Two types of [NT]s in Panãra: Implications for the native speaker and scientific communities

Abstract:

This talk provides articulatory and perceptual phonetic data on Panãra (ISO code: kre), a Northern Jê language of Central Brazil, supporting the existence of a previously undocumented phonological distinction. Maddieson & Ladefoged (1993) note that, while partially nasalized stops are sometimes described as post-oralized nasals and sometimes as pre-nasalized stops, they should have the same phonological representation, as “we know of no language in which these two classes of sounds contrast with each other.” Panãra exhibits a distinction between exactly these two types of [NT] sequences, which arise from two distinct phonological processes, namely (1) post-oralization of underlying nasal consonants [NT], and (2) pre-nasalization of underlying oral obstruents [NT] (Redacted, under review). These [NT]s contrast in surface sequences of the type [ṼNTV], such as in the minimal pair /kjã-ɲi/ → [kjãnsi] ‘big head’ vs. /kjã+si/ → [kjãnsi] ‘skull.’

(1) /m, n, ɲ, ŋ/ → [mp, nt, ns, ŋk] / __ V                                  (2) /p, t, s, k/ → [mp, nt, ns, ŋk] / Ṽ __

Lapierre discusses the consequences of these findings for the scientific and native speaker communities. On the one hand, she argues that the pattern cannot be captured with the traditional concept of a segment, and that it requires a decomposition of the segment into temporally-defined subsegmental units, such as those afforded by Q Theory (e.g. Shih & Inkelas 2019, Lapierre 2023). On the other hand, she shows how the distinction between the two types of [NT]s was incorporated into a new orthography of the language during a series of literacy workshops held between 2015 and 2024. This new writing system better aligns with native speaker intuitions and, as a result, literacy rates among the Panãra have increased substantially over the last few years.

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