HANDBOOK OF PHONOLOGICAL DATA
FROM A SAMPLE OF THE WORLD'S LANGUAGES

A Report of the Stanford Phonology Archive

Compiled and edited by

John H. Crothers
James P. Lorentz
Donald A. Sherman
Marilyn M. Vihman

1979 by The Board, of Trustees of the Leland Stanford Junior University

All rights reserved
Printed in the United States of America

PAGE 420 STANFORD PHONOLOGY ARCHIVE

VOLUME 1 — SEGMENT INVENTORIES, GENERAL COMMENTS, FOOTNOTES Tarascan

810

810 Tarascan

810 Tarascan

810 Tarascan

810 01 p-lax

lb-lax] 60

810 02 p-aspi rated

t p-preaspi rated! 6 1
[pi 61

(alio, free)

810 03 b 30

( loan)
t beta! 62

810 04 t-lax

Id-lax] 60

810 05 t-aspi rated

t t-preaspi rated] 6 1

(alio, free)
ts/ij61 63

(free)

810 06 d 30

( loan)
teth) 62

810 07 k-lax 01

[g-lax] 60

810 08 k-aspirated 01

tk-preaspi rated] 61
Ik] 61

(alio, free)

810 09 g 30

( loan)
I gamma] 62

810 10 t/s-lax

Id/z-lax) 60
tt/s-lax-long] 611

810 11 t/s-aspi rated

tt/s-preaspi rated] 61

tt/s] 61
(alio, free)

tt/s-preaspirated-longl 61

ts/t/sl 61 63

(free)

Is/t/s-longl 61 63 6,1
( free)

12 t/s-hacek-lax
td/z-hacek-laxl 60
tt/s-hacek-long] 65

13 t/s-hacek-aspi rated
tt/s-hacek-preaspi rated] 61
Et/s-hacek) 61

(alio, free)
Is/t/s-hacek) 61 63
( free)

14 f 30

( loan)

15 s

ts-retrof lex) 66
Ts-longJ 67

ts-retrof lex-long] 67

16 s-hacek
ts-hacek-retrof lex] 68

17 x°1 31

18 m
tm-voiceless] 69
( free)

19 n 02
teng] 70

[n-voiceless] 69
( free )

20 n-palatal 30
( loan)

22 130 32

( loan)

23 1-retroflex 32

24 glottal stop 33
( 11 mi ted)

25 h 33

( limited)

51 )3*

I i -voiceless] 7 *
ti/yod] 72

52 epsilon 31 *

[epsi Ion-voiceless) 71

te) 73

[e/yod] 73

53 i-bar-retrof lexed 03 35

t i-bar-voiceless-retrof lexedJ

71

I i-bar-long-retrof lexedJ 75
(alio, free)

54 a
[a-voicelessl 71
t ash] 76

55 u

lu-voi celess] 7 *

56 o 36
to-mid] 77

57 yod 31

58 w
tw-voiceless] 78

810
810
810

810

$a Tarascan $b Tzlntzuntzan $d Isolate $e Mexico (Michoacan) $f 50,000 $g Merritt Ruhlen $g Jim
Lorentz (review)

$a Foster, Mary Lecron $b 1969 $c The Tarascan Language$f (UCPL 56) $g Berkeley* u\C. Press $q
informant(s )

$a INTOHATIOH $A There are four levels of pitch in the intonation countour ranging from 4
"highest pitch" to 1 "lowest pitch." The intonation contour is determined entirely by stress
distribution in conjunction with boundary markers according to the following rules* (1) A weak
stressed vowel which precedes or follows the final strong stressed vowel of a phrase, or
precedes the final strong stressed vowel of a sentence has pitch height 2* (2) A weak stressed
vowel which follows the final strong stressed vowel of a sentence has pitch height 1. (3)
Vowels with secondary stress have pitch height 3. (4) The final strong stressed vowel of a
phrase has pitch height 3. (5) The final strong stressed vowel of a sentence has pitch height
4. (6) A weak stressed vowel which occurs before a "hesitation" pause has pitch height 2; a
strong stressed vowel has pitch height 3 before a "hesitation" pause. See pages 27-28 for
examples and discussion, "Tarascan speech most characteristically occurs as bursts of staccato,
rapidly delivered, fairly short phrases." (p. 15)

$a LONG VOWELS $A "Sequences of like medial vowels actualize as lengthened syllable peaks,
interpreted as VV rather than as long vowels because of the occurrence of other VV sequences
and because VV sequences normally span two morphemes. Length is generally about a mora and a
half rather than two full morae." (p. 16) Note, however, the allophone M-bar-long) which

PAGE 421 STANFORD PHONOLOGY ARCHIVE

VOLUME 1 — SEGMENT INVENTORIES, GENERAL COMMENTS, FOOTNOTES Tarascan 810

results from compensatory change or simple lengthening,

810 $a PHONOLOGICAL WORD $A initial CC: /t-lax, t/s-lax, t/s-hacek-lax/ + /p-aspi rated,

k-aspi rated/; /k-lax/ + /t-aspi rated/; /s, s-hacek/ + /t-aspi rated, k-aspi rated/; /k-aspi rated,
k-lax, s, x/ + /w/ $A initial CCC: /t/s-hacek-lax, t-lax/ + /k-aspi rated/ + /w/ $A final Ct
none $A VV clusters: /i , epsilon/ + /epsilon, a, o/; /?/ ♦ /u/J /i-bar-retroflexed/ + /o/; /a/
+ /a/; /u/ + /i, epsilon, a/; /o/ + /a, o/ (p.27ff)

810 $a STRESS $A Stress is phonemic in Tarascan with "strong stress" in contrast with "weak

stress." There are, however, three levels of phonetic stress: (1) strong stress, (2) secondary
stress, (3) weak stress. Strong stress is reduced to secondary stress before a strong stress
which is preceded by two or more intervening unstressed syllables, Distributionally, "a
strong-stress phoneme falls obligatorily on one of the first two syllables of the word." (p. 28)
However, this strong stress (as well as any other strong stress) is deleted or reduced if it is
not the last strong stress of the phrase.

