Robbeets2008_why simple
Transcription
Robbeets2008_why simple
&WJEFODFÛBOEÛ$PVOUFS&WJEFODFÛ'FTUTDISJGUÛ'SFEFSJLÛ,PSUMBOEUÛ7PMVNFÛ 44(-ÛÛ"NTUFSEBNÛÛ/FXÛ:PSLÛ3PEPQJÛÛ IF JAPANESE IS ALTAIC, HOW CAN IT BE SO SIMPLE? MARTINE ROBBEETS 1. Introduction The origin and classification of the Japanese language is one of the hot spots in historical linguistics today. 1 The most plausible hypothesis is that Japanese is related to Korean and the Altaic languages. However, linguistic literature reflects a wide range of opinions on the Altaic question for Japanese, ranging from a negative stance (Doerfer 1963-1975, 1974; Unger 1990; Nichols 1992; Janhunen 1992: 1994; Kiyose 2002; Shgaito 2002; Vovin 2003b) to an agnostic attitude (Lewin etc. 1989: 114; Shibatani 1990: 118; Comrie 1990: 856; Lyovin 1997: 114; Johanson 1999: 2; Trask 2000: 16; Lee and Ramsey 2000: 5) to a positive stance (Ramstedt 1924; Murayama 1958; Miller 1971; Menges 1975; Miller & Street 1975; Street 1977; Finch 1987; Starostin 1991; Vovin 1994; Kortlandt 1993: 1997; Ho-min Sohn 1999: 22; Wang 1999; Itabashi 2001; Starostin, Dybo & Mudrak 2003; Robbeets 2003, 2005). One of the obstacles that prevents us from reaching a consensus about the genetic aliation of Japanese is its syllabic structure. The occurrence of consonant clusters in medial position is a phonological feature that is shared by Korean and the Altaic languages, but, on the face of it, not by Japanese. Japanese is a textbook example of a language with a relatively simple syllable structure, and the structure of Old Japanese was even simpler. All Old Japanese syllables had a (C)V structure and V syllables were restricted to word-initial position. In his survey of the languages of Japan, Shibatani (1990: 101) refers to this problem by saying: “The most embarrassing problem for anyone attempting to relate Japanese to the Altaic family or to Korean is the phonological discrepancy between the former and the latter. Japanese, especially Old Japanese, basically has a CV syllable structure, whereas Altaic languages and Korean abound in closed syllables with a variety of syllable-final consonants”. In a manuscript dealing with Altaic elements in Old Japanese, the same problem was 1 The cover term Altaic will be used in reference to the the Tungusic, Mongolic and Turkic languages. It refers to a group of North-East Asian languages that share a number of phonological, morphological and structural similarities without necessarily presupposing that these similarities are due to common ancestorship. ."35*/&Û30##&&54 pointed out by Miller and Street (1975: 146): “The most serious problem encountered thus far in developing these statements involves possible OJ reflexes of pA consonant clusters. J is basically a CV-CV- language; pA had rather CV(C)-CV(C). If J derives from pA as presently reconstructed, it has either simplified older clusters or added vowels. (...) hence it will take a great amount of further investigation to determine what the normal J reflex was in each case where pA indicates a cluster”. The so-called phonological discrepancy has the eect of making researchers turn their attention to other languages and language families with relatively simple phonological systems like Austronesian. The fact that Japanese typically has open syllables and an uncomplicated consonant system also leads to the assumption that Japanese has an Austronesian substratum . It further leads to a number of Austronesian-Altaic hybrid or mixed language hypotheses, describing Japanese as a mixture of elements originating from two dierent language families, Altaic and Austronesian. 2 A serious problem is that the assumption of a linguistic connection between Japanese and Austronesian is not compatible with the archeological record because there is no evidence that a substantial number of Austronesian speakers reached Japan in prehistory. 3 In the present paper I intend to compare Japanese etyma with a medial voiced stop to Korean, Tungusic, Mongolic and Turkic forms that reflect a medial consonant cluster. Tracing back the voiced series in contemporary Japanese to original nasal clusters, an attempt will be made to show that the so-called phonological discrepancy between Japanese, Korean and Altaic is only a superficial one. First, I will make a number of observations relevant for the reconstruction of consonant clusters in the individual proto-languages. Next, I will briefly reflect upon the methodology that I wish to adopt when comparing the languages involved. Finally, I will gather and evaluate etymologies relating proto-Japanese forms with medial nasal clusters to forms with medial sonorant and obstruent clusters in Korean and Altaic. For the purpose of the present paper, I will restrict myself to etymologies for contemporary Japanese forms with medial -b2 It concerns exactly the kind of “mixed language” that Meillet in 1925 declared not to have found. Meillet 1925: 82-83: “Dans tous les cas observés jusqu’à présent, il y a une tradition continue d’une langue. [...] Si l’on a pu arriver à faire, par la comparaison, l’histoire de quelques langues, c’est que l’on était sûr que chaque système nouveau devait s’expliquer en partant d’un système unique.” Illustrating his theory with the example of Russenorsk, a so-called mixed language, Kortlandt (2000) demonstrates that the concept of mixed language is a misconception for language shift through imperfect learning. 3 Hudson 1996: 267-279 argues that archeology provides no support for Austronesian population movements to Japan. *'Û+"1"/&4&Û*4Û"-5"*$Û)08Û$"/Û*5Û#&Û40Û4*.1-& (<pJ -*np-), -d- (< pJ *-nt-) and -g- (< pJ *-nk-). The investigation of Japanese forms with medial -s(i)- (< pJ *-s(i)-) and -z- (< pJ *-ns-) that reflect lateral clusters in Korean and Altaic and require some refinement in the reconstruction of pA *-l- would lead us too far. 4 2. Consonant clusters in the individual proto-languages 2.1 Japanese The dierence between the proto-Japanese and Old Japanese consonant system lies in the appearance of a voiced obstruent series b, d, g, z. There is good reason to argue that the voiced obstruents were prenasalized in Old Japanese. 5 Old Japanese prenasalization can be described as a nasal onglide preceding a medial voiced obstruent. Phonetically, the prenasalized obstruents are usually transcribed as [b], [d], [g], [z]. The first indication that prenasalization has developed into voice distinction comes from the observation that Old Japanese voiceless obstruents develop into voiced obstruents in a prenasalized environment. From the ninth century on, a heterogeneous group of phonological changes known collectively as onbin altered the Old Japanese phonological pattern in a way that a syllable-final nasal was allowed. Japanese verb morphology shows the eects of onbin changes clearly. Contemporary Japanese gerunds such as yonde ‘read’, tonde ‘fly’ and sinde ‘die’ have developed from the Old Japanese forms yomite ‘read’, tobite ‘fly’ and sinite ‘die’. In the formation of the verb gerund -mite, -bite, and -nite all become -nde by vowel elision and in the new prenasalized environment, the obstruent -t- becomes voiced -d-. The second indication is that morphological and etymological boundaries sometimes occur on a voiced obstruent, evidencing the contraction of a morpheme with a final nasal syllable and a morpheme with an initial obstruent. Examples can be found in internal derivations such as hude ‘writing brush, painting brush, pen’ from humi ‘writing’ and te ‘hand’; OJ kabi ‘sprout, unhusked ear of grain’ from OJ kami ‘top, head, upper part’ and OJ ipi ‘rice’; kabuto ‘helmet, headpiece’ from kami ‘top, head, upper part’ and huta, OJ puta ‘lid’, nazo ∼ nanzo ‘riddle, why’ from nani ‘what’ and -so ‘thing’, nado ‘or something’ from nani ‘what’ and -to ‘place’, uzi ‘clan, lineage’ from umi, the deverbal noun of umu ‘give birth to, bring For a treatment of Japanese reflexes of the proto-Altaic lateral, I refer to Street 1980 and 1985. 