AN
APPROACH TO THE PHONOLOGICAL AND SYLLABIC SYSTEMS
OF THE PANARE LANGUAGE
(Venezuela)
André CAUTY
Departamento de
Matemáticas y Ciencias
de la Computación
Universidad Simón Bolivar, Sartenejas, Estado Miranda, Venezuela
Panare is a Cariban language[1] spoken
in the Southern region of Caď-cara del Orinoco, Estado Bolívar, Venezuela.
The analysis of Panare
presented
in this paper is based on a statistical study of 3,270 syllables from 1,400 words. The corpus was obtained in 1973-1974 while we were doing linguistic
research in the Panare zone[2]. The lexicon was mainly collected
from two informants, both of whom spoke
minimal Spanish.
The two
informants are from Cańo
Amarillo[3], and the phonological and syllabic
systems presented here are those in usage in this settlement.
I. THE
PHONOLOGICAL SYSTEM
1-. The stresses
The two
stresses of intensity noted in the Panare language,
strong and weak, will be indicated as follows:
strong stress [']
weak stress : unmarked
In general,
every word has one stressed syllable; the
stress may be on any syllable of the word. A compound word may have more
than one strong stress: for instance, "sugar mill" [karanápí/to] = |karaná pi/ to|, where [karaná]
= "sugar cane", |pí/| is the radical of the verb
"to press" and |to| a
morpheme of finality, has two strong stresses[4].
The corpus does not contain any minimal pairs of contrasting stresses and does not enable us to study
closely the question of the stress in the Panare language. There is still some doubt as to whether there exists a
pertinent melodic stress. Indeed, pairs of distinct sentences were found in which the difference maybe described
in terms of tonality. For instance:
1. [yīm patăyaká kö pu:ká]
2. [yěm patăyaka
kö pu:ká]
In sentence
2, "pu:ká is going to his father's house", the word [yěm] means "his father" and the tone is
higher than in sentence 1, "pu:ká is
going to my father's house". However, the following test was negative:
a)
The
two sentences were recorded by one informant
b)
The
two sentences were heard by other informants
c)
The identification of the sentences was imprecise.
2. The vowels
2.1. Phonetically the vocalic system is extremely unstable, not only because almost all the vowels have more than one
realization, but also because it was impossible to determine any
regularity in the distribution of these
alternations. Even in texts recorded by the same informant the following
different realizations were frequently interchanged : [o] and [Ť]; [a], [A], [ś] and [«]; [e]
and [ε], [i]
and [ĩ].
The only
general feature noted, is that in the camp of Colorado, the mid 2 level (see
the diagram that follows) seems not to be used. For these reasons we consider
it more convenient, until more specific investigation is made, first to present
only the phonological vocalic system, which
will be transcribed as follows[5]:
unrd. rounded
high i ď u
mid e ö o
low a
front central back
The vowels are defined
as follows:
/i/ = high, front,
(unrounded)
/ď/ = high, back,
unrounded
/u/ = high, back, rounded
/e/ = mid (1 or 2), front, (unrounded)
/o/ = mid (1 or 2), back,
rounded
/ö/ = mid (1), back (central 1 or 2), unrounded
/a/ = low (1 or
2), central (1 or 2), (rounded
when realized as low 2 and central 2)
according to the diagram:
unrounded rounded
high i i —— ď ü — u
2 e o
mid │ │
1 ε ś —— ö Ť
2 ć
—— ə
low │
│
a —— A
front 1
2 back
central
2.2. Though the contrast between long and short
vowels is probably pertinent,
the corpus does not enable us to study this point. In fact, the long vowels have a very low frequency. The
possibility of a relation between
length and stress must not be excluded: it seems that a long vowel is also a stressed one. A long vowel is noted
as [v:]. For instance,
[amanatá:ci] "rainbow",
[pó:nă] "friend".
2.3. All vowels may be nasalized. A vowel, if nasalized, may be followed
by a weak nasal consonant some of the Panare speakers preferred the sequence
[v-nasal] or the sequence [v)-nasal] to the nasalized vowel [v)]. Nasalization
only occurs in the final position of a syllable, and always furnishes
different pronunciations. For instance, "woman" /ũkď// is
pronounced as [ũkď/] = [ũnkď/] = [unkď/]; and
"my weapon" /kő/ presents the simultaneous realizations : [kő] =
[kőŋ] = [kon][6].
high ĩ ũ
mid ẽ ö̃ ő
low ă
front central back
Here [ö̃] is a nasalized
sound higher than ö and lower than ď
which probably covers both nasalized
ö and ď.
