| /h/.
It is an unvoiced glottal fricative. The aspiration occurring with
certain classes of consonants is considered as positional variant
of /h/. The aspiration occurs after the unvoiced stops, the affricate,
the nasals and the lateral. In other environments [h] occurs. This
phoneme does not occur in word-final position. Given below are a few
words to illustrative the occurrence of this phoneme. |
| [h] |
[h.gif) ] |
/ho/ |
`dig’ |
| |
[hi] |
/hi/ |
`take
out’ |
| |
[hu] |
/hu/ |
`go’ |
| |
[hś] |
/hś/ |
`hunt’ |
| |
[^huu] |
/ahuu/ |
`upper
side’ |
| |
[k ha] |
/köha/ |
`not
available’ |
| [h] |
[phi] |
/phi/ |
`read’ |
| |
[^phe] |
/aphe/ |
`lung’ |
| |
[thį] |
/tha/ |
`ignore’ |
| |
[kth
Ū] |
/kö¶h¶ö
Ū/ |
`three’ |
| |
[kha] |
/kha/ |
`shut’ |
| |
[qhu] |
/qhu/ |
`love’ |
| |
[^qho] |
/aqho/ |
`basket’ |
| |
[chw] |
/chö/ |
`tie’ |
| |
[^chamFa] |
/acamFa/ |
`handicraft’ |
| |
[mho] |
/mho/ |
`dull
weather’ |
| |
[^mhi] |
/amhi/ |
`feather’ |
| |
[nhu] |
/nhu/ |
`to
pull out from the root’ |
| |
[tho] |
/tho/ |
`create’ |
| |
[^thi] |
/athi/ |
`a
business deal’ |
|
|
| Voiced
Fricatives |
| Whereas
the unvoiced fricatives show a four-way opposition in the place of
articulation, the voiced fricatives show only a two-way opposition
in the place of articulation. The voiced fricatives available are:
the dental and velar ones. The labio-dental and the glottal fricatives
do not have their voiced counterparts. Given below is a description
of the individual voiced fricatives |
| /z/.
It is a voiced dental fricative. It has three positional variants.
There are: |
| (i)
[z&], a voiced palatal fricative which occurs before /u, i, e |
| (ii)
[j], a voiced palatal affricative which occurs before /o/, and |
| (iii)
[z] occurs before central vowels. |
| In
the production of [j], the contact between the mid of the tongue and
the hard palate is very minimal. It is, therefore, very difficult
and differentiate between [j] and [*] before /e/ and /i/. This phoneme
does not occur in the word-final position. Given below are a few words
to illustrate the occurrence of this phoneme. |
[ ] |
[e] |
/ze/ |
`sell’ |
| |
[] |
/zo/ |
`sweep’ |
| |
[z&ł] |
/zł/ |
`see’ |
| |
[^e] |
/aze/ |
`name’ |
| |
[^u] |
/azu/ |
`colour’ |
| [j] |
[loji] |
/lozi/ |
`feed’ |
| |
[^lojipu] |
/alojipu/ |
`a
girl friend boy’ |
| [z] |
[za] |
/za/ |
`speak’ |
| |
[z ] |
/z/ |
`sleep’ |
| |
[^z] |
/az/ |
`water’ |
| |
[khezą] |
/khezą/ |
`flirt’ |
|
|
| /F/.
It is a voiced velar fricative. It does not have any perceptible positional
variant. It does not occur in the word-final position. Given below
are a few words to illustrate the occurrence of this phoneme. |
[ ] |
[a] |
/a/ |
`expose’ |
| |
[] |
/o/ |
`wrap’ |
| |
[u] |
/u/ |
`rain’ |
| |
[] |
/i/ |
`laying
the foundation for weaving’ |
| |
[i] |
/i/ |
`also’ |
| |
[^a] |
/ai/ |
`jungle’ |
| |
[^i] |
/ai/ |
`bone’ |
| |
[^] |
/ao/ |
`write’ |
| |
[^u] |
/au/ |
`a
pulse of milet family’ |
|
|
