Lista de Patrimonio Mundial de la Humanidad

(C-VC-CCV r a : ^ r a w 'state'.

A separate Rule 4 is necessary for non-native vocabulary of Telugu as the native vocabulary has no four-consonant clusters. Native Rule 3, and non-native Rules 3 and 4 require clarification.

Syllable-final consonants are possible but word-final consonants are not, and syllable-initial consonants may differ from word-initial consonants. For example, ig] does not occur as a word-final

consonant either in the native or *^oYi-native vocabulary of Telugu, but it does occur in non-word-final position, for example, miga

'pretext1. Similarly [g] does not occur in word-initial position, but it occurs as syllable initial in the borrowed vocabulary, as in the case of

vi-gam 'poison'

ro:-gam 'anger, wrath'.

3.2.7

Syllable Reduction in Telugu

Syllables in modern colloquial Telugu are reduced under the following conditions, with resultant internal Sandhi forms with loss of vowel:

a)

b)

In words which comprise more than two syllables, the second

syllable nucleus is generally reduced, facilitating the development of new clusters in the language. It is to be noted that the

second syllable in tri- or poly-syllabic words is unstressed.

Examples:

Syllable reduction also takes place at word junction. This phenomenon is dealt with in detail under Sandhi (cf. 6.2.3).

In word-final position -mu is reduced to [w]. This happens only in Sanskrit borrowings. Sanskrit words were borrowed into Telugu by the addition of -mu and later this -mu was reduced to

sometimes may lose nasality (cf. 5.1.10.3).

3.2.8

Heavy Syllables and Stress

Deborah Ohsiek (1978) ddiscusses the question of heavy syllables in

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relation to stress in a number of languages. Word stress, which is

accepted as a suprasegmental feature common to many languages, is a language specific phenomenon. In a computer assisted investigation of stress rules for over 150 languages in the Stanford Phonology Archive (1976), Ohsiek observes that in at least thirty languages under consideration, heavy syllables play a major role in the determination of stress placement.

Heavy syllables Ohsiek defines as long and/or closed syllables. These consist mainly of long or diphthongised vowels and/or one or more syllable- final consonant. The heavy syllable may contain some phonological or phonetic characteristics (such as increased duration/intensity) to draw the word-level stress. The segmental composition of heavy syllables may be different in different languages, but in all languages the heavy syllables have greater quantity than light syllables. In this context Ohsiek

explains her definition of light syllables. They are defined as (C)V, i.e., as open syllables with short vowels. She specifically s t a t ^ t h a t

syllable-initial consonant(s) do not contribute to the weight of the syllable.

Ohsiek observes that the claim of Trubetzkoy (1939) and others regarding the basic principle of stress assignment in any language with word-level stress, is that only one syllable per word receive^ the primary stress. It may sometimes be possible that a word contains more than one heavy syllable, but even in languages with heavy syllable stress rules, there is one single main stress per word.

Ohsiek also explains at length the affinity between stress and heavy syllables, both from the phonetic (acoustic) and the phonological points of view. Acoustic features of relatively greater duration, increased fundamental frequency, and relatively greater intensity or amplitude are considered to be significant perceptual correlates of stressed syllables. Heavy syllables,

even in unstressed position, are generally longer, higher in pitch and/or louder than light syllables. In such circumstances the stress assignment to a word with heavy syllables usually favours the syllable that already contains these phonetic features in the highest degree. Light syllables usually remain unstressed in the environment of heavy syllables. When a

be

light syllable is stressed, it can no longer^perceptually differentiated from a heavy syllable as it would have the same duration as a heavy syllable.

A heavy syllable and a stressed light syllable are phonetically similar in such cases. The syllables and their types merge in these cases.

Incidentally, this phonetic explanation is also relevant with regard to word-final short vowels being perceptually noted as relatively long in Telugu speech. The short vowels in word-final position have a secondary stress. For example:

'ki^iki realised as ['ki-^i,ki:3 'window' 'go:ci realised as ['goici;] 'loin cloth'

Light unstressed syllables tend to have reduced vowels. In the dichotomy of heavy/light syllables, full vowels are opposed to reduced

vowels in assigning stress placement. Stress regularly falls on the syllable containing the last full vowel in the word. If all the vowels of a word are reduced ones, then the stress occurs on the initial syllable. Ohsiek

observes, (ibid.:36), that this is generally the situation in languages.

