1 This database, compiled by Merritt Ruhlen, contains certain kinds of linguis

27 Pages·2005·0.37 MB·English

by  Merritt Ruhlen

DatabaseStructure 1
Thisdatabase,compiledbyMerrittRuhlen,containscertainkindsoflinguis-
ticandnonlinguisticinformationfortheworld’sroughly5,000languages.
Thisintroductionwilldiscussthekindsofdatathataresurveyed. Correc-
tions,addenda,[email protected].
DATABASESTRUCTURE.
1. Language. This database contains 5,707 records, each representing
one language or dialect. The names of the languages and dialects follow
the nomenclature given in my Guide to the Languages of the World, Vol. 1:
Classification(1991).
2. Alternate Name. Noattempthasbeenmadetolisteveryalternate
nameforeverylanguage. Foracompleteindexofalllanguagenamesone
should consult the Ethnologue (2000), published by SIL International and
alsoavailableonthewebathttp://ethnologue.org,andtheVoegelin’sClas-
sificationandIndexoftheWorld’sLanguages(1977). Alternatenamesaregiven
hereprimarilyforlanguagesthathavetwonames,bothofwhicharewidely
used (e.g. Gilyak and Nivkh), or for a name used in a source that differs
fromthatusedhere.
3. Dialect. Dialect names are given when they were mentioned in a
sourceorwheretheyareneededtodistinguishtwoformsofalanguage.
4.GeographicalLocation. Ihaveattemptedtoprovideageographical
locationforeverylanguageinthisdatabase,usuallyintermsofthecountry
in which it is spoken. However, languages are often spoken in more than
one country for the simple reason that there is little correlation between
linguistic boundaries and political boundaries in most parts of the world.
TheEthnologueprovidesthedefinitiveanswertothesequestions,specifying
exactly all the countries in which a given language is spoken. I list only
a single country for each language, usually the country with the largest
numberofspeakers,butsometimesthecountryfromwhichthedatawere
taken,whichneednotbethecountrywiththelargestnumberofspeakers.
5.NumberofSpeakers. Thereisnomoredifficulttaskthanascertain-
ingthenumberofspeakersformanylanguages. ThoughIcollectedallof
thepopulationstatisticsgiveninthesourcesIused,thesenumberswerein
manycasesalreadyoutofdateinthe1970’sandareobviouslyevenmore
sotoday. TheEthnologueisthedefinitivesourceforpopulationstatisticsfor
all the world’s languages and dialects. Where possible, I list the number
ofspeakersforaparticulardialectinparenthesesfollowingthenumberof
speakersforthelanguageitself. Forextinctlanguagesthedataofextinction
isgivenwhenitisknown.
6.GeneticClassification. Thegeneticclassificationgivenforeachlan-
guageisbasedonthatgiveninVolume1ofmyGuide,withafewexceptions.
TheKusundalanguageisnolongerlistedasaTibeto-Burmanlanguage,but
ratherbelongstotheIndo-Pacificfamily. TheVeddahofSriLankaspeaka
dialect of Sinhalese, but their original language, which was definitely not
DatabaseStructure 2
Indo-European, has been lost, with only traces of it remaining in the Sin-
halese dialect they speak. Elamite is treated as an independent language
sinceitsputativeDravidianaffiliationhasbeenquestioned.
I have abbreviated the classification in certain cases, eliminating some
intermediatenodesinordertomaketheclassificationmorereadable. Since
the entire classification is given in Volume 1 in as much detail as I was
abletoascertain,forsimpletaxonomicquestionsthereadershouldconsult
Volume 1. When sorted on the basis of the genetic classification given in
Volume 1 this database will allow one to follow the linguistic topography
of the world while at the same time following its genetic topography. In
thiswayonecanseehowlinguistictraitsvaryintermsoftheirgenealogical
history.
TheclassificationgiveninVolume1canobviouslybeimprovedandwe
intendtoallowthisclassificationtoevolveontheEHLwebsite,justasthe
typological data will also evolve with new information and corrections of
errorsthatnowexist.
