Taos phonology

The main description of Taos phonology was contributed by George L. Trager in a (pre-generative) structuralist framework. Earlier considerations of the phonetics-phonology were by John P. Harrington and Jaime de Angulo. [de Angulo's work includes an unpublished grammatical sketch and analyzed texts (housed at the American Philosophical Society).] Trager's first account was in Trager (1946) based on fieldwork 1935-1937, which was then substantially revised in Trager (1948) (due in part to the inclusion of juncture phonemes and newly collected data in 1947 in the analysis). The description below takes Trager (1946) as the main point of departure and notes where this differs from the analysis of Trager (1948). Harrington's description (although from a different period) is more similar to Trager (1946). Certain comments from a generative perspective are noted in a comparative work Hale (1967).

egments

The two following sections detail phonetic information about Taos phonological segments (i.e., consonants and vowels), as well as their phonological patterning in morphophonemic alternations.

Consonants

Trager (1946) lists 27 consonants (25 native) for Taos, although in his later analysis he posited 18 consonants. [The main difference with respect to consonants in the 1948 analysis is that aspirated consonants IPA|/pʰ, tʰ/, ejectives IPA|/p’, t’, tʃ’, k’/, and labialized consonants IPA|/kʷ, kʷ’, xʷ/ were considered consonant sequences, respectively IPA|/ph, th, pʔ, tʔ, tʃʔ, kʔ, kw, kʷʔ, xw/. Similar alternate analyses of IPA|C + ʔ vs. IPA|C’ have been proposed in other languages in region, e.g., Zuni syllable-initial consonants (see: Zuni consonants).

This difference affects his analysis of syllable structure and phonotactics. The sequences IPA|/pʔ, tʔ, kʔ/, then, contrast with IPA|/bʔ, dʔ, gʔ/ sequences. Intervocalically, IPA|/pʔ, tʔ, kʔ/ are interpreted as syllable onsets while IPA|/bʔ, dʔ, gʔ/ are split by syllable boundaries IPA|/b.ʔ, d.ʔ, g.ʔ/. Trager admits that this analysis may not be ideal for the labialized segments since IPA|/kwʔ/ would be the only native three-consonant cluster that appears in syllable onsets (other three-consonant clusters appear in Spanish loanwords). Even so, he rejects a phoneme sequence IPA|/kʷʔ/ because the exclusion of loanword phonology is "very bad methodology". Unlike his decomposition of other Trager (1946) consonants, Trager (1948) retains IPA|/tʃ/ as a unitary segment.

A final difference is the interpretation of the cluster IPA|/fɾ/ found in loanwords.]

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* The fricative IPA|/f/ only occurs in Spanish loanwords in a syllable-initial cluster IPA|/fɾ/ and may be labio-dental or bilabial IPA| [ɸ] : IPA|/ˈfɾūtɑnæ/ "fruit" (from "") as IPA| [ˈfɾūːtɑ̄nǣ ~ ˈɸɾūːtɑ̄nǣ] . It is briefly mentioned in Trager (1946) and ultimately excluded from the phonological description. [Trager (1948), which does not exclude loanword phonology, interprets the cluster as IPA|/phɾ/.]
* The stops IPA|/b, d, ɡ/ are voiced IPA| [b, d, ɡ] intervocalically. At the beginning of words, they only occur in loanwords (as in IPA|/ˈbɑ̄sunæ/ "glass tumbler" from ' and IPA|/ɡɑjuˈʔūnæ/ "rooster" from ') where Trager describes them as "less voiced". Syllable-finally, they are voiceless, unreleased, and with a long closure duration IPA| [p̚ː, t̚ː, k̚ː] :

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* Fricative IPA|/s/ tends to have a post-alveolar allophone before high vowels IPA|/i, u/ (especially the high front vowel IPA|/i/):

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* The labial glide IPA|/w/ is labio-velar.
* The glides IPA|/w, j/ are phonetically short high vowels IPA| [u̯, i̯] no closer than Taos high vowels, which are very close as well. When they occur after nasal vowels, they are nasalized: IPA| [ũ̯, ĩ̯] .

