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Vowel inventory
Front
Central
Back
High
Low
/l/
ali
pot
/l/
ale
song
/kl/
akl
warmth
/l/
ala
path
/l/
alu
field
/alo/
alo
good
Consonant inventory
Labial
Labiodental
Alveolar
Postalveolar
Palatal
Velar
h
pp b
apu
father
//
ashi
meat
ph /ph/
aphu
village
//
aji
blood
/b/
aba
dung
/xn/
axone
/tt/
atutu
long yam
fermented
soya beans
th
/athuthu/
athuthu
steam
//
aghi
bone
/d/
ado
time
/ahu/
ahu
tooth
m /m/
amhi
body hair
m /m/
ami
fire
n /n/
anha
snot
/n/
ana
(cooked) rice
/a/
anga
baby
/l/
alha
layer
/l/
ala
path
/m/
muras
snow / hail
/aje/
ayeghi
earth
/k/
fv
m m
n n
l l
aki
house
kh /akhi/
akhi
bee
/ag/
agi
face
/q/
aqo
pit
qh /qh/
aqho
brain
akichi
mouth
h /khi/
akichhi
breast
/f/
afo
older sister
/avi/
avi
mithun
/k/
kk g
Glottal
Plosive
Affricate
Fricative
Nasal
Approximant
Lateral
Approximant
/p/
tt d
Uvular
(bovine sp.)
(Sreedhar 1980 does not give // as a phoneme)
Gloss
Sumi
(fieldnotes)
Angami
(Giridhar, 1987)
mother animal
-q
-kr (female)
hundred
a-qhe
kri
kri
-tri
moon / month
-qh
th -khr
-khr
-thr
brain
-qh
-khr
-khri
-thr
Mao
(Giridhar, 1994)
Khezha
(Kapfo, 2007)
-tr
Gloss
Sumi
(fieldnotes)
Khezha
(Kapfo, 2007)
Mongsen Ao
(Coupe, 2007)
Proto-TB
(Matisoff, 2003)
bone
-ru
[t]-t
*rus ~ *rew
war
a-i
-ri
six
ts
sr
r pluck; cut
pick (fruit)
xo
rho pluck
head louse
-x
-rhi
*ran
tuk
*d-ruk
*ruk
[a]-tshk
*s-rik
Syllable structure
Canonical Sumi syllable:
/k.l/
/k.l/
/ .l/
Comparison of segmental features and phonotactic constraints of Sumi with other languages of Nagaland
Ao languages
Sumi
Angami-Pochuri
languages
no syllable-onset
consonant clusters
no syllable-onset
consonant clusters
syllable-onset consonant
clusters permitted
no phonemic voiced
affricates
no phonemic voiced
affricates
no labio-dental affricates
(except Lotha)
no labio-dental affricates
labio-dental affricates
present
/p/
apu
father
/k/
akts
black
Mid
/apu/
apu
water scoop
/ki/
akts
head
High
/p/
apu
son
/k/
akts
rotten
Figure 1: Average F0 realisations of L, M and H tones across a time-normalised segment (female speaker)
Tone
Mean (Hz)
Standard deviation
No. of tokens
164
11
725
191
13
385
222
15
206
5
Figure 2: Boxplot showing distribution of F0 values for each tone (female speaker)
The thick horizontal black lines in the boxes indicate the median F 0 value for each tone. The boxes represent 50%
of all F0 values for each tone, while the area between the top and bottom whiskers represents 90% of all F 0 values
for each tone. White circles indicate outliers.
Mao
(Giridhar, 1984)
Angami (Kohima)
(Kuolie, 2006)
Lotha
(Acharya, 1983)
Ao (Mongsen)
(Coupe, 2007)
Ao (Chungli)
(Temsunungsang,
2009)
phonemic contours
no
no
no
yes (2)
yes (2) no
Angami
(Khonoma)
Khezha
(Kapfo, 2005)
Ao languages
Sumi (fieldnotes)
Angami-Pochuri languages
no
References
Acharya, K. P. (1983). Lotha Grammar. Mysore: Central Institute of Indian Languages.
Burling, R. (2003). The Tibeto-Burman languages of Northeastern India. In G. Thurgood &
R. LaPolla (Eds.), The Sino-Tibetan Languages (pp. 169-191). London: Routledge.
Giridhar, P. P. (1987). Angami-English-Hindi Dictionary. Mysore: Central Institute of
Indian Languages.
Giridhar, P. P. (1994). Mao Naga grammar. Mysore: Central Institute of Indian Languages.
Kapfo, K. (2005). The ethnology of the Khezhas and the Khezha grammar. Mysore: Central
Institute of Indian Languages.
Kapfo, K. (2007). Kuzhale-Chahale Dikshneri (Khezha-English Dictionary). Mysore:
Central Institute of Indian Languages.
Kuolie, D. (2006). Structural description of Tenyidie: a Tibeto-Burman language of
Nagaland. Kohima: Ura Academy Publication Division. (pp. 85-7).
Lewis, M. P. (Ed.). (2009). Ethnologue: Languages of the World. (16th ed.). Dallas, Texas:
SIL International. (Online version: http://www.ethnologue.com/)
Matisoff, J. (1973). Tonogenesis in Southeast Asia. In L. Hyman (Ed.), Consonant types and
tone (Southern California Occasional Papers in Linguistics 1) (pp. 71-95). Los
Angeles: University of Southern California.
Sreedhar, M. V. (1976). Sema phonetic reader. Mysore: Central Institute of Indian
Languages.
Sreedhar, M. V. (1980). A Sema grammar. Mysore: Central Institute of Indian Languages.
Temsunungsang, T. (2008). Tonality and the analysis of sub-minimal words in Ao. In S.
Morey & M. Post (Eds.), North East Indian linguistics (pp. 45-64). New Delhi:
Cambridge University Press India.