Letters between slashes / / indicate phonemic transcription, letters in square brackets [ ] indicate phonetic transcription and letters in triangular brackets ⟨ ⟩ indicate standard Greenlandic orthography.
Vowels[]
The Greenlandic three vowel system, composed of /i/, /u/, and /a/, is typical for an Eskimo–Aleut language. Double vowels are analyzed as two morae, so they are phonologically a vowel sequence and not a long vowel; they are also written as two vowels in the orthography.[1][2] The only diphthong in the language is /ai/, which occurs only at the ends of words.[3] Before a uvular consonant ([q] or [ʁ]), /i/ is realized allophonically as [e], [ɛ] or [ɐ], and /u/ is realized allophonically as [o] or [ɔ], and the two vowels are written e, o respectively (as in some orthographies used for Quechua and Aymara). /a/ becomes retracted to [ɑ] in the same environment. /i/ is rounded to [y] before labial consonants. /u/ is fronted to [ʉ] between two coronal consonants.
The allophonic lowering of /i/ and /u/ before uvular consonants is shown in the modern orthography by writing /i/ and /u/ as ⟨e⟩ and ⟨o⟩ respectively before uvulars ⟨q⟩ and ⟨r⟩. For example:
- /ui/ "husband" pronounced [ui].
- /uiqarpuq/ "she has a husband" pronounced [ueqɑʁpɔq] and written ⟨ueqarpoq⟩.
- /illu/ "house" pronounced [iɬːu].
- /illuqarpuq/ "he has a house" pronounced [iɬːoqɑʁpɔq] and written ⟨illoqarpoq⟩.
Consonants[]
Greenlandic has consonants at five points of articulation: labial, alveolar, palatal, velar and uvular. It does not have phonemic voicing contrast, but rather distinguishes stops from fricatives. It distinguishes stops, fricatives, and nasals at the labial, alveolar, velar, and uvular points of articulation.[note 1] The earlier palatal sibilant [ʃ] has merged with [s] in all but a few dialects.[4] The labiodental fricative [f] is only contrastive in loanword. The alveolar stop [t] is pronounced as an affricate [t͡s] before the high front vowel /i/. Often, Danish loanwords containing ⟨b d g⟩ preserve these in writing, although this does not imply a change in pronunciation, for example ⟨baaja⟩ [paːja] "beer" and ⟨Guuti⟩ [kuːtˢi] "God"; these are pronounced exactly as /p t k/.
| Labial | Alveolar | Palatal | Velar | Uvular | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Stops | /p/ ⟨p⟩ | /t/ ⟨t⟩ | /k/ ⟨k⟩ | /q/ ⟨q⟩ | |
| Fricatives | /v/ ⟨v⟩[note 2] | /s/ ⟨s⟩ | (/ʃ/)[note 3] | /ɣ/ ⟨g⟩ | /ʁ/ ⟨r⟩ |
| Nasals | /m/ ⟨m⟩ | /n/ ⟨n⟩ | /ŋ/ ⟨ng⟩ | ||
| Liquids | /l/ ⟨l⟩ ⁓ [ɬ] ⟨ll⟩ | ||||
| Semivowel | /j/ ⟨j⟩ |
Phonotactics[]
The Kalaallisut syllable is simple, allowing syllables of (C)(V)V(C), where C is a consonant and V is a vowel and VV is a double vowel or word-final /ai/.[5] Native words may only begin with a vowel or /p, t, k, q, s, m, n/; they may end only in /p, t, k, q/ or rarely /n/. Consonant clusters only occur over syllable boundaries and their pronunciation is subject to regressive assimilations that convert them into geminates. All non-nasal consonants in a cluster are voiceless.[6]
Prosody[]
Greenlandic prosody does not include stress as an autonomous category; instead, prosody is determined by tonal and durational parameters.[2] Intonation is influenced by syllable weight: heavy syllables are pronounced in a way that may be perceived as stress. Heavy syllables include syllables with long vowels and syllables before consonant clusters. The last syllable is stressed in words with fewer than four syllables and without long vowels or consonant clusters. The antepenultimate syllable is stressed in words with more than four syllables that are all light. In words with many heavy syllables, syllables with long vowels are considered heavier than syllables before a consonant cluster.[7]
Geminate consonants are pronounced long, almost exactly with the double duration of a single consonant.[8]
Intonation in indicative clauses usually rises on the antepenultimate syllable, falls on the penult and rises on the last syllable. Interrogative intonation rises on the penultimate and falls on the last syllable.[7][9]
Morphophonology[]
Greenlandic phonology distinguishes itself phonologically from the other Inuit languages by a series of assimilations.