Consonant alternations

The stem-initial consonant in many verb stems has alternates (i.e. shows consonantal ablaut) between two different forms in what Trager calls the "basic" stem and the "stative" stem. The "basic" stem is used for the preterit active verb form while the "stative" stem is used for the resultative stative verb-forms and deverbal nouns.

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Five of the vowels have an oral-nasal contrast, which persists even before a nasal consonant coda (i.e. the syllables IPA|CVN and IPA|CṼN contrast, where C = any consonant, V = any vowel, N = any nasal consonant). [Harrington (1910) does not note this oral-nasal contrast in the context of a following nasal stop.] For example, the Taos has a IPA|/ju/ syllable before IPA|/n/ as well as IPA|/jũ/ syllable before IPA|/n/ as in the words IPA|/ˌkæˈjūnæ/ "maternal aunt" and IPA|/ˈjũ̄næ/ "this".

Morphemes exemplifying Taos monophthongs are in the table below:

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* The mid vowels IPA|/e, ɤ/ may be phonetically somewhat centralized. Front IPA|/e/ is typically slightly centered IPA| [ɛ̈] in both stressed and unstressed syllables. [Trager notes that IPA|/e/ [ɛ̈] has a "dull" quality when compared with American English IPA|/e/ [ɛ] .] Back IPA|/ɤ/ ranges from back to central IPA| [ɤ ~ ɘ] and is IPA| [ɘ] when unstressed. Although both are mid, IPA|/ɤ/ (upper-mid) is phonetically higher than IPA|/e/ which is phonetically lower-mid IPA| [ɛ] . In contrast to the high back vowel IPA|/u/, mid IPA|/ɤ/ is unrounded. Unlike the other vowels, IPA|/ɤ/ has no nasal counterpart. Examples:

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* The vowel IPA|/ɑ/ has a slightly rounded variant IPA| [ɒ̜] after labials IPA|/p, pʰ, p’, b, m, w/ and also before IPA|/p, pʰ, p’, b, m/ and syllable-final IPA|/w/. Before syllable-final nasals IPA|/m, n/ and the glide IPA|/j/, this vowel is centralized: IPA| [ɜ] (before IPA|/n, j/), IPA| [ɞ̜] (before IPA|/m/). [Trager (1944: 152)] Nasalized IPA|/ɑ̃/ is phonetically slightly rounded and higher than its oral counterpart: IPA| [ɔ̜̃] . Examples:

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The phonetics of the vowel clusters vary in their length and also their quality according to stress, tone, and position syllable structure. The clusters IPA|/ie, iæ, uɑ/ have vowel components of equal length in stressed closed syllables (either primary or medial stress) with mid tone. However, in unstressed syllables and in low-toned syllables (with either primary or medial stress) the first vowel in the cluster is more prominent; in high-toned syllables and in open syllables with primary stress and mid tone, the second vowel is more prominent. The nasal cluster IPA|/ĩẽ/ has equally prominent vowels in primary-stressed mid-toned syllables while in closed syllables and unstressed the second vowel is extremely short. The cluster IPA|/ɤɑ/ always has the first element more prominent than the second vowel.

For the quality differences, the vowel IPA|/ɑ/ in cluster IPA|/ɤɑ/ is raised toward IPA| [ɜ] . When short, the vowel IPA|/e/ in cluster IPA|/ĩẽ/ is raised toward IPA| [ɪ] . The vowel IPA|/ɑ/ in cluster IPA|/uɑ/ is rounded to IPA| [ɒ] and is more rounded than the IPA| [ɒ̜] allophone of monophthong IPA|/ɑ/ adjacent to labials. These allophones are summarized in the table below:

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However, if the stem-final vowel is nasal, the nasality is not copied in the reduplicant — that is, the nasal vowel will be reduplicated as that vowel's oral counterpart:

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Vowel deletion

Taos shares with other languages in the region (Pueblo linguistic area) an areal feature of vowel elision at the end of words. [See Zuni phonology for examples in an unrelated neighboring language.] When a word ends in a final vowel, the vowel may be deleted resulting in a consonant final word. This is especially common with final IPA|/æ̃/ and occasionally with final IPA|/u/. The elision is also very common when the final IPA|/æ̃/ is preceded by a sonorant consonant such as IPA|/l, n/, etc.

