36
3.3 Syllable structure
There are four main syllable types in Enggano: CV, CVC, CVV, and CVVC. Three additional, vowelLinitial syllable types V, VC, and VV occur after vowels. All
underlying vocoidLinitial words have an initial approximant in surface form. There are no surface vowelLinitial words. Table 9 shows all seven types, along with examples of
each and an explanation of restrictions on syllable positions within words. The notation LH refers to height specification of vocoids in sequences, where the first vocoid is lower
than the second. Table 9. Syllable types in Enggano
Syllable type
Underlying Surface Gloss
Environments
be [be]
‘dog’ CV
kapa [kapa]
‘child’ All environments
kũk [kũk]
‘back’ CVC
porpiʔ [porpiʔ]
‘cigarette paper’
All environments
pau [pau̯]
‘horizon’ CVV
painɘn [pãj ̯̃nɘ̃n]
‘feelings’ All environments
paiʔ [paɪ ̯ʔ]
‘throw’ CVVC
pɘix [pɘi ̯s]
‘machete’ Only occurs in monosyllabic
words; vocoid sequence LH mea
[mẽ.ã] ‘cat’
V ʔeaka
[ʔe.aka] ‘crab sp.’
Only occurs in twoLvocoid sequences not LH
kããh [kã.ãh]
17
‘afraid’ VC
kiɘhɘr [ki.ɘh.ɘr]
‘shore crab’ Only occurs in twoLvocoid
sequences not LH buai
[bu.ai ̯] ‘crocodile’
VV ʔeai
[ʔe.ai ̯] ‘fish’
only occurs finally in threeL vocoid sequences
Only CV, CVC and CVV syllables occur in all environments. CVVC syllables occur only
finally, with the exception of ko koiʔea [ko.koɪ ̯ʔ.e̯a] ‘lazy’ see chapter 4 for a
discussion of syllabification of glottal consonants. The only environment where VV
17
This word contains the only homorganic vocoid sequence in the data. Phonetically the sequence is a very long vowel with a sharp increase in pitch midway through the vowel.
Intensity dips briefly at the halfway point, then rises to a point higher than the previous steady state.
37 syllables occur is in threeLvocoid sequences of the shape HighLLowLHigh, which always
occur finally.
3.4 Stress pattern
Stress in Enggano
falls on the final syllable of the word.
18
Several of the most common word shapes are shown in 26, with primary stress marked.
26 bibi
[bi.ˈbi] ‘residence’
hapɨʔ [ha.ˈpɨʔ]
‘day’ pahpɨ
[pah.ˈpɨ] ‘see’
porpiʔ [por.ˈpiʔ]
‘cigarette paper’ kiak
[ki.ˈak] ‘blood’
ʔɨdiaʔ [ʔɨ.di.ˈaʔ]
‘sell’ paido
[pai ̯.ˈdo] ‘cry’
ʔanɨkɘ [ʔã.n[ ̃.ˈkɘ̃]
‘caterpillar sp.’ kabakeʔ
[ka.ba.ˈkeʔ] ‘immediate family’ karaʔai
[ka.raʔ.ˈai ̯] ‘tree sp.’
Secondary stress falls on alternating syllables from right to left. Therefore, in threeL and fourLsyllable words, secondary stress falls on the antepenultimate syllable, as in
iaʔkeʔei [ˌjaʔ.keʔ.ˈei ̯] ‘boil n.’ and ʔakiʔakin [ʔã.ˌkĩʔ.ã.ˈkĩn] ‘six’.
Stress is also final in loanwords, both assimilated and otherwise unassimilated
words. This is seen in the assimilated loanword tepaʔ [teˈpaʔ] ‘kick’ probably from Malay sepak [ˈsepak] ~ [sepaʔ] ‘kick’ and in the otherwise unassimilated
loanword tikus [tiˈkus] ‘rat’ from MalayIndonesian tikus [ˈtikus] ‘rat’. In my
tentative analysis, the [s] in [tikus] should be [x], but it remains unassimilated. Strress, however, has shifted from penultimate to final.
