Angami Language - Phonology

Phonology

This description covers the Khonoma dialect, which is spoken by 4,000 people at the western extreme of Angami territory.

Kohima dialect is reported to have five tones. Khonoma has four register tones: /˥ ˧ ˨ ˩/ (with diacritics, /a̋ á ā à/). The lower three are approximately equally spaced in pitch, while the topmost is more distant. Low tone may be accompanied by breathy voice, especially at the end of an utterance.

Angami has six vowels, /i e̞ a̠ o u̟ ə̝/. Diphthongs occur, but are rare.

Other dialects also contrast /tʃʰ tʃ dʒ/. only occurs as an allophone of /p/. The velar fricative is in free variation with . The post-alveolar approximants are truly retroflex (sub-apical) before mid and low vowels, but laminal before high vowels (/i u/).

Angami voiceless nasals are unusual in that, unlike the voiceless nasals of Burmese, they have a positive rather than negative voice onset time—that is, they are aspirated rather than partially voiced. The same is true of the laterals. In both cases, the aspiration has the formants characteristic of Angami h, which is somewhat velar in pronunciation. The other voiceless approximants may not be aspirated, as the h-like formants occur during the entire hold of the consonant.

The labial and labialized consonants have labiodental affricate allophones before /ə/ (but not in /Cɻə/ consonant clusters). In addition, about half the time, the rhotic becomes syllabic (a rhotic vowel) in this environment:

Angami syllables may be of the form V, CV, or CɻV. Attested clusters are /pʰɻ/, /pɻ/, /kʰɻ/, /kɻ/.