-
CHAPTER 2: PHONOLOGY
- University of Hawai'i Press
- Chapter
- Additional Information
CHAPTER 2: PHONOLOGY 2.1 Segmental phonology 2.1.1 Consonants 2.1.1.1 Consonant phoneme inventory The Kokota consonant phoneme inventory is remarkably symmetrical. Three place classes exist distinguished by the features [±labial] and [±coronal]. Each class may be characterized as follows: (2.1) [+labial, -coronal] [-labial, +coronal] [-labial, -coronal] (bilabials and labiodentals) (post-alveolars) (velars and glottals) Five manner classes exist: two obstruent classes (plosive and fricative), and three sonorant classes (nasal, lateral, and rhotic). Of these, plosives, fricatives, and nasals occur in each of the three place classes. Laterals and rhotics occur only in [-labial, +coronal] place. Kokota is unusual in that a corresponding voice pair exists in every place/manner class: a full set of voiceless counterparts exist for each voiced consonant phoneme, including sonorants. There are thus 22 consonant phonemes in 11 place and manner pairs: TABLE 2.1. CONSONANT PHONEMES [+labial, -coronal] [-labial, +coronal] [-labial, -coronal] Bilabial Labiodental Post-alveolar Velar Glottal Plosive p b t d k g Fricative f v s z y h Nasal Il,l m IJ. n I) 1) Lateral .1 Rhotic C r TABLE 2.2. CONSONANT FEATURE MATRICES p,b t, d k,g f, v s, z h, Y Il,l,m lJ.,n 1),1) .1, I C, r labial + + + coronal + + + + + continuant + + + + + + + + sonorant + + + + + nasal + + + lateral + rhotic + CHAPTER 2 2.1.1.1.1 Evidence for phoneme status: consonants Tables 2.3 and 2.4 demonstrate consonant phoneme contrasts by voicing status, and manner and place of articulation. TABLE 2.3. CONTRASTIVE SETS DEMONSTRATING VOICE AND MANNER OF ARTICULATION DISTINCTIONS labials coronals nonlabial noncoronals voice Iputu/ 'k.o. tree' Itafa! 'encounter' /kulu/ 'be first' Ibutu/ 'stomach' Idafa! 'bum clear' IgulU/ 'thunder' lfila! 'thunderclap' Isiku/ 'lawyer cane' Itahina! 'that sea' Ivilail 'knife'* lzikU/ 'cone shell' Itayina! 'him/herself Inoll}iI 'hear' IT}iyol 'completive' Inai)ol 'ko. in-law' Inomil 'ourEXC' Iniyol '2so object' InaIJo/'shadow' - Ibubu}il 'clam sp.' Ibubulol 'mist'· - lruta! 'untangle' lruta ! 'swamp taro' plosivel Ipopotol 'fish sp.' Ipapatel 'ko. crab' Iyasel 'girl' fricative Ifofotol 'tree sp.' Ipapasel 'ginger' Igasi/'torch'* Ibabaol 'be tired'* lido/'mother' /kuku/ 'defecate' Ivavau/ 'kapok tree' lizol 'point' /huhu/ 'question' plosivel Ibahail 'tree sp.' Ida! ' 1INC subj.' Iga! 'l~XC subj.' nasal Imahail 'eat' Ina! ' 1EXC subj.' IIJa! 'but' plosivel - ladel 'here' rhotic larel 'those' laterall - Ileleol 'tawny shark' rhotic Irereol 'shield' *No minimal pair has been identified. A near minimal pair demonstrates the contrast. 2.1.1.1.2 Consonant phoneme frequencies On the basis of a representative sample of Kokota words the relative frequencies of consonant phonemes has been calculated. The wordlist (presented along with further details in Palmer 1999a) contains 335 basic lexical items giving a total of 748 consonant phoneme tokens. The most striking findings from this analysis lie in patterns of relationship between place of articulation and sonority (Table 2.5), and voicing and sonority (Table 2.6). Table 2.5 is interesting in that while coronals are well represented as both obstruents and sonorants, the nonlabial noncoronals are the smallest class of sonorants, but the largest class of obstruents. 6 [18.232.169.110] Project MUSE (2024-03-29 01:04 GMT) PHONOLOGY TABLE 2.4. CONTRASTIVE SETS DEMONSTRATING PLACE OF ARTICULATION DISTINCTIONS labials coronals nonlabial noncoronals +voice Iba! 'possibilitative' da! '1 INC subject' gal 'IEXC subj. plosives neutral' -voice pukul 'be short' tuku! 'wait' f'kukul 'defecate' plosives +voice vivivri/ 'propeller' ziziri/ 'tree sp.'* iyo/ '2sG object' fricatives vilai/ 'knife' izo/ 'point' yilai/ 'until' voiceless fodu! 'be full' sodu! 'be tall' f'boda! 'take'* fricatives soda! 'clam' voiced rna! 'father' na! '1EXC subj. realis' IJa! 'but' nasals voiceless rvarvayu/ 'be fearful' I}al}ayarai/ 'Iobster'* ueue/ 'be separate' nasals rverve/ 'be difficult' I}ae/ 'be clear' I/Uau! 'eat'* .. . . *No mInImal paIr has been IdentIfied. A near mInImal paIr demonstrates the contrast. TABLE 2.5. PROPORTION BY PLACE CLASS AND PROPORTION OF OBSTRUENTSTOSONORANTS [+labial] [+coronal] [-labial, Total -coronal] Obstruents 16% 21% 29% 65% Sonorants 6% 28% 2% 35% Total 22% 48% 31% 100% TABLE 2.6. PROPORTION BY VOICING AND SONORITY Voiced Voiceless Total Obstruents 32% 68% 100% Sonorants 89% 11% 100% The proportion of voiced to voiceless tokens overall is roughly equal (52% voiced, 48% voiceless). However, as Table 2.6 shows, this does not accurately reflect the voicing situation. Instead, there is a preference for voiceless obstruents, and a strong preference for voiced sonorants, reflecting a tendency towards a maximal contrast between obstruents and sonorants, with phoneme tokens tending...