5 Unger 1973: 8; 2000: 666; Whitman 1985: 7-13; Vance 1987: 108-109, 135, 140; Martin 1987: 20-25; Miyake 1999: 150. 4 ."35*/&Û30##&&54 forth’ and ti ‘blood; line’, yagate ‘before long’ from yami, the deverbal noun of yamu ‘stop’ and the adjective stem kata- ‘hard’, yugake ‘archer’s glove’ from OJ yumi-kake ‘archer’s glove’ and originally from yumi ‘bow’ and the deverbal noun of kakeru ‘cover with (cloth), spread over, veil’. Third, a number of modern dialects, notably those of northern Honsh, southern Shikoku and some Ryky dialects have retained prenasalization to some extent. Sendai in northeast Honsh, for example, pronounces mado ‘window’ as [mãdo] with nasality on the preceding vowel. The Kobama dialect in the Rykys has kandu for standard kado ‘corner’ and pangun for hagu ‘strip o, tear o’. In many other dialects, including standard Tokyo, prenasalization has been lost. However in Tokyo dialect there is a residue of the prenasalized velar, like in the pronunciation of kagi ‘key’ as [kai] or the nominative case marker ga as [a], with tendency of [g] to absorb the nasality and to become []. Finally, foreign written sources suggest that the voiced obstruent series in Late Middle Japanese (1192-1602) and Modern Japanese (1603-1867) was still prenasalized to a certain extent. In the Japanese-Portuguese dictionary of 1604 -nd- and -ng- is observed for -d- and -g- in the speech of Kysh at that time. An 18th-century Korean glossary of Japanese, the Wago-ruikai, writes Hangŭl digraphs equivalent of -mp-, -nt- and -k- for the medial voiced stops -b-, -d- and -g-. And the Nihon Kan-yakugo, a 15th century Chinese language guide transcribes Japanese syllables preceding a voiced stop with a final nasal. On the basis of morphological, etymological, dialectal and textual evidence it is safe to assume that the Old Japanese obstruents OJ b, d, g, z resulted from the rephonologization of prenasalized obstruents pJ *np, pJ *nt, pJ *nk, pJ *ns. Reminiscent of how the Altaic languages do not allow for consonant clusters in initial position, Old Japanese did not permit word-initial voiced obstruents except in mimetic adverbs. From the ninth century on, as loans from Chinese began to have a major impact, the restriction was relaxed and initial voiced obstruents began to appear in borrowings and in contracted native forms. 2.2 Korean The modern reinforced consonants (pp, tt, cc, kk, ss) all result from Middle Korean consonant clusters. At the time the Korean alphabet was introduced (1446) the newly recorded stage of the language, usually referred to as Late Middle Korean, was characterized by a richer inventory of consonant clusters than Korean is today. Changes in the clusters were already setting in and within a century many clusters had developed into *'Û+"1"/&4&Û*4Û"-5"*$Û)08Û$"/Û*5Û#&Û40Û4*.1-& reinforced consonants. The tensity which now distinguishes reinforced consonants from their plain counterparts (p, t, c, k, s) was still phonologically predictable in the 15th century. It was only after the obstruents which preceded them in the consonant clusters were lost, that tensity became a distinctive feature. This is why we find MK kaska ˙Wi for K kakkai ‘nearby’, MK ¨yetcop- for K yeccwup- ‘tell, inform’, MK ˙psol for K ssal ‘rice’. 6 The creators of the Korean alphabet did not provide distinct symbols for the reinforced consonants because at that time they were not distinct phonemes yet. The aspirated obstruents (ph, th, ch, kh), however, were perceived as unit phonemes and were attributed distinct graphemes when the Korean alphabet was introduced. The aspirated obstruents contrasted with the plain obstruents (p, t, c, k, s, h), but in origin the aspirates were also complex. In a morphophonemic sense, the aspirated obstruents can be considered clusters of C + h, but a voiceless fricative *h may not be reconstructable for proto-Korean. One source for MK h is pK *s, but another source is pK *k. 7 Nevertheless, it appears that the source of aspiration in Ch clusters is pK *Ck rather than pK *Cs. Whitman (1999) has presented internal evidence, restricting the development pK *s > MK h to a special vocalic environment when pK *s is followed by *-i- and the requirements for breaking of the *i are fulfilled. From Chinese donorwords corresponding to Korean loanwords (e.g. OCh. *mrak ‘wheat’ is probably borrowed as pK *milk > MK ˙milh ‘wheat’), phonogram readings in the Kyelim Yusa (e.g. ¨hwalq-huy for MK holk ‘earth’), elements in Paekcke placenames (e.g. tin-qak for ¨twolh ‘stone’), dialectal forms (e.g. dial. tolk for MK ¨twolh ‘stone’), and internal doublets (MK siphu- versus MK sikpu- ‘want’ ) it can be understood that velar lenition (*Ck > *Ch) has taken place in *Ck clusters at an early stage in Korean. Other evidence for the reconstruction of pK *Ck comes from Ramsey’s (1991: 230) distributional observation that obstruent clusters with k such as pk, tk or ck do not exist in Middle Korean, except for sk and psk. Since Middle Korean has no aspirated silibant (sh), the aspirated obstruents ph, th, ch, kh and the sk-clusters are in complementary 6 For Middle Korean the Yale romanization is modified to allow for the now obsolete vowel written o, and for the obsolete consonants -W- , -G-, and -- . The Middle-Korean orthographic convention is represented as such in order to avoid taking an a priori position about its still debated phonetic value. The dots in the Middle Korean words represent the pitch of the following syllable: one dot for high, two dots for rising and unmarked syllables are treated as low. 7 Ramstedt 1939: 17; Yi 1977: 83-84; Ramsey 1978: 51-52; 1991: 230-31; Martin 1996: 36-37; Whitman1999. ."35*/&Û30##&&54 distribution. From some materials preserved from the Silla period it can be understood that Old Korean had aspiration distinctions only in the dental stop *th and the aricate *ch. It is thus safe to assume that the development of aspiration is an internal Korean process and that the aspirated obstruent series developed out of the reduction of pK *Ck consonant clusters. Although some medial clusters are probably reconstructable for protoKorean, others may be the result of an internal Korean development. Ramsey has shown that unaccented minimal vowels o and u rarely occur between voiceless obstruents in Middle Korean. 8 Therefore it seems probable that some of the Korean consonant clusters arose through minimal vowel syncope. (e.g. K pakk, MK pask ‘outside’ < *pasok or K aph, MK alph < alpok with *-u/ok place sux). Other medial clusters were morphologically generated through the insertion of the genitive marker MK s, e.g. MK twuystari ‘hind leg’ (< MK twuy ‘behind’ +s+ tari ‘leg’) or through compounding, e.g. MK ˙han ¨wum ‘deep breath’ (< ˙han ‘big’ + ¨swum ‘breath’). Cross-linguistically clusters are relatively unstable and Korean is no exception to that observation. Cluster metathesis like in MK siphu- versus MK sikpu- ‘want’ can occur and the regressive assimilation of aspiration discussed below is a special kind of cluster metathesis. The liquid phoneme in lateral clusters sporadically drops, as can be observed in the development from MK ˙alph to K aph ‘front’ and MK polk- to K pak- ‘be bright’. Contrary to the distribution of proto-Japanese and Altaic clusters, aspirates and obstruent clusters do appear in initial position in Korean. Internal evidence, however, indicates that complex initials are secondary, internally generated through phonological or morphological developments. Korean forms with initial s-clusters are often derivations with the intensive prefix pK *su- ∼*so- . The initial s- in MK spolo- ‘be fast’, for example is a trace of this prefix as is indicated by MK polo- ‘early’ that occurs without the intensive sux. In contemporary Korean both ‘early’ and ‘fast’ are represented by the reinforced adjective pparu-. 