Phonological features
Class behaviour
PDF version of the dataset.
Questions to start with
- What does it mean for a group of segments to function as a class in a language’s phonology?
- What criteria can we expect to use? How well should they align?
Nivkh language background
Nivkh1 (нивхгу диф [ɲivɣɡu dif]) is a language isolate traditionally spoken in Northern Eurasia, along the Amur river in what is now the Russian Far East, and on the island of Sakhalin. It is a language isolate, with no widely accepted genetic link to any other language families. The language is severely endangered: there were 198 speakers in the 2010 Russian census, and this number has likely decreased further since then.
Consonant inventory
The data here represent primarily the Sakhalin dialect; notably, Amur dialects lack the voiced stop series
| Manner | Labial | Coronal | Palatal | Velar | Uvular | Pharyngeal |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Stop | p pʰ b | t tʰ d | c cʰ ɟ | k kʰ ɡ | qʰ q ɢ | |
| Fricative | f v | s z | x ɣ | χ ʁ | h | |
| Nasal | m | n | ɲ | ŋ | ||
| Liquid | r r̥ l | |||||
| Glide | w | j |
Analysis task
Examine the following Nivkh sentences and their translations.
- if pitɣə vəkzɟ ‘He lost the book’
- cʰxəf ətək ŋafq r̥uɟ ‘The bear chased the father’s friend’
- oʁla ɲzuɟ ‘The child washed me’
- if ŋafq əmək xeq ɣəlnuɟ ‘He saved the friend from the mother’s fox’
- ɲi ŋafq vaχ pəkzɟ ‘I lost the friend’s stone’
- oʁla ŋafq zosqc ‘The child’s friend destroyed it’
- kʰeq cʰxəf paχ tʰəprɟ ‘The fox brought the bear’s stone’
- əmək rəf cosqc ‘The mother’s house got destroyed’
- cʰxəf təf pilɟ ‘The bear’s house is big’
- ɲivx oʁla cʰxəf kəlnuɟ ‘The man saved the child from the bear’
- ətək əmək zeŋi r̥əprɟ ‘The father brought the mother’s salmon’
- oʁla cʰo raʁrɟ ‘The child watched the fish’
- qan pəkzɟ ‘The dog got lost’
Translate into English
- qan cʰxəf cuɟ
- ɲi zuɟ
- if ɲraʁrɟ
Translate into Nivkh
- The child chased the bear
- The mother’s book got lost
- I brought the friend’s bear
Some of the original thirteen sentences have other possible translations. Can you spot any?
Additional task
Examine the plural forms of some of the words from the first task. To simplify your task, they are already grouped by allomorph. Can you describe how the plural is formed in Nivkh? Describe any similarities between the formation of the plural and any other phenomena you are familiar with from the first task.
| Group 1 | Group 2 | Group 3 | Group 4 |
|---|---|---|---|
| cʰxəfku | əməkxu | pitɣəɣu | qanɡu |
| təfku | ətəkxu | cʰoɣu | ɲivɣɡu |
| paχku | ŋafqxu | zeŋiɣu | oʁlaɡu |
| kʰeqxu |
Considering all your previous answers, translate the following sentences into English. Can you observe any new phenomena, and explain why the words behave this way?
- if qan tʰəprɟ
- əmək qan ɟuɟ
- oʁla bitɣə pəkzɟ
- ɲi ɲivx tʰuɟ
- cʰxəf ɲivɣ bəkzɟ
If you can, translate ‘I saved the child from the father’s dog’ into Nivkh.
Sources
This is a constructed data set that builds on the descriptions of Nivkh by Kreynovich (1937) and Panfilov (1962–1965), as well as Mattissen (2003) and Shiraishi (2006). The latter is focused on discusses the phonology of the language. Hidetoshi Shiraishi also maintains a collection of sound files from Nivkh speakers here. In constructing the data set, I also used the dictionary by Savel’eva & Taksami (1970).
Considerations for discussion
- What are the phonological classes we observe?
- What context are the alternations triggered in? What are the respective roles of phonology and morphology here?
- How much of the explanatory burden is carried by how we define features, and determine what segments carry them?
References
Footnotes
Previously also referred to as Gilyak.↩︎