Assam Sora consonant phonemes have not been described in the past, therefore the consonant inventory proposed here is primarily based on Assam Sora speech data recorded in this dissertation. The speech data recorded from Assam Sora speakers of all four regions reveal that Assam Sora has 18 consonant phonemes. Assam Sora consonant phonemes arranged according to their manner and place of articulation are
presented in Table 2.13.
Table 2.13: Assam Sora consonant phonemes
Labial Dent Alveo Post-Alveo Retro Palat Velar Glott
Plosive p b t d k g P
Fricative s
Nasal m n ñ N
Lateral l
Trill r
Tap ó
Approx w j
Affricate Ã
From Table 2.13 it is found that Assam Sora consonants represent eight places of articulation including labial, dental, alveolar, post-alveolar, retroflex, palatal, velar and glottal and eight manners of articulation including stop, fricative, nasal, lateral, trill, tap, approximant and affricate. Data evidences for these classifications and a brief description of Assam Sora consonant phonemes are given bellow according to their manners of articulation.
2.4.1 Stops
Assam Sora has seven stop consonants representing five places of articulation namely labial, dental, alveolar, velar and glottal. Assam Sora stop consonants include two labial stops /p/ and /b/; a dental stop /t/; an alveolar stop /d/; two velar stops /k/
and /g/ and a glottal stop /P/. Phonemic distribution of the stop consonants reveal that all stop consonants, except the bilabial stops /p/ and /b/, can occur only word initially and word medially. Whereas, the bilabial stops /p/ and /b/ can occur word initially, word medially as well as word finally. Also, all stop consonants, except the glottal stop /P/, have voicing contrasts in Assam Sora. Thus, the consonants /p, t, k/ are voiceless stops and the consonants /b, d, g/ are voiced stops in Assam Sora.
Voicing contrast in the six oral stop consonants of Assam Sora are exemplified in
Table 2.14.
Table 2.14: Voicing contrast in Assam Sora stop consonants Stops Sora English
/b/ b@num ant hill
/d/ d@num hatching (create)
/g/ g@num dreaming
/p/ p@ñum warm
/t/ t@num collecting, heap, deposite /k/ k@num handfull
Significantly, the voicing contrast of /t/ and /d/ in Assam Sora is similar to the asymmetric voicing contrast of /t/ and /d/ in Orissa Sora. Thus, the phoneme /t/
in Assam Sora is a voiceless dental stop and the phoneme /d/ is a voiced alveolar stop. However, it is observed that the asymmetric voicing between /t/ and /d/ is sometimes irregular in Assam Sora. As a result, some Assam Sora speakers tend to produce a voiced dental stop [d”] in place of the voiced alveolar stop /d/. Evidences suggest that it is only a free variation and there are no environmental influences for this variation. On the other hand, production of the voiceless dental stop /t/ is more uniform in Assam Sora.
In addition to the six oral stops, Assam Sora also has a phonemic glottal stop /P/
that occurs only word medially and word finally but, never word initially. Examples illustrating the phonemic distinction of the glottal stop in Assam Sora are presented in Table 2.15.
Table 2.15: Glottal stop in Assam Sora Stops Sora English
/P/ iPi louse
/t/ iti what
/d/ idi cut
/P/ aniP written /b/ anib root /P/ uPba brother
# uba pull out hand
The glottal stop also has phonetic variations in Assam Sora. In word medial
position a glottal stop is realized either as a complete voiceless glottal stop, a creaky voiced glottal stop, or a voiced glottal stop (Kalita et al., 2016). Similarly, in word final position a glottal stop may realize either as a complete glottal stop or as a creaky voiced glottal stop Kalita et al. (2017). These phonetic features of the glottal stop in Assam Sora are further explained in Chapter 5 of this work. Additionally, it is observed that some Assam Sora speakers also tend to aspirate the voiceless velar stop consonant /k/ to [kh] in the word initial position only. It is apparent that some Assam Sora speakers who frequently interact in Sadri with non Assam Sora speakers are starting to acquire the aspiration feature that is commonly found in Sadri. However, Chapter 5 of this work illustrates that, the pattern is not consistent among the participants of the this work and therefore it is proposed that the aspirated [kh] is found mostly as a free variation of the voiceless stop consonant /k/ in Assam Sora.
