| |
[ u .gif) ] |
/zuso/ |
`cake’ |
| |
[^pu] |
/apuzó/ |
`urine’ |
| [o] |
[opu] |
opu/ |
`your
father’ |
| |
[wosu] |
/wosu/ |
`tie
inside’ |
| |
[bo a] |
/botha/ |
`surrond’ |
| |
[wo] |
/wo/ |
`go(towards
home)’ |
| |
[bo] |
/bo/ |
`stump’ |
| |
['.gif) ] |
/só/ |
`planting
saplings(v)’ |
| |
[] |
/so/ |
`hard’ |
| |
[] |
/so/ |
`drinking
water’ |
|
|
| /u/.
It is a close back rounded vowel. It does not have any perceptible
positional variants. It does not occur in word-initial position. Given
below are a few words to illustrate the occurrence of this phoneme.
|
| [u] |
[khursķ] |
/khursķ/ |
`horse’ |
| |
[ukhe] |
/zukhe/ |
`watch(v)’ |
| |
[ku] |
/kuso/ |
`meet’ |
| |
[kukhł] |
/kukhł/ |
`knock’ |
| |
[qhu] |
/qhu/ |
`love’ |
| |
[i ł] |
/ił/ |
`swell’ |
| |
[iu] |
/iu/ |
`my
uncle’ |
| |
[ił] |
/ił/ |
`drowsy’ |
|
|
/ /.
It is a close central unrounded vowel. It has three positional variants.
These are: |
| (i)
()
occurs in word-medial positional in the second syllable, if the word
begins with a vowel, otherwise it occurs only in the first syllable.
|
(ii)
( ), a slightly
more open vowel, than (µ), occurs after a fricative or affricate in
positions except where [ö] occurs, and |
| (iii)
(w) a close back unrounded vowel, occurs elsewhere. |
| This
phoneme does not occur in word-initial position. Given below are a
few words for illustrating the occurrence of this phoneme. |
| () |
[zmk ] |
/zmk
$/ |
`coast’ |
| |
[z aa] |
/zphapha/ |
`waterfalls’ |
| |
[ckuÉho] |
/ckutho/ |
`dawn’ |
| |
[^tiu] |
/atiu/ |
`a
bird’ |
| |
[^kcµ] |
/akc/ |
`head’ |
| [w] |
[ ocr] |
/khocF/ |
`cricket’ |
| |
[^z] |
/az/ |
`water’ |
| |
[^s] |
/as/ |
`tree’ |
| |
[l] |
/l/ |
`hot’ |
| |
[k w] |
/kth/ |
`three’ |
| |
[cq] |
/cq
/ |
`grasp’ |
| |
[z] |
/z / |
`sleep’ |
| |
[wóz] |
/wóz/ |
`serve’ |
| |
[z] |
/z
/ |
`spin’ |
|
|
| 2.1.3.
Consonants |
|
There
are 20 consonantal phonemes in this language. On the basis of the
place and manner of articulation these consonants are grouped into
different classes of consonants. As far as the place of articulation
is concerned the consonants in Sema language show a four-way opposition.
These oppositions are, bilabial, dental, velar and post-velar. In
terms of the manner of articulation, the consonants show a six-way
opposition. These are:
|
| (i)
Complete and momentary oral and velic closure and sudden release
(stops), |
| (ii)
Complete and momentary oral and velic closure but gradual release
(affricates), |
| (iii)
Complete and momentary oral closure but with velic opening (nasals), |
| (iv)
Partial closure in the oral cavity (laterals), |
| (v)
Pnarrowing the air passage with the resultant audible friction
(fricatives), and |
| (vi)
Narrowing the air passage without leading to audible friction (approximants). |
The
veil closure occurs with all consonants, except the nasals. In addition
to the six-way opposition in the manner of articulation mentioned
above, some classes of consonants show intra-class also. Though aspiration
is a relevant feature for the unvoiced phonemic zed as a sequence
of the concerned consonant and /h/.
|