810 $a SYLLABLE $A ( C )(C ) < C )V( C ) (C )( C ) $A initial (C)GC* see p. 28. May differ from word initial

clusters. $A final C: any sonorant $A final CC: /k-lax. s/, /m.s/ $A final CCC: /n. k-lax. s/

810 01 $A The velars vary "from pre-to post-velar according to the degree of front- or back-ness of
the following vowel." (p. 20, 21)

810 02 $A "In the sequence /t/s-hacek.e.n. i/. . .a slightly palatalized allophone lof /n/J ... occurs . "
(p. 23)

810 03 $A /i-bar-retroflexed/ is described as "very tense," lengthening "emphasizes the retroflexion."
(p. 17)

810 30 $A "Mexican Spanish phonemes not completely equatable with Tarascan phonemes must be added to
the total phonemic inventory. Six additional phonemes. . .are required: /b, d, g, f, 1,
n-palatal/." (p. 14)

810 31 $A /x/ and /yod/ occur "only Initially unless a morpheme in which tthey arel initial is
reduplicated." (p. 22) .

810 32 $A Both /!/ and /1-retrof lex/ are said to occur only word-medially, (p. 15) Foster uses the
symbols "r" and "r" with a subscript dot for these two segments but categorizes them as
"laterals." She does not mention how the two differ phonetically.

810 33 $A "Before a sentence final pause any voiced vowel... may be followed by [glottal stop) in free
variation with its absence." /glottal stop/ and /h/ are in free variation after stressed /a/,
phrase finally. (p.16f)

810 3l * $A "/i/ has not been noted tto occur) after /t/s-hacek-aspi rated/," nor /epsilon/ after

/t-aspi rated/, (p. 29) * ■

810 35 $A /i-bar-retroflexed/ apparently occurs only after dental affricates and /s/. In this
environment it contrasts with all other vowels.

810 36 $A "/o/ is of scarcer occurrence than any other vowel and has not been found after /w/,
/t-aspi rated/, /t-lax/, /t/s-aspi rated/ and /s/." (p. 29)

810 60 $A Lenis stops and affricates are voiced after a nasal (which in practice is always
homorganic). (p. 18, 21)

810 *1 $A Aspirated stops and affricates are realized with preaspi ration after medial vowels, are

unaspirated after medial consonants, and may be unaspirated word-initially after a consonant in
the preceding word. (p. 15-1 9)

810 62 $A The voiced stops occurring in loan words are realized allophonically as fricatives
( intervocalically, presumably), (p. 23)

810 63 $A The preaspirated portion of preaspi rated affricates and [ t-aspi rated] may be realized as IsK

810 6l » $A /i-bar-retroflexed/ is deleted with compensatory lengthening of preceding dental affricates
phrase finally, (p. 17, .21)

810 65 $A /t/s-hacek-lax/ is lengthened before /epsilon/ (which is then deleted), before pause, (p. 21 )

810 66 $A'/s/ is realized as ts-retrof lex) before /i-bar/, when this sequence occurs before pause, or
word initially or medially. This also occurs word finally before a word beginning with /k-lax/.
(p. 19, 22)

810 67

$A /s/ is lengthened before /i-bar/ when word juncture plus aspirated obstruent except
/k-aspirated/ follow." Before /k-aspi rated/ here Is-retrof lex-long) is found. (p,19)

PAGE 422 STANFORD PHONOLOGY ARCHIVE

VOLUME 1 — SEGMENT INVENTORIES, GENERAL COMMENTS , FOOTNOTES Tarascan 810

810 68 $A /s-hacek/ is slightly retroflexed before /p-aspirated/ and /k-aspi rated/, (p.22)

810 69 $A Nasals may be voiceless before voiceless vowels, (p. 23)

810 70 $A /n/ is realized as leng] before velar stops, (p. 23)

810 71 $A All unstressed vowels except /o/ are devoiced phrase finally; all weak-stressed

post-consonantal word final vowels except /o/ are voiceless before a following aspirated
consonant. (p.15f)

810 72 $A /i/ is realized as ti/yodl before /u/. (p. 16)

810 73 $A /epsilon/ is realized as te/yod) before /a/ and as [el initially before /t/s-hacek-lax/,
between /t/s-hacek-lax, t/s-hacek-aspi rated, t/s-lax, t/s-aspi rated, t-lax, t-aspi rated/ and
/n/, before /l/, and when strong-stressed word-finally." (p. 16)

610 7I * $A Word final /i -bar-retrof lexed/ is voiceless before /s/ or /s-hacek/; phrase final

/i -bar-retrof lexed/ is always deleted with compensatory lengthening of a preceding consonant,
(p. 17)

810 75 $A /i -bar-retrof lexed/ is lengthened "before /w/ and medially in free variation before
aspirated stops and affricates." (p. 17)

810 76 $A /a/ is realized as tashl "after /i/ and /epsilon/, and between /t/s-hacek-lax,
t/s-hacek-aspi rated/ and /n/." (p. 17)

810 77 $A /o/ is realized as lo-midl before /s/. (p. 16)

810 78 $A /w/ is devoiced before voiceless vowels, (p. 22)