- Sanskrit's phonemic vowel length has been lost.
- Gujarati contrasts oral and nasal, and murmured and non-murmured vowels.
- /e/ and /o/ do not have nasalized or murmured counterparts.
- In absolute word-final position the higher and lower vowels of the e/ɛ and o/ɔ sets vary.
- Vowels are lengthened when nasalized or in a final syllable.
- /ɛ/ and /ɔ/ developed in the 15th century. Old Gujarati split into Rajasthani and (Middle) Gujarati.
- English loanwords are a source of /æ/.
- A fourth nasal Phoneme is postulated for the Phone s [ŋ , and the Nasalized Vowel .
- /ɳ/ is unflapped before retroflex stops, and flapped intervocalically. These two forms vary freely in final position.
- Before velar and palatal stops, nasalized vowels vary with sequences of such vowels and homorganic nasals; eg. mãgʋũ ←→ maŋgʋũ 'ask for', ɦĩcko ←→ ɦĩɲcko 'swing'.
- /pʰ/ is usually realized as {Link without Title} in the standard language.
- Stops occurring at first members of clusters followed by consonants other than ɾ, j, and ʋ are unreleased and are optionally unreleased in final position. The absence of release entails deaspiration of voiceless stops.
- ally, the voiced aspirated stops /gʱ/, /d̪ʱ/, and /bʱ/ have variant realizations as voiced Spirant s [ð , and [β], with murmur of vowels. Spirantalization of non-palatal voiceless aspirates has been reported as well.
- Intervocalically and in final position /ɖ/ and /ɖʱ/ are realized as flapped and [ɽʱ .
- /ʋ/ has and [w as Allophone s.
- /ɭ/ and /ɳ/ do not occur word-initially.
- Cluster s occur initially, medially, and finally. Geminates occur only medially.
- Biconsonantal initial clusters beginning with stops have ɾ, j, ʋ, and l as second members.
- Sanskrit loans gives initial gn and kʃ.
- Intial s biconsonantally clusters with ɾ, j, ʋ, n, m, and non-palatal voiceless stops.
- Intial s triconsonantally clusters with t̪ɾ, pɾ, and mɾ - most of which occur in borrowings.
- Geminates were previously treated as long consonants, but they are now better analyzed as clusters of two identical segments. Two proofs for this:
- ---The ''u'' in geminated ''uccār'' "pronunciation" sounds more like the one in clustered ''udgār'' "utterance" than the one in shortened ''ucāṭ'' "anxiety".
- ---Geminates behave towards (that is, disallow) ə-deletion like clusters do.
- Gemination can serve as intensification. In some adjectives and adverbs, a singular consonant before the agreement vowel can be doubled for intensification. #VCũ → #VCCũ.
- The three Sibilant s of Sanskrit are now two in standard Gujarati: and . Retroflex still appears in clusters in which it precedes another retroflex: "clear".
- '.
- The distribution of sibilants varies over dialects and registers. The standard set is and [ʃ , while some speakers maintain as well for the appropriate borrowings. Some dialects only have [s , others prefer while another system has them non-contrasting, with [ʃ occuring contiguous to palatal segments. Lastly, a colloquial register has [s] or both and [ʃ replaced by voiceless [h]. This replacement does not extend to Sanskrit borrowing used by educated speakers speaking this register.
- The occurrence of ''r'' as a second member in consonantal clusters is one of Gujarati's conservative features as a modern Indo-Aryan language. For example, languages used in Asokan Inscriptions ( 3rd Century BC ) display contemporary regional variations, with words found in Gujarat 's Girnar inscriptions containing clusters with ''r'' as the second member not having ''r'' in their occurrence in inscriptions elsewhere. This is maintained even to today, with Gujarati ''tr'' corresponding to Hindi ''t'' and ''tt''.
The matter of Stress is not quite clear:
- Stress is on the first Syllable except when it doesn't have /a/ and the second syllable does.
- Stress is barely perceptible.Campbell, G.L. (1991) "Gujarati." ''Compendium of the world's languages. v. 1. Abaza to Lusatian.'' New York: Routledge. pp. 541-545.
- Stress typically falls on the penultimate syllable of a word, however, if the penultimate vowel in a word with more than two syllables is Schwa , stress falls on the preceding syllable. UCLA Language Materials Project: Gujarati. Retrieved on 2007-04-29
ə -deletion, along with a-reduction and ʋ-insertion, is a phonological process at work in the combination of Morpheme s. It is a common feature among Indo-Aryan languages, referring to the deletion of a stem's final Syllable 's /ə/ before a suffix starting with a Vowel .
This does not apply for monosyllabic stems and consonant clusters. So, better put, #VCəC + V# → #VCCV#. It also doesn't apply when the addition is an ''o'' Plural marker (''see Gujarati Grammar#Gender And Number '') or ''e'' as an Ergative marker (''see Gujarati Grammar#Postpositions ''). It ''sometimes'' doesn't apply for ''e'' as a Locative marker.
A stem's final syllable's /a/ will reduce to /ə/ before a suffix starting with /a/. #aC(C) + a# → #eC(C)a#. This can be seen in the derivation of nouns from adjective stems, and in the formation of passive and causative forms of verb stems.
