100 2.5.1. Phone and phoneme inventory
2.5. Dushan Nanzhai 2.5.1. Phone and phoneme inventory
Initial consonants BiLab
LaDe Alv
PoAl AlPal
Pal Vel
Glo Plos
vl o, oi
s j, jv f, [fi]
PreGlo fa
fc
Aff vl
sb
Fric vl
e [
r[], r b
[ w] g
vd [
u] [
y[], y Y, [Yv] [
G]
Nas vd
l m ¯ M, Mv
Lat vd
k
App vd
v, [x] i
Final consonants
o, s, j, f, l, m, M
Vowels Front
Central Back
unrd unrd unrd rd
Close h
[ X]
L, [L:] t
Near-close
[ H]
[ T]
Close-mid [
d] n
Mid =
Open-mid
D, [D:]
Near-open Open
`, [`:]
Tones Category
1 2 3 4 5 6 7, 9
8, 10
Pitch value 34 41 43 453 35 34 23 44
2.5.2. Notes
•
[f] occurs a number of times, all on even tones. [v] only occurs on four lexical items. However, the pronunciation of [v] and [w] is generally
somewhat blurred—most of the time approximating [w], but sometimes with fricativeness. The [v] is really a labiodental approximate, and here is considered a variation of [w].
•
[s] and [ r[] occur about the same number of times and seem to be variants of each other—the
place of articulation being anywhere between the two. We count these two as one phoneme s.
2. Phonology of data points 101
[ b] occurs before [i], [H], [u], [e], and [D].
[s] and [ r[] also occur before these vowels, as well as before others. There is not strong enough
evidence that [ b] is an allophone of [s], so it will be considered phonemic. See
minimal pairs .
•
[z] occurs on eight lexical items, before a wide range of vowels. [
y[] occurs only once and [Y] occurs numerous times, before a wide range of vowels. [
Yv] occurs on four items and can be considered a variation of [Yt]. [
y[] should be considered a variation of [z], but [z] and [Y] act as two separate phonemes. Their pronunciation is quite different and both occur before rounded and unrounded vowels. See
minimal pairs .
•
[ ¯] occurs on 11 lexical items before [i], [e], [D], [a], and [u] and is considered phonemic.
•
[h] occurs on 11 lexical items, [x] occurs on eight items, and [ G] occurs a number of times.
[h] and [x] seem to be variants, differing slightly on the scale of velar fricativeness, from none to a little bit. This sound, when transcribed as [x], has only a light degree of velar fricativeness.
Also, the voicing on [ G] varies,
4
so [ G] does not function phonemically different from [h][x].
These three phones are considered as one phoneme, taken to be h.
•
[pj] occurs on 11 items and is considered phonemic. [pi] + V only occurs once: 160 ‘taro’ [
k=j ohd0]. The palatalization is rather distinct.
•
[ fi] occurs on three lexical items. The palatalization is distinct and [fi] is considered
phonemic.
•
[y] occurs only once: 448 ‘easy’ [ rhM4 xh2]. The sound is rather distinct, but it occurs on
[ xh2], which may well be a Chinese loan word. It is unclear why this phone occurs on this
particular word, but since we are not including loan words in this analysis, [y] is not considered phonemic.
•
[kw] occurs on seven lexical items and is considered phonemic. [ku] + vowel occurs on two items. The [u] in these two items can be considered as borderline
labialization.
•
[ Mv] occurs on five lexical items and is considered phonemic.
[ Mt] does not occur.
•
[a:] only occurs on two items and is considered phonemic.
•
[a] and [ ] are both phonemic. See
minimal pairs . As usual for these phones, there are some
morphemes that are pronounced in some instances with [ ] and in others with [a], but this
happens infrequently.
•
[ H] only occurs twice, both times in a CVC environment, and [i] also occurs in this environ-
ment numerous times. The occurrence of [ H] is viewed here as an exception rather than
phonemically distinct from [i].
•
[e] occurs on nine items and [ D] occurs numerous times. Some of the occurrences of [e] are on
items that normally have [i] or [ H] items 92, 214, 246, and 376. The others are on items that
4
The morpheme ‘white’ which was pronounced [h] in isolation 418 in the data, was pronounced [ G]
elsewhere. Also the morpheme for ‘neck’ was pronounced with [ G] 118 as well as [x] in other items.
102 2.5.3. Minimal pairs
