Martuthunira language
Encyclopedia
Phonology
Martuthunira has a fairly standard Australian phonologyPhonology
Phonology is, broadly speaking, the subdiscipline of linguistics concerned with the sounds of language. That is, it is the systematic use of sound to encode meaning in any spoken human language, or the field of linguistics studying this use...
. R.M.W. Dixon uses it as a prototypical example in his 2002 book Australian Languages: Their nature and development.
Consonants
| Peripheral Peripheral consonant In Australian linguistics, the peripheral consonants are a natural class encompassing consonants articulated at the extremes of the mouth: bilabials and velars. That is, they are the non-coronal consonants... |
Laminal Laminal consonant A laminal consonant is a phone produced by obstructing the air passage with the blade of the tongue, which is the flat top front surface just behind the tip of the tongue on the top. This contrasts with apical consonants, which are produced by creating an obstruction with the tongue apex only... |
Apical Apical consonant An apical consonant is a phone produced by obstructing the air passage with the apex of the tongue . This contrasts with laminal consonants, which are produced by creating an obstruction with the blade of the tongue .This is not a very common distinction, and typically applied only to fricatives... |
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|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Bilabial Bilabial consonant In phonetics, a bilabial consonant is a consonant articulated with both lips. The bilabial consonants identified by the International Phonetic Alphabet are:... |
Velar Velar consonant Velars are consonants articulated with the back part of the tongue against the soft palate, the back part of the roof of the mouth, known also as the velum).... |
Palatal Palatal consonant Palatal consonants are consonants articulated with the body of the tongue raised against the hard palate... |
Dental | Alveolar Alveolar consonant Alveolar consonants are articulated with the tongue against or close to the superior alveolar ridge, which is called that because it contains the alveoli of the superior teeth... |
Retroflex Retroflex consonant A retroflex consonant is a coronal consonant where the tongue has a flat, concave, or even curled shape, and is articulated between the alveolar ridge and the hard palate. They are sometimes referred to as cerebral consonants, especially in Indology... |
|
| Stop Stop consonant In phonetics, a plosive, also known as an occlusive or an oral stop, is a stop consonant in which the vocal tract is blocked so that all airflow ceases. The occlusion may be done with the tongue , lips , and &... |
p | k | c | t̪ | t | ʈ |
| Nasal Nasal consonant A nasal consonant is a type of consonant produced with a lowered velum in the mouth, allowing air to escape freely through the nose. Examples of nasal consonants in English are and , in words such as nose and mouth.- Definition :... |
m | ŋ | ɲ | n̪ | n | ɳ |
| Lateral Lateral consonant A lateral is an el-like consonant, in which airstream proceeds along the sides of the tongue, but is blocked by the tongue from going through the middle of the mouth.... |
ʎ | l̪ | l | ɭ | ||
| Rhotic Rhotic consonant In phonetics, rhotic consonants, also called tremulants or "R-like" sounds, are liquid consonants that are traditionally represented orthographically by symbols derived from the Greek letter rho, including "R, r" from the Roman alphabet and "Р, p" from the Cyrillic alphabet... |
r | ɻ | ||||
| Semivowel Semivowel In phonetics and phonology, a semivowel is a sound, such as English or , that is phonetically similar to a vowel sound but functions as the syllable boundary rather than as the nucleus of a syllable.-Classification:... |
w | j | ||||
The laminal stop /c/ has a voiced allophone
Allophone
In phonology, an allophone is one of a set of multiple possible spoken sounds used to pronounce a single phoneme. For example, and are allophones for the phoneme in the English language...
[ɟ] between vowels.
Between vowels, the dental stop /t̪/ can become [d̪], [ð], [ð̞], [ɻ], [j], [w], or even simply a syllable break. In some words one particular realization is always used, in others there is free variation
Free variation
Free variation in linguistics is the phenomenon of two sounds or forms appearing in the same environment without a change in meaning and without being considered incorrect by native speakers...
.
The alveolar stop /t/ has a voiced allophone [d] after a nasal. It occurs between vowels only in a handful of words, probably all loanword
Loanword
A loanword is a word borrowed from a donor language and incorporated into a recipient language. By contrast, a calque or loan translation is a related concept where the meaning or idiom is borrowed rather than the lexical item itself. The word loanword is itself a calque of the German Lehnwort,...
s, where it has a longer period of closure than the other stops [tː].
The retroflex stop /ʈ/ has a voiced allophone [ɖ] after a nasal, and a flapped allophone [ɽ] between vowels.
Besides the voiced allophones mentioned above, stops are usually voiceless and unaspirated
Aspiration (phonetics)
In phonetics, aspiration is the strong burst of air that accompanies either the release or, in the case of preaspiration, the closure of some obstruents. To feel or see the difference between aspirated and unaspirated sounds, one can put a hand or a lit candle in front of one's mouth, and say pin ...
.
The laterals have pre-stopped allophones [ᶜʎ ᵗ̪l̪ ᵗl ʈɭ] when they occur in a syllable coda
Syllable coda
In phonology, a syllable coda comprises the consonant sounds of a syllable that follow the nucleus, which is usually a vowel. The combination of a nucleus and a coda is called a rime. Some syllables consist only of a nucleus with no coda...
.
The alveolar rhotic /r/ is a tap [ɾ] between vowels, and a usually voiceless trill [r̥] finally.
The palatal semivowel /j/ may be dropped initially before /i/, but the equivalent dropping of /w/ before initial /u/ is rare.