9 One phonological cause of complex initials can be vowel syncope. Words with initial consonant clusters or aspirates are often accompanied by other phonological pecularities such as an exceptional pitch pattern, an unusual syllable structure or a special vocalism. Following Ramsey (1993: 438; 1997) verb stems with complex initials that are tonic and monosyllabic Ramsey 1991: 221-222; 1997: 137. For other examples of verbs that include the Korean intensive prefix, I refer to Ramsey 1977 and 1997. 8 9 *'Û+"1"/&4&Û*4Û"-5"*$Û)08Û$"/Û*5Û#&Û40Û4*.1-& and have minimal vowels (MK o, u, i) are thought to be created through the loss of a first-syllable vowel. For MK ˙tho- ‘ride’ and MK ˙khu- ‘be big’, for example, there are additional phonogram interpretations in the Kyeylim Yusa that suggest the reconstruction *hoto- ‘ride’ and *hoko- ‘be big’. 10 Another phonological cause of initial aspirates is regressive assimilation of the aspiration or h-metathesis. It is the kind of assimilation that can be seen in the development from MK ˙kwoh to K kho ‘nose’, MK polh to K phal ‘arm’, MK kalh to K khal ‘sword’ etc. Making internal and external evidence working in tandem, I assume that sporadic assimilation of aspiration is an ongoing process in Korean and that it has taken place in the development from pK *cwumk to MK ˙chwum ‘spittle’(under J tuba ‘spittle’), pK *twopk ‘claw, nail’to MK thwop ‘claw, nail’ (under J tume ‘claw’), pK *konkol to MK ˙ko ˙nolh, ˙ku ˙nulh ‘shadow’ (under J kage ‘shadow’). 2.3 Altaic It is commonplace in linguistic literature to use the cover term “Tungusic” in reference to both the Manchu and Tungusic subgroups. With Cincius’ (1949) extensive study of comparative Tungusic phonology and Benzing’s (1955) revisions, the reconstruction of proto-Tungusic is fairly clear for plain consonants, but in case of consonant clusters it becomes more involved because processes of original vowel loss, assimilation and metathesis can obscure the reconstructions. Proto-Tungusic is particularly rich in sonorant clusters, consisting of a sonorant (r, l, n and m before a labial stop) followed by a stop P (b/p), T (t/d) or K (k/g) such as *lp, *lb, *lt, *ld, *lk, *lg ; *rp, *rb,*rk, *rg; and *mb, *nt, *nd, *nk, *ng (or *). Obstruent clusters consisting of a stop p, T (t/d) or K (k/g) followed by a dental (t/d) or velar stop (k/g), such as *pk, *pt, *tk, *dk, *gd, *kt can also occur. Although medial clusters are reconstructable for proto-Tungusic, some result from internal Tungusic developments. Some clusters are secondary due to the loss of a short vowel. Long vowels are relatively stable throughout Tungusic, but short vowels tend to change or to drop. The consonant sequence in Ma. nomxon ‘peaceful, friendly’ for example, does not reflect an original consonant cluster, but it is the result of vowel syncope. The original short vowel is still present in Na. nomoon and Ev. nomokn and in the Mongolian loansource WMo. nomuan ‘peaceful’. That clusters also arise on etymological boundaries can be illustrated by Neg. ejgen ‘breath, soul’, Ma. ergen ‘breath, soul’, Ol. ersi ‘breath’, erge(n) ‘soul’, Na. erg ‘soul’, Oro. egge ‘soul’, Sol. erg ‘life’ that can be derived from the verb 10 Yi 1991: 17-18. ."35*/&Û30##&&54 pTg *eri- ‘to breathe’ reflected in Ev. er-, Lam. eri-, Orok er(i)-, Na. erisi‘to breathe’, followed by a nominal sux pTg *-ken. 11 The instability of clusters can be observed in cases of cluster metathesis (e.g. Ud. tegbese‘protect’ versus Ev. tepke- ‘encase, cover’), assimilation (e.g. Orok nette‘spread out’ versus Ev. nepte- ‘spread out’) and the sporadic drop of liquid phonemes in lateral clusters (e.g. in Ma. dobo-ri ‘night’ corresponding to Neg. dolbon, Na. dolbo, Ol. dolbo, Orok dolboni, Jur. dolwo, Ev. dolbon). Initial consonant clusters are not reconstructable for proto-Tungusic. Consonant clusters can occur in medial position, but there are no native Mongolic words that possess the cluster word initially or word finally. Proto-Mongolic is particularly rich in sonorant clusters. Obstruent clusters are also reconstructable. The sonorant clusters frequently consist of a sonorant (r, l, n, m) followed by a stop P (b/p), T (t/d) or K (k/g) such as *lp, *lb, *lt, *ld, *lk, *lg ; *rp, *rb, *rt, *rd, *rk, *rg; *nb, *nt, *nd, *nk, *ng (or *(g)), *mb, *mt. The obstruent clusters consist of a stop P (p/b), T (t/d) or K (k/g) followed by a dental (t/d) or velar stop (k/g) or sibilant (s), such as *pk, *bk, *pt, *bt, *ps, *bs, *tk, *dk, *gd, *kt. Medial clusters are sometimes formed through secondary developments such as vowel syncope (e.g. WMo. aluqan ‘hammer’ > Khal. alxan, Bur. alxa, Kalm alx) or they can develop on etymological or morphological boundaries (e.g. WMo. ög- ‘give’ + -te- passive > WMo. ögte- ‘be given’). Consonant clusters are prone to metathesis and assimilation (e.g. pMo *todka- ∼ *togta ‘stop, fasten’ that is reflected in WMo. todqa- ‘hesitate’: WMo. toda-, Khal. totgor ‘fasten’, Kalm. totx- ‘snare, trap’ versus WMo. tota- ’to stop, establish’, Khal. togta- ‘stop’, Kalm tokto- ‘stand firmly’) and sporadic elision of a liquid (e.g. the Mongolian doublet kelbej- ∼ kebüji- ‘lean, be inclined to one side’). The reconstruction of medial clusters in proto-Turkic is reminiscent of that in Korean, Tungusic and Mongolic in the sense that its cluster inventory consists mainly of sonorant clusters (r, l, n, j followed by an obstruent) and that obstruent clusters can also occur. Clusters are not possible in initial position and they tend to be unstable due to assimilation (e.g. Karakh. üple- ‘rob’ versus Tuva üpte-‘rob’), metathesis and consonant loss (e.g. OTk. qapqaq ∼ qapaq ‘a cover’). Although Old Turkic has final clusters, ultimately they may be the result of secondary developments such as final vowel loss. 12 The very existence of pTk *l yielding *l in Oghur Turkic and * in Common Turkic (e.g. Chu. ul versus Tk. tā ‘stone’) has been called into 11 12 Benzing 1955: 975. Johanson & Csato 1998: 73; Poppe 1960: 83. *'Û+"1"/&4&Û*4Û"-5"*$Û)08Û$"/Û*5Û#&Û40Û4*.1-& question by Street by what he calls ‘the lateral-cluster fusion theory’. 13 The theory is based on the derivation of Tk. from lateral clusters pTk *lC, a sound change that Ramstedt once peripherally mentioned. 