draft manuscript - Linguistics - University of California, Berkeley

Table 2.3: Old Omagua Free Pronouns and Pronominal Proclitics in Jesuit Texts
singular plural
masculine speech
1 taa / t(a)= tanu
1incl
yene / yen(e)=
2 ene / ne= epe / pe=
3 muRa / R(a)= Rana
2.2.1.2 Vowel Hiatus Resolution
Two postlexical phonological processes may occcur at morpheme boundaries involving a pronominal
proclitic (which are all vowel-final) and a vowel-initial root. In slow, careful speech, both vowels
are pronounced, but in fast speech, the final vowel of the proclitic either deletes or coalesces with
the vowel to its right, depending on the one hand on the root-initial vowel in question, and on the
other, the person, number and genderlect of the pronoun. When the root begins with 1, both vowels
are obligatorily realized, even in fast speech. When the root begins with i, I, u or a, the final vowel
of the proclitic deletes, with the exception of a in 1sg.ms ta=, which coalesces. These patterns are
summarized for masculine speech pronominal proclitics and vowel-initial verb roots in Table 2.4;
these processes operate identically with nominal roots. 21 When the pronominal proclitic in question
is in the feminine genderlect, only deletion occurs. 22
Table 2.4: Vowel Coalescence and Deletion Patterns (masculine speech)
Singular
Plural
Marker Verb Realization Marker Verb Realization Gloss
aki [taki]
aki [tanaki] enter
ikua [tekua] ikua [tanikua] know
ta= IRIwa [teRIwa] tana= IRIwa [tanIRIwa] return
usu [tosu] usu [tanusu] go
aki [naki]
aki [paki] enter
ikua [nikua] ikua [Ranikua] know
nI= IRIwa [nIRIwa] pI= IRIwa [pIRIwa] return
usu [nusu] usu [pusu] go
aki [Raki]
aki [Ranaki] enter
ikua [Rikua] ikua [Ranikua] know
Ra= IRIwa [RIRIwa] Rana= IRIwa [RanIRIwa] return
usu [Rusu] usu [Ranusu] go
21 Alternate vowel hiatus resolution strategies occurring at the boundary of pronominal proclitics and vowel-initial
roots have been described for Kokama-Kokamilla (see Vallejos Yopán (2010a:201, 210-214)); similar vowel-deletion
processes carry over even to environments with consonant-initial roots, creating consonant clusters that are otherwise
atypical in the language (see Vallejos Yopán (2010a:130-132)). Unlike Kokama-Kokamilla, final vowels of
pronominal proclitic in Omagua are obligatorily realized before consonant-initial roots.
22 Recall that female speech exhibits a 3sg allomorph R=, such that verb stems with third-person singular subjects
pronounced in fast speech are identical in both genderlects.
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