Mon-Khmer Studies: A Journal of Southeast Asian Languages and Cultures

206 Pages·2010·10.724 MB·

by  Sophana Srichampa (Editor)

MON-KHMER
STUDIES

A JOURNAL OF
SOUTHEAST ASIAN LANGUAGES
AND CULTURES
Volume 39

MAHIDOL UNIVERSITY AT SALAYA, THAILAND
&
SIL INTERNATIONAL

2010
©2010 by SIL International®
ISBN: 978-1-55671-257-9
ISSN: 0147-5207
Printed in the United States of America
All Rights Reserved
No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval
system, or transmitted in any form or by any means—electronic,
mechanical, photocopy, recording, or otherwise—without the
express permission of SIL International®, with exception of brief
excerpts in journal articles or reviews.
Camera copy prepared by Mahidol University
Research Institute for Languages and Cultures of Asia
Copies of this and other publications of SIL International® may
be obtained from
SIL International Publications
7500 West Camp Wisdom Road
Dallas, TX 75236-5699 USA
Voice: 972-708-7404
Fax: [phone]
Email: [email protected]
Internet: http://www.ethnologue.com
EDITORIAL NOTE

On behalf of the Mon-Khmer Studies Vol. 39, we would like to
express our sincere thanks to all authors who have contributed their academic
knowledge to this volume. In this volume, there are ten articles, six languages:
Vietnamese, Kammu, Old Khmer, Lav(cid:1)(cid:2)(cid:3), Cua and Tai. The linguistic aspects
are rhythmic patterns, body part terms, copula, metaphors, origin of alphabet,
phonology, loanwords and sound changes. There is one article on Thai folk
healer monks; a book review and conference reports are also presented.

As usual, we welcome your articles on Austroasiatic linguistics and
languages as well as studies on cultures for the coming volumes. Please find
more information on our webpage at www.mksjournal.org.

Sophana Srichampa
For the MKS Editorial Board
MON-KHMER STUDIES is a journal devoted to the study of Austroasiatic
languages, and the cultures of their Mon-Khmer and Munda speakers.
MON-KHMER STUDIES is produced annually, and welcomes articles or
notes on linguistics, cultural description, comparison, bibliography, historical
development, sociolinguistics, stylistics, orthography, paleography, and other
relevant topics.
MON-KHMER STUDIES may on occasion publish articles that concern
other languages, and which advance our understanding of the nature,
history, and development of the Austroasiatic family.

EDITORIAL BOARD

John Miller Suwilai Premsrirat
Robert Bauer Sophana Srichampa
Carolyn Miller Sujaritlak Deepadung
Brian Migliazza Naraset Pisitpanporn
Kenneth Smith Mayuree Thawornpat
Julie Green Isara Choosri
Kirk Person

Doug Cooper
Paul Sidwell

Editorial Assistant:
Nipawan Charoenlak Suttilak Soonghangwa

Series Editor Volume Editor
Sophana Srichampa Sophana Srichampa

Editorial Address:
MON-KHMER STUDIES
Research Institute for Languages and Cultures of Asia
Mahidol University at Salaya, Nakhon Pathom 73170, Thailand
TEL [phone] ext. 3213
FAX [phone]
E-mail: [email protected]
Homepage: www.mksjournal.org

CONSULTING EDITORS

Anthony Diller (Australian National U., Canberra)
Christian Bauer (Humboldt U., Berlin)
David Bradley (LaTrobe U., Melbourne)
Franklin Huffman (U.S. Foreign Service)
Gérard Diffloth (Phnom Penh, Cambodia)
Ivan Simon (North-Eastern Hill U., Shillong)
James Matisoff (U. California, Berkeley, CA)
Jan-Olof Svantesson (Lund U., Lund)
Jerold Edmondson (U. Texas, Arlington)
Kanchana Nakasakul (Chulalongkorn U., Bangkok)
Kenneth Gregerson (SIL International)
Michel Ferlus (CNRS, Paris)
Marilyn Gregerson (SIL International)
Nick Enfield (Max Planck Institute for Psycholinguistics, the Netherlands)
Norman Zide (U. of Chicago, Chicago, IL)
Pattiya Jimreivat (Mahidol U., Bangkok)
Philip Jenner (Elma, WA)
Robert Headley (Hyattsville, MD)
Suriya Ratanakul (Mahidol U., Bangkok)
Theraphan L.Thongkum (Chulalongkorn U., Bangkok)
Wilaiwan Khanittanan (Thammasat U., Bangkok)
Yasuyuki Sakamoto (U. of Foreign Studies, Tokyo)
TABLE OF CONTENTS

