Folopa Phonology by Neil and Carol Anderson January 1995 Updated and edited 2009 Summer Institute of Linguistics Papua New Guinea Folopa Phonology 0. Introduction . .1 Phoneme description and distribution . .2 1.1 Consonants . 2 1.2 Vowels . .3 2. Nasalisation . .4 3. Stress and tone . .6 4. Syllable structure . 8 4.1 Vowel sequences . 8 4.2 Palatalisation and labialization . .12 5. Morphophonemics . 14 5.1 Introduction . 14 5.2 The Problem . .14 5.3 The Verb `do/say' . .15 5.4 Noun compounds . 16 5.5 Diectics and location . .16 5.6 Verb root initial position . .17 5.7 Conclusion . .17 Folopa Phonology1 0. Introduction The Folopa language is a Papuan language within the Teberan language family of the Trans- New Guinea phylum. It is spoken by approximately 2500 people who live from just north of the Erave river south to the Sirebi and Sireru Rivers extending down to the head water of the Aiowa River. On the west it is bounded roughly by Mt. Murray and on the east by Lake Tebera. 1. Phoneme description and distribution The phonemes of Folopa are given in Chart 1. Chart 1 p t k [ f~ф, p] [t, th] b d [b, p] [d, t, , l] s h m n l [ l , ] r [] w wh y [w] [w ] [j] 1 Oral Nasal i u į ų [i ] [ ĩ ] [ũ] e o ę ǫ [e ] [ ẽ ] [o ] é ó [ɛ] [ɔ] [ɛ ] [ɔ ] a [ ]2 1.1 Consonants In addition to the consonants indicated above, the phonetically labialised consonants [pu ku mu] also occur. The consonants /h/ /wh ([w ])/ occur only in the word initial position. The most phonologically complex and difficult to analyze sounds in Folopa concern the contrast between stops and flaps as is shown below. A further discussion of these is handled in the final section on Morphophonemics. The voiceless consonants /p t k/ and the voiced /b d/ occur in word initial positions. The contrast between /p/ and /b/, and /d/ and / t/ is neutralised in the intervocalic position. 1)a. /derepelepó/ [deɹe] + [pelepɔ] ‘go down’ b. /derépisikè/ [dɛe] + [bisikɛ] ‘scatter’ 2)a. /bukutiri/ [buku] + [dii] ‘knee’ b. /wutiki/ [wu] + [tiki] ‘worm’ The consonant /d/ also has allophones flapped [r l] which fluctuate intervocalically in a restricted environment. 3)a. /kapolu/ [kapo] + [du] ‘coin’ b. /kaporu/ [kapo] + [du] ‘coin’ As /r l/ are also phonemes in the language there is a problem distinguishing these allophones of /d/ from the /r l/ phonemes. The prediction of the /t/ allophone of /d/ presents a similar problem. All other consonants occur in word initial and intervocalic position. No consonants occur in word final position. The stops /p t k/ are unaspirated intervocalically. Word initially, /p/ fluctuates between [f] and 2 The phonetic symbol [] is correct, however the symbol [a] is used for convenience being roughly equivalent. 2 [ɸ], /t/ is aspirated [tʰ] and /k/ is unaspirated. 4)a. /pa.pa/ [ɸa. pa] ‘paternal aunt’ b. /ta.tapó/ [tʰa. tapɔ] ‘take hold’ c. /kaka.tapó/ [kaka.tapɔ] ‘writhe in pain’ The consonants /t d s n/ have a dental point of articulation. The flap /l/ has two allophones: nasalized [ɺ ] between nasal vowels and oral [ɺ] between oral 3 vowels. Acoustically, the nasal allophone is very close to [n]. 5) a. /d l / [dɔ ɺ ɔ ] ‘straight’ b. /dolo/ [doɺo] ‘hole’ c. /kįlįtap / [k l tapɔ] ‘dance’ d. /bilitapó/ [bilitapɔ] ‘cook’ One other consonantal phone, the laryngeal fricative [], occurs between geminate /a/ or /ą/ as shown in (6) 6) a. /naase/ [naase] ‘hand’ b. /kaae/ [kaae] ‘similar’ c. /naao/ [naao] ‘you’ d. /hąpįsąą/ [ha p sa a ] ‘mud’ e. /kąąè/ [ka a ɛ ] ‘bend’ In Anderson (1974:9) [] was analyzed as an allophone of /h/ since the phone [h] only occurs in word initial position. The resulting phoneme still has very restricted distribution, however, as it cannot occur adjacent to any vowel other than /a/ or /ą/. In this analysis, then, it seems more appropriate to consider it a phonetically predictable, similar to the glottal stop that occurs in many languages before word initial vowels. The sequence [aa] is common in Papuan languages and is often found to occur only with the open central vowel. 1.2 Vowels All vowels can occur initially, between consonants, and finally. The phonemes /i/ and /į/ have two allophones, [i] [į] and [ɪ] [ɪ ], which fluctuate in unstressed syllables. The allophones [i] [į] always occur in stressed syllables. The phoneme /é / ( [] ) does not occur initially except in the following example which shows contrast etween /e / ( [e] ) and / / [e ] ). 3 Initially it was transcribed as [n]. As more Folopa speakers have become literate, however, they have been able to differentiate between the two consistently. 