Gujarati phonology

In this article we are going to delve into the fascinating world of Gujarati phonology and explore all its facets. Gujarati phonology is a fundamental aspect of daily life and throughout history it has played a crucial role in society. From Gujarati phonology it has impacted the way people relate to each other, to its influence on technological and scientific advances. Over the next few lines, we'll take an in-depth look at Gujarati phonology and how it has shaped our world in ways that often go unnoticed. Get ready to immerse yourself in a journey through the complexity and importance of Gujarati phonology in our lives!

This article contains phonetic transcriptions in the International Phonetic Alphabet (IPA). For an introductory guide on IPA symbols, see Help:IPA. For the distinction between , / / and ⟨ ⟩, see IPA § Brackets and transcription delimiters.

The Gujarati language is an Indo-Aryan language native to the Indian state of Gujarat. Much of its phonology is derived from Sanskrit.

Vowels

Front Central Back
Close i u
Close-mid e ə o
Open-mid ɛ ɔ
Open (æ) ɑ
  • Sanskrit's phonemic vowel length has been lost. Vowels are long when nasalized or in a final syllable.
  • Gujarati contrasts oral and nasal, and murmured and non-murmured vowels, except for /e/ and /o/.
  • In absolute word-final position the higher and lower vowels of the /e ɛ/ and /o ɔ/ sets vary.
  • /ɛ/ and /ɔ/ developed in the 15th century. Old Gujarati split into Rajasthani and Middle Gujarati.
  • English loanwords are a source of /æ/.

Consonants

Consonants
Labial Dental/
Alveolar 		Retroflex Postal.
/Palatal 		Velar Glottal
Nasal m n ɳ
Plosive voiceless p t ʈ tʃ k
voiced b d ɖ dʒ ɡ
aspirated pʰ tʰ ʈʰ tʃʰ kʰ
murmured bʱ dʱ ɖʱ dʒʱ ɡʱ
Fricative voiceless (f) s (ʂ) ʃ
voiced (z) ɦ
Approximant ʋ l 𝼈 j
Flap ɾ
  • A fourth nasal phoneme is postulated for the phones and the nasalization of a preceding vowel . Before velar and palatal stops, there is variation between these; e.g. ~ ('ask for'), ~ ('swing').
  • Stops occurring at first members of clusters followed by consonants other than /ɾ, j, ʋ/ are unreleased; they are optionally unreleased in final position. The absence of release entails deaspiration of voiceless stops.
  • Intervocalically and with murmuring of vowels, the voiced aspirated stops /ɡʱ, dʱ, bʱ/ have voiced spirant allophones . Spirantization of non-palatal voiceless aspirates has been reported as well, including /pʰ/ being usually realized as in the standard dialect.
  • The two voiced retroflex plosives /ɖʱ, ɖ/ and the retroflex nasal /ɳ/ have flapped allophones . The plosives /ɖʱ, ɖ/ are unflapped initially, geminated, and after nasal vowels; and flapped intervocalically, finally, and before or after other consonants. The nasal /ɳ/ is unflapped before retroflex plosives and intervocalically, and in final position varies freely between flapped and unflapped.
  • /ʋ/ has and as allophones.
  • The distribution of sibilants varies over dialects and registers.
    • Some dialects only have , others prefer , while another system has them non-contrasting, with occurring contiguous to palatal segments. Retroflex still appears in clusters in which it precedes another retroflex: ('clear').
    • Some speakers maintain as well for Persian and English borrowings. Persian's /z/'s have by and large been transposed to /dʒ/ and /dʒʱ/: /dʒindɡi/ ('life') and /tʃidʒʱ/ ('thing'). The same cannot be so easily said for English: /tʃiz/ ('cheese').
    • Lastly, a colloquial register has , or both and , replaced by voiceless . For educated speakers speaking this register, this replacement does not extend to Sanskrit borrowings.

Phonotactical constraints include:

  • /ɭ/ and /ɳ/ do not occur word-initially.
  • Clusters occur initially, medially, and finally. Geminates occur only medially.
  • Biconsonantal initial clusters beginning with stops have /ɾ/, /j/, /ʋ/, and /l/ as second members. In addition to these, in loans from Sanskrit the clusters /ɡn/ and /kʃ/ may occur.
    The occurrence of /ɾ/ as a second member in consonantal clusters is one of Gujarati's conservative features as a modern Indo-Aryan language. For example, languages used in Asokan inscriptions (3rd century BC) display contemporary regional variations, with words found in Gujarat's Girnar inscriptions containing clusters with /ɾ/ as the second member not having /ɾ/ in their occurrence in inscriptions elsewhere. This is maintained even to today, with Gujarati /tɾ/ corresponding to Hindi /t/ and /tt/.
  • Initially, s clusters biconsonantally with /ɾ, j, ʋ, n, m/, and non-palatal voiceless stops.
  • Triconsonantal initial clusters include /stɾ, spɾ, smɾ/ - most of which occur in borrowings.
  • Geminates were previously treated as long consonants, but they are better analyzed as clusters of two identical segments. Two proofs for this:
    • The u in geminated uccār "pronunciation" sounds more like the one in clustered udgār ('utterance') than the one in shortened ucāṭ ('anxiety').
    • Geminates behave towards (that is, disallow) -deletion like clusters do.

