Phonology[13] Halkomelem

1 phonology

1.1 vowels
1.2 consonants
1.3 stress , pitch
1.4 phonotactics
1.5 morphophonemics

phonology

note: examples drawn hən̓q̓əmin̓əm̓ dialect spoken musqueam, band speaks downriver dialect of halkomelem. relevant differences in phonology of island , upriver dialects noted @ foot of phoneme charts.

vowels

hən̓q̓əmin̓əm̓ has 5 vowel phonemes. long , short vowels (but not schwa) contrast. vowel length written in native orthography ⟨·⟩.

four of these vowel phonemes (/i/, /e/, /a/, , /ə/) common, while /u/ occurs in loan words.

all 5 vowel phonemes vary considerably phonetically. phoneme /i/ has 3 distinct allophones. realized [e] following unrounded uvulars. realized [ɪ] central off-glide preceding both unrounded , rounded uvulars. elsewhere, realized low [i] or high [e]. /e/ realized low mid-front vowel, between [ɛ] or high [æ]. /a/ low , central back, close [ɑ]. /u/ high, back, , rounded, realized somewhere between low [u] or high [o].

when stressed, schwa /ə/ appears in environments mid-central, fronted , raised before /x/, approaching [ɪ]; before /y/ fronted, approaching [ɛ]; before /w/ lower , back, approaching [ɑ]; , before rounded velars mid-back, close [o]. unstressed /ə/ can high [i] before /x/ , /y/, , before labialized velars realized [o] or [u]. phoneme can assimilated stressed /e/ or stressed /a/ in adjacent syllable, vowel harmony.

consonants


^1 stops , affricates grouped simplification purposes.
^2 of recent and/or peripheral phonemic status.
^3 occur in few foreign , imitative words.
^4 5 glottalized resonants pose problem in phonemic analysis (although occur frequently).

the plain plosives less aspirate before vowels in english, more aspirate finally. although glottalized plosives ejectives, not released.

suttles (2004) made several interesting notes on musqueam obstruents. labiodental fricative /f/ occurs in recent loans english , derivatives such in káfi “coffee” , in číf “chief.” according suttles (2004), stops /t/ , /tʼ/ articulated @ point forward of of usual english “t” , “d,” while affricates /c/ , /cʼ/ more retracted these english phonemes. affricate [d͡ʒ] has been recorded in kinjáj “englishmen” , kinjájqən “english (language).” glottalized lateral affricate /ƛʼ/ [tʼɬ] produced when apex of tongue @ onset in position lateral release rather /t/, , there less friction produced other affricates. phonemes /k/ , /kʼ/ occur in “baby talk” substitutes /q/ , /qʼ/. uvular fricative /x̌/ [χ] produced great deal of friction and/or uvular vibration, , contrasts velar fricative /x/.

there variation in extent musqueam speakers glottalize resonants. phonetically, there glottalized resonants , resonants preceded or followed glottal stops, however, suttles (2004) found no instances of contrastive distribution among of three. puts forth 2 explanations these facts: there 2 sequences of phonemes, /rʔ/ , /ʔr/, overlapping [rˀ] allophones, or there single phoneme /rˀ/ realized in 3 distinct ways. in preferring latter explanation, suttles holds there may 5 glottalized resonant phonemes in dialect, although downriver speakers glottalize resonants lightly, making them difficult detect.

in upriver dialects, glottalized resonants not exist, while in island dialects, more sharply articulated (tenseness key feature of island speech). case many other phonological features, downriver halkomelem stands link between other dialect areas, , possible speakers vary depending on island or upriver influence. other differences between dialects include: island , downriver have both /n/ , /l/, while upriver has merged these /l/. upriver lacks post-vocalic glottal stops of other 2 dialects, , vowel length appears in environment speakers of dialect. additionally, upriver dialects have greater pitch differences, , words differentiated pitch alone.

stress , pitch

based on suttles’ (2004) recordings of several speakers of downriver (musqueam) dialect, stress in halkomelem consists of increase in intensity , accompanying rise in pitch. 3 levels of stress primary (marked /׳/), secondary (marked /`/), , weak (unmarked). there 1 vowel primary stress in every full word, however, occurrence not predictable.

in uninflected words more 1 vowel, primary stress falls on first vowel (e.g. in céləx “hand” , léləmʼ “house”). there exceptions general pattern (e.g. in xəmén “enemy”). shown preceding example, if word contains both full vowel , 1 or more schwas, stress placed on full vowel. again, there exceptions pattern, such in words final glottal stop cannot preceded schwa (e.g. in nə́cʼaʔ “one”).

although minimal pairs contrasting stress rare, exist in language. primary stress of verb root consisting of resonant, schwa, , obstruent followed suffix /-t/ “transitive” can fall on either root or suffix, allowing minimal pairs such mə̀kʼʷət “salvage it” , məkʼʷə́t “finish all.”