EDITORIAL NOTE………………………………………………………….. iii
ABBREVIATIONS...………………………………………………………....vii

ARTICLES

Nguyễn, T. ANH-THƯ
Rhythmic pattern and corrective focus in Vietnamese polysyllabic
words............................................................................................................1
Felix AHLNER
Body part terms in Kammu........................................................................29
Pogibenko TAMARA
Copula of identity in Old Khmer………...................................................61
NIRAMON Suwangard
Metaphors in the LațǸəȤ LəsǤm ɉlǫ poetry...............................................75
Alexis MICHAUD, André-Georges HAUDRICOURT
The origin of the peculiarities of the Vietnamese alphabet.......................89
Paul SIDWELL
Cua (Kor) historical phonology and classification..................................105
CHOMMANAD Intajamornrak
Tai Loanwords in Mal: A Minority language of Thailand......................123
PITTAYAWAT Pittayaporn
Establishing relative chronology of Palaung sound changes using Tai
Loanwords...............................................................................................137
Daniel HUBER
On khw–f alternations in Bangkok Thai and other Tai languages...............155
SAOWAPA Pornsiripongse
Religious syncretism in healing non-communicable diseases:
the role of folk healer monks...................................................................167

REVIEWS, BIBLIOGRAPHY

Book Reviews.................................................................................................177
Norman H. ZIDE
Review of Korku Language: Grammar, Texts and Vocabulary, by K.S.
Nagaraja, Institute for the Study of Languages of Asia and Africa, Tokyo
University of Foreign Studies, 1999, 336 pages.

Conference Reports.......................................................................................193
Amarjiva LOCHAN
The 3nd SSEASR Conference, 3-6 June 2009, Bali
Dinh Lu Giang
The 19th Annual Meeting of the Southeast Asian Linguistics Society
ABBREVIATIONS

AE American Ethnologist
AL Anthropological linguistics
ALH Acta Linguistica Haniensia
BEFEO Bulletin de l’Ecôle Françoise d’Extrême-Orient
BLS Berkeley Linguistics Society
CLAO Cahiers de linguistique-Asie Oriental
CTT Consonant Types & Tones
IJSL International Journal of Scottish Literature
IL Indian Linguistics
IPLS Indo-Pacific Linguistics Studies
ISCA International Speech Communication Association
JASA Journal of the Acoustics Society of America
JP Journal of Phonetics
JSAS Southeast Asia Studies
JSEALS Journal of the Southeast Asian Linguistics Society
JSS Journal of Siam Society
LS Language Sciences
MKS Mon-Khmer Studies
OL Oceanic Linguistics
PL Pacific Linguistics, Canberra
PSJ Phonetic Society of Japan
SALS Southeast Asia Linguistics Studies
UHL Universals of Human Language

Rhythmic pattern and corrective focus in Vietnamese
polysyllabic words

Nguyễn, T. ANH-THƯ
Australia

Abstract
This paper reports a study which examined the rhythmic patterns in
Vietnamese polysyllabic words and their acoustic correlates, particularly
the scope of forward planning, reflected in rhythmic prominences and
edge/boundary effects; modified by or in interaction with (corrective) focus
effects. The aim of the study is pursued by examining the rhythmic patterns
and their acoustic correlates in polysyllabic reduplicative words (2-,3-,4-,5-,6-
syllable pseudo-words). Ten native speakers of Vietnamese (Saigon dialect)
participated in the study. The results showed that there is a tendency of
syllable coupling indicated mainly by syllable duration pattern and supported
by the native listeners’ perception results, suggesting that polysyllabic words
in Vietnamese tend to be parsed into bi-syllabic iambic feet with a rightward
or retrograde rhythmic pattern, suggesting that bi-syllabic right-headed foot is
a prosodic unit above the syllable in Vietnamese.

1. Introduction

Vietnamese is a contour tone language which has a system of
lexically distinctive tones and is strongly syllabic in its phonological
organization and morphology. Most syllables are independent morphemes and
every syllable in an utterance bears an independent lexical tone specification
which is not neutralised (become toneless) in context. The existence of stress at
the word level in Vietnamese has been a matter of unresolved controversy
(Thompson 1965; Nguyễn ðăng Liêm 1970, among others). However, recent
series of studies (Nguyễn & Ingram 2007a; Nguyễn & Ingram 2007b; Nguyễn
& Ingram unpublished) showed clear evidence of prominence asymmetry; that
bi-syllabic reduplicative and compound words are phonetically right-headed,
realised mainly by syllable duration, full vowel and tonal shape. This
prominence pattern is further supported by the tone sandhi which is confined to
first syllables, suggesting that “tone sandhi is a reduction phenomenon
occurring on prosodically weak positions” (Shih 2005) and, by implication,
that Vietnamese shows phonetic evidence of prosodic constituency at the level
(cid:2)
of the bisyllabic word. However, the status of the prosodic unit whether it
(cid:2)
constitutes a stress foot or not is yet to be determined. The aim of this study
was to further follow up the status of word stress/stress foot and the rhythmic
structure of Vietnamese, particularly the scope of forward planning, reflected
in rhythmic prominences and edge/boundary effects; modified by or in
interaction with corrective focus effects.

MON-KHMER STUDIES 39:1-28