Phonological Issues in North Alaskan Inupiaq. Alaska Native Language Center Research Papers ...

286 Pages·2012·2.73 MB·English

DOCUMENT RESUME
FL 024 069
ED 398 760
Kaplan, Lawrence D.
AUTHOR
Phonological Issues in North Alaskan Inupiaq. Alaska
TITLE
Native Language Center Research Papers No. 6.
Alaska Univ., Fairbanks. Alaska Native Language
INSTITUTION
Center.
ISBN-0-933769-36-9; ISSN-0883-8526
REPORT NO
PUB DATE
81
NOTE
287p.
Alaska Native Language Center, University of Alaska,
AVAILABLE FROM
P.O. Box 757680, Fairbanks, AK 99775 -7680.
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Alaska Natives; Contrastive Linguistics; Descriptive
DESCRIPTORS
Linguistics; Diachronic Linguistics; English; Eskimo
Aleut Languages; *Inupiaq; *Language Patterns;
*Linguistic Borrowing; Morphology (Languages);
Orthographic Symbols; *Phonology; Regional Dialects;
Uncommonly Taught Languages
*Language Contact
IDENTIFIERS
ABSTRACT
The monograph on .the North. Alaskan dialect of
.
Inupiaq, an Eskimo language," Makes a phonological comparison of the
two sub-dialects, Barrow and Kobuk. An introductory section outlines
basic word structure and standard orthography, and gives an overview
of the dialects' phonology. Subsequent sections give an extensive
phonological analysis of these patterns and processes: consonant
assimilation; assibilation and palatization; and consonant
gemination. In general, a synchronic perspective is taken, although
some consideration is given to historic factors. Loan words and
changes possibly attributable to contact with English are also
explored briefly. Contains 54 references. (MSE)
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ALASKA NATIVE LANGUAGE CENTER
RESEARCH PAPERS
Number 6
PHONOLOGICAL ISSUES IN
INUPIAQ
NORTH ALASKAN
Lawrence D. Kaplan
PERMISSION TO REPRODUCE AND
U.S. DEPARTMENT OF EDUCATION
Office of Educational Research and Improvement
DISSEMINATE THIS MATERIAL
E?UCATIONAL RESOURCES INFORMATION
HAS BEEN GRANTED BY
r i
CENTER (ERIC)
document has been reproduced as
received from the person or organization
received
1981
originating it.
Minor changes have been made to
improve reproduction quality.
RESOURCES
TO THE EDUCATIONAL
Points of view or opinions stated in this
document do not necessarily represent
INFORMATION CENTER (ERIC)
official OERI position or policy.
This series of linguistic papers is published at irregular intervals. The papers deal with advances and
problems in linguistic research in Alaskan and related Native American languages: Athabaskan-Eyak-Tlin-
git, Eskimo-Aleut, Haida, and Tsimshian. The papers are often of greater length than those normally pub-
lished in journals. Early drafts of some papers have been circulated informally among specialists, and the
final revised works are here made generally available for the first time.
Alaska Native Language Center's work in education, folklore, and second-language teaching has resulted
in more than 200 publications. The basic research aspect of ANLC, essential to these other activities, is
reflected in the present series, and in comprehensive dictionaries now in preparation.
Alaska Native Language Center
Address correspondence and orders to:
Box 111
University of Alaska
Fairbanks, AK 99775-0120
ALASKA NATIVE LANGUAGE
CENTER
RESEARCH PAPERS
Number 6
PHONOLOGICAL ISSUES IN
NORTH ALASKAN INUPIAQ
by
Lawrence D. Kaplan
1981
,
4
Alaska Native Language Center
University of Alaska Fairbanks
P.O. Box 900111
Fairbanks, Alaska 99775-0120
Kaplan, Lawrence D.
Phonological Issues
in North Alaskan Inupiaq
Alaska Native Research Papers
Number 6
© 1981 by Alaska Native Language Center
All rights reserved
Printed in the United States of America
ISSN 0883-8526
ISBN 0-933769-36-9
First Printing, 1981
150 copies
Second Printing, 1990
50 copies
The University of Alaska is an EO/AA employer and educational institution.
3
CONTENTS
Page
Abbreviations
6
Preface
7
Acknowledgments
14
Introduction
1
17
1.1
Basic word structure
17
1.2
The standard orthography
19
1.3
Introductory phonology
28
1.31
Representation of segments by
distinctive features
28
1.32
Surface constraints
31
1.4
Goals of this work
34
2
Consonant Assimilation
37
2.1
Introduction
37
2.2
Regressive assimilation in
Barrow
39
2.21
At morpheme boundaries
39
2.22
Morpheme-internal assimilation
42.
2.3
Regressive assimilation in
Kobuk
43
2.31
Failure of assimilation
before
cluster-initial suffixes
45
2.32
Failure of assimilation
conditioned
by syncope
50
2.33
Additional suffixes before
which
assimilation fails
55
2.4
Progressive assimilation
57
2.5
Collapsing the assimilation
rules
59
2.6
Assimilation preceding
enclitics
62
2.7
Assimilation in the
subordinative verb mood
65
2.8
Assimilatory changes in point
of
articulation
69
2.81
The case of nigig
70
2.82
Other cases
73
Assibilation and Palatalization
3
76
3.1
Introduction
76
3.2
Palatalization in Barrow
79
3.21
Palatalization following verb
stems
79
.
3.22
Palatalization following
noun stems
82
.
