Witsuwit’en phonetics and phonology
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Transcript of Witsuwit’en phonetics and phonology
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Witsuwit’en phonetics and phonology
LING 200Spring 2006
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Announcements
• Correction to homework #2 (due Thurs in section)5. all6. (a)-(g), (j)(rest of assignment remains the same)
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Announcements• Clickers
– model• Responsive Innovations ResponseCard RF• available in bookstore, textbook section,
check-out counter– set to channel 41
• Press and release GO button• While light is flashing red and green, enter
41• Press and release GO again• Press and release 1/A button. If flashes
yellow, confirms set to right channel.
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Reminder
• Quiz on Ch. 7 (Phonology) is now open, closes Wed. noon
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Organization
1. The Witsuwit’en language and Athabaskan family
2. Witsuwit’en phonetics3. Witsuwit’en phonology
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Witsuwit’en• apx. 180 speakers• a dialect of the
Witsuwit’en-Babine language
• Athabaskan family
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•variant spellings: Athapaskan, Athabascan, Athapascan
•about 37 lgs in this family
•estimated time-depth: 2500 years
Athabaskan family
Tlingit
Eyak
Witsuwit’en
Navajo
Tsek’ene
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Na-Dene Tlingit Proto-Athabaskan-Eyak Eyak Proto-Athabaskan
CAY S.AK Tset CBC PCA NW Can Sar Apachean
Deg Xinag Witsuwit’en Tsek’ene
CAY = Central Alaska-Yukon; S.AK = S. Alaska; Tset = Tsetsaut, CBC = Central BC, PCA = Pacific Coast Athabaskan; NW Can = NW Canada; Sar = Sarcee
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Some Witsuwit’en
speakers
Mabel Forsythe
Lillian Morris, Peter John
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A Witsuwit’en text
• Lillian and Mabel talking together– 2:39 conversation – recorded 1997– some background noise– what unfamiliar sounds do you hear?
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Glottal stop []
uh-oh
Hawaii (Hawai’i)
button
important
[o]
[hwaji]
[bn]
[mprnt]
stop made at the glottis: vocal cords brought together so no air can pass through the glottis
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[] in Witsuwit’en
• [pe] ‘dried fish’• [en] ‘he, she’• [sompi] ‘no one’• [c’teni] ‘legend’
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Some Witsuwit’en soundsEjective stops and affricates: transcribed [C’]
How to make a (canonical) velar ejective:
0. Make a velar stop.
Make a glottal stop.
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Time (s)0 0.898937
-0.3981
0.2645
0
Ejective affricates• [ts’] = ejective alveolar affricate
– [pts’q] ‘his little finger’• Compare [ts] = voiceless alveolar affricate
– [ptsq] ‘his outer ear’• Waveforms: (waveform = acoustic graph of energy x time)
Time (s)0 0.785312
-0.3981
0.3173
0
[p t s ’ q] [p t s q]
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Ejective stops• [t’] = ejective alveolar stop
– [nt’q] ‘your collarbone’• Compare [t] = voiceless alveolar stop
– [ntq] ‘up’
Time (s)0 0.939937
-0.3981
0.2634
0
Time (s)0 0.907
-0.3981
0.282
0
[n t ’ q] [n t q]
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Uvular place of articulation
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Uvular place of articulation•[q] = voiceless uvular stop
–[qis] ‘Chinook salmon’
–[q ‘rabbit’
–[ntq] ‘up’
•[qh] = voiceless aspirated uvular stop
–[qh] ‘footwear’
•[q’] = voiceless uvular ejective (stop)
–[q’] ‘backwards’
•[] = voiceless uvular fricative
–[] ‘grease’
•[] = (voiced) uvular approximant
–[ptene] ‘he’s cooking’
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Palatal place of articulation
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Palatal place of articulation• [c] = voiceless palatal stop
– [cs] ‘hook’– [nece] ‘it healed’– [wecths] ‘I’m not strong’
• [ch] = voiceless aspirated palatal stop– [chs] ‘down feather’
• [c’] = palatal ejective (stop)– [c’thj] ‘gun’
• [ç] = voiceless palatal fricative– [lzthç] ‘knife’– [nteç] ‘he’s dancing’
• [j] = (voiced) palatal glide
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Labio-velar place of articulation
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• [kw] = voiceless labio-velar stop– [kwe] ‘bag’
• [kwh] = voiceless aspirated labio-velar stop– [kwhn] ‘fire’
• [kw’] = labio-velar ejective (stop)– [kw’is] (personal name)– [kw’sl] ‘bead’
• [xw] = voiceless labio-velar fricative– [xws] ‘thorn’
• [w] = (voiced) labio-velar glide– [nws] ‘soapberry’
Labio-velar place of articulation
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Lateral fricative and affricates• [l] = (voiced) lateral approximant
– [lzthç] ‘knife’• [] = voiceless lateral fricative
– [jl] ‘it’s white; goat (lit. ‘that which is white’)’• [t] = voiceless lateral affricate
– [stet] ‘it’s licking me’• [th] = voiceless aspirated lateral affricate
– [ncths] ‘I’m kneading it’• [t’] = ejective lateral affricate
– [st’et] ‘he farted’
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Witsuwit’en consonant chartlabial alveolar palatal labio-velar uvular glottal
stops p p’ t th t’ c ch c’ kw kwh kw’ q qh q’ affricates ts tsh ts’ lateral t th t’fricatives s z ç xw h lateral nasals m napproximants
j w
lateral l
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Witsuwit’en vowels
front central back
unrounded unrounded rounded
high i umid higher-mid e o
lower-mid low æ
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Further details about Witsuwit’en sounds
• [tz] ‘driftwood’• [thz] ‘cane’
• Why wasn’t [] listed in the vowel inventory for Witsuwit’en?– Answer: [] is a predictable detail about
the pronunciation of Witsuwit’en, and predictable information is usually omitted.