3 7 a. / p / [ɛ pó] ‘yes’ . /ę/ [e ] ‘me’ The phoneme /e/ occurs initially, but fluctuates with [ɛ] in unstressed syllables in a similar manner to the phoneme /i/ mentioned above. Since most words with initial /e/ have a final stressed syllable the contrast between /e/ and /é/ is neutralized in the initial position. 8) a. /ero/ [ɛo] ‘buttox’ b. /eleke/ [ɛɺeke] ‘arrow’ c. /bérapó/ [bɛapɔ] ‘weak’ d. /beræ/ [bɛe ] ‘cicada’ 3. Nasalization Oral and nasal vowels contrast in non-nasal environments, as shown is (9-11). 9) a. /tu/ [tʰu] ‘betelnut’ b. /tù/ [tʰu] ‘path’ 10) a. /e/ [e] ‘tree species’ . /ę/ [e ] ‘me’ 11) a. /pó/ [fɔ] ‘whistle’ . /p / [fɔ ] ‘make a fence’ Adjacent to a nasal consonant, on the other hand, only nasal vowels occur. That is, the contrast between nasal and oral vowels is neutralized in favor of oral vowels, as shown in (12). 12) a. /déma/ [`dɛma ] ‘edge’ b. /ni/ [n ] ‘tree’ c. /nano/ [na no ] ‘later’ Nasalisation acts as a prosody in that it affects a sequence of segments as shown in (13-18). 13) a. /teo/ [tʰeo] ‘not finished’ b. /doi/ [doi] ‘louse’ 14) a. /wįyąǫse/ [u a o se] ‘don't fear’ b. /sį’yae/ [s a e ] ‘pull’ 15) a. /fopaarapó/ [ɸopaa’apɔ] ‘angry’ . /dąąi/ [da a ] ‘will hit’ 16) a. /kwąą/ [kùa a ] ‘joint’ . /kąąę/ [ka a e ] ‘ end’ 17) a. /biliyae/ [biɺiae] ‘cook’ b. /kelepaa/ [keɺepaa] ‘face’ 18) a. /ǫlą/ [o na ] ‘thing’ b. /kǫleǫ/ [ko ne o ] ‘good ye/hello’ 4 Thus, while sequences of oral vowels, as in (13), contrast with sequences of nasal vowels, as in (14), there are no sequences of oral mixed with nasal vowels. Similarly, both occurrences of [a] from the sequence /aa/ are either oral, as in (15), or nasal, as in (16). Finally, sequences of vowels and /l/ are either all oral, as in (17), or all nasal, as in (18). Since only nasal vowels can occur adjacent to nasal consonants, and sequences of vowels and /l/ always agree in nasality, sequences are always nasalized when adjacent to nasal consonants as shown in (19). 19) a. /mae/ [ ma e ] ‘what’ b. /hamwae/ [ha mu a e ] ‘hold carefully’ c. /aumó/ [ a u mo ] ‘at the decoration’ d. /naai/ [na `a ] ‘intend to eat’ The agreement in nasality outlined above has morphophonemic implications as seen in (20-22) 20) a. /mulapó/ [mu na ne pɔ] ‘have put’ b. /sukalepó/ [suka ne pó] ‘dead’ c. /daalalepó/ [daaɺaɺepó] ‘stood’ 21) a. /mulaalopó/ [mu na a no pɔ] ‘will put’ b. /sukaalopó [suka a no pɔ] ‘will die’ c. /daayaalopó/ [daayaalopɔ] ‘will stand’ 22) a. /wisirapó/ [wisiapɔ] ‘good’ b. /sukunapó/ [suku na pɔ] ‘dead’ c. /maanapó/ [ma a na pɔ] ‘contained’ In (20a-b) and (18a-b), the affixes /-alepó/ and /-aalopó/ become nasalized since the roots are nasalized. In (20c) and (21c), on the other hand, the affixes are oral since the root is oral. In (22a) the normal stative affix /-rapó/ affixed to the non-nasal root. In (19b-c) the affix becomes /-napó/ because of the nasal root. Vowels separated by an oral obstruent (including []) can, however, differ in nasality as shown in (23). 23) a. /hąki/ [hãki] ‘type of possum’ . /ątiɹi/ [a tii] ‘ lack salt’ c. /sękae/ [sɛka e ] ‘heavy’ d. /seraa/ [sɛa a ] ‘fat’ e. /asę/ [ase ] ‘draw’ In (a-b) the vowel is nasal at the beginning, but change to oral after /k/ and /t/. In (23c) the vowels are oral at the beginning, but change to nasal after /k/. Finally, in (23d-c) the vowels are oral before the /r/ and /s/ but nasal following /r s/. 5 3. Stress and tone Every noun contains one stress/tone syllable, usually in the word final position. Stress itself does not seem to be the most important consideration, but is more a result of emphasizing the particular word tone. The stress/tone syllable manifest either high (/), mid (-), or low (\) tone as shown in (24). 24) a. [ o ka ] ‘black bird’ . [ o ka ] ‘flying fox’ c. [ o ka ] ‘black type of soil’ In (24) it can also be noted that each item is colored black. Many sets of tone pairs are related in a similar way. In (25-27) notice that (a.) in each example carries a high tone and represents something that is found in a higher elevation in the real world. 25) a. [hɔ] ‘sugar cane’ b. [hɔ] ‘leg’ 26) a. [yia] ‘mosquito’ b. [yia] ‘fish’ 27) a. [hae] ‘mother’ b. [hae] ‘soil’ There are also numerous words which differ only in tone that are related semantically. It is thought that in the past words have developed from general terms to more specific words by changing the phonetic qualities of either the vowels, the consonants, or the tone patterns. Unstressed syllables either manifest a mid tone or the same tone as the stressed syllable.