Thus, Assam Sora speech data used in this chapter has illustrated that Assam Sora has six oral stop consonants /p, b, t, d, k, g/ and one glottal stop consonant /P/. Hence, it is evident that Assam Sora stop consonants have maximum similarity with the stop consonants of Orissa Sora proposed by Ramamurti (1938). Also, there is similarity in the /t/ and /d/ voicing asymmetry feature in the two Sora varieties. This also confirms a significant typological similarity with the Munda consonant system.
However, unlike A. R. Zide (1982) proposes, a voiced palatal stop /é/ is not found in Assam Sora, but from a review of Munda segmental features, it is known that a voiced palatal stop is also not common in Munda languages.
2.4.2 Nasals
Assam Sora has four nasal consonants representing four distinct places of articulation namely labial, alveolar, palatal and velar. Thus, the nasal consonants in Assam Sora include a bilabial nasal /m/, an alveolar nasal /n/, a palatal nasal /ñ/ and a velar
nasal /N/. Examples illustrating distinction between the four nasal consonants in Assam Sora is presented in Table 2.16.
Table 2.16: Nasal consonants in Assam Sora Nasals Sora English
/m/ mama get away!
/n/ nama this
/ñ/ ñama touch
/m/ ajim to remember
/n/ ajin he
/N/ ajiN sister
/m/ ñama touch
/N/ ñaNa bow
/n/ ñanaN learn
Phonemic distribution of the four nasal consonants suggest that, while the bilabial nasal /m/ and the alveolar nasal /n/ occur in all phonemic environments, the palatal nasal /ñ/ occurs only word initially and word medially, but never word finally. The velar nasal /N/ occurs only word medially and word finally, but never word initially.
Also, in word final position it is observed that, some nasal consonants do not distin- guish their place of articulation. For example, the word for ‘boil’ in Assam Sora is produced as asim as well as asin. Similarly, the the word for ‘what’ is produced as itin as well asitiN. In this regard, studies such Ramamurti (1931) and Starosta (1976) suggest that a word final nominal nasal /-n/ is often dropped in Orissa Sora due to various morphophonological processes. However, the motivation for alternation be- tween nasal place of articulation of the nasal consonant in the word final position is not yet known. Therefore, data in this chapter has mainly identified the four nasal consonants in Assam Sora and Chapter 5 has described some acoustic characteris- tics of the nasal sounds in Assam Sora. Hence, from the characteristics of the four nasal phonemes of Assam Sora it is evident that the nasal phonemes of Orissa Sora proposed by both Ramamurti (1938) and A. R. Zide (1982) are similar to the nasal phonemes of Assam Sora. Also, presence of the four nasal phonemes in Assam Sora
confirms their uniformity in the typology of Munda consonant system.
2.4.3 Fricative and Affricate
Assam Sora has one fricative consonant /s/ and one affricate consonant /Ã/. The fricative consonant /s/ is a alveolar sound in Assam Sora and the affricate consonant is a post-alveolar sound in Assam Sora. The two consonants also differ in their voicing feature such that, /s/ is a voiceless fricative consonant and /Ã/ is a voiced affricate consonant in Assam Sora. Table 2.17 exemplifies the voicing contrast of the two consonants /s/ and /Ã/ in Assam Sora.
Table 2.17: Fricative and affricate consonants /s/ and /Ã/ in Assam Sora Sora English
s@ s@kur rough
Ã@ Ã@kur form into lump like cooked rice sa sabda to pound ragee millet
Ãa Ãabda to suck or munch with noise se sedsed to throw in disorder
Ãe ÃedÃed to importune, pressingly (as beggars)
si siPi hand
Ãi ÃiPi tooth
so soPo foul smell Ão ÃoPo fruit su subsub to tell lies
Ãu ÃubÃub sound of foot steps
Phonemic distribution of the two consonants suggest that both /s/ and /Ã/ can occur word initially and word medially but, they never occur word