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ANGAMI PHONOLOGY REVISITED |
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| 1.1.0.
The syllabic structure: A syllable in Angami may be defined
as a structural unit of tone placement. It has the segmental
possiblities such as v, cv, ccv, ccvv. In a few cases, it also
attains the form of c alone, when a consonant occurs alone. In
all these instances, the syllable is spoken on one of the five
tonesdescribed earlier on. |
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THE ANGAMI SYLLABLE |
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Tone |
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Onset |
Nucleus |
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(c) (c) |
(v) v |
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‘v’ stands for vowels, c for consonant, while a cc would mean a
consonant cluster and a vv a diphthong. The minimum requirement
for an Angami syllable is a vowel with a concomitant tone. But a
typical Angami syllable is an open syllable with a consonant as
the onset which is followed by a vowel as the nucleus or peak. A
consonant cluster may also come as the onset. When preceded by a
c or cc, the nucleus of the syllable may be a v alone or a
diphthong. A diphtong alone does not constitute a syllable. In a
c(c) vv syllable, only the prominent vowel will carry the tone.
When the syllable has an onset, the onset may be any consonant
or a cluster from the list: pr-, phr-, kr-, khr-. This list is
exclusive of those found in loan words. |
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| 1.1.1
Tones-Their Grammatical Relevance |
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In an earlier section, we discussed Angami as a tone language.
Tone in Angami, we saw, is an inherent part of the Angami
syllbaic structure and is crucial in adistinguishing words. Tone
with this function of keeping lexical items apart is called
‘lexical tone’. In Angami, in addition to their lexical
significance, tones have an additional grammatical function,
albeit in a limited number of cases: |
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The gender distinction of th v
‘pig’ rests solely on tone. |
v kr
‘male pig’ |
vkr
‘female pig’ |
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The first person inclusive plural and
the third person plural are distinguished by a difference in
tone on the first syllable. |
 k
‘we (incl.pl.)’ |
 k
‘they (pl.)’ |
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Noun-Verb distinction with some forms
rests on tone. |
r z
‘to play’ t r
‘rain’ |
rz
‘game’
t
‘to rain’ |
rz
‘to injure’ |
rz
‘injury’ |
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trh
‘an item of traditional dress’ |
trh
‘to put on trh’ |
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1.1.2. Monophthongization |
Among the diphthongs /ie/, / i,
/uo/, /ou/, /io/ and /o/,
only /ie/, /uo/, /io/ and /eo/ are almost always realised as
diphthongal units. The other two viz. /i/
and /ou/ tend to lose their diphthongal quality. Only a few
speakers retain the diphthongal phthongization has set in, the
diphthongs being replaced by their respective syllabic peaks. |
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Thus, |
| ti
> t |
‘sky’ |
| tir
> tr
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‘rain’ |
| labou > lb
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‘box’ |
rhou
> r h
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‘spear’ |
| sou > s
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‘to be deep’ |
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1.1.3. The Vowel // |
The vowel //
when preceded by /r/ or a /r/ cluster attains r-colouring much
like the // in a
typically American pronounciation of ‘her’. This environmentally
conditioned variety. [ ]
has been treated elsewhere as an allophone of //.
In rapid speech, sometimes the
[] following /r/ tends to disappear. |
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v r
> vor |
‘come’ |
tr
> tir |
‘rain’ |
k r
> ker |
‘come down’ |
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When verbs like /vr/
‘come’, take tense, aspect or mood markers, the vowel //
may be dropped. |
| vr()r
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‘If (he) comes’ |
| vr()ty
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‘will come’ |
vr()li
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‘come !’ |
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1.1.4. The Syllabic Nasal |
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In some of their occurrneces, the
nasals /m/ and /n/ are syllabic. In such instances they carry
tone and hence constitute a syllable by themselves. They occur
initially and are followed by other consonants. The syllabic
nasal may be a morpheme as in the socond example below. |
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 pk tsh
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‘leprosy’ |
 k |
‘your house’ |
 ku b
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‘Palm tree’ |
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thy
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‘yourself’ |
 b
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‘no’ |
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