However, as will be pointed out in the course of the description, there is a remarkable

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1 CHAPTER 3 CONSONANTS 3.1 Chapter introduction This chapter consists of four sections. The present section first outlines the structure of this chapter, and then comments on the phonological framework used in this chapter (Section 3.1.1), and finally provides information on the instrumental phonetic techniques employed for the description of consonants (Section 3.1.2). The following two sections present a phonetic description of the consonants of G ui. In order to proceed with the description, I tentatively treat the non-click consonant system (Section 3.2) and the click consonant system (Section 3.3) separately, following the conventional click vs. non-click distinction in the consonantal inventory (Beach 1938). However, as will be pointed out in the course of the description, there is a remarkable parallelism between the two consonantal subsystems. This parallelism is fully discussed in the final section (Section 3.4) by considering comparative data with G ana concerning sound correspondences between clicks and non-clicks, i.e. the so-called click replacement The descriptive framework The systematic transcription of the consonants used in this thesis reflects the phonological interpretation that is based on my revised version of the framework proposed by Güldemann (2001). He proposed this framework for interpreting the whole Khoisan consonant inventory and Khoisan consonantal regularities, summarizing it as a cross-khoisan consonant chart (p.40). His approach falls into the view that regards some clicks and their accompaniments (see Section for the definition of accompaniment) together with some non-click sounds that he calls stop clusters as consonant clusters. As will be reviewed in Section 5.3 in Chapter 5, this view was first proposed by Traill (1985), as an alternative to the traditional view that regards all these sounds as single segments (henceforth, this alternative view is referred to as the cluster analysis of clicks, and the traditional view, as the unit analysis of clicks). My revised version of his framework has maintained 104

2 the cluster analytic approach. The issue concerning the cluster analysis of clicks vs. the unit analysis of clicks is discussed in detail in Chapter 5. Güldemann (2001: 30-32) himself applied his framework for interpreting G ui consonants based on my preliminary descriptions presented in Nakagawa (1996a, b). The interpretation that I discuss in this chapter disagrees with his interpretation of G ui consonants in the treatment of some individual click series. Some disagreements have an impact on his interpretations of other Khoisan click systems that play an essential role in his argument in favor of his framework. Consequently, my interpretation implies that his cross-khoisan consonant chart should partly be revised. In the course of the description below, especially in Section 3.4.3, I point out disagreements between Güldemann s and my interpretations, in order to discuss a correct interpretation of G ui consonants and to propose a revision of Güldemann s cross-khoisan consonant chart in Chapter 5. In addition to the systematic transcription mentioned above, I also employ a narrow phonetic transcription, especially for clicks, wherever it can express important phonetic details Instrumental phonetic techniques employed to describe consonants In order to provide the description in this chapter with objective phonetic information, I employ three types of experimental phonetic investigation. These are summarized in the following three subsections Acoustic phonetic investigations Acoustic phonetic analyses were conducted using KAY s Multispeech (Model 3700). In the descriptions below, I use spectrograms (and waveforms and intensity curves where necessary) of typical tokens of pronunciation in order to illustrate phonetic features of the relevant sounds. These typical tokens were selected based on the acoustic phonetic observation and my careful auditory observation of the pronunciations of one female (QXK) and five male speakers (ABM, GON, KEX, NOS and TSB) for the clicks, and five male speakers (ABM, KBG, KEX, NOS and TSX) for the non-clicks. The words used for the observations are included in Tables 3.2 and

