non-complex contexts. In summary, the lexical-morphological approach to Northern Pame segments overgenerates. As the
following chapters will illustrate, consonant coalescence is a productive morphological process in Northern Pame and a high number of segmental contrasts are found in these specific environments.
However, morphological boundaries are not the exclusive domain for certain morphological segments, but rather the environment for richest amount of lexical contrast.
4.2.4 The non-segmental status of ambiguous sequences.
Although the oppositions mentioned above are lexical, there is still ambiguity as to which are truly phonemic segments and which are sequences. Specifically, these cases involve: 1 palatalized labials and
palatalized laryngeals, and 2 labialized velars and labialized laryngeals, which this research considers to be purely sequential in underlying form.
T
ABLE
4-3. Unambiguous compared to ambiguous segments U
NAMBIGUOUS SEGMENTS
A
MBIGUOUS SEGMENTS
p b t d k g ʔ pj[pʲ] bj[bʲ]kw[kʷ] gw[gʷ]
pʰ tʰ t’
kʰk’ pʰj[pʰʲ] kʰw[kʰʷ]k’w[k’ʷ]
t͡s t͡ʃ
mj[mʲ] t͡sʰt͡s’t͡ʃʰ t͡ʃ’ mʰj[mʰʲ]
s ʃ
h hj[hʲ] ʔj[ʔʲ]
m n
ɲ hw[hʷ] ʔw[ʔʷ]
mʰm’nʰ n’ ɲʰ ɲ’ ɾ ɾʲ
l ʎ
lʰ l’ ʎʰ ʎ’ w
j hʔ
These issues of unit versus sequence cannot be solved exclusively in the phonetics because the physical properties involved in producing either of these ambiguous segmentssequences are basically
the same in Northern Pame.
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Therefore, we must rely on additional phonological evidence of which the most important to consider is their distribution. The criteria used here for the distribution of unit
phonemes is summarized in 8. 8 Distribution of unambiguous segments
a. __V ‘Word initially before a vowel’. b. V__V ‘Intervocalic position’
c. VC__V ‘Onset of a medial cluster’ d. V__ ‘Word final coda position’
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Hence, Manrique 1967 and Gibson 1956 strictly write all such examples as a consonant plus a glide. Avelino 1997 takes an alternate course by positing a series of onglide diphthongs. Thus, ʃiʎə is transcribed as ʃiliə ‘hummingbird’, ɡəpʲẽn as ɡəpiẽ́n
‘scorpion’, and bʲúʔ as biuʔ ‘def.art inanimate’. However, no justification is provided for this approach.
Unambiguous consonantal units tend to pattern according to the environments in 8a-8d. The data in 9 illustrate some common examples of the distribution of unambiguous segments.
9 Distribution of unambiguous segments __V
t͡ʃɑ́ʔ ‘clearings’
ɲuǽ ‘guns’
V__V pit͡ʃɑ́ʔ
‘corn storehouse’ ɾiɲæ̌p
‘your livers’ VC__V
kənt͡ʃǽ ‘his water’
ʃiʔɲṹɑ̃ ‘his nose’
V__ mɑnt͡ʃɑ̃́t͡ʃ
‘they will set.soft’ sə̌ɲ
‘he washes’ The data in 9 show the distribution of two unambiguous segments, which are an alveo-palatal
affricate and a palatal nasal. Both fully distribute in word initial, intervocalic, post-consonantal and word final positions.
Now let us examine the distribution of ambiguous sequences of bilabial consonants followed by a palatal glide in 10 and laryngeal consonants followed by either a palatal glide or a labio-velar glide in
11. 10
Distribution of ambiguous palatalized bilabials __V pjúʔ
‘lands’ mjɑ́hɑw
‘his stomachs’ V__V ɾəpjɑ̌j
‘your tomatoes’ nɑmjɑ̃ẃʔje ‘we.Dl.made a complaint’
VC__Vk’əʔpjúʔ ‘you descended’ ɾiʔmjũ̌hũjʔ ‘his squashes’
V__ ------ ------
11 Distribution of ambiguous labialized velarslaryngeals
__V kwɛ́ ‘pron.’
hwə̌t͡ʃ ‘he hunts’
V__V səkwɑ̌ ‘my thigh’
guhwĩ́w ‘reed’
VC__Vlənkwǽl ‘I pour’
təʔhwẽ́w ‘I pay’
V__ ------ ------
In 10, the palatalized voiceless bilabial stop and palatalized bilabial nasal distribute for word initial, intervocalic and post-consonantal positions, but not word finally. The ambiguous labialized
sequences in 11 distribute in the same way. Therefore, segmentation of these questionable sequences is disambiguated only at the codaword final position. This is a significant detail since bilabial stops,
velar stops and nasal consonants can appear word finally in Northern Pame. However, the fact that their ambiguous palatalized or labialized counterparts do not offers credence to their sequential segmentation.
4.2.5 Additional evidence for true complex segments