Gemination can serve as intensification. In some adjectives and adverbs, a singular consonant before the agreement vowel can be doubled for intensification. #VCũ → #VCCũ.

big big
straight straight
considerably considerably

Stress

The matter of stress is not quite clear:

  • Stress is on the first syllable except when it doesn't have /a/ and the second syllable does.
  • Stress is barely perceptible.
  • Stress typically falls on the penultimate syllable of a word, however, if the penultimate vowel in a word with more than two syllables is schwa, stress falls on the preceding syllable.

ə-deletion

Schwa-deletion, along with a-reduction and -insertion, is a phonological process at work in the combination of morphemes. It is a common feature among Indo-Aryan languages, referring to the deletion of a stem's final syllable's /ə/ before a suffix starting with a vowel.

This does not apply for monosyllabic stems and consonant clusters. So, better put, #VCəC + V# → #VCCV#. It also doesn't apply when the addition is an o plural marker (see Gujarati grammar#Nouns) or e as an ergative case marker (see Gujarati grammar#Postpositions). It sometimes doesn't apply for e as a locative marker.

Stem Suffix Suffixed stem C/V Del Notes
verb root educate 1st person singular, future will educate CVCəC + VC → CVCCVC Yes Polysyllabic stem with /ə/ in its final syllable, with a suffix starting with a vowel (verbal declension).
understand masculine plural, perfective understood CVCəC + CV → CVCCCV Polysyllabic stem with /ə/ in its final syllable, with a suffix starting with a semi-vowel (verbal declension).
descend masculine singular, imperfective descending VCəC + CV → VCəCCV No Suffix starting with a consonant.
swim, float 2nd person singular, present swimming, floating CəC + V → CəCV Monosyllabic.
describe feminine, perfective described CVCCəC + VC → CVCCəCVC Consonant cluster.
wallow, roll 1st person plural, future will wallow, roll VCoC + VCV → VCoCVCV Non-ə.
noun laziness adjectival marker lazy VCəC + V → VCCV Yes Polysyllabic stem with /ə/ in its final syllable, with a suffix starting with a vowel (adjectival marking).
time locative marker at (the) time CVCəC + V → CVCCV Sometimes yes — e as a locative marker.
day on (the) day CVCəC + V → CVCəCV No Sometimes no — e as a locative marker.
game plural marker games CVCəC + V → CVCəCV Plural o number marker suffix.
adjective hot noun marker heat CVCəC + V → CVCCV Yes Polysyllabic stem with /ə/ in its final syllable, with a suffix starting with a vowel (noun marking).

ɑ-reduction

A stem's final syllable's /ɑ/ will reduce to /ə/ before a suffix starting with /ɑ/. #ɑC(C) + ɑ# → #əC(C)ɑ#. This can be seen in the derivation of nouns from adjective stems, and in the formation of passive and causative forms of verb stems.

Stem Suffix Suffixed Stem Reduced
cut be cut Passive Yes
cause to cut Causative
cause
to cut		 cause to be cut Causative Passive No
cause to cause to cut Double Causative
use be used Passive Yes
long length Noun
  1. ^ It does not happen a second time.
  2. ^ It can take place after an ə-deletion. #ɑCəC + ɑ# → #əCCɑ#.

-insertion-insertion">edit]

Between a stem ending in a vowel and its suffix starting with a vowel, a is inserted. #V + V# → #VʋV#. This can be seen in the formation of passive and causative forms of verb stems.

Stem Suffix Suffixed stem
see be seen
sing cause to sing

The second example shows an ɑ-reduction as well.

ə-insertion

ə finds itself inserted between the emphatic particle /dʒ/ and consonant-terminating words it postpositions.

one one
that that

Murmur

/ɦ/ serves as a source for murmur, of which there are three rules:

Rule Formal Casual English
1 Word-initial ɦV → V̤ now
bone
2 əɦVnon-high →
V̤non-high, more open		 easy
large
day
3 ə/aɦVhigh → ə̤/ɑ̤ (glide) stayed
very
  1. ^ Gujarati spelling reflects this mode. The script has no direct notation for murmur.
  2. ^ Rule 1 creates allomorphs for nouns. For example, /ɦəd/ ('limit') by itself can be ə̤d, but can only be ɦəd in beɦəd ('limitless').
  3. ^ More open.

