A Phonemic Analysis of the Apurinã Language

a/ [Ʌ] - vl. low close central unrounded syllabic vocoid. Occurs only utterance finallyafter voiceless stops or affricates.[ʌ] - vd. low close central unrounded syllabic vocoid. Occurs elsewhere andfluctuates freely with [Ʌ] in its environment. It occurs primarily wordfinally and in unstressed syllables. It infrequently occurs in word initialsyllables or in stressed syllables except where it follows a nasal contoid.[a] - vd. low open central unrounded syllabic vocoid. Fluctuates with [ʌ] exceptword finally. It occurs primarily word initially and in stressed syllablesalthough a nasal contoid in the immediate environment tends to make itmore close. Before /r/ the vocoid tends to be more open than the norm forthe environment (stressed or nonstressed). Though there is some fluctuationacross the conditioning factors there is no convincing evidence of contrastbetween these phones.[a˂] -vd. fronted low open central unrounded syllabic vocoid. This phone at timesis so far front as to be confused with [æ]. It has been observed primarily ina stressed syllable and before /r/ (at the same time). It may be that thephonemic affiliation of the low front area is in flux./ã/ [ʌ̃] - vd. low close central unrounded nasalized syllabic vocoid.[ã] - -vd. low open central unrounded nasalized syllabic vocoid. Fluctuates with[ʌ̃]. These phones follow, in general, the conditioning factors of their oralcounterparts./o/ [U] - vl. high open back rounded syllabic vocoid. Occurs only utterance finallyafter voiceless stops or affricates.[υ] - vd. high open back rounded syllabic vocoid. Occurs elsewhere and fluctuatesfreely with [U] in its environment. It is the preferred phone except wordinitially.[o] - vd. mid close back rounded syllabic vocoid. Fluctuates with [υ] wordmedially. It usually occurs word initially while [υ] occurs word finally.There is some fluctuation in all environments, but no evidence of contrast./õ/ [υ̃] - vd. high open back rounded nasalized syllabic vocoid.[õ] - vd. mid close back rounded nasalized syllabic vocoid. Fluctuates with [υ̃].These phones follow, in general, the conditioning factors of their oralcounterparts.33