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Proto-Hlai is the reconstructed ancestor of the Hlai languages. Proto-Hlai reconstructions include those of Matisoff (1988), Thurgood (1991), Wu (2000), Ostapirat (2004), and Norquest (2007).
Peter K. Norquest (2007) reconstructs 29 basic Proto-Hlai consonants (Norquest 2007:135), while Weera Ostapirat reconstructs only 19 proto-consonants (Ostapirat 2007:145).
Norquest additionally reconstructs six onsets suggesting consonant clusters: *pl,*fj,*lj,*ɾj,*tʃʰw,*ŋ̊w. Whether these were actual consonant clusters is not clear. The clusters with a glide as a second member may have been coarticulated consonants: palatalized*fʲ,*lʲ,*ɾʲ, labialized*tʃʰʷ,*ŋ̊ʷ, while *pl may have arisen from a sesquisyllable *p-l.
Norquest also reconstructs six bisyllabic root shapes:
Pretonic syllables are later lost in all Hlai languages, but in these six combinations, they trigger in some languages conditional developments of the tonic syllable's onset consonant, allowing them to be distinguished in reconstruction.
In Ostapirat's (2004) reconstruction, Proto-Hlai forms can be both monosyllabic and disyllabic. Some disyllabic forms have medial consonants beginning with three penultimate vowels (*u-, *i-, *a-; the last of which is default). Vowels can also combine with *-i or *-u to form diphthongs. Tones (*A, *B, *C, *D) are also reconstructed.
In the table below, Proto-Hlai consonants marked as green can occur at the end of syllables.
Ostapirat (2004) reconstructs 5 vowels, which are /a, ə, i, ɨ, u/. Norquest reconstructs seven vowel qualities (Norquest 2007:238, 330).
The short vowels *i, *ɯ, *u, *ə, *o and long *əː only appear in roots with a final consonant (Norquest 2007:330).
The transition from Pre-Hlai (the predecessor of the Proto-Hlai language ancestral to both Hlai and Jiamao) to Proto-Hlai involved the following series of sound changes (Norquest 2007:308). (Order follows that of the table of contents – not intended to be sequential)
Or, in the sequential order given in Norquest (2007:416–417), which excludes monophthongization:
After evolving from Pre-Hlai, Proto-Hlai initials went through 4 main types of sound changes (Norquest 2007:66).
After the breakup of Proto-Hlai, the following sound changes occurred in various Hlai branches.
The following table gives the reflexes of the onset consonants in the Hlai languages, as well as Norquest and Ostapirat's reconstructions:
The symbol ↓ indicates here a lowered tone on the following vowel in those Hlai languages where tone split has taken place; this normally occurs following earlier voiced consonants.