The sound system of Numic is set forth in the following tables.[1]
Vowels[]
Proto-Numic had an inventory of five vowels.
| front | back unrounded |
back rounded | |
|---|---|---|---|
| High | *i | *ɨ | *u |
| Mid | *ɤ | *o | |
| Low | *a | *ɒ |
Consonants[]
Proto-Numic had the following consonant inventory:
| Bilabial | Coronal | Palatal | Velar | Labialized velar |
Glottal | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Stop | *p | *t | *c | *k | *kʷ | *ʔ |
| Affricate | *ts | |||||
| Fricative | *ɸ | *s | *ç | *x | *h | |
| Nasal | *m | *n | *ɲ | *ŋ | (*ŋʷ) | |
| Semivowel | *j | *w |
In addition to the above simple consonants, Proto-Numic also had nasal-stop/affricate clusters and all consonants except *s, *h, *j, and *w could be geminated. Between vowels short consonants were lenited.
Major Central Numic consonant changes[]
The major difference between Proto-Central Numic and Proto-Numic was the phonemic split of Proto-Numic geminate consonants into geminate consonants and preaspirated consonants. The conditioning factors involve stress shifts and are complex. The preaspirated consonants surfaced as voiceless fricatives, often preceded by a voiceless vowel.
Shoshoni and Comanche have both lost the velar nasals, merging them with *n or turning them into velar nasal-stop clusters. In Comanche, nasal-stop clusters have become simple stops, but p and t from these clusters do not lenite intervocalically. This change postdates the earliest record of Comanche from 1786, but precedes the 20th century. Geminated stops in Comanche have also become phonetically preaspirated.
Major Southern Numic consonant changes[]
Proto-Southern Numic preserved the Proto-Numic consonant system fairly intact, but the individual languages have undergone several changes.
Modern Kawaiisu has reanalyzed the nasal-stop clusters as voiced stops, although older recordings preserve some of the clusters. Geminated stops and affricates are voiceless and non-geminated stops and affricates are voiced fricatives. The velar nasals have fallen together with the alveolar nasals.
The dialects of Colorado River east of Chemehuevi have lost *h. The dialects east of Kaibab have collapsed the nasal-stop clusters with the geminated stops and affricate.
Major Western Numic consonant changes[]
Proto-Western Numic changed the nasal-stop clusters of Proto-Numic into voiced geminate stops. In Mono and all dialects of Northern Paiute except Southern Nevada, these voiced geminate stops have become voiceless.
Sample Numic cognate sets[]
The following table shows some sample Numic cognate sets that illustrate the above changes. Forms in the daughter languages are written in a broad phonetic transcription rather than a phonemic transcription that sometimes masks the differences between the forms. Italicized vowels and sonorants are voiceless.
| Mono | Northern Paiute | Timbisha | Shoshoni | Comanche | Kawaiisu | Colorado River | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| *hoa 'hunt, trap' |
hoa | hoa | hɨwa | hɨa | hɨa | hɨa | oa (SP) 'spy' |
| *jaka 'cry' |
jaɣa | jaɣa | jaɣa | jaɣai | jake | jaɣi | jaɣa |
| *kaipa 'mountain' |
kaiβa | kaiβa | keeβi | kaiβa | |||
| *kuttsu 'bison' |
kuttsu | kuttsu 'cow' |
kwittʃu 'cow' |
kuittʃun 'cow' |
kuhtsu 'cow' |
kuttsu | |
| *naŋka 'ear' |
nakka | nakka naɡɡa (So Nev) |
naŋɡa | naŋɡi | naki | naɣaβiβi | naŋkaβɨ (Ch) nakka- (Ut) |
| *oppimpɨ 'mesquite' |
oɸimbɨ | oɸi 'mesquite bean' |
oβi(m)bɨ | oppimpɨ (Ch) | |||
| *paŋkʷi 'fish' |
pakkʷi | pakkʷi paɡɡʷi (So Nev) |
paŋŋʷi | paiŋɡʷi | pekʷi | ||
| *puŋku 'pet, dog' |
pukku | pukku puɡɡu (So Nev) 'horse' |
puŋɡu 'pet' |
puŋɡu 'horse' |
puku 'horse' |
puɣu | puŋku (Ch) pukku (Ut) 'pet' |
| *tɨpa 'pine nut' |
tɨβa | tɨβa | tɨβa | tɨβa | tɨβattsi | tɨβa | |
| *woŋko 'pine' |
wokkoβɨ | wokkoppi oɡɡoppi (So Nev) |
woŋɡoβi | woŋɡoβin | wokoβi | woɣo- (only in compounds) |
oɣompɨ |
References[]
- ↑ David Iannucci. 1972. "Numic historical phonology," Cornell University PhD dissertation.
Michael Nichols. 1973. "Northern Paiute historical grammar," University of California, Berkeley PhD dissertation
Wick R. Miller. 1986. "Numic Languages," Handbook of North American Indians, Volume 11, Great Basin. Ed. by Warren L. d’Azevedo. Washington: Smithsonian Institution. Pages 98–106.