2 Phonology

Abstract

The original inventory of NENA consonantal phonemes has undergone change in JSNENA due to convergence with the phonological systems of the Iranian languages of the region.This includes the loss of the original interdental consonants ✶ θ and ✶ ð, which have mostly been replaced by the lateral /l/.The interdentals originally shifted to the stop /d/, and this underwent lenition to /l/ due to the areal phenomenon known as the 'Zagros /d/', which resulted in the lenition of /d/ with various outcomes in the non-Semitic languages of the area.Some sounds of the original NENA consonantal inventory have undergone phonological change, although they still exist in some contexts on the phonetic level.This includes the dephonemicisation of the pharyngealised consonants ✶ ṣ and ✶ ṭ.Another case of this is the occurrence of the voiced pharyngeal /ʿ/ [ʕ] by a process of segmentalisation of flat resonance (i.e.pharyngealisation) rather than by the historical preservation of etymological ✶ ʿ.This has resulted in the loss of etymological ✶ ʿ in many words and the occurrence of non-etymological /ʿ/ in some words that were pronounced with flat resonance.In a few words an unvoiced pharyngeal /ḥ/ has developed by pharyngealisation of an ✶ h.In all attested cases the ✶ h has itself developed by debuccalisation of an original unvoiced interdental ✶ θ.In some cases an etymological voiced pharyngeal ✶ ʿ [ʕ] in JSNENA undergoes devoicing to the pharyngeal /ḥ/ [ħ], which matches a process that occurs in Gorani and Kurdish.The pharyngealised sonorant sounds [rˁ] and [lˁ], by contrast, have undergone phonemicisation (/ṛ/, /ḷ/) by a process of matching corresponding pharyngealised phonemes /ṛ/ and /ḷ/ in the Iranian languages of the region.Word-initial /ʾ/ in JSNENA shifts to /h/ in some words in imitation of a parallel process in Gorani and Kurdish of the region.Several consonants have been borrowed by JSNENA from the Iranian languages, mostly in loanwords.These include /č/ [ʧʰ], /f/ [f], /j/ [ʤ], /ř/ (trilled rhotic), /ž/ [ʒ], and /ġ/ [ʁ].These are only marginal phonemes in JSNENA.Stress patterns of JSNENA correspond to patterns of stress in the Iranian languages of the region.Some phonological features of JSNENA exhibit different degrees of convergence with Gorani or Kurdish respectively.The quality of JSNENA vowels correspond slightly more closely to those of Gorani of the region than those of Sanandaj Kurdish.The labio-dental [v] realisation of JSNENA /w/ corresponds to Gornani but not Kurdish.Patterns of stress, on the other hand, correspond slightly closer to those of Kurdish.