# It looks like it can't happen a second time.
# It can take place after an ə-deletion. #aCəC + a# → #əCCa#.
Between a stem ending in a vowel and its suffix starting with a vowel, a ʋ is inserted. #V + V# → #VʋV#. This can be seen in the formation of passive and causative forms of verb stems.
The second example shows an a-reduction as well.
/h/ serves as a source for Murmur . There are three rules to this:
:1 Gujarati spelling reflects this mode. The script has no direct notation for murmur.
:2 Rule 1 creates allomorphs for nouns. For example, /həd̪/ "limit" by itself can be /ə̤d̪/, but can only be /həd̪/ in /behəd̪/ "limitless".
:3 A more open /a/.
The table below compares declensions of the verbs /kəɾʋũ/ "to do" and /kɛ̤ʋũ/ "to say". The former follows the regular pattern of the stable root /kər/ serving as a point for characteristic suffixations. The latter, on the other hand, is deviant and irregular in this respect.
Fortunately /kɛ̤ʋũ/'s situation can be explained through murmur. If to a formal or historical root of /kəhe/ these rules are considered then predicted, explained, and made regular is the irregularity that is /kɛ̤ʋũ/ ( Romanized as ''kahevuṃ'').
Thus below are the declensions of /kɛ̤ʋũ/'s /h/-possessing, murmur-eliciting root /kəhe/, this time with the application of the murmur rules on the root shown, also to which a preceding rule must be taken into account:
:0. A final root vowel gets deleted before a suffix starting with a non-consonant.
However in the end not all /h/'s become murmured and not all murmur comes from /h/'s.
One other predictable source for murmur is voiced aspirated stops. A clear vowel followed by a voiced aspirated stop can vary with a pair gaining murmur and losing aspiration: #VCʱ ←→ #V̤C.
| |
Cardona
|
| |
George
|
| |
2003
|
| |
George Cardona
|
| |
Suthar
|
| |
Babu
|
| |
Babu Suthar
|
| |
Gujarati
|
| |
Cardona
|
| |
George
|
| |
Jain
|
| |
Dhanesh
|
| |
The Indo-Aryan Languages
|
| |
Routledge
|
| |
9780415772945
|
|
| |
Dave
|
| |
TN
|
| |
Notes on Gujarati Phonology
|
| |
Bulletin of the School of Oriental Studies
|
| |
6
|
| |
3
|
| |
1931
|
| |
673-678
|
| |
http://linksjstororg/sicisici=1356-1898%281931%296%3A3%3C673%3ANOGP%3E20CO%3B2-W
|
|
| |
Firth
|
| |
JR
|
| |
Phonetic Observations on Gujarati
|
| |
Bulletin of the School of Oriental and African Studies
|
| |
20
|
| |
1
|
| |
1957
|
| |
231-241
|
| |
http://linksjstororg/sicisici=0041-977X%281957%2920%3A1%2F3%3C231%3APOOG%3E20CO%3B2-P
|
|
| |
Masica
|
| |
Colin
|
| |
Colin Masica
|
| |
1991
|
| |
The Indo-Aryan Languages
|
| |
Cambridge
|
| |
Cambridge University Press
|
| |
Paperback
|
| |
0521299446
|
|
| |
Mistry
|
| |
PJ
|
| |
2003
|
| |
Gujarati
|
| |
Frawley
|
| |
William
|
| |
International Encyclopedia of Linguistics
|
| |
2nd
|
| |
Oxford
|
| |
Oxford University Press
|
| |
2
|
|
| |
Mistry
|
| |
PJ
|
| |
2001
|
| |
Gujarati
|
| |
Garry
|
| |
Jane
|
| |
Rubino
|
| |
Carl
|
| |
An encyclopedia of the world's major languages, past and present
|
| |
New England Publishing Associates
|
|
| |
Mistry
|
| |
PJ
|
| |
1997
|
| |
Gujarati Phonology
|
| |
Kaye
|
| |
AS
|
| |
Phonologies of Asia and Africa
|
| |
Winona Lake
|
| |
Eisenbrauns
|
|
| |
Mistry
|
| |
PJ
|
| |
1996
|
| |
Gujarati Writing
|
| |
Daniels
|
| |
Bright
|
| |
The World's Writing Systems
|
| |
Oxford University Press
|
|
| |
Pandit
|
| |
PB
|
| |
Historical Phonology of Gujarati Vowels
|
| |
Language
|
| |
37
|
| |
1
|
| |
1961
|
| |
54-66
|
| |
http://linksjstororg/sicisici=0097-8507%28196101%2F03%2937%3A1%3C54%3AHPOGV%3E20CO%3B2-R
|
|
| |
Turner
|
| |
Ralph Lilley
|
| |
Gujarati Phonology
|
| |
Journal of the Royal Asiatic Society
|
| |
1921
|
| |
505-544
|
|
| |
Turner
|
| |
Ralph Lilley
|
| |
Indo-Aryan Nasals in Gujarati
|
| |
Journal of the Royal Asiatic Society
|
| |
1915
|
| |
1033-1038
|
|
|
