Syllable structure Syllabic stress is usually placed on the penultimate syllable, which has a higher pitch. There are four contrastive intonation contours. • Final Intonation – falling pitch on the last syllable, followed by a pause • Non-final Intonation – level mid pitch on the last syllable, followed by a pause • Interrogative Intonation – level mid/high pitch on the last word • Imperative Intonation – high pitch and heavy stress throughout clause with a rapid pitch drop on the last syllable
Consonants written as: p, t, k, b, d, g, s, ch, j, h, m, n, ny, l, r, w, y
Vowels Initial vowels clusters: ou, au, ai, ia Medial vowel clusters: e (a,o,i,u), a (u,e,i), i (é,a,e), o (u,i), uu, úo Final vowel clusters: eo, ou, uu written as: i, e, a, o, u, æ, é, ú
Morphophonemics Bukiyip has 18 basic rules for
morphophonemic shifts (rules 8–18 primarily apply to the Chamaun-Yabonuh and Buki dialects). • VcCalv → VfCalv (e.g. p-a-chuh → ) • w + ú → u, ú + w → uw, i + ú → i (e.g. i-ú-nak → inak) • ny + u → nyú (e.g. bolany+umu → bolanyumu) • ú + CrVr → uCrVr, eCrVr → oCrVr (e.g. p-ú-hok → ) • a + CVc → éCVc (e.g. n-a-bah →nébah) • Vc + C + w → VrCw, where Vc is not a, (e.g. ny-ú-hwech → nyuhwech) • Cw + Vr → CVr (e.g. →) • i# + i → i (e.g. i-ú-tak → itak) • #w + é → #wo (e.g. kw-é-nak → konak) • m# + ú → mu (e.g. m-ú-bo → mubo) • #Vc +tVr → otVr (e.g. atúwe → otuwe) • e# + úk → eik (e.g. +-úk → ) • C# + CVc → CVcCVc (e.g. chagas + búk → ) • ú + C# + u → uCu (e.g. u-túl-úgún+-u → ) • ú# + C + u# → oCu# (e.g. natalú → ) • VrCr# + ú → VrCru (e.g. +-úk →) • u# + ú → uwu (e.g. natu + -uk → ) • ú# + u → o (e.g. yekinú+umu → ) The above rules use the following abbreviations: Vr – rounded vowels Vc – central unrounded vowels Vu – unrounded vowels Vf – front vowels C – consonant Calv –
alveopalatal consonants Cr – rounded consonants • – morpheme boundary in phonological word == Words ==