Phonetics and phonology Cross-linguistic variation: Ft. Ware Sekani

Ft. Ware

Mike Abou

Oral vowels frontcentralback highiu mide  o low A

Oral vowels A  m A slàh ‘I abandoned it’ emestìh‘I know him’ i p A  pìs A ‘butterfly’ o l  pot ‘cup’ u pùs A ‘cat’  psps ‘river bank’

Oral vowels: acoustic plot

Nasal vowels frontcentralback highĩũ mid ee õ low AA

Oral vs. nasal vowels A ts  A s ‘edible root, carrot’ AA sAssAs ‘black bear’

Oral vs. nasal vowels o t A c  o ‘it’s big’ õ c  õ ‘rain’

Oral vs. nasal vowels u t  ’u  ‘rope’ ũ  ìt A st  ’ũ  e ‘I’ll tie it in together’

Oral vs. nasal vowels: e, i e mlè/mlè/ ‘his/her dog’ ee m  le  / ‘its castor’ i n  ts  ì / ‘your head’ ĩ n  ts  ĩ  / ‘it’s bad’

Consonants labialalveolpal-alvpalatalvelarlab-velglottal stopp t t  t’k k  k’k w k w  k w ’ / affricate ts ts  ts’ c  c  c  ’ t  t  t  ’ fricatives zš žš žç j x  x w wh  l nasalmn

Laryngeal contrasts: j vs. ç jnèhjõ‘he grew up’ ç j  nèhçõ ‘he raised him’ [ç] = voiceless palatal fricative

Aperture contrasts: h vs. / c  ote s  la ‘they (inanimate) are here’ h s  lah ‘my sister-, brother-in- law’ / silà / ‘my hand’

[][] = voiceless lateral fricative [  uwe] ‘fish’ [pi  ] ‘sleep’

Laryngeal contrasts:  vs. l  ut ‘scab’ l s  lutè / ‘my scab’  t  nìti  ‘it’s ripening’ l t  nìtìl ‘it’s ripe’

Place contrasts: s,  stèsõ‘I wonder’ õõ ‘right, correct’

Aperture contrasts: t  h vs.  thth n  st  h õ ‘lots’ õõ ‘right, correct’

[x] [x] = voiceless velar fricative [xe  ] ‘pack’ [x A  ] ‘club’

Aperture contrasts: k h vs. x khkh nAkhenAkhe ‘he/she is returning by boat’ x xe  ‘pack’

Laryngeal contrasts: x vs.  x nihxe  ‘I thawed it’  nAenAe ‘it thawed’ [  ] = voiced velar fricative

Ejective stops

Laryngeal contrasts: t vs. t h vs. t' t x  tà / ‘our eyes’ thth xthà/xthà/ ‘our father’ t’ x  t’àh sint h e  ‘sleep inside (with) us’

Laryngeal contrasts: ts vs. ts h vs. ts' tstsèh‘gum, pitch’ ts h m  ts h eh ‘in front of him/her’ ts’ts’èh‘sinew’

Laryngeal contrasts: t  vs. t  h vs. t  ' tt t  t  oz A ‘it’s soft’ thth teht  h òh ‘it’s fresh’ t’t’ t  t  ’ò / ‘it’s sticky’

Laryngeal contrasts: c  vs. c  h vs. c  ' cc c  ote ‘here’ chch tAchotAcho ‘it's big’ c’c’c  ’oh ‘quill’

Laryngeal contrasts: k vs. k h vs. k' k skusku ‘worm’ khkh  k h u 'those' k'  sk’uk h A  n ‘white person’

Tone  [V] = high tone vowel  [V  ] = low tone vowel  [V  ] = rising tone vowel

Low (`) vs. high tone `  A  wìh ‘once’  A wìh ‘stop it’ ` mkAhmkAh ‘by him/her’ m  k A hè / ‘his/her rabbit’

Low (`) vs. high tone ` sihk h õ  h ‘I wounded it’ s  k h õh ‘my house’ ` yetèhc  ’il ‘he/she started to skin it’ yetehc  ’il ‘he/she is skinning it’

Rising (  ) vs. low (  ) vs. high tone  usà / t h àte  hm  n ‘I filled up the pot’ ` usà / t h àtèhm  n ‘he/she filled up the pot’  du usà / t h àtehm  n ‘he/she hasn't filled up the pot’

Rising (  ) vs. low (  ) vs. high tone  ts A  zi ‘little beaver’ ` s A  de ‘my older sister’ tl A  zi ‘puppy’

High vs. low vs. rising tone Hz

Vowel allophones [t I/ ùn A  / ] ‘his/her own gun’ [t I sts’i] ‘dry twig’ [t  c  ’oe] ‘porcupine’ [t  p A/A ] ‘it’s grey’ [t  p  t] ‘he/she is hungry’ [t  te] ‘marmot’

Vowel allophones [I][I] [][] ___... [i], [u] ___... [e], [o], [  ], [ A] ___ C #

Vowel allophones /  /  [ I ] / ___... high vowel In Ft. Ware Sekani, /  / is pronounced [ I ] when the following syllable contains a high vowel.

Testing the rule / ...i// ...e/ [t I tsì / ] ‘his/her own hearing’ [t  lè / ] ‘his/her own dog’ [t I ts h ì / ] ‘his/her own head’ [ts’  ts h èl] ‘we’re chopping it’ [k’ut I t  h ic  ] ‘it’s burning around fast’ [n A  te] ‘they reside’ [s I zĩh] ‘my spirit’ [z  te  ske  ] ‘I killed it for myself’

Testing the rule: results [  ] and [ I ] differ significantly in height (F1) and backness (F2)