| Laterals
|
| Sema
has only one lateral phoneme. Given below is a description of this
lateral. |
| /l/.
It is a voiced dental lateral. Voicing, however, is not a relevant
feature. It does not have any positional variant. It does not occur
in the word-final position. Given below are a few words showing the
occurrence of this phoneme. |
| [l] |
[le] |
/le/ |
`attack’ |
| |
[lhe] |
/lhe/ |
`relate’ |
| |
[lo] |
/lo/ |
`occasion’ |
| |
[lho] |
/lho/ |
`create’ |
| |
[lµ] |
/lö/ |
`hot’ |
| |
[^lą] |
/alą/ |
`path’ |
| |
[^tha] |
/alha/ |
`a
fold’ |
| |
[^li] |
/ali/ |
`male
pig’ |
| |
[^thi] |
/alhi/ |
`business
deal’ |
| |
[^lhu] |
/alhu/ |
`a
flea’ |
|
|
| Approximants
|
| There
are two approximants in Sema. One of them, viz., /w/ is bilabial and
the other viz. /y/ is palatal. The phones [w] and [y] occur in mutually
exclusive environments, which enables them to be clubbed together
to form a single phoneme. This is not done because they are not phonetically
similar. Instead [v] which is in multiple complementation with [w]
and [f] is made a positional variant of [w] keeping /f/ and /y/ as
phonemes having defective distribution. A reason for combining /w/
and /v/ is the consideration of a practical orthography. The present
script of Sema has symbols for w,v,f, and y. And it is observed that
in the writings of Sema scholars, w and v do not always represented.
On the other hand, f,w,y are kept distinctly. Hence f, w, y are given
phonemic status. /w, y/ are the only consonants that occur in the
word-final position. Given below is a description of the two approximates.
|
| /w/.
It is a voiced bilabial approximant. Voicing, however, is not a relevant
feature. It has three psotional variants. These are: |
| (i)
[u9], a non-syllabic close rounded vowel, occurs in the word-medial
position before a back vowel and in the word-final position. Incidentally
[u9] is the second element of a *mplex nucleus and |
| (ii)
[v]; a labio-dental fricative which occurs before central
and front vowels, and |
| (iii)
[w] occurs in word-initial position before a back vowel.
Given below are a few words to illustrate the occurrence of this phoneme.
|
[ ] |
[ao] |
/awo/ |
`pig’ |
| |
[au] |
/awu/ |
`hen’ |
| |
[ixą] |
/ixąw/ |
`disperse’ |
| [v] |
[vile] |
/wile/ |
`pierce’ |
| |
[ve] |
/we/ |
`stone’ |
| |
[ava] |
/awa/ |
`bear’ |
| |
[avil] |
/awi/ |
`mithun’ |
| [w] |
[wo] |
/wo/ |
`go
(towards home)’ |
| |
[wś] |
/wś/ |
`go
(away from home)’ |
| |
[wótha] |
/wótha/ |
`spoil
by burning etc.,’ |
|
|
/y/.
It is a voiced palatal approximant. Voicing, however, is not a relevant
feature. [ ],
a close front unrounded non-syllabic vowel, occurs as a positional
variant of /y/, after a vowel and before a consonant and also in the
word-final position. This is the only phoneme occurring in the palatal
region. Hence for the sake of pattern congruity in the phonemic chart,
it is grouped with the velar series. Given below are a few words to
illustrate the occurrence of this phoneme. |
[ ] |
[ kś] |
/aykś/ |
`hip’ |
| |
[khś] |
/aykhś/ |
`egg’ |
| |
[^xai9] |
/axay/ |
`dry’ |
| [y] |
[ye] |
/ye/ |
`drink’ |
| |
[yč] |
/yč/ |
`shine’ |
| |
[yi] |
/yi/ |
`pinch’ |
| |
[^ye] |
/aye/ |
`eatable
leaf’ |
| |
[^yč] |
/ayč/ |
`relation’ |
|
|
| An
attempt was made in this chapter to give an account of the phonemes,
their positional variants and their distribution. |
