Vowel epenthesis in Town Speech/ Urban Basanawa: view article

In the standard form of Urban Basanawa, the use of epenthesis is nonexistent; however, in many colloquial forms, it is not uncommon to use epenthetic vowels to break initial and final clusters, it is also not uncommon to use epenthetic vowels to avoid coda consonants.

It is thought that the use of epenthesis might be due to a substratum influence, as many possible substrata of Urban Basanawa have a maximal (C)V(C) syllable structure.

Due to the prevalence of education, the use of epenthesis has become less, but the use of epenthesis is still common among many dialects, and is even occasionally used by some in informal variants of the standard language.

The epenthesis rules are listed below:

General:

- /ɪ/ is after palatals and post-alveolars; /ʊ/ is used after labials; /ə/ is used after all other consonants.

Initial:

The epenthetic vowels are always inserted between the first and second consonant to break initial clusters:

- /kli:n/ "small, little" is pronunced as [kə'li:n]
- /spɹɑ:k/ "speech, language" is pronunced as [səp'ɹɑ:k]
- /flu:r/ "floor" is pronunced as [fʊ'lu:r]
- /fɹaɪd̥/ "joy" is pronuced as [fʊ'ɹaɪt]
- /'bɹe:kən/ "to break" is pronunced as [bʊ'ɹe:kən]
- /tɹaʊɹən/ "to mourn" is pronunced as [təɹaʊɹən]
- /dɹu:m/ "dream" is pronunced as [dəɹu:m]
- /gɹi:n/ "green" is pronunced as [gəɹi:n]

for initial clusters where the second consonant is a glide, epenthetic vowels may not be used, as the glides are often seen as a part of the following vowels; but when the epenthetic vowels are used in glide clusters, their pronunciations are often influenced by the glide for example:

- /swɪmmən/ "to swim" is pronunced as ['swɪmmən] or [sʊ'wɪmmən]
-/twi:/ "two" is pronunced as ['twi:] or [tʊ'wi:]

Final:

The epenthetic vowels are inserted between the last and the second-to-last consonant of the final clusters, except for the "sonorant+obstruent" clusters. For example:

- /ɹɛçt/ "right, correct" is pronunced as ['ɹɛçɪt] or ['ɹɛhɪt]
- /naxt/ "night" is pronunced as ['naxət]
- /ɔft/ "often" is pronunced as ['ɔfʊt]
- /bɛst/ "best" is pronunced as ['bɛsət]
- /kɹaft/ "craft, skill" is pronunced as [kə'ɹafʊt]
- /ɛɹst/~/e:ɹst/ "first" is pronunced as ['e:rsət]
- /kɔrn/~/ko:rn/ "grain" is pronunced as ['ko:ɹən]
- /ɛrnst/ "serious" is pronunced as ['ɛɹənsət]

When the final cluster is of the form "sonorant+obstruent", the epenthetic vowels might be added to the end of the word instead. For example:
- /ɔɫd̥/~/o:ɫd̥/ "old" is pronunced as [o:ɫdə] or [o:lət]
- /fɔɫk/~/fo:ɫk/ "folk is pronunced as [fo:ɫkə] or [fo:lək]
- /wɔrd̥/ "word" is pronunced as [wɔrdə] or [wɔɹət]
- /mi:ɹɪŋg̥/ "celebration" is pronunced as [mi:ɹɪŋgə]
- /land̥/ "land" is pronunced as [landə]

If the word ends with a single consonant, and the consonant is a fricative or affricate, the epenthetic vowels are also used and are always added to the end of the word, regardless of the overall structure of the coda cluster, especially if the final vowel is not /s/. For example:
- /kaɫv̥/ "calf" is pronunced as ['kaɫvʊ]
- /wɛɫs/ "catfish" is pronunced as [wɛɫsə]
- /sɛks/ "six" is pronunced as [sɛksə]
- /'kle:vəɹɪç/ "adhesive" is pronunced as [kə'le:və'ɹɪgɪ], [kə'le:və'ɹɪçɪ] or [kə'le:və'ɹɪhɪ]
- /daɪtʃ/ "German" is pronunced as ['daɪtʃɪ]
- /hɔf/ "court" is pronunced as ['hɔfʊ]
- /hu:x/ "high" is pronunced as ['hu:xə]
- /fɪʃ/ "fish" is pronunced as ['fɪʃɪ]
- /gə'wɪs/ "certain" is pronunced as [gə'wɪsə]

Medial:

The epenthesis rule of medial clusters is the mixture of initial and final rules, there are more variants compared to initial and final rules.

Others:

people who use epehthesis might divide the syllables of words as if they had an underlying (C)V(C) syllable structure.

Some people who use epenthesis might strengthen the reduced vowel /ə/ to [ɐ], [a] or [ɛ] and they may not distinguish full and reduced syllables at all. ✎ Edit Article ✖ Delete Article

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