The Phonological History of Tai Nüa: Implications from the Sino-Baiyi Manual of Translation

Abstract

Although the phonological history of Tai Nüa can be roughly demonstrated through comparison of its modern dialects against their reconstructed ancestor, namely, Proto-Southwestern Tai, neither the chronology nor the pathway of the transformative sound changes can be established in detail with any certainty. This study demonstrates a more fine-grained understanding of both the chronology and pathway of the sound changes through the examination of the recently available Sino-Baiyi Manual of Translation, a Chinese-Tai Nüa section of bilingual glossary books produced for diplomatic use during the Ming Dynasty. By comparing the phonological inventory of Tai Nüa as attested in this manuscript against the pre-established list of all characterizing sound changes from Proto-Southwestern Tai to Modern Tai Nüa dialects, we chronologize all the sound changes into the pre-16th versus post-16th century changes. Employing the pre- & post-16th century changes as the demarcating criteria, we tentatively propose a tripartite chronological division of Tai Nüa into 1) Old Tai Nüa, 2) Early Modern Tai Nüa, and 3) Modern Tai Nüa dialects.