Talk:Nisenan language

Allophones
Can anyone confirm which type of allophones the |ʦ~ʧ| and |s~ʃ| parings represent. Same for the realization of 'y' varying from |ɨ| to |u| (which to me seems to be quite a difference even for a vowel). The sources I have found so far haven't elaborated on this.

1. Do the differences mark dialectal or regional differences such as the variations of 'r' in the different English dialects?

i.e.' the 'c' in 'caa' [tree] realized as either |ʦ| or |ʧ| depending on the dialect.

i.e., |ʦ| in the valley and |ʧ| in the mountains. (just example, don't know what the actual dialectal differences are)

2. Do they mark variations to particular speakers within a common dialect?

i.e.' the 'c' in 'caa' [tree] realized as either |ʦ| or |ʧ| depending on the speaker.

3. Are they completely interchangeable allophones, and up to individual preference?

i.e., the 'c' in 'caa' realized as either |ʦ| or |ʧ| within the same dialect, similar the the distinction between |ði| and |ðə| as equal variants for 'the' in English.

4. Are they due to phonemic harmony, changing pones depending on surrounding phones.

i.e., aspirated consonants becoming unaspirated when in the middle of a word.

5. Are they specific to particular words?

i.e., 'c' rendered as |ʧ| in 'caa' [tree] and |ʦ| in 'maacam' [ten] (once again, not sure as to the actual distinctions)

Basically, what kind of allophones are these? Where would one be used as opposed to the other? Are they regionalisms or what?

Hope this all wasn't too confusing. —Preceding unsigned comment added by Formic15 (talk • contribs) 03:48, 26 April 2009 (UTC)