Witsuwiten phonetics and phonology LING 200 Spring 2006

Witsuwit’en phonetics and phonology LING 200 Spring 2006

Announcements and reminders

Witsuwit’en • apx. 180 speakers • a dialect of the Witsuwit’en-Babine language • Athabaskan family

Athabaskan family Eyak Tsek’ene Tlingit Witsuwit’en • variant spellings: Athapaskan, Athabascan, Athapascan • about 37 lgs in this family Navajo • estimated timedepth: 2500 years

Na-Dene Tlingit Proto-Athabaskan-Eyak Proto-Athabaskan CAY S. AK Tset CBC PCA NW Can Sar Apachean Deg Xinag Witsuwit’en Tsek’ene CAY = Central Alaska-Yukon; S. AK = S. Alaska; Tset = Tsetsaut, CBC = Central BC, PCA = Pacific Coast Athabaskan; NW Can = NW Canada; Sar = Sarcee

Some Witsuwit’en speakers Mabel Forsythe Lillian Morris, Peter John

A Witsuwit’en text • Lillian and Mabel talking together – 2: 39 conversation – recorded 1997 – some background noise – what unfamiliar sounds do you hear?

Glottal stop [ ] stop made at the glottis: vocal cords brought together so no air can pass through the glottis uh-oh [ o] Hawai’i [h waj i] button [b n] important [Imp r nt]

[ ] in Witsuwit’en • • [pe ] ‘dried fish’ [ en] ‘he, she’ [so mpi] ‘no one’ [c’ te ni] ‘legend’

Some Witsuwit’en sounds Ejective stops and affricates: transcribed [C’] How to make a (canonical) velar ejective: 0. Make a velar stop. Make a glottal stop.

Ejective affricates • [ts’] = ejective alveolar affricate – [p ts’ q] ‘his little finger’ • Compare [ts] = voiceless alveolar affricate – [p ts q] ‘his outer ear’ • Waveforms: (waveform = acoustic graph of energy x time) [p q] t s’ q] [p t s

Ejective stops • [t’] = ejective alveolar stop – [nt’ q] ‘your collarbone’ • Compare [t] = voiceless alveolar stop – [nt q] ‘up’ [n t ’ q] [n t q]

Uvular place of articulation

Uvular place of articulation • [q] = voiceless uvular stop –[qis] ‘Chinook salmon’ –[q ] ‘rabbit’ –[nt q] ‘up’ • [qh] = voiceless aspirated uvular stop –[qh. E] ‘footwear’ • [q’] = voiceless uvular ejective (stop) –[q’ ] ‘backwards’ • [ ] = voiceless uvular fricative –[ E] ‘grease’ • [ ] = (voiced) uvular approximant –[p t ene] ‘he’s cooking’

Palatal place of articulation

Palatal place of articulation • [c] = voiceless palatal stop – [c s] ‘hook’ – [nece] ‘it healed’ – [wec th s] ‘I’m not strong’ • [ch] = voiceless aspirated palatal stop – [ch s] ‘down feather’ • [c’] = palatal ejective (stop) – [c’ th j] ‘gun’ • [ç] = voiceless palatal fricative – [l zth ç] ‘knife’ – [n teç] ‘he’s dancing’ • [j] = (voiced) palatal glide

Labio-velar place of articulation

Labio-velar place of articulation • [kw] = voiceless labio-velar stop – [kwe ] ‘bag’ • [kwh] = voiceless aspirated labio-velar stop – [kwh n] ‘fire’ • [kw’] = labio-velar ejective (stop) – [kw’is] (personal name) – [kw’ s l] ‘bead’ • [xw] = voiceless labio-velar fricative – [xw s] ‘thorn’ • [w] = (voiced) labio-velar glide – [n w s] ‘soapberry’

Lateral fricative and affricates • [l] = (voiced) lateral approximant – [l zth ç] ‘knife’ • [ ] = voiceless lateral fricative – [ j l] ‘it’s white; goat (lit. ‘that which is white’)’ • [t ] = voiceless lateral affricate – [s t et] ‘it’s licking me’ • [t h] = voiceless aspirated lateral affricate – [n c t h s] ‘I’m kneading it’ • [t ’] = ejective lateral affricate – [s t ’et] ‘he farted’

Witsuwit’en consonant chart labial stops p p’ t th t’ affricates t t h t ’ sz fricatives lateral labio-velar uvular c ch c’ kw kwh kw’ q qh q’ ç xw j w m n approxim ants lateral palatal glottal ts tsh ts’ lateral nasals alveolar l h

Witsuwit’en vowels front central unrounded high mid higher-mid low i e E æ back rounded u o

Further details about Witsuwit’en sounds • [t z] ‘driftwood’ • [th z] ‘cane’ • Why wasn’t [ ] listed in the vowel inventory for Witsuwit’en? – Answer: [ ] is a predictable detail about the pronunciation of Witsuwit’en, and predictable information is usually omitted.

