal, the cognates to to Burmese အိုး ʔuiḥ 'pot', Maru -ˀuk⁵⁵ and Bola -ˀau³⁵ do show an initial glottal, so in this case the irregularity may pertain to Lashi alone. 6 WBur. တွန် twan 'to crow (cocks)', Lashi ˀtu:n Bur. ပါး pāḥ 'thin', Lashi ˀpɔ:H Bur. ဝါ wā 'cotton', Lashi -ˀu Bur. ဝပ် wap 'hatch', Lashi ˀwu:pH OBur. ရျာ ryā 'hundred', Lashi ˀśo Because there are no examples of wh- in Burmese which have cognates available in the Burmish languages, the w- initial words do not have to be seen as exceptions. However, if one proposes that proto-Burmish *ˀw- yields w- and not wh- in Burmese, then the origin of those words in Burmese that are written with initial wh- must be sought elsewhere. §5. Maung Wun's law, *u>o₂ before velars. Written Burmese -o- occurs only before velars (Yanson 1990: 68), where it corresponds to -u- in Written Tibetan, Old Chinese and the Burmish languages. Maung Wun points out that this correspondence suggests that the Written Burmese o (< Old Burmese o₂) is of secondary origin (1975: 88, originally written in 1937); Miller (1956: 39), Gong (2002[1980]: 4), and Dempsey (2001: 223) also support this change. WBur. ေြြာက် khrok < *kruk 'six', Lashi khjukH WBur. ေောက် cok < *ǰuk 'vagina', Lashi čuʔV WBur. ေောက် thok < *tuk 'lean on', Lashi thu:kH WBur. ေပျာက် pyok < *byuk 'vanish', Lashi pju:kV WBur. ေမျာက် myok < *myuk 'monkey', Lashi mjukV WBur. ေရာက် yok- < *yuk 'person', Lashi juʔHWBur. ေလာက် lok < *luk 'maggot', Lashi lukV WBur. ေသာက် sok < *śuk 'drink', Lashi śu:kH WBur. ေောင့် coṅʔ < *dzuŋʔ 'guard', Lashi tsu:ŋH WBur. ေောင်း thoṅḥ < *tuŋḥ 'pound', Lashi thu:ŋH §5a. The question naturally arises as to whether Achang and Xiandao underwent Maung Wun's law together with Burmese. In the case of Xiandao it is easy to answer in the negative; in most words Xiandao preserves the vowel *u. WBur. ေောက် cok 'vagina', Xiandao cuʔ WBur. ေကာက် kok 'paddy rice', Xiandao kuʔ WBur. ေသာက် sok 'to drink', Xiandao ʂuʔ WBur. ေောက် thok 'lean on; support', Xiandao thuʔ WBur. ေရာက် yok- 'person', Xiandao juʔH WBur. ေပါင်း poṅḥ- 'bamboo steamer', Xiandao puŋH §5b. Nontheless, in two words Xiandao exceptionally does have 'o'. WBur. ေြျာင်း -khyoṅḥ 'throat', Xiandao khʐoŋHWBur. ေောင့် coṅʔ 'to guard, defend', Xiandao coŋ³⁵ §5c. Whether or not Achang underwent Maung Wun's law is not at all clear. WBur. ေကာက် kok 'pick up', Achang kuʔ WBur. ေြြာက် khrok 'six', Achang xʐoʔ WBur. ေသာက် sok 'to drink', Achang ʂɔʔ 7 §6. Wolfenden's law, -*ik> -ac, *-iŋ > -aññ. Stuart Wolfenden is the frst scholar I have identifed who posits velars as an origin of Burmese palatal fnals, he remarks that in “many cases, in fact, fnal -ń [-ññ] seems to go back rather to a guttural -ṅ” (1938: 167). Agreeing with 4 Wolfenden, Shafer also posits a velar origin to Written Burmese -ac (1940: 311); Pulleyblank repeats these suggestions (1963: 218). The evidence of the Burmish languages unambiguously confrms that Burmese changed proto-Burmish *-ik and *iŋ into -ac and -aññ respectively. Because Lashi lowers 'i' to 'ə' for many of the relevant words, the cognates in Atsi yield a somewhat more straightforward comparison. §6a. Examples to be reconstructed *iŋ: Bur. လည် laññ < *liŋ 'neck', Atsi liŋ³¹ Bur. မည် maññ < *miŋ 'name', Atsi miŋ³¹ Bur. ှည် rhaññ < *ˀriŋ 'long', Atsi heŋ³¹ Bur. မှည့ mhaññʔ < *ˀmiŋʔ 'ripe', Atsi ˀmiŋ⁵⁵ Bur. သည်း saññḥ < *siŋḥ 'liver', Atsi seŋ¹¹ Bur. သည်း -saññḥ < *-siŋḥ '(fnger) nail', Atsi -seŋ¹¹ §6b. Examples to be reconstructed *ik Bur. နှေ် nhac < *ˀnik 'heart', Atsi ˀnik⁵ Bur. သေ် sac < *sik 'tree', Atsi sek⁵ Bur. အနှေ် anhac < *aˀnik 'year', Atsi ˀnik⁵ Bur. သေ် sac < *sik 'new', Atsi sek⁵ §6c. While the Burmish languages point only to velars as the origin of Burmese palatal fnals, correspondences with Tibetan, such as those of Miller (1956: 39), support a distinction between velars and dentals. Dempsey correctly concludes that dentals and velars had merged as velars after the vowel *i already by the time of proto-Burmish (2003: 115). Comparisons to Chinese are not useful, because dentals and velars are hard to distinguish after -i- in Old Chinese (Baxter 1992: 435-437). §6d. Examples to be reconstructed *iŋ: Bur. လည် laññ < *liŋ 'neck', Tib. མིང་ mǰiṅ Bur. မည် maññ < *miŋ 'name', Tib. ིང་ myiṅ Bur. ှည် rhaññ < *ˀriŋ 'long', Tib. ིང་ riṅ §6e. Examples to be reconstructed *-in (> proto-Burmish *iŋ). Bur. မှည့ mhaññʔ < *ˀmiŋʔ 'ripe', Atsi ˀmiŋ⁵⁵, Tib. ིན་ smin Bur. သည်း saññḥ < *siŋḥ 'liver', Atsi seŋ¹¹, Tib. མིན་ mchin Bur. သည်း -saññḥ < *-siŋḥ '(fnger) nail', Atsi -seŋ¹¹, Tib. ེན་ -sen §6f. Examples to be reconstructed *ik Bur. ဆေ် chac < *tsik 'joint', Tib. ིགས་ tshigs 4 Before recognizing Wolfenden's contribution, I referred to this change as 'Shafer's law' (Hill 2012 'six vowels' : 4 et passim, 2013 'laterals' : passim). 8 Bur. မှေ် mhyac < *ˀmyik 'bamboo', Tib. ིག་ smyig Bur. အေ် ac < *ik 'throttle', Tib. འིག་ ḫkhyig §6g. There do not appear to be instances of Burmese -ac for which Tibetan cognates support a reconstruction *-it, becoming *-ik in proto-Burmish. §6h. Under conditions not yet understood some cases of inherited *iŋ appears to have become 5 *ik by the time of proto-Burmish. Bur. နှေ် nhac < *ˀnik 'heart', Atsi ˀnik⁵, Tib. ིང་ sñiṅ Bur. သေ် sac < *sik 'tree', Atsi sek⁵, Tib. ིང་ śiṅ Bur. ေေ် cac < *dzik 'conlict', Tib. འིང་ ḫdziṅ Bur. အနှေ် anhac < *aˀnik 'year', Atsi ˀnik⁵, Tib. ན་ིང་ na-niṅ 'last year' §6i. Achang and Xiandao do not undergo Wolfenden's law. As a consequence, Wolfenden's law serves as an iso-gloss to distinguish the Mranmaic sub-family of the Burmic languages. Bur. ပေ် pac 'shoot (an arrow)', Achang pək, Xiandao pɤk Bur. သေ် sac < *sik 'tree', Achang saŋH-, Xiandao ʂɯk Bur. လည် laññ 'neck', Achang laŋH-, Xiandao lɤŋHBur. မှည့ mhaññʔ < *ˀmiŋʔ 'ripe', Achang ŋ̊eŋX WBur. ြမည် mraññ 'loud', Achang mʐəŋ, Xiandao mɤŋ WBur. ြပည် praññ 'pus', Achang pʐəŋ, Xiandao pʐɯŋ Bur. ှည် rhaññ 'long' < *ˀriŋ 'long', Achang səŋ, Xiandao sɤŋ Bur. သည်း saññḥ < *siŋḥ 'liver', Achang -ʂəŋH, Xiandao -ʂɯŋH OBur. ပလည့ plaññʔ- < *bliŋʔ 'be full', Achang pʐəŋX, Xiandao pɤŋ³⁵ References Baxter, William H. (1992). A Handbook of Old Chinese Phonology. Berlin: Mouton de Gruyter. Baxter, William H. and Laurent Sagart (2012). “Reconstructing the *s- prefx in Old Chinese.” Language and Linguistics 13.1: 29-59. Benedict, Paul K. (1939). "Semantic Diferentiation in Indo-Chinese." Harvard Journal of Asiatic Studies 4.3-4: 213-229. Benedict, Paul K. (1972) Sino-Tibetan, a Conspectus. Contributing editor: J. A. Matisof. Cambridge: at the University Press. Bodman, Nicolas C. 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