SOURCES
Sourcesofthedatagiveninthisdatabasearedividedintofourcategories:
dictionary,grammar,textbook,andothersources. Abbreviatonsusedinthe
sourcesarelistedattheendofthisintroduction.
7. Dictionary. Thisfieldcontainsdictionariesorwordlistsforagiven
language.
8.Grammar. Thisfieldcontainsgrammarsorgrammaticalsketchesthat
dealwiththeentirelanguage.
9.Textbook. Thisfieldcontainstextbooksforagivenlanguage.
10.OtherSources. Thisfieldcontainsallothersourcesfromwhichdata
weretaken.
PHONOLOGY
Phonologyisthestudyofthesoundsoflanguage,primarilybutnotexclu-
sivelyconsonantsandvowels,anditisoneofthemainfociofthisdatabase.
Noattemptwillbemadeheretogiveacompletedescriptionofhowallthe
possibleconsonantsandvowelsareproducedorhowtheyarerepresentedin
theadaptationoftheInternationalPhoneticAlphabetusedinthisdatabase.
Therearemanyexcellentbooksonjustthistopic. TheoneIwouldrecom-
mendisVowelsandConsonants(2001)byPeterLadefoged. Lucidlywritten
byoneoftheworld’sleadingphoneticians,italsoincludesaCDROMthat
allowsonetoactuallyhearallofthevariousconsonantsandvowelsused
bytheworld’slanguagesandillustratedinthisdatabasebydatafromover
2,200 languages. The contents of this CD can also be accessed on the web
at http://hctv.humnet.ucla.edu/departments/linguistics/VowelsAndCon-
sonants. I will, however, give a brief description of how consonants and
vowelsareproducedforthosewhohavenobackgroundinphonetics.
DatabaseStructure 3
CONSONANTS
ThesymbolsforconsonantsusedinthisdatabaseareshowninTable1and
areforthemostpartthesameasthoseusedbytheInternationalPhonetic
Alphabet (IPA). I have, however, substituted different symbols for certain
consonantssothat,forexample,inplaceoftheIPAsymbolsßandtßIhave
usedsˇandcˇ,whicharetheinitialconsonantsin‘she’and‘chop,’respectively.
Ihavealsousedadotunderaconsonanttoindicateretroflexion,ratherthan
thespecialIPAsymbols,sothatt.andn. inthisdatabasecorrespondtoIPA“
and–,respectively. Thepalatalnasal,ñinIPA,ishererepresentedasn˜,and
there are a few other modifications that will be mentioned below. Conso-
nants(andvowelsandglides)areenclosedinparenthesesinthedatabaseto
indicatetheyaremarginalinthelanguageconcerned. Usuallythismeans
thateithertheyareveryrareoroccuronlyinloanwords.
Table1. Consonants
1á 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 1/8 9 10 11
stops p t˜ t t. c k k¸p q ÷
b d˜ d d. ∆¯ g g¸b G
affricates pf t˜ó ts˜ tstl cˇ. cˇ cc¸ kx q≈
bv d˜∂ d˜z dzdl j j∆¯√ gl
.
fricatives π f ó s˜ s¬ s. sˇ. sˇc¸ x ≈ ° h
∫ v ∂ z˜ zµ z. zˇ. zˇ √ © ∏ ¿ §
approximants V ®˜ ® ®. jÜ û w
nasals m M n˜ n n. n˜ Ñ m¸Ñ N
laterals l˜ l¬ l. ¥ L
trills B r˜ r r. R
flaps À˜ À À.
ejectives p$ t˜$ t$s$ c$ k$ k¸p$ q$
implosives £ ¢˜ ¢ ƒ ∞ D
clicks (cid:1) / // ! (cid:2)=
á
ThenumbersatthetopoftheTableindicatetheplaceofarticulationoftheconsonantsasfollows:
1.bilabial,2. labiodental,3. interdental,4. dental,5. alveolar,6. retroflex,7. palatal,8. velar,1/8.labial-
velar,9.uvular,10.pharyngeal,11.glottal.
