Chukchi phonology
This article discusses the phonology of the Chukchi language. The Chukchi language, also known as Chukot or Luorawetlan,[1] is a language spoken by around 5 thousand people[2] in Chukotka Autonomous Okrug. The endonym of the Chukchi language is Ԓыгъоравэтԓьэн йиԓыйиԓ (Lyg'"orawetl'en Jilyjil),[3] pronounced as [ɬəɣˀorawetɬˀɛn jiɬəjiɬ]. Chukchi is in the Chukotko-Kamchatkan family, and thus is closely related to Koryak, Kerek, Alyutor, and more distantly related to Itelmen, Southern Kamchadal, and Eastern Kamchadal.
Vowels
Source:[4]
Generally, Chukchi is noted to have 5 or 6 distinct vowels, with /e1/ and /e2/ being identical in pronunciation but behaving differently in the language. A similar occurrence exists in Yup'ik Eskimo. Chukchi phonotactics are (C)V(C).
| Front | Central | Back | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Close | i | u | |
| Mid | e1 e2 | ə | o |
| Open | a |
Phonetic notes:
- /e1/ and /e2/ are identical in pronunciation, but behave differently in vowel harmony.
- Word finally /e1/ and /a/ reduce to a schwa, while other vowels may get dropped.
Vowel Harmony
Chukchi is notable for its vowel harmony based on vowel height, with /i/, /u/, and /e1/ belonging to the recessive group and /e₂/, /o/, and /a/ belonging to the dominant group. The three-vowel pairs alternate with each other and cannot cooccur within a word.
Consonants
Chukchi has 13 consonants. The language lacks voiced stops, which are only found in loanwords.
| Bilabial | Alveolar | Retroflex | Palatal | Velar | Uvular | Glottal | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Nasal | m | n | ŋ | ||||
| Stop | p | t | t͡ʃ | k | q | ʔ | |
| Fricative | β | s | ɣ | ||||
| Lateral | ɬ | ||||||
| Approximant | ɻ | j |
- [ɸ, x, ɻ̊, j̊] are heard as allophones of /β, ɣ, ɻ, j/ after voiceless stops.[5]
- /ɻ/ is mostly heard as an alveolar trill [r], when in between vowels.[6]
- /s/ is phonetically [s~t͡ʃ] in free variation.
- /t͡ʃ/ becomes [s] before /q/.
- /s/, /t͡ʃ/ and /ɻ/ have different distributions between men's and women's dialects.[7]
There is also a supersegmental glottalisation realised as a glottal stop preceding a vowel. It is not treated as a consonant as a result of phonotactics and reduplication patterns.
References
- ^ "ckt | ISO 639-3". iso639-3.sil.org. Retrieved 2021-11-09.
- ^ "Language Proficiency of the Population of the Russian Federation" 2010. Archived 2021-08-30 at the Wayback Machine
- ^ Waldemar, Bogoras (1922). Chukchee: essay of a comparative study of Chukchee group of languages.
- ^ Dunn, Michael John (1999). "A grammar of Chukchi". doi:10.25911/5d77842288837.
{{cite journal}}: Cite journal requires|journal=(help) - ^ "chapter2_9". 2013-10-30. Archived from the original on 2013-10-30. Retrieved 2022-10-21.
- ^ Skorik (1961)
- ^ Dunn (1999)