HC56: Language as a Window to the Mind

Welcome to the HC56 Class Language Page!

This page will be updated as more information about our language is discovered.
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This page is maintained by Sameer ud Dowla Khan. Last updated 5 February 2006.

Phonology and Phonetics

Phonemic Inventory

Consonants

Our language has 18 consonant phonemes.

  Bilabial Labiodental Alveolar Postalveolar Velar Uvular Glottal
Voiceless Stops p   t   k q  
Voiceless Affricates     ts tʃ      
Voiceless Fricatives   f s ʃ     h
Voiced Fricatives   v z ʒ      
Nasals m   n   ŋ!    
Liquids and Glides w   r   w    
Clicks     ŋ!    
    

The phonemes /w/ and /ŋ!/ appear twice on the phoneme inventory chart as they are composed of two gestures each. The glide /w/ is labiovelar, as it requires raising the tongue dorsum and rounding the lips, while the click /ŋ!/ requires producing an alveolar click with a velar nasal [ŋ] as an accompaniment.

Vowels

The language has 14 vocalic phonemes. Seven are modal while the other seven are breathy.


Front
Central
Back
High
i  i̤
  
u  ṳ
High-Mid
e  e̤
  
o  o̤
Low-Mid
ɛ  ɛ̤
  
ɔ  ɔ̤
Low  
a  a̤
  

Syllabic Structure

The syllabic structure of our language allows only vowels to be the nucleus of a syllable. Diphthongs (two vowels within one nucleus) are allowed.

Up to two coda consonants are allowed in each syllable. A syllable with a diphthong in the nucleus may not have any coda consonants.

Up to four onset consonants are allowed in each syllable. The voiceless alveolar sibilant fricative /s/ is the only sound that can be the first consonant in a four-consonant complex onset.

Thus, the maximal syllable types are CCCCVV (with a diphthong) and CCCCVCC (with a coda). Syllables made up of fewer consonants in the coda and/or onset are of course also allowed.

All consonants in the onset and coda obey the sonority scale, with less sonorous consonants occurring at the edges of the syllable, and more sonorous consonants near the center, with the vowel at the very center. Only /s/ defies the sonority scale.

The alveolar click /ŋ!/ does not occur in codas, or in complex onsets. It can only be a single onset.

All content morphemes are underlyingly composed of EITHER:
    (a) more than one light syllable, OR,
    (b) at least one heavy syllable.

All grammatical morphemes are underlyingly composed of one syllable.

Phonological Rules

Our language has five productive phonological processes; as far as we have seen, the rules occur in the order shown below:

1. Vowel Nasalization

All vowels are nasalized before nasal consonants.

    Example: /hawan/ --> [hawãn] 'cold'

2. Nasal Place Assimilation

All nasal consonants adopt the place of articulation of the following consonant.

    Example: /twamsip/ --> [twãnsi] 'tiny'

3. Intervocalic Voicing

All stops and affricates are voiced between vowels.

    Example: /ŋ!ɔ̤snetak + i/ --> [ŋ!ɔ̤snedagi] 'the community'

4. Final Obstruent Drop

All obstruents (stops, affricates, and fricatives) are dropped at the ends of words.

    Example: /tsuʒa̤k/ --> [tsuʒa̤] 'tired'

5. Post-nasal Voicing

All stops and affricates become voiced after nasal consonants.

    Example: /pa̤npok/ --> [pã̤mbo] 'book'

Click on the following links for more information:
Phonology                    Lexicon                    Morphology                    Syntax