Consonants and Vowels in the Western Gurage Variety Inor: Complex Connections between Phonemes, Allophones, and Free Alternations
This paper is concerned with the phonemic status of consonants and vowels of Inor, a Peripheral Western Gurage language in the southern part of Ethiopia. Determining the status of Inor consonants and vowels is a task well worth doing, as scholars disagree on their categorization. Qualitative researc...
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
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University of Oslo
2017-02-01
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| Series: | Oslo Studies in Language |
| Online Access: | https://journals.uio.no/osla/article/view/4416 |
| _version_ | 1818137144510644224 |
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| author | Tsehay Abza |
| author_facet | Tsehay Abza |
| author_sort | Tsehay Abza |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | This paper is concerned with the phonemic status of consonants and vowels of Inor, a Peripheral Western Gurage language in the southern part of Ethiopia. Determining the status of Inor consonants and vowels is a task well worth doing, as scholars disagree on their categorization. Qualitative research methodology is used in the study. The linguistic data have been collected using key informants and they have been analyzed thematically. The findings show that labialized and palatalized consonants have a pho-nemic status, even if the predictability of their occurrence cause them to be grouped in addition under the phonetic inventory of the language. It is also determined that, in addition to being the allophone of b, there are some indicators showing that a fricative bilabial ß is phonemic, though this needs further investigation. Moreover, the high central vowel ɨ has double status, being both phonemic and epenthetic. |
| first_indexed | 2024-12-11T09:51:38Z |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj.art-aced18629d9746e298573af585e5545b |
| institution | Directory Open Access Journal |
| issn | 1890-9639 |
| language | English |
| last_indexed | 2024-12-11T09:51:38Z |
| publishDate | 2017-02-01 |
| publisher | University of Oslo |
| record_format | Article |
| series | Oslo Studies in Language |
| spelling | doaj.art-aced18629d9746e298573af585e5545b2022-12-22T01:12:23ZengUniversity of OsloOslo Studies in Language1890-96392017-02-018110.5617/osla.4416Consonants and Vowels in the Western Gurage Variety Inor: Complex Connections between Phonemes, Allophones, and Free AlternationsTsehay Abza0ILOS, University of OsloThis paper is concerned with the phonemic status of consonants and vowels of Inor, a Peripheral Western Gurage language in the southern part of Ethiopia. Determining the status of Inor consonants and vowels is a task well worth doing, as scholars disagree on their categorization. Qualitative research methodology is used in the study. The linguistic data have been collected using key informants and they have been analyzed thematically. The findings show that labialized and palatalized consonants have a pho-nemic status, even if the predictability of their occurrence cause them to be grouped in addition under the phonetic inventory of the language. It is also determined that, in addition to being the allophone of b, there are some indicators showing that a fricative bilabial ß is phonemic, though this needs further investigation. Moreover, the high central vowel ɨ has double status, being both phonemic and epenthetic.https://journals.uio.no/osla/article/view/4416 |
| spellingShingle | Tsehay Abza Consonants and Vowels in the Western Gurage Variety Inor: Complex Connections between Phonemes, Allophones, and Free Alternations Oslo Studies in Language |
| title | Consonants and Vowels in the Western Gurage Variety Inor: Complex Connections between Phonemes, Allophones, and Free Alternations |
| title_full | Consonants and Vowels in the Western Gurage Variety Inor: Complex Connections between Phonemes, Allophones, and Free Alternations |
| title_fullStr | Consonants and Vowels in the Western Gurage Variety Inor: Complex Connections between Phonemes, Allophones, and Free Alternations |
| title_full_unstemmed | Consonants and Vowels in the Western Gurage Variety Inor: Complex Connections between Phonemes, Allophones, and Free Alternations |
| title_short | Consonants and Vowels in the Western Gurage Variety Inor: Complex Connections between Phonemes, Allophones, and Free Alternations |
| title_sort | consonants and vowels in the western gurage variety inor complex connections between phonemes allophones and free alternations |
| url | https://journals.uio.no/osla/article/view/4416 |
| work_keys_str_mv | AT tsehayabza consonantsandvowelsinthewesternguragevarietyinorcomplexconnectionsbetweenphonemesallophonesandfreealternations |