The Breath of Life Archival Institute for Indigenous Languages
Patricia A. Shaw First Nations & Endangered Languages Program, UBC
Introduction to Phonology
Washington, DC 2017
Breath of Life 2017 is supported in part by the Documenting Endangered Languages Program (NSF Award #1561167)
What is Phonology??
[fənálədʒi] fən = FUN ☺ !!
First, what does it mean? phon-ology sound - the study of
Thirdly, how do you do it?
Secondly, why do it?
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What happens when we talk?
ʔəθ ƛ̓iʔ k̓ʷ kapi ?
!
YgassinoGa
What can understanding more about Phonology help with?
• perceiving the relevant sounds of a language; • pronouncing the sounds of a language; • transcribing the sounds of a language; • understanding how sounds pattern in languages; • interpreting what is recorded in Archives; • ensuring consistency in the transmission of that
knowledge.
Like other components of linguistics,
phonology is really just a set of very useful tools.
Articulatory Phonetics How do we articulate the sounds we use in language?
1. Laryngeal modifications: • voiced [z] • voiceless [s] • ejective/glottalized/laryngealized
2. Places of articulation: • labial • dental • alveolar • palatal • velar • uvular • lateral • pharyngeal • glottal • retroflex
3. Manners of articulation: • stop/plosive • affricate • fricative • nasal • liquid • glide/approximant
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What words are there in your language to describe speech articulation?
hənqəminəm words referring to parts of the body involved in the perception and production of speech: šxʷqʷəltən voice, someone's speech χʷamɬəɬ windpipe θaθən mouth məqsən nose təxʷθəɬ tongue yənəs tooth məlqʷ uvula šxʷʔəθqən throat qʷəmχʷɬəɬ larynx, Adam's apple
Draw & label an articulatory head for your language:
Maidu courtesy of Kyle McHenry Kwawk̓ala courtesy of Cheryl Wadhams
English Consonant Inventory: 23 (+ ŋ + ʔ)
Different linguistic traditions: different symbols
International Phonetic Alphabet North American Phonetic Alphabet IPA NAPA/The Americanist Tradition
ʃ English ‘shoe’ [ʃu] š [šu]
ʒ English ‘measure’ [mɛʒəɹ] ž [mɛžəɹ] tʃ English ‘chop’ [tʃap] č [čap]
dʒ English ‘jam’ [dʒæm] ǰ [ǰæm]
j palatal approximant y palatal (approximant) glide
y hi front rounded vowel ü French ‘tu’ [tü] (you singular)
c palatal stop c = tˢ alveolar affricate
The resource you’re working with should define the symbols used. ☺
Some other phonetic symbols for consonants:
θ theta English ‘thin’ [θ ɩn]
ð [ʔɛð] English ‘this’ [ð ɩ s]
x ~ ç English ‘hue, Hugh’ [çu] ~ [xʸu]
ʍ English ‘which’ [ʍ ɩč] ~ [w ɩč]
o w English ‘witch’ [w ɩč]
ŋ [ʔɛŋmə] English ‘thing’ [θ ɩŋ]
ʔ glottal stop English ‘oh oh’ [ʔo ʔo] (before any “vowel-initial” word)
© 2007 Leo Cullum, The New Yorker Magazine
© 2007 Leo Cullum, The New Yorker Magazine
ʔə ʔo
Alphabet: If you have an alphabet for your language, write it out. Then pronounce each of the consonants in your alphabet so you can figure out just what your ‘articulatory organs’ are doing to make uniquely that sound: then decide where that consonant symbol would fit into an Articulatory Chart. The chart here is just an example, as your language may not have any ejectives (if not, then you can just leave that row blank), or it may have both voiced and voiceless fricatives (so you’d need to add the voiced category under Fricatives), and so on. Don’t hesitate to ask your team partners for guidance!
LABIAL CORONAL DORSAL LAR
Labial Dental Alveolar Lateral Alveo-Palatal Palatal / Velar
Labio-Velar Uvular Labio-Uvular Glottal
Stops:
ejective
voiced
voiceless
Affricates:
ejective
voiced
voiceless
Fricatives:
Nasals:
Liquids:
Glides:
MANNER \ PLACE This is an ‘Articulatory Chart’ for Consonants:
FRONT BACK Central
High i
ɩ u
Mid
Low
Articulatory Chart for Vowels: symbols you may find in your mss.
i beat u boot ɩ bit ʋ book e bait ə above o boat ɛ bet ʌ butt ɔ caught æ bat a/ɑ cot/father
e
æ
ɛ
a ɑ
ɔ o
ʋ
ʌ ə
Phonological unit = phoneme � What sounds does a language have? Every language has an “inventory” of sounds that function as the building blocks for words. These minimal units of sound are called “phonemes”.
The same sounds can combine in different ways to create completely unrelated meanings: t æ k tack but not all combinations are possible: æ k t act *æ t k k æ t cat *k t æ
� The phonemes themselves don’t have any inherent meaning but phonemes can create a minimal contrast in meaning.
e.g. English: ether [ʔiθər] tree [tri] mast [mæst]
either [ʔiðər] true [tru] mashed [mæšt]
What’s important to discover about a phonological system?
