See main article: Greenlandic language. pronounced as /notice/This article discusses the phonological system of the Greenlandic language.
The Greenlandic three-vowel system, composed of pronounced as //i//, pronounced as //u//, and pronounced as //a//, is typical for an Eskimo–Aleut language. Double vowels are analyzed as two morae and so they are phonologically a vowel sequence and not a long vowel. They are also orthographically written as two vowels.[1] [2] There is only one diphthong, pronounced as //ai//, which occurs only at the ends of words.[3]
| Front | Central | Back | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Close | pronounced as /link/ (pronounced as /link/~pronounced as /link/) | (pronounced as /link/~pronounced as /link/) | pronounced as /link/ | |
| Mid | (pronounced as /link/~pronounced as /link/~pronounced as /link/) | (pronounced as /link/~pronounced as /link/) | ||
| Open | pronounced as /link/ | (pronounced as /link/) | ||
Other authors may use slightly different notation, but Hagerup concludes that the notation is comparable.[7]
The allophonic lowering of pronounced as //i// and pronounced as //u// before uvular consonants is shown in the modern orthography by writing pronounced as //i// and pronounced as //u// as and respectively before and, as in some orthographies used for Quechua and Aymara. For example:
Nonetheless, still there are some minimal pairs of the lowering allophony, in the case of ⟨rC⟩: "gun" pronounced as /[aaɬɬaat]/ vs. "February" pronounced as /[ɑɑɬɬaat]/.
Greenlandic has consonants at five points of articulation: labial, alveolar, palatal, velar and uvular. It distinguishes stops, fricatives, and nasals at the labial, alveolar, velar, and uvular points of articulation. The palatal sibilant pronounced as /[ʃ]/ has merged with pronounced as /[s]/ in all dialects except those of the Sisimiut–Maniitsoq–Nuuk–Paamiut area.[8] [9] The labiodental fricative pronounced as /[f]/ is contrastive only in loanwords. The alveolar stop pronounced as //t// is pronounced as an affricate pronounced as /[t͡s]/ before the high front vowel pronounced as //i//. Often, Danish loanwords containing preserve these in writing, but that does not imply a change in pronunciation, for example pronounced as /[paːja]/ "beer" and (Guuti) pronounced as /[kuːtˢi]/ "God"; these are pronounced exactly as pronounced as //p t k//.[10] Word-final stops may be unreleased or, phrase-internally, even deleted.[11]
| Labial | Alveolar | Palatal | Velar | Uvular | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| plain | lateral | ||||||
| Nasals | pronounced as /link/ | pronounced as /link/ | pronounced as /link/ | pronounced as /link/ | |||
| Plosives | pronounced as /link/ | pronounced as /link/ | pronounced as /link/ | pronounced as /link/ | |||
| Affricate | pronounced as /link/ | ||||||
| Fricatives | pronounced as /link/ | pronounced as /link/ | pronounced as /link/ | pronounced as /link/ | pronounced as /link/ | pronounced as /link/ | |
| Liquids | pronounced as /link/ | ||||||
| Semivowel | pronounced as /link/ | ||||||
The Kalaallisut syllable is simple, allowing syllables of Kalaallisut; Greenlandic: italic=no|(C)(V)V(C), where C is a consonant and V is a vowel and VV is a double vowel or word-final pronounced as //ai//.[13] Native words may begin with only a vowel or pronounced as //p, t, k, q, s, m, n// and may end only in a vowel or pronounced as //p, t, k, q// or rarely pronounced as //n//. Consonant clusters occur only over syllable boundaries, and their pronunciation is subject to regressive assimilations that convert them into geminates. All non-nasal consonants in a cluster are voiceless.[14]
Greenlandic prosody does not include stress as an autonomous category; instead, prosody is determined by tonal and durational parameters. Intonation is influenced by syllable weight: heavy syllables are pronounced in a way that may be perceived as stress. Heavy syllables include syllables with long vowels and syllables before consonant clusters. The last syllable is stressed in words with fewer than four syllables and without long vowels or consonant clusters. The antepenultimate syllable is stressed in words with more than four syllables that are all light. In words with many heavy syllables, syllables with long vowels are considered heavier than syllables before consonant clusters.[15]
Geminate consonants are pronounced long, almost exactly with the double duration of a single consonant.[16]
Intonation in indicative clauses usually rises on the antepenultimate syllable, falls on the penult and rises on the last syllable. Interrogative intonation rises on the penultimate and falls on the last syllable.[17]
Greenlandic phonology distinguishes itself phonologically from the other Inuit languages by a series of assimilations.
