| A
long vowel (i.e., cluster of two indentical vowels) may frequently
be clustered with another single vowel or a diphthong, so that in
the latter case we find four vowels together, e.g., [gaaui] ‘to
beckon’ or [laai] ‘stomach’. |
| Occurrence of double
vowel very well contrasts with single vowel in pre-glottalisatised
positions as in [la?] ‘wood pared with an adze’ as comparted
to [laa?] ‘samething is excess’. Few more examples of this
kind will not only be of interst, but also be helpful for a foreign
learner in identifying the actual sound e.g., [boo?] ‘head’,
[noa?] ‘now’, [oo?] ‘cry of the cattle’ and so
on. The latter vowel in all these examples are short and tense, which
could not have been thus explained like any other compound vowel in
such situation had these doublings been interpreted as a signle long
vowels since [bo:?] etc., could have been in contradiction to the
phonectic fact of short vowel preceding the glottalized sound (§1.9). |
| 1.10.3
Diphthongization and its restrictions: |
| Thirteen diphthongs
which include the twelve clusters enumerated in §1.10.1
and the post vacalic [io] make up the total number of vowel clusters
but they do have contextual variatins. Again, nasal diphthongs as
well as triphthongs with y and w- glides have already been discussed.
Hence, it is intended to indicate the restrictions limiting the formation
of a diphthong. |
| As a general rule,
only two vowels occurring together and the letter two occurring in
sequence of three or more vowels form a diphthong comprising one peak
in which one of the vowels becomes non-syllabic and consonantal with
the restrictions that if the final consonant is a glottal stop or
even a pre-glottalized [?b] or [?d], the two vowels immediately preceding
the stop will lie in separate syllables and will not form a diphthong,
as in /kead/. |
| 1.11.
Consonant clusters: |
| No consonant cluster
occurs either initially or finally, in a word. |
| Medially,
the following cluster occur, (the clustered [·]
has been indicated by [·]: |
|
clusters
|
|
Examples
|
n
|
:
aned
|
‘to
exhaust’
|
 k
|
:
akir
|
‘permission
to pass the night in a house'
|
r
|
:
arom
|
‘inserted
bamboo in the lower part of the ear’
|
|
rs
|
: arsal
|
‘to
search with the aid of a light’
|
 k
|
:
akar
|
‘to
feel’
|
|
lp
|
: alpu
|
‘wave’
|
|
kl
|
: bakla?
|
‘bark
of a tree’
|
|
rl
|
: barala
|
‘name
of a kili or clan’
|
|
dl
|
: kudlam
|
‘a
hoe either imported or forged’
|
g
|
:
caNga a
|
‘a
tear in cloth’
|
m
|
:
camul
|
‘a
loud splash of some heavy object falling in water’
|
|
nd
|
: landa
|
‘to
laugh’
|
|
rd
|
: arda
|
‘an
unsuccessfully castrated make bird’
|
|
rp
|
: arpur
|
‘abundance
of food ordrink’
|
|
rt
|
: arta
|
‘neglected
light of sun or moon’
|
l
|
|
‘(things)
put in disorder’
|
k
|
:
baki
|
‘an
enclosure’
|
|
rk
|
: barkad
|
‘theinner
hard wood of tree’
|
|
rg
|
: borgoļo
|
‘to
dry up’
|
|
dr
|
: cadra
|
‘bald-headed’
|
|
md
|
: camdaa
?
|
‘unevenness
of soil’
|
|
mg
|
: camgar
|
‘a
plant’
|
|
mk
|
: camkarulin
|
‘to
go about like one whodoes not know whichway to turn’
|
m
|
:
camai
|
‘meagre
and hard (soil)’
|
n
|
:
cana
|
‘manner
of stepping’
|
s
|
:
dasi
|
‘to
climb on a tree and shake down the fruits’
|
r
|
:
durapa
|
‘a
cyst’
|
|
mt
|
: imta
|
‘then,
at that time’
|
|
|
/ ba
