A Phonological Reanalysis of Eastern Lawa

Abstract

Phonological descriptions of Western and Eastern Lawa, two related but mutually unintelligible languages (Nahhas, 2006), differ greatly. Western Lawa is relatively well described (c.f. Mitani, 1972, Schlatter, 1976, Ratanakul and Daoratanahongse, 1985). For Eastern Lawa, three partially conflicting phonological descriptions exist, with consonantal inventories ranging from 19 (Mitani, 1978) to 30 (Lipsius, n.d.) to 33 consonants (Blok, 2013). The vowel systems vary, from 9 (Mitani, 1978) to 24 (Blok, 2013) to 26 vowels (Lipsius, n.d.). In order to investigate the discrepancies between previous phonological descriptions, this study offers a phonological reanalysis of Eastern Lawa vowels and consonants based on recordings from nine Eastern Lawa speakers in Bo Luang and Kiu Lom, Thailand. A comparison with previous research on Eastern Lawa phonology suggests that the different results provided in earlier descriptions are partially caused by differing interpretations and partially due to undocumented phonological processes, which will be presented in this paper. Both synchronic and diachronic issues are considered.