moonflower77

forbidden consonant combinations

no combination of consonants is forbidden for purely phonetical reasons. if a certan consonant combination is not permissible, this is connected in some way or other to morphology and only applies to a certain clearly defined context (position).

1) l + ḹ: stem (root) ending in l + instr. case marker ḹ = ṇḹ

qāllal + ḹ -> qāllaṇḹ with, using the snow
il? + ḹ -> iṇḹ with, using the ears
ɸal + ḹ -> faṇḹ with, using the knife

does not apply when the marker ḹ is used to form the VI inf. from a verb stem that ends in l (in this case, the suffix is joined to the stem with the help of an epenthetic vowel):

tkill- + ḹ -> tkilliḹ by means of throwing sth.

still- + ḹ -> stilliḹ by means of dragging sth.

in other contexts, both within the stem or where the stem is joined to an affix, combinations such as l + ḹ, l + l, ḷ + ḹ can be encountered frequently, as in mellaχ good, kind, pāllapāl (fallen) leaf, uḷḷuḷaχ small, little, tiny, ḹiṇḹlos to ask sb.

2) ḹ + s(z): stem (root) ending in ḹ + present tense marker s ~ z = the ḹ is dropped

suṇḹkes to live, tsuṇḹkichen i lived : tsunskichen i live, i am living

tk’oḹkichen i came (arrived), tk’oḹaḹkichen i will come (arrive) : tk’oskichen i am coming (arriving)

iḹen he went (left), iḹaxen he will go (leave) : isen he is going (leaving)

timpḹnen he brought (sth.) : timpəznen he is bringing (carrying) sth.

nəntxla?ḹqzuɣen he used to transport : nəntxlasen he transports

the same rule applies to the verb ḹkes to be (stem: ḹ-), which in the present tense takes the form of a full set of the appropriate affixes without any stem whatsoever:

t-0-skichen i am (but: t-ḹ-kichen i was, t-ḹ-qzu-kichen i used to be, i was many times)

0-si-ch you (sg.) are (but: ḹi-ch you (sg.) were, ḹ-qzu-ch you (sg.) used to be, you were many times)

0-s-ɣen he is (but: ḹ-ɣen he was, ḹ-qzu-ɣen he used to be, he was many times)

does not apply to any other verb suffixes that begin with s, such as sxen (object marker for 2nd p. pl.) or sx (subject marker for 2nd p. pl.)

k’oḹsx you (pl.) came (arrived) - cf. k’ossx you (pl.) are coming (arriving)

ksuṇḹsx live! (2nd p. pl. imp.) – cf. sunssx you (pl.) live

aṇchpaḹsxen he will teach you (pl.) – cf. aṇchpassxen he wants to teach you (pl.)

if the stem (root) ends in l, the present tense marker s (z) is joined through an epenthetic vowel:

k’olezɣen (sth.) is breaking

stilleznen he is dragging (sth.)

tχālleznen he is eating (sth.)

the same applies if the stem (root) ends in any other consonant:

aṇchpəznen he teaches (sb.)

lutḹxezɣe?n they are fighting

ənstəznen he is asking, pleading (with sb.)

if a stem ending in l is combined with any other affixes that start with s, no epenthesis is required: ktχālsx eat (it)! (2nd p. pl. imp.) kɣilsx drink (it)! (2nd p. pl. imp.)

similarly, no epenthesis is necessary when a stem ending in l is combined with one of the word-formation suffixes that start with s: ewlsekes to lengthen, become longer, pəlsekes to grow, become larger, k’olsxenes to be constantly breaking sth.

at the same time, the I inf. marker is always separated from any stem that ends in a consonant using an epenthetic vowel

within the stem, this does not have to be the case: imts seriously, in earnest, titqs settlement, aṇts bed, bedding

gemination

certain consonants may be optionally geminated (doubled) when in the intervocalic position

plosives: ɸittaj baby ring-seal, peqqechχ sorrel, moqqachχ cluster of basket-willow flowers

voiced fricatives: āzzank outside, outdoors, liɣ ɣaj little egg, ŋezzem star, mawwachχ fish fry, quwwa pants, ŋojjaj little tail

some sonorants: χemmechχ puppy, ənna he, uṇṇachχ small bird, olla near, nearby, by, beside, close to, next to, uḷḷuḷaχ small, little, tiny

ejective plosives, voiceless fricatives and the sonorants ŋ and r are never geminated

gemination within the stem serves to close the syllable (a function similar to that of the glottal stop)

the gemination is optional, determined by the peculiarities of an individual person’s pronunciation; in the speech of some informants, it’s very prominent, while in others’ it can barely be discerned.

