Vowels OVERVIEW OF ENGGANO PHONOLOGY

31 is optional palatization morphemeLinternally. There are words where palatization of the glottal consonant does not occur after i, as in kiʔuɘi [kiʔwəi ̯] a term of address. Labialization of the glottal stop occurs morphemeLinternally in one word after a high back vowel: kũʔĩ [kũʔĩ] ~ [kũʔʷĩ] ‘greatLgrandparent’. 3.1.6 [r] and [ɾ] allophones of rhotic consonant The consonant r is realized as either a trill [r] or a tap [ɾ]. In word initial and final positions it is realized as [r], as in roro [roɾo] ‘pick up’ and ʔadɘhɘr [ʔadɘhɘr] ‘grass’. In word medial position it is most often realized as a single tap [ɾ]. This is true in consonant sequences as in iurpuʔ [juɾpuʔ] ‘knee’, as well as intervocalically, as in kare [kaɾe] ‘traditional dance’. But there is some variability in word medial r, as some instances of the consonant have two taps rather than just one. This variability is even present in different productions of the same words, as in ʔarop [ʔaɾop] ~ [ʔarop] ‘four’ and roro [roɾo] ~ [roro] ‘pick up’. In summary, word initial and word final r are realized with two or more taps, while word medial r is realized with one or two taps. Since there is no straightforward way to transcribe ‘two or more taps’ as opposed to ‘one or two taps’ in phonetic transcriptions, I have chosen to simply use the trill symbol [r] for phonetic representation of the rhotic consonant in all word positions.