The table below compares declensions of the verbs ('to do') and ('to say'). The former follows the regular pattern of the stable root /kəɾ/ serving as a point for characteristic suffixations. The latter, on the other hand, is deviant and irregular in this respect.

Infinitive Perfective Imperative 1sg. Future

The situation can be explained through murmur. If to a formal or historical root of /kəɦe/ these rules are considered then predicted, explained, and made regular is the irregularity that is (romanized as kahevũ).

Thus below are the declensions of /ɦ/-possessing, murmur-eliciting root /kəɦe/, this time with the application of the murmur rules on the root shown, also to which a preceding rule must be taken into account:

0. A final root vowel gets deleted before a suffix starting with a non-consonant.
Rule Infinitive Perfective Imperative 1sg. Future
0
2
3
→

However, in the end not all instances of /ɦ/ become murmured and not all murmur comes from instances of /ɦ/.

One other predictable source for murmur is voiced aspirated stops. A clear vowel followed by a voiced aspirated stop can vary with a pair gaining murmur and losing aspiration: #VCʱ ←→ #V̤C.

References

  1. ^ Mistry (2003), p. 115.
  2. ^ a b c d e Mistry (2003), p. 116.
  3. ^ a b Cardona & Suthar (2003), p. 662.
  4. ^ Mistry (2003), pp. 115–116.
  5. ^ Mistry (1996), pp. 391–393.
  6. ^ a b Masica (1991), p. 97.
  7. ^ a b c Mistry (1997), p. 659.
  8. ^ a b c d e Cardona & Suthar (2003), p. 665.
  9. ^ Mistry (2001), p. 275.
  10. ^ Mistry (1997), p. 658.
  11. ^ a b c Cardona & Suthar (2003), p. 666.
  12. ^ Mistry (2001), p. 274.
  13. ^ Mistry (1997), p. 670.
  14. ^ a b Mistry (1997), p. 660.
  15. ^ Campbell (1991), p. ?.
  16. ^ UCLA Language Materials Project: Gujarati. Archived 2011-06-05 at the Wayback Machine Retrieved on 2007-04-29
  17. ^ Mistry (1997), pp. 661–662.
  18. ^ Mistry (1997), p. 662.
  19. ^ Mistry (1997), p. 663.
  20. ^ Cardona & Suthar (2003), p. 667.
  21. ^ Mistry (1997), pp. 666–668.

Bibliography

  • Campbell, G.L. (1991), "Gujarati", Compendium of the world's languages, volume 1. Abaza to Lusatian, New York: Routledge, pp. 541–545
  • Cardona, George; Suthar, Babu (2003), "Gujarati", in Cardona, George; Jain, Dhanesh (eds.), The Indo-Aryan Languages, Routledge, ISBN 978-0-415-77294-5
  • Dave, T.N. (1931), "Notes on Gujarati Phonology", Bulletin of the School of Oriental Studies, 6 (3): 673–678, doi:10.1017/S0041977X00093174, ISSN 1356-1898, JSTOR 607202, S2CID 169852062
  • Firth, J.R. (1957), "Phonetic Observations on Gujarati", Bulletin of the School of Oriental and African Studies, 20 (1): 231–241, doi:10.1017/S0041977X00061802, JSTOR 610376, S2CID 130969268
  • Masica, Colin (1991), The Indo-Aryan Languages, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, ISBN 978-0-521-29944-2
  • Mistry, P.J. (1996), "Gujarati Writing", in Daniels; Bright (eds.), The World's Writing Systems, Oxford University Press
  • Mistry, P.J. (1997), "Gujarati Phonology", in Kaye, A.S (ed.), Phonologies of Asia and Africa, Winona Lake: Eisenbrauns
  • Mistry, P.J. (2001), "Gujarati", in Garry, Jane; Rubino, Carl (eds.), An encyclopedia of the world's major languages, past and present, New England Publishing Associates
  • Mistry, P.J. (2003), "Gujarati", in Frawley, William (ed.), International Encyclopedia of Linguistics, vol. 2 (2nd ed.), Oxford: Oxford University Press
  • Pandit, P.B. (1961), "Historical Phonology of Gujarati Vowels", Language, 37 (1), Linguistic Society of America: 54–66, doi:10.2307/411249, JSTOR 411249
  • Turner, Ralph Lilley (1921), "Gujarati Phonology", Journal of the Royal Asiatic Society, 53 (4): 505–544, doi:10.1017/S0035869X00149287
  • Turner, Ralph Lilley (1915), "Indo-Aryan Nasals in Gujarati", Journal of the Royal Asiatic Society: 1033–1038
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