the combination of ch + ch occurs only where the stem is joined to an affix, and cases like these are comparatively rare: lachchaχ dear little sun, nochchaχ small lair, den

when two ch converge, assimilation is common; when a stem (root) ending in ch is joined to the com. II case circumfix (final part), assimilation occurs regularly.

vowels: peculiarities

it would be a mistake to characterize itelmen vowels as “lax” or “weak” on the whole, much less to claim, as some authors have done, that there are “no vowels” whatsoever (or that they are so unclear as to be barely distinguishable, and have no equivalents in european languages). this would imply that there are some positions where all the five vowels can be discerned, and others where not all of them can be (e.g. in stressed and unstressed syllables); if this were true, vowel harmony would have hardly been possible.

however, there are positions where the vowels can be identified more or less easily, depending on the structure of the syllable:

1) clear and easy to identify: in open syllables or closed syllables of the VC (VC?-VC, VCC?-VCC, VCC) or CVC (CVC-CVC) types

2) short, unclear and possible to identify only when each individual sound is pronounced separately and meticulously: in closed syllables of the nCVC, CVCn or nCVCn types (here, n stands for a cluster of over 2 consonants, max. up to 6)

the fact that itelmen permits consonant clusters of a considerable size both within the syllable and where two syllables are joined together, and that the dominant syllable model is a closed syllable overloaded with consonants, makes it difficult to distinguish between vowels on the basis of their timbre in casual everyday speech.

the full vowels seen in (1) and the reduced vowels seen in (2) are distributed so as to be mutually complementary, and may be classified as the positional variants of the same phonemes.

soe authors distinguish a sixth vowel, the so-called “indefinite vowel” e (articulated as a low back vowel, very short and intense, or, in other words, reduced). they may be referring to two distinct phonetic phenomena:

1) the reduced varieties of the five vowel phonemes: ā, ō, ū, ī, ə

2) a proper “indefinite vowel”, i.e. a reduced schwa vowel (vocalic resonance) that is very brief and indefinite in timbre

observed in the following positions:

a) when the word has no vowels, used to mark the height (peak) of the syllable, and may be preserved if a vowel appears in the word as a result of a morphological transformation

b) between a stem (root) and an affix, used as an epenthetic element that separates two consonants which cannot be combined

the phonological functions of e give no grounds for distinguishing it as a separate phoneme

plays no semantic role (does not affect the meaning of a word); merely serves to complement syllables of a certain structure – a function similar to that of the glottal stop

one can notice a certain distribution between e and the glottal stop:

- the glottal stop never occurs in the C x C position (between two consonants), which is exactly where e always occurs

- in the beginning of a word before a sonorant, where either e or the glottal stop can occur, the two “compete” with each other

some authors propose to distinguish the vowel /ɨ/ as a separate phoneme alongside /i/

articulated as mixed (rather than definitely back, front or mid), but more fronted than the russian ы, in other words, closer to i

this sound is only present in one specific position: it is invariably preceded or directly followed by /l/

therefore, it should be seen as an allophone of /i/, but not as a separate phoneme in its own right

phonetic phenomena observed where a stem is joined to an affix

impermissible phonetic situations may be resolved in two distinct ways:

a) if preserving the original sounds of the morphemes is not important, assimilation or dissimilation (or other processes) may take place;

b) if it‘s important to preserve the original sounds of the morphemes without any alteration, they are joined with the help of an epenthetic sound (consonant or vowel)

assimilation

not as common as in chukchi or koryak

consonant + consonant

n + p > mp : first part of the transitive or anti-transitive circumfix ən, in ~ an + stem starting with p

ən + pχas -> əmpχas to cut, slice sth.

an + pəlsxena?ḹkes -> ampəlsxena?ḹkes to bite, sting

n + ch > ṇch

a) first part of the transitive circumfix ən + stem starting with ch

ən + chexes -> əṇchexes to urge sb. to hurry

ən + chk’ḹes -> əṇchk’ḹes to drown sb.