Howareconsonantsproduced? Therearethreebasicparameters. First,
there must be an airstream mechanism that causes air to move through
the mouth. Second, this airstream is modified in certain ways. Third, the
modificationoftheairstreamcantakeplaceatdifferentplacesinthevocal
tract.
AIRSTREAMMECHANISMS
Therearefourairstreammechanisms: pulmonic, egressiveglottalic, in-
gressive glottalic, and velaric. The pulmonic airstream is caused by the
lungs pushing air through the vocal tract and out of the mouth (see Fig-
DatabaseStructure 4
ure1). Alllanguagesusethisairstreammechanismandformostlanguages
it is the only one used. Consonants produced with a pulmonic airstream
areshowninthefirstblockinTable1(stops–flaps). Theegressiveglottalic
airstream is produced by closing the vocal cords in the glottis and, with
anotherclosureinthevocaltract(e.g.theclosureinvolvedinmakingak),
the glottis is raised so that the air in the mouth is compressed. When the
secondclosure(fork)isreleasedairrushesoutofthemouthproducingan
ejectivek$. Implosivesareproducedwithaningressiveglottalicairstream.
Inthiscasetheclosedglottisisloweredandtheairinthemouthisrarified.
Whenthesecondclosure(e.g.thatinvolvedinmakingab)isreleasedairis
suckedintothemouthproducinganimplosive£. Ejectivesandimplosives
togetherarecalledglottalizedconsonants.
The velaric airstream produces clicks (e.g. ‘tsk tsk’ in English). This
airstream is produced by (1) raising the back of the tongue to the roof of
the mouth (the velum), creating a closure at the back of the oral cavity,
(2) a second closure is then made at the front of the oral cavity (say for
a b), (3) the body of the tongue is both lowered and drawn backward in
themouth,therebyrarifyingtheairintheoralcavity(asinthecaseofim-
plosives), (4) the closure (for b) at the front of the oral cavity is released,
allowing air outside the mouth to be sucked in, creating a clicking sound,
inthiscasetheclick(cid:1). ThisclickissometimesusedinEnglishtosignifya
kiss. Whileclicksarewidelyusedbythemselvesintheworld’slanguages
asinterjections(asintheEnglishexamplesjustcited)theiruseasordinary
consonantsinwordsisforthemostpartrestrictedtotheKhoisanlanguage
family and to a few languages which have borrowed clicks from Khoisan
languages(e.g.XhosaandZulu).
PLACEOFARTICULATION
Onceanairstreamisproduceditmustbemodifiedinsomeway(manner
ofarticulation)atsomeplaceinthevocaltract(placeofarticulation)inorder
tomakeasound. Possibleplacesofarticulationforconsonantsareindicated
inthefirstrowofTable1andareshowninFigure1. Possiblemannersof
articulationarelistedinthefirstcolumnofTable1.
Formostoftheplacesofarticulationonemethodofcreatingaconsonant
is by stopping the airstream with a closure somewhere in the vocal tract
and then releasing it to make a sound. Consonants produced in this way
arecalledstops(seebelow). Abilabialstopismadebybringingbothlips
together(p,b). Dentalstops(e.g.t˜,d˜)areproducedbymovingthetipofthe
tonguetothebackoftheupperteethandalveolarstops(t,d)areproduced
inasimilarwayexceptthatthetipofthetonguetouchesthealveolarridge,
justbehindtheupperteeth. Tomakearetroflexconsonant(e.g.t.,d.)thetipof
thetongueisbroughtevenfurtherbackinthemouth,makingclosurewith
thefrontpartofthepalate. Theclosureforpalatalconsonants(c,∆¯)ismade
byraisingthebladeofthetonguetothepalate. Velarconsonants(k,g)and
DatabaseStructure 5
uvularconsonants(q, G)aresimilarinthatthebackofthetongueisraised
tothevelumfortheformerandtotheuvulaforthelatter. Aglottalstopis
producedbyclosingthevocalcordsintheglottisandthenreleasingthem,
producingabriefmomentofsilence. Wehavealreadyseenthatthissame
actionisusedtoproducetheglottalicairstream. Labial-Velarstops(k¸p,g¸b)
involvetwosimultaneousclosures,oneatthelips,aswithbilabialstops,the
otheratthevelum,aswithvelarstops. Threeplacesofarticulationdonot
permitcompleteclosure,butonlyapartialclosurethatproducesfricatives
(seebelow). Labiodentalfricatives(f,v)involveraisingthelowerliptowards
theupperteeth. Forinterdentalfricatives(ó,∂)thetipofthetongueispushed
forward,justundertheupperteeth. Finally,pharyngealfricatives(°,¿)are
producedbyretractingtherootofthetonguetothebackwallofthepharynx.
