Three notes on Laufer's law

Hill, Nathan W.

Abstract

Facets of both Old Tibetan and Old Burmese phonology pose problems for the generalisation, known as Laufer‘s law, that -wa- in in Written Burmese corresponds to -o- in Written Tibetan. Some Tibetan words retain the sequence -wa, appearing to contradict Laufer‘s law. Some Written Burmese words with -wa- originate from Old Burmese words written with -o-. To account for these anomalies and the Chinese cognates of the lexemes involved, Laufer‘s law must be understood as the product of four separate sound changes.

Citation

Hill, N. W. (2013). Three notes on Laufer's law. Linguistics of the Tibeto-Burman area, 36(1), 57-72

• Journal Article Type: Article
• Publication Date: Jan 1, 2013
• Deposit Date: May 8, 2013
• Publicly Available Date: Mar 12, 2025
• Journal: Linguistics of the Tibeto-Burman Area
• Print ISSN: 0731-3500
• Electronic ISSN: 2214-5907
• Peer Reviewed: Peer Reviewed
• Volume: 36
• Issue: 1
• Pages: 57-72
• Keywords: Old Tibetan, Old Burmese, Old Chinese, historical phonology, Laufer‘s law
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