1. What sounds are in the inventory?
2. Phonotactics: What constraints are there in terms of the sequences that sounds can occur in?
e.g. What is the maximum number of consonants at the beginning of a word? strengths [strɛŋkθs] str, skr, spr, spl... *sr, *stl, *stk ... at the end of a word? eighths [ʔetθs] ... tθs, fθs, nts, ŋkθs *fsθ, *tsn What patterns are there? What’s impossible is marked with an asterisk: e.g. *tn...
3. How do the sounds pattern with respect to each other?
English Consonant Inventory: 23 (+ ŋ + ʔ)
LABIAL CORONAL DORSAL LAR
Place → Manner
Labial Dental Alveolar Lateral Palatal Velar Labio-Velar Uvular Labio-Uvular Glottal
Stops: voiceless
p~b t k ʔ
palatalized pj~bj tj kj
Affricates: voiceless
ts tʃ
voiced
Fricatives: voiceless
θ s h
voiced Resonants: Nasals
n
Liquids
Glides j = y w
Gros Ventre (Algonquian): 15 consonants
Oneida (Iroquoian): Consonantal inventory: 9 C 11 consonants
Place a Manner ò
LAB COR(ONAL) DORS PHAR
labial alveolar alveo- palatal dorsal glottal
Obstruents Stops/Affricates: t k ʔ
Fricatives: s h
Resonants
Nasals: n Liquids: l Glides: y w
Acknowledgements: Karin Michelson (p.c.)
Note: NO Labial consonants!
Oneida: consequences of no labial consonants
Research Question: Language contact & loan words What happens when a word with a labial consonant is borrowed into Oneida (e.g. from English, Mohawk, or ...)?
Not many borrowings, but some related to currency and names:
p → kw pennies Peter kwénis Kwí·tel
b → kw Elizabeth Alískwet
m → kw Margaret Kwáklit
b, v, m → w John the Baptist David Mary Sa wátis Táwet Wá•li
“Natural class”: sounds which share articulatory properties will pattern together.
The sounds {p, b, m, v} are functioning as a natural class:
what they share is LABIAL place of articulation.
Given that the Oneida phonological system doesn’t have any LABIAL consonants, what is it about the articulation of /w/ and /kw/ that make them the ‘closest’ sounds in Oneida for loan words with {p, b, m, v} to be changed to?
Reconsider first the English inventory,
and then the Oneida inventory:
English Consonant Inventory: 23 (+ ŋ + ʔ)
Oneida (Iroquoian): Consonantal inventory: 9 C 11 consonants
Place a Manner ò
LAB COR(ONAL) DORS PHAR
labial alveolar alveo- palatal dorsal glottal
Obstruents Stops/Affricates: t k ʔ
Fricatives: s h
Resonants
Nasals: n Liquids: l Glides: y w
Because [w] characteristically has LABIAL co-articulation as well as major DORSAL constriction.
If no LABIAL consonants, then ... Question: Why do [w] and [kw] replace LABIALS in loan words?
Cross-linguistic diversity and “complexity”:
Despite the fact that the Oneida phonological inventory is, from a cross-linguistic perspective, quite small (9 consonants, 6 vowels), languages characteristically manifest robust complexity elsewhere, e.g.
Polysynthetic morpho-syntax
black stove polish
teyenʌstalihaʔtakhwaʔtslahuʔtsistalatheʔtákhwaʔ te-ye-nʌst-a-lih-a-ʔt-a-khwaʔ-tsl-a-huʔtsi-stalathe-ʔt-á-khwaʔ
DUALIc-3FEM.INDEF.AGENT-rafters-JN-get.warm-JN-CAUS-JN-INSTR:HABITUAL-NOMINALIZER-JN-black-shiny-CAUS-JN-INSTR:HABITUAL
Speaker: Norma Kennedy, Oneida Nation of the Thames, Ontario, Canada
LABIAL CORONAL DORSAL LAR
Place → Manner
Labial Dental Alveolar Lateral Alveo-Palatal Velar Labio-Velar Uvular Labio-Uvular Glottal
Stops: voiceless
p t k ʔ
implosive ɓ ɗ glottalized p’ t’ k’ Affricates: voiceless
glottalized c’ Fricatives: voiceless
s ~ š h
Resonants: Nasals
m n
Liquids & Glides
l
y=j w Acknowledgements:SheriTatsch
Nisenan (California): 17 consonants (ejectives & implosives!)
Coeur d’Alene | snchitsu'umshtsn (Salish): 42 Consonants !
[Doak 1997]
What’s important in a phonological system?
1. What sounds are in the inventory?
2. The functional distribution of sounds:
Which sounds can create a contrast in meaning?
Minimal pairs: Kwak’wala (words from Grubb 1977)
kása to soften cedar bark by beating
qása to walk
q̓ása sea otter
q̓ʷása crying
Therefore, all these sounds - k q q̓ q̓ʷ - must be different phonemes.