There are
many pairs in which an oral vowel is contrasted with what might be a nasal
vowel or an oral vowel followed by a nasal consonant.
For instance, "hat" [aröko] ≠ [arökő] = [arökőŋ] =
[arökoŋ] "monkey"[7]. Our interpretation
of nasalized vowels is set out in section II and in the conclusion, after discussion of
syllables closed by a nasal consonant.
2.4. In part II, the contrast between what is called interrupted and
uninterrupted vowels is proposed as a minimal pair distinction. The term
"interrupted vowel" refers to a vowel followed by a glottal stop or
by one of its variants. The interrupted vowels will be transcribed as follows:
unrd. rounded
high i/ ď/ u/
mid e/ ö/ o/
low a/
front central back
The informants provided no evidence of nasal interrupted vowels. The corpus contains many minimal
pairs which contrast what may be an interrupted
vowel or an oral vowel followed by the glottal stop, with an oral or with a nasal vowel. For instance,
"eye" [o] is different from [o/] "beer"
(Spanish chicha) and
"flesh" [yo/] is
different from [yő] = [yőŋ] =
[yoŋ] "my eye". Moreover the following contrasts are found in the triplet:
[pi] "a white colour used as make-up"
[pi/] "young"
[pĩ] =
[pĩŋ] = [piŋ] "brother (of a woman)".
a) Following the convention presented in part
II, any vowel, oral, nasal
or interrupted, may constitute a syllable. Such a syllable is frequently the first segment of a word, but it
may also appear in other positions as in "let's go"
[ma/ i]. For instance, [a po/] "man",
[ũ kď/] "woman"
and [o ka] "fruit".
b) Any vowel may follow any consonant or semiconsonant to form a syllable of the type CV or SV (S for semiconsonant). However, the following
syllables do not appear in the corpus: tď, t'ď, nď, cď and yď.
c) Any vowel may be followed by аnу consonant or
semiconsonant if the consonant or semiconsonant belongs to the next syllable.
The study of closed syllables is presented
below (section 3.3. to 3.6.) and
interpreted in part II
and in the conclusion.
Phenomena of diphthongization frequently appear in the morphology. They are not discussed in this paper.
3. The consonants
3.1.
a) The consonantal system will be described in part II section 3. after
the discussion of the phonetic sounds listed in the following table:
glottal / h
k'
velar k g x ŋ w
k'
alveopalatal t' χ c ń y
apicodental t s ˘ r 1 n
labial p m
stop fricative
affricate vibrant lateral nasal
semiconsonant
b) The complete absence of voiced consonants
from the system is remarkable.
The only exception is represented by a few cases in which the voiceless velar /k/ was also pronounced as the
voiced [g]; for instance, in the word "poison (curare)"
/măkowa/ = [măkowa]
=[măgova]. This phenomenon was only noted
before one of the three vowels: ö, o, a i.v. the
lowest and furthest back of the vocalic system.
c) Except for / and its variants as defined in
section 3.4. and for ŋ, all the consonants
and semiconsonants may constitute a syllable of the type CV or SV with any
vowel, oral, nasal or interrupted, and this in any word position.
Although /x/ is also a variant of the glottal stop,
it may appear, in a few cases and only in a few settlements, followed by the vowel /ö/ only, to form a
syllable of the type CV, for instance
in "skin" [pixö] = [piχpö] = [pi/pö]. In all
these cases, other alternative phonetic realizations are found. This fact is
discussed in section 3.6.
d) The glottal stop, the fricatives, and the nasals minus [ń] are the only sounds used to close a syllable[8].
