Chapter 10

Exercises:

1.  Wambule, a language spoken in Nepal, has both velar [ŋ] and palatal [ɲ]. Do they belong to different phonemes, or are they allophones of the same phoneme? Argue for your answer. (The data abstracts away from predictable vowel reduction)

ŋaba / scent
ŋwaso / fish
ŋai / form/shape
ŋalcam / wilt
ŋari / sprout
siŋ / wood
ɲebe / term of endearment for a wife
ɲewa / term of endearment for a husband
ɲiccam / be afraid
ɲircam / to roar
ɲepsama / name of a deity
-ɲi / agreement marker:
2 person agent, 1 person patient
ɲjaldwaŋ / infant (unable to sit up)
asjaŋo / why
maŋ / now
luŋ / stone
-ŋu / first person sg agreement marker
-ŋo / ablative marker
tiŋoja / copula ("to be" meaning identification)
ciŋcam / Fracture
tjuŋbap / Bedbug
saŋra / goat

Source: Opgenort, Jean Robert. A Grammar of Wambule, 2004, Brill, Boston

2. Abma is a language spoken in Vanuatu. Examine the distribution of [t] and [ʦ] in this language. Do the stop and affricate represent two different phonemes, or are they allophones of a single phoneme? Argue for your answer.

baʦuka / tree
dalekte / language
stail / style
tarak / car
wataŋ / basket
katraba / forest
niʦun / child
bamte / die
temamamdidi / cold
aʦi / someone
baʦuku ketab / door stop
kastom / custom
tan / ground
ʦukun / back side
wulŋan teh / horizon
gelatŋi / nettle tree
nokokte / body
botwot / disperse
viʦin / his stone

Schneider, Cynthia. 2010. A Grammar of Abma: A Language of Pentecost Island, Vanuatu. Canberra: Pacific Linguistics. (Thanks to Nick Hoffman for bringing this dataset to my attention.)

3. Ezrya is a Uralic language spoken in the Republic of Mordovia, part of the Russian Federation. In Ezrya, alveolar consonants may be plain ([n, t, d, s, z, ʦ, l, r]) or palatalized ([nj, tj, dj, sj, zj, ʦj, lj, rj]. Is palatalization contrastive in Ezrya? Argue for your answer.

nom. sg. nom. pl.
moda modat earth
kudo kudot house
vasta vastat spouse
brat bratt brother
varaka varakat crow
bolota bolotat marsh
kaval kavalt eagle
dolg dolkt debt
kalmo kalmot grave
lov loft snow
virj virjtj forest
velje veljetj village
liʃme liʃmetj horse
vedj vetjtj water
kedj ketjtj hand
pitjnje pitjnjet j price
pejelj pejeljtj knife
lej lejtj river

Raun, Alo. 1964. Mordvin Manual. American Council of Learned Societies. (Thanks to Katie Seymour for brining this data to my attention.)