jeff_l
(Jeff_L)
#1
3.1 Segments 35
short a, I am able to add accent markings (as, ab, etc.), which are generally not
used by the other authors.
3.1.2.2 Vowels before backing and lowering consonants (BLC's).
The consonants {r q υ χ? h}, all pharyngealized alveolars {d 11 s z}, and to
some extent h, hereafter "backing and lowering consonants" (abbreviation:
BLC's), have the effect of lowering preceding high full V's and of backing
and lowering short V's. In T-ka, this is systematic and results in surface
mergers of vocalic phonemes, provided that the BLC is syllable-final. When
the BLC is not syllable-final, there is still a notable backing or lowering effect,
but complete phonemic merger does not always occur (in such cases, my field
transcriptions are variable).
The mergers, in phonemic terms, are those in (28).
(28) Backing/Lowering of V's
short V: 3 > ae
full V's: i>e u>o
That is, schwa is backed to merge with the ae (i.e. short a) phoneme, while
high full V's are lowered to mid-height.
In addition to inducing these vocalic mergers, BLC's also affect the
phonetic realization of the resulting {ae e o}. The merged ae (=short a) is
pronounced [a]. This applies both to true /as/, and to underlying hi that has
lowered to merge with /as/. Similarly, before a BLC, e (either true phonemic
/e/, or lowered /i/) is realized as [ε], while ο (either true /o/ or lowered /u/) is
realized as [o].
For the short V's, compare e.g. PerfP -afla- 'be split' with PerfP
-3?ma-[-a'Tma-] 'apply henna', using verbs of the same class. For i > e,
compare nominal MaPl forms i-klsstif-aen [ik...]'chatterings' and i-rbab
[ε'τ...] 'holes in tree' (both of which contain MaPl prefix i-). For u > o,
compare the infinitives (of the same verb class) ujas [u'djaf] 'entering' and
liral [o'ral] 'waiting'.
Backing/Lowering also occurs before certain PQ clusters where Q is a
backing and lowering C while Ρ is a C (usually a liquid or nasal) that passively
transmits the effect to a preceding V.The attested clusters of this type are /Id/,
/lz/, /nd/, /mb/, /md/, /qr/, /mz/, /nz/, and less systematically /bd/. Examples:
-aldaes- [-a'ldass-] 'become tired', -alza- [-a'lza] 'shave', andaw [a'ndu]
'throw!', t-embe [te'mbe] 'taste' and variant t-emde [te'mde] 'taste',
/snra-aer-W > aqre-qAq [a'qreq:] Ί killed him', -t-lm-z-szzij- [-te'mz...]
'pull each other', anzaj [a'nzaj] 'blink!', and for some speakers i-bda/ [e'bda]
'he was separated'. I did not observe this treatment with r (q, V) after 1 or m,
e.g. slqabil-aet 'tribe'.
