Taos is a Tanoan language spoken by several hundred people in New Mexico, in the United States. The main description of its phonology was contributed by George L. Trager in a (pre-generative) structuralist framework. Earlier considerations of the phonetics-phonology were by John P. Harrington and Jaime de Angulo.de Angulo's work includes an unpublished grammatical sketch and analyzed texts (housed at the American Philosophical Society). Trager's first account was in based on fieldwork 1935-1937, which was then substantially revised in (due in part to the inclusion of juncture phonemes and newly collected data in 1947 in the analysis). The description below takes as the main point of departure and notes where this differs from the analysis of . Harrington's description (although from a different period) is more similar to . Certain comments from a generative perspective are noted in a comparative work .
Segments
The two following sections detail phonetic information about Taos phonological segments (i.e., consonants and vowels), as well as their phonological patterning in morphophonemic alternations.
Consonants
lists 27 consonants (25 native) for Taos, although in his later analysis he posited 18 consonants.The main difference with respect to consonants in the 1948 analysis is that aspirated consonants , ejectives , and labialized consonants were considered consonant sequences, respectively . Similar alternate analyses of vs. have been proposed in other languages in region, e.g., Zuni syllable-initial consonants (see: Zuni consonants).
This difference affects his analysis of syllable structure and phonotactics. The sequences , then, contrast with sequences. Intervocalically, are interpreted as syllable onsets while are split by syllable boundaries . Trager admits that this analysis may not be ideal for the labialized segments since would be the only native three-consonant cluster that appears in syllable onsets (other three-consonant clusters appear in Spanish loanwords). Even so, he rejects a phoneme sequence because the exclusion of loanword phonology is "very bad methodology". Unlike his decomposition of other consonants, retains as a unitary segment.
A final difference is the interpretation of the cluster found in loanwords.
{| class="wikitable" style="text-align: center;" ! colspan="2" rowspan="2" | ! rowspan="2" | Bilabial ! colspan="2" | Dental ! rowspan="2" | Alveolar ! rowspan="2" | Palatal ! colspan="2" | Velar ! rowspan="2" | Glottal |- class="small" ! ! median ! lateral ! plain ! labial |- ! rowspan="4" | Stop ! voiced
! unaspirated
! aspirated
! ejective
! colspan="2" | Fricative | () || || || || || || || |- ! colspan="2" | Nasal
! colspan="2" | Flap | || || || () || || || || |- ! colspan="2" | Approximant
Words exemplifying Taos consonants are in the table below:
{| class="wikitable" style="line-height: 1.1em;" ! rowspan="2" | Consonant ! colspan="3" | Word-initial position ! colspan="3" | Word-medial position |- ! IPA !! Trager !! Gloss !! IPA !! Trager !! Gloss |- ! | || bòyi’ína || 'valley' | || į́ęsiabą || 'he kicked' |- ! | || pá || 'he made' | || cùpána || 'judge' (noun) |- ! | || phùyu’úna || 'fly' (noun) | || kȕphúone || 'act of dropping' |- ! | || p’óna || 'moon' | || wȍp’ə́oti || 'he didn't lose it' |- ! | || mą́kuna || 'grandchild' | || kwę̀mų́na || 'carpenter's apron' |- ! | colspan='3' style='text-align: center;' | – | || ȍdénemą || 'jaw' |- ! | || tȕculóna || 'hummingbird' | || cìatúną || 'legging' |- ! | || thį̀ę’éna || 'stomach' | || tə́otho || 'Taos pueblo' |- ! | || t’áwaną || 'wheel' | || mą̂t’emą || 'he hit it' |- ! | || ną̀lénemą || 'aspen' | || kə̀nénemą || 'cradle' |- ! | || łȉwéna || 'woman, wife' | || łùłi’ína || 'old man' |- ! | || lìlúna || 'chicken' | || kòléna || 'wolf' |- ! | || sə́onena || 'man, husband' | || mę̀sotu’úna || 'church' |- ! | || cùlo’óna || 'dog' | || p’ȍcíane || 'ice' |- ! | || c’óne || 'liver' | || mą̏c’élena || 'fingernail' |- ! | || yų́na || 'this' | || kàyúna || 'maternal aunt' |- ! | || gosulínene || 'gasoline' | || hí’ąngą || 'why, because' |- ! | || kána || 'mother' | || cìbi’kína || 'robin' |- ! | || k’ə́onemą || 'neck' | || p’ȍk’úowoną || 'fir, spruce' |- ! | || xónemą || 'arm' | || łòxóyna || 'lip' |- ! | || kwóna || 'axe' | || łǫ̀kwìawálmą || 'he was stronger' |- ! | || kw’àyána || 'magpie' | || p’ȍtukw’ilóna || 'mint' |- ! | || xwílena || 'bow' | || tùxwána || 'fox' |- ! | || wa̋mą || 'be, have' | || łòwatúną || 'chief's cane' |- ! | || íałona || 'willow' | || p’ȍ’ǫ́yona || 'spider' |- ! | || hǫ́luma || 'lung' | || pùohóna || 'ball'
