ABSTRACT
In this chapter, the authors introduce and analyze all the Amdo Tibetan consonants that can appear in the initial position of a syllable. Sometimes an open syllable, i.e. a syllable without a filled coda, takes another vowel (a genitive marker, for example) into the syllable. Since Amdo Tibetan does not normally tolerate diphthongs, the result may be one of those three high vowels. A consonant in the coda position is called a suffix in traditional Tibetan orthographic terms. It is written to the right of the root letter. Only ten letters can serve as a suffix. A spelling reform took place in the early ninth century, at which time the suffix had probably been dropped from speech. So it was dropped from the written form as well. On the other hand, was kept, becoming the sole member in the category of post-suffix.
