2. Phonology of data points 369
Final consonants
o, s, j, f, l, m, M
Vowels Front
Central Back
unrd unrd
rd
Close h
[ X] t
Near-close H
[ T]
Close-mid n
Mid
=
Open-mid D
Near-open Open
`, `:
Tones Category
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8
Pitch value 34 42 45 52 24 31 45 42
2.19.2. Notes
•
[t] and [ sb] are phonemically distinct. See
minimal pairs .
•
[w] only occurs on three morphemes and one of these morphemes also was transcribed with a [v] on another instance. The pronunciation of these phones is often similar, so [w] is consid-
ered an allophonic variation of [v]. One exception is 15 ‘day’ [ vt=m1]. The proto-form for this
word is Mv=m1 and this is the only instance of [w] or [v] occurring before [u].
•
[f] only occurs with even tones and [v] occurs mostly on odd tones, but there are a few exceptions. The pronunciations are quite distinct and both [f] and [v] are phonemic. See
minimal pairs .
•
The pronunciations of [s] and [ S] are distinctly different from each other and each is consid-
ered phonemic. They both occur about the same number of times within the word list. [
p] is also phonemically distinct from [S]. See minimal pairs
.
•
[ b] occurs 12 times all in front of vowels [i], [H], or [D] and is an allophone of [s] due to
complementary distribution. See rule
below. [s] never occurs before these vowels.
•
There are nine items with [j] and one with [ I].
[ I] is not considered phonemic, but a variation of [j].
•
[ G] and [F] were transcribed about the same number of times, but the articulation of these two
phones is not very distinct. They seem to occur on a continuum between [ G] and [F]. For
example, the morpheme for neck occurs twice—once with [ G] and once with [F]: 118 ‘neck’
[ S`2 Gn1], 126 ‘goiter’ [Fn1 f`h0]. The morpheme with [G] occurs in the environment
370 2.19.3. Minimal pairs
V__V and the other morpheme occurs phrase initial. This is not a general rule, however. For this lect, these two phones are considered allophones of
G.
•
[ ¯] occurs on five items: before vowels [a], [i], [H], [X], and [D]. This sound is distinctive
phonemically from [n]. See minimal pairs
.
•
[ M] is also phonemically distinct from [n]. See
minimal pairs .
•
[h] only occurs on three morphemes, but is pronounced distinct from [ G]. It is, therefore,
considered phonemic.
•
[pj] occurs on several items, while no [pi] + V combination occurs. Therefore, [pj] could be viewed as [pi] underlyingly. However, the palatalization is quite distinct for many of the
sounds, so is considered phonemic for this lect.
•
[kw] occurs on 14 items. The combination [ku] + V does not occur. So, similar to [p] and [pj], [kw] could be considered to be [ku] underlyingly. However, the labialization is quite distinct
from [ku], so is considered phonemic.
•
[ Mv] only occurs on one item and [Mt] does not occur at all. In view of the fact that the
labialization is distinct and that [kw] is considered phonemic, [ Mv] is also considered
phonemic.
•
[ fv] occurs on two items and [ft] + V also occurs on three items. The labialization is not very
distinct on 57 ‘sugar cane’ [ fvh3]. Since the labialization on 421 ‘stupid’ [fv3] is distinct,
we consider [ fv] to be phonemic for this lect.
•
[ fi] occurs on 10 morphemes and [fh] + V does not occur. The palatalization is quite distinct,
so is considered phonemic.
•
[a:], [a], and [ ] are all phonemically distinct. See
minimal pair sets.
•
[ H] occurs on seven items, all in the environment C__C+stop.
[i] also occurs in this environment a few times. [
H] is an allophonic variation of [i]. See rule
below.
•
[ T] occurs on four items: three in the environment C__C. It is considered an allophonic
variation of [u] with some exceptions. See rule
below.
•
[ X] occurs several times, only in the environments C__ and C__=.
[ =] also occurs in the first environment, but almost exclusively on commonly used classifiers
and function words. For this lect, [ X] is considered an allophone of [=]. See
rule below.
2.19.3. Minimal pairs
[t] and [ sb]
55 ‘rice seedling’ [ sb`2], 242 ‘to dry in the sun’ [s`2]
461 ‘far’ [ sbh0], 495 ‘from’ [sh0]
[v] and [f] 358 ‘smoke’ [
u=m1], 352 ‘firewood’ [e=m1] 196 ‘dustpan’ [
fcnM1 uh4], 353 ‘fire’ [eh1] [
S] and [s] 435 ‘clear’ [
Sh0], 188 ‘plough’ [rh0] 185 ‘bamboo pole’ [
shDt1 S`:t1], 297 ‘to pull’ [r`:t1]
2. Phonology of data points 371
[ S] and [p]
198 ‘paper’ [ S`0], 258 ‘to search’ [p`0]
367 ‘two cardinal’ [ SnM0], 149 ‘to boil’ [pnM0]
[ ¯] and [n]
68 ‘animal’ [ st1 ¯`4], 360 ‘arrow’ [m`4]
290 ‘drum bronze’ [ ¯Dm1], 98 ‘fly insect’ [mDM1 S`4]
[ M] and [n]
20 ‘lunch’ [ M`:h1], 401 ‘slow’ [m`:h5]
207 ‘shadow’ [ Mt1], 268 ‘speaktalk’ [mt1]
[a:], [a], and [ ] 425 ‘hot weather’ [fc`:s6], 1 ‘sunshine’ [fc`s6], 145 ‘to drink’ [fcs6]
460 ‘diligent’ [ jt5 p`:h1], 486 ‘most’ [s= p`h3], 230 ‘to roll’ [ph3]
2.19.4. Allophonic rules