For example, the 3rd person pronoun particle

: IPA|/ˈʔæ̃̄wæ̃næ̃/ "he, she, it, they"

is often phonetically

: IPA| [ˈʔã̄ːwã̄n]

with syllable reduction and a resulting closed syllable. Other examples include

:

Of the onsets, IPA|/p, p’, pʰ, t, t’, tʰ, tʃ, tʃ’, k, k’, kʷ, kʷ’, ʔ, ɬ, x, xʷ, h, pɾ, pl, tɾ, kɾ, kl, fɾ/ can only occur as onsets (and not as codas).

Rimes

Within the syllable rime, any single Taos vowel — IPA|/i, i, ĩ, e, ẽ, æ, æ̃, ɑ, ɑ̃, ɤ, u, ũ/ — may occur in the nucleus. In complex nuclei consisting of vowel clusters, the following combinations are possible:

:: † - only in loanwords

The IPA|/ue/ cluster was found only in a single word IPA|/ˈpūēlɑnæ̃/ "frying pan" (from hypothetical Spanish "*puela" probably from French ""). [The usual development of Spanish IPA| [we] is into Taos cluster IPA|/uɑ/, as in IPA|/ˌmūɑ̄jæ-ˈʔǣ-næ/ "ox" from < "buey".]

A subset of Taos consonants consisting of voiced stops and sonorants — IPA|/b, d, ɡ, m, n, l, ɾ, w, j/ — can occur in coda C₄ position. There is a restriction that high vowels cannot be followed by a homorganic glide (i.e., IPA|/ij, uw/ do not occur). Not all VC combinations are attested. The attested sequences of V + glide are listed in the vowel diphthong section above. Additionally, IPA|/s/ may appear in coda position in loanwords. [This was not noted in Trager (1946).]

In complex two-consonant C₃C₄ codas, Trager (1946) states that the final consonant C₄ can consist of a voiced stop IPA|/b, d, ɡ/ and be preceded by a consonant C₃ consisting of a non-liquid sonorant IPA|/m, n, w, j/. [Trager (1946) uses the term "sonant" to refer to this non-liquid sonorant class, while the term "sonorant" refers to the usual natural class.] However, Trager (1948) states that the following are the only attested coda clusters:

: IPA|/nɡ, lɡ, jɡ/

Trager does not discuss the combinatory possibilities between segments and tones, although he does for stress and tone.

Intonation

Loanword phonology

Trager (1944) indicates the type of phonetic/phonological changes that New Mexican Spanish loanwords undergo when being adapted to the Taos language. [Further details on New Mexican Spanish are in Trager & Valdez (1937).] Different degrees of nativization occur in Spanish loanwords: earlier borrowings have greater differences while later borrowings (borrowed by speakers who are probably increasingly bilingual) have much greater similarity with the Spanish forms. The chart below lists some of the correspondences. The inflected nouns in the table are in the absolute singular form with the inflectional suffix and any reduplicant separated from the initial noun stem with hyphens.

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Although NM Spanish IPA|/a/ is usually borrowed as Taos IPA|/ɑ/, it is nativized as IPA|/æ/ when it precedes the Taos glide IPA|/j/, which is the nativization of NM Spanish IPA|/d/ in the cluster IPA|/dɾ/ (IPA|/dɾ/ > Taos IPA|/jl/). Because Taos IPA|/ɑ/ when followed by IPA|/j/ is typically raised (i.e. IPA|/ɑj/ is phonetically IPA| [ɜi̯] ), Taos IPA|/æ/ is phonetically a closer match to NM Spanish low IPA|/a/. Thus, NM Spanish "compadre" is borrowed as IPA|/kumˌpǣjli‑ˈʔī‑næ/ "one's child's godfather (absolute, singular)" (with IPA|/adɾ/ IPA| [ɑðɾ] > IPA|/æjl/).

