Consonants Description of Luang phonemes .1

2.1.2.5 Short epenthetic schwa A common feature in Luang is the epenthetical schwa [ ə̆] which occurs between non-homorganic consonants across syllable boundaries. However when non-homorganic consonant clusters occur syllable initial within a syllable, and if the second member of the cluster is the liquid l orr then no epenthesis occurs. Therefore, because its environment is predictable in that it signals a syllable break between two non-homorganic consonants, this epenthetic schwa is considered to be non-phonemic. 9 The timing is also significantly shorter than a normal vocoid and it is not perceived as being distinctive by native speakers. Examples between syllables within a morpheme: [mem ə̆nә] memna ‘very’ [wu ʔə̆ru] wu ʔru ‘cooking oil’ [m ԑhə̆rә] mehra ‘sick’ [kal ə̆wedә] kalweda ‘greetingleave taking’ [ ʔapə̆nu] ʔapnu ‘stomach’ [plok ə̆rә] p-lokra ‘sharp’ Examples between syllables within a word, note that insertion follows stress placement: [tut ə̆gә] tut-ga ‘point-it’ [lim ə̆ni] lim-ni ‘hisher hand’ [lak ə̆ni] lak-ni ‘hisher foot’ Examples syllable initial with liquids l and r: [tre ʔa] tre ʔa ‘left’ [prai] prai ‘k.o. drum’ [tlin ә] tlina ‘ear’

2.1.3 Consonants

This section provides a technical description of all Luang phonemes and their phonetic realizations. Where helpful, phonological rules are included to summarize the phonological processes described. 2.1.3.1 Stops p [p] is a voiceless bilabial unaspirated plosive. It occurs word initially and medially, but as with all consonants never word finally. [po ʔorә] po ʔora ‘skinny’ [poli] poli ‘pants’ [g ə̆hə̆pә] gehpa ‘rotten’ [ ʔapə̆nu] ʔapnu ‘stomach’ 9 An epenthetic break can also occur between the homorganic phonemes t and r where they occur morpheme medially. It is this epenthetic break which signals that these phonemes occur across syllable boundaries and are not clustering together as they do elsewhere. [it ə̆rә] it.ra ‘add’ [put ə̆rә] put.ra ‘deceive’ [trem ә] tre.ma ‘almost’ [natrim ә] na.tri.ma ‘heshe receives’ t [t] is a voiceless dental unaspirated plosive. It occurs word initially and medially. [tor ә] tora ‘knee’ [t ԑrnu] ternu ‘egg’ [ ʔawatutu] ʔawatutu ‘I teachlearn’ [watu] watu ‘rock’ d [d] is a voiced alveolar plosive. It occurs word initially and medially [dodo ʔonә] dodoʔona ‘earlier’ [donn ә] donna ‘NEG’ [id ә] ida ‘one’ [hadew ә] hadewa ‘enough’ k [k] is a voiceless velar unaspirated plosive. It occurs word initially and medially. [k ԑrnә] kerna ‘dry’ [k ԑnkuʔә] ken-ku ʔa ‘child’ [woki] woki ‘cold’ [niki] niki ‘fruit bat’ g [g] is a voiced velar plosive and is in free variation with the voiced velar fricative [ ɣ]. It occurs word initially and medially. 10 [gayni] ~ [ ɣayni] gay-ni ‘face’ [ga ʔarә] ~ [ɣaʔarә] ga ʔara ‘root’ [wogat ә] ~ [woɣatә] wo-gata ‘four’ [ ʔorgahi] ~ [ʔorɣahi] or-gahi ‘Creator God’ ʔ [ʔ] is a glottal stop. It occurs word initially and medially. Glottal stop is phonemic in Luang due to its contrast with other phonemes see §2.1.3.6 below and because native speakers recognize it as being distinctive. 11 [ ʔaʔu] ʔaʔu ‘I’ [ ʔidә] ʔida ‘one’ [tah ʔi] tah ʔi ‘nearshallow sea’ [happe ʔә] ha-p-pe ʔa ‘older female’ [wo ʔorә] wo ʔora ‘mountain’ 2.1.3.2 Fricatives f [f] is a voiceless labiodental fricative. It only occurs word initially. 12 [foll ә] folla ‘window’ [fiayarni] fiayar-ni ‘its tree sap’ [fi ԑktә] fiekta ‘quick’ [fien ә] fiena ‘name of island’ 10 The older generation produce a voiced velar fricative [ ɣ ] rather than the voiced velar plosive. 