the secondary stress appears in words composed of root has retained stress , stressed suffix (e.g. in cʼéwəθàmx “help me”). may case, however, secondary stress recorded suttles (2004) in words cʼéwəθàmx falling pitch; seems characteristic of last stressed syllable of phrase in language. additional analyses of sentential intonation patterns needed.

phonotactics

all obstruents (except glottals) typically follow 1 in sequences of four, although sequence of 5 possible (e.g. in txʷstx̌ʷásʔal “just standing in shock”). there no specific restrictions on types of obstruent sequences can occur. plosives appearing in sequences rearticulated, , sequences of /ss/ common in language.

resonants appear adjacent vowels. when these sounds occur in middle of words, found in sequences of resonant-obstruent, resonant-resonant, , obstruent-resonant. initial resonant followed vowel, , final resonant must preceded one.

the laryngeals more restricted members of other natural classes in halkomelem. glottal stop occurs adjacent vowel, and, within words, not follow obstruent except (the prefix) /s/. can never occur in final position following schwa. /h/ occurs before vowels, following resonant or 1 of fricatives @ morpheme boundaries, never following other obstruents. interestingly, can appear between unstressed , stressed vowel, cannot occur between stressed , unstressed vowel.

morphophonemics

certain processes affect realization of underlying sounds in halkomelem. alternations occur commonly discussed in section, rather in following section on morphology.

in rapid speech, there optional loss of instances of schwa, glottal stop, glottalization of resonants, , /h/.

an unstressed schwa following initial nasal stop may lost, if there vowel preceding; nasal heard part of syllable (e.g. in tənəmén ~ tən mén “my father”).
/nə/ no preceding vowel appears syllabic [n] (e.g. in xʷnəcʼáwəθ ~ xʷncʼáwəθ “one kind”).
a glottal stop after unstressed final vowel may lost, in case vowel reduced schwa (e.g. in méqeʔ ~ méqə).
the glottalization of resonants following unstressed vowels inaudible (e.g. in smənʼé·m ~ sməné·m “descendants”).
/h/ before stressed vowel may lost when preceded spirant (e.g. in shá·yʼ ~ sá·yʼ “finished”).


an unstressed schwa may take on quality of adjacent full vowel, or 1 separated glottal stop (e.g. in spéʔəθ ~ spéʔeθ “black bear”).
when root shape of /carˀ/ (c consonant, full vowel, rˀ glottalized resonant), takes suffix /-ət/ “transitive,” resulting form /caʔərt/. appears resonant , schwa have switched positions (a form of metathesis), glottal stop protects schwa assimilating full vowel (e.g. in wílʼ “appear” , wíʔəlt “make appear”).
several roots appear alone, without having undergone affixation (e.g. in ʔí “big” , pá “get blown on”). when type of root followed suffix begins stressed vowel, (e.g. in /-ínəs/ “chest”), /h/ appears (e.g. in θəhínəs “barrel-chested”). final /h/ never realized after stressed vowel.
a number of suffixes beginning /n/ have forms initial /l/ when added root or stem ending in /l/ (i.e. there alternation of /n/ , /l/ in morphological cases in language) (e.g. in /-nəxʷ/ ~ /-ləxʷ/ “limited control” in ɬə́qʼəlləxʷ “know it” , cə́llexʷ “catch him”).
in progressive , resultative forms of few verbs initial /c/ or /x/ followed /a/, /c/ reduplicated /kʷ/ , /x/ /xʷ/ (e.g. in cám “go/come inland” , progressive cákʷəm “be going/coming inland”).
vowel gradation occurs between full vowel, schwa, , zero, depending on type of root or stem, type of suffix, , placement of stress.
when suffixes joined stems, change in quality of stressed vowel, 1 full vowel another, in stem, or (rarely) in suffix results. vowel mutations product of assimilation of 1 vowel of adjacent syllable @ earlier stage in language s history. 3 kinds of these mutations exist (although first example common). in first 2 examples, vowel mutation similar umlauting effect of suffix on stems in germanic languages.

stem /e/ changes /a/ (e.g. in xʷƛʼáqtəs “long-faced” [ƛʼéqt “long”]).
stem /a/ /e/ (e.g. in pé·ltʼθeʔ “buzzard (turkey vulture),” composed of spá·l “raven” , suffix /-itθeʔ/ “clothing, blanket” [with metathesis]).
suffix /e/ /a/ (e.g. in sqʼəqʼəxán “partner,” composed of sqʼəqʼáʔ “accompanying” , suffix /-xən/ ~ /-xén/ “foot”).






^ suttles, wayne. (2004). musqueam reference grammar. vancouver: university of british columbia press, 3–22.