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2.PHONOLOGY
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The chapter on phonology has three major sections, viz., Phonemes,
Phonotactics and syllabic pattern. While the section on phonemes
discusses the setting up of the phonemes, their sub classification,
distribution etc., the section on phonotactics and syllabic patterns
discusses respectively the sequence of phonemes and the types of
syllable that occur in this language. Beginning with the section of
phonemes, a detailed discussion of each of these sections follows.
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(a) Phonemes
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A total of 28 phonemes including 6 vowels and 22 consonants are set
up in this language. These are listed below.
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Vowels |
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Consonants |
| i |
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u |
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p |
t |
c |
k |
| e |
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o |
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b |
d |
j |
g |
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a |
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ph |
th |
ch |
kh |
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m |
n |
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n. |
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s |
s. |
h |
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i |
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w |
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y |
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The vowels and the consonants listed above were set up on the basis
of the availability of minimal pairs (and in a few instances
sub minimal pairs) and are classified on the basis of the manner and
the place of articulation. Beginning with the vowels, a brief
discussion of these follows.
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Vowels :
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General statement- As mentioned above, there are six vowels in this
language. All the six vowels are oral ones, i.e., in the the
production of these vowels no part of the outgoing airstreams is
released through the nasal cavity1 rather the
entire airstreams passes through the mouth. All the vowels are voiced
and the tone is not a phonemic feature2.
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1The SL has at the phonemic level a nassalized
vowel, viz., ā
in opposition to a, an oral vowel.
2All the Naga languages have 3 to 5 tonnes
at the phonemic level. Therefore the reflexes of MT habits can be
heard in the Naga Pidgin of the different groups of Nagas, but not
discussed here as these reflexes are non-significant.
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The vowels in this language can be classified
on two axes, viz., on the vertical and horizontal axes. On the
vertical axis, the tongue could be raised from the floor to the roof
of the mouth, and on the horizontal axis any part of the tongue from
the front to the back could be raised for producing a vowel. And as
far as the vowels in this language are concerned three positions can
be set up in each of these axes, i.e., on the vertical axis : open
a., half-close e, o and close i, u and on the horizontal axis :
front e, i, centre a,
and back o, u. The vowels that are produced with the tongue raised
to the open, half-close and close positions are known respectively
as open, half-close and close vowels and when the front, central and
back part of the tongue is raised in producing a vowel, the vowel is
known respectively as front, central and back vowel. In addition to
these two axes, the vowels could also be classified on the basis of
i.e., the lips could either be in the neutral or protruded position.
And the vowels produced with the lips in these position are known
respectively as unrounded or rounded vowels. As far as this language
is concerned, the position of the lips at the time of the release is
correlated with the part of the tongue that is raised, i.e., lips
are protruded when the back part of the tongue is raised and the
lips are spread when the centre and the front part of the tongue are
raised. Thus, the lip rounding/unrounding is a redundant feature
with the vowels in this language. At the phonetic level, there are a
few diphthongs (complex nuclei). In the production of these
complex and off-set points are at perceptibly different points, in
that it is characterized by the onset from one vowel position and a
glide to are of falling types, in that the onset point is
invariably a vowel position. These diphthongs, however, like a
simple vowel occur in a single chest pulse but their glide element
checks the accompanying vowel in a consonantal manner. Therefore, at
the phonemic level, the diphthongs (complex nuclei) in this language
are treated as a sequence of a vowel plus an approximant. None of
the vowels has any special limitations in its distribution.
In the absence of minimal pairs for all the vowels, the
opposition amongst the six vowels listed above are illustrated with
two sets of sub-minimal pairs, showing their occurrence at the
word-initial, wor-medial and word-final positions.
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