11 Although glottal stop is predictable word initially preceding vowels e.g., [ Ɂidә] ‘one’ it is considered to be phonemic in this position as well since it undergoes morphophonemic processes see §2.4.3 below. 12 f is considered a suspect phoneme because it only occurs six times in all our data which includes a lexicon of over 2500 words, and two of those are known loan words see above examples marked with . Also there is no evidence of even a phonetic [f] in the two closest related languages to Luang: Roma Steven 1991 and Kisar Christensen 1992. f may be a phoneme in transition, but more research is needed to determine its exact status. [fa ʔanә] fa’ana ‘abundance’ [fot ə̆wә] fotwa ‘picturephoto’ [f ԑlpԑnni] felpen-ni ‘pen’ s [s] is a voiceless alveolar fricative. It occurs word initially and medially but is always morpheme initial. 13 [saponni] sa-pon-ni ‘it is big’ [samou] sa-mou ‘it is good’ [ ʔԑnsampe] en-sampe ‘heshe arrived’ [nasen ә] na-sena ‘heshe coughs’ h [h] is a voiceless glottal fricative. It occurs word initially and word medially. [hadi] hadi ‘this’ [honnon ә] honnona ‘all’ [rahu] rahu ‘hundred’ [ ʔahu] ʔahu ‘dog’ 2.1.3.3 Nasals m [m] is a voiced bilabial nasal. It occurs word initially and medially. [mu ʔunә] mu ʔuna ‘you sg. eat’ [ma ʔə̆nu] ma ʔnu ‘bird’ [lim ə̆ni] lim-ni ‘his hand’ [ ʔamә] ʔama ‘father’ [ ŋ] is a voiced velar nasal which fluctuates freely with [m] in the environment preceding k according to speaker. [ ʔԑmkameni] ~ [ʔԑŋkameni] emkameni ‘how’ [ramkeka] ~ [ra ŋkekә] ra-mkeka ‘they see’ 13 s is an intriguing phoneme because by all appearances it seems to have just arrived on the scene in the last generation. Previously h was used exclusively in Luang for PMP s. In some of the other Luang dialects s is used e.g., in Leti, see chart below. However, according to native Luang speakers, only in the last generation has s begun to be used in the Luang dialect. It appears to have come into use through the introduction of loan words and as a result of formal education in Indonesian, the national language of Indonesia. The common occurrence of intermarriage between dialects of Luang affects the use of h and s. Some words are spoken with either h or s depending on the age andor background education of the speaker as in the above example saponni. In other words e.g., samou, it already appears to have become a frozen form with everyone using s. However, this is only a general observation and will require further study. When questioning the elders in Luang about this shift they typically respond, “yes, the real form of the word is nahena ‘heshe coughs’, but now we say nasena ‘heshe coughs’.” Leti s - Luang h PMP Form s - Luang h Leti - memese ‘alone’ PMP - asu ‘dog’ Luang - memeha ‘alone’ Luang - ahu ‘dog’ Leti - syaa ‘what?’ PMP - taSik ‘sea’ Luang - hya Ɂa ‘what?’ Luang - tah Ɂi ‘sea’ Leti - nusa ‘island’ PMP - susu ‘breast’ Luang - noha ‘island’ Luang - uhu ‘breast’ n [n] is a voiced alveolar nasal. It occurs word initially and medially. [nor ә] nora ‘coconut’ [nam ə̆ni] nam-ni ‘his tongue’ [matni] mat-ni ‘his eye’ [t ԑrnu] t ԑrnu ‘egg’ [ ŋ] is a voiced velar nasal which fluctuates freely with [n] in the environment preceding k according to speaker. [k ԑnkuʔә] ~ [kԑŋkuʔә] ken-kuʔa ‘child’ [manke ʔә] ~ [maŋkeʔә] man-keʔa ‘man’ With some speakers there is neutralization of contrast between m and n preceding k. [namkek ә] ~ [naŋkekә] nam-keka ‘shehe sees’ 2.1.3.4 Liquids l [l] is a voiced alveolar lateral. It occurs word initially and medially. [ler ә] lera ‘sunday’ [lor ә] lora ‘ocean’ [woll ә] wolla ‘moon’ [wali] wali ‘again’ r [r] is a voiced alveolar trill. It occurs word initially and medially. 