Phonology Tanacross language

1 phonology

1.1 vowels
1.2 consonants
1.3 semi-voiced fricatives

phonology

tanacross 1 of 4 athabaskan tone languages spoken in alaska. others gwichʼin, han, , upper tanana. tanacross alaska athabaskan language exhibit high tone reflex of proto-athabaskan constriction.

vowels

there 6 phonemic vowels:

the vowels i, e, a, , u may distinguished length, indicated in practical orthography doubling vowel. reduced vowel ä indicated via letter ⟨e⟩. thus, practical orthography not distinguish short e ə.

vowels may marked high (á), rising (ǎ), falling (â) or extra-high (á́) tone. low tone unmarked.

consonants

the consonants of tanacross practical orthography shown below. practical orthography follows standard athabaskan conventions, in particular, stops , affricates grouped phonologically. also, voiceless unaspirated stops/afficates consonants indicated using, part, ipa symbols voiced consonants, while voiceless aspirated consonants indicated using ipa symbols voiceless consonants. note in coda position unaspirated/aspirated distinction reverts voiceless/voiced distinction, providing further motivation choice of symbols in practical orthography.

semi-voiced fricatives

one of distinguishing features of tanacross presence of so-called semi-voiced fricatives, unique type of segment appear begin voiceless , transition voiced. acoustically, semi-voiced fricatives characterized lower intensity of high-frequency frication. semi-voiced fricatives occur in stem-initial position in lieu of voiced fricatives. though allophonic variants of voiced fricatives, semi-voiced fricatives indicated in practical orthography via underscore beneath corresponding voiceless segment.