3 Each speaker pronounced each word three times in isolation. These tokens were also used for the other acoustic analyses and measurements mentioned below. In addition to spectrograms, waveforms and intensity curves, FFT spectra are also used for describing the four click influxes in Section They were taken from two tokens for each of the four words with the clicks of the plain+/ / series, i.e. /k k k! k /, included in Table 3.5 pronounced by the five speakers, i.e. ABM, GON, KEX, QXK and TSB. When it is necessary to observe the formant transitions both into and out of the click, I used the frame sentence / a sa a / That is. The six speakers mentioned above pronounced each sentence three times, providing 18 tokens for each click. The description in this chapter includes quantitative acoustic data concerning the intensities of /t c ts k q k k k! k /, the VOT, durations of click influxes, and other timing parameters. The measurements were taken from enlarged waveforms with simultaneously displayed intensity curves and/or spectrograms Palatographic and linguographic investigations In order to investigate a number of articulations, I used a conventional static palatographic technique. The procedure is summarized as follows: painting the tongue (for a palatogram) or the roof of the mouth (for a linguogram) with a mixture of equal parts olive oil and medical charcoal powder; asking the speaker to pronounce a word with the relevant sound; taking photographs of the part in contact on the palate or the tongue using a dental camera (Polaroid CU-5 Land Camera). Alginate casts of the speakers were made and cut for tracing a sagittal view of the speakers roof of the mouth. The palatographic field investigation was conducted in Xade (see Chapter 1) in September Palatograms were taken from six speakers (KBG, KHS, NOS, QXK, TSB, TSX) for /t/, /c/, /k/, /q/, / / and /q /, and from five speakers (KBG, NOS, QXK, TSB, TSX) for /k!/, /k /, /k / and /k /, together with linguograms for /t/, /c/, /k!/, /k /, /k / and /k /. (QXK 106

4 is female, and the others, male.) The words used for this investigation are given in the legends of the relevant figures Aerodynamic investigations I conducted two aerodynamic investigations to observe the nasal airflow and the oral airflow involved in four series of clicks. The first field investigation was conducted in Xade in September 1995, and the second was conducted in New Xade in November In the first fieldwork, I compared the nasal and the oral airflows involved in the two series of clicks, i.e. /k!h k h k h k h/ vs. /k! k k k /. In the first aerodynamic study, I used Mingograf (Siemens), which was connected to two differential pressure transducers through amplifiers (one transducer was used for the nasal airflow and the other for the oral airflow). The oral airflow was recorded by using an oral mask connected to one of the transducers, and the nasal airflow was recorded through a tube tightly plugged in one nostril (with the other nostril blocked) and connected to the other transducer. The two airflows, simultaneously with the waveform, were recorded and printed out on paper. The aerodynamic records were taken from three male speakers (KEX, NAM and NOS) and one female speaker (TSH). The words used for this work are provided in the course of the description in Section In the second aerodynamic study, using a device of the Macquirer X16 system (SciconRD) with an attachment of a set of oral and nasal masks and a microphone, I observed the nasal and the oral airflows involved in the two series of clicks, i.e. /k! k k k / and /k! k k k /. The two airflows were recorded and displayed simultaneously with the waveform on the laptop computer screen. The investigation was conducted with four male speakers, i.e. ABM, KEX, KHA and NOS. The words used for the study are given in Section

5 3.2 Non-click consonants This section consists of five subsections. Section first presents an overview of the systematic classification of the non-click consonants of G ui, and then comments on their distribution in the root and their frequency in the lexicon. The next section describes important phonetic details of the places of articulation of /t c k q q / by providing palatographic and linguographic data (3.2.2). In the following three sections, I describe important phonetic details of the four non-click stop clusters (3.2.3), the voiced uvular plosive / / (3.2.4), and the liquid /r/ (3.2.5) Overview of the non-click consonant system Table 3.1 presents a systematic classification of the non-click consonants and clusters of G ui. Example words for the non-click consonants and clusters are presented in Table 3.2. The interpretation of non-click consonants reflected in Table 3.1 is essentially the same as Güldemann s (2001: 31) interpretation of G ui. The only disagreements are in the introduction of the term series (see Section ) and the interpretation of /q / (see Section ). The horizontal axis of Table 3.1 consists of six places of articulation, which are labeled in conventional terms as labial, alveolar, palatal, velar, uvular and glottal. The term alveolar is marked with, because it cannot correctly express this place of articulation in G ui. A detailed description of important places of articulation of non-click consonants is presented with palatographic and linguographic data in following Section The horizontal axis also involves an unaffricated vs. affricated distinction found in the alveolar stops and the uvular ejectives. The affricated members are shown in the cells on the right. 108

Articulatory Phonetics. and the International Phonetic Alphabet. Readings and Other Materials. Introduction. The Articulatory System

Articulatory Phonetics. and the International Phonetic Alphabet. Readings and Other Materials. Introduction. The Articulatory System Supplementary Readings Supplementary Readings Handouts Online Tutorials The following readings have been posted to the Moodle course site: Contemporary Linguistics: Chapter 2 (pp. 15-33) Handouts for This