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Thrichian: Difference between revisions
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|aspirated || p<sup>h</sup> || páhtta || t<sup>h</sup> || tárėhpi || k<sup>h</sup> || kien | |aspirated || p<sup>h</sup> || páhtta || t<sup>h</sup> || tárėhpi || k<sup>h</sup> || kien | ||
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This table shows all the plosives in every Thrichian dialect. The Northern Dialect uses the half-voiced, velarized and aspirated ones, as well as the graded when they follow an unstressed vowel. The Southern Dialect uses the voiced, velarized and voiceless sets. Now, the same set of example words from the table are shown below in their dialectal pronunciations: | |||
''' Thrichian word - Hiannása - Kuhtása''' | |||
iriguban [ɪˈɾig̥ʊβan] [ɪˈɾigʊban] | |||
buor [b̥ʊɞɾ] [bʊɞɾ] | |||
bisavdu [b̥ɪˈsɒăvd̥ʊ] [bɪˈsaʊ̆vdʊ] | |||
bírea [pɣiːɾʲa] [pɣiːɾʲa] | |||
puonen [pʰʊɞnɛn] [pʊɞnɛn] | |||
páhtta [pʰɒăʰtːa] [paːʰtːa] | |||
This shows that in Hiannása, b, d, g have each 3 allophones and p, t, k have each 1 pronunciation. In Kuhtása, b, d, g have each 2 allophones and p, t, k have each 1 as well. | |||
Consonants in Thrichian can have several different pronunciations depending on their location and environment within a word. Broad pronunciations occur before a/o/u and slender pronunciations occur before e/i/ë and they can be either before ė. If the letter ė appears as a result of conjugation or noun declension, it assumes the slenderness or broadness of the vowel it was replacing. For verbs, that is usually a slender vowel; for nouns, that is usually a broad vowel. | |||
Slender pronunciations of consonants tend to follow one of two rules: either they are palatalized or velarized. When the consonants b, d, g are slender in stressed syllables, they become velarized, meaning the lips are pursed upon release and the tongue is drawn back to make a velar approximant. It is important to make the distinction between velarization, involving the back of the tongue and the lips, and labialization, involving only the lips. When n, l, s, z are slender, their place of articulation gets drawn backward in the mouth and becomes postalveolar (s > ʃ, z > ʒ) or palatal (n > ɲ, l > ʎ). Generally, slender consonants move backward in the mouth from their broad equivalents, due to the shape of the mouth when producing the close-front vowels ë, i and e. | |||
The slender/broad distinction extends beyond the boundaries of words. For example, most often the digraph mh can appear at the end of a word where it is usually pronounced [u] however, when the following word begins with i/e/ë it can be pronounced as [v] and before a voiceless consonant it can be [f / v̥]. | |||
Another example of environments extending beyond word boundaries is të mhė máhtė ná / tu máhtė ná? meaning do you love me? The IPA transcription for this phrase is [tu.ma:ht.na] The silent letter ė stands between the digraph mh and the consonant m, meaning they are treated as though they were together. Mh in mhė is pronounced [v] most of the time but since, phonetically, it appears before a consonant, its broad pronunciation is used. | |||
Switch Vowels, used to change the pronunciation of a consonant, appear in words like geahta [‘kɣahta]. We know the g is slender because an e comes after it to signify that it is. The e here is silent. Sometimes what can appear to be a switch vowel is indeed pronounced, such as in caiman [‘kai.man]. | |||
Slender pronunciations of b, d and g appear only in stressed syllables. However, if it is indicated with a switch vowel, an unstressed syllable can be slender. Thus, mandea [‘mantɣa] but gedin [‘kɣedin]. In the second instance, we see the d which, before i, would normally be slender, is broad. While the g in gedin is in the stressed syllable and so it is slender. | |||
Sometimes, spelling of words includes two switch vowels, one to signify the slenderness or broadness of the original word, then a second which becomes silent because it was maintained as part of the suffix. For instance, seain [ʃin] is the allative form of si whose stem is sea-. The first e is a switch vowel, indicating that the s should be pronounced in its slender form [ʃ] while the a is pronounced in the root. Once the suffix -ain is added, it preserves the root, instead of removing the a since the vowel i triggers the slender pronunciation, thereby making the s [ʃ] rendering the spelling sin. Thus, seain has two switch vowels, which appear redundant, in that they switch twice between slender and broad. | |||
'''INHERENCY''' | |||
All Thrichian consonants have an inherent form which appears before another consonant. For many, this is the broad form, but for Ss, its inherent form is the slender /ʃ/. The same thing is true to Vv and Zz whose inherent forms are /v/ and /ʒ/. | |||
The inherent forms of consonants are often used to determine which pronunciation will be used before the letter ė as it can evoke either broad or slender. If the ė is present as a result of conjugation or noun declension, it will follow the pattern of the former vowel. Sometimes, it is used to correct a slender pronunciation of s, v or z before another consonant, or to make a compound. In these cases, it triggers a broad pronunciation, as it is silent. For example, the word issėti is pronounced /is:tsi/ and not /*iʃ:tsi/ in this case the vowel is used to distinguish from the inherent tendency of the s to be pronounced /ʃ/. | |||
The letters k, c, t create a continuum among themselves, where any can represent a sound made by the one to their immediate left or right. K can represent /k/ while c can represent /k/ or /ts/ and t can represent /ts/ or /t/. Their inherent broad pronunciations remain distinguishable k > /k/ c > /k/ t > /t/. It is not too dissimilar to the pronunciations in English of the letters s, c, k, q. | |||
The reasoning for the existence of two consonants representing the sound /k/ is that, in Old Thrichian, an affricate consonant /kx/ existed, represented by the character c. This later merged with /k/ but was maintained in writing for distinction and ease of transcribing dialects where the merger had not yet occurred. Now, however, the affricate /kx/ is completely lost. | |||