A Comprehensive Comparison of Lexemes in the ... - SIL International

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There are also variations in how to handle affricates, semi-vowels, and
palatalized stops. Kwamera, Lenakel, N Tanna, and Whitesands have the phoneme
/tʃ/ but publications in these languages represent it with , whereas
publications in SW Tanna and Vaha represent it with . Additionally, some
publications in Kwamera and N Tanna represent many glides [w] and [y] with
and respectively. Some recent Kwamera publications represent the
palatalized consonants [p w ], [k w ], [f w ], and [m w ] as , , , and
respectively. Orthographies in the other languages have not represented
palatalization at all, thus not distinguishing palatalized consonants from nonpalatalized
ones in writing.
In this study, I follow three guidelines in order to utilize a uniform
orthography. First, I represent lexemes as they are spoken today. The phoneme
/tʃ/ is undoubtedly a phonemic change from [ti] and it remains [ti] for some
lexemes in some dialects today. But where the lexeme is pronounced [tʃ] today, I
have indicated so with , and where it is still spoken as [ti] I have indicated
so with . Second, I have employed an orthography that is readable. The
lexeme eiwaiyu ‘go down’ may be written accurately, phonologically speaking, as
either or , but when I tested orthographies, I discovered
that Tannese speakers found the latter to be less readable than the former. Third,
since data is being compared, I have found it necessary to distinguish between [ɨ]
and [ə], so both vowel values are represented. Finally, /p̃/, /kw/, /fw/, and /m̃ /
are also represented to help in comparison of data.
3.2 Layout
The lexicon is alphabetized by the English gloss. The Bislama gloss is on
the next line below the English gloss. The lexical data for the six languages
follows in alphabetical order by language. Figure 3.1 (next page) explains the
layout of the lexical entries.