MANNEROFARTICULATION
Themannerofarticulationdetermineswhatkindofsoundisproduced
ateachplaceofarticulation.
11.Stops. Consonantsforwhichthereisacompleteclosureinthevocal
tractarecalledstopsandwesawmanyexamplesabove.
DatabaseStructure 6
12.Affricates. Affricates(pf,tstl,cˇ,kx)areproducedbytwomovements.
First there is a complete stoppage of the airstream, as in the case of stops;
second, thereisareleaseofthestopwithaccompanyingfriction, asinthe
caseoffricatives.
13.Fricatives. Fricatives(f,ó,s, ¬,x,h)areproducedbynarrowingthe
airstreamsoastoproducefriction,butnotsomuchastoactuallycutoffthe
airstreamcompletely.
14. Approximants. Approximants are like fricatives except that there
is very little friction produced. The glides j and w are often considered
approximants, but we will treat them as a separate group of consonants
with similarities to both consonants and vowels, as is usually done in the
linguisticliterature.
15. Nasals. Nasalconsonants(m,n,n˜, Ñ)aremadeinthesamewayas
thevoiced(vocalcordsvibrating)stopsb,d,∆¯,g,exceptthatairisallowed
toescapethroughthenasalcavityaswellastheoralcavity.
16.Laterals. Forlaterals(l,¬,¥)thetonguemakesacompletestoppage
oftheairstreaminthemiddleoftheroofofthemouth,butairisallowedto
escapeonthesidesofthetongue,whichiswhytheyarecalledlaterals.
17.Vibrants. Vibrantsareaheterogenousclassofsounds,listedastrills
and flaps in Table 1. They are often represented as different kinds of r’s
even though the production of the various kinds of vibrants can be quite
different. ThetwomostcommonvarietiesofvibrantsaretheflapÀandthe
trillr. FlapÀinvolvesthetongueflappingonetimeagainsttheroofofthe
mouth, whereas for trill r the tongue flaps against the roof of the mouth
severaltimesinrapidsuccession. Spanishhasboththeseconsonants,flapÀ
inpero‘but’andtrillrinperro‘dog.’ WhatiswrittenrinFrenchistheuvular
trillR,andtherinAmericanEnglishistheretroflexapproximate®..
18. Clicks. As we saw above, clicks are characterized by their unique
airstream mechanism. They can be produced at five different places of
articulation, but they are often modified in certain ways such that some
languageshaveseveraldozendifferentclickconsonants.
19. Modified Consonants. In many languages the basic consonants
listedinTable1canbemodifiedincertainwaystoformnew,distinctcon-
sonants. In fact one such modification is already contained in Table 1, a
modification that distinguishes consonants made with the vocal cords vi-
brating (voiced consonants) and consonants made with the vocal cords at
rest(voiceless consonants). Intherows forstops, affricates, andfricatives
the top row contains voiceless consonants, the second row voiced conso-
nants. Whatthismeansisthattheonlydifferencebetween,saypandb(or
ts anddz,orfandv),isthatthevocalcordsarevibratingwhenb(ordz or
v)ispronounced,whereasthereisnovibrationforp(ortsorf).