Vowels
| Front Front vowel A front vowel is a type of vowel sound used in some spoken languages. The defining characteristic of a front vowel is that the tongue is positioned as far in front as possible in the mouth without creating a constriction that would be classified as a consonant. Front vowels are sometimes also... |
Back Back vowel A back vowel is a type of vowel sound used in spoken languages. The defining characteristic of a back vowel is that the tongue is positioned as far back as possible in the mouth without creating a constriction that would be classified as a consonant. Back vowels are sometimes also called dark... |
|
|---|---|---|
| High | i iː | u uː |
| Low | a aː | |
/i/ is usually realized as [ɪ], though it may be realized as [i] near palatal consonants and as [e] near /r/, /n/ or /l/.
/iː/ is realized as [ɪː] in morpheme-initial syllables, [eː] elsewhere.
/u/ is usually realized as [u] in stressed syllables, and [ʊ] in unstressed syllables. /u/ is fronted to varying degrees when near laminal consonants, being most fronted [ʉ] when preceded by a dental consonant. It has an unrounded allophone [ɨ] when followed by /ɻ/.
/uː/ is usually [ʊː], but is lowered to [ɔː] when preceded by a dental consonant.
/a/ is usually [ɐ] when stressed, [ə] when unstressed. Following a laminal consonant, more so after dentals than palatals, it is fronted towards [ɛ]. When preceded by /w/ and followed by a velar consonant, it is realized as [ɒ].
/aː/ is usually simply [ɐː].
Phonotactics
All Martuthunira words begin with one of the following consonants, from most to least frequent: /p k m w ŋ c t̪ j ɲ n̪/. This consists of only peripheral and laminal stops, nasals, and semivowels. Words may end in a vowel, or one of /n r l ɲ ɳ ʎ ɭ/.Accusative alignment
Subject (grammar)
The subject is one of the two main constituents of a clause, according to a tradition that can be tracked back to Aristotle and that is associated with phrase structure grammars; the other constituent is the predicate. According to another tradition, i.e...
of transitive verb
Transitive verb
In syntax, a transitive verb is a verb that requires both a direct subject and one or more objects. The term is used to contrast intransitive verbs, which do not have objects.-Examples:Some examples of sentences with transitive verbs:...
s are treated the same as the subjects of intransitive verb
Intransitive verb
In grammar, an intransitive verb is a verb that has no object. This differs from a transitive verb, which takes one or more objects. Both classes of verb are related to the concept of the transitivity of a verb....
s, while the objects
Object (grammar)
An object in grammar is part of a sentence, and often part of the predicate. It denotes somebody or something involved in the subject's "performance" of the verb. Basically, it is what or whom the verb is acting upon...
are treated differently.
The Martuthunira nominative case
Nominative case
The nominative case is one of the grammatical cases of a noun or other part of speech, which generally marks the subject of a verb or the predicate noun or predicate adjective, as opposed to its object or other verb arguments...
is unmarked (zero). The accusative case
Accusative case
The accusative case of a noun is the grammatical case used to mark the direct object of a transitive verb. The same case is used in many languages for the objects of prepositions...
, which descends from a suffix that originally marked the dative case
Dative case
The dative case is a grammatical case generally used to indicate the noun to whom something is given, as in "George gave Jamie a drink"....
, takes the form /-ŋu/ on proper nominals
Proper noun
A proper noun or proper name is a noun representing a unique entity , as distinguished from a common noun, which represents a class of entities —for example, city, planet, person or corporation)...
; /-ku/ on common nominals ending in a nasal (/ɲ n ɳ/); /-ju/ on common nominals ending in a lateral or a rhotic (/ʎ l ɭ r/); and vowel lengthening for common nominals ending in vowels. The accusative case is identical to the genitive case
Genitive case
In grammar, genitive is the grammatical case that marks a noun as modifying another noun...
, except for common nominals ending in vowels, where the genitive suffix is /-wu/.
Case stacking
Martuthunira exhibits case stacking, where nouns take multiple caseDeclension
In linguistics, declension is the inflection of nouns, pronouns, adjectives, and articles to indicate number , case , and gender...
suffixes for agreement
Agreement (linguistics)
In languages, agreement or concord is a form of cross-reference between different parts of a sentence or phrase. Agreement happens when a word changes form depending on the other words to which it relates....
. For example:
| Ngayu | nhawulha | ngurnu | tharnta-a | mirtily-marta-a | thara-ngka-marta-a. | |
| I | saw | that | euro-ACC | joey-PROP-ACC | pouch-LOC-PROP-ACC | |
| I saw that euro Wallaroo A Wallaroo is any of three closely related species of moderately large macropod, intermediate in size between the kangaroos and the wallabies. The name "wallaroo" is a portmanteau of wallaby and kangaroo. The term is not generally used by Australians... with a joey in its pouch. |
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- Tharnta is the object of the verb, and so is in the accusative caseAccusative caseThe accusative case of a noun is the grammatical case used to mark the direct object of a transitive verb. The same case is used in many languages for the objects of prepositions...
. - Mirtily gets a proprietive suffix, which indicates that it is possessed by the euro. However, because it modifies tharnta, it additionally gets an accusative suffix to agree with it.
- Thara gets a locativeLocative caseLocative is a grammatical case which indicates a location. It corresponds vaguely to the English prepositions "in", "on", "at", and "by"...
suffix, which indicates that it is what the joey is in. It also gets a proprietive suffix to agree with mirtily, and then an accusative suffix to agree with tharnta.