A grammar of Pite Saami, 2014

3.1 Consonants
(50) /nurːʰtas/ nurrtas
[nurr̥tas]
‘towards.the.north’
(51) /kijʰto-v/ gijtov
[kijj̥toʋ]
‘thanks-acc.sg’
(52) /tiʰke/ dihke
[tiçke]
‘louse\nom.sg’
[pit081011.177]
[pit080621.11m45s]
[2359]
3.1.1.3.4 Preaspirated geminate plosives The plosive segments /ʰpː ʰtː ʰkː/ are
preaspirated bilabial, alveolar and velar (respectively) geminate phonemes. They
are only licensed as the sole consonant in the consonant center. Examples can be
found in (53) through (55); cf. §3.1.1.1 on allophonic variation in preaspiration.
(53) /ʧɛʰpːe/ tjähppe
[ʧɛhpːe]
‘clever\pred.sg’
(54) /naːʰpːe/ náhppe
[naːhpːe]
‘milking.cup\nom.sg’
(55) /maːʰtːe-t/ máhttet
[maːhtːetʰ] ‘can-inf’
[pit090930b.077]
[pit080621.54m38s]
[pit080926.03m21s]
3.1.1.3.5 Comparison of non-voiced plosive durations in the consonant center
While a thorough study of length phenomena in Pite Saami is beyond the scope
of the current study, it is worth noting the actual duration which the various
plosive phonemes are realized with in the consonant center. Specifically, a plain
geminate plosive and a singleton preaspirated plosive have approximately the
same duration for the period of stop closure (around 300ms), and are at least
100ms longer than plain singleton plosives and 100ms shorter than a preaspirated
geminate plosive. In this respect, plain geminate plosives and preaspirated
singleton phonemes seem to group together concerning stop closure duration.
Table 3.3 on the following page shows some (near) minimal sets and duration
measurements as a comparison. However, this alignment seems to be irrelevant
phonologically.
3.1.1.4 Affricates
The affricate series in Pite Saami consists of the phones and their phonetic realizations
shown in Table 3.4 on the next page. As affricates, they begin as a plosive
45