It is generally observed that the acoustic feature of greater duration is shared by both the stressed syllables in general and those heavy syllables containing long or double or diphthongised vowels.

3.2.8.1

Syllable Types and Stress in Telugu

Contrary to Ohsiek (cf. 3.2.8), I require to treat (C)(C)V and VC as

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light syllables in Telugu. All other syllable structures are treated as heavy, e.gv, CV , CV C. This is in keeping with the traditional view of heavy and light syllables in Telugu.

Telugu utilises a nearly exceptionless version of a heavy syllable stress rule. If the rule is not observed meticulously by the speaker,

Word-final syllable ending in [w] which is treated phonologically as V -ending syllable, is not an exception to the rule.

9. As a result of this, the speaker is aware of all other dialect variations where the rule does not apply fully.

Word-final open syllables are more frequently short. Word-final long [i:, a:, u:] are common, but [e:, o:] are not. The word-final

syllable has secondary stress and this is perceived as length. That is precisely the reason for Sastry (1972:51) observing three vowel quantities, v i z .: short, half-long and long. The word-final short vowel which has secondary stress, is perceived as a half-long vowel.

This phenomenon is more evident in the case of trisyllabic forms.

A geminate consonant separates the two syllables in a disyllabic word.

The preceding syllable is always short. In other words, a consonant sequence -CC- which is to be split into two syllables in succession, will only follow a short vowel. For example:

CVC-CV

bal-la 'table' pak-ka 'bed' kal-lu 'liquor' kot-ta 'new' gac^-c^i 'grass' pa^-^u 'silk' can-nu 'breast' met-ta 'quilt'

Trisyllabic and tetrasyllable forms are no exception to this rule.

For example:

CV-CVC-CV mae:-nat-ta 'paternal aunt' CVC—CV-CV cel-le-lu 'younger sister' CVC-CV-CVC-CV boc^-c^u-mal-le 'a kind of jasmine'

From the above examples it is seen that long vowels do not precede long consonants, but in the Brahmin dialect of Telugu some exceptions to the rule may be found. For example:

Brahmin Dialect Others Gloss

--- _\£T --- — ~D _{ur — ----}j

na:n-na na:-na 'father'

ba:m-ma na:-na-ma 'grandmother (paternal)'

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cvc-cv

Such cases of long vowel preceding a long consonant are restricted (as far as I can see) to kinship terms, and the long consonant is invariably a nasal.

3. If the consonant sequence is non-geminate, both long and short vowels can precede. For example:

c v c-cvnr

1 spinning w h e e l 1 ' fireplace'

ga:c^-pu 'gale' VC-CV

o:r-pu 'patience' e : 1 crying '

3.2.9

Stress Assignment

A heavy syllable will have full articulations, whereas a light syllable will have reduced timing. Reduction in articulatory timing correlates with central vowel quality generally. The vowel may be lost completely, thus giving rise to internal Sandhi.

In trisyllabic words of Telugu, the second syllable which is light and unstressed is susceptible to loss and gives rise to many new combinations of consonants in the language (cf. 6.2.3)i

In many dialects of spoken colloquial Telugu, stress is assigned according to the rules already described. At this juncture I propose a main word stress rule to cover light and heavy syllables. The rule is as follows: In words of three syllables, main word stress appears on the initial syllable if there are no heavy syllables in the word, and

this is the most common pattern. If there are heavy syllables in the word, then the position of the stress is on the first heavy syllable of a word whether it is initial or not. Words shorter than three syllables (i.e., disyllabic words) are stressed word-initially if both the syllables are

light, or the first syllable is heavy. If the first syllable is light and there is a heavy final syllable, both syllables have equal stress.

A light syllable in the word-final position may also exhibit some acoustic features of a heavy syllable if the vowel is close or open, but not

if it is mid.

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CHAPTER FOUR