User:Santi7777/sandbox

User:Saramedell3/sandbox

= Totonac Phonology from Huehuetla, Northern Sierra of Puebla =

Description and Distribution of the Phonemes

/ p / stop bilabial

Two allophones: [p] stop bilabial voiceless [b] stop bilabial voiced, appears as a free variant after a nasal one /t/ stop apicodental

Two allophones: [t] stop voiceless apicodental [d] stop voiced apicodental, appears as a free variant after a nasal /k/ stop dorso-velar

Two allophones:

[k] stop voiceless dorso-velar

[g] stop voiced dorso-velar, appears as a free variant after a nasal

/q/ stop uvular

Three allophones:

[q] stop voiceless uvular

[G] stop voiced uvular, appears as a free variant after a nasa

[X] affricate voiceless uvular, appears as a free variant after a fricative and in a final position after the vowel /i/

/Ɂ/ glottal stop

This phenome appears only in the final absolute position after a vowel, and it tends to disappear in the speech chain.

Observation:

The phoneme /Ɂ/ presents a widely observed frequency within the Totonac languages spoken in the areas of Papantla and Xicotepec de juarez  (Ashmann, 1973 y Reid & Bishop, l974). Crescencio García Ramos, in his work about the phonology of the Totonac of El Tajin, notes the mechanical character of the glottal closure and at the same time he points at the “operative importance” in certain positions (García Ramos, l979: 153). He also presents a series of occlusive glottalized consonants listed here:

/pɁ/, /tɁ/, /kɁ/, /qɁ/, /cɁ/, /čɁ/, /λɁ/.

In the variant that is studied here, there is a observed tendency to the disappearance of the glottal as realization of the phoneme /Ɂ/; this phenomenon is also mentioned by McQuown in the Coatepec variant: “the phoneme /Ɂ/ disappear under various circumstances” (McQuown, 1990: 85-86).

the vowels /i/ front, high, closed, not rounded

five allophones:

[i], [ĩ], [ε], [ɛ̃], [ị]

/i:/ front, high, closed, not rounded, long

Three allophones:

[i:], [ε:], [iε]

/a/ central, low, open, not rounded

Three allophones:

[a], [ã], [ạ]

/a:/ central, low, open, not rounded, long

Two allophones:

[a:], [ã:]

/u/ back, high, closed, rounded

Five allophones:

[u], [ũ], [ɔ], [ʒ], [ụ]

/u:/ back, high, closed, rounded, long

Two allophones:

[u:], [ũ:]