| 2.9.2. Clause Terminals or Clause Boundaries |
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The term clause is used here to refer to a unit in the spoken language which is evident from the pronunciation only and not to refer the clause in the conventional grammatical sense. The breaks marking the end of clauses are called clause terminals. They are shown to be phonemic because there are different terminals and those constrast.
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The primary function of the terminal directions is to tell the hearer where the sepakers stands with respect to his utternce and what to follow. The falling terminal indicated by ‘ ’ seems to tell the hearer “this is the end of at least this part of what I have to say”, ‘ ‘ “ther is something more coming”; ‘ ‘ “I want you to say something in reply” (Hall, 1969 : 115).
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/ / Falling terminal : a rapid trailing away of the voice into silence.
/  / Rising terminal : a sudden rapid but short rise in the pitch.
/ / Level terminal : a sustention or pitch staying on the same level.
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| Examples: |
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Fall : |
wo:na: tape:r  oltur
‘his father died’ |
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Rise : |
nima: tinda: ki:
‘will you (sg.) eat ?’ |
|
Level : |
ad tit
aru: hat.
‘it (or she) ate and went’ |
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| 2.10.0. Phonemic Free Variation |
| A few phonemic
free variations are noticed in the data. The variation is between
full phonemes and not between sub-members of phonemes and that
too is limited to certain segments, namely, s, h, l and w. There
seems to be no structural pattern to define environments in
which this fluctuation occurs. |
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In the word initial position /s/ alternates with /h/ or /c/; /l/ with /r/, /h/ and /w/ with zero before back vowels.
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| Examples: |
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saki:  haki: |
‘mortar’ |
| |
sitra:l citra:l |
‘deer’ |
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sa:ta: ca:ta: |
‘umbrella’ |
|
lo:n ro:n |
‘house’ |
|
lo:m ro:m |
‘to rest’ |
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har ar |
‘way, path’ |
|
hoy oy |
‘porcupine’ |
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huka: uka: |
'star' |
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huka: o:r |
‘he’ |
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