ən + cho?ḹes -> əṇcho?ḹes to melt, smelt sth.

b) stem (root) ending in n + dim. marker chaχ

qamzan + chaχ -> qamzaṇchaχ dear husband

kāmlon + chaχ -> kāmloṇchaχ dear grandson

c) noun pl. marker n + dim. marker ch

kāmlo?n + ch -> kāmlo?ṇch dear grandchildren

klāmḹe?n + ch -> klāmḹe?ṇch little flies

d) stem (root) ending in n + final part of the com. II case circumfix chom

k + sen + chom -> kseṇchom together with the forest

k+ rewlan + chom -> krewlaṇchom together with the falcon

in any other position, the combination of n and ch triggers no changes:cf. enchawasxkminn they are meeting, greeting me, nchilxkminn they chose, elected me

l + ch > ḹch

a) stem (root) ending in l + 1st p. sg. subject – 3rd p. sg. object marker chen

t + zil + chen -> tziḹchen i gave him

b) stem (root) ending in l + dim. marker chaχ

chaqol + chaχ -> chaqoḹchaχ miniature bird’s head

in both cases, the assimilation is optional and tends to be more an exception than the general rule. most personal verb forms do not display any: t’ech’elilchen i undressed him, tənk’olchen i broke it, chilchiŋnen i chose, selected him

in most diminutive noun forms, the dim. suffix is separated from l by means of epenthesis:

qoɸsk’el + chaχ -> qoɸsk’elechχ little parka

stowal + chaχ -> stowalachχ little grove of dwarf cedars

paχel + chaχ -> paχelechχ little cap

however, l and ch cannot be combined within the stem: ɸaḹch knife, laḹch eyelash, kḹchlaχ sour, kḹchilaχ stubborn, obstinate

k + k > xk : first part of the com. I or com. II case circumfix, first part of the III inf. circumfix or imp. marker + stem starting with k

k + kisteḹ -> xkisteḹ with the house

k + kchecheḹ -> xkchecheḹ with the forehead

k + koremtchom -> xkoremtchom with the pack

k + kḹaknen -> xkḹaknen he drowned

k + kukeknen -> xkukeknen she boiled, cooked

k + kele?in -> xkele?in he wrote it

k + kukekas -> xkukekas boil! cook! (2nd p. sg. imp.)

k + kelesxch -> xkelesxch write! (2nd p. sg. imp.)

if the stem starts with k’, variations of the same word with kk’ or xk’ are possible:

xk’eḷchuḹ, kk’eḷchuḹ with the mosquitoes

xk’oḹknen, kk’oḹknen he came (arrived)

xk’oḹxch, kk’oḹxch come! (2nd p. sg. imp.)

sometimes one may see variations with kk/xk:

xkelknen, kkelknen he cried out, he started to scream

xkopknen, kkopknen he tripped over

l + l > l : stem ending in l + attr. marker laχ, provided the l in the stem is preceded by a consonant

iwl + laχ -> iwlaχ long, lengthy

pəl + laχ -> plaχ large, big, enormous

if the l is preceded by a vowel, assimilation does not occur:

mel + laχ -> mellaχ good, kind

ch + ch > ch

a) stem ending in ch + final part of the com. II case circumfix chom

k + piŋch + chom -> kpiŋchom with the light

k + xk’ich + chom -> kxk’echom with the arm, hand

k + lach + chom -> klachom with the sun

c) stem ending in ch + dim. marker chaχ

slech + chaχ -> slechχ small eagle, eaglet

kukech + chaχ -> kukechχ small pot, cauldron

exceptions: lachchaχ dear little sun, nochchaχ small den, lair

in personal verb forms, the same phonetic situation is resolved by means of epenthesis:

t + mech + chen -> tmechechen i lost him/it

t + niḹch + chen -> tniḹchechen i calmed him down

ḹ + ɣ > x : fut. tense marker aḹ + 3rd p. sg. subject marker ɣen, 3rd p. pl. subject marker ɣe?n, or 1st p. sg. subject – 2nd p. sg. object markers ɣin, xkin

iḹaḹ + ɣen -> iḹaxen he will go (leave)

k’oḹaḹ + ɣen -> k’oḹaxen he will come (arrive)

leɣaḹ + ɣen -> leɣaxen he will become, turn into

tteɸsaḹ + ɣin -> tteɸsaxin i will lift, raise you (sg.) (upwards)

tlaɣaḹ + xkin -> tlaɣaxkin i will betray you (sg.)