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Broad vs. narrow transcription• A transcription can vary in the amount of
phonetic detail included– Relatively a lot of detail: narrow transcription
• e.g. [thz] ‘cane’ [tz] ‘driftwood’– Relatively less detail: broad transcription
• e.g. [thz] ‘cane’ [tz] ‘driftwood’• When should [] be included in a transcription
of Witsuwit’en?
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Languages contain predictable vs. unpredictable information
• Unpredictable, list-like information– this kind of information represented in
dictionary• Predictable, rule-like information
– e.g. in Witsuwit’en, schwa is pronounced as a lower-mid central vowel (in one context)
– this kind of information represented in grammar
a phonological rule
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Broadest transcription
• Represents only unpredictable information
• Phonemic representation: /thz/phonological rules e.g. lower vowel phonetic representation [thz]
• Phonemes: the elements of a phonemic representation (enclosed in slash brackets)
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When to use broad vs. narrow transcription?
• Typically, transcription is as broad as possible– Symbols in consonant, vowel charts
are phonemes• In Witsuwit’en, [] would be
transcribed only in a phonetic study of vowel quality (e.g. Ch. 4 of Hargus (to appear))
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// Lowering
In Witsuwit’en, [] is pronounced [] after voiceless aspirated stops, ejective stops, or voiceless fricatives.
context of phonological rule
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Context for // Lowering
labial alveolar palatal labio-velar uvular glottalstops p’ th t’ ch c’ kwh kw’ qh q’ affricates tsh ts’ lateral th t’fricatives s ç xw h lateral
After any of:
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Distribution of [], [] in Witsuwit’en • [] occurs after
• [] occurs after p’ th t’ ch c’ kwh kw’ qh q’
tsh ts’th t’s ç xw h
p t c kw qtstz
m nl
j w
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Distribution of [], [] in Witsuwit’en
All the places // can occur in Witsuwit’en t__
m__ th__
p__ __
l__ xw__
z__ __
s__
e.g. [tz], [mn], [pn], [plt], [pzz]
e.g. [thz], [z], [xws], [t], [ss]
etc.
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Distribution of [], [] in Witsuwit’en
• The distribution of [] complements that of [].
• Or, [] and [] are in complementary distribution.
• Only the basic member of a set of sounds which are in complementary distribution is considered phonemic (appears in vowel chart, etc.).
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Which of [], [] is more basic?• Which of the contexts is “simpler”? e.g. reduces to
natural class of sounds or single position within word– rule applies in simpler context
• (not easy to tell in this case from just the information provided so far; other facts suggest that [] is derived from //)
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Summing up [], [] in Witsuwit’en
• these vowel phones in complementary distribution
• [] derived by lowering rule• Post-script
– /o/ lowers to [] and /æ/ retracts to [] in the same context that // lowers to []
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Inventory of Witsuwit’en vowel phones
front central back
unrounded unrounded rounded
high i umid higher-mid e o
lower-mid low æ
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Sounds which are not in complementary distribution
• Contrast, i.e. occur in the same context– [] vs. [l]
• [] ‘dam’• [l] ‘conifer’
– [s] vs. [z]• [c’zs] ‘bag, case’• [c’zz] ‘hide, skin’
– [m] vs. [p]• [mn] ‘roof’• [pn] ‘lake’
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Applied phonology
• The Witsuwit’en writing system represents the phonemes, not all of the phonetic sounds– Designed by a missionary in the
70s for use on a typewriter– Revised 1993 (by your
professor)
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Word list transcribed (broadly)
phonetic orthographic‘driftwood’ [tz] <diz>‘cane’ [thz] <tiz>‘footwear’ [qh] <kë>‘grease’ [] <khë>‘straight up’ [ntq] <ndik>‘your collarbone’ [nt’q] <nt’ik>
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More detail
• As transcribed on a previous slide,– [cs] ‘hook’– [chs] ‘down feather’
• Why not– [cs] ‘hook’– [chs] ‘down feather’
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Summary• Phonetic transcription typically as
streamlined as possible• Predictable, rule-governed details are
omitted• Distribution is a major clue as to
predictability• Languages differ in
– inventories of contrastive sounds– rules for pronunciation of sounds
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Phonetics vs. phonologyphonetics phonology
transcription narrower okay must be broad, streamlined
phonetic detail explicitly represented detail is predicted by rule system
contrast how is a particular contrast realized?
what is contrastive?
sounds what are articulatory, acoustic, perceptible properties?
how do sounds form patterns, classes?