3. Phonological processes: Systematic patterns of sound change in the context of other sounds.
Assimilation: a sound becomes more like another sound in its environment. (correlated with “ease of articulation”)
Dissimilation: a sound becomes less like another sound in its environment. (correlated with “maximizing distinctions”) • Place of articulation • Manner of articulation • Laryngeal articulation Consonant harmony: Ventureño/Barbareño Chumash Vowel harmony: Nez Perce
Syllable structure constraints: • Epenthesis: insertion of a segment to optimize sound sequences.
Ventureño/Barbareño Chumash (Harrington 1928/1974; Beeler, Madison S. 1970)
Phonemic contrasts: s and š are different phonemes, e.g. “minimal pair”:
alveolar [s] sloʔw eagle
palatal [š] šloʔw goal line (in shinny)
Sibilant Harmony: Within a word, these ‘sibilant’ sounds (s, š...) will ‘harmonize’ - the rightmost one will cause all preceding sibilants to agree in place of articulation.
e.g.1: 3rd person pronominal prefix s-
/s-iqc̓iʔ/ /s-iqip-š/
3- foggy 3- close -imperfective
it’s foggy it’s closed
[s-iqc̓iʔ] [š-iqip-š]
eg.2: Dual prefix iš-
/k- iš- kep̓/ /k- iš- kustí -ʔnan/
1-dual- bathe 1-dual-stealthily-go
we two bathe we two prowl
[k- iš- kep̓] [k- is- k̓ustí -ʔnan]
What would you predict? /ki-škin-us/ I saved it for him.
So... what would you predict?
/ki-škin-us/ I saved it for him.
[ki-skin-us]
Conclusion: Sibilant Harmony is one kind of phonological assimilation – i.e. where one segment becomes more like another in its environment.
Ventureño/Barbareño Chumash
Sibilant Harmony: Within a word, these sibilant sounds (s, š...) will ‘harmonize’ - the rightmost one will cause all preceding sibilants to agree in place of articulation.
1. méq paternal uncle 2. tó·t father
neʔ- méx̣ my paternal uncle naʔ- tó·t my father
méq-eʔ paternal uncle! tó·t-aʔ father!
3. tulé·- qitti -se (I) am putting my foot down firmly
tolá·- ck̓il -ksa (I) am destroying with my foot
Research Q: Why do the same morphemes have different forms? e.g. (1 & 2): prefix sometimes neʔ- but sometimes naʔ-
suffix sometimes -eʔ but sometimes -aʔ
e.g. (3): ‘foot’ sometimes tulé·- but sometimes tolá·-
Not only consonants can ‘harmonize’... vowels can too!
Nez Perce | Niimi'ipuutímt (Sahaptin)
Vowel inventory: i e a o u [+ length]
Nez Perce | Niimi'ipuutímt: Vowel Harmony: “Recessive” vowels: e u “Dominant” vowels: a o If any morpheme in a word has one of the Dominant vowels, then all Recessive vowels change to their corresponding Dominant vowel.
What would you predict?
wé·yikse (I) am going across.
wé·yikse -ne (I) went across long ago.
w_·yiks_ -qa (I) went across recently.
ð wá·yiksa -qa
Syllables: cross-linguistic phonological generalizations • Languages prefer to alternate consonants and vowels, creating [CVCV...] sequences, i.e. CV syllables
Barbareño Chumash (Wash, Suzanne. 2001. PhD, UCSB)
Constraint: against 2 vowels in a row *VV
Resolution (in pre-stem environments): ʔ-Epenthesis A glottal stop [ʔ] is inserted between 2 adjacent vowels.
*VV → VʔV = ...VCV...
/s- e- oxnowonowon -waš / (the flame) died down [s- e-ʔoxnowonowon -waš ]
3- N- flame.to.burn -PST
In sum: A lot of phonological terminology has been introduced! How many of the following terms can you now use to characterize your language? • consonant • vowel • phonological inventory • fricative • glottal stop • glottalized resonants • pharyngeal • polysynthetic • consonant harmony: sibilants • vowel harmony • epenthesis • syllables
ʔiʔ … pidamaye masi cho madu
hay čxʷ qə həlakas’la ƛeekoo …
to the many dedicated Elders with whom
I have had the privilege of working.
həlakas’la Sun graphic by Ross Hunt, Kwaguʔɬ
First Nations Unicode Font: http://fnel.arts.ubc.ca/resources/font/
!
masi cho! hay ce:p q̓ə! héw!
Kyle McHenry Kojomk’awi Maidu
χaləq’ Ian Campbell Musqueam & Squamish
Angela Code Sayisi Dene
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Acknowledgements: Breath of Life 2017 is supported in part by the Documenting Endangered Languages
Program (NSF Award #1561167)
with additional support from: Smithsonian Institution, The Myaamia Center at Miami University, National Endowment for the Humanities, Recovering Voices, National Museum of Natural History, National Anthropological Archives, National Museum of the American Indian, American Folklife Center at the Library of Congress. The Breath of Life training model was developed by the Advocates for Indigenous California Language Survival, which has run the Breath of Life Language Workshop for California Indians since 1996.