Angami
has six diphthongs all of which are rising diphthongs. All of
them occur medially and finally, except [o]
which occurs only finally and [o]
which occurs only medially. They have not been given phonemic
status in this analysis. A phonetic descriptiion follows.
The diphthong [e] is a
front vowel unit wherein the tongue glides from the articulatory
position for [i] to that of [e], making the latter part of the
unit more prominent.
[zs]
‘sheath’
/zis/
[ph]
‘lungs’ /phi/
The diphthong [i]
consists of a glide from the central vowel []
to the front vowel [i] with the latter part of the unit being
the peak of sonority.
[tr]
‘rain’
/tr/
[pfn]
‘clothing’
/pfn/
The onglide before [i] which if from a further back and lower
position than [i] is so brief that many a speaker has lost it
altogether converting it in the process into the pure vowel [i].
The dipgth ong [o]
always realised as [yo] consists of a tongue movement from [i]
to [o].
[n] ‘son’
/ni/
[phh] ‘to be lame’ /phhi/
The diphthong [o]always realised as [yo] has the tongue moving from the position
for [e] to [o]
[db] ‘sunday’ /deb/
The diphthong [o] is a
back vowel unit wherein the glide is from the vowel [u] to the
lower position of [o] the latter being the syllabic peak.
[l]
‘navel’ /lu/
[khrh]
‘help’ /khruh/
The diphthong [u]
another back vowel unit is the exact reverse of [o]
as far as the articulatory process is concerned. The tongue
moves from [o] to the closer position of [u].
[phk]
‘shoe’
/phko/
[tpf]
‘to carry on back’ /topf/
It should be noted here that these monosyllabic diphthongs which
carry one tone should be distinguished from sequences of two
vowels each of which forms a syllable and carries a tone. Some
of such vowel clusters are
th
‘bow’
ly
‘flute’
k
‘to sting’
h
‘this’
‘cat’s cry’ ph
‘the fifth’
1.0.4.
Consonants
INVENTORY OF CONSONANTAL PHONEMES
p
t
ph
th
b
d
pf
ts
c
pfh
tsh ch
__________
This occurs in few words. Strangely, it
is written in the orthography as uo eg. ny-nuo
‘son’ ty-tuo ‘future
tense marker’
This occurs in a couple of words,
presumably loan words.
bv
dz
j
f
s
h
v
z
m
n
h
mh
nh
h
l
r
lh
rh
w
y
wh
yh
Consonants in Angami are distributed initially and medially.
They don’t occur in the word-final position except in a few
words which are borrowings from Assamese. Aspiration is phonemic
with voiceless stops, affricates, nasals and liquids. Another
distinctive and interesting feature of Angami consonantal system
is the fricativisation of semi-vowels which contrast with the
usual fricationless continuants. Representing a less typical
probability of the Angami syllabic structure, the nasals /m/ and
/n/ become syllabic in a few instances. Among the consonants,
only /m/ has positional variants or allophones. A phonetic
description of the consonants follows. From the examples given
may be discerned the distributional behaviour of the consonants.
Minimal /sub-minimal pairs are given to establish the constrasts
after the phonetic description.
o]
which occurs only finally and [
o]
which occurs only medially. They have not been given phonemic
status in this analysis. A phonetic descriptiion follows.
s
]
‘sheath’
/zi
ph
]
‘lungs’ /
i]
consists of a glide from the central vowel [
]
to the front vowel [i] with the latter part of the unit being
the peak of sonority.
r
]
‘rain’
/t
]
‘clothing’
/pf
always realised as [yo] consists of a tongue movement from [i]
to [o].
] ‘son’
/ni
] ‘to be lame’ /ph
always realised as [yo] has the tongue moving from the position
for [e] to [o]
b
o] is a
back vowel unit wherein the glide is from the vowel [u] to the
lower position of [o] the latter being the syllabic peak.
]
‘navel’ /
]
‘help’ /khru
u]
another back vowel unit is the exact reverse of [
]
‘shoe’
/ph
pf
]
‘to carry on back’ /to
‘bow’
ly
‘this’
h
‘sugarcane’
‘to tie’
