Opposition
in the word-initial position :/i,e, ,a,u,o/.
|
(a) iman
‘so much’ |
ene
‘for nothing’
(with a verb in the
positive) |
niba
‘to bring’ |
anand
‘happiness’ |
unotinoha
‘despair’ |
onchal
‘area’ |
|
|
|
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|
|
(b) ikilokye
‘together’ |
eku
‘for nothing’
(with a verb in the
negative |
ka
‘again’ |
akas
‘sky’ |
ukha
‘breadth’ |
okhuni
‘louse’ |
|
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Opposition in the word-medial position :
|
(a) kirokm
‘how much’ |
kele
‘why’ |
kli
‘yesterday’ |
kala
‘black’ |
kukaboral
‘blackbee’ |
kol
‘banana’ |
|
|
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|
|
(b) mikuri
‘cat’ |
mekele
‘girl’s dhoti’ |
mcr
‘mosquito’ |
maki
‘fly’ |
mukosta
‘poetry’ |
mokura
‘spider’ |
|
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Opposition in the word-final position:
/i,e,,a,u,o/.
|
(a) kli
‘yesterday’ |
kele
‘why’ |
b
‘grand mother’ |
kela
‘penis’ |
belu
‘sand’ |
niseto(aha)
‘(come) down’ |
|
|
|
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|
|
(b) gari
‘cart’ |
yate
‘here’ |
r
‘and’ |
bera
‘fence’ |
ru
‘again’ |
baro
‘twelve’ |
|
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A description of the individual vowels follows.
|
/i/,
the front half-close unrounded vowel, has a positional variant [Iv]
occurring in closed syllables. [Iv] is
identical with [i], except for the height to which the tongue is
raised, i.e., in the production of the vowel [Iv]
the tongue is raised to a slightly lower height than the one
required for [i]. A few illustrative examples of these two vowels
are given below.
|
| [Iv] |
[tIvtye
pare] |
/titye pare/ |
‘that for’ |
|
[kuri mIsvtri] |
/kuri mistri/ |
‘carpenter’ |
| [i] |
[ikilovtri] |
/ikilokye/ |
‘together’ |
|
[niba] |
/niba/ |
‘to bring’ |
|
[mikuri] |
/mikuri/ |
‘cat’ |
|
/e/,
the front half-close unrounded short vowel, has
 as positional
variant occurring in closed syllables and after aspirated stops and
[e] occurring elsewhere. This vowel has no special limitations in its
occurrence.
|
| [e] |
[l ta] |
/leta/ |
‘naked’ |
|
[th] |
/the/ |
‘foot’ |
|
[khp ] |
/khepe/ |
‘trunk of
a tree’ |
| [e] |
[ejen] |
/ejen/ |
‘single’ |
|
[kesu] |
/kesu/ |
‘earthworm’ |
|
[yate] |
/yate/ |
‘here’ |
|
[la.he] |
/lahe/ |
‘slow’ |
|
|
|
|
|
//,
the central half-close unrounded short vowel, has three positional
variants. These are: w
a back close unrounded short from occurring in the word-final
position; [ ]
a short from of []
occurring in the closed syllables except the ones closed by the two
approximants and []
occurring elsewhere. This vowel has no special limitations in its
occurrence. Given below are a few illustrative examples of this
vowel.
|
| [] |
[bµ] |
/b/ |
‘grand
mother’ |
|
[rµ] |
/r/ |
‘and’ |
| [] |
[nrs] |
/nrs/ |
‘pineapple’ |
|
[tm] |
/etm/ |
‘very’ |
| [] |
[ma] |
/ma/ |
‘mother’ |
|
[kli] |
/purna/ |
‘old’ |
|
[k ]
|
/kw/
|
‘again’
|
|
