1 PHONOLOGY

1.1 Word

1.2 Syllable

1 .3 Consonants 1 .4 Vowel s

1.41 Central Vowels

1.42 Front and Back Vowels

1.5 Stress

1 .51 Stress Group

1.52 Intonation Group

1 .6 Morphophonemics

1.61 Stress Shift

1.62 Consonant-Vowel Pressures

1.63 Replacement

1.64 Assimilation

1.65 Addition

1.66 Reduction

1.67 Metathesis

1 .68 Gemination

1.1 WORD

A phonological word in Balangao is a grouping of one or

more syllables occurring between potential pauses. The

phonological word can be 1) a word stem, 2) a word stem plus a

pronoun or demonstrative clitic, 3) the above with a contracted

particle, or 4) a single particle or adjunct.

Words may be full words or semi words. Semi words carry no stress and have only one mora of vowel length, i.e. one vowel. This is the case with single particles and certain adjuncts, so they are classed as semi words. Full words carry stress and have at least two moras of vowel length. Most commonly these two moras of length are realized by two syllables. However, a few words occur with two historical vowels fused into one long vowel with two moras of length. Stress always occurs on these fused vowels, resisting the normal morphophonemic change of stress upon suffixation (see Sec. 1.61).

*bo 'qok = 'bu:q (fused vowels are written 'hair* with two vowels, buuq)

Sequence -a'qi ' also has been noted to fuse to j_: ^ba'qin - 'blin/'blln 'shame*

Occasionally the fusion is optional:

ma'qid^'miid 'there is none',

-ta'qaw^-' taaw 'we-incl*

Word boundaries also affect allophone distribution. Word initial environment is one of the conditioning factors for [1] (see Sec. 1.3). And also, the first syllable of a word is a

conditioning environment for the allophones of the central vowels (see Sec. 1.4).

Words are distributed within phrases, clauses and sentence

1.2 SYLLABLE

A syllable consists of an obligatory onset and an obligatory peak with an optional coda. The onset and coda are filled by consonants, and the peak is filled by a vowel. The consonants (C) and the vowels (V) occur in two basic syllable patterns, CV and CVC:

'qaho 'dog1, lu'wang 'carabao'.

Consonant clusters are formed word medially when a closed syllable precedes another syllable. When the final consonant of the first syllable is velar and the Initial consonant of the next syllable is a semi-vowel, open transition occurs between the two syl Tables:

[q*gA»yat] /qeg'yat/ 'fear'

['fangAwIt] /'bangwit/ 'fish hook'.

Restrictions on syllable formation are very few: high vowels i, u do not occur in a syllable opened or closed by k, n do they occur in a syllable closed by nj[. o/u_ and w do not occu in the same syllable. Also, 1_ and £ do not occur 1n the same syllable except across morpheme boundaries:

qi 'liq + gl- = qlyjllq 'remove rice from stalk* (see Sec. 1.63 for replacement of £ by £. )

Consonant clusters normally do not occur within a syllable However, a restricted third syllable type, CVCC, does occur. The first consonant of the cluster must be a semi-vowel, w or v and the last consonant may be only o^, d, h, or ru This syllabi type is formed only across morpheme boundaries. Adjuncts gay, qaw plus Sentence-level ^ form adjuncts qayq, and qawq.

Words ending in w or y_ plus particles gad, qah or qan also form CVCC syllable type (see Sec. 1.66.7).

Syllables are distributed within words.

1.3 CONSONANTS

There are 15 consonants in Balangao: £, t, k, £ (glottal stop), b, d, £, h, m, n_, n£, s^ X> w» and £.

Bilabial consonants b^, £, w are in contrast:

'baqaw 'corn', 'paqaw 'handle', 'waqat 'scatter'.

Alveolar consonants t, d, s_, 1_, ^ and velar h9 are in contrast:

1 talo 'hide*, 'dala 'blood', ' sango 'stand before', 'lana 'oil*, 'yasa 'never mind', ' hala 'reflection of light* .

Velar consonants k_, £, h^, and o^ contrast in syllable in i tial positions:

'kahoy 'edible root', 'gahal "sand*,

'halep 'dance1, 'qahoy 'marking sin'.

And in syllable final position they contrast with each other and with the absence of a consonant:

'pakpak 'beat with an instrument',

1 tagtag 'race',

'pahpah 'hit to knock something down',

'paqpaq 'touch, as of sugar, and then touch something else, leaving some',

pa'pa 'a duck' .

Nasal consonants m, £, n£ are in contrast:

'ma so 'sledge hammer', 'nanga 'type of palm*, 'ngato 'high' .

Consonants consist of two series of stops, a series of nasals, a set of semivowels, a set of fricatives, and a lateral .