3.2. We shall discuss separately in section 3.4.
and 3.5. the variants of the glottal stop and of the nasals.
a) We
previously discussed the occurrence of the voiced [g] as a variant of k. We
noted in the corpus the following :
a - when /ke/ is the last segment of a word, it is almost always pronounced as [k'e] where [k'] is a palatized [k]. A
free variation between [ke] and [k'e]
in this occurrence is accepted. There is no other realization of [k'] in our corpus.
b - when followed by a back vowel /ď, u, o, ö/ or by the furthest
back realization of /a/, [k] is
sometimes in alternation with an almost
glottal sound which will be denoted as [k˙]. The pronunciation of this [k˙] is more explosive than that of [k]. The replacement of [k˙] by [k] is always
accepted.
b) It would
be possible to interpret the phoneme /t'/ as a palatal variant of /t/,
or as the complexes /ti/ or /ty/. We preferred to define /t'/
as a phoneme because of its distribution, which is the same as that of /t/,
in all positions and combined with any vowel, and because of the, admittedly dubious, minimal pair contrasting [t] an [t']
(cf. part II.1.). A different interpretation is still possible. The
palatalization of [t'], as suggested by E. Mosonyi, may be considered a trace of a /i/ which has disappeared. For instance, one finds in Pemon, "loin cloth" [kaita] while in Panare, we have "loin
cloth" [kat'a].
One may consider that, in the sequence pi, the stop is weakly palatalized and consequently
definable as a palatalized allophone [p'] of [p]. For instance, this interpretation should be possible in "family" [piyá:ka] [p'iyá:ka].
The stops /p/
and /t/ present at certain occasions a realization more explosive than
in the plain stops. These allophones might be denoted as [p˙] аnd
[t˙], if necessary. The
corpus does not enable us to study this point closely. So it might be possible
to offer an almost symmetric subsystem for the allophones of the stops[9].
/p/ [p'] [p˙]
/t/ [t'] [t˙]
/k/ [k'] [k˙] [g]
c) The affricate [˘] only occurs in syllables of the type CV, and always in free variation with the
fricative [s]. Whereas some Panare
speakers use [s] more
frequently, others use [˘] almost exclusively. This difference seems to be caused
by interference from Spanish the more
acculturated Panare, who are generally also the younger ones, were found to use
[s] and those with less contact with Creole culture used the sound [˘];
but in either case, these consonants can be interchanged
in any context. For instance, "urine" [˘u/] = [su/]
;"this" [˘i] = [si] ; "two" [a/˘a] =
[a/sa]; these are the only realizations that are
attested. We shall see in section 4. that only the fricative [s] may also
appear in closure position of a syllable.
d) The lateral [l]
was used by some informants in free variation with
the vibrant [r]. The main informant used
the two sounds in a perfect complementary distribution: [r] before all
the vowels except [i] and [l] before [i]. Some informants,
particularly in the East, contrast [r] and [l].
e) No
allophone of the fricative /c/ was found in the corpus.
3.3. In the Panare language, the juncture between
syllables is well defined, consequently, it is sometimes quite difficult to
distinguish what might be a glottal stop
from what might be a syllable juncture. Moreover, it is difficult, if
not impossible with certain speakers, to distinguish
a glottal stop when it appears in a final position, although within the
spoken chain it can be clearly heard. For example, the glottal stop is readily
perceived in the word "fruit" [o/ka], but difficult to distinguish in the isolated word
"woman" [ũkď/].
At a morphophonemic level, it was observed that the sequence [/y] is
consistently pronounced [c]; the
corpus indicates that |apo/ yu| /man I/
="I am a man", is a
form which is almost always pronounced [apocu] and that both forms [apocu] and [apo/yu] are
accepted. This modification is clearly phonological, because when the
negative /pi/ was introduced, only the form [apo/pďyu] "I am not a
man" was found. When
the word /tamu/ "husband" was used, the only form produced was
[tamuyu] "I am the husband". The
same modification was noted in the formation
of compound words. For instance, the words /pata/ "foot", /pi// "young"
and /˘u// "urine",
compounded with the word /ye/ "packing", form the following compound words: [pataye]
"shoe", [pice]
"uterus", and [˘uce] "bladder" for |pata ye|, |pi/ ye| and |cu/ ye|.
The glottal is consistently pronounced [k] when it appears in the final position of a word which has
the suffix |uya| "by". For
example, we have [ũkďkuya] "by the woman" and not the
anticipated *[ũkď/uya] corresponding to |ũkď/ uya|. Similarly the glottal stop is
pronounced as [k] in the process of
determination when it appears before the semiconsonant /w/ or the vowel
/u/. For instance, we found [ũkďkwaru] "the
neck of the woman", instead of the expected *[ũkď/waru] corresponding
to |ũkď/ waru|.
On the
basis of these observations, the following morphophonemic criterion is proposed to determine the presence
of the glottal stop in the final position[10].
