Sounds
The phonemic vowels of Bench are /i e a o u/
There are six phonemic tones: five level tones (numbered 1 to 5 in the literature, with 1 being the lowest) and one rising tone 23 /˨˧/. The top tone is sometimes realized as a high rising 45 . On the vowel o, they are /ő ó ō ò ȍ ǒ/
The consonants are:
| Bilabial | Coronal | Palato- alveolar |
Retroflex | Velar | Glottal | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Nasal | m | n | |||||
| Plosive | p | t | k | ʔ | |||
| b | d | ɡ | |||||
| pʼ | tʼ | kʼ | |||||
| Affricate | ts | tʃ | tʂ | ||||
| tsʼ | tʃʼ | tʂʼ | |||||
| Fricative | s | ʃ | ʂ | h | |||
| z | ʒ | ʐ | |||||
| Rhotic | r | ||||||
| Approximant | l | j | |||||
All of these can occur palatalized, but only before /a/, suggesting an alternate analysis of a sixth phonemic vowel /ja/. Labialized consonants are reported for and, but their phonemic status is unclear; they only occur after /i/.
For the phoneme /p/ the realizations of and are in free variation; /j/ has the allophone before back vowels.
The syllable structure is (C)V(C)(C)(C) + tone or (C) N (C), where C represents any consonant, V any vowel, N any nasal, and brackets an optional element. CC clusters consist of a continuant followed by a plosive, fricative, or affricate; in CCC clusters, the first consonant must be one of /r/ /j/ /m/ /p/ or /pʼ/, the second either /n/ or a voiceless fricative, and the third /t/ or /k/.
Read more about this topic: Bench Language
Famous quotes containing the word sounds:
“When they sometimes
Come down the stairs at night and stand perplexed
Behind the door and headboard of the bed,
Brushing their chalky skull with chalky fingers,
With sounds like the dry rattling of a shutter,”
—Robert Frost (1874–1963)
“Tom: Well, tell me, Gusto, you’re so smart. How could I erase a footprint that looks as if it was left by a heel?
Augusta: Well, that sounds almost human.”
—Billy Wilder (b. 1906)
“While we were thus engaged in the twilight, we heard faintly, from far down the stream, what sounded like two strokes of a woodchopper’s axe, echoing dully through the grim solitude.... When we told Joe of this, he exclaimed, “By George, I’ll bet that was a moose! They make a noise like that.” These sounds affected us strangely, and by their very resemblance to a familiar one, where they probably had so different an origin, enhanced the impression of solitude and wildness.”
—Henry David Thoreau (1817–1862)