Broad vs. narrow transcription • A transcription can vary in the amount of phonetic detail included – Relatively a lot of detail: narrow transcription • e. g. [th z] ‘cane’ [t z] ‘driftwood’ – Relatively less detail: broad transcription • e. g. [th z] ‘cane’ [t z] ‘driftwood’ • When should [ ] be included in a transcription of Witsuwit’en?

Languages contain predictable vs. unpredictable information • Unpredictable, list-like information – this kind of information represented in dictionary a phonological • Predictable, rule-like information rule – e. g. in Witsuwit’en, schwa is pronounced as a lower-mid central vowel (in one context) – this kind of information represented in grammar

Broadest transcription • Represents only unpredictable information • Phonemic representation: /th z/ phonological rules e. g. lower vowel phonetic representation [th z] • Phonemes: the elements of a phonemic representation (enclosed in slash brackets)

When to use broad vs. narrow transcription? • Typically, transcription is as broad as possible – Symbols in consonant, vowel charts are phonemes • In Witsuwit’en, [ ] would be transcribed only in a phonetic study of vowel quality (e. g. Ch. 4 of Hargus (to appear))

/ / Lowering In Witsuwit’en, [ ] is pronounced [ ] context of phonological rule after voiceless aspirated stops, ejective stops, or voiceless fricatives.

Context for / / Lowering After any of: labial stops affricates lateral fricatives lateral alveolar p’ th t’ tsh ts’ t h t ’ s palatal labio-velar uvular ch c’ kwh kw’ qh q’ ç xw h

Distribution of [ ], [ ] in Witsuwit’en • [ ] occurs after p t c kw q j w ch c’ kwh kw’ qh q’ ç xw h ts t z m n l • [ ] occurs after p’ th t’ tsh ts’ t h t ’ s

Distribution of [ ], [ ] in Witsuwit’en All the places / / can occur in Witsuwit’en e. g. [t z], [m n], [p l t], [p z z] t__ m__ th__ __ p__ l__ xw__ __ z__ s__ e. g. [th z], [xw s], [ t], [s s]

Distribution of [ ], [ ] in Witsuwit’en • The distribution of [ ] complements that of [ ]. • Or, [ ] and [ ] are in complementary distribution. • Only the basic member of a set of sounds which are in complementary distribution is considered phonemic (appears in vowel chart, etc. ).

Which of [ ], [ ] is more basic? • Which of the contexts is “simpler”? e. g. reduces to natural class of sounds or single position within word – rule applies in simpler context • (not easy to tell in this case from just the information provided so far; other facts suggest that [ ] is derived from / /)

Summing up [ ], [ ] in Witsuwit’en • these vowel phones in complementary distribution • [ ] derived by lowering rule • Post-script – /o/ lowers to [ ] and /æ/ retracts to [A] in the same context that / / lowers to [ ]

Inventory of Witsuwit’en vowel phones front central unrounded high mid higher-mid low i e E æ A back rounded u o

Sounds which are not in complementary distribution • Contrast, i. e. occur in the same context – [ ] vs. [l] • [ ] ‘dam’ • [ l] ‘conifer’ – [s] vs. [z] • [c’ z s] ‘bag, case’ • [c’ z z] ‘hide, skin’ – [m] vs. [p] • [m n] ‘roof’ • [p n] ‘lake’

Applied phonology • The Witsuwit’en writing system represents the phonemes, not all of the phonetic sounds – Designed by a missionary in the 70 s for use on a typewriter – Revised 1993 (by your professor)

Word list transcribed (broadly) phonetic ‘driftwood’ [t z] ‘cane’ [th z] ‘footwear’ [qh. E] ‘grease’ [ E] ‘straight up’ [nt q] ‘your collarbone’ [nt’ q] orthographic <diz> <tiz> <kë> <khë> <ndik> <nt’ik>

Summary • Phonetic transcription typically as streamlined as possible • Predictable, rule-governed details are omitted • Distribution is a major clue as to predictability • Languages differ in – inventories of contrastive sounds – rules for pronunciation of sounds