When the
glottal stop occurs before the semiconsonant /w/ or the suffix |uya| it
is realized as the velar stop [k]; and when it occurs before the semiconsonant /y/, the sequence //y/ is
pronounced [c ]. In other
settlements, Colorado for instance, the glottal stop is sometimes realized as [t]. The form [apot] was heard for |apo/|.
3.4. During later visits to the Panare zone, we
were able to study the occurrences and modifications of the glottal stop in
accordance with the above criterion[11]. The most
consistent results were those of the usages of the variants of the
glottal stop. (A statistical study, unpublished
manuscript, of the syllabic system resulted in conclusions identical to
those presented here). In almost all instances (more than 98% of the samples) where a glottal stop was
predicted by the criterion, one or more other pronunciations of the same
word occurred, one of which with the
effective presence of the glottal stop and the other (or the others) with replacement of the glottal
stop by one of the fricatives. For
example, the following pronunciation of the expression "our thigh" are found in the corpus: |pe/to| = [pe/to] = [pesto] = [peχto][12]; while the criterion requires the
presence of / in
the final position of the word |pe/|
"thigh". Similarly, the inflexional morpheme of the past tense
|уа/| was found
with phonetic realizations :[ya/] = [yah] =
[yax].
Bearing in
mind the occurrences in closure position аnd
in words having several distinct phonetic pronunciations
for the same informant, it seems more
simple to define the fricatives (with the possible exception of [x] found also in a few CV type syllables) not as consonantal phonemes of the Panare language but rather as
variants of the glottal stop.
If it is
the case, these variants are found in the following distribution[13]:
Before a
stop or a fricative, one finds [/], [χ], or [s] after the vowels [i], [e] and [o]; [h] or [x] after the vowel [а]; and one finds
[/], [x] or [χ] after the vowel
[ö]. Before a nasal or the vibrant [r] only [/] is found.
Before the semiconsonant [y] one finds [c] if [/] is in the final position and [/] in the.
others cases. Before the
semiconsonant [w], and if [/] is in the
final position of the word, one finds
[k] or [t] in few cases as noted in section 3.3. Some examples "beard"
[tă˘ipó/tó] =
[tă˘ipóstó] = [tă˘ipóχtó]. A possible diphthongization of vowels
preceding / was noted:
[tă˘ipóiχtó], "hole" [ya/tă] = [yaxtă] = [yahtă], "why"
.[ö/tó] = [öχtó] = [öxtó], "sugar
mill" [karanápí/to] = [karanápísto] = [karanápiχto].
3.5. Similarly, in case of the variants of the nasals, open and closed syllables
must be considered separately because the closed syllables are the only ones which present several alternative
realizations.
a) The open
syllable NV. In syllables of this type the velar ŋ is never found, although
the other nasals may be combined with any vowel in any position in the word. The labial /m/ is distinguished
from /n/, for instance in the pair "breast" [ma/] ≠
[na/] "ocuma". It was impossible however to contrast [n] and the
alveopalatal [ń] which were affirmed by more than one informant, and in a significant number of
instances, to be the "same"
sound. A more detailed observation of the corpus revealed the following complementary
distribution for [n] and [ń]: after
the vowels /e/ and /i/
only the palatalized [ń] occurs and,
in all other cases, the dental [n] occurs. However, in the final position
of the word the syllable /ne/ is almost
always pronounced [ńe][14].
It is not
impossible that the palatalization (cf. 3.2.a) is to be interpreted as a
prosodic marker of still unanalysed syntagmatic relations between one structure аnd another, at both the
phonological аnd grammatical levels.
b) The
closed syllable VN. With the exception of ń, all the nasals may close, or (in
the case of m) constitute a syllable; for instance: "metal"
[amciri], "my father" [yim], "woman"
[ũnkď/] and
"guitar" [kanto], where the normal distribution of the variants
of /n/ is seen:
[m] before
/p/, /c/, /˘/ or ř; [n] in other cases. As already
remarked, some Panare speakers prefer the nasalized vowel
to the closed syllable VN (cf. Part I, 2.3.) and in all the cases of syllables
closed by a nasal consonant, several different pronunciations are found in the
corpus, including one with the nasalized vowel. For example "monkey"
[arökő] = [arökőŋ] = [arökoŋ], аnd
"guitar"
[kanto] = [kănto] = [kăto]. It seems more convenient to study this point in
relation with morphology (for instance, the possessive construction) or with
prosody.
