Procedures of Data Analysis

48 As a matter of fact, the task of a curious phonetician in this case has already been made easier. This is partly due to the presence of Oko Utu, a research text that contains interesting pieces of linguistic information about Nataia. In terms of phonology, the text clearly echoes the pronunciations of four native speakers of Nataia from which the vowels and consonants of the local language are brought out into the open. Out of the recording, the present writer succeeded in tracking down all the vowel and consonant phonemes of Nataia. The tracking down was done by way of a commutation test a minimal pair test and a minimal set test. Table 4.1 Commutation Test of Nataia Vowels Position Phoneme Words Meaning High Front Vowels i bire no negation e bere flood i mia massage e mea ashamed i kia dirty of head e kea declare i nia face e nea noprohibition High Back Vowels u mua grease ᴐ moa thirsty u ku’a break to pieces ᴐ ko’a perch on of birds u sua open up ᴐ soa lighten u pua poak at of fruit ᴐ poa morning Central Vowels ɑ ana sondaughter ə `ena there ɑ aka pretend ə `eka think ɑ asu dark of skin ə `esu remove ɑ ata stranger ə `eta fishy 49 The commutation tests above show very clearly that the two words in each pair are different by only one sound. If the sound i in the word bire ‘negation’ is replaced by the sound e, for instance, one will get bere ‘flood’ which is a new word with a totally different meaning. This indicates that i and e are different vowel phonemes. One can follow exactly the same procedure with other pairs which contain contrastive sounds such as ɑ and ə, u and ᴐ to prove that they are different vowel phonemes. At the end of a lo n g range of commutation tests, one will realize that Nataia has in its inventory five vowels [ɑ], [ɪ], [u] ,[e], [ᴐ], each having its long counterpart, plus a schwa [ə]. It is also interesting to reveal that the contrast of vowel length in the Nataia proves to be phonemic. The following commutation tests may explain the case. Table 4.2 Contrast of Vowel Length The long and short contrasts turn out to be unevenly distributed. The phonemes u, i, and e can have a long and short contrast, both in the initial and the final position. Thus, in the initial position, one can find a contrast of u as in ‘ula ‘repeat’ and u: as in ula ‘push’. In the final position, one can find a contrast of u as in pa’u ‘grass’ for animal feed and u: as in pau ‘mango’; In the initial Vowel Word Meaning i: ika drive away ɪ ‘ika fish i: imu mumble ɪ ‘imu heshe e: esa pull e ‘esa one u: ula push u ‘ula repeat ᴐ: kao sprinkle with water ᴐ ka’o rock a child ɑ : mea ashamed ɑ me’a alone PLAGIAT MERUPAKAN TINDAKAN TIDAK TERPUJI 50 position, there is a contrast of i as in ika ‘drive away’ and ɪ as in ‘ika ‘fish’. In the final position, there is a contrast of ɪ as in ‘pa’i ‘stay up’ and pai ‘ask for’. In the initial position, there is a contrast of e as in ‘esa ‘one’ and e: as in esa ‘pull’. In the final position, there is a contrast of e as in pa’e ‘hit’ with a sword and pae ‘beckon’. However, in the cases of ɑ and ᴐ, the contrast of a long and a short phoneme is found only in the final position. E xamples: ɑ as in bu’a ‘broken’ is in contrast with bua ‘pubic hair’, and ku’a ‘break’ is in contrast with kua ‘a small tree’ with joints like a bamboo. The phoneme ᴐ as in ka’o ‘rock’ a child is in contrast with kao ‘sprinkle water on’. Additionally, one may be interested in the distribution of each vowel in the Nataia words. Since it is a vocalic language, every one of its vowels may occupy the initial, medial, and final position of a word. Only schwa [ə] is not allowed to be in the final position. The following distribution table can explain the case. Table 4.3 Distribution of Nataia vowels Vowel Distribution Example Meaning ɑ initial ‘azi’ɑzɪ younger brothersister medial maemae soulspirit final me’ame’a alone i initial ‘imu ’ɪmu heshe medial sia siya capable final sai sayɪ who u initial uza uza rain medial wuawua load final wau wau smelly e initial ‘enga ’eŋa call medial pea p h ea arrive final mue mue burnt ə initial medial -- ebuəbu grandpama betabəta buy -- -- ᴐ initial ‘one ɔne inside medial poke p h ɔke throw final pako p h akhɔ big spoon 51 What all the above vowels have in common is that their articulations do not involve any audible obstruction of the air-stream. According to Giegerich 1992: 13, differences between the vowels are brought about by the raising of different parts of the tongue as well as by the differences in the extent of the raising. The difference between [i] and [u], for instance, is one of backness: [i] is a front vowel, [u] is a back vowel. Front vowels are produced with the front of the tongue raised, back vowels with the back of the tongue raised. What the vowels [ɑ] and [ɑ:] have in common is that they are produced with a maximally open mouth, therefore with a maximal distance between the tongue and the roof of the mouth. This is a difference in height. Thus, [i] and [u] are high vowels and [ɑ] and [ɑ:] are low vowels. The four vowel sounds represent the extreme points of the principal dimensions of vowel articulation: height and backness. Thus, [i] is a high front vowel, [u] is a high back vowel, [ɑ] is a low front vowel and [ɑ:] is a low back vowel Giegerich, 1992: 14. Within the [i]-[ɑ] scale, there is [e] along with its counterpart. In the back series, there is [ɔ] along with its counterpart within the [u]-[ɑ] scale. In the middle of the vowel chart, within the [e]-[ɔ] scale, there is the schwa [ə]. In addition, vowels made with an open mouth cavity, with the tongue far away from the roof of the mouth as in the word ka k h ɑ ‘eat’ are termed open vowels. If the upper tongue surface is close to the roof of the mouth such as [i] in mi [mi:] ‘sweet’, the sounds are close vowels. To show differences among vowels, apart from ‘tongue height and tongue backness’, Nataia also depends on other possibilities such as ‘lip-rounding, lengthening, and laxtense’. Lip rounding in the Nataia, for instance, is clearly detected in the pronunciation of a vowel sequence. The sound [w] can be inserted