254 2.13.2. Notes
Tones Category
1 2
3 4
5, 6 7 = 9
8 = 10
Pitch value
13 31 33 42 35 35 45
2.13.2. Notes
•
[v] only occurs once on an odd tone and [f] occurs numerous times but only very few times on odd vowels. Many of the items that are commonly [v] initial in other lects are [w] initial here.
As [v] only occurs once, its phonemic status is questionable and it may be merging with [w]. For this analysis, it is not considered phonemic but [f] is clearly phonemic.
•
Both [s] and [ S] occur a number of times and the pronunciation of the two phones is rather
distinct. In other lects, these two phones are normally allophonic variations, the [s] generally being somewhat fronted. Here they are both phonemic. See
minimal pairs .
•
[ p] occurs on 13 lexical items, with only one occurrence on an even tone. Also, it occurs before
[u] once and before [a] once. Otherwise it always occurs before [i]. [
S] occurs more or less equally on both odd and even tones. [
Y] occurs numerous times but only three times before [i] and is clearly phonemic. There is a definite tendency for [
p] to occur before [i], but it is not yet a complete allophonic variation of [
Y], since [Y] does occur before [i] more than once, and [Y] is pronounced quite distinctly as palatal on these items. Therefore, [
p] must be viewed as phonemic, though its phonemic status may be changing.
•
[ b] occurs on 11 items: once before [D], [u], [a], and [y], and the rest before [i].
[s] does not occur before [i] but occurs once before [ D] and three times before [u]. There is a
tendency for [ b] to occur before high front vowels, and for [s] before other vowels. Though a
couple of semi-near minimal pairs can be found between [ b] and [s], [b] is more of an allo-
phonic variation of [s], and is considered to be an allophone of [s]. See rule
.
•
[x] only occurs before [a], [ ], [=], and [o], though it occurs numerous times. There is no other
sound that it could be an allophone with, so it is clearly phonemic.
•
[mj] occurs once and [m] occurs two times: before [i] + V. The palatalization is not very strong, so it is not considered phonemic.
•
[ ¯] occurs mostly before [i] though it does occur once before [a], [], and [?] and is
considered phonemic. See minimal pairs
. [n] does occur before [i], though only a few times.
•
[ q] occurs on seven items. These items generally have a voiced palatal or alveopalatal fricative.
This phone is an allophonic variation of [ Y].
•
[w] occurs a number of times, but only three times on even tones. It is clearly phonemic. See minimal pairs
with [f].
•
[ fi] occurs on seven lexical items and [fh] + V occurs once. The palatalization is quite
distinct and is phonemic.
•
[pj] occurs on 11 items and [pi] + V occurs on four items. Though [pi] + V occurs this many times, the palatalization is quite distinct on the 11 palatalized items. It is phonemic.
•
[kw] occurs on 13 items and [ku] + V occurs once. [kw] is phonemic, as the labialization is quite distinct.
2. Phonology of data points 255
•
[ Mv] occurs on four items and [M] occurs on six. One of these is [Mt] + V. The labialization is
quite strong and distinct from the high back rounded vowel and is considered phonemic.
•
[ fv] occurs only once and [ft] + V occurs three times. The labialization is not particularly
strong, so [ fv] is not considered phonemic.
•
[ ?] occurs only twice as a phonetic variation of [a]. It is not considered phonemic.
[a:], [ ], and [a] are all phonemic. See
minimal pair sets.
•
There is one occurrence of [y] and it seemed to be more vocalic than semivowel, though not strongly so. Further work needs to be done on this lect to determine the phonemic status of [y].
For this analysis, it is not considered phonemic.
•
[ H] only occurs on three items, all in the environment __C+nasal, and is considered a
phonetic variation of [i]. [i] also occurs in the environment __C+nasal.
•
[e] only occurs once: on 29 ‘gold’. This item normally has a [i] or [ H] nucleus. The occurrence
of [e] seems to be merely phonetic, and it is not considered phonemic but [ D] is clearly
phonemic.
•
[ T] only occurs three times, in the exact same environment as [H], and [T] is considered an
allophonic variation of [u].
•
[ B] occurs on three items. Although the pronunciation is different from [o], it is not significant.
It could be transcribed [ B_]. It is not considered phonemically distinct from [o].
•
[ X] occurs on eight lexical items, all in the environments __ or __=.
[ =] also occurs in the first environment and not just on frequently used classifiers before their
head nouns. It also occurs on items that once had a stopped coda, and on a couple of other items as well. For this lect, both [
X] and [=] are phonemic. See minimal pairs
.
•
There are no closed syllable words with proto-tone 7 or 8 in our data, and very few with proto- tone 9 and 10. Gedney cells 17, 19, and 20 had one or more words from our data. Even though
these cells correspond to proto-tones 9 and 10, we view these tones as the 7
th
and 8
th
tone in this lect, since the words with original tones 7 and 8 no longer retain a final stop.
2.13.3. Minimal pairs
Kategori