Consonant harmony
Encyclopedia
Consonant harmony is a type of "long-distance" phonological
assimilation
akin to the similar assimilatory process involving vowel
s, i.e. vowel harmony
.
One of the more common harmony processes is coronal harmony. This type of harmony affects the coronal fricatives, such as s and sh in a word, requiring all the coronal fricatives in the word to belong either to the +anterior
class (s-like sounds) or the -anterior
class (sh-like sounds). Such patterns are found in the Dene (Athabaskan) languages such as Navajo
(Young and Morgan 1987, McDonough 2003), Tahltan
(Shaw 1991), Western Apache
, and in Chumash
on the California coast (Applegate 1972, Campbell 1997), to name a few examples. In Tahltan, Shaw shows that the coronal harmony affects three coronal fricatives, s
, sh
and the interdental th
. The following examples are given by de Ruese: in Western Apache, the verbal prefix si- is an alveolar fricative, as in the following forms:
However, when this prefix si- occurs before a verb stem that contains a post-alveolar affricate, the si- surfaces as the post-alveolar shi-:
Thus all the sibilant obstruents (fricatives and affricates) in these languages are divided into two groups, +anterior (s, ts, dz) and -anterior (sh, ch, j). In Navajo, as in most languages with consonant harmony, there is a constraint on the shape of roots (a well-formedness constraint) that is identical to the harmony process. Thus all roots with sibiliant affricates or fricatives have the same value for anteriority. Shaw (1991) provides a phonological analysis of this process, using data from research on Tahltan language.
There are two interesting aspects of this process in Navajo. First, morphemes that participate are domain specific, only the two rightmost domains
are affected (conjunct + stem). Verbal morphemes from the outer or 'disjunct' domain are not affected by the process; i.e. the process is morphologically conditioned. Second, the lateral affricate and fricative (dl, tł and ł) appear with both values. Young and Morgan (1987) offer an extensive sets of examples of this type of morpheme alternation in Navajo.
A different example of coronal harmony occurs in Sanskrit
, where [n] is retroflexed to [ɳ] if certain consonants precede it in the same word, even at a distance.
Various Austronesian languages
exhibit consonant harmony among the liquid consonant
s, with [r] assimilating at a distance to [l] or vice versa.
Guaraní
shows nasal harmony, by which certain affixes have alternative forms according to whether the root includes a nasal (vowel or consonant) or not. For instance, the reflexive
prefix
is realized as oral je- when preceding an oral stem like juka "kill", but as nasal ñe- when preceding a nasal stem like nupã "hit", where the ã makes the stem nasal.
Some Finnish speakers find it hard to pronounce both 'b' and 'p' in foreign words (e.g. pubi), so they voice (bubi) or devoice (pupi) the entire word. It should however be noted that the distinction between these consonants is not native to Finnish. Native Finnish words do not use the letter 'b'.
Phonology
Phonology is, broadly speaking, the subdiscipline of linguistics concerned with the sounds of language. That is, it is the systematic use of sound to encode meaning in any spoken human language, or the field of linguistics studying this use...
assimilation
Assimilation (linguistics)
Assimilation is a common phonological process by which the sound of the ending of one word blends into the sound of the beginning of the following word. This occurs when the parts of the mouth and vocal cords start to form the beginning sounds of the next word before the last sound has been...
akin to the similar assimilatory process involving vowel
Vowel
In phonetics, a vowel is a sound in spoken language, such as English ah! or oh! , pronounced with an open vocal tract so that there is no build-up of air pressure at any point above the glottis. This contrasts with consonants, such as English sh! , where there is a constriction or closure at some...
s, i.e. vowel harmony
Vowel harmony
Vowel harmony is a type of long-distance assimilatory phonological process involving vowels that occurs in some languages. In languages with vowel harmony, there are constraints on which vowels may be found near each other....
.
Examples
A good discussion of consonant harmony typology is found in Rose and Walker's 2004 paper in the journal Language. "A Typology of Consonant Agreement as Correspondence."One of the more common harmony processes is coronal harmony. This type of harmony affects the coronal fricatives, such as s and sh in a word, requiring all the coronal fricatives in the word to belong either to the +anterior
Alveolar consonant
Alveolar consonants are articulated with the tongue against or close to the superior alveolar ridge, which is called that because it contains the alveoli of the superior teeth...
class (s-like sounds) or the -anterior
Postalveolar consonant
Postalveolar consonants are consonants articulated with the tongue near or touching the back of the alveolar ridge, further back in the mouth than the alveolar consonants, which are at the ridge itself, but not as far back as the hard palate...
class (sh-like sounds). Such patterns are found in the Dene (Athabaskan) languages such as Navajo
Navajo language
Navajo or Navaho is an Athabaskan language spoken in the southwestern United States. It is geographically and linguistically one of the Southern Athabaskan languages .Navajo has more speakers than any other Native American language north of the...
(Young and Morgan 1987, McDonough 2003), Tahltan
Tahltan
Tahltan refers to a Northern Athabaskan people who live in northern British Columbia around Telegraph Creek, Dease Lake, and Iskut.-Social Organization:...
(Shaw 1991), Western Apache
Western Apache language
The Western Apache language is a Southern Athabaskan language spoken by over 12,000 of the Western Apache peoples living primarily in east central Arizona...
, and in Chumash
Chumashan languages
Chumashan is a family of languages that were spoken on the southern California coast by Native American Chumash people.From the Coastal plains and valleys of San Luis Obispo to Malibu), neighboring inland and Transverse Ranges valleys and canyons east to bordering the San Joaquin Valley; and on...
on the California coast (Applegate 1972, Campbell 1997), to name a few examples. In Tahltan, Shaw shows that the coronal harmony affects three coronal fricatives, s
Voiceless alveolar fricative
The voiceless alveolar sibilant is a common consonant sound in spoken languages. It is the sound in English words such as sea and pass, and is represented in the International Phonetic Alphabet as . It has a characteristic high-pitched, highly perceptible hissing sound...
, sh
Voiceless postalveolar fricative
The voiceless palato-alveolar fricative or voiceless domed postalveolar fricative is a type of consonantal sound, used in many spoken languages, including English...
and the interdental th
Voiceless dental fricative
The voiceless dental non-sibilant fricative is a type of consonantal sound used in some spoken languages. It is familiar to English speakers as the 'th' in thing. Though rather rare as a phoneme in the world's inventory of languages, it is encountered in some of the most widespread and influential...
. The following examples are given by de Ruese: in Western Apache, the verbal prefix si- is an alveolar fricative, as in the following forms:
However, when this prefix si- occurs before a verb stem that contains a post-alveolar affricate, the si- surfaces as the post-alveolar shi-:
- shijaa "three or more solid rigid inanimate objects are in position"
Thus all the sibilant obstruents (fricatives and affricates) in these languages are divided into two groups, +anterior (s, ts, dz) and -anterior (sh, ch, j). In Navajo, as in most languages with consonant harmony, there is a constraint on the shape of roots (a well-formedness constraint) that is identical to the harmony process. Thus all roots with sibiliant affricates or fricatives have the same value for anteriority. Shaw (1991) provides a phonological analysis of this process, using data from research on Tahltan language.
There are two interesting aspects of this process in Navajo. First, morphemes that participate are domain specific, only the two rightmost domains
Phonology
Phonology is, broadly speaking, the subdiscipline of linguistics concerned with the sounds of language. That is, it is the systematic use of sound to encode meaning in any spoken human language, or the field of linguistics studying this use...
are affected (conjunct + stem). Verbal morphemes from the outer or 'disjunct' domain are not affected by the process; i.e. the process is morphologically conditioned. Second, the lateral affricate and fricative (dl, tł and ł) appear with both values. Young and Morgan (1987) offer an extensive sets of examples of this type of morpheme alternation in Navajo.
A different example of coronal harmony occurs in Sanskrit
Sanskrit
Sanskrit , is a historical Indo-Aryan language and the primary liturgical language of Hinduism, Jainism and Buddhism.Buddhism: besides Pali, see Buddhist Hybrid Sanskrit Today, it is listed as one of the 22 scheduled languages of India and is an official language of the state of Uttarakhand...
, where [n] is retroflexed to [ɳ] if certain consonants precede it in the same word, even at a distance.
Various Austronesian languages
Austronesian languages
The Austronesian languages are a language family widely dispersed throughout the islands of Southeast Asia and the Pacific, with a few members spoken on continental Asia that are spoken by about 386 million people. It is on par with Indo-European, Niger-Congo, Afroasiatic and Uralic as one of the...
exhibit consonant harmony among the liquid consonant
Liquid consonant
In phonetics, liquids or liquid consonants are a class of consonants consisting of lateral consonants together with rhotics.-Description:...
s, with [r] assimilating at a distance to [l] or vice versa.
Guaraní
Guaraní language
Guaraní, specifically the primary variety known as Paraguayan Guaraní , is an indigenous language of South America that belongs to the Tupí–Guaraní subfamily of the Tupian languages. It is one of the official languages of Paraguay , where it is spoken by the majority of the population, and half of...
shows nasal harmony, by which certain affixes have alternative forms according to whether the root includes a nasal (vowel or consonant) or not. For instance, the reflexive
Reflexive
Reflexive may refer to:In fiction:*MetafictionIn grammar:*Reflexive pronoun, a pronoun with a reflexive relationship with its self-identical antecedent*Reflexive verb, where a semantic agent and patient are the same...
prefix
Prefix
A prefix is an affix which is placed before the root of a word. Particularly in the study of languages,a prefix is also called a preformative, because it alters the form of the words to which it is affixed.Examples of prefixes:...
is realized as oral je- when preceding an oral stem like juka "kill", but as nasal ñe- when preceding a nasal stem like nupã "hit", where the ã makes the stem nasal.
Some Finnish speakers find it hard to pronounce both 'b' and 'p' in foreign words (e.g. pubi), so they voice (bubi) or devoice (pupi) the entire word. It should however be noted that the distinction between these consonants is not native to Finnish. Native Finnish words do not use the letter 'b'.