3.6. It was noted in section 3.4. that the fricative
[x], when closing a
syllable, is a variant of the glottal stop like the other fricatives. In section 3.1.b. we noted that [x] appears, with
a very low frequency, only in the open syllable |xö|. The following
model, based on examples from the corpus, suggests that it is the sequence //p/ which has the fricative variant
[x]: "skin" [pi/pö] = [piχpö] =
[pixpö] = [pixö];
"late" [tama/pe] = [tamaxe]. This suggestion is
based on the following facts:
a) [x] cannot be the first phonetic segment of
a word, while [/] appears only in closure position
of a syllable.
b) [x], when occurring between two vowels, is in
free variation with [χp], [xp] and [/p] at least
for certain informants, if the second vowel is /ö/.
c) In some settlements, as in Colorado, the
syllable |xö| is rejected, the only
phonetic realization actually heard is [χpö], while [/pö] is the only other realization accepted.
Some
possible interpretations of this alternation may be the following:
A) to
consider the phoneme /x/ as a recent development, defined by the minimal pair: "fart" [pikö]
≠ [pixö] "skin" and different from [pitö] "an unidentified insect".
B) to
consider the alternation as a phenomenon of elision of the consonant /p/
coupled with a simultaneous stronger realization of the glottal stop which is then realized as [x].
C) to
consider the sound [x] as a trace of a segment which has disappeared from the language, as suggested
by B.J. Hoff in a personal communication, for instance in the word "fire" [waxto].
" D) a
combination of these three interpretations.
In our
opinion the interpretation B, with its counterpart C, is the better one, because it is phonetically insightful: the pronunciation of the segment [/p] needs a great amount of energy,
and because this interpretation raises new
interesting problems summed up by the questions
"why, how, where and when is this deletion possible and realized?"
II. MINIMAL PAIR
CONTRASTS
1. Minimal pairs occur very frequently in the Panare language. It was possible to find a minimal
pair for any two consonants or semiconsonants. The only exception is the sound
[t'] which is not contrasted with the semiconsonants; moreover, the pairs
distinguishing it from the other consonants are doubtful: especially as it is
always possible to interpret this sound as sequence [ty] or [ti ]. The most
striking contrasts noted were between "husband" [tamu] ≠
[t'amu] "chin"; "loin cloth" [kat'a] ≠ [kara]
"new" ≠ [kana] "fish". Our decision to define /t'/ as
a phoneme is based mainly on commodity and so is contestable. Since the glottal
stop is restricted to syllable final position, there is no direct opposition
with consonants other than the nasals. Nevertheless, the closure by the glottal
stop, as well as by nasal consonants, performs a distinguishing function as
shown in section 2.3. Yet we do no consider [/] as a consonantal phoneme, but rather as a
feature of the vowel or of the syllable, or eventually as a consonantal one but
with a terminating function. Therefore, we propose that there is a minimal
contrast: interrupted vowel ≠ uninterrupted vowel.
Similarly, we propose that the nasals which serve to close a syllable may be
interpreted as a feature of the vowel, thus establishing a minimal contrast
between nasal and oral vowels; the other interpretations being to consider
nasalization as a syllabic feature or to attribute a terminating function to
the nasal consonants in the closure position. There are some compelling reasons
for supporting these interpretations: the existence of the contrasts, for
instance the triplet cited above in part I, 2.4.), the very simplicity of the
description of the syllabic system which results from it, the satisfactory
separated treatment of the words in which a closed syllable appears and which
are also those having more than one phonetic realization, аnd the fact
that nasalization аnd glottalization play an important role in
morphology.