Consonant phonetics and allophony
Voiceless stops are very slightly aspirated. Aspirated stops are strongly aspirated. The ejectives are weakly glottalized. notes the glottalized stops have weak glottalic releases like the Georgian language or Mayan languages but unlike other strongly ejective releases found in other Native American languages (such as Kiowa). The labialized velar is rare. The dental consonants are phonetically denti-alveolar. In some speakers, may have an assimilated bilabial fricative : . This can also vary with a deleted stop closure. Thus, has the following free variation: .This > parallels a historical development where Proto-Kiowa–Tanoan kʰ became Taos , kʷʰ became . Examples:
| || ('daughter') || > || |- | || ('glass') || > ||
The fricative only occurs in Spanish loanwords in a syllable-initial cluster and may be labio-dental or bilabial : ('fruit' from fruta) as . It is briefly mentioned in and ultimately excluded from the phonological description., which does not exclude loanword phonology, interprets the cluster as . The stops are voiced intervocalically. At the beginning of words, they only occur in loanwords (as in 'glass tumbler' from vaso and 'rooster' from gallo) where Trager describes them as "less voiced". Syllable-finally, they are voiceless, have no audible release, and have a long closure duration :
| || ('and') || > ||
There is a neutralization of the contrast between the labialized consonants and their non-labial counterparts before the (labial) high back vowels where only phonetically labialized velars occur.That is, there is a neutralization, a neutralization, and a neutralization. In this environment, Trager assumes these are non-labials which are phonetically labialized due to assimilation (e.g. is , is , etc.):
| || ('skunk') || > || |- | || ('sheep') || > || |- | || ('and then') || > ||
Fricative has weak frication, unlike the stronger frication found in other languages (such as, the closely related Picuris language). Voiceless is phonetically an affricate and usually post-alveolar . Taos is somewhat more palatal than English . However, can freely vary with a more forward articulation ranging from post-alveolar to alveolar: . Some speakers tend to have more forward articulations before the vowels while ejective is before high vowels and elsewhere although there is some amount of free variation between these realizations.Trager (1944, 1946). Examples:
| || ('he caught') || > || |- | || ('blue, green') || > || |- | || ('mouse') || > || |- | || ('shirt') || > || |- | || ('yeast') || > || |- | || ('doll') || > || |- | || ('coyote') || > || |- | || ('be new') || > || |- | || ('ankle') || > || |- | || ('bluejay') || > ||
Fricative tends to have a post-alveolar allophone before high vowels (especially the high front vowel ):
| || ('cow') || > || |- | || ('bluebird') || > ||
The flap is a borrowed phoneme (< Spanish ) that occurs in loanwords from New Mexican Spanish that were borrowed relatively recentlyEarlier borrowings with Spanish were nativized as Taos as in ('rug') from Spanish jerga, ('godmother') from comadre, ('king') from rey, ('Wednesday') from miércoles. (Note that the Spanish trill was nativized as a Taos sequence .) as in
| || ('ranch') || (from rancho) |- | || ('pear') || (from pera) |- | || ('vinegar') || (from vinagre)
The lateral liquid is velarized at the end of syllables:
| || ('be strong') || > ||
The labial glide is labio-velar. The glides are phonetically short high vowels no closer than Taos high vowels, which are very close as well. When they occur after nasal vowels, they are nasalized: .
