Table 2 Corresponding bilabials and representative examplesa within the Bisoid subgroup.

From: Palatalization in Laomian: evolution and resistance

Gloss

Laomian

Huai Chomphu

Destroy

phj

phja33

phj

phja33

Bee

pj

pja31

pj

pja21

Fly

pjam55

pjam55

Monk

ph

pha33

phl

phlaʔ33

Silver

phu55

phlu55

Help

p/pl

plɔŋ31/poŋ31

pl/phl

ploŋ21

Full

aŋ33pɯŋ33

ʔaŋ33plɯŋ33

Whiteb

aŋ33pon31

phlu33

  1. aThe lack of contrastive minimal pairs is explained using Optimality Theory in the section “The phonological interpretation of palatalization in Laomian”.
  2. bIn Laomian, aŋ33 (a prefix generally used with adjectives) can be deleted, especially when used together with other roots to form fixed expressions (Xu, 1998). Therefore, words with and without aŋ33count as two variations of the same word within different contexts.
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