Page:Cornyn Outline of Burmese Grammar.pdf/12

10 Examples:

Tone I: lábá ‘come’; pímbândé ‘(he) is tired’

Tone II: lêiyauɁ ‘four (people)’; sînzâdé ‘(he) thinks’

Tone III: tèdè ‘straight ahead’; kànlàn ‘crosswise’

Tone IV: θauppá ‘drink’; θaummé ‘(he) will drink’; θautté ‘(he) drinks’; maθauθθêibû,‘(he) has not drunk yet’; chaunnáyí ‘6 o’clock’; θauccàzòu ‘let us drink’; paisshán ‘money’; laikkhèbá ‘follow’; phaɁɁôummé ‘(I) will read on’

In one case, when a syllable with initial ny- follows a plain final, this way of writing is ambiguous. That is, kúnyidé might be interpreted either as kú nyídé or *kún yídé. In this case kú-nyídé ‘(he) helps’ will be written (see 25).

When two syllables spoken in one of tones II, III, or IV are in close juncture, the first is higher in pitch and louder than the second.

Examples:

khawwêiwêigà ‘from afar’; kâuŋgâun loutté ‘(he) works well’; tèdè θwâbá ‘go straight ahead’; kànlàn šidé ‘(it) is crosswise’; touttouɁ wàwà Ɂapyóuhlà ‘a short, fat, pretty girl’

When a syllable with an unvoiced initial consonant is preceded in close juncture by a syllable in tone I, II, or III, the unvoiced initial consonant is replaced by a voiced consonant as follows:

Unvoiced stops, affricates, and normal sibilants are replaced by the voiced phoneme of the same position:

louppá ‘do (it)’: lábá ‘come’: θwâbá ‘go’: pyàbá ‘point’; loutté ‘(he) does (it)’: ládé ‘(he) comes’: θwâdé ‘(he) goes’: pyàdé ‘(he) points’; louccàdé ‘(they) do (it)’: lájàdé ‘(they) come’: θwâjàdé ‘(they) go’: pyàjàdé ‘(they) point’: lousséijíndé ‘(I) want to have (him) do (it)’: lázéijíndé ‘(I) want to have (him) come’: θwâzéijíndé ‘(I) want to have (him) go’: pyàzéijíndé ‘(I) want to have (him) point’; loukkhêdé ‘(it) is hard to do’: lágêdé ‘(it) is hard to come’: θwâgêdé ‘(it) is hard to go’: twèigêdé ‘(they) are hard to find’

The dental fricative /θ/ appears in its voiced variant ð (13): θaθθalâ ‘did (he) kill (it)?’: θéiðalâ ‘is (he) dead?’

The phonemes /š, h, Ɂ/ (9, 14) and the preaspirated nasals and lateral (10, 11) are not replaced:

sáunšautté ‘(he) looks after (it)’; meisshwéihâun ‘old friend’; yéiɁôu ‘water jar’; yéibóhmá ‘on the water’; θwâhnáindé ‘(he) can go’; cêizû cîhlàbí ‘thanks very much’. I have no examples of /hŋ/ following close juncture.

After atonic syllables the same replacements occur but seem not to be fixed:

tacaɁ ~ tajaɁ ‘1 rupee’; takhùgù ‘one by one’

Colon represents suspensive intonation. This is extremely variable. The syllable before the colon is spoken with greatly increased length and on an undulating tone curve under which the four tones lose their special characteristics.

Examples:
 * nâ tháumbá: ‘listen&hellip;’
 * šiðalâ: couɁ maθibû ‘is there&hellip;? I don’t know.’
 * lâmbyà: badúlê ‘a guide&hellip;? Who?’
 * tajaɁ: khwê ‘1 rupee &hellip; and a half’