Nasalization Examples of clicks

Figure 2.7. Voiceless post-alveolar click. Within a word, a vowel followed by a glottalized click is usually nasalized. Elderkin 1989: 51 refers to this predictable nasalization as ‘accidental nasality’ and also notes that a word-final vowel may be nasalized when it is followed by a word beginning with a glottalized click. Glottalization in clicks involves both the constriction of the glottis and the lowering of the velum, the latter of which results in the nasalization of a preceding vowel. Elderkin 1992 discusses some possible explanations for this velic opening. We have observed that the degree to which vowels are nasalized in the environments described above varies freely. In some instances, the relevant vowel may only be weakly nasalized, whereas on other occasions, it is more strongly nasalized. 14 In the phonological transcription used in this paper, we leave vowels which are accidentally nasalized unmarked for nasality. However, we have been unable to clearly determine whether some vowels immediately preceding a glottalized click are phonologically, rather than accidentally, nasalized.

2.2.4 Nasalization

The nasalized clicks in Sandawe are described by Elderkin 1989:52 as being preceded and accompanied by ‘an [ N] which, before the release of the click influx, is coarticulated with a nasal homorganic to the place of articulation of the click’. He prefers not to describe these clicks as ‘prenasalized’ since they frequently occur in word-initial position and the language does not have prenasalized word-initial consonants, except in loan words see section 2.1.3. Furthermore, the nasal portion of the segment cooccurs with the click as well as precedes it, and therefore in phonetic terms, these clicks are not best described as ‘prenasalized’. Figure 2.8 shows the waveform for the nasalized click in é w a˘ ‘elephant’: 14 See Wright et al. 1995:12–15 for a discussion on variation in the relative timings of the different articulations involved in producing a glottalized click in Sandawe and the resulting effects on accidental nasality. Figure 2.8. Nasalized dental click. The nasal portion before the release of the click is 82 milliseconds long.

2.2.5 Examples of clicks

Tables 2.18, 2.19, and 2.20 give examples of clicks in the language: 15 Table 2.18. Examples of é, éH, é, n é é Voiceless dental click éH Aspirated dental click é Glottalized dental click n é Nasalized dental click Word-initial: éan¤ bow éa˘ leaf ée˘ka to be heavy é¤ to come sg. subj. é w e˘ eye éHawe to tighten éHfl to delay éH¤me to sing éH‡˘a dik-dik éH w e˘ dirt é¤na earth éÙ˘ snake éoÈ˘ shade é w a˘ wound é w e˘ opening n éat¤ to come pl. subj. n ée˘ to cut n é¤a to yield n éÈ˘ meat n é w e˘ thorn; to make Word-medial syll.-initial: saÙ˘éa tree type h¤éa to tie maéa to crumble ma˘éa lice saéa weaverbird 15 The voiced clicks are omitted from these tables as their overall frequency of occurrence is so low see table 2.17 in section 2.2.2. Table 2.19. Examples of ó, óH, ó, n ó ó Voiceless post-alveolar click óH Aspirated post-alveolar click ó Glottalized post-alveolar click n ó Nasalized post-alveolar click Word-initial: óa full moon óeÙ˘ rib ófl bone óogoRi• tree type óWaa eland óHeke craziness óHeÈ˘ tongue óHo˘ to fall pl. óHume flour óH w e˘ hole óasi• to sleep, rest pl. subj. óe˘ ant hill dirt ófl lice eggs óom¤ large frog ó w a hole n óa˘ to hold n óe˘ to laugh n óÙ˘ root n óoma to crawl n ó w a river Word-medial syll.-initial: haóa to call óuè˘óe kidney h¤óa to distribute hoóo forehead kaóa to grind kuRu•óe to rub maóo to taste ka n óa to lose Table 2.20. Examples of í, íH, í, n í í Voiceless lateral click íH Aspirated lateral click í Glottalized lateral click n í Nasalized lateral click Word-initial: ía to plant í›ne to pluck íoka dry season ío˘ path í w a name íHa to brush off íHeme to pay íHop¤ tree type íHoÈ˘ hollow íH w a˘ fruit type ía to get stuck íe˘ to skin í¤a to dance ío˘ to harvest í w e˘ to try n íako war n íe˘ to arrive n í¤ne to sleep, rest sg. subj. n ío˘ to milk n ío˘ child Word-medial syll.-initial: uíHu to cough hoío to fill kHoío to go around waía to vomit x w a˘ía to scrape íoía baboon h¤ n íè˘ to paint se n ía tree type Clicks in Sandawe are found in syllable-initial position. They are most commonly found word- initially, but may also occur word-medially. Word-medial clicks are more likely to be glottalized clicks than voiceless, aspirated, or nasalized ones. In comparison with the southern African Khoisan languages, clicks occur much more freely in non-word-initial position in Sandawe Wright et al. 1995:2. 3 Vowels The following vowel qualities are found in Sandawe: Table 3.1. Vowel qualities Front Mid Back Close i, [i•], i˘, i˘ u, [u8], u˘, u˘ Mid e, e˘, e˘ o, o˘, o˘ Open a, a˘, a˘ All of the five qualities occur as short oral, long oral, and long nasal vowels. These fifteen vowels make up the phonemic vowel inventory of the language. In addition, there are two voiceless oral vowels, i• and u8, which are allophones of i and u, respectively.

3.1 Oral vowels