order to obtain video recorded data on the production of laryngeally ambiguous vowels; these vowels are quite similar phonetically to those documented for other Otomanguean languages Longacre 1952,
Silverman 1997b. The laryngoscope, an imaging device with a flexible fiber optic tip originally was designed by Sawashima and Hirose in 1968. The specific device used was a Kay Elemetrics Rhino-
Laryngeal Stroboscope 9100 with a package halogen light source, an Olympus ENF-P3 fiber optic laryngoscope and a Panasonic KS with 152 camera and 28 mm wide angle lens. S-VHS video recordings
were made and later digitized for computer use. The fiber was inserted through a nostril and lowered into the pharyngeal cavity, just above the apex of the epiglottis. Once positioned, the subject uttered a
list of Northern Pame words that contrasted ʔ and h vowel initially, vowel medially and between vowels with the exception of vowel final h, which does not occur in the language.
2
1.6.2 Analysis
The theoretical approach to language taken in this work comes out of the Generative tradition Chomsky 1957, 1966, Chomsky and Halle 1968, which attempts to account not only for the descriptive facts or
use of a language performance, but also the tacit knowledge of the native speakerhearer in his ability to infinitely create new strings of linguistic structure competence. This deeper linguistic knowledge is
said to reflect the existence of a universal grammar innate among the human species. The model utilized here is a constraint-based theory known as Optimality Theory Prince and Smolensky 1993. Optimality
Theory assumes that all constraints in grammar are universal in form and that only their relative ordering is language specific. The job of the native language learner is not one of learning language-
specific constraints or rules for that matter, but rather this information is largely innate. Instead, the language learner needs only to learn the relative order of the constraints involved in his mother tongue,
which consequently provides him with the information needed to produce an infinite number of phonological surface forms from which he may choose, not the perfect form, but the optimal one.
1.7 Conclusion and outline of the present research
Northern Pame is characterized by short words, a high amount of contrastive segments on the lexical root including 40 consonants, 12 vowels and two tones. The syllable may contain complex onsets and
codas, while only simple single vowel nuclei are allowed. Margin non-complexity can and often is preserved by invoking certain kinds of violations with the surface form of coalescence or deletion.
Northern Pame is also characterized by a complex system of laryngealization, which manifests itself among vocalic as well as consonantal segments.
With regard to the morphology of the language, Northern Pame utilizes a classification system for its nouns and an equally diverse system of noun possession. Number may be morphologically marked as
dual or plural on both nominal and verbal elements. Northern Pame verbs are morphologically distinguished by their degree of transitivity in the form of
two major verb classes. Verbs are likewise marked for subject and, incompletive, completive and potential aspect. Subject person is marked in a portmanteau relationship with the subject prefix, while
dual and plural number is marked with suffixes. Northern Pame morphophonemics involve alternations related to tongue place with such surface
forms involving processes such as palatalization, lateralization and buccalization of laryngeal features. Furthermore, laryngeal features alternate with one another in processes such as deaspiration,
deglottalization and the voicing of glottal stops. Finally, certain syllable constraints are preserved, for example, by the deletion of certain consonants in suffixes
2
This research was led by Dr. Jerold A. Edmondson in coordination with Dr. John Esling at the University of Victoria and Speech Technology Research Ltd., Victoria B.C., Canada. It was supported through Dr. Edmondson with the Department of Linguistics at the
University of Texas at Arlington, and through Dr. Esling with a grant from the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada 410-93-0539.
The organization of the present research commences from small elements phones and features to larger ones morphemes and concludes at the level of morphophonemics. Chapter 2 is a summary of
the research on Pame languages as they pertain specifically to linguistic questions. The most important of these is Avelino’s 1997 bachelor’s thesis, which is the only major linguistic research specific to
Northern Pame. Additionally, research on other Pamean languages is summarized with essential properties common to all Pame languages highlighted. The second half of chapter summarizes several
important works on laryngeal theory and concludes by explaining the fundamental claims and formalisms used in Optimality Theory.
Chapter 3 provides a phonemic statement on all contrastive segments and suprasegments in Northern Pame. Furthermore, this chapter provides acoustic illustrations of many of the types of laryngeal and
tonal contrasts that have been previously documented only in transcription form. Chapter 4 deals specifically with the issue of consonant and vowel segmentation in Northern Pame, two issues which
have only been superficially dealt with previously. In this chapter, it is claimed that all complex segments as outlined by Avelino 1997: 82 should be accepted with the exception of palatalized
bilabials argued for by this research. In addition, it is claimed that labialized velars, labialized and palatalized laryngeals should be interpreted as sequences. The second half of chapter 4 makes the
crucial claim that VhV and VʔV laryngeally ambiguous vowels, which in other languages have been described as complex breathy and creaky vowels, are best understood as a sequence of vowel-laryngeal-
vowel. Chapter 5 describes the syllable phonotactics and the constraints that govern them. In particular, we
find that complexity is allowed on syllable margins in some cases, but that often a simple margin is preferred at the expense of various faithfulness constraints. Chapter 6 contains the results of an
laryngoscopic study of laryngeally ambiguous vowels. These results lend articulatory support to the claim in chapter 4 of the sequential status of these elements. Chapter 7 is an exhaustive description of
the essential nominal and verbal morphology of Northern Pame. Chapter 8 further describes the phonological shaping that occurs when these morphemes concatenate to the lexical root in Northern
Pame. These processes are further explained within an Optimality theoretical paradigm. Chapter 9 summarizes the results of this study, their implications, and provides discussion on a number of issues
that require further investigation.
CHAPTER 2 LITERATURE AND THEORY
2.1 Introduction