14 [ruri] ruri ‘thorn’ [reri] reri ‘very’ [nor ә] nora ‘coconut’ [k ԑrnә] kerna ‘dry’ 2.1.3.5 Glides w [w] is a voiced bilabial glide. It is produced with less lip rounding and more friction than the English [w]. It occurs word initially and medially. [wa ʔanә] wa ʔana ‘again’ [wo ʔawә] wo ʔawa ‘eight’ [plah ə̆wә] plahwa ‘long’ [wawanu] wawan-nu ‘on top of’ [ ʋ] is a voiced labiodental approximate. This phone occurs in two environments: following a vowel and preceding a consonant or preceding liquids word initially. [we ʋə̆nә] wewna ‘k.o. grass’ [ ʔaʋriehә] ʔawrieha ‘rice’ [ ʋlari] wlari ‘run’ [ ʋraʔu] wra ʔu ‘plate’ 14 Sometimes in fast speech r will change its manner of articulation and be realized as a flap [ ř] intervocalically. [ruri].~ [ru ři] ‘thorn’ [rar ә].~.[rařә] ‘blood’ [v] is a voiced labiodental fricative. This phone occurs intervocalically between two high vowels. In between a non-high vowel and a high vowel, this phone fluctuates freely with a voiced bilabial fricative [ß]. [hivi] hiwi ‘chicken’ [wuvu] wuwu ‘clan’ [ ʔavu] ~ [ʔaßu] ʔawu ‘dust’ [wavi] ~ [waßi] wawi ‘pig’ The rule for w is: w - → [ʋ] V__C, __l, r [v] V+High__V+High [v] ~ [ß] V__V+High [w] __, C__V, V__V y [y] is a voiced palatal glide. It occurs word initially and medially. [yom ә] yoma ‘because’ [ya ʋyaʋrә] yawyawra ‘early morning’ [ ʔԑnkahyoyә] ʔen-kahyoya ‘heshe bounces up and down’ 2.1.3.6 Consonant contrasts pmw [polu] polu ‘call’ [molu] molu ‘lost’ [woru] woru ‘two’ [ ʔupә] upa ‘mouse’ [ ʔamә] ama ‘father’ [waw ә] wawa ‘mouth’ [pep ə̆nә] pepna ‘encircle’ [mem ə̆nә] memna ‘very’ [wew ə̆nә] wewna ‘grass’ pfw [pol ә] pola ‘return’ [foll ә] folla ‘window’ [woll ә] wolla ‘moon’ tdr [ton ә] tona ‘soak’ [donn ә] donna ‘NEG’ [rom ә] roma ‘house’ [ ʔitә] ʔita ‘we incl.’ [ ʔidә] ʔida ‘one’ [ ʔirә] ʔira ‘they’ tdnl [turu] turu ‘come down’ [durm ә] durma ‘divide’ [nurnu] nur-nu ‘mouth’ [lirni] lir-ni ‘his voice’ [tor ә] tora ‘knee’ [doh ә] doha ‘hair piece’ [noh ә] noha ‘island’ [lor ә] lora ‘sun’ [ ʔitә] ʔita ‘we incl.’ [ ʔidә] ʔida ‘one’ [ ʔinә] ʔina ‘mother’ [ ʔili] ʔili ‘stone’ kg Ɂh [karm ә] karma ‘k.o. tree’ [garni] gar-ni ‘his younger sibling’ [ ʔarnә] ʔarna ‘breathe’ [harni] har-ni ‘part of coconut tree’ [k ԑrnә] kerna ‘dry’ [ger ә] gera ‘water’ [ ʔԑrlә] ʔerla ‘there are’ [her ә] hera ‘port’ [nok ә] noka ‘then’ [samog ә] samoga ‘good’ [po ʔә] po ʔa ‘areca nut’ [noh ә] noha ‘island’ [nakow ә] na-kowa ‘lay proneface up’ [wogat ә] wo-gata ‘four’ [wo ʔawә] wo- ʔawa ‘eight’ [nahaw ә] na-hawa ‘heshe mates’ ʔø [ ʔaʔu] ʔaʔu ‘I’ [ ʔau] ʔau ‘wood’ [pah ʔә] pahʔa ‘break’ [mah ә] maha ‘gold’ [ta ʔwә] taʔwa ‘knife’ [taw ә] tawa ‘k.o. seaweed’ sh [saponni] sa-pon-ni ‘very big’ [happe ʔә] ha-p-pe ʔa ‘older female’ [nasen ә] na-sena ‘heshe coughs’ [nah ԑpru] na-hepru ‘heshe laughs’ mn [mor ә] mora ‘you sg. and’ [nor ә] nora ‘coconut’ [rom ә] roma ‘house’ [ton ә] tona ‘soak’ lr [ler ә] lera ‘sun’ [rer ә] rera ‘postpole’ [ral ә] rala ‘they give’ [rar ә] rara ‘blood’ yglmh [yer ә] yera ‘sister-in-law’ [ger ә] gera ‘water’ [ler ә] lera ‘sun’ [mer ә] mera ‘but’ [her ә] hera ‘port’

2.1.4 Vowels