diff --git a/hail/src/main/scala/is/hail/expr/types/TableType.scala b/hail/src/main/scala/is/hail/expr/types/TableType.scala
index f9755260d2a..717dbe3aedf 100644
--- a/hail/src/main/scala/is/hail/expr/types/TableType.scala
+++ b/hail/src/main/scala/is/hail/expr/types/TableType.scala
@@ -1,6 +1,7 @@
 package is.hail.expr.types
 
 import is.hail.expr.ir._
+import is.hail.expr.types.physical.{PStruct, PType}
 import is.hail.expr.types.virtual.{TStruct, Type}
 import is.hail.rvd.RVDType
 import is.hail.utils._
@@ -12,7 +13,9 @@ class TableTypeSerializer extends CustomSerializer[TableType](format => (
   { case tt: TableType => JString(tt.toString) }))
 
 case class TableType(rowType: TStruct, key: IndexedSeq[String], globalType: TStruct) extends BaseType {
-  lazy val canonicalRVDType = RVDType(rowType.physicalType, key)
+  lazy val canonicalPType = PType.canonical(rowType).asInstanceOf[PStruct]
+  lazy val canonicalRVDType = RVDType(canonicalPType, key)
+
   key.foreach {k =>
     if (!rowType.hasField(k))
       throw new RuntimeException(s"key field $k not in row type: $rowType")
diff --git a/hail/src/main/scala/is/hail/io/plink/LoadPlink.scala b/hail/src/main/scala/is/hail/io/plink/LoadPlink.scala
index 79da4e913fe..0713c34231e 100644
--- a/hail/src/main/scala/is/hail/io/plink/LoadPlink.scala
+++ b/hail/src/main/scala/is/hail/io/plink/LoadPlink.scala
@@ -4,6 +4,7 @@ import is.hail.HailContext
 import is.hail.annotations._
 import is.hail.expr.ir.{LowerMatrixIR, MatrixHybridReader, MatrixRead, MatrixReader, MatrixValue, PruneDeadFields, TableRead, TableValue}
 import is.hail.expr.types._
+import is.hail.expr.types.physical.{PBoolean, PFloat64, PString, PStruct}
 import is.hail.expr.types.virtual._
 import is.hail.io.vcf.LoadVCF
 import is.hail.rvd.{RVD, RVDContext, RVDType}
@@ -44,14 +45,14 @@ object LoadPlink {
     """^-?(?:\d+|\d*\.\d+)(?:[eE]-?\d+)?$""".r
 
   def parseFam(filename: String, ffConfig: FamFileConfig,
-    fs: FS): (IndexedSeq[Row], TStruct) = {
+    fs: FS): (IndexedSeq[Row], PStruct) = {
 
     val delimiter = unescapeString(ffConfig.delimiter)
 
-    val phenoSig = if (ffConfig.isQuantPheno) ("quant_pheno", TFloat64()) else ("is_case", TBoolean())
+    val phenoSig = if (ffConfig.isQuantPheno) ("quant_pheno", PFloat64()) else ("is_case", PBoolean())
 
-    val signature = TStruct(("id", TString()), ("fam_id", TString()), ("pat_id", TString()),
-      ("mat_id", TString()), ("is_female", TBoolean()), phenoSig)
+    val signature = PStruct(("id", PString()), ("fam_id", PString()), ("pat_id", PString()),
+      ("mat_id", PString()), ("is_female", PBoolean()), phenoSig)
 
     val idBuilder = new ArrayBuilder[String]
     val structBuilder = new ArrayBuilder[Row]
@@ -181,7 +182,7 @@ case class MatrixPLINKReader(
   val fullMatrixType: MatrixType = MatrixType(
     globalType = TStruct.empty(),
     colKey = Array("s"),
-    colType = saSignature,
+    colType = saSignature.virtualType,
     rowType = TStruct(
       "locus" -> TLocus.schemaFromRG(referenceGenome),
       "alleles" -> TArray(TString()),
@@ -210,7 +211,7 @@ case class MatrixPLINKReader(
           nPartitions.getOrElse(sc.defaultMinPartitions)))
 
       val kType = requestedType.canonicalRVDType.kType
-      val rvRowType = requestedType.rowType
+      val rvRowType = requestedType.canonicalPType
 
       val hasRsid = requestedType.rowType.hasField("rsid")
       val hasCmPos = requestedType.rowType.hasField("cm_position")
@@ -260,7 +261,7 @@ case class MatrixPLINKReader(
           if (skipInvalidLociLocal && !rgLocal.forall(_.isValidLocus(contig, pos)))
             None
           else {
-            rvb.start(rvRowType.physicalType)
+            rvb.start(rvRowType)
             rvb.startStruct()
             rvb.addAnnotation(kType.types(0).virtualType, Locus.annotation(contig, pos, rgLocal))
             rvb.startArray(2)
@@ -268,7 +269,7 @@ case class MatrixPLINKReader(
             rvb.addString(alt)
             rvb.endArray()
             if (hasRsid)
-              rvb.addAnnotation(rvRowType.types(2), rsid)
+              rvb.addAnnotation(rvRowType.types(2).virtualType, rsid)
             if (hasCmPos)
               rvb.addDouble(cmPos)
             if (!dropSamples)
diff --git a/hail/src/main/scala/is/hail/table/Table.scala b/hail/src/main/scala/is/hail/table/Table.scala
index fcd30cabee6..d87df7681f1 100644
--- a/hail/src/main/scala/is/hail/table/Table.scala
+++ b/hail/src/main/scala/is/hail/table/Table.scala
@@ -62,10 +62,10 @@ object Table {
     delimiter: String = "\\t",
     missingValue: String = "NA"): String = {
     val ffConfig = FamFileConfig(isQuantPheno, delimiter, missingValue)
-    val (data, typ) = LoadPlink.parseFam(path, ffConfig, HailContext.sFS)
+    val (data, ptyp) = LoadPlink.parseFam(path, ffConfig, HailContext.sFS)
     val jv = JSONAnnotationImpex.exportAnnotation(
-      Row(typ.toString, data),
-      TStruct("type" -> TString(), "data" -> TArray(typ)))
+      Row(ptyp.toString, data),
+      TStruct("type" -> TString(), "data" -> TArray(ptyp.virtualType)))
     JsonMethods.compact(jv)
   }