Greenlandic phonology allows clusters, but it does not allow clusters of two different consonants unless the first one is /ʁ/. In all other cases the first consonant in a cluster is assimilated to the second one resulting in a geminate consonant. Geminate /tt/ is pronounced [ts] and written ⟨ts⟩. Geminate /ll/ is pronounced [ɬː]. Geminate /ɣɣ/ is pronounced [çː] but is written ⟨gg⟩. Geminate /ʁʁ/ is pronounced [χː]. Geminate /vv/ is pronounced [fː] and written ⟨ff⟩. /v/ is also pronounced and written [f] after /ʁ/.[10]
These assimilations mean that one of the most recognizable Inuktitut words, iglu ("house"), is illu in Greenlandic, where the /ɡl/ consonant cluster of Inuktitut is assimilated into a voiceless alveolar lateral fricative. And the word Inuktitut itself, when translated into Kalaallisut, becomes Inuttut. The Old Greenlandic diphthong /au/ has assimilated to /aa/.
The consonant /v/ has disappeared when between /u/ and /i/ or /a/. This means that affixes beginning with -va or -vi have forms without [v] when suffixed to stems ending in /u/.
The vowel /i/ of modern Greenlandic is the result of a historic merger of the Proto-Eskimo–Aleut vowels *i and *ɪ. The fourth vowel was still present in Old Greenlandic as attested by Hans Egede.[11] In modern West Greenlandic the difference between the two original vowels can only be discerned morphophonologically in certain environments. The vowel that was originally *ɪ has the variant [a] when preceding another vowel and sometimes disappears before certain suffixes.[12]
The degree to which the assimilation of consonant clusters has taken place is an important dialectal feature separating Polar Eskimo, Inuktun, which still allows some ungeminated consonant clusters, from West and East Greenlandic. East Greenlandic (Tunumiit oraasiat) has shifted some geminate consonants, e.g. [ɬː] to [tː]. Thus, for example, the East Greenlandic name of a particular town is Ittoqqortoormiit, which would appear as Illoqqortoormiut in Kalaallisut.[13]
See also[]
References[]
- ↑ Rischel (1974) pp. 79 – 80
- ↑ 2.0 2.1 Jacobsen (2000)
- ↑ Bjørnum (2003) p. 16
- ↑ Rischel (1974) pp.173–177
- ↑ Fortescue(1984) p. 338
- ↑ Sadock (2003) pp. 20–21
- ↑ 7.0 7.1 Bjørnum (2003) pp. 23–26
- ↑ Sadock (2003) p. 2
- ↑ Fortescue (1984) p. 5
- ↑ Bjørnum,(2003) p. 27
- ↑ Rischel (1985) pp. 553
- ↑ Underhill (1976)
- ↑ Mahieu & Tersis (2009) p. 53
Notes[]
- ↑ The uvular nasal [ɴ] is not found in all dialects and there is dialectal variability regarding its status as a phoneme (Rischel 1974:176–181)
- ↑ ⟨ff⟩ is the way of writing the devoiced /vv/ geminate, otherwise ⟨f⟩ only occurs in loanwords.
- ↑ /ʃ/ is found in some dialects, but not in the standard language.