2. Examples of minimal
pairs
2.1. The following monosyllabic items may serve to form the principal
oppositions between the phonemes of the Panare language:
a/ "a
worm" pi/ "young
o "eye" pď/ "wife"
o/ "beer"
(Spanish: chicha) pe/ "thigh"
u "head" pĩ "brother of a woman"
i/ "mountain" pi "colour"
ya "in"
(suffix) poi "a kind of bird" (maybe poi/)
уö "tooth" wa "anus"
уо/ "flesh" wa/ "onion"
ра "back" ta "mouth"
рö/ "а bее" wö/ "penis"
tö "where" kö "and"
to "stone" wi "a
snake"
te/ "bird' song" wе "in the sun"
t'а "listen" ma/ "breast"
t'о/
"one's flesh" (= |t + уо/|) mď "this"
t'ő "оnе's
еуе" (= |t + уő|) mă "to be (there)"
nа/ "осumа" mo "there is"
ni "look" ko "weapon"
˘i "this" ˘u/ "urine"
уе "packing" co "potato"
уе/ "sing" ca "give
me"
уu "I" cu/ "without
tail"
ka "sky" kai "how"
ka/ "grease" koi "a skin disease"
kă "hе" kő "my weapon"
2.2. With
the following 22 disyllabic items (all except |taka| are words, |taka| is a
suffix) it is possible to form 29
minimal pairs contrasting almost all the consonants:
/p/
is distinguished from /m, n, w,
t, ˘, k, r, y/
/t'/ " /r, n/
/k/ " /p, m, w, y, n/
/˘/ " /p, t, w/
/r/ " /p, t, t', k, n, w, y/
/m/ " /p, n, w, k/
/n/ " /w, т, р, t, t', у, г, k/
/w/ " /m, n, р, ˘, t, k, у, г/
/y/ " /р, t, k, r, n, w/
t taka tawa
k kat'a kara kana
˘ ˘aka
m mata mara
These words are:
pata "foot" ˘aka "descent"
paka "cow" (from Spanish) mata "shoulder"
para "knife" mara
"glass"
рana "ear" napa "who(?)"
paya "an
insect" wapa "a
basket" (from Spanish)
раwа "turkey"
(from Spanish) nata "door"
take "across" wata "blow gun"
tara "a basket" waka "a snake (sometimes waraka)
keys "loin cloth" wara "tapir"
kana "fish" wana "savannah"
kara "new" wауа "papaya"
2.3. To
close this part, the alternative phonological interpretations presented in this approach to the phonological
system of the Panare language are recapitulated.
A) i) stresses as in section
I, 1.
ii) vowels as in sections I, 2.1., I, 2.3., I,
2.4.
iii) consonant as follows:
k w
t' с (ń) y
t ˘ г n
р m
B) i) stresses as
in A.
ii) vowels as in sections
I, 2.1. and I, 2.4.
iii) consonants as in A, plus the variants of
the nasals in the closure position.
C) i) stresses
as in A.
ii) vowels as in I, 2.1. and I, 2.3.
iii) consonants as in A, plus /// and its variants for closed syllables.
D) i) stresses as in A.
ii) vowels as in I, 2.1.
iii) consonants as in B
and C.
E) i) stresses as
in A.
ü) vowels as in I, 2.1.
iii) consonants as in A.
iv) nasalization
аnd glottalization as a syllable fact which would be
analysed at both morphological and prosodic levels.
2.4. The following description of the
phonological system is proposed:
p t t' k m n ˘ c r w y i e o ö a u ď
– – – – – – – – – – – + + + + + + + syllabic
– – – – – – + + + + + continuant
– – – – + + nasal
– + + – + – + + coronal
+ + + – – + anterior
– + retroflex
+ + + – – – – + + high
+ – – – + + + + + back
– – + low
+ – + – round
III. THE SYLLABIC SYSTEM
AND VOWEL ELISION
We choose a notation in accordance with interpretation A of the phonological system. This notation
is compatible with interpretation E, and it
is easy to infer from it a notation in accordance with the other
interpretations.
We have
mentioned in Part I, all the syllabic types which occur in the Panare language. From
these data, it is possible to deduce the following syllabic law:
Syllable = (C or S) + V
a vowel (oral, nasal or interrupted) alone or
preceded by a consonant or a semiconsonant.
Though all
the syllables actually heard are interpretable according to the syllabic law, it is
helpful to introduce the type St +Vi + V, a stop followed by the vibrant
and a vowel, аnd the possibility of
closing a syllable with the vibrant /r/. The following
pronunciations, which justify this
introduction, are found in the recorded corpus and result from the elision of a vowel, generally in
rapid speeches[15]:
"sun" [ecérkő] = [ecérökő], "monkey"
[árkő] = [árökő],
"hen" [prá:ru] = [pará:ru] and
"dog" [krönopő] =
[körönopő].
