Minimal pairs Luodian Poqiu 1. Phone and phoneme inventory

234 2.12.3. Minimal pairs • [ Mv] occurs three times and [Mt] + VC does not occur. The labialization on these three items is quite distinct. Although [ Mv] could be posited as [Mt] underlyingly, it is considered phonemic for this lect. • [a:], [ ], and [a] are all phonemic. See minimal pair sets. • [ H] occurs only four times: three times in the environment C__C and once in the environment C__C, as in 92 ‘claw’ [ YH2 shm0] the first morpheme normally being yho7 in other lects. [ H] is an allophonic variation of [i], since [i] also occurs in the first environment several times. • The one occurrence of [ D:] is not significantly long, and length is not considered phonemic in this lect. [e] occurs on five items, all in the environment C__C, and [ D] also occurs several times in this environment. As with [ H] and [i], the tense phone [e] is not considered phonemic, but a variation of [ D]. • [ T] occurs on seven items, all in the environment C__C, and is not considered phonemic. [u] also occurs several times in this environment. The situation with [ T][u] is the same as with the other laxtense pairs of vowels. • [ B] occurs on four items, two being of the form C__C and two of the form C__, where the open syllable word originally had a final [k] in the coda. [o] occurs in the C__C environment five times. Though [ B] only occurs four times, and no true minimal pairs can be found, it sounds rather low in the vowel space as compared to [o], and will be considered phonemic. • [ =] occurs a number of times and [X] occurs several times. With one exception 331 ‘husband’ [ k=3 jXh0], [X] occurs in one of two environments: C__=C and C__=. [ =] occurs in the environment C__ several times, but except for two items, all are frequently used morphemes such as classifiers. For the most part, [ X] and [=] are in complementary distribution. However, items such as 331, 445, and 500 indicate that there is still a phonemic distinction between the two phones. Therefore, [ X] and [=] are both considered phonemic for this lect. See minimal pair .

2.12.3. Minimal pairs

[ sb] and [t] 93 ‘egg’ [ sbh4], 495 ‘from’ [sh4] 95 ‘fin’ [ sbh1], 363 ‘to fight’ [snM3 sh1] [w] and [v] 64 ‘flower’ [ v`0], 165 ‘pants’ [u`4] 428 ‘bad’ [ v`:h5], 73 ‘water buffalo’ [u`:h1] [v] and [f] 165 ‘pants’ [ u`4], 31 ‘iron’ [e`1] 212 ‘spare time’ [ u`M4], 204 ‘ghost’ [e`M1] [ r[] and [b] 369 ‘four’ [ r[h4], 194 ‘pestle’ [fiD4 bh1] 398 ‘straight’ [ r[n5], 343 ‘first name’ [bn5] 2. Phonology of data points 235 [ b] and [Y] 43 ‘table’ [ bnM1], 245 ‘to go down’ [YnM1] 74 ‘cow’ [ bh=1], 111 ‘ear’ [Yh=1] [ M] and [n] 448 ‘easy’ [ M`:h5], 440 ‘tired’ [m`:h4] 207 ‘shadow’ [ Mt1], 268 ‘speaktalk’ [Mt1] [ ¯] and [n] 47 ‘broom’ [ ¯t1 jv`s6], 424 ‘deaf’ [mt4] 56 ‘grass’ [ ¯`0 ft=m3], 392 ‘thick’ [m`0] [ fi] and [f] 194 ‘pestle’ [ fiD4 bh1], 135 ‘feces’ [fD3] 320 ‘Bouyei’ [ ot3 finh3], 57 ‘sugar cane’ [fnh3] [pj] and [p] 47 ‘forehead’ [ m`2 oi`4], 112 ‘mouth’ [o`4] 236 ‘to warm oneself by a fire’ [ oin4], 272 ‘to blow’ [on4] [kw] and [k] 100 ‘spider’ [ jv`t0], 232 ‘to paddle’ [j`t0] 157 ‘pumpkin’ [ jv`2], 367 ‘to kill’ [j`2] [a:], [ ], and [a] 105 ‘body’ [ fc`:M0], 342 ‘family name’ [fcM0], 437 ‘strong’ [fc`M5] 303 ‘to sell’ [ j`:h0], 85 ‘chicken’ [jh4], 471 morpheme meaning ‘thing’ in 471 ‘this thing’ [ j`h4 mh3] [ =] and [X] 445 ‘inexpensive’ [ s=1], 46 ‘chopsticks’ [sX5]

2.12.4. Allophonic rules