Consonant alternations
The stem-initial consonant in many verb stems has alternates (i.e. shows consonantal ablaut) between two different forms in what Trager calls the "basic" stem and the "stative" stem. The "basic" stem is used for the preterit active verb form while the "stative" stem is used for the resultative stative verb-forms and deverbal nouns.
{| class="wikitable" style="text-align: center; line-height: 1.2em;" ! Basic Initial !! Stative Initial !! Example
| style='text-align: left;' | ('he lost it') ('it is lost')
| style='text-align: left;' | ('he helped him') ('he was helped')
| style='text-align: left;' | ('he tied it') ('it is tied')
| style='text-align: left;' | ('he ate it') ('it was eaten')
| style='text-align: left;' | ('he did') ('it is done')
| style='text-align: left;' | ('he took it') ('it has been taken')
| style='text-align: left;' | ('he brought it') ('it has been brought')
| style='text-align: left;' | ('he arrived') ('arrival')
| style='text-align: left;' | ('he took it off') ('it has been taken off')
| style='text-align: left;' | ('he walked') ('walk' [noun])
A different set of alternations are what Trager calls "internal" ablaut. The last consonant of the verb stem alternates between two different consonants in the basic stem form and the negative stem form.
{| class="wikitable" style="text-align: center; line-height: 1.2em;" ! Basic Consonant !! Negative Consonant !! Example
| style="text-align: left;" | ('he kicked') ('he didn't kick')
| style="text-align: left;" | ('he lost it') ('he didn't lose it')
| style="text-align: left;" | ('he accepted') ('he didn't accept')
| style="text-align: left;" | ('he sat down') ('he didn't sit down')
| style="text-align: left;" | ('he hit') ('he didn't hit')
| style="text-align: left;" | ('he beat') ('he didn't beat')
Vowels
Monophthongs
Taos has six vowels with three contrastive vowel heights and two degrees of vowel backness.The IPA symbols used here are equivalent to the following phonemic symbols of Trager: = Trager i, = Trager u, = Trager e, = Trager ə, = Trager a, = Trager o.
{| class="wikitable" style="text-align: center;" |+ Phonemic vowels ! rowspan="2" | ! colspan="2" | Front ! colspan="2" | Back |- ! oral ! nasal ! oral ! nasal |- ! Close
! Mid
| style="background-color: lightGrey;" | |- ! Open
Five of the vowels have an oral-nasal contrast, which persists even before a nasal consonant coda (i.e. the syllables and contrast, where C = any consonant, V = any vowel, N = any nasal consonant). does not note this oral-nasal contrast in the context of a following nasal stop. For example, the Taos has a syllable before as well as syllable before as in the words ('maternal aunt') and ('this').
Morphemes exemplifying Taos monophthongs are in the table below:
{| class="wikitable" style="line-height: 1.1em;" ! Vowel !! IPA !! Gloss | style="background-color: lightGrey;" rowspan="7" | ! Vowel !! IPA !! Gloss |- ! | || 'what' ! | || 'he met' |- ! | || 'he stopped' ! | || 'who' |- ! | || (duoplural noun suffix) ! | || 'hunt' (verb) |- ! | || 'you' | style="background-color: lightGrey;" colspan="3" | |- ! | || 'he made' ! | || 'he danced' |- ! | || 'yes' ! | || 'blow'
Monophthong phonetics and allophony
Vowels have lowered variants in closed syllables and when unstressed. The in closed syllables is somewhat lower than the in unstressed syllables.The general tendency is for unstressed vowels to move away from the periphery of the vowel space.
| || ('to stand') || > || || (closed syllable) |- | || ('weapon') || > || || (unstressed) |-