Unlikethetraitvoiceless/voiced,whichisindicatedbydifferentsymbols
forthevoicelessandvoicedpairs,mostmodificationsareusuallyindicated
bydiacritics. Forexample,inmanylanguages,inadditiontotheregulark,
DatabaseStructure 7
thereisalsoakproducedwiththelipsrounded,kw. Consonantsproduced
withliproundingarecalledlabializedandarerepresentedbyasuperscriptw:
kw. Thevariousdiacriticsusedinthisdatabasetorepresentmodifications
ofbasicconsonantsarethefollowing.
[j]: palatalized [˜]: nasalized
[w]: labialized […]: long
[¨]: velarized [˜]: dental
[â]: pharyngealized [.]: retroflex
[h]: aspirated []: fortis
¯
[$]: glottalized []‹: voiceless
[g]: voicedclick []¨: breathyvoice
[¤]: syllabic [ Ó]: creakyvoice
[mnÑ]: prenasalized
Apalatalizedconsonantisoneinwhichthebasicconsonantisaccompanied
bythesimultaneousraisingofthefrontoftongue,asinthecaseoftheglidej
andthehighfrontvoweli(seebelow). Alabializedconsonantisoneinwhich
thebasicconsonantisaccompaniedbytheroundingofthelips,usuallywith
thesimultaneousraisingofthebackofthetongue. Avelarizedconsonantis
isabasicconsonantaccompaniedbytheraisingofthebackofthetongue. In
manydialectsofAmericanEnglishthelin‘leak’isplain,whilethelin‘full’
isvelarized. Apharyngealizedconsonantisoneinwhichthebasicconsonant
isaccompaniedbythesimultaneousretractionofthebackofthetonguein
theareaofthepharynx. Aspiratedconsonantsarefollowedbyabriefpuffof
airfollowingtheplainconsonant. InEnglishthepin‘spy’isunaspirated,
while the p in ‘pie’ is aspirated. Glottalized consonants are produced with
the glottal airstream mechanism, discussed above. Clicks may be either
voicelessorvoiced. Asuperscriptgindicatesthattheclickisvoiced. /isa
voiceless dental click; /gis a voiced dental click. The subscript ¤ indicates
thattheconsonantissyllabic,i.e.canformasyllablebyitself. Thenin‘no’
is non-syllabic; the n in ‘button’ is in many dialects syllabic. All vowels
aresyllabic. Prenasalizedconsonantsarebasicconsonantsthatbeginwitha
briefnasalconsonant;themostcommonaremb,nd,andÑg. Thesuperscript
tilde ˜ is used to indicate that a vowel is nasalized, that is, air is allowed
to escape through both the oral and nasal cavities. In French, which has
nasalvowelsasdistinctivesounds,thisdifferenceinnasalizationistheonly
feature separating beau /bo/ ‘handsome’ from bon /bo˜/ ‘good.’ In some
languagesthereisacontrastbetweenlongandplain(short)consonantsor
vowels. The…followingaconsonantorvowelindicateslength. InItalian,
for example, the only difference between fato ‘fate’ and fatto ‘done’ is that
in the latter the t has a longer duration than in the former. Long vowels
areevenmorecommonthanlongconsonants. Latin,forexample,hadfive
plain(short)vowels,ieaou,andfivelongvowels,i…e…a…o…u….
