Witsuwit’en phonetics and phonology

LING 200Spring 2006

Announcements

• Correction to homework #2 (due Thurs in section)5. all6. (a)-(g), (j)(rest of assignment remains the same)

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Reminder

• Quiz on Ch. 7 (Phonology) is now open, closes Wed. noon

Organization

1. The Witsuwit’en language and Athabaskan family

2. Witsuwit’en phonetics3. Witsuwit’en phonology

Witsuwit’en• apx. 180 speakers• a dialect of the

Witsuwit’en-Babine language

• Athabaskan familyB

ulkley River B

abine Lake

New Hazelton

Smithers

Telkwa

Takla Lake

Houston

BromanLake

Fran ois Lake

Ootsa LakeTahtsa Lake

Grassy PlainsMor

ice L

ake

Whitesail Lake

Fort Babine

Burns Lake

Babine River

Morice River

Kispiox River

Riv

er

Takla Landing

MoricetownSkeena

Bear Lake

•variant spellings: Athapaskan, Athabascan, Athapascan

•about 37 lgs in this family

•estimated time-depth: 2500 years

Athabaskanfamily

Tlingit

Eyak

Witsuwit’en

Navajo

Tsek’ene

Na-Dene

Tlingit Proto-Athabaskan-Eyak

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 []

uh-oh

Hawaii (Hawai’i)

button

important

[o]

[hwaji]

[bn]

[mprnt]

stop made at the glottis: vocal cords brought together so no air can pass through the glottis

[] in Witsuwit’en

• [pe] ‘dried fish’• [en] ‘he, she’• [sompi] ‘no one’• [c’teni] ‘legend’

Some Witsuwit’en soundsEjective stops and affricates: transcribed [C’]

How to make a (canonical) velar ejective:

0. Make a velar stop.

Make a glottal stop.

Time (s)0 0.898937

-0.3981

0.2645

0

Ejective affricates• [ts’] = ejective alveolar affricate

– [pts’q] ‘his little finger’• Compare [ts] = voiceless alveolar affricate

– [ptsq] ‘his outer ear’• Waveforms: (waveform = acoustic graph of energy x time)

Time (s)0 0.785312

-0.3981

0.3173

0

[p t s ’ q] [p t s q]

Ejective stops• [t’] = ejective alveolar stop

– [nt’q] ‘your collarbone’• Compare [t] = voiceless alveolar stop

– [ntq] ‘up’

Time (s)0 0.939937

-0.3981

0.2634

0

Time (s)0 0.907

-0.3981

0.282

0

[n t ’ q] [n t q]

Uvular place of articulation

Uvular place of articulation•[q] = voiceless uvular stop

–[qis] ‘Chinook salmon’

–[q] ‘rabbit’

–[ntq] ‘up’

•[qh] = voiceless aspirated uvular stop

–[qh] ‘footwear’

•[q’] = voiceless uvular ejective (stop)

–[q’] ‘backwards’

•[] = voiceless uvular fricative

–[] ‘grease’

•[] = (voiced) uvular approximant

–[ptene] ‘he’s cooking’

Palatal place of articulation

Palatal place of articulation• [c] = voiceless palatal stop

– [cs] ‘hook’– [nece] ‘it healed’– [wecths] ‘I’m not strong’

• [ch] = voiceless aspirated palatal stop– [chs] ‘down feather’

• [c’] = palatal ejective (stop)– [c’thj] ‘gun’

• [ç] = voiceless palatal fricative– [lzthç] ‘knife’– [nteç] ‘he’s dancing’

• [j] = (voiced) palatal glide

Labio-velar place of articulation

• [kw] = voiceless labio-velar stop– [kwe] ‘bag’

• [kwh] = voiceless aspirated labio-velar stop– [kwhn] ‘fire’

• [kw’] = labio-velar ejective (stop)– [kw’is] (personal name)– [kw’sl] ‘bead’

• [xw] = voiceless labio-velar fricative– [xws] ‘thorn’