14 Internal evidence for such a derivation can be found in words like Tk. beük ‘cradle’ that derives from the verb bele- ‘swaddle’ and is borrowed in Hungarian as bölö. The same historical explanation may account for semantically related verb stems for which a verb with stem-final -- alternates with stem-final -l-, like Tk. tl- ‘be filled’ versus to- ‘fill, be full’ and Tk. bula- ‘confuse’ versus bu- ‘be irritated’. By reassigning pTk *l to early clusters of pTk *l with a following consonant (*b, *c, *, *j) some puzzling phonological doublets in Turkic can be explained. Street further presents external evidence in the form of Mongolian or Tungusic words that have an -lb- cluster where Turkic has --: Tk. qauq ‘spoon’ and Mo. qalbua ‘spoon’; Tk. qou ‘poem, song’ and Mo. qolbuān ‘verse, alliterative words or phrase’; Tk. eü- ‘cover’ and Ev. elbe- ‘cover, roof a tent’ etc. Suggesting that some of these words are early borrowings from Turkic into Mongolian and Tungusic or the other way around does not alter the ground of the argument that pTk * developed from a labial cluster. The lateral cluster theory for Turkic is only relevant for the etymology of yaburu ‘tear, break’. The proposed cognates OTk. tel-, te-, Tk. del-, de-, Az. del-, de-, Tkm. de-, Yak. tel-, tes-, lead to the reconstruction pTk *telC- ‘pierce, break through’. The Turkic proto-form has been put between square brackets ([ ]) in the table below because its initial t- does not correspond regularly and because the -l- ∼ -- variation in OTk. tel- ∼ te- may be due to internal suxation, like in the case of Tk. tl- ‘be filled’ and to- ‘fill, be full’. Internal reconstruction leads to the observation that all proto-languages involved in the following comparison share the abscence of initial consonant clusters and the occurence of medial consonant clusters as a structural feature. For proto-Japanese only nasal clusters(*np, *nt, *nk, *ns) are reconstructable, while the other languages are particularly rich in resonant clusters (*RP, *RT, *RK) and also have obstruent clusters (*PC, *TC, *KC). Japanese, Korean, Turkic, Mongolian and Tungusic are no exception to the observation that universally clusters tend to be relatively unstable due to metathesis, assimilation, liquid loss etc. Since structural similarity can be the result of genetic inheritance, but does not necessarily do so, what remains to be done is to check whether regular correspondences can be established for medial clusters. The only method at our disposal for this purpose is the comparative method of historical linguistics. 13 14 Street 1980. Ramstedt 1957: 122-123. ."35*/&Û30##&&54 3. Comparative methodology A genetic argument is a negative argument, what in classical logic is called a disjunctive syllogism. It means that our deduction process works by elimination. One rules out all but one of the logically possible accounts of the similarities holding between the languages compared, so that only inheritance from a putative common ancestor remains. Thus, a genetic argument consists not only in the presentation of a set of similarities holding over the languages compared, it also consists in the demonstration that these similarities are not likely to be the result of nature, borrowing or chance. Applying this knowledge to the Japanese reflexes of Altaic proto-forms with medial consonant clusters, it is essential to set up a methodological framework for sifting the etymologies proposed by various authors in the past. Of course, not all etymological proposals that have ever been made reflecting Altaic consonant clusters are valid ones. The sifting criteria that I have adopted in order to separate the stronger etymological proposals from the weaker ones are the following. In consideration of the space at my disposal, I will not go into the sifting details for every single Japanese entry reflecting an Altaic cluster etymology that I have eliminated. Rather, I will restrict myself to the illustration of the sifting criteria with a few examples. First I have omitted medial cluster etymologies in which the internal analysis of the Japanese proto-form is in conflict with the external comparison. Martin (1966: 250) compares J nabe, OJ nabe ‘pan, pot, kettle’ (< pJ *nanpa(C)i) with the word nambi in Korean that has exactly the same meaning and displays a straightforward cluster correspondence. However, the internal morphology of the Japanese form tells another story. In Japanese the word is morphologically complex since it can be derived from na ‘greens, side-dish’ followed by a nasal genitive infix -n- and OJ pe ‘jar, pot’. The final morpheme underlies in a number of words for pots and containers such as OJ itupe ‘jar for sacrificial wine’ (< OJ itu- ‘sacred’ + OJ pe ‘jar’) and turube ‘well bucket’ (OJ tur- ‘hang, suspend’ + -n- genitive + OJ pe ‘jar’). Because the word is situated in the cultural sphere of kitchen terms it may well be a borrowing from Japanese into Korean. The nasal cluster in Korean illustrates the still prenasalized pronunciation of OJ -b(< pJ *-np-) in the time the borrowing took place. Second, I have omitted look-alikes with medial cluster correspondences that could be the result of universal tendencies in the structuring of language. Whether it concerns real imitations of sounds or expressive words describing the looks of a situation or one’s attitude towards a situation, sound symbolic words are generally regarded as poor diagnostics of *'Û+"1"/&4&Û*4Û"-5"*$Û)08Û$"/Û*5Û#&Û40Û4*.1-& genetic relatedness. One indication that a given Japanese root is mimetic comes from the auxiliary -meku that is often found following sound symbolic expressions, such as hatameku ‘flutter, flap’, kirameku ‘glitter, sparkle’, OJ sosomek- ‘fidget, rush; whisper’, OJ sabamek- ‘murmur, buzz, clamor’, sasameku ‘whisper, murmur’, sazameku ‘make an uproar’, OJ sosomek- ‘fidget, move nervously, rush’, sosomeku ‘whisper’, OJ tutumek- ‘murmur’, wameku ‘scream, shriek’, zawameku ‘be noisy, rustle’ etc. Starostin, Dybo and Mudrak (2003: 606) compare J ugoku ‘move, stir, swing’ (< pJ *unko-) to Neg. ka-pk, Ma. ono-on, Na. n, Ol. nd, Orok ndon, Ev. kān-, pTg *k- ‘to fall face upwards’; WMo. ömkeri-, önkeri-, Khal. önxr-, Kalm. ökr-, Mgr. gur-, pMo *ömkeri-, *önkeri- ‘to roll, fall’ and OTk. emgekle-, Tk. emekle-, Tkm. imekle-, pTk *emgek- ‘to crawl’. The etymology including a medial cluster reflex would look convincing, if we were not dealing with sound imitative roots. In consideration of another Japanese verb, ugomeku ‘wriggle’ sharing the same root pJ *unko- and followed by the mimetic auxiliary -meku, we are dealing with a sound symbolic expression here. Third, I have attempted to rule out borrowing as an explanation of the similarity sets. It is not an easy task to make the etymological proposals free from loanwords. The strongest evidence for loanword identification comes from the attestation of a plausible candidate for a loan source in a language that does not belong to the hypothesized Altaic family. Taking our knowledge of the historical and cultural context into account, the first donor language that comes to mind is Chinese. During the period of Han (206 BC-220 AD) and Wei (220-265 AD) economic expansion, many Chinese artifacts flowed into the surrounding areas, particularly bronze mirrors, iron, lacquerware, silks along with other bolts of cloths like ramie, hemp, and kuzu, wine, salt, rice and grain. 15 Considering the historical fact of Chinese grain trade along with the reconstruction OCh. *mrak ‘wheat’, I suspect that J mugi ‘wheat, barley, oats, rye’ (< pJ *munki) as well as its Korean and Tungusic suggested cognates are borrowings from Chinese. 16 Therefore, the Korean cognate MK ˙milh ‘wheat’ (< pK *milk) and the Tungusic cognates Ma. mui ‘wheat’, Na. mui ‘wheat’, Ol. mui ‘wheat’, Sol. murgil ‘wheat’, Jur. mir-e-i ‘buckwheat’ (< pTg *murgi) mentioned by Barnes 1993: 198: 202. Miyake 1997: 205. Miyake considers this a weak case for borrowing since K mil and OJ mugi1 have nothing in common with the Chinese donorword but initial m-, but in consideration of the final consonant in MK milh and of the impermissible sequence *ml that would trigger metathesis in Korean, it is only the vocalism that remains problematic. Considering the early borrowing MK salp ‘spade’ from MC *chrap, it can be observed that Chinese *-r- is not always ignored in imitations. 