s + ɣ > s : present tense marker s + 3rd p. sg. subject marker ɣen or 3rd p. pl. subject marker ɣe?n

nəntxlas + ɣen -> nəntxlasen he transports

is + ɣen -> isen he is going (leaving)

esxḹis + ɣen -> esxḹisen he is waking up

s + ɣ > z : prog. aspect marker qzu ~ qzo + present tense marker s + 3rd p. sg. subject marker ɣen

qamzantaḹ + qzu + s + ɣen -> qamzantaḹqzuzen she (constantly) wants to get married

nu + qzu + s + ɣen -> nuqzuzen he is (constantly) eating

kel + qzu + s + ɣen -> kelqzuzen he is (constantly) shouting

t + t > t : 1st p. sg. subject marker t + stem (root) starting with t

t + tsalkichen -> tsalkichen i fell

t + tsxḹaskichen -> tsxḹaskichen i am washing myself (my face)

t + tkitchen -> tkitchen i have watered it

informants do assert that the words mentioned above have a “double t”, but it may be inaudible for purely physiological reasons (as it is impossible to articulate two adjacent plosives before a consonant cluster); if the t in the stem is followed by a vowel, the geminate t is audible and can be discerned quite clearly: ttimpschen i am carrying it, tteɸschen i lifted, raised it/him (upwards), ttɸischen i am floating it (on a raft or using another means of water transportation)

a geminate t is also permitted within the stem itself, as in ttexch Russian person

consonant + vowel

k + vowel > k’ + vowel : first part of the com. I or com. II case circumfix, first part of the III inf. circumfix, or imp. marker + stem (root) that starts with a vowel

k + ipḹxeḹ -> k’ipḹxeḹ together with the friend

k + esxchom -> k’esxchom together with father

k + owa?an -> k’owa?an he kissed her

k + unmiknen -> k’unmiknen he halted, stopped (moving, walking)

k + aṇchp?an -> k’aṇchp?an he taught him (completely, to the end – the teaching is over)

k + unmixch -> k’unmixch halt! stop! (2nd p. sg. imp.)

t + vowel > t’ + vowel : 1st p. sg. subject marker t + stem (root) that starts with a vowel

t + iḹkichen -> t’ilkichen i went (left)

t + ech’elilkichen -> t’ech’elilkichen i undressed myself

t + umschen -> t’umschen i left, abandoned him

t + onmekichen -> t’onmekichen i halted, stopped (moving, walking)

t + aṇchpchen -> t’ṇchpchen i taught him (completely, to the end – the teaching is over)

the ejective quality of the k’ or t’ in this context is meant to serve the same purpose as a glottal stop that directly follows the stem – it separates the affix (formal element) from the stem (substantial element), draws a certain boundary between them

this phenomenon pertains only to the prefixes k and t; the prefixes m, n, and xān, which occupy the same position, are not separated from a stem (or root) that begins with a vowel: mumschen let me leave, abandon him/it, miḹkichen let me go (leave), naṇchpchen he was taught (completely, to the end – the teaching is over)

the vowel in the prefix xān may be dropped (optional):

xānumschen, xnumschen let him leave him/it

xāniḹen, xniḹen let him go (leave)

xānaṇchpchen, xnaṇchpchen let him teach him (completely, to the end, so that the teaching is over)

vowel + vowel

1) one of the few noun stems that end in a vowel + loc. case marker enk ~ ank or orient.-dat. case marker anke

asera + ank -> aserank in/inside the hole, burrow

asera + anke -> aseranke into the hole, burrow

ḹokra + ank -> ḹokrank at the gadfly’s

ḹokra + anke -> ḹokranke to the gadfly’s

2) when the word-formation suffixes ala and ata are combined

now + ala + ata + kes -> nowalatakes to go eat a little

ŋeks + ala + ata + kes -> ŋeksalatakes to go sleep a little

3) prog. aspect marker qzu ~ qzo + fut. tense marker aḹ

twetat + qzo + aḹ + kichen -> twetatqzaḹkichen i will work

tnu + qzu + aḹ + kichen -> tnuqzaḹkichen i will eat

aṇchp + qzo + aḹ + miŋsx -> aṇchpqzaḹmiŋsx you (pl.) will teach me

assimilation is obligatory in the three positions mentioned above; if the affix ala or ata is joined to a verb stem that ends in a vowel, assimilation is optional (the other alternative being epenthesis):

koma + ata + kes -> komatakes, komaɣatakes to go dress oneself

ənq’wa + ala + s -> ənq’walas, ənq’waɣalas to burn, scald, scorch sth. somewhat

any other vowel + vowel situations are resolved by means of epenthesis