The phonological status of onsets with multiple articulations in Kalahari Basin Area languages

Abstract

Languages spoken in the Kalahari Basin Area abound with phonetic complexity, particularly with regard to clicks and stops. In these languages, the root-initial onset position is the only position within a root that allows clicks and most egressive obstruents to occur. Some clicks and obstruents are produced phonetically as sequences of release bursts, such as a coronal stop followed by a dorsal fricative. Thus, these segments involve multiple constrictions of the vocal tract in their articulation. The phonological representation of these segments is controversial. While most older literature interpreted these onsets as unitary segments, it is now more common to interpret these sounds as consonant clusters. A cluster analysis, however, results in a highly unusual syllable typology, where typologically-unmarked Obstruent-Sonorant clusters are absent but marked Obstruent-Obstruent clusters occur. This study examines data from six Kalahari Basin Area languages – Khoekhoegowab, Khwe, !Xóõ, N|uu, Ju|’hoan, and Ekoka !Xun – to assess the phonological status of onsets with multiple release bursts. The data were collected from dictionaries and the phonetic and phonological literature pertaining to these languages. Analysis of the data leads to the conclusion that these onsets are unlikely to be clusters and are rather complex unitary phonemes. The elimination of a cluster analysis requires another phonological interpretation of the onsets to be posited. Previous formal representations of these onsets are found to lack adequate explanatory power, so this thesis proposes a new feature geometry structure to capture the phonological representation of complex onsets in Kalahari Basin Area languages. The proposed model accounts for asymmetries in the click and non-click consonant inventories and posits an expanded set of Lower Vocal Tract features so that phonological patterns can be represented more accurately in these languages.