1.1.       Phonemic Inventory

Konyak has two types of phonemes.

i.      Tones (Suprasegmental phonemes), and

ii.     Vowels and Consonants (Segmental Phonemes).

I.       Tones. Konyak has three tones. They are -

i.      Rising tone which is represented with [ ' ] on the vowel;

ii.     Falling tone which is represented with [ ` ] on the vowel; and

iii.   Level tone which is left unmarked.

II.A.  Vowels. Konyak has seven vowel phonemes.  They are the following –

                                      Front           Central             Back

                        High          i                    ī                      u

                        Mid           e                 Ə                     o

                        Low                             a

          The Vowels show a three way contrast regarding the part of the tongue that is used as the articulator: 1. Front, 2. Central, and 3. Back.  While front and back vowels show a two way contrast in height between high and mid; central vowels show a three way contrast in height between high, mid and low.  The vowels show a two way contrast regarding lip position, into rounded and unrounded.  The front vowels are unrounded, the central vowels are neutral and back vowels are rounded.

In initial position

          /i/-/e/-/Ə/               /e/-/a/-/o/               /ī/-/o/          /Ə/-/o/

          ì `blood'                 é `dry up'               īŋ `neck'      Əm `mat'

          é `say'                  á `axe'                   óŋ`climb'     om `cheek'

          Ə `my'                  ó `dress'

In medial position

          /i/-/e/-/a/-/u/           /ī/-/u/-                   /e/-/o/-/u/    /e/-/Ə/-/a/        

        sím `grip'               phīt `run'                séŋ `dodge' pen `forget'

                 (hold

                firmly)

          sém `heat'             phút `rub'               sóŋ `pillar'   pen `ten'

          sám `slow'                                         súŋ `push'    pan `run'

                  (very)                                                                morung'

          súm `cover'

                  (book, n)

 

In final position

          /i/-/e/-/o/-/u/           /i/-/ī/-/a/-/o/-/u/       /i/-/a/-/o/-/u/

          sì `sleep'                yí `snow'                sì `urine'

          se `potato'             yī `no(t)'                sá `tie' (hair)

          sò `skin'                 ya `she'                 só `decide'

          su `beat'                yo `collect'             su `lead'

               (a local drum)                                     (animal)

                                      yú `liquor'

II.B. Consonants: It has fifteen consonant phonemes –

                            Bilabial             Dental     Palatal         Velar           Glottal

Stops: unasp. Vls.       p                      t             c               k                  ?

          ap. Vls.*           ph                                                   kh

Nasals:                       m                     n             n               ŋ

Fricatives:                                                        s                 h

Laterals:                                            l

Frictionless

Continuants:               w                                   y

          Though historically Tibeto-Burman languages did not have aspirate stops, Naga group of languages have developed this feature.  Possibly the C+h consonant clusters gradually condensed to form aspirate stops.  As compared to unaspirate counterparts they are less widely distributed; but regularly show contrast between them (unaspirated vs. aspirated).  Also the syllabic cut always falls after or before the respective consonants, showing thie unitness, for instance –īk/há `ant'; yàk/khī `fingernail'.

          So, for this language aspirate stops are considered as unit phonemes.

1.2.       Illustration of Consonants :

Altogether there are 26 phonemes (three suprasegmentals plus 23 segmentals).  These are called phonemes because these are distinctive and are required for unambiguous representation of Konyak sounds.  Constrative pairs are listed below to illustrate the phonemes.

1.         Tones-Rising     é `dry up'          sám `slow'         ká `kick'

                                      (as water)               (very)

                       Falling    e `say'               sám `going'        kà `split'

                                                                   (Konyak)

                       Level     e `he'                sam `mud'         ka `open'

                                                                                    (mouth)

2(b).  Consonants.

>Stops:

i.    Contrast between unaspirated vs. aspirated –

          /p/-/ph/        pƏn `ten'                    pa           `do mischief'

                            phƏn `break' (rope)    pha         `offer'

          /k/-/kh/        kƏp `close' (a bag)      ko           `wound' (v)

                            khƏp `armlet'              kho         `spade'

       ii. Constrast between voiceless unaspirated stops -

            p/-/t/c/-/k/

            pīm `body'                pay `carry'                 pu `fly'

                                          (on shoulder)              (as bird)

            tƏm `breast'             tay `go'                      tu `puss'

            cƏm `help'               cay `far'                     cu `dissolve'

            kƏm `basket'            kay `fade', `wither'      ku `scraper'

                     (used to carry  (colour)

                     vegetable)

          iii. Contrast between glottal stop and glottal fricative :

                sa?a `now'           lá?ha `vein'

                saha `alone'          láha `health'

iv.Constract between absence and presence of glottal stop

              á `slave'

              á? `too much'

 Nasals: -m/-/n/-/ñ/-/ŋ/

            (i) man `till'        (ii) kami `bamboo'          (iii) me`in/at'

                                         (to cover roof)

                 nan `labour'      kani `opium'              ne `smooth'

                 ñan `write'                                        ñe `rob'

                 ŋaŋ `pull up'                                      ŋe `see'

                        (one self)

Fricatives :     

            i. /c/-/s/;

              1.  cà `swell'    2. cīŋ `village'        3.  cu `season'

                        (as grain)

                   sà `into'           sīŋ `sew'                su `pull out'

             ii.  /s/-/h/: (i) san `crab'  (ii) sīt `scrach' (food)

                                 han `fuel'       hīt `tight (very)

                          (iii) sè `decay'  (iv) su `beat'

                                 hè `breath'       hu `grand'