Procedures of Data Analysis
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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
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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
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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
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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