Choni language
| Choni | |
|---|---|
| Thewo-Chone Cone Tibetan | |
| Pronunciation | Choni pronunciation: [tɕɔᴸnɛ] |
| Native to | China |
| Region | Gansu, Sichuan |
Native speakers | 150,000 (2004)[1] |
| Dialects |
|
| Language codes | |
| ISO 639-3 | cda |
| Glottolog | chon1285 |
| ELP | Choni |
 Choni is classified as Definitely Endangered by the UNESCO Atlas of the World's Languages in Danger. | |
Choni (Jonê) and Thewo are dialects of a Tibetic language spoken in western China in the vicinity of Jonê County.
Phonology
[edit]Consonants
[edit]| Bilabial | Alveolar | Retroflex | (Alveolo-) palatal |
Velar | Uvular | Glottal | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Nasal | m | n | ɲ | ŋ | ||||
| Plosive | tenuis | p | t | k | ||||
| aspirated | pʰ | tʰ | kʰ | |||||
| voiced | b | d | ɡ | |||||
| prenasalized | ᵐb | ⁿd | ᵑɡ | |||||
| Affricate | tenuis | t͡s | t͡ʂ | t͡ɕ | ||||
| aspirated | t͡sʰ | t͡ʂʰ | t͡ɕʰ | |||||
| voiced | d͡z | d͡ʐ | d͡ʑ | |||||
| prenasalized | ⁿd͡z | ⁿd͡ʐ | ⁿd͡ʑ | |||||
| Fricative | tenuis | s | ʂ | ɕ | x | h | ||
| aspirated | sʰ | ʂʰ | ɕʰ | xʰ | ||||
| voiced | z | ʑ | ɣ | |||||
| Sonorant | r̝ | j | w | |||||
| Lateral | fricative | ɬ | ||||||
| approximant | l | |||||||
Choni has four contrastive aspirated fricatives: /sʰ/ /ɕʰ/, /ʂʰ/, /xʰ/.[2]
- /r/ is phonetically a fricativized alveolar trill [r̝], and may be heard as [ʐ] as an allophone.
- A syllable-initial /k/ can be heard as a uvular fricative [χ] before voiceless consonants and as a voiced [ʁ] before voiced consonants. A syllable-final /k/ can be heard as a uvular stop [q] after /æ/ or /ɔ/ vowel sounds.
- [ʁ] can also be heard as an allophone of /ɣ/ between /æ/ or /ɔ/ and another vowel.[3]
Vowels
[edit]| Front | Central | Back | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| short | long | short | long | short | long | |
| Close | i | iː | ʉ | ʉː | u | uː |
| ɪ | ɪː | |||||
| Close-mid | e | eː | o | oː | ||
| Mid | ə | |||||
| Open-mid | ɛ | ɔ | ||||
| Open | æ | ɑ | ɑː | |||
| Front | Central | Back | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Close | ĩː | (ũː) | |
| Close-mid | ẽː | õː | |
| Open | ã ãː |
- [ũː] rarely exists as a phoneme, and is only attested in a few words with a palatal or alveolo-palatal initial.
Tone
[edit]Choni has two contrasting tones, which are realized differently on long and short vowels. They are word tones, with predictable realizations on the second syllable of a morpheme.
References
[edit]- ↑ Choni at Ethnologue (18th ed., 2015) (subscription required)
- ↑ Jacques, Guillaume (2011). "A panchronic study of aspirated fricatives, with new evidence from Pumi" (PDF). Lingua. 121 (9): 1518–1538. doi:10.1016/j.lingua.2011.04.003. S2CID 56166344.
- ↑ Jacques, Guillaume (April 2012). "A phonological profile of Cone" (PDF). HAL. Retrieved 20 August 2021.