59 Besides the [mb] verb-final cluster, any consonant except h and
Ð may occur verb final and be followed by the intransitive nonconjunct clause-type suffix -p.
77
The resulting consonant cluster may be palatalized by the morpheme which indicates a transitive nonconjunct clause, similar to the [
m
j
b
j
] cluster, for example,
m-jaµ-pa πm-naµ¾-p-
j
[mja ÿµpaπmnaÿµ¾
j
p
j
] ‘you heal’ m- ‘second person; jaµ ‘causative’; pa πm
‘illness’; na µ¾ ‘pass’; -p ‘nonconjunct clause’; -
j
‘transitive’, in which verb final ¾ and the morpheme -p
form a word final consonant cluster and are both palatalized by -
j
‘transitive.’
Figure 4.16. Contrast of [amb ‚] and [a
ÿm
j
b
j
Úÿ].
4.4.7 Palatalization of consonants following palatal j
One palatalization process in Isthmus Mixe is not related to the type of morpheme-induced secondary palatalization discussed above: when a word is composed of more than one morpheme and the final
phoneme of the first morpheme is j, the initial plosive of the following morpheme becomes palatalized and voiced, with j absorbed into the palatalized consonant. One example is seen in section 2.3.2.1, figure
2.4, the phrase ha~kajtuk [haka
ÿd
j
u k] ‘the leftovers,’ in which kajtuk is composed of kaj ‘food’ and
tuk ‘cut off.’ The initial plosive of the second morpheme, t, becomes palatalized and voiced [d
j
] and the phoneme j is no longer apparent.
In another example, figure 4.17, palatalization and voicing of the initial k of the morpheme k‚ta»k ‘to
go down’ occurs when preceded by the morpheme ‚jna»j ‘to sit’, resulting in
j
-‚jna»j-k‚ta»k-
j
[Ð
j
Úÿn
j
a ÿ»g
j
Úÿdaÿ»k
j
] ‘they sat down.’ The first syllable of ‚jna»j is not a known morpheme and perhaps could be
written as simply ‚n
j
a »j; it is written as ‚jna»j by analogy to this palatalization process. When ‚jna»j
precedes k‚ta»k, the final j of ‚jna»j palatalizes the k of k‚ta»k, which becomes voiced [g
j
], and the j is absorbed. Palatalization of [g
j
] is seen by the transitions on the vowels that precede and follow it,
77
However, verb-final plosives are usually dropped before the morpheme -p, similar to the dropping of final plosives of the first morpheme in compound words section 2.5.1.
60 especially the raised second formants. This same process occurs when a suffix beginning with a plosive
follows a morpheme ending in j as in
j
-n‚maj-kump‚ [n
j
Úÿmaÿg
j
u mb‚] ‘he said [it] again’
j
- ‘third person’;
n‚maj ‘to say [it]’; kump‚ ‘again’.
78
Figure 4.17. [a
ÿ»g
j
Úÿ] from morpheme final j and morpheme initial k. If the consonant that follows the coda j in a compound is already voiced, palatalization of the voiced
consonant occurs and j is absorbed, for example [ka ÿm
j
u k] kaj-muk ‘eat together’ kaj ‘to eat’; muk
‘together’.
79
Theoretical implications of this process are discussed in section 5.3.
4.5 Frequency counts of Isthmus Mixe vowels