The first series of stops are unaspirated, voiceless and when occurring word final are normally unrel eased. They occur at the bilabial, front alveolar, back velar and glottal points of articulation:

'pala 'shovel*, 'talo 'hide',

'kalo 'become intense', qa1 lo 'clothes paddle' .

The second series of stops has two sets of allophones, voiced and voiceless. The voiced allophones occur only as syllable coda at the bilabial, front alveolar, and velar points of articulation:

'qulab 'froth', 'qalad 'fence',

'gulag 'hold as pound*.

The voiceless allophones occur only as syllable onset and are a labiodental fricative (teeth not over but touching lower lip from behind), and alveopalatal grooved affricate, and an aspirated front velar stop:

'bala 'live coal1, 'dala 'blood',

ga *la 'red spittle of betel nut chew'.

Nasals occur at bilabial, front alveolar and back velar

22 BALANGAO GRAMMAR

points of articulation:

'lima 'hand', 'lana 'oil', 'Tango 'dry'.

Semivowels are voiced and occur at bilabial and alveolar points of articulation. The bilabial has only one allophone, high close back rounded vocoid:

wang' wang 'river'.

The alveolar semivowel has two allophones: [u] high close front rounded vocoid occurring only as syllable coda following a back vowel:

'babuy 'pig' ;

[y] a high close front unrounded vocoid occurring in other environments,

yang'yang 'full bloom of a flame tree'.

Fricative consonants are voiceless. The grooved fricative occurs at the alveolar point of articulation:

sa'bun ' soap' .

The non-grooved fricative has two allophones: [r] a pharyngeal fricative occurring only word final:

'qagah 'medicine' ;

and [h] a glottal fricative occurring non-final in words,

'hala 'reflection of light'.

The lateral consonant is voiced and has two allophones: [1] a lateral continuant which occurs 1) word initially, 2) contiguous to a front vowel, 3) following an alveolar consonant, 4) following a non-alveolar consonant when the preceding vowel is front:

1 lana 'oil', 'ball 'typhoon',

pos'laqet 'flashlight', dip' lat 'reed frame holding

roof grass ' ;

[r] a mid-central retroflexed vocoid occurring in other positions:

'bala ' 1 ive coal ' .

High vocoids are interpreted as vowels land u^ when they occur as syllable peaks; and they are interpreted as consonants ^ and w when they occur as syllable onset or coda, thus fitting the two basic non-suspect CV patterns. The sequences ( - i . i - ) and ( - u » u - ) are interpreted ay i .y and u.w (period indicates syl lable boundary) to fit the non-suspect syllable patterns. Occurring as syllable onsets, £ and w are lenis and often not phonetically detectable in this pattern.

[tsVUA] 'two', [si'Vm] 'nine'.

However, when morphophonemi c changes occur, causing the peak

PHONOLOGY

vocoid to drop, the onset vocoid is then clearly distinguishable. In the following example the morphophonemic change is reduplication of the first syllable with dropping of the vowel in the second syllable:

dudwa 'two each1, sisyam "nine each'.

The high only in coda vocoid [i] ne

*bab

vocoid [u] is interpreted as ^ since it occurs position of a syllable following a back vowel; ver occurs in this position,

u£ 'pig*.

The sequ interpreted a patterns. Th

[«u

ences [fc 3 and [t£] occur, in single C slots and are s single phonemes to fit the non-suspect CV eir allophonic variant is also a single C:

ipan] /'gipan/ 'knife1,

'mang] /du'mang/ 'other side'.

All consonants may carry length and are Interpreted as two phonemes to fit, the non-suspect CV patterns. They occur only word medially between two peaks, forming the coda for one syllable and the onset for the next:

ka ' bayyu 'type of betel nut',

gag' gam 'sleeping house*.

1.4 VOWELS

Balangao has six vowels, contrasting as to front, central and backhand these positions contrast as to high and low.

	Front	Central	Back
High	i	e	u
Low	e	a	0

CHART 1

Vowels

High vocoids [1] and [u] are interpreted as vowels j[ and u when they occur as syllable peaks.

'dila 'tongue', du ' wa 'two'

All vowels may occur lengthened as a result of fusion of two syllables. Fusion occurs historically in certain word stems (see Sec. 1.1), and commonly when a word ending in a central vowel is suffixed with an affix beginning with a central vowel. The two central vowels fuse to the quality of the suffix.

•hair'

'buuq lan'sa +

-en = lan'se^n 'nail it'

Lengthened vowels contrast with non-lengthened vowels:

Shetler, Joanne. 1976. Notes on Balangao Grammar. Huntington Beach, California: Summer Institute of Linguistics.