Proto-Ong-Be Initials and Finals

This study is the first to provide a bottom-up reconstruction of Proto-Ong-Be initials and finals using the comparative method. Thirty-four initials (labelled with tone series) and nine finals that can be reconstructed with confidence are postulated. This paper shows that the early voicing contrast associated with initials cannot be directly reconstructed based on the internal evidence, although the loss of the contrast is compensated for at the suprasegmental level. This study also demonstrates that Proto-Ong-Be finals remain intact in modern Ong-Be varieties. In addition, this paper serves as a testing ground and a demonstration for doing linguistic reconstruction from different angles.