To measure the acoustic correlates of stress, thirteen disyllabic words of the shape CVCV and CVCVC were selected with identical vowels in the first and second syllables.
18
In the introduction to his grammar, Kähler claims that Enggano stress is penultimate. He says, “In Enggano stress in principle occurs on the penultimate syllable. If a word is lengthened
through suffixes, the stress is often laid on the vowel of the penultimate syllable, but sometimes may be placed on the original syllable” 1940, 84. It appears that the stress
pattern has changed in the past eighty years since modern Enggano stress is clearly final.
38 Acoustic measurements of both the first and second vowels were taken, and then
compared. The words were recorded in isolation. This is problematic for measuring vowel length since it is common for phraseLfinal vowels to be lengthened. However, no
words of suitable shape were recorded in frames. Measurements of both the first and second vowel of the selected words in terms of duration, intensity, pitch, and first and
second formants are shown in Appendix C. All seven oral vowels are represented in the closedLsyllable words, and six of the
seven are represented in the openLsyllable words. There were no examples of two high central vowels ɨ in a CVCV word. No underlying nasal vowels were included,
although in some of the words e.g. mama [mãmã] ‘chew’ both vowels are
nasalized in surface form. Duration and pitch show a correlation with the stressed syllable. Intensity does not
show an overall correlation, although it is significant in closed syllables. Table 10 shows the average of each group, as well as the results of a tLtest paired, 2Ltailed performed
on the values for each of the three groups. Table 10. Correlation of duration, intensity and pitch with word stress
Duration ms Intensity dB
Pitch Hz 1st
2nd 1st
2
nd
1st 2nd
Average 133
271 74
77 109
165
T test p = 0.01
p = 0.16 p = 0.01
With p values below 0.01, duration and pitch both appear to correlate strongly with stress. However, neither duration nor pitch can be conclusively associated with stress
because of the type of recordings that were used. The measurements were taken from the first of two repeats of words in isolation. The phraseLfinal position of the second
syllable could be the reason for the longer vowels there. This list intonation first repeat rising, second repeat falling is likely the reason for at least some of the difference in
39 pitch between the first and second syllables.
19
Intensity does not show a significant difference in Table 10. However, further analysis shows that there is a difference
between closed syllable and open syllable words. Intensity between the two vowels in almost all the open syllable words is the same, but is significantly higher in the final
syllable when it is a closed syllable. A paired, twoLtailed tLtest on only closed syllable words yields a p value of 0.04, while the p value for open syllable words is 0.96.
The place of articulation of vowels does not correlate with stress. Figure 4 charts the vowel quality of stressed and unstressed vowels, showing that the first and second
formants of stressed and unstressed vowels are very similar. In the figure, unstressed vowels are represented by lowercase letters while stressed vowels are represented by
uppercase letters. The stressed high central vowel is represented by , and the mid central vowel by . There are two unstressed and two stressed tokens of each
vowel except [ɨ], which has one token of each. Figure 4. Vowel quality of stressed and unstressed vowels
19
I assume here that list intonation primarily affects the pitch contour and not duration or intensity. While auditorily this seems to be correct, it has not been proven.
40 The tokens of the two front vowels and three central vowels are very close together. The
tokens of the two back vowels are spread farther apart, but both have instances of stressed and unstressed vowel very close to each other.
To summarize, intensity correlates with stress in closed syllables. It remains unknown whether vowel length and pitch correlate with stress, even though the data
appears to show a correlation. Vowel quality does not correlate with stress. The consistent final stress pattern is helpful in determining the status of vocoid
sequences as either tautosyllabic diphthongs or disyllabic sequences. For example, in
the form [ki.ˈak] ‘blood’ kiak, stress falls on the second vowel [a], while in [pãɪ ̯̃k] ‘shrimp’ paik it falls primarily on the first vowel [a]. This is the main
articulatory factor that forms the basis of the distinction between disyllabic and tautosyllabic sequences discussed in chapter Chapter 4. This criterion is most helpful in
determining the status of finalLsyllable vocoid sequences since primary stress falls on the final syllable.
41
CHAPTER 4 SYLLABIFICATION OF VOCOID SEQUENCES