1. Phonology
     Syllable structure    Consonants    Allophony    Vowels    Nasal spreading    Stress    Tone    Sandhi  

2. References

3. External links

Ramarama, also known as Karo, is a Tupian language of Brazil.

Unusually for the indigenous languages of South America in general and Tupian in particular, Ramarama is a fairly analytic language, with limited affixation and a strict SOV word order. However, the language also displays complex processes of morphophonological alternation, segmental allophony, and interaction between segmental and suprasegmental phonology.

Phonology

Syllable structure

Unlike many Tupian languages, Ramarama allows consonants in the syllable coda, with no restriction of coda consonants compared to onsets. The permissible structures of a monosyllable are therefore V, CV, VC, and CVC. However, only the glottal stop /ʔ/ can occur as a non-word-final coda consonant. Hence the permissible structures of a polysyllabic word is as follows: ...(C)V(ʔ)(C)V(C). Words of more than three syllables are rare.

Consonants

Ramarama has a fairly small consonant inventory, with a wide range of allophonic variation. Notably, the language lacks any fricatives other than /h/, which itself occurs only infrequently.^[1]

The tap /r/, though not phonetically a stop, is represented as such because it patterns as the voiced equivalent of the stop /t/. This may indicate a historical rhotacism.

Allophony

The voiced stops /b g/ may be lenited to [β ɣ] in the onset of an unstressed syllable and after a vowel: yaba [ˈyaba ~ ˈyaβa] "species of rodent". The palatal stop /c/ may be lenited to [ç] in all circumstances (free variation).

The voiceless stops /p t c k/ are geminated in the onsets of non-initial stressed syllables: itɨ [iˈtːɨ] "deer". They are unreleased in the coda of a word-final syllable: makap [maˈkːap̚] "peanut".

Nasal stops /m n ŋ/ surface as post-stopped nasals [mᵇ nᵈ ŋᶢ] in the codas of stressed oral syllables: naʔmi [naʔˈmᵇi] "species of wasp". Conversely, they surface as pre-stopped nasals [ᵇm ᵈn ᶢŋ] in the onset of stressed oral syllables: ken [kɛᵈn] "to sleep".

The approximants /w j/ are nasalized [w̃ ȷ̃] before nasal vowels. The tap /r/ is nasalized [r̃] only between two nasal vowels, when the first vowel is stressed (as in the process of nasal spreading discussed below).

Vowels

Ramarama has a large vowel inventory, with seven oral and four nasal vowels:

The mid oral vowels /e o/ alternate with low-mid [ɛ ɔ]: syllables with high pitch surface with [e o], while unstressed syllables or those with mid pitch surface with [ɛ ɔ]. Such interaction between tone and vowel quality is cross-linguistically rare.^[2]

Nasal vowels have a restricted distribution. Nilson Gabas Jr. (1999) writes that "there seems to be just one underlying nasal vowel per word"^[3], yet transcribes several examples with more than one nasal vowel that nasal spreading cannot account for (e.g. mãygãra "snake"); this may indicate a nasal spreading rule as yet undescribed, or a freer distribution of nasal vowels than indicated. In any case, nasal vowels also never occur in a penultimate syllable when followed by a voiceless stop in the onset of the final syllable; in other words, sequences of the format /ṼC^-VOICEV#/ are disallowed, presumably because such sequences would create a conflict in stress assignment.

Nasal spreading

Like many languages with phonemic nasal vowels, Ramarama displays nasal spreading (nasalization of otherwise non-nasal segments due to proximity to a nasal segment) in some circumstances.

Obligatory rightward nasal spreading occurs when a stressed penultimate nasal vowel is followed by the consonants /r g/ as the onset of a following oral syllable. The following syllable is thus nasalized, and with it the onset consonants (which become [r̃ ŋ]): cẽrat /ˈcẽrat/ "smooth" surfaces as [ˈcẽr̃ə̃t̚].

An optional inward nasal spreading occurs when an oral vowel occurs between two nasal consonants. The vowel may then be nasalized: anana /anana/ "pineapple" may become [anə̃ˈnᵈa].

Stress

Stress is not phonemic in Ramarama, and its placement is mostly fixed to the final syllable. However, the following rules can move stress to the penultimate syllable:

1. If the final syllable's onset is one of the voiced consonants /b r g/, stress is shifted to the penult: yogo "eel" surfaces as [ˈjɔgɔ], not *[jɔˈgɔ].
2. Syllables with nasal nuclei, whether beginning with a voiced stop or not, are automatically stressed: ĩya "bird" surfaces as [ˈĩja], while cigã "bone" surfaces as [ciˈgã].
3. Syllables with high pitch, whether beginning with a voiced stop or not, are likewise automatically stressed: wíup "native, non-domesticated" surfaces as [ˈwí.up̚], while yogá "egg" surfaces as [jɔˈgá]

Tone

Ramarama has a simple system of register pitch accent, in which one syllable per word (the penultimate or final) can be marked by a high pitch. A syllable thus marked is always stressed. Stressed vowels without marked pitch surface phonetically as middle pitch, while unstressed vowels (except those affected by tone spreading) surface as low pitch: parato "armadillo" may be represented phonetically as [pàràˈtːō], while naká "head" may be represented as [nàˈkːá].

Tone spreading occurs when a syllable marked with high or mid pitch occurs in the penultimate syllable and is followed by a voiced segment /b r g w j m n ŋ/ or /Ø/; hence káwan "be fat" surfaces as [káwán], while yaba "species of rodent" surfaces as [ˈjābā]. This process, roughly analogous to the obligatory nasal spreading rule, appears to be the only means by which unstressed syllables can be raised to high or mid pitch.

Sandhi

In continuous speech Ramarama's small consonant inventory is further reduced, and simultaneously complicated, by complex morphophonological processes of assimilation (sandhi). These processes affect the voiceless stops /p t k/ as follows:

1. /p t k/ voice to /b r g/ at word boundaries, before (if in the coda of the preceding word) or after (if in the onset of the following word) a vowel or a glide. Thus cawap wɨy "the sun rose" surfaces as cawab wɨy, while óra pecép "[an] ugly song" surfaces as óra becép.
2. /p k/ voice to /b g/ in word-final codas if followed by an unstressed word-initial nasal consonant: wakak naká "[a] bird's head" surfaces as wagag naká. If followed by a stressed vowel, /k/ still voices but /p/ changes to [h]: naʔyop nõ "one of the leaves" surfaces as naʔyoh nõ.
3. /p t k/ nasalize to /m n ŋ/ word-initially when preceded by a nasal consonant, and word-finally when followed by a nasal consonant and preceded by a nasal vowel. Thus o=kuŋ kɨt "my white belly" surfaces as okuŋ ŋɨt, while nãp naká "[a] bee's head" surfaces as nãm naká.

References

External links

• ELAR archive of Karo language documentation materials

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