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PHONOLOGY
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1.1.
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Kuvi has five short vowels of which two are front, two
are back and one is central. Each short vowel has a corresponding long
vowel. Hence the feature of length may be separated out as a distinctive
phoneme. Each short and long vowel has a nasalized counterpart. Thus,
regarding vowels, we may have five vowels and two co-occurring features,
viz., length and nasalisation. |
1.2.
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There are twenty-one consonants of which nine are
stops, two are affricates, one is a fricative, four are nasals, one is a
lateral, two are flaps and two are semi-vowels. The stops, except the
glottal stop, have voiced and voiceless varieties. All the consonants except
/ ?, h, r, r¥/ have corresponding
long ones which may be treated phonologically as geminates or cluster of
two identical consonants.
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1.3.
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The following is the inventory of Kuvi phonemes.
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| 1.3.1. |
Vowels : |
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Front |
Central |
Back |
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| High |
i |
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u |
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| Mid |
e |
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o |
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| low |
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a |
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1.3.2.
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Co-articulating features :
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| Length |
/ : / |
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| Nasalization |
/ ~ / |
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1.3.3.
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Consonants :
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Lab |
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Dent |
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Ret. |
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Alveo |
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Pal. |
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Vel. |
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Glot. |
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| Stop |
p |
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b |
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t d |
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ţ |
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k g |
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? |
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| Affricate |
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c j |
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| Fricative |
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s |
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| Nasal |
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m |
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n |
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ņ |
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ń |
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| Lateral |
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1 |
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| Flap |
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ŗ |
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r |
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| Semi-vowel |
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v |
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y |
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