Thesubscript ˜indicatesthattheconsonantisdental,i.e.pronouncedwith
DatabaseStructure 8
thetipofthetonguetouchingtheupperteeth. ThetinFrenchisdentalt˜,
whereas the t in English is alveolar t. As described above, retroflex conso-
nantsareproducedbythetipofthetonguebendingbacktotouchthefront
ofthepalate. Retroflexconsonantsareindicatedbyadotundertheconso-
nant: t., d.. n.. Fortisconsonantsareindicatedbyasubscript . Theprecise
¯
nature of fortis consonants varies from language to language, but in gen-
eralitinvolvesgreaterenergyintheproductionoftheconsonantthanthat
found in the corresponding lenis forms. The subscript ‹indicates that the
consonantorvowelisvoiceless. However,sincevowelsareusuallyvoiced,
and for consonants thedifference betweenvoiceless and voiced is usually
indicatedbydifferentsymbols,thisdiacriticisrarelyused. Voicelessvowels
arerare,butdooccurinsomelanguages,suchasComanche. Thisdiacritic
is also used sometimes with consonants that are normally voiced, such as
nasalconsonants. Inadditiontonormalvoicing,discussedabove,twoother
kindsofvoicingarefoundinsomelanguages;breathyvoiceisindicatedbya
subscript ¨,whilecreakyvoiceisindicatedbyasubscript Ó. Forbreathyvoice
thereisalooserformofvibrationofthevocalcordsandgreaterairflowthan
for normal voicing. Creaky voice has a tighter form of vibration and less
airflowthaninthecaseofnormalvoicing.
Inadditiontothesediacriticsthreesymbolsareusedtorepresentgroups
of consonants: N = nasal consonants (m, n, Ñ); L = liquids (l and r-like
sounds,l,¥,r,®);G=glides(j,Ü,w,û).
20. Glides. Glides, which are also called semi-consonants and semi-
vowels because they share properties with both, were listed in Table 1 in
the line of approximants: j, Ü, w, û. They are, however, often considered
a set of consonants which behave differently from other consonants and
that view is followed here, where the glides are listed separately from the
otherconsonants. Theglidesjandw,theinitialsoundsinEnglish‘yes’and
‘we,’areverycommonintheworld’slanguages. Theothertwoglidesare
very rare. In one language, Rumanian, there is an additional glide that is
representedas[e@],butIhavenotfoundthisglideinanyotherlanguage.
VOWELS
Likeconsonants,vowelsareproducedbymodifyingtheairstream. How-
ever,forvowelsthecriticalfactoristhepositionofthetongue,whichvaries
alongtwodimensions: high-lowandfront-back(seeTable2). Ifthetongue
israisedinthemouthtowardtheroofofthemouth,wespeakofhighvowels;
ifthetongueislowered,wehavelowvowels. Intermediatelevels—lower-
high, mid, lower-mid—are also found. The second factor involved is the
positionofthehighestpointofthetonguealongthefront-backparameter;
if the highest point of the tongue is in the front of the mouth we speak of
front vowels; if it is in the back of the mouth, we have back vowels; inbe-
tween these two positions there are also central vowels. A third factor in
vowelproductionisliprounding. Normallybackvowelsareaccompanied
DatabaseStructure 9
byliprounding,whichismorepronouncedforhighbackvowelsthanfor
lowbackvowels. Frontvowelsandcentralvowelsusuallydonotinvolve
liprounding. Thereare,nonetheless,languageswhichhavefrontrounded
vowelsaswellaslanguageswithbackunroundedvowels,thoughbothare
comparativelyrareintheworld’slanguages. Frenchisalanguagethathas
frontroundedvowelssothattheonlydifferencebetweenris[Ri]‘laugh’and
rue[Ry]‘street’isthattheformerhasahighfrontunroundedvowel,while
thelatterhasahighfrontroundedvowel. InTable2unroundedvowelsare
inthefirstcolumnunderfront, centralandback, androundedvowelsare
inthesecond. ThesymbolsforvowelsareessentiallythoseoftheIPAand
areillustratedinTable2.
Table2. Vowels
front central back
high iy ìù ü u
lower-high í ÿ I ü Èú
mid e ëØ ö o
lower-mid è à ä ò
low æ a á â
21. Front Vowels. Frontvowelsareformedinthefrontofthemouth,
asdiscussedabove.
22. Central Vowels. Central vowels are formed in the middle of the
mouth,asdiscussedabove.
23.BackVowels. Backvowelsareformedinthebackofthemouth,as
discussedabove.
24.LongVowels. Longvowelshavealongerdurationthanshortvow-
els,asdiscussedabove.