Greenlandic phonology allows clusters of two consonants, but phonetically, the first consonant in a cluster is assimilated to the second one resulting in a geminate consonant. If the first consonant is pronounced as //ʁ// or pronounced as //q//, it nevertheless opens/retracts the preceding vowel, which in case of pronounced as //i// and pronounced as //u// is then written and . Geminate pronounced as //l// is pronounced pronounced as /[ɬː]/. Geminate pronounced as //ɣ// is pronounced pronounced as /[çː ~ xː]/. Geminate pronounced as //ʁ// is pronounced pronounced as /[χː]/. Geminate pronounced as //v// is pronounced pronounced as /[fː]/ and written .[18]
These assimilations mean that one of the most recognizable Inuktitut words, Inuktitut: iglu ("house"), is Kalaallisut; Greenlandic: illu in Greenlandic, where the pronounced as //ɡl// consonant cluster of Inuktitut is assimilated into a voiceless alveolar lateral fricative. And the word Inuktitut itself, when translated into Kalaallisut, becomes Kalaallisut; Greenlandic: Inuttut.
When an affix beginning with a consonant is added to a stem that ends in a consonant, the following rules apply (C¹ refers to the final consonant of the stem, C² to the initial consonant of the affix):
pronounced as //C¹C²// is realised as pronounced as /[C²C²]/, e.g. pronounced as //pl// → pronounced as /[ll]/ (more narrowly transcribed pronounced as /[ɬɬ]/), except as in the next paragraph. In spelling, becomes, except for and * which become (this is necessary to indicate the retracted quality of pronounced as //a//, while the open qualities of pronounced as //i// and pronounced as //u// are also indicated by spelling them and), except for * and which become .
If the second consonant is pronounced as //ʁ//, pronounced as //v//, or pronounced as //ɣ//, the following applies:
pronounced as //C¹ʁ// becomes pronounced as /[qq]/ .
pronounced as //C¹v// becomes pronounced as /[pp]/. In spelling, *(C¹v) becomes, except for * and * which become (this is necessary to indicate the retracted quality of pronounced as //a//, while the open qualities of pronounced as //i// and pronounced as //u// are also indicated by spelling them and).
pronounced as //C¹ɣ// becomes pronounced as /[kk]/, except for *pronounced as //ʁɣ// and *pronounced as //qɣ// which become pronounced as /[ʁ]/ .
The consonant pronounced as //v// has disappeared between pronounced as //u// and pronounced as //i// or pronounced as //a//. Therefore, affixes beginning with or have forms without pronounced as /[v]/ when they are suffixed to stems that end in pronounced as //u//.
The Old Greenlandic diphthong pronounced as //au// has assimilated to pronounced as //aa//, so when a suffix beginning with pronounced as //u// comes after a single pronounced as //a//, the pronounced as //u// becomes pronounced as //a//. When a suffix beginning with pronounced as //u// comes after a double pronounced as //aa//, a pronounced as //j// is instead inserted before the pronounced as //u//. To summarise: pronounced as //aau// → pronounced as //aaju//, otherwise pronounced as //au// → pronounced as //aa//.
The vowel pronounced as //i// of modern Greenlandic is the result of a historic merger of the Proto-Eskimo–Aleut vowels *i and *ɪ. The fourth vowel was still present in Old Greenlandic, as attested by Hans Egede.[19] In modern West Greenlandic, the difference between the two original vowels can be discerned morphophonologically only in certain environments. The vowel that was originally *ɪ has the variant pronounced as /[a]/ when preceding another vowel and sometimes disappears before certain suffixes.[20]
The degree to which the assimilation of consonant clusters has taken place is an important dialectal feature separating Polar Eskimo, Inuktun, which still allows some ungeminated consonant clusters, from West and East Greenlandic. East Greenlandic (Tunumiit oraasiat) has shifted some geminate consonants, such as pronounced as /[ɬː]/ to pronounced as /[tː]/. Thus, for example, the East Greenlandic name of a particular town is Ittoqqortoormiit, which would appear as Illoqqortoormiut in Kalaallisut.[21] [22]