Telltale Signs: Reflections of Voiced Initials in the Vernacular Tày Script

Tày dialects in the northern districts of Cao Bằng province in northern Vietnam retain some of the voiced consonants of proto-Tai. Reflections of these voiced initials are found in the Vernacular Tày Script, a square character script based on the Chinese script that has been used for many centuries to write the Tày language. This article will present evidence of this phenomenon, based on a traditional text from Trùng Khánh, one of the districts in which voiced initials are preserved. The implications of this discovery for the history of the script will be briefly discussed.