The elision
may occur when the vibrant is in intervocalic position, and especially when it occurs between two identical vowels. The elided vowel
may be that which precedes or that which follows the vibrant. With some caution because of the rarity of this
phenomenon, less than 1% of the syllables present in the corpus, the following
elision rule may be formulated (cf. I,
2.2.): "The elided vowel never
is the accentuated one, and always is
the shortest one".
The result is that it is always possible to choose the pronunciation in accordance with the syllabic
law, (C or S) + V, or those in accordance with the two possibilities introduced
above:
Syllable = [St + Vi + V] or [(C or S) + V +
(Vi)].
In the Panare camp of Cańo Amarillo, pronunciations based on the latter
seem to be more frequent.
In the
following table are computed the respective frequencies
for the different syllabic types:
Type Frequence
CV 77.5%
SV 11.5%
V 9.9%
Almost all of the missing
1% are represented by the StViV type.
IV. CONCLUSIONS AND HYPOTHETICAL PERSPECTIVES
To conclude
this paper, we present some aspects relative to the contrastive and expressive functions and we suggest in what way this
approach is also an "ébauche".
1. Panare speech is strongly discontinuous (we have
already noted the difficulty in distinguishing
between a possible glottal stop and a syllable juncture): it sounds like
a discontinuous sequence of short isolated
segments. The difference in this respect, between Panare and French is striking аnd was perceived by
the main informant, who was astonished by the continuity of the latter. Although
in our approach the syllable has been relegated to a very modest
position, we are forced now to the conclusion that the syllable must play
an important role in the Panare language. Furthermore, in our opinion, the difficulty of the discussion
of the problems connected with the closed syllables arises from the decision
to interpret the facts in terms of phonemes. We hope to show how
much more simple and convenient
it is
to interpret the observed
phenomena as a feature of
the syllable than as consonantal and/or vocalic phonemes.
Two
isomorphic presentations of our interpretation are possible. The first, more
classical, one consists in considering the glottal stop, its variants and in general all the consonants
which appear in the closure
position, as phonemes which mainly perform a terminating function; this
function being a pertinent feature of these phonemes. The second presentation
consists in interpreting the same facts in terms of the syllable. To do so, we
need an extension of the classical definition of the syllable: "Within a
segment, a syllable is the shortest unit that
is realized in a single emission of voice".
It is new to include, as a pertinent feature, the way in which the voice which realizes the
syllable is either cut off or continued. Any Panare syllable is terminated in one of the following ways:
i) The
air stream is continuously modulated, the mouth being kept open.
ii) It
is really stopped or strongly reduced in the throat.
iii) The column of air is discontinuously changed in the nasal cavity.
iv) It is really stopped or strongly reduced by the
closed lips.
Corresponding
to these ways of either stopping the column of air which realizes a syllable or
continuing it, four different basic types of syllables are obtained: the oral,
the interrupted, the nasal and the labial, respectively.
Each type is constituted by a vowel alone or by a consonant (we do not distinguish here between
consonant and semiconsonant) followed by a vowel.
The
following notation is proposed
i) oral
syllable : (C) V
ii) interrupted syllable : (C)
V/ or (C) V[a] where [a] = [s, x, h or χ]
iii) nasal syllable : (C)
Vn or (C) V[a] where
[a] = [ n or ŋ ]
iv) labial syllable : (C) Vm
These types
correspond to the following situations described in the approach:
(C) V = an open syllable
realized with an oral vowel
(C) V/ = a closed syllable, where the closing is the
glottal stop or one of its variants
(C) Vn = a
syllable closed by a nasal except /m/
(C) Vm = a syllable closed by
/m/ or the syllable realized by the single sound [m].
Some advantages of this interpretation
are the
following ones:
a) the description seems to be more
faithful to the linguistic
reality of the discontinuous Panare language,
b) two important problems are solved in a
unifying perspective, that of the
variants of the glottal stop and that of the nasals in the closing position,
c) the syllable m
is not left as an
isolated and uninterpretable fact,
d) the interpretation provides a unifying
explanation to the following-facts:
- the different status of /˘/
and [s][16]
- the impossibility of finding certain
consonantal phonemes in the word initial position
- the asymmetry which appeared between
open and closed syllables
- the fact that the glottal presents a
great many variants
- the absence of nasalized-and-interrupted
vowels in Panare.