3.23
A synchronic approach to
palatalization
83
3.24
The palatalization rule
85
3.25
Non-alternating palatals
87
3.251
i preceding non-coronals
87
.
.
.
3.252
Accounting for non-alternating
palatals
88
5
5.23
Lenition
171
5.24
Alternation involving
s and y
176
5.25
Alternation involving t
180
5.3
Alternation of continuants with
zero
182
.
.
.
5.31
Stem-internal alternations
182
5.32
Discussion of the data
184
5.33
Continuant deletion
188
5.331
Velar deletion at
morpheme boundaries
188
5.332
Velar deletion in plurals.
193
.
.
5.333
Stem-internal velar deletion
197
.
5.334
A solution to velar deletion
202
.
5.34
Alternations ofr with
zero
205
5.341
Alternations at
morpheme boundaries
205
5.342
Stem-internal alternations
ofr with 0
208
.
5.343
Gemination of
210
.
.
5.4
Consonant gradation
212
.
.
.
.
Consonant gemination
6
221
6.1
Introduction
221
6.2
Gemination preceding additive
suffixes
225
.
.
6.21
Selectively truncating suffixation
229
.
6.211
Pluralization in nouns
233
6.212
Weak versus strong consonants.
241
6.213
Vowel epenthesis with suffixes
consisting of a single
consonant
245
6.22
The (u)t(!) suffixes
247
6.3
Replacive suffixation and
gemination
250
.
.
.
6.4
Demonstratives
254
6.5
Analysis of gemination
256
6.6
Conclusion
265
Conclusion
269
Appendix 1:
Map of Alaska
275
Appendix 2:
List of Rules
276
References Cited
279
6
ABBREVIATIONS
first person
1
mod
modalis case
second person
2
neg
negative
third person
3
nom
nominal
fourth person
4
opt
optative
abl
ablative case
p, pl
plural
abs
absolutive case
PB
Point Barrow
aeq
aequalis case
PE
Proto Eskimo
AI
North Alaskan Inupiaq
poss
possessive
B
Barrow
real
realized
BS
Bering Strait
rel
relative
C
consonant
rep
reportative
cop
copular
s, sg
singular
CY
Central Yupik
SLI
St. Lawrence
Island
d, dl
dual
SP
Seward Pen-
fut
future
insula
Inupiaq
I
sub
subordinative
imp
imperative
term
terminalis
case
inst
instrumental
tr
transitive
.
int
intransitive
unreal
unrealized
inter
interrogative
V
vowel
K
Kobuk
WG
West Green-
KI
King Island
landic
loc
locative
7
PREFACE
The Eskimo-Aleut language family has
two branches,
Aleutian Aleut and Eskimo.
Within Eskimo are four lan-
guages of which three are Yupik
-- Central Yupik, Siberian
Yupik, and Alutiiq (also called Sugpiaq)
-- and the other
Inupiaq.
Inupiaq is the Alaskan name for the
continuum of
dialects spoken from Unalakleet, Alaska
across the Alaskan
and Canadian Arctic to Greenland.
The Inupiaq branch of
Eskimo is otherwise known
as Eastern Eskimo and has also
been called "Inupik" by Morris
Swadesh, who erroneously
identifies "inupik" as the
Barrow word for "real person"
(1951:69).
The correct word with this meaning
is inupiaq,
and it is doubtful that
any dialect actually uses "inupik."
Alaskan Inupiaq can be divided into
two major dialect
groups, each of which can be further subdivided
into two
dialects.
The first group, North Alaskan
Inupiaq, is spo-
ken from Unalakleet at its
southernmost boundary, north
along the head of Norton Sound,
through the Kobuk River
valley, around Kotzebue Sound and
the northern shore of
the Seward Peninsula and north
along the Arctic coast, in-
cluding the inland village of
Anaktuvuk Pass, and into the
Mackenzie River delta region of
Northwest Canada.
Within
North Alaskan Inupiaq, we
can identify a North Slope dialect
8
spoken from Kivalina north and east along the Arctic coast
into Canada (see also 3.1), and a Malimiut dialect spoken
south of Kivalina, predominantly in the Kobuk River area,
Kotzebue Sound, and the head of Norton Sound, excluding most
of the Seward Peninsula.
The dialect of Anaktuvuk Pass,
home of the Nunamiut Eskimos, represents in several respects
a dialect transitional between Malimiut and North Slope,
with individual speakers tending in one direction or the
other.
The division between these two dialects is based
principally on differing degrees of consonant assimilation
and palatalization.
While all forms of North Alaskan Inupiaq have some
degree of consonant palatalization, it is the lack of this
feature, together with the development of an elaborate "conso-
nant weakening" system, which characterizes the other major
dialect group, Seward Peninsula Inupiaq, in phonological
terms.
Consonant weakening affects alternate syllables,
causing lenition or deletion, and this syllable-skipping
mechanism, rather than its result, is reminiscent of pro-
sodic processes of Alaskan Yupik, a probable substratum.
Seward Peninsula Inupiaq comprises the Bering Strait and
Qawiaraq dialects: the Bering Strait variety is found in the
western portion of the Seward Peninsula, including King
Island and the Diomedes.
The southern shore of the penin-
sula is Qawiaraq-speaking, with this dialect extending along
Norton Sound to Shaktoolik and Unalakleet, sharing these
two villages with Malimiut Inupiaq as well as the Unaliq
10