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( ( ( ( ~ A( A( A( A( ‘spoon’, and variation due to optional phonological processes, such as
leftward vowel spreading discussed in Chapters 6 and 7.
Even when a contrast is established, researchers may not be convinced that a
sound is integrated into the phonological system because of other factors. Sapir (1921:
38) said that, “All grammars leak.” As a sound is added or lost in a language, it may go
through a period where it is only marginally part of the system. Factors such as analogy,
grammatical simplification, language contact, and sociolinguistic considerations can
influence a sound’s status (Goldsmith 1995). Diagnostics which inform us on this
question include the following.
1. Distribution within the word. If a sound can occur in both word-initial and
word-medial position, this bolsters the claim that a sound is fully part of the phonological
system of a language. In this chapter, I provide examples of onsets with only a single
consonant; so in word-medial examples, the consonants are effectively in intervocalic
position.
2. Co-occurrence of consonants and vowels. If a consonant is attested before all
of the vowels in the language, this is evidence that the consonant is a distinct phoneme,
and not an allophone of another consonant. If, on the other hand, two consonant phones
never occur before the same vowel, they would be considered to be in complementary
distribution. Likewise, if a vowel can occur after all of the consonants in the language,
this is evidence that the vowel is a distinct phoneme, and not an allophone of another
vowel.
3. Distribution within grammatical categories. In some languages, marginal
phonemes only occur in certain sets of words, such as ideophones or plant and animal
names. Criteria for identifying ideophones in Mono will be given in Section 6.3. If a
sound occurs in all major grammatical categories, this is further evidence that the sound
is indeed part of the phonological system.
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