15 16 ."35*/&Û30##&&54 Martin (1966: 251; 1996: 37), Starostin (1991: 69) and Starostin, Dybo and Mudrak (2003: 935) will not be considered. Finally, I have set up semantic constraints for the comparison of the meanings. In the Altaic dictionary (Starostin, Dybo & Mudrak 2003: 11571158) J hidari ‘left’ is compared to the Tungusic words for ‘west’, Jur. fu-ri-si, Ol. perxi(n), Na. perxi (< pTg *perkin / *purkin) and to the Turkic words for ‘back’, OTk. art ‘1 back, 2 mountain pass’, Karakh. art 1, 2, MTk. art 1, 2, Tkm. ārt 1, etc. (< pTk *ārt ‘back’). However, the same dictionary (2003: 535-536) argues for an early south-oriented system of directions, comparing kita ‘north’ to the Tungusic, Mongolic and Turkic words for ‘back’. This viewpoint is also taken by Miller (1985b: 143). If ‘north’ is compared to ‘back’, then ‘left’ must be compared to ‘east’. Even if the Ryukyu orientation term nisi ‘north’ preserves evidence for an original west-oriented system of directions then ‘left’ must be compared to ‘south’. Either way, the cluster etymology under hidari ‘left’ is semantically overpermissive. After having sifted the evidence carefully according to the above guidelines, the data are open to phonological comparison. What remains to be done in order to motivate the phonological similarity by genetic relationship is the establishment of regular sound-correspondences. Although the present paper examines the Japanese reflexes of medial consonant clusters in Altaic, a regular correspondence of the consonant cluster alone is not satisfactory. That is why evidence reflecting medial cluster correspondences will only be admitted on the condition that the initial consonant and the medial vowel of each proto-form correspond regularly as well. 17 For the sound correspondences required for the initial consonant and the vowel I refer to the correspondence list in table 01 and table 02 below. The phonological correspondences have been established by way of a regularity test arranged in matrices in Robbeets (2005). 17 Given the fact that the large majority of the proto-Japanese roots are either monosyllabic or disyllabic in origin, the surviving cluster etymologies will show complete phonological fits for the Japanese proto-forms, except for the final vowel of disyllabic roots. Since Japanese linguistic scholarship in many cases, for example in case of the reconstruction of verb roots, does not agree on the internal reconstruction of this rootfinal vowel, a triple phoneme correspondence is often as far as we can get. *'Û+"1"/&4&Û*4Û"-5"*$Û)08Û$"/Û*5Û#&Û40Û4*.1-& pJ *p*p-/ *w*t*t- /*y*t*t*k*k*s*m*n*n- pK *p*p*t*t*c*c*k-, h*k*s*m*n*n- pTg *p*b*t*d***k-, x*g*s*m*n*- pMo *p*b*t*d**d*k*g*s*m*n* pTk *b*b*t*j**t*k*k*s*b*j*j- Table 01. Initial consonant correspondences. pJ *a*-a*a-/o*-a-/-o*o*-o-/-u*o*-o*u*-u*u*-u*-aCa*i*-i- pK *a*-a*e*-e*wo*-wo*Ø *-u*wu*-wu*Ø *-o*-oCo*-oCi*i*-i- pTg *a*-a*e*-e*o*-o*u*-u- (/-gü) *u*-u- (/-gü-) *u*-u*-u- pMo *a*-a*e*-e*a*-o*ü- / ö *-ü-/-ö*ü-/ ö*-ü-/ -ö*u*-u*-u- pTk *a*-a*e*-e*a*-o- / -*-ü- / ö*-ü-/-ö*ü-/ ö*-ü-/ -ö*u*-u-/ -*-u- *i*-i- *i*-i- *i*-i- / -- Table 02. Vowel correspondences ."35*/&Û30##&&54 4. Japanese reflexes of Korean and Altaic clusters 4.1 pJ *-np- and labial clusters 4.1.1 Phonological distribution 18 pJ pK pTg pMo pTk *-np- *-pC- *-PC- *-pC- *-pC- *-np- *-Rp- -RP- *-RP- *-RP- *abga *abga 1. abunai ‘dangerous’ *anpu 2. kabau ‘shelter, protect’ *kanpa- *xapki- 3. kobusi ‘fist’ *konpusi *kombo- 4. noberu ‘stretch’ *nonpa- 5. omoi ‘heavy, massive’ 6. sabiru ‘get rusty’ 7. sabisii ‘lonely’ *sanpu- 8. siboru ‘wring, squeeze’ *sinpor- 9. soba ‘side, vicinity’ *sonpa *nelpu- *kapka- *nepte- *nebse- *onpo- [*amba-] *amban *sanpu- *septu- *sebte- *sipku- *sarba- *sarp *sibkar- *sjpa- *sepk 10. OJ sobap- ‘frolic, flirt’ *s(u)onpa- 11. dial. sobo ‘tree(s)’ *s(u)onpo *swupk 12. OJ tabap- ‘cover’ *tanpa- *tepk[*cwumk] *sebe*tepku [*sb] *tebtr 13. tuba ‘spittle’ *tunpa 14. tubura ‘round’ *tunpu 15. tume ‘claw’ *tunpu *twopk [*tüpken *tubra 16. yaburu ‘tear, break’ *yanpu- *telpu- *delpe- *delbe- *umbu*tubak] [*turu] [*telC-] 4.1.2 Underlying data 19 1. abunai ‘dangerous’ (< ? abu ‘safety’ + na- negative), pJ *anpu ‘safety’ 18 In a small number of cases the sound correspondence is acceptable, but for a single phoneme not completely regular. Cognates reflecting such a correspondence have been put between square brackets ([ ]) in the following correspondence tables. 19 The sources that are given for every etymology refer to the dierent Korean and Altaic etymological proposals available for the Japanese entry in question. Although these references often have contributed to the given etymology, they do not necessarily reflect the same view as I advance here. *'Û+"1"/&4&Û*4Û"-5"*$Û)08Û$"/Û*5Û#&Û40Û4*.1-& Ev. abgara, Sol. awgar (∼aggar), Lam. abgr (∼abgar, ∼abgor) ‘healthy’, Ma. abgari ‘idle, free, unoccupied’, pTg *abga ‘health, safety’ WMo. auga, Khal. gā ‘strength, force’, pMo *abga ‘strength’ (Poppe 1960: 89) 2. kabau ‘shelter, protect’: kabe ‘wall’, pJ *kanpa- ‘shelter’ Neg. apk, Na. aqp-, Ol. aqpal, Orok aqp ∼apq, pTg *xapki- ‘block’ OTk. qapaq, qapqaq ‘1 a cover’, qap ‘2 gate, door’, Tk. qap ‘2’, qapa- ‘3 to close’, Az. qap ‘2’, qapa- ‘3’, Tkm. gapaq ‘1’, gap ‘2’, pTk *kapka- ‘cover, close’ (Starostin, Dybo & Mudrak 2003: 530) 3. kobusi, pJ *konpusi ‘fist’ Neg. kombox, Na. qombo, Orok qom, pTg *kombo- ‘wrist, hand, spokebone’ (Starostin, Dybo & Mudrak 2003: 718) 4. noberu ‘stretch, spread, lengthen’, nobiru, nobasu ‘extend, lengthen, strech, spread’, pJ *nonpa- > *nonpo- ‘make long and wide’ K nelp- ‘be wide’, MK nep- ‘be wide’, MK nelu- ‘be wide’, pK *nelpu- ‘be wide’ Neg. nepte-nepte ‘even’, Na. nepte-nepte ‘even’, Ol. nepte-nepte ‘even’, Orok nette- ‘spread out’, Ev. nepte- ‘spread out’ pTg *nepte- ‘spread out’ WMo. nebseji-, Khal. nevsij-, pMo *nebse- ‘be broad and long’. (Martin 1966: 246; Whitman 1985: 242; Miller 1985a, 82; Starostin, Dybo & Mudrak 2003: 971) 5. omoi ‘heavy, massive, serious’, Sr qnbu-san ‘heavy’, Yaeyama nbusaan ‘heavy’ (dialectal evidence for cluster), pJ *onpo- ‘heavy’ Sibe amE, Ma. amba, Na. amba(n), Ol. amba(n), Orok ambaram ‘very’, Jur. ambanan, Jur. ambanlar ‘many’, pTg *amba- ‘big’. WMo. amban, Khal. amban, pMo *amban ‘big, large, heavy’ (Martin 1966: 233; Whitman 1985: 238; Starostin 1991: 255, 268, 277; Finch 1987: 11; Starostin, Dybo & Mudrak 2003: 295) 6. sabiru ‘rust, get rusty’, sabi ‘rust, patina’, pJ *sanpi- ‘rust’ Neg. semti, Ma. sebden, Na. septu-e, Ol. septu-e, Orok septu, Ev. semtu, pTg *septu ‘rust’ WMo sebte- ‘be stained, dirty, soiled’, sebti ‘defective, blemished’, pMo *sebte- ‘stained’ (Miller 1985b, 151; Starostin, Dybo & Mudrak 2003: 1230) 7. sabisii ‘lonely’, OJ sabusi ∼ samusi ‘lonely’, pJ *sanpu- ."35*/&Û30##&&54 WMo. sarbaa-du-, Khal. sarvāda-, Mgr. sarbā ‘fever’, pMo *sarba-a ‘1 to be exhausted, weak’ OTk. sarp, Tk. sarp, Az. sarp, Tkm. sarp, pTk *sarp ‘dicult’ (Finch 1987: 58; Starostin, Dybo & Mudrak 2003: 1215) 8. siboru ‘wring, squeeze’: pJ *sinpor- ‘squeeze’ Ma. sibere- ‘twist, squeeze’, Orok sipku- ‘wrap’, siperu- ‘squeeze’, Ev. sipku‘wrap’, pTg *sipku- ‘twist, squeeze’ WMo. sibqar-, Khal. avxra-, Kalm. awxr-, owxr-, Mgr. Gurā-, pMo *sibka-, *sibkar- ‘squeeze out, press’ MTk. sipa-, Uz. sijpa-, Uig. sipa-, Tkm. spa-, Bash. hjpa-, hpr-, Oyr. sjma-, Tuva sujba-, pTk *sjpa- ‘knead, caress’ (Starostin, Dybo & Mudrak 2003: 1245) 9. soba ‘side, vicinity’, pJ *sonpa ‘side’ K nwunssep, MK sep ‘eyebrow’ (< nwun ‘eye’ + s genitive + sep(h)), K kwoseph ‘right under one’s nose’ (< kwo ‘nose’+ seph), K kil sseph ‘road side’ (< kil ‘road’ + seph), pK *sepk ‘side’ (Martin 1966: 241; Starostin, Dybo & Mudrak 2003: 1233) 10. OJ sobap- ‘frolic, flirt’: asobu ‘play’, pJ *s(u)onpa- ‘play, frolic’ Neg. seben-, Ma. seben, Na. sebeni, Ol. sebeni, Orok seben, Ev. seben, pTg *sebe- ‘have fun’ OTk. säb-, Tk. sev-, Tkm. sv-, Chuv. sav-, Yak. iäj-, pTk *sb - ‘love’ (Starostin 1997: 330; DB 303; Starostin, Dybo & Mudrak, 1221-22) 11. dial. sobo ‘tree(s)’ ∼ OJ soma ‘mountain forest’, MJ sobokor- ‘fell trees’, pJ *sonpo ‘trees, forest’ K swuph, MK ˙swuph ‘woods, forest’, pK *swupk ‘forest’ (Martin 1987: 529; Starostin, Dybo & Mudrak 2003: 1318) 12. OJ tabap- ‘cover, protect, preserve’: pJ *tanpa- ‘cover, protect’ K teph-, MK teph- ‘cover with; cover’, MK tep ˙key ‘a cover’, pK *tepk- ‘cover’ Ud. tegbese- ‘protect’, Lam. tepk- ‘conceal in a bag’, Ev. tepke, tepku ‘a case, covers’, tepke- ‘encase, cover’, Neg. tepke, Orok tupo ‘sheath, cover, sack’, pTg *tepke- ‘cover, protect’. (Martin 1996: 99; Starostin, Dybo & Mudrak 2003: 1409) 13. OJ tu ‘spittle’; tuba ‘spittle’; tubaki ‘spittle’; tubaku ‘spit’, pJ *tunpa ‘spittle’ K chim, MK ˙chwum ‘spittle’, pK *chwum <? *cwumk ‘spittle’ (Martin 1966: 242; Miller 1971: 98; Whitman 1985: 181-182, 194, 231; Starostin, Dybo & Mudrak 2003: 1476) *'Û+"1"/&4&Û*4Û"-5"*$Û)08Û$"/Û*5Û#&Û40Û4*.1-& 14. tubura ‘round’, tubugin ‘small silver coin’, pJ *tunpu- ‘round, circular’ Ev. umbukte ‘globe, sphere’, Na. embu-embu ‘rounded, swollen’, pTg *umbu- ‘round’. (Starostin 1991: 284; Starostin,Dybo & Mudrak 2003: 1460-1461) 15. tume, OJ tume ‘claw’, OJ tubupusi ‘anklebone’ (< tubu ‘*hoof?’ + pusi ‘joint’, cfr. tapusi ‘wrist’< ta ‘hand’ + pusi ‘joint’), pJ *tunpu ‘claw, hoof’ K thop, MK ˙thwop ‘claw, nail’, pK *thwop < ? *twopk ‘claw, nail’ Neg. tipkn, Na. tukpe), Ol. tukpe(n), Orok tupke(n), tukpen, Ev. tipken, pTg *tüpken ‘nail, peg’ WMo. turuu, taura, tuurai, tuur(a), MMo. turwun, Khal. tr, traj, tur, Kalm. turn, tr, Dag. tor, pMo *tuwra, *tur(u)u ‘hoof, lower hard part of hoof’ OTk. tuja, Tk. dujnak, Tat. tojaq, Uigh. tuwaq, Tkm. tojnaq, Yak. tuaq, Kirg. tujak, pTk *tubak ‘hoof’. (Martin 1966: 228; Whitman 1985: 219; Starostin 1991: 96-97, 255, 268, 278; Vovin 2003a: 22; Starostin-Dybo-Mudrak 2003: 1445-1446) 16. yaburu ‘tear, break’, yabureru ‘get torn, get burst, be worn out’, yabu ‘refuse heap, garbage dump’, yabo ‘unrefined’, pJ *yanpu- ‘tear, break, burst’ MK ¨twulW- ‘pierce, bore’, MK ¨tulW- ‘pierce, bore’, MK ¨ptelW-, MK ¨phtelW- ‘be astringent, have a piercing taste’ (< ? *hu- intensive + *telpu‘pierce’), pK *telpu- ‘pierce’ Ma. delhe- ‘divide, separate’, Neg. detpejkin- ‘split’, Ev. delperge-, derbilge-, delpem- ‘crack, burst, split’, pTg *delpe- ‘split, burst’ WMo. delbele- ‘1 break, crack (tr.)’, delbere- ‘2 burst, go to pieces (intr.)’, Khal. delbe-le– 1, -re- 2, Kalm. delwl.-, pMo *delbe- ‘burst, break’ OTk. tel-, te-, Tk. del-, de-, Az. del-, de-, Tkm. de-, Yak. tel-, tes-, pTk *te< ? *telC- ‘pierce, break through’ (Street 1985: 643) ."35*/&Û30##&&54 4.2 pJ *-nt- and dental clusters 4.2.1 Phonological distribution pJ pK pTg pMo pTk *-nt- *-c– *-TC- *-TC- *-TC- *-nt- *-c– *-RT- *-RT- *-RT- [*acki] *anda *anda *ānt 1. ada ‘enemy; revenge’ *anta 2. OJ adi ‘Baikal teal’ *anti 3. OJ ado ‘how’ *anto 4. azi ‘taste’ *anti *amta- *amta 5. hazukasii ‘be ashamed’ *pantu- *pāle- [*bali-] 6. hidaku ‘crush’ *pinta *pine- 7. kudoku ‘persuade’ *kunto- *andi *ack *kwucit*kwucic- 8. kuzira ‘whale’ *kuntira 9. OJ odasi- ‘calm, quiet’ *onta- 10. odokasu ‘frighten’ *onto- 11. sadameru ‘decide’ *santama- 12. tazuneru ‘investigate’ *tantu- 13. tizimeru ‘shorten’ *tinti- 14. toziru ‘shut, close’ *tonto- *kortu *en *ecul*sedki*tai*ciculu*tokto- *todka- *tokto- *togta15. uzu ‘eddy’ *untu *undu- 4.2.2 Underlying data 1. ada ‘foe, enemy, revenge’, pJ *anta ‘enemy’ MK a˙chyet-, inf. a˙chyele- ‘dislike,hate’(one of the four longer verbs with -t/r- alternating stems and therefore suspect of being a compound: 20 < ? achi ‘*enemy?’ + MK ¨et- ‘get’), pK *achi ‘enemy’ Neg. anda, Ma. anda, Na. anda, Ol. anda, Orok anda, Jur. ’án-tāh-hâi, Ev. anda, pTg *anda ‘friend’ WMo. anda, Khal. and, Kalm. and, andn, pMo *anda ‘friend’ OTk. ant, Tk. ant (and), Az. and, Tkm. ant, pTk *ānt ‘oath’ 20 Martin 1996: 12. *'Û+"1"/&4&Û*4Û"-5"*$Û)08Û$"/Û*5Û#&Û40Û4*.1-& (Starostin, Dybo & Mudrak 2003: 302) 2. OJ adi ‘Baikal teal’, pJ *anti ‘a kind of duck’ Neg. an ‘scoter’, Na. āni, agi ‘diver’, Ev. anni, andi, ende ‘scoter’, pTg *andi ‘a kind of duck’. (Starostin, Dybo & Mudrak 2003: 304-305) 3. (Azuma) OJ ado ‘how, in what way’: pJ *anto ‘in what way’ MK ach ‘reason’, pK *ach ‘reason’ (Whitman 1985: 244) 4. azi ‘taste’, pJ *anti ‘taste’ Ev. amta-, Lam. amt-, Neg. amta-, pTg *amta- ‘to taste’ MMo. amtan, amta, Bur. amta(n), kalm. amtn, Ordos amta, Dag. anta- ‘to taste’, anta, Dong. anta-tu ‘tasty’, Bao. amtg, pMo. amta ‘taste’ (Starostin 1991: 257, 272, 291; Starostin, Dybo & Mudrak 2003: 297) 5. hazukasii ‘be ashamed, be shy’, hazi ‘shame’, pJ *pantu- ‘be ashamed’ Neg. xala-, Ma. f´ani-x´aa-, Na. ala-, Orok xal-, Oro. xaga-, Ud. xaga-, Ev. hāle-, Lam. halu-, pTg *pāle- ‘be ashamed’ WMo. balai-, Khal. bali-, Bur. balsa bari-, pMo *bali- ‘shame somebody’ (Finch 1987: 17; Starostin, Dybo & Mudrak 2003: 1075) 6. hidaku ‘crush’: pJ *pinta(-)k- ‘crush’ Lam. hênik-, Neg. xiel-, pTg *pine- ‘crush’ (Starostin, Dybo & Mudrak 2003: 1149-1150) 7. kudoku ‘persuade, solicit, seduce’, kudoi ‘wordy, garrulous, fussy’, pJ *kunto- ‘plead’ MK kwucic-, kwucit- ‘scold’, pK *kwucit-, *kwucic- ‘scold’ (Starostin, Dybo & Mudrak 2003: 702) 8. kuzira ‘whale’, pJ *kuntira ‘whale’ Tat. qurt ‘1 burbot’, qurtan ‘2 pike’, Kaz. qortpa ‘3 beluga’, Nog. qortpa ‘3’, Khak. xort ‘1’, Shor qortu ‘1’, Oyr. qortu ‘1’, pTk *kortu ‘burbot, pike, beluga’. (Whitman 1985: 223; Starostin, Dybo & Mudrak 2003: 725) 9. OJ odasi- ‘calm, quiet, peaceful’, odayaka ‘calm, quiet, peace’, pJ *onta‘quiet’ OTk. en, Tat. inik, Kalm. ni-, Uig. ink, Az. ini-, pTk *en ‘tranquil, at peace’ (Starostin 1991: 254, 273, 297; Starostin, Dybo & Mudrak 2003: 302-03) ."35*/&Û30##&&54 10. odokasu ‘threaten, frighten’: odosu ‘threaten, frighten, intimidate’, odorokasu ‘surprise, frighten’, odoroku ‘be surprised, be frightened’, pJ *onto‘frighten, confuse’ K eciru- ‘put in disorder’, ecirep- ‘bewildering, confused, disturbed’, MK ˙e˙ curep- ‘confused, disturbed’, pK *ecu- ‘put in disorder, confuse’ (Martin 1966: 236) 11. sadameru ‘decide, determine’: pJ *santama-, ‘decide’ WMo. sede-, sedki-, Khal. setge-, Kalm. sed-, setk-, Dag. serkin, Mgr. sgir, pMo *sedki- ‘think of, care’ (Starostin, Dybo & Mudrak 2003: 1222) 12. tazuneru ‘investigate, search for’: OJ taduki ‘clue, track, trace’, pJ *tantu‘investigate’ Ma. tai- ‘study, learn’, Lam. tatigā ‘tame, make accustomed’, pTg *tai‘learn’ (Miller 1971: 99; Starostin, Dybo & Mudrak 2003: 1427) 13. tizimeru ‘shorten, shrink, reduce’: MJ tidike- ‘reduce’, pJ *tinti- ‘reduce’ MK ci ˙ cul- ‘press, squeeze’, pK *ciculu- ‘press, squeeze’. 