3.2 Vowels

Enggano has seven oral vowels and seven corresponding nasal vowels. 16 Table 8 shows the inventory of vowel phonemes. Examples of each vowel in prestress, final closed syllable, and absolute final positions are found in Appendix F. 16 As with consonants, previous authors do not agree on the number of vowel phonemes. Kähler’s dictionary lists six oral and six corresponding nasal vowels, apparently not distinguishing 32 Table 8. Enggano vowel phonemes Front Central Back High i ĩ ɨ [ ̃ u ũ Mid e ẽ ɘ ɘ̃ o õ Low a ã Diphthongs: ai, aɨ, au, ei, ɘi, oi By far the most common vowel in the data is the low vowel a. The next most common vowel i occurs about half as frequently as a. The rarest of the vowels is the high central nasal vowel [ ̃. It occurs only three times, in the words pA ̃ʔ [pA ̃ʔ] ‘fireplace’, ĩũʔpA ̃ãʔ [jũʔə̆pA ̃.ãʔ] ‘fence’, and ka ʔA ̃ʔ [kãʔ.A ̃ʔ] ‘strong’. The second rarest vowel ɘ̃ occurs eighteen times. There are numerous surface diphthongs in Enggano. The vowel in the syllable nucleus is always low or mid, followed by a mid or high offglide. There is no contrast between mid and high offglides. Mid offglides only occur in closed syllables, while high offglides only occur in open syllables. Diphthongs in open syllables are shown in 19, while diphthongs in closed syllables are shown in 20. 19 Diphthongs in open syllables ai [ai ̯] aɨ [aɨ ̯] au [au̯] ei [ei ̯] əi [əi ̯] oi [oi ̯] 20 Diphthongs in closed syllables ai [aɪ ̯] au [aʊ̯] oi [oɪ ̯] between the two central vowels [ɨ] and [ɘ]. Nothofer’s 1992 list is identical to mine, with seven oral and seven nasal vowels. 33 3.2.1 Vowel nasality Oral and nasal vowels contrast in words containing only oral consonants. In words with nasal consonants all the vowels in the word are nasalized, as in ʔaken [ʔãkẽn] ‘shark’. Nasalization spreads across morpheme boundaries as well, as in kaʔ kĩh [kãʔə̆kF ̃h] ‘dry’. Vowels can be divided into three groups based on nasality: 1 underlyingly oral vowels that remain oral nonLnasalized in their surface form, 2 underlyingly nasal vowels that retain nasality in their surface form, and 3 vowels that are predictably nasalized from nasal consonants in the same word. The first two groups of vowels only occur in words without nasal consonants. They are not influenced by surrounding context and are unambiguously either oral or nasal. The third group of vowels occurs in words with nasal consonants. The oralnasal contrast is neutralized in this environment. Vowels following the nasal consonant are heavily nasalized, while vowels preceding the nasal consonant are more lightly nasalized. Examples 21, 22, and 23 are of oral vowels, nasal vowels, and vowels whose nasalization is predictable from context, respectively. 21 Words with oral vowels pap [pap] ‘cheek’ ʔɨaʔ [ʔɨ.aʔ] ‘tie’ kit [kit] ‘try’ kudiʔ [kudiʔ] ‘belt’ 22 Words with nasal vowels pĩh [pĩh] ‘squeeze’ kaLʔ[ ̃ʔ [kãʔ.[ ̃ʔ] ‘strong’ kãp [kãp] ‘tribal head’ kũkũ [kũkũ] ‘follow’ 23 Words with predictable vowels mɘk [mɘ̃k] ‘many’ noʔoe [nõʔ.õ̯ẽ] ‘spilled’ kin [kĩn] ‘tall’ kumu [kũmũ] ‘well n.’ 34 As these examples show, oral and nasal vowels occur in words with only oral consonants. Nasality spreads from nasal consonants to all vowels in the word. I analyze vowels in words with nasal consonants as underlyingly oral, based on two pieces of evidence. First is the morphophonemic spreading of nasality. The nasality of stem segments spreads leftwards across morpheme boundaries to the prefix vowel, as in kaʔ kĩh [kãʔə̆kF ̃h] ‘dry’ and kaʔ man [kãʔə̆mãn] ‘fragrant’. The vowel of this adjectival prefix is oral otherwise, as seen in kaʔ pix [kaʔə̆piç] ‘sudsy’. Underlyingly oral vowels are nasalized through nasal spreading. As nasal spreading is already present in Enggano as a morphophonemic process, it may well apply as a phonological process morpheme internally as well. Secondly, vowels preceding nasal consonants sound less nasalized than those in words with no nasal consonants. This difference in surface form could point to an underlying difference in the nasality of the two types of vowels. Vowels in words with no nasal consonants are [+nasal] in underlying form and retain this specification in surface form. Underlyingly oral vowels in words with nasal consonants lose their [Lnasal] specification and take on the [+nasal] specification of the nasal consonant. Nasalization spread leftward is articulated less clearly than than rightL spreading nasalization and underlying nasality. Underlyingly oral vowels could also be analyzed as underlyingly unspecified for nasality, depending on the theoretical framework. In this case, all oral and predictably nasalized vowels would have no specification for nasality in the underlying form. They would receive the default specification of [Lnasal] except when the [+nasal] feature spreads from nasal consonants. Nasal vowels would be specified as [+nasal] in the underlying form. The question of whether the oral vowels are underlyingly unspecified or oral does not have direct relevance for the points pursued in this thesis. It will not be pursued further here. 35 3.2.2 Restrictions on distribution All vowels occur in medial and final positions, both after consonants and after other vowels. Only i, ĩ and u occur initially, and always as surface approximants. Sequences of two vocoids can be analyzed as disyllabic sequences of vowels e.g. kiak [ki.ak] ‘blood’, diphthongs e.g. ka karai [ka.ka.rai ̯] ‘chase’, or sequences of approximant and vowel e.g. kõʔĩã [kõʔ.jã] ‘tree sp.’. Chapter 4 discusses vocoid sequences from the perspective of phonology while chapter 6 presents an acoustic analysis of vocoid sequences. The remainder of this chapter is a discussion of restrictions on the distribution of individual vowels. There is no contrast between high vowels i, u and mid vowels e, o when they are the second part of a diphthong in a word’s final syllable. These vowels in closed syllables are realized as [ɪ ̯] and [ʊ̯] as in pãĩk [pãɪ ̯̃k] ‘river shrimp’ and bahauʔ [bah.aʊ̯ʔ] ‘heart’. In open syllables they are realized as [i ̯] and [u̯] as in ka karai [kakarai ̯] ‘chase’ and baʔau [baʔ.au̯] ‘guava’. Examples of high vowel glide lowering are shown in 24, while the absence of the process in plain vowels and diphthongs in open syllables is shown in 25. 24 High vowel glide lowering in closedLsyllable diphthongs paiʔ [paɪ ̯ʔ] ‘throw’ iaiʔ [jaɪ ̯ʔ] ‘sew’ iaʔkaʔaiʔ [jaʔkaʔ.aɪ ̯ʔ] ‘war’ pãĩk [pãɪ ̯̃k] ‘shrimp’ ʔaup [ʔaʊ̯p] ‘four’ bahauʔ [bah.aʊ̯ʔ] ‘heart’ kĩpãʔãũp [kĩpãʔ.ãʊ̯̃p] ‘ten’ 25 No lowering in plain vowels or open syllables kopiʔ [kopiʔ] ‘suck’ iiʔ [jiʔ] ‘buttocks’ nahai [nãh.ãF ̯̃] ‘allow’ ʔeai [ʔe.ai ̯] ‘fish’ kaLpuʔ [kapuʔ] ‘collapsed’ baʔau [baʔ.au̯] ‘guava’ kiLhau [kihjau̯] ‘bite’ 36

3.3 Syllable structure