• [w] = (voiced) labio-velar glide– [nws] ‘soapberry’

Labio-velar place of articulation

Lateral fricative and affricates• [l] = (voiced) lateral approximant

– [lzthç] ‘knife’• [] = voiceless lateral fricative

– [jl] ‘it’s white; goat (lit. ‘that which is white’)’• [t] = voiceless lateral affricate

– [stet] ‘it’s licking me’• [th] = voiceless aspirated lateral affricate

– [ncths] ‘I’m kneading it’• [t’] = ejective lateral affricate

– [st’et] ‘he farted’

Witsuwit’en consonant chart

llateral

wjapproximants

nmnasals

lateral

hxwçs zfricatives

t th t’lateral

ts tsh ts’affricates

q qh q’kw kwh kw’c ch c’t th t’p p’stops

glottaluvularlabio-velarpalatalalveolarlabial

Witsuwit’en vowels

lower-mid

higher-mid

ælow

oemiduihigh

roundedunroundedunrounded

backcentralfront

Further details about Witsuwit’en sounds

• [tz] ‘driftwood’• [thz] ‘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. [thz] ‘cane’ [tz] ‘driftwood’– Relatively less detail: broad transcription

• e.g. [thz] ‘cane’ [tz] ‘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• Predictable, rule-like information

– e.g. in Witsuwit’en, schwa is pronounced as a lower-mid central vowel (in one context)

– this kind of information represented in grammar

a phonological rule

Broadest transcription

• Represents only unpredictable information

• Phonemic representation: /thz/phonological rules

e.g. lower vowel phonetic representation [thz]

• 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 []

after voiceless aspirated stops, ejective stops, or voiceless fricatives.

context of phonological rule

Context for // Lowering

glottaluvularlabio-velarpalatalalveolarlabial

lateralhxwçsfricatives

th t’lateraltsh ts’affricates

qh q’kwh kw’ch c’th t’p’stops

After any of:

Distribution of [], [] in Witsuwit’en• [] occurs after

• [] occurs after

hxwçs

th t’tsh ts’

qh q’kwh kw’ch c’th t’p’

wj

nml

ztts

qkwctp

Distribution of [], [] in Witsuwit’en

All the places // can occur in Witsuwit’en t__

m__ th__

p__ __

l__ xw__

z__ __

s__

e.g. [tz], [mn], [pn], [plt], [pzz]

e.g. [thz], [z], [xws], [t], [ss]

etc.

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 [] in the same context that // lowers to []

Inventory of Witsuwit’en vowel phones

lower-mid

higher-mid

ælowoemiduihigh

roundedunroundedunrounded

backcentralfront

Sounds which are not in complementary distribution

• Contrast, i.e. occur in the same context– [] vs. [l]

• [] ‘dam’• [l] ‘conifer’

– [s] vs. [z]• [c’zs] ‘bag, case’• [c’zz] ‘hide, skin’

– [m] vs. [p]• [mn] ‘roof’• [pn] ‘lake’

Applied phonology

• The Witsuwit’en writing system represents the phonemes, not all of the phonetic sounds– Designed by a missionary in the

70s for use on a typewriter– Revised 1993 (by your

professor)

Word list transcribed (broadly)

phonetic orthographic‘driftwood’ [tz] <diz>‘cane’ [thz] <tiz>‘footwear’ [qh] <kë>‘grease’ [] <khë>‘straight up’ [ntq] <ndik>‘your collarbone’ [nt’q] <nt’ik>

More detail

• As transcribed on a previous slide,– [cs] ‘hook’– [chs] ‘down feather’

• Why not– [cs] ‘hook’– [chs] ‘down feather’

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

Phonetics vs. phonology

how do sounds form patterns, classes?

what are articulatory, acoustic, perceptible properties?

sounds

what is contrastive?how is a particular contrast realized?

contrast

detail is predicted by rule system

explicitly representedphonetic detail

must be broad, streamlined

narrower okaytranscription

phonologyphonetics