52 Another distinction is seen in the spectrums of plain and palatalized
¾ figure 4.8. The spectrum of [
¾
j
] shows the major peak of energy at 3300.6 Hz with a smaller peak at 3885.1 Hz. The spectrum of [ ¾]
shows one peak of energy at 3151.6 Hz. A possible third distinction is indicated by the durations of the segments: [
¾
j
] is 138.7 ms and [ ¾] is 87.0 ms. In all the tokens of these two segments between vowels in
Text A , [
¾
j
] is always greater than 100 ms and [ ¾] is less than 100 ms. It seems likely that a little more
duration could add a slight emphasis to the palatalized segment because of the added morpheme.
74
On the basis of differences in transition formants, energy peaks as shown by the spectrums, and segment lengths
of [ ¾] and [¾
j
] between vowels, the acoustic data suggest an empirical distinction between plain and palatalized
¾. One word-initial prefix,
j
-¾- ‘first and second person object,’ attaches to the verb word, with subsequent palatalization of the verb-initial consonant, resulting in the only word-initial palatalized
consonant cluster in the language. In figure 4.9,
j
-¾- prefixes to the verb n‚w Úπ»j ‘to know’ in
j
-¾-n‚w Úπ»j-
j
[¾
j
n
j
ÚÿwÚÿπ»j] ‘… [he] knows me’
j
-¾- ‘first person object’; n‚w Úπ»j ‘to know’; -
j
‘clause-type marker’. The raised F2 formant transition from [n
j
] to [ Úÿ] shows that the palatalization from the
j
-¾- morpheme also palatalizes the following consonant.
Figure 4.9. [¾
j
n
j
Úÿ] from verb-initial prefix
j
-¾ and verb-initial n.
4.4.3 Secondary palatalization of
t
s in Mixe
The affricate [ t
s] becomes [t¾
j
] when palatalized, with both elements becoming palatalized. The contrasts may be seen in figure 4.10 which shows an initial plain affricate preceded by word affix n-,
n-t sa»ts
j
[nd saÿ»t¾
j
] ‘my pain,’ in the upper half of the figure, and the palatalized affricate,
j
-t sa»ts
j
[t ¾
j
a ÿ»t¾
j
] ‘its pain’
in the lower half. In the transition following [s] shown in the upper half of figure 4.10, F1 and F2 are seen in the spectrogram to be lower than the steady-state formants of the vowel, while F3 is higher. In contrast,
the transitions of both F2 and F3 following [ ¾
j
] shown in the lower half of figure 4.10 are distinctly higher than the steady-state formants of the vowel, while F1 is lower. The shape of the spectrum of [
¾
j
] in the palatalized affricate is similar to the spectrum of [
¾
j
] in section 4.4.3, figure 4.8. The spectrum of [s] shows just a downward line with no peaks.
74
Usually the [ ¾
j
] that occurs between vowels carries the clause type morpheme, followed by the vowel of a clitic.
53
Figure 4.10. Comparison of plain affricate [nd
saÿ»t¾
j
] and palatalized affricate [ t
¾
j
a ÿ»t¾
j
].
54
4.4.4 Secondary palatalization of the nasal consonants
The effects of secondary palatalization of the nasal consonants m and n follow the same pattern as palatalization of the labial and alveolar stops. Moreover, because these two phonemes are also word
prefixes, they may occur preceding the word-initial j phoneme of a noun or verb. Thus, in word-initial position, there is a distinction seen between the nasal palatalized by the third person morpheme
j
- and the sequence of the first person morpheme n- or the second person morpheme m-, which precedes the initial j
of the word.
75
For example, in n-ja µn‚i¾
Úπ»j [njaÿµn‚i¾Úÿπ»j] ‘I showed [you it]’ the word initial [nj] contrasts with the word initial [n
j
] in
j
- naµ¾-
j
[n
j
a ÿµ¾-
j
] ‘he passed by.’ Likewise, the second person example in m -
jaµ¾‚at‚t [mja ÿµ¾‚ad‚t] ‘you will name [him]’ the word initial [mj] contrasts with the word initial [m
j
] in
j
- me
t s‚t [m
j
e ÿds‚t] ‘he will arrive.’
In the examples shown in figure 4.11, the most obvious contrast is in the length of the nasals. The length of each example shown in figure 4.11 is the same 200 ms so that, at a glance, one may see that
[m
j
] 101.5 ms is more than twice the length of m- preceding j 44.7 ms. Another comparison is the length of plain m preceding a vowel 78.6 ms from ma [ma] ‘at,’ shown in figure 4.12, about half way
between the length of those shown in figure 4.11. Stress is not considered to be a factor in these differences: m
j
is the onset of an unstressed syllable; the other two syllables receive tertiary stress. The upper formants of m
preceding j are weaker and less defined than the upper formants of the other two.
75
The distinction between the nasal palatalized by the third person morpheme
j
- and the sequence of the first person morpheme n- or the second person morpheme m- which precedes the initial j of the word is also found in Coatlán
Mixe see section 3.7.4.
55
Figure 4.11. Comparison of palatalized [m
j
] and [mj] sequence.
56
Figure 4.12. Plain [m] followed by a vowel.
4.4.5 Examples of palatalized h and Ð in Isthmus Mixe
