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1. Phonetic Description of Bhumij Sounds
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1.1
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Vowels:
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There are 20 vowel sounds in Bhumij. 4 are
nasalized vowels and are restrcited in distribution. There are no
rounded vowels among the front vowels. There is one unrounded
vowel among the back vowels, viz. Ã.
There are three central vowels, a, a:, ã. The decription of the
vowel sound is given below:
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[i], high front unrounded short vowel, is
produced by raising the front part of the tongue as high as
possible towards the hard palate. The tongue is tense and almost
closes the air passage. The soft palate is raised to block the
entry of air into the nasal passage. The vocal vibrate. The lips
are tense and spread.
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Examples:
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ina |
‘this’ |
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i Il |
‘star’ |
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i Il^n
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‘thickness’ |
in tea |
‘toy’ |
| ia:?k^jIni
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‘lier’ |
| arki |
‘liquor prepared out of a particular flower’ |
sI I¸i
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‘mosquiot’ |
| sIñgi |
‘sun’ |
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[I], lower high front unrounded short vowel, is
produced like the previous vowel [i] except the tongue height which is
slightly lower. The tongue and lips are lax.
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Examples:
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| nIl |
‘honey bee’ |
| jIma |
‘bail’ |
| čIju |
‘worm’ |
| jInIs |
‘thing’ |
| dIri |
‘stone’ |
| rImbIl |
‘cloud’ |
| hIrmhÃga
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‘step brother’ |
| thIñgn
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‘to stand’ |
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[i:] high front unrounded long vowel, is
produced same as the vowel [i] except the length.
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Examples:
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| si:r |
‘vein’ |
| ti:ya |
‘lamp’ |
ti: i
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‘tin’ |
 i:ni
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‘sugar’ |
| si:m |
‘chicken’ |
| si:i
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‘ladder’ |
| si:?t |
‘to cut’ |
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[e] highermind front unrounded short vowel, is produced
as this: the front part of the tongue is raised and the tongue height
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