Oral Diphthongs Vowel Clusters

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3.4.2.1 Oral Diphthongs

Table 3-12 provides examples of the oral diphthongs that occur. All seven common diphthongs are listed across the top row of the table. The oral consonants are listed down the left column to show the startlingly limited distribution of diphthongs; most consonants do not occur with dipthongs. When an example is available, it is provided with its gloss, otherwise the cell is left blank. Consonant clusters are included with the example in the row which corresponds to the consonant which is immediately adjacent to the nucleus. In other words, th is listed in the h row. Most of the glottal examples come from these clusters. Multimorphemic examples are purposefully excluded in order to focus on lexical possibilities. Table 3-12 Examples of Oral Diphthongs C iɛ ia iu ai ui uɛ ua a. p b. w c. f fui˧tʃ︢u˦ ‘arrives’ fuɛ˥ ‘goes’ ndi˦˥fua˧˦ ‘water’ d. t tia˧wa˧ ‘white’ tiu˧wa˩ ‘plate’ e. s suɛ˥ ‘hot’ f. ts︢ g. l h. ɾ i. Σ j. t Σ︢ k. j l. k ʃkiɛ˦˩ ‘frog’ kui ˧ ‘here’ kuɛ˧ho˩ ‘takes away’ kua˩ts︢u˥ ‘they say’ m. ʔ kʔia˩ ‘there’ kʔiu˦˥ ‘cacao’ ʔai˦˥ ‘heavy’ kʔui˧ ‘here’ kʔue˥tʃ︢hi˩ri˧ ‘thank you’ ts︢ʔua˧ ‘mouth’ n. h khia˥ ‘when’ thiu˩ʃĩ˦˥ ‘skin’ nda˩hai˧ ‘reed’ ˩khuɛ˦ ‘will go’ ts︢hua˦˥ ‘gives’ 132 The four level tones as well as rising and falling tones also occur on diphthongs; however, because of the more limited availability of examples, there are not examples of each tone with each diphthong. Row n contains examples of the four level tones as well as a rising tone. Row l contains a falling tone. From the varied occurrence of the tones it can be deduced that there are no restrictions on which tones co-occur with diphthongs. The i ɛ only occurs after a velar stop. The remaining diphthongs which begin with the high front vowel, i, occur after the alveolar stop or glottal consonants. The ai only occurs after glottal consonants. The diphthongs which begin with the high back vowel, u, in general occur after labial fricatives, velar stops and glottal consonants. For the ui, the glottal fricative is missing and the u ɛ adds s to its list of co- occurrences. This suggests a generalization that when diphthongs occur, they begin with a high front vowel and follow the oral stop which reflects the [front] or [back] characteristic of the vowel or a glottal consonant which lacks an oral place of articulation. Most of the diphthongs, other than the ai, occur with consonant clusters 84 which end with a glottal consonant, but they do not occur with simple glottal consonants or the first member of the consonant cluster unless the first member is a t in the case of the iV or a k in the case of the uV. The motivation for this is curious, but beyond the scope of this dissertation. The co-occurrence of the i- initial diphthongs with t suggests the potential for these particular examples to be phonetic transitional off-glides; however, the t also occurs without these vocalic transitions as is demonstrated in 24, so this element must be considered to be a phonemic reality. 85 84 Alternatively, these might be considered to be modified consonants, either glottalized or aspirated as will be discussed in §3.4.3. 85 It is also possible that the consonantal inventory could be expanded to include palatal consonants t y or that the list of consonantal modifications could be expanded to include palatalization; however, both of these possibilities unnecessarily complicate the inventories and upset the symmetry of the system. An interpretation as a diphthong is the most straightforward, least systemically complicating option. This argument can likewise be made for the u initial diphthongs which could represent either underlying labialized consonants or consonant modifications. 133 24 t occurs with and without apparent i off-glide a. t iata comparison b. t iutu comparison Example Gloss Example Gloss diphthong tia˧wa˧ ‘white’ tiu˧wa˩ ‘plate’ simple V ta˦ha˧˥ ‘hard’ tu˧wa˧˥ ‘short’ The u- initial diphthongs appear with two phonemes, f 86 and k. Once again examples can be found both with and without the suspected off-glide. The off glide comparisons appear in 25 for f and 26 for k. 25 f occurs with and without apparent u off-glide a. fuifi comparison b. fuɛfɛ comparison c. fuafa comparison Example Gloss Example Gloss Example Gloss diphthon g fui˧tʃ︢u˦ ‘arrives’ fuɛ˥ ‘goes’ ndi˦˥fua˧˦ ‘water’ simple V fi˥ ‘slowly’ fɛ˧ ‘finished’ fa˧ʔa˧ ‘pass’ 26 k occurs with and without apparent u off-glide a . kuiki comparison b . kuɛkɛ comparison c . kuaka comparison Example Gloss Example Gloss Example Gloss diphthong kui ˧ ‘here’ kuɛ˧ho˩ ‘takes away’ kua˩ts︢u˥ ‘they say’ simple V ki˧˥ ‘went’ ʃkɛ˧ ‘swollen ka˦tɛ˧ ‘thirty’ min. pair- ʃk ʃkuɛ˦˥ ‘lettuce’ 86 The co-occurrence of u with f might reflect the origins of f in w. 134 The possibility of a transitional phonetic off-glide whose presence is conditioned by the consonant would also not explain the occurrence of both types of diphthongs with the glottal consonants. The presence of the high, vocalic phoneme must be lexical, but perhaps they are licensed by similar features on the consonant. 87 The glottal consonants appear to be the least restrictive onset environment in Soyaltepec Mazatec and could possibly be interpreted as neutral phonemes.

3.4.2.2 Nasal Diphthongs