All
advantages which either consist in a more simple or in a more insightful
description, are based on the following linguistic and physiological facts:
a) the proposed pertinent features are highly
distinguishable: it is impossible not to
contrast between "the voice really stopped in the throat or
strongly reduced in the throat or in the palatal zone" and "to stop
it or strongly reduce it by the closed lips" etc.
b) there are several possible ways to reduce
the column of air in the throat or in the
palatal zone, each of which corresponds to a variant of the glottal stop of uncertain oppositional value from a traditional
point of view. In the syllabic interpretation we get the advantage that these different ways define
without ambiguity, only one type of syllable.
Furthermore
this interpretation eliminates, for instance, the following morphophonological
difficulty. A significant number of verbs present
the peculiarity that the glottal stop
which terminates the radical is
present, for instance, in the imperative tense while it is one, and not
always the same, of its variants which is found in other tenses. And there is no regularity in the
distribution of these sounds, but
only a certain stability for оnе and the same informant.
c) it is quite difficult to initiate a syllable by an interruption
of the voice
d) it is impossible to reduce or to stop the column
of air in the nasal cavity and then in the throat or in the palatal zone. The absence of nasalized-and-interrupted vowels in the corpus,
may correspond to this impossibility.
The
consequences of this double isomorphic point of view are not only of
convenience and coherence, but also theoretical. For instance, the kind of syllables used in the minimal pairs
may produce interferences with the phonemes. to
be distinguished. Another theoretical consequence, is that it seems necessary to introduce a multiple
articulation, at least for the Panare language, with the syllable as an intermediate unit between phonemes and morphemes. Another
consequence would be the fact that Panare might be considered as an
intermediary step in an evolution
leading to a tonal language in which the syllable would effectively play a basic part, since the eventual
pertinence of the melodic stress seems to be an innovation in the
Cariban languages.
2. In the limits of this "ébauche" it seems convenient to
mention the hypothesis of a discrete and pertinent modulation of the voice in
terms of three characteristics duration, intensity and pitch. All the features
which are present in the corpus might be interpreted from this point of view.
For instance, the word "ear" |pana| and the suffix |-pana| "in
the direction of", present a phonetic difference still undetermined. From
the listener's point of view, continuous changes can be noted only in the case
of the word pana. It is still impossible to decide between these two
unsatisfactory transcriptions "ear" [paná] = [panna]. But this
phenomenon perhaps replaces an accentuated syllable. Similar interpretations
and conclusions may be formulated with respect to duration and pitch.
3. We think that the duration of the pause, or the intensity of the
reduction of the "noise level", between two syllables develops a
contrastive function in Panare[17]. To isolate or underline a word in
the spoken chain, frequent use is made of a phenomenon of
"agglutination", i.e. a shortening of the vocalic pauses within the
word. When repeating a nonunderstood word, the informant generally speaks more
rapidly аnd the
intervocalic pauses disappear. So we arrive at the conclusion that the
reduction of these pauses might be a feature with a contrastive function.
Rather it may be seen as a special case of a general phenomenon of reduction or
agglutination. For instance, the elision of a vowel with the vibrant as
presented in part III, is interpretable in terms of the contrastive function, a
word and specially a compound one, is better apprehended by a Panare auditor when it is "agglutinated". Similarly
the morphophonemic criterion proposed in the approach is interpretable too in
this way, and more generally the complexity of prefixation and suffixation in
the paradigms of verbal conjugation is partly interpretable in terms of the
contrastive function.
4. We have observed two realizations of the expressive function. The
first one consisted in a very considerable rise of the tone to express a wish to convince. The second one consisted in
the strongly lengthened realization
of a syllable to express the highest possible degree of a superlative,
i.v. a way to express emphasis. The second feature only affects a syllable, while the first one affects a sentence and even a whole discourse.
We hope
that further field work will enable us to solve the phonological mystery of the discontinuity in Panare speech and to clear up the prosodic problems just mentioned
in this paper.
Caracas, Junе, 1975.
BIBLIOGRAPHY
HOFF, B.J., Personal
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LOUKOTKA,
C., Classification of South American Indian Languages, Los Angeles,
1968.
MOSONYI, E., Personal
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RILEY, C.L., Some observations on the Panare language, Boletin del Museo de Ciencias Naturales, IV/V (1/4): 87-105, 1958/1959.
Rivet, P., Langues
américaines : langues d'Amérique du Sud et des Antilles, in Les langues
du Monde, Paris, 1924.