2. Phonology of data points 141
Vowels Front
Central Back
unrd unrd
unrd rd
Close h
[ X]
[ L] t
Near-close [
H] [
T]
Close-mid
[ d]
n, [n:]
Mid
=, [=:]
Open-mid D, [D:]
[ B]
Near-open Open
`, `:
Tones Category
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10
Pitch value 24 33 31 41 44 35 45 33 44 25
2.7.2. Notes
•
[tw] only occurs one time and is not considered phonemic.
•
[ts] occurs several times and [ sb] occurs numerous times. Both occur before a wide range of
vowels, therefore, are contrastive. See minimal pairs
.
•
[v] and [w] both occur a number of times, but the pronunciation often varies in the degree of fricativeness between the two phones. The actual transcription should be something like [vw]
or [wv]. This sound is considered one phoneme, w.
•
The situation regarding voiced and unvoiced fricatives in the alveolar region is difficult to assess.
[ r[] occurs on 11 items and [s] occurs a number of times. Both occur before a fairly wide range
of vowels. [
R] occurs on five lexical items: before [a] and [i], and the one occurrence of [y]. Much the same situation holds for [z], [
y[], and [Y], though there is more of a tendency for [y[] to occur before [i] and for [
Y] to occur before [u]. The fronting is not very strong in most cases, so [s] and [
r[] are considered allophones, as are [z] and [y[]. [s] and [
R] are considered as phonemically distinct. However, [z] and [Y] are regarded as allophones, as [
Y] almost always occurs before rounded vowels and [z] rarely does. See minimal pairs
. The beginning morpheme for 347 ‘we incl.’ and 348 ‘we excl.’ starts once with [
y[] and once with [Y]. This is regarded as an exception.
•
[ G] only occurs on one lexical item and [F] occurs numerous times.
[ G] is considered here as an allophone of F.
•
[ ¯] occurs on five lexical items: before [i] and once before [u].
[n] occurs on two lexical items: before [i] and only once before [u]. However, the pronunciation for [
¯] is always quite distinct from [n], even when [n] occurs before [i] and [u]. Based on this, [
¯] is considered phonemic.
142 2.7.3. Minimal pairs
•
[pj] occurs about the same number of times that [pi] + V occurs. The palatalization is not very strong, so it is not considered phonemic.
•
[kw] also occurs about the same number of times that [ku] + V occurs. The labialization is not very strong, so it is not considered phonemic either.
•
[ fi] occurs on seven lexical items, but [fh] + V occurs a few times. Also, the morpheme for
‘blink’ occurs once as [ fi] and once as [fh]. The palatalization is not very strong, so it is not
considered phonemic.
•
[ ], [a:], and [a] are all phonemically distinct. See
minimal pairs .
•
[ H] only occurs on five items, in the environment C__C, and is not considered phonemic.
[i] also occurs in the environment C__C many times.
•
[ D] and [e] each only occur a few times and [D:] only occurs once. These phones are
considered variations of one phoneme, D.
•
[ T] only occurs two times, in the environment C__C, and is not considered phonemic.
[u] also occurs many times in the environment C__C.
•
[ B] only occurs on three items, in the environment C__C, and [o:] occurs once. These two
phones are considered variations of o.
•
[ X] and [L] both occur a few times, all in the same environment, and are allophones of =.
[ =:] only occurs once and is not considered phonemic. See
rule .
•
The difference between the 7
th
tone pitch value [45] and the 9
th
tone pitch value [44] is not great, but is very consistent.
2.7.3. Minimal pairs
[ts] and [ sb]
267 ‘to see’ [ sr`:t0], 100 ‘spider’ [sb`:t0]
417 ‘dirty’ [ srts0], 270 ‘to scold’ [sbt`s8]
s] and [ R]
500 ‘to be’ [ Rh0], 369 ‘four’ [rh4]
225 ‘to taste’ [ R`M3], 222 ‘to weave basket’ [r`m0]
[ ¯] and [n]
365 ‘two ordinal’ [ ¯h5], 469 ‘here’ [i=5 mh3]
436 ‘muddy’ [ ¯t`M1], 334 ‘younger’ [mt`M3]
[ ], [a:], and [a]
432 ‘slanted’ [ kh1], 381 ‘many’ [k`:h0], 239 ‘to flow’ [k`h0]
[ ] and [a:]
299 ‘to give’ [ Fh2], 35 ‘sea’ [F`:h2]
[a:] and [a] 105 ‘body’ [
fc`:M0], 110 ‘nose’ [fc`M0]
2.7.4. Allophonic rules
