Zuni Phonology - Consonants

Consonants

The 16 consonants of Zuni:

• /t/ is dental; /ts, s, n/ are alveolar; /l/ is apical.
• /ts, tʃ, k, kʷ/ are phonetically aspirated, while /p, t, ʔ/ are unaspirated.
• A sequence of a stop or affricate and a glottal stop /ʔ/ is phonetically realized as an ejective. This pronunciation occurs within words and across word boundaries: /ʔaːtʃ ʔuluka/ "they two put it in" as . Some analyses have proposed that the sequences /tsʔ, tʃʔ, kʔ, kʷʔ/ be considered single ejective consonant phonemes /tsʼ, tʃʼ, kʼ, kʼʷ/ based on their phonotactic properties.
• /k/ and /kʷ/ contrast only before /i, e, a/; before /u, o/ the contrast is neutralized to /k/. This neutralization of contrast also applies to the sequences /kʔ, kʷʔ/.
• /k, kʷ/ are palatal before the vowels /i, e, a/, but are velar elsewhere. Since /k/ is realized as an ejective before a glottal stop, the sequences /kʔi, kʔe, kʔa/ are phonetically .
• In a sequence of a stop or affricate plus another consonant (except /ʔ/), the stop/affricate has no audible release. That is, /moktʃinne/ "elbow" is phonetically (and not ).
• All Zuni consonants occur with contrastive duration: short or long. In Newman's analysis, the phonetically long consonants are geminates (that is, a sequence of two identical consonants). Walker (1972) and Granberry (1967) analyze length /ː/ as a separate phoneme. Geminate affricates are realized with a long closure period and a fricative release, e.g. /tsts/ as, /tʃtʃ/ as .
• /h/ is phonetically a voiceless vowel, except when following a consonant in which case it is a velar fricative : /ʔahha/ "pick it up!" is phonetically .
• The sonorants /m, n, l, w, j/ (as well as vowels, see below) are optionally devoiced when followed by /h, ʔ/. The devoicing occurs within words and across word boundaries. This is especially common when also preceded by a voiceless consonant (in addition to the following /h, ʔ/): /lesn hol/ "thus perhaps" pronounced .
• /n/ is optionally realized as a phonetic velar before /k, kʷ/.
• There is a marginal contrast between palatal and velar before the low vowel /a/. The usual pronunciation of /k/ before /a/ is palatal . However, in some words — all of which are probably loanwords — a velar occurs before /a/ (notably in the very common word, /melika/ "non-Mormon Anglo-American", which is phonetically and not ). This has led to an analysis of Zuni having two dorsal phonemes, /kʲ/ and /k/, by some linguists. A discussion of the disagreement between analyses and range of social variation of certains forms are discussed in Tedlock (1969).