14. toziru ‘shut, close’: toziru ‘bind, stitch, sew up’, todomeru ‘stop, cease’, MJ todo ‘at last, finally, in the end’, pJ *tonto- ‘stop, close’ Ma. tokto-, Ev. tokt-, Lam. toktot-, oktot- ‘stop, stand still’, pTg *tokto- ‘stop’ WMo. toda- ‘hesitate‘, Khal. totgor ‘fasten’ Kalm. totx- ‘snare, trap’, WMo. tota- ’to stop, establish’, MMo. (SH) tota-, Dag. torta-, Urdus dogto, Khal. togta-, Bur. togto-, Kalm tokto- ‘stand firmly’, pMo *todka- ‘fasten’ ∼ *togta ‘stop’ MTk. toqta-, Yak. toxt-, Dolg. tokt- ‘stop, end, cease’, pTk *tokto- ‘stop’ (Martin 1966: 228; Whitman 1985: 171: 217; Starostin 1991: 15, 71; Starostin, Dybo & Mudrak 2003: 1478-79) 15. uzu ‘eddy’, pJ *untu ‘eddy’ WMo. undura- ‘1 to whirl’, Khal. undra- ‘1’, Bur. ondoli ‘ fountain, well’, Kalm. undr- ‘1’, pMo *undu- ‘to whirl’. (Starostin, Dybo & Mudrak 2003: 1501) *'Û+"1"/&4&Û*4Û"-5"*$Û)08Û$"/Û*5Û#&Û40Û4*.1-& 4.3 pJ *-nk- and velar clusters 4.3.1 Phonological distribution pJ pK pTg pMo pTk *-nk- *-kC- *-KC- [*-KC- *-KC-] *-nk- *-Rk- -RK- *-RK- *-RK- 1. ago ‘jaw’ *anko *elkwul *ege * 2. hagi ‘leg, shin’ *panki *pal(k) *palgan [*balak] 3. hagu ‘strip o, tear o’ *panka- *pengul- *pegde- 4. kage ‘shadow’ *kanka *konkol 5. mogura ‘mole’ *munkura 6. mugoi ‘cruel’ *munko- 7. nagai ‘be long’ *nanka- *nolk(o)- 8. nagu ‘calm down’ *nanku- *nalkwo- 9. OJ ogiro ‘vast’ *onkiro *muktu*mu *bu *aa *egdi 10. ogoru ‘be extravagant’ *onko- *ö *ö 11.suguru ‘choose, select’ *sunkur- *sogu- *sogra- 12. tagiru ‘boil, seethe’ *tanki- *dargil *talga 13. toga ‘fault, blame’ *tonka *dogud- *jo 14. toguro ‘coil’ *tonkuro *twong- 15. yogoreru ‘get dirty’ *yonko- *tesk- *alki*toal- 4.3.2 Underlying data 1. ago ‘jaw, chin’, agi ‘jaw, gill’, pJ *anko ‘jaw, chin’ K elkwul, MK elkwul ‘face’, pK *elkwul ‘face’ Ma. ege, pTg *ege ‘beak’ Karakh. e ‘cheeks’, eek ‘jaw, chin’, Tk. enek, Az. ä, MTk. eek, enek, Uzb. engäk, Uig. iäk, Tat. ijäk, Kirgh. k, Nog. ijek, Khak. ek, Shor ek, Oyr. k, Chu. ana, Yak. i, pTk * ‘jaw, chin’ (Martin 1966: 234, 238; Miller 1985b, 149; Whitman 1985: 246; Starostin 1991: 256: 271, 282; Starostin, Dybo & Mudrak 2003: 510-11) 2. hagi ‘leg, shin’, pJ *panki ‘lower leg’ K pal, MK pal ‘foot‘, pK *pal ‘foot’ (perhaps related with K phal, MK polh ‘arm’ < ? pK *palk ‘(lower) limb’) ."35*/&Û30##&&54 Ma. falanggu ‘palm of the hand’, Neg. xalgan, Na. palgã, Ol. pala(n), Orok pala(n), Ev. xalgan, pTg *palgan ‘foot’. MTk. balaq ‘2 trouser leg’, Tk. balaq ‘2’, Az. balaG ‘2’, Tkm. balaq ‘2’,Tat. balaq ‘1 ankle, 2’, Bash. balaq ‘2’, Kaz. balaq ‘trouser leg from the knee downwards; bird’s leg from knee to ankle; horse’s ankle’, KBalk. balaq ‘2, foot sole’, pTk *balak ‘lower leg’. (Martin 1966: 32 ; Miller 1971: 145; Whitman 1985: 158, 188, 209; Vovin 2003a: 23; Starostin 1991: 13, 43, 68, 96, 252, 270: 279-280; Starostin, Dybo & Mudrak 2003: 1075-76) 3. hagu ‘strip o, tear o’, hageru ‘become bald, get stripped’, OJ pag- ‘strip o, tear o’, pJ *panka- ‘tear o’ MK pengul- ‘be separated’ MK penguli- ˙Gwat ‘crack, split’ (MK ˙Gwatintensive auxiliary), pK *pengul- ‘separate, split’ Neg. xegde-l- ‘2 tear o’, Na. xo- ‘1 cut o’, Ev. h- ‘1’, hegde-l - ‘2’, pTg *pegde- ‘cut o, tear o’ (Martin 1966: 229; Whitman 1985: 128, 212; Starostin, Dybo & Mudrak 2003: 1178) 4. kage ‘shadow’, OJ kage‘ shadow, reflection, radiance, light’, kagami, OJ kagami ‘mirror’ (<? ‘reflection’ + ‘look’), kagari ‘bonfire’, kagati ‘Chinese lantern plant’ (< ? ‘light’ + ‘thistle’), kagayaku ‘shine, reflect, sparkle’, pJ *kanka ‘light, reflection, shade’ K kunul, MK ˙ko ˙nolh, ˙ku ˙nulh ‘shadow’, pK *konolk ‘shadow’ < ? *konkol (Poppe 1960: 25; Whitman 1985: 183, 199, 222; Vovin 1993: 257; Starostin, Dybo & Mudrak 2003: 720) 5. mogura ‘mole’, pJ *monkura ‘mole’ Neg. muktuj ‘short-tailed mouse’, Ma. muqdun, muqtun ‘short-tailed mouse, mole’ Orok muktuli ‘short-tailed mouse, mole’, Na. muktur ‘mole’, pTg *muktu- ‘mole’ (Starostin, Dybo & Mudrak 2003: 951) 6. mugoi ‘cruel’, pJ *munko- ‘cruel’ MMo. mu (SH) ‘diculty’, WMo. mu ‘diculty’, mula- ‘be in need’, Khal. munla- ‘be in need, be exhausted’, pMo *mu ‘distress’ OTk. bu (Orkhon), mu (Old Uighur), Tk. bun, Gag. bun, Yak. mu, Dolg. mu, Kirg. mu, Tat. mo, Bash. mo, pTk *bu ‘suering’ (Starostin, Dybo & Mudrak 2003: 935) 7. nagai ‘be long’, OJ nagame- ‘prolong voice’, nagareru ‘flow, drain, run down’, OJ nagarape- ‘live on, be long’, pJ *nanka- ‘extend in space and time’ *'Û+"1"/&4&Û*4Û"-5"*$Û)08Û$"/Û*5Û#&Û40Û4*.1-& K nalk-, MK nolk- ‘get old, age, be much used’, pK *nolk- ‘get old, extend in time’ (Martin 1966: 235-36; Whitman 1985: 241; Starostin 1991: 109, 253, 266, 276; Finch 1987: 11; Starostin, Dybo & Mudrak 2003: 1035-1036) 8. nagu ‘grow calm, calm down’: nagusameru ‘comfort, console’, OJ nagi‘(ocean waves) grow still, calm down’, nagi ‘calm, calmness’, pJ *nanku‘calm’ MK nalhwo- ‘slow, unhurried’, pK *nalkwo- ‘slow, calm’ Ev. āa, Neg. āakkān, Ol. an-a, Orok nand, Sol. nandaxān, pTg *aa ‘quiet, slow, easy’. (Whitman 1985: 241; Starostin, Dybo & Mudrak 2003: 987) 9. OJ ogiro ‘vast’, pJ *onkiro ‘vast’ Ev. ed ‘big’, Neg. egdi ‘1’, Na. egd’i ‘1’, Ol. egdi ‘1’, Orok egi ‘1’, Oro. egdi ‘1’, Ud. egdi ‘1’, Sol. egd ‘1’, pTg *egdi ‘many’ (Starostin, Dybo & Mudrak 2003: 495-96) 10. ogoru ‘be extravagant, be proud, give as a treat’, pJ *onkor- ‘behave abundantly’ WMo. ö, Khal. ön(g), Kalm. ö, pMo *ö ‘abundant, plentiful’ OTk. ö, öi ‘all’, Yak. ö, Kirg. ügü, Kaz. ököj, pTk *ö ‘abundance’ (Starostin, Dybo & Mudrak 2003: 1056) 11. suguru ‘choose, select’, pJ *sunkur- ‘choose’ WMo. sogu-, Khal. sogo-, Bur. hunga-, Kalm. sun-, Ordos sugu-, Dag. sogo-, Dong. sunu-, pMo *sogu- ‘choose’ Karakh. sorut- ‘search’, MTk. sora- ‘search’, soraaq ‘search perquisition’, Chuv. ra- ‘ask’, pTk *sogra- ‘search, ask’ (Starostin, Dybo & Mudrak 2003: 1303-1304) 12. tagiru ‘boil, seethe, foam’, OJ takit- ∼ tagit- ‘flow rapidly, seethe’, pJ *tanki- ‘flow rapidly’ Ev. alki- ‘be agitated (sea), wave’ Lam. al-, alqab- ‘overflow (river)’, pTg *alki- ‘flow rapidly, overflow’ WMo. dargil, Khal. dargil, Kalm. dergl, pMo *dargil ‘rapid current’ MTk. tala ‘Wellenschlag’, talum, talqum ‘sea waves’, Tk. dalga ‘wave’, Az. dala ‘wave’, pTk *talga ‘wave, sea undulation’ (Starostin, Dybo & Mudrak 2003: 404-405) 13. toga ‘fault, blame, oense’, pJ *tonka ‘blame, oense’ WMo. doud-, Khal. dogodo-, pMo *dogud- to blame, rebuke’ OTk. jo, joa-, Yak. so, pTk *jo ‘accusation, accuse’ (Starostin, Dybo & Mudrak 2003: 463) ."35*/&Û30##&&54 14. toguro ‘coil’, pJ *tonkuro ‘coil’ K tongkul-, MK twongkul- ‘be round’ (< twong ‘round’ + kul- ‘be like that (auxiliary)’, pK *twong ‘round’ Neg. togulikin ‘be round, Na. togokpã ‘rotund’, Orok toGolto ‘be round, Ev. toollo ‘rotund’, pTg *tool- ‘round’ (Starostin, Dybo & Mudrak 2003: 1459) 15. yogoreru ‘get dirty, be stained’, yogosu ‘stain, soil, pollute’, pJ *yonko‘be stained’ K tekk- ‘be stained with dirt, become soiled’, pK *tesk- ‘be stained’. (Martin 1966: 230; Miller 1971: 112) 5. Conclusion Tracing back the voiced series in contemporary Japanese to original nasal clusters, the following cluster correspondences appear from etymologies for Japanese forms with medial -b- (<pJ -*np-), -d- (< pJ *-nt-) and -g- (< pJ *-nk-). labial + obstruent sonorant + labial dental + obstruent sonorant + dental velar + obstruent sonorant + velar pJ *-np*-np*-nt*-nt*-nk*-nk- pK *-pC*-Rp*-c(k)*-c(k)*-kC*-Rk- pTg *-PC*-RP*-TC*-RT*-KC*-RK- pMo *-pC*-RP*-TC*-RT*-KC*-RK- pTk *-pC*-RP*-TC*-RT*-KC*-RK- In the correspondence list above R represents a sonorant (or resonant), i.e. any voiced speech sound that is not an obstruent, most frequently n, m, l, r. Capital C represents any obstruent. Due to sporadic assimilation, voice appears to be indistinctive in the original consonant clusters. Archiphoneme P represents /p/ or /b/, T represents /t/ or /d/, K represents /k/ or /g/. Metathesis is common in clusters in a way that a sonorant cluster is a sequence of a sonorant and a stop or the other way around (RP = PR) and an obstruent cluster is a sequence of a stop and an obstruent or the other way around (PC = CP). A velar nasal * is treated as an original plain nasal followed by a velar stop (< *nK). The etymological data presented here suggest that it is