The two following sections detail phonetic information about Taos phonological segments (i.e., consonants and vowels), as well as their phonological patterning in morphophonemic alternations.
Consonants[]
Trager (1946) lists 27 consonants (25 native) for Taos, although in his later analysis he posited 18 consonants.[1]
Bilabial Dental Alveolar Palatal Velar Glottal central lateral plain labial Stop voiced b d ɡ unaspirated p t tʃ k kʷ ʔ aspirated pʰ tʰ ejective pʼ tʼ tʃʼ kʼ kʷʼ Fricative (f) ɬ s x xʷ h Nasal m n Flap (ɾ) Approximant l j w
Vowels[]
Taos has six vowels with three contrastive vowel heights and degrees of vowel backness.[2]
References[]
- ↑ The main difference with respect to consonants in the 1948 analysis is that aspirated consonants /pʰ, tʰ/, ejectives /pʼ, tʼ, tʃʼ, kʼ/, and labialized consonants /kʷ, kʷʼ, xʷ/ were considered consonant sequences, respectively /ph, th, pʔ, tʔ, tʃʔ, kʔ, kw, kʷʔ, xw/. Similar alternate analyses of C + ʔ vs. Cʼ have been proposed in other languages in region, e.g., Zuni syllable-initial consonants (see: Zuni consonants). This difference affects his analysis of syllable structure and phonotactics. The sequences /pʔ, tʔ, kʔ/, then, contrast with /bʔ, dʔ, ɡʔ/ sequences. Intervocalically, /pʔ, tʔ, kʔ/ are interpreted as syllable onsets while /bʔ, dʔ, ɡʔ/ are split by syllable boundaries /b.ʔ, d.ʔ, ɡ.ʔ/. Trager admits that this analysis may not be ideal for the labialized segments since /kwʔ/ would be the only native three-consonant cluster that appears in syllable onsets (other three-consonant clusters appear in Spanish loanwords). Even so, he rejects a phoneme sequence /kʷʔ/ because the exclusion of loanword phonology is "very bad methodology". Unlike his decomposition of other Trager (1946) consonants, Trager (1948) retains /tʃ/ as a unitary segment. A final difference is the interpretation of the cluster /fɾ/ found in loanwords.
- ↑ The IPA symbols used here are equivalent to the following phonemic symbols of Trager: i = Trager i, u = Trager u, e = Trager e, ɤ = Trager ə, æ = Trager a, ɑ = Trager o.