Kipin/Phonology
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Contents
Kipin Phonology
Historical Development
Kikun
Kipin's ancestor, Kikun, is reconstructed to have the following consonant phonemes
| Bilabial | Alveolar | Palatal | Velar | Glottal | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Voiceless Stops | p | t | k | ||
| Voiced Stops | b | d | g | ||
| Nasals | m | n | ŋ | ||
| Fricatives | s | h | |||
| Approximants | w | r | j | ||
| Lateral | l |
and the following vowel phonemes
| Front | Central | Back | |
|---|---|---|---|
| High | i | u | |
| Low | a |
Syllable structure was CV[C], where the allowable codas were alveolar sonorants, ie any of /n/, /r/ or /l/.
Stress was allocated according to the following rules, in order of precedence
- Stress could not fall on the final syllable.
- Stress fell on a heavy syllable whenever possible.
- Stress fell as late in the word as possible, given the first two rules.
There was a vowel harmony system whereby a feature of the stressed vowel spread to all other vowels in the word
| Underlying Vowel | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| i | a | u | ||
| Stressed Vowel | i | i | e | y |
| a | e | a | o | |
| u | y | o | u | |
The phoneme /h/ had an allophone [ɸ] before rounded vowels
Sound changes
The following sound changes are thought to have occurred between Kikun and Kipin
- Breaking of [y]
- y ⇒ wi
- Labialisation of velars
- kw ⇒ p
- gw ⇒ b
- ŋw ⇒ m
- Loss of w after ɸ
- w ⇒ ∅ / ɸ_
- Assimilation of [h] to preceding alveolar sonorant
- h ⇒ z / [+sonorant]_
- r ⇒ ∅ / _z
- Loss of remaining [h]
- h ⇒ ∅
- Diphthongs
- ii ⇒ ji
- ie ⇒ je
- ei ⇒ ej
- ee ⇒ eː
- aa ⇒ aː
- Vocalisation of trapped semivowels
- j ⇒ i / {C,#}_C
- w ⇒ u {C,#}_C
- Palatalisation and velarisiation of laterals
- lj ⇒ ʎ
- lw ⇒ ɫ
- Palatalisation of alveolars
- tj ⇒ t͡ʃ
- dj ⇒ d͡ʒ
- nj ⇒ ɲ
- sj ⇒ ʃ
- zj ⇒ ʒ
- Assimilation of coda nasal
- n ⇒ m / _{p,b,n,ɸ,w}
- n ⇒ ŋ / _{k,g,ŋ,ɫ}
- n ⇒ ɲ / _{ʎ,ɲ}
- Epenthesis between long vowels
- ∅ ⇒ ɸ / {eː_eː,e_eː,eː_e aː_aː a_aː aː_a}
- Regularisation of stress
- Stress falls regularly on the penultimate syllable
Current Phonology
Consonants
| Bilabial | Alveolar | Postalveolar | Palatal | Velar | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Voiceless stops | p | t | k | ||
| Voiced stops | b | d | g | ||
| Voiceless affricate | t͡ʃ | ||||
| Voiced affricate | d͡ʒ | ||||
| Voiceless fricatives | ɸ | s | ʃ | ||
| Voiced fricatives | z | ʒ | |||
| Nasals | m | n | ɲ | ŋ | |
| Approximants | w | r | j | ||
| Laterals | l | ʎ | ɫ |
Vowels
| Front | Central | Back | |
|---|---|---|---|
| High | i | u | |
| Mid | e, eː | o | |
| Low | a, aː |
Syllable Structure
[C][{w,j}]V[{V,j}][C]
subject to the following restrictions
- w may not follow a velar, ɸ, n or l, and may not follow w or j word initally
- j may not follow an alveolar (except r), and may not follow w or j word initially
- Voiced fricatives may not occur word initally or after r
- ɸ may not preceed w, and may only preceded e or a if preceded by another vowel of the same quality, and at least one of the surrounding vowels is long.
- Coda consonants may be r, l, a nasal (n if word final, else homoorganic with the following consonant) or a glide if the following syllable also begins with a glide
Stress
Falls regularly on the penultimate syllable