possible to divide the medial cluster inventory of Korean, Tungusic, Mongolic and *'Û+"1"/&4&Û*4Û"-5"*$Û)08Û$"/Û*5Û#&Û40Û4*.1-& Turkic into sonorant and obstruent clusters and that the medial clusters correspondences follow this broad two-way division. In the present paper we have focused on the Japanese reflexes of Altaic clusters. There is evidence that Japanese has simplified all Altaic clusters, both sonorant and obstruent clusters, to nasal clusters that subsequently developed into voiced consonants. Although the present work has considerably benefited from the massive opening of new data realized by Starostin, Dybo and Mudrak, the findings presented here dier from the treatment of consonant clusters in the Altaic dictionary (2003: 83-89) in a number of ways. First, the focus of the attention is on Japanese and the ways it reflects Altaic consonant clusters. Second, a dierent methodological approach is adopted in the sense that the evidence is sifted more severely, resulting in a lower number of etymologies with higher stability in terms of internal reconstruction, elimination of universals and borrowings, semantics and phonological correspondence. Third, the cluster correspondence set established on the basis of the hard core of evidence is straightforward, symmetrical and natural: the Altaic clusters regularly converge into the proto-Japanese nasal clusters *-np-, *-nt-, *-nk- and contrary to the suggested reflexes in the Altaic dictionary no other, more complicated clusters correspondences appear with the plain stops pJ *p, t, k, with the sonorants pJ *n,*m, *r or the glides pJ *w and *y. Fourth, the Korean data are scarce, but compatible because they also reflect clusters. Fifth, I am unable to find indications that prenazalization in Japanese can be explained in terms of an Austronesian substratum (2003: 82) or in terms of prosodic factors on the proto-Altaic level, correlated with voicing in Mongolian (2003: 76-78). Are the etymological data presented here satisfactory in quality and quantity? Let us turn to the quantitative question first. We find 16 etymologies for Japanese etyma reflecting a labial cluster, 15 reflexes of a dental cluster and 15 reflexes of a velar cluster. The numbers of cognates in terms of individual proto-forms involved and the number of branches that is covered per etymology is given in the table below. total etymologies pK pJ *-np- 16 7 pJ *-nt- 15 6 pJ *-nk- 15 8 pTg 12 8 8 pMo 9 5 5 pTk 6 4 6 Table 03. Number of cognates involved ."35*/&Û30##&&54 total etymologies 2 branches 3 branches 4 branches 5 branches pJ *-np- 16 5 6 3 2 pJ *-nt- 15 11 2 1 1 pJ *-nk- 15 5 7 3 0 Table 04. Number of branches covered Taking into consideration (1) the fact that the etymologies reflecting a medial cluster correspondence are only admitted on the phonological condition that the medial vowel and the medial consonant of the proto-forms correspond regularly as well; (2) the relative infrequency of medial consonant clusters throughout Japanese, Korean and Altaic; (3) the instability of clusters due to sporadic developments such as liquid loss and regressive assimilation, in a way that it is sometimes hard to recognize original consonant clusters as such in the individual proto-languages; (4) and finally that more evidence for the cluster correspondences may be present in etymologies that do not have Japanese reflexes or for which Japanese reflexes have not yet been proposed; one can conclude that the number of etymologies underlying each correspondence, the number of individual cognates per proto-language and the number of branches involved in the comparison is sucient to rule out, with a considerable degree of probability, chance as an explanation for the cluster correspondences. The quantity of the evidence is too striking to be purely coincidental. But what about the quality of the etymologies and the sound correspondences they reflect? In consideration of (1) the application of severe sifting criteria guaranteeing the stability of the etymologies in terms of individual reconstruction, universal tendencies in linguistic structuring, borrowing, and semantics; (2) the fact that the cognates reflect regular correspondences for four subsequent phonemes (CVCC-) *'Û+"1"/&4&Û*4Û"-5"*$Û)08Û$"/Û*5Û#&Û40Û4*.1-& (3) the phonological symmetry between the labial, dental and velar cluster correspondence series (4) and finally, the dierent light thrown on the problem of phonological discrepancy between Japanese, Korean and Altaic; we can conclude that, instead of driving us to dierent solutions in other language families, the Japanese reflexes of Korean and Altaic clusters, anchor the roots of the Japanese language deeper into the Altaic family. Whereas the evidence for the nasal labial clusters (pJ *-np-) and the nasal velar clusters (pJ *-nk-) is relatively convincing, the evidence for nasal dental clusters (pJ *-nt-) is rather weak because eleven out of fifteen etymologies are binary comparisons and because the Korean cognates are rather scarce. The Korean reflex of pJ *nt is an aricate pK *c. However we cannot exclude the possibility that the aricate is ultimately derivable from a dental cluster (< ? pK *ts). In the 15th century, /c/ was not palatal as it is in Korean today, but merely an alveolar aricate [ts]. By the 16th century MK disappeared from the language, a process that probably made room for the palatalization of the aricate c. That Korean cluster reflexes are underrepresented in general can perhaps be explained by the frequent processes of liquid loss and h-metathesis described above that had already set in by the time that the Korean language was recorded in an unambiguous way. Probably many clusters were already leveled when the Korean alphabet was introduced. Under the etymology of kuzira ‘whale’, pJ *kuntira ‘whale’ for example, MK kwolay ’whale’ would be an excellent fit on the condition that it preserved internal evidence for a dental cluster. Liquid loss could also be the reason why a consonant cluster is missing in the bracketed form pTk *sb - ‘love’ under OJ sobap- ‘frolic, flirt’. 21 The mechanisms that made Japanese into a phonologically simple language can be found in an ongoing process of cluster simplification. At an initial stage a relatively rich inventory of sonorant clusters and a smaller amount of obstruent clusters in Altaic was gradually simplified until 21 Sporadic instability of medial clusters in Japanese is perhaps the missing link to relate ke, OJ ke ‘hair’ (< pJ *ka(C)i < *?kanki ) to K khal ‘hair’, K kalki, MK ¨kalki ‘horse’s mane’, pK kalki ‘hair, horsehair’; Neg. ênakta, Lit. Ma. iGaa, Na. saqta, Ol. sakta, Orok snaqta, Ev. inakta ‘hair’ (< pTg *xinga- ‘hair’ + pTg *-kta collective sux), WMo. kilasu, Khal. x´algas, Kalm. kilsn., kilsn., Dag. kilgās, Mgr. c´irGā. Mogh. qilasun, (< pMo *kilga- ‘horsehair’ + pMo *-sun body part sux), OTk. ql, Tk. kl, Tat. kl, Uigh. qil, Az. gl, Tkm. gl, Yak. kl, Kirg. kl, Chuv. xlx ‘hair, horsehair’ (< pTk *klk< ? *klk). ."35*/&Û30##&&54 proto-Japanese was left with only a limited amount of nasal clusters. The simplification of the word structure went on internally in Japanese, over the prenasalized obstruents of Old Japanese to the voiced obstruents that we find in Japanese today. This does not imply, however, that with the elapse of time the phonology of the Japanese language became more and more simple. There were competing phonological forces at work, like the onbin sound changes that set in around the 9th century, once the nasal clusters had simplified. 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