25.NasalVowels. Nasalvowelsareformedwiththeairexitingthrough
both the oral and nasal cavities, while for oral vowels the nasal cavity is
closedtotheexitingairstream.
26.ModifiedVowels. Modificationofthebasicvowelswasdiscussed
above with regard to modified consonants since in a number of cases the
modificationsmayaffecteitherconsonantsorvowels(e.g. length,breathy
voice,creakyvoice).
The vocalic systems of many Mon-Khmer languages of Southeast Asia
havewhatisknownasvoiceregister,whichmeansthatthevowelsaredivided
into two sets that are differentiated by voice quality. In one set the voice
quality is clear (V), in the other, breathy (V¨) or, sometimes, laryngealized
(VÓ). Gradin(1966)describedthedifferencebetweenthetwovoicequalities
in Jeh as follows: ”The deep vowel quality is produced by relaxing the
faucalpillars,loweringthelarynx,andgivingincreasedpressurefromthe
diaphragm. The result is a deep, somewhat gruff, voice quality. Pitch is
usually lower than that of the clear form. Deepness, when occuring with
shortvowels,changesthevowelheight,forcingitupinmostinstances.”
DatabaseStructure 10
27. Diphthongs and Triphthongs. Diphthongs differ from simple
vowels in that the tongue moves from one vowel positon to another and
thustheycanberepresentedasasequenceoftwovowels. Inthediphthong
ai the tongue begins in the position of a and then glides upward to the
position of i. In the literature diphthongs are sometimes represented as a
sequenceofavowelandglidesothataimaybewrittenasaj. Ihavefollowed
thedescriptionofdiphthongsastheyaregiveninthesourcesthemselvesso
thatwhatisdescribedasaiinonelanguageisreallynodifferentfromwhat
is written aj in another language. Triphthongs are similar to diphthongs
in that there is movement of the tongue from one position to another, but
in the case of triphthongs there are two distinct movements, not just one
as with diphthongs. Thus in the triphthong uëi the tongue begins in the
positionofu,thenmovestothepositionofë,andfinallytothepositionofi.
Wherediphthongsandtriphthongsarespecifiedexactlyinthesourcethey
arelistedjustthatwayinthisdatabase. Insomesources,however,itisclear
thattherearediphthongsortriphthongs,butitisnotclearexactlywhatthey
are. InsuchcasesIhaveindicatedthisfactbysimplylisting‘diphthongs’
or‘triphthongs.’
VOWELHARMONY
In some languages vowels are divided into two sets and in any given
wordonlymembersofonesetortheothermayoccur. Thetwosetsaredis-
tinguishedbysomephonetictrait. InTurkishtheeightvowelsaredivided
intotwosetsoffour;onesetcontainsonlyfrontvowels,theotheronlyback
vowels. Thereareanumberofdifferentphonetictraitsthatmaydistinguish
thetwosets,includingthefront/backdistinctionasinTurkish;othertraits
definingvowelharmonysystemsarehigh/low,labialized/non-labialized,
advanced tongue root/retracted tongue root, and nasal/non-nasal. Lan-
guages reported to have vowel harmony are indicated simply by vowel
harmonyinthefieldModifiedVowels,buttheprecisenatureofthevowel
harmonysystemisnotdescribed.
CONSONANTHARMONY
Consonantsystemsinsomelanguagesare,likevowelsystems,divided
intotwosetsofconsonants,membersofonlyonesetbeingallowedinany
givenword. Themostcommontypeisnasalharmony,inwhichnasalcon-
sonants constitute one class, non-nasal consonants, the other. Languages
reported to have nasal harmony are indicated by nasal harmony in the
fieldModifiedConsonants. Insomelanguagesnasalharmonyinvolvesboth
consonantsandvowelssothateverywordcontainseithernasalconsonants
andnasalvowelsornon-nasalconsonantsandvowels.
PHONEMESANDALLOPHONES
In addition to the knowledge of how consonants and vowels are pro-
duced, sketchedabove, therearecertainfundamentallinguisticprinciples
that users of this database who have no linguistic background should be