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Article published In: Diachrony of Tone
Edited by Sandra Auderset, Rikker Dockum and Ryan Gehrmann
[Diachronica 42:3/4] 2025
► pp. 357–381

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Tone and voicing in Cao Bằng Tai

Implications for tonal evolution and change

ORCiD logo with link | LMU Munich
ORCiD logo with link | Chulalongkorn UniversityBangkok
Published online: 28 July 2025
DOI logo with link
https://doi.org/10.1075/dia.24030.kir
Abstract
This study examines the phonetic realization of tones and onsets in Cao Bằng Tai. Previous studies of this language indicate that historically voiced plosives remain redundantly cued by closure voicing and/or breathy voice. Our age- and gender-stratified sample of 19 speakers reveals a linguistically homogeneous speech community in which historically voiced plosives are realized as voiceless and lightly aspirated, potentially merging with the aspirated plosive series. Our data show no intrinsic covariation of pitch in syllables with historically voiced onsets, but syllables with historically voiceless aspirated onsets show significantly increased pitch compared to unaspirated onsets. These findings suggest that while historical sonorant devoicing may well have conditioned the initial split, the phonetic precursors involved in the onset merger implicate raising, rather than lowering, of pitch. Our study of Cao Bằng Tai thus provides new insights into the internal chronology of tonogenetic processes in Tai languages.
Article outline
  • 1.Introduction
    • 1.1Tonogenesis and tonal register split
    • 1.2Previous studies of Cao Bằng Tai
    • 1.3The present study
  • 2.Methods and materials
    • 2.1Speakers
    • 2.2Materials
    • 2.3Recording procedure
    • 2.4Acoustic measures
    • 2.5Predictions
  • 3.Results
    • 3.1Voice onset time
    • 3.2Voice quality measures and EGG closed quotient
    • 3.3Historical laryngeal contrast and tone realization
  • 4.Discussion
    • 4.1Summary
    • 4.2The origins of the Khuổi Ky tone system
    • 4.3Implications for models of tonogenesis and tone split
  • 5.Conclusion
  • Acknowledgements
  • Notes
  • References
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