Kiowa phonology

The most thorough treatment of the Kiowa sound system is by Laurel Watkins in a generative framework. A consideration of prosodic phenomena with acoustic analysis is in Sivertsen (1956). Earlier discussions of phonemics are Trager (1960), Merrifield (1959), Wonderly et al. (1954), and Harrington (1928).

egments

Consonants

The 23 consonants of Kiowa:

:

The oral-nasal contrast, however, is neutralized in the environment of nasal consonants, where only nasalized vowels occur. Watkins phonemicizes an oral vowel in these contexts: "m"ā́ IPA|/máː/ "up" is phonetically IPA| [mã́ː] , "máun" IPA|/mɔ́n/ "probably" is phonetically IPA| [mɔ̃́n] .

Kiowa vowels have an underlying two-way length contrast (short vs. long). However, a number of phonological issues restrict the length contrast. (See the vowel length section for details.)

* The high vowels IPA|/i, u/ are lowered to IPA| [ɪ, ʊ] when they occur before nasal consonants IPA|/m, n/: "bímkàui" IPA|/bímkʰɔ̀j/ "bag" is phonetically IPA| [bɪ̃́mkʰɔ̀j] , "gún" IPA|/gún/ "to dance (perfective)" is phonetically IPA| [gʊ̃́n] .
* Long mid vowels IPA|/eː, oː/ are followed by homorganic offglides: "hḗbà" IPA|/héːbà/ "to enter" as IPA| [héːjbà] , "jṓcà" IPA|/tóːkià/ "at the house" as IPA| [tóːwkjæ̀] . The offglides are considered sub-phonemic as they are predictable.
* Low IPA|/ɔ/ is only slightly rounded — its position varying between lower-mid to low IPA| [ɔ~ɒ] . When it is short and in open syllables, it is centralized approaching central IPA| [ɞ] : "dàufôm" IPA|/dɔ̀pôm/ IPA| [dɞ̀pôm] "despicable".

* The IPA|/a/ of the diphthong IPA|/ia/ is fronted and raised when long as IPA| [æː] and is raised further when it precedes a nasal consonant: "q"ā́"h"ī́ IPA|/k’iã́ːhĩ́ː/ "man" → IPA| [k’jæ̃́ːhĩ́ː] , "qám" IPA|/k’iám/ "to be lazy" → IPA| [k’jɛ̃́m] .

Prosody

Vowel length

Vowel length is only contrastive in open syllables.

Closed syllables only have phonetic short vowels. Underlying long vowels are shortened in this position (note morphophonemic alternations).

Initial syllable shortening.

Tone

Kiowa has three tones: "high", "low", "falling". The falling tone has glottalized realizations (creaky voice, tense voice, with glottal stop) in some contexts.

There are a number of tone sandhi effects.

yllable and phonotactics

Surface syllables in Kiowa must consist of a vowel nucleus. Syllable onsets are optional and can consist of single consonant or a consonant followed by a palatal glide IPA| [j] . A single vowel may be followed by an optional syllable coda consonant or the vowel may optionally be long. Thus, the following syllables are found in Kiowa: IPA|V, CV, CjV, VC, CVC, CjVC, Vː, CVː, CjVː. This can be succinctly represented as the syllable equation below.

:

A number of phonotactic restrictions are found limiting the possible combinations of sounds. These are discussed below.

Onset. All consonants can occurs as a single consonant onset except IPA|/l/ — in other words, IPA|/p, pʰ, p’, b, t, tʰ, t’, d, ts, ts’, k, kʰ, k’, ɡ, ʔ, s, z, h, m, n, j/ are possible.

Nucleus. The syllable nucleus can be any vowel, which can be either short or long.

Coda. The coda position may be filled only by IPA|/p, t, m, n, l, j/. Palatal IPA|/j/ only follows the vowels IPA|/u, o, ɔ, a/ (i.e. the palatal may not occur after non-low front vowels). [A phonetic palatal glide does follow mid-front IPA|/e/, but this is not considered phonemic and parallels the similar IPA| [w] off-glide following mid-back IPA|/o/.]

tress

Notes

ee also

* Kiowa language

Bibliography

* Harrington, John P. (1928). "Vocabulary of the Kiowa language". Bureau of American Ethnology bulletin (No. 84). Washington, D.C.: U.S. Govt. Print. Off.
* Merrifield, William R. (1959). The Kiowa verb prefix. "International Journal of American Linguistics", "25", 168-176.
* Sivertsen, Eva. (1956). Pitch problems in Kiowa. "International Journal of American Linguistics", "22", 117-30.
* Trager, Edith C. (1960). "The Kiowa language: A grammatical study". University of Pennsylvania. (Doctoral dissertation, University of Pennsylvania).
* Watkins, Laurel J.; & McKenzie, Parker. (1984). "A grammar of Kiowa". Studies in the anthropology of North American Indians. Lincoln: University of Nebraska Press. ISBN 0-8032-4727-3.
* Wonderly, William; Gibson, Lornia; & Kirk, Paul. (1954). Number in Kiowa: Nouns, demonstratives, and adjectives. "International Journal of American Linguistics", "20", 1-7.

External links

* [http://www.uapress.arizona.edu/lib/cache/excerpts/kiowa/kiowasng.htm The Power of Kiowa Song: A Collaborative Ethnography]