Taos IPA|/æ/ is a better match than IPA|/e/ for NM Spanish IPA|/e/ (phonetically IPA| [ɛ] ) because Taos IPA|/e/ is restricted to affixes in native Taos words.

Another common process is the insertion of IPA|/i/ after in New Mexican Spanish words ending in IPA|/s/, as native words in Taos cannot have syllables ending in IPA|/s/.

The other NM Spanish phonemes are nativized as similar phonemes in Taos: NM Spanish IPA|/p/ > Taos IPA|/p/, NM Spanish IPA|/t/ > Taos IPA|/t/, NM Spanish IPA|/ɡ/ > Taos IPA|/ɡ/ (but see above for NM Spanish sequence IPA|/nɡ/), NM Spanish IPA|/ʧ/ > Taos IPA|/tʃ/, NM Spanish IPA|/s/ > Taos IPA|/s/, NM Spanish IPA|/m/ > Taos IPA|/m/, NM Spanish IPA|/n/ > Taos IPA|/n/, NM Spanish IPA|/l/ > Taos IPA|/l/.

Later borrowing, which has been subject to less alteration, has led to the development of IPA|/ɾ/, word‑initial voiced stops IPA|/b, d, ɡ/, syllable‑final IPA|/s/, and consonants clusters IPA|/pl, pɾ, tɾ, kɾ, kl, fɾ/. The word‑internal cluster IPA|/stɾ/ is reduced to IPA|/st/ in Taos, as in NM Spanish "" > Taos IPA|/ˌmēstu‑ˈʔū‑næ/ "teacher" — the cluster was reduced further to just IPA|/t/ as IPA|/ˌmētu‑ˈʔū‑næ/ in one speaker, a reflection of the older pattern where IPA|/s/ cannot be syllable‑final.

ee also

* Taos language

Notes

Bibliography

* Hale, Kenneth L. (1967). Toward a reconstruction of Kiowa-Tanoan phonology. "International Journal of American Linguistics", "33" (2), 112-120.
* Harrington, J. P. (1909). Notes on the Piro language. "American Anthropologist", "11" (4), 563-594.
* Harrington, J. P. (1910). An introductory paper on the Tiwa language, dialect of Taos. "American Anthropologist", "12" (1), 11-48.
* Nichols, Lynn. (1994). Vowel copy and stress in Northern Tiwa (Picurís and Taos). In S. Epstein et al. (Eds.), "Harvard working papers in linguistics" (Vol. 4, pp. 133-140).
* Trager, George L. (1936). unicode|ðə lɛŋɡwiɟ əv ðə pweblow əv Taos (*nuw meksikow) [The language of the pueblo of Taos (*New Mexico)] . "unicode|lə mɛːtrə fɔnetik" [Maître Phonétique] , "56", 59-62.
* Trager, George L. (1939). The days of the week in the language of Taos Pueblo, New Mexico. "Language", "15", 51-55.
* Trager, George L. (1942). The historical phonology of the Tiwa languages. "Studies in Linguistics", "1" (5), 1-10.
* Trager, George L. (1943). The kinship and status terms of the Tiwa languages. "American Anthropologist", "45" (1), 557-571.
* Trager, George L. (1944). Spanish and English loanwords in Taos. "International Journal of American Linguistics", "10" (4), 144-158.
* Trager, George L. (1946). An outline of Taos grammar. In C. Osgood (Ed.), "Linguistic structures in North America" (pp. 184-221). New York: Wenner-Green Foundation for Anthropological Research.
* Trager, George L. (1948). Taos I: A language revisited. "International Journal of American Linguistics", "14" (3), 155-160.
* Trager, George L.; & Valdez, Genevieve. (1937). English loans in Colorado Spanish. "American Speech", "12" (1), 34-44.