Gujarati phonology

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

Vowels

• Sanskrit's phonemic vowel length has been lost.^[1] Vowels are long when nasalized or in a final syllable.^[2]
• Gujarati contrasts oral and nasal, and murmured and non-murmured vowels,^[2] except for /e/ and /o/.^[3]
• In absolute word-final position the higher and lower vowels of the /e ɛ/ and /o ɔ/ sets vary.^[3]
• /ɛ/ and /ɔ/ developed in the 15th century. Old Gujarati split into Rajasthani and Middle Gujarati.^[4]
• English loanwords are a source of /æ/.^[5]

Consonants

• The retroflex lateral flap /ɭ̆/ may be transcribed with a non-IPA symbol, though this may not display properly it some browsers.
• A fourth nasal phoneme is postulated for the phones [ɲ, ŋ] and the nasalization of a preceding vowel [Ṽ].^[7] Before velar and palatal stops, there is variation between these; e.g. [mɑ̃ɡʋũ]~[mɑŋɡʋũ] ('ask for'), [ɦĩtʃko]~[ɦĩɲtʃko] ('swing').^[8]
• 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.^[8]
• Intervocalically and with murmuring of vowels, the voiced aspirated stops /ɡʱ, d̪ʱ, bʱ/ have voiced spirant allophones [ɣ, ð, β]. Spirantization of non-palatal voiceless aspirates has been reported as well,^[8] including /pʰ/ being usually realized as [f] in the standard dialect.^[8]
• The voiced retroflex stops and the nasal /ɖʱ, ɖ, ɳ/ have flapped allophones [ɽʱ, ɽ, ɽ̃]. Intervocalically all three are flapped. /ɳ/ is unflapped before retroflex stops, and in final position varies freely between flapped and unflapped.^[7] The stops are unflapped initially, geminated, and postnasally; and flapped intervocalically, finally, and before or after other consonants.^[9]
• /ʋ/ has [v] and [w] as allophones.^[10]
• The distribution of sibilants varies over dialects and registers.
  • Some dialects only have [s], others prefer [ʃ], while another system has them non-contrasting, with [ʃ] occurring contiguous to palatal segments. Retroflex [ʂ] still appears in clusters in which it precedes another retroflex: [spəʂʈ] ('clear').^[11]
  • Some speakers maintain [z] as well for Persian and English borrowings. Persian's /z/'s have by and large been transposed to /dʒ/ and /dʒʱ/: /dʒin̪d̪ɡi/ ('life') and /tʃidʒʱ/ ('thing'). The same cannot be so easily said for English: /tʃiz/ ('cheese').
  • Lastly, a colloquial register has [s], or both [s] and [ʃ], replaced by voiceless [h]. For educated speakers speaking this register, this replacement does not extend to Sanskrit borrowings.^[8]

Phonotactical constraints include:

• /ɭ/ and /ɳ/ do not occur word-initially.^[2]
• Clusters occur initially, medially, and finally. Geminates occur only medially.^[2]
• Biconsonantal initial clusters beginning with stops have /ɾ/, /j/, /ʋ/, and /l/ as second members.^[12] 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 /t̪ɾ/ corresponding to Hindi /t̪/ and /t̪t̪/.^[13]
• Initially, s clusters biconsonantally with /ɾ, j, ʋ, n, m/, and non-palatal voiceless stops.^[12]
• Triconsonantal initial clusters include /st̪ɾ, spɾ, smɾ/ - most of which occur in borrowings.^[12]
• Geminates were previously treated as long consonants, but they are better analyzed as clusters of two identical segments. Two proofs for this:^[7]
  • 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) [ə]-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.^[14] #VCũ → #VCCũ.

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.^[15]
• Stress is barely perceptible.^[16]
• 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.^[17]

ə-deletion

Schwa-deletion, along with a-reduction and [ʋ]-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.^[15]

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).^[18] It sometimes doesn't apply for e as a locative marker.

ɑ-reduction

A stem's final syllable's /ɑ/ will reduce to /ə/ before a suffix starting with /ɑ/. #ɑC(C) + ɑ# → #eC(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.^[19]

1. It doesn't happen a second time.
2. It can take place after an ə-deletion. #ɑCəC + ɑ# → #əCCɑ#.

[ʋ]-insertion

Between a stem ending in a vowel and its suffix starting with a vowel, a [ʋ] is inserted.^[20] #V + V# → #VʋV#. This can be seen in the formation of passive and causative forms of verb stems.

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.^[21]

Murmur

/ɦ/ serves as a source for murmur, of which there are three rules:^[22]

¹ Gujarati spelling reflects this mode. The script has no direct notation for murmur.

² Rule 1 creates allomorphs for nouns. For example, /ɦəd̪/ ('limit') by itself can be [ə̤d̪], but can only be [ɦəd̪] in /beɦəd̪/ ('limitless').

³ More open.

The table below compares declensions of the verbs [kəɾʋũ] ('to do') and [kɛ̤ʋũ] ('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.

Fortunately the [kɛ̤ʋũ] 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 [kɛ̤ʋũ] (romanized as kahevũ).

Thus below are the declensions of [kɛ̤ʋũ] /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.

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

Bibliography

• Cardona, George; Suthar, Babu (2003), "Gujarati", in Cardona, George; Jain, Dhanesh, 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 .
• 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 .
• Masica, Colin (1991), The Indo-Aryan Languages, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, ISBN 978-0-521-29944-2 .
• Mistry, P.J. (2003), "Gujarati", in Frawley, William, International Encyclopedia of Linguistics, 2 (2nd ed.), Oxford: Oxford University Press .
• Mistry, P.J. (2001), "Gujarati", in Garry, Jane; Rubino, Carl, An encyclopedia of the world's major languages, past and present, New England Publishing Associates .
• Mistry, P.J. (1997), "Gujarati Phonology", in Kaye, A.S, Phonologies of Asia and Africa, Winona Lake: Eisenbrauns .
• Mistry, P.J. (1996), "Gujarati Writing", in Daniels; Bright, The World's Writing Systems, Oxford University Press .
• Pandit, P.B. (1961), "Historical Phonology of Gujarati Vowels", Language, Linguistic Society of America, 37 (1): 54–66, doi:10.2307/411249, JSTOR 411249 .
• Turner, Ralph Lilley (1921), "Gujarati Phonology", Journal of the Royal Asiatic Society: 505–544 .
• Turner, Ralph Lilley (1915), "Indo-Aryan Nasals in Gujarati", Journal of the Royal Asiatic Society: 1033–1038 .