Phonology

Phonology is ‘the branch of linguistics which deals with systems of sounds within a language.‘ In this chapter, I will mention the phonological features of Jembesa. Bon Voyage! 🙂

Consonants

In Jembesa, there are 13 consonant phonemes, and they are shown in the table below:

• /b/, /d/, /g/, /v/, and /z/ are not distinct sounds. They can appear only under weakening consonant gradation as equivalents of /p/, /t/, /k/, /f/, and /s/ respectively.
• /ŋ/ appears only before velar stops like /k/ and /g/ = /ŋk/ and /ŋg/.

Gemination

In the studies of phonetics and phonology, gemination means ‘doubling a speech sound.‘ e.g. /pp/, /tt/, /kk/ etc. (I will show them with a colon like /p:/, /t:/, /k:/ etc.) In the process of gemination, one articulates a consonant for a longer period of time than it is. It is phonemic and changes the meaning such as /sepa/ “liquid” vs. /seppa/ “fly”.

Consonant Gradation

Consonant gradation is a kind of consonant mutation. In this process, consonants change between various grades, such as strong and weak grades, when they are exposed to affixation. The possible changes are shown in the table below:

Examples:

• /sa:pa/ “monday” > /sa:bat/ “mondays”
• /øt-/ “to write” > /vøder/ “you write / you’re writing”
• /kelm-/ “to love” > /magelmer/ “I love”
• /ufa/ “light” > /uvel:o/ “bright”
• /soɪl-/ “to see” > /fazoɪler/ “you see”
• /tep:a/ “ball” > /teb:an/ “(acc.) ball”
• /syt:e/ “girl” > /syd:el:æ/ “with the girl”
• /tek:-/ “to add” > /teg:elɪ-/ “to be added”
• /kif:æ/ “system” > /kiv:æt/ “systems”
• /kes:-/ “to rebel” > /kez:uto/ “rebellious”
• /sompa/ “season” > /sombat/ “seasons”
• /sonta/ “class” > /sondanta/ “in the class”
• /piŋk-/ “to burn (sth)” > /piŋgell-/ “to burn”
• /onfo/ “alone, lonely” > /onvot/ “the lonely ones”
• /ins-/ “to judge” > /inzelɪ-/ “to be judged”
• /uhp-/ “to read” > /huhbet/ “s/he read”
• /veht-/ “to lose” > /vehdel:-/ “to be lost
• /ahka/ “game” > /ahganta/ “in the game”
• /kæhfi/ “coffee” > /kæhven/ “(acc) coffee”
• /kalpa/ “Sun” > /kalbal/ “of the Sun”
• /olte/ “(n.) yesterday” > /olden/ “(adv.) yesterday”
• /olka/ “morning” > /olgas/ “good morning”
• /ulfa/ “word” > /ulveta/ “dictionary”
• /pels-/ “to line” > /pelzarte/ “ruler”
• /tarpe/ “apology” > /tarbes/ “sorry”
• /serta/ “benefit” > /serdel:o/ “beneficial”
• /morka/ “detail” > /morgelto/ “undetailed”
• /terfe/ “plan” > /tervete/ “intention”
• /ters-/ “to count” > /terzelɪa/ “account”

Vowels

In Jembesa, there are 8 monophthong phonemes, and they are shown in the table below:

Long Vowels

Jembesa makes phonemic contrasts between long and short vowels. Thus, whether the vowel of a word is long or short changes the meaning.

Examples:

• /tate/ “dick” vs. /ta:te/ “weir”
• /sæte/ “lyric” vs. /sæ:te/ “foregiveness”
• /teso/ “ancient” vs. /te:so/ “easy”
• /it/ “this” vs. /i:t-/ “to find”
• /hop-/ “to hop” vs. /ho:p-/ “to betray”
• /øt-/ “to write” vs. /ø:t-/ “to do, to make”
• /huma/ “side” vs. /hu:ma/ “fear”
• /pytæ/ “beak, bill” vs. /py:tæ/ “swing”

Diphthongs

You can see the diphthong phonemes of Jembesa in the table below:

Some Examples:

• /ødelɪæ/ “book”
• /kaʊla/ “building”
• /tɪan/ “because”
• /tɪor-/ “to answer”
• /poɪne/ “stone”

Vowel Harmony

Jembesa has the phenomenon called vowel harmony like Finnish and Turkish. According to the phenomenon, vowels within a word must be either all front /æ, ø, y/ or all back /a, o, u/ with the exception of /e/ and /i/ sounds. All the affixes have two forms and comes to the word accordingly.

Examples:

• /mA+/: 1st Person Singular (I) >>> /mazoiler/ “I see” vs. /mædyhder/ “I need”
• /+l:A/: Instrumental-Comitative Case (with) >>> /fal:a/ “with you” vs. /hilvæl:æ/ “with something”
• /+nU/ Question Suffix >>> /almanu/ “apple?” vs. /pøreny/ “wolf?”

Exception:

/e/ and /i/ sounds are not harmonised according to vowel harmony when they are part of an affix; on the other hand, in the root of a word, the former is counted as a back vowel while the latter is counted as a front vowel; e.g. /sedel:a/ “with the car” vs. /si:del:æ/ “with the reality” ( 1. /sete/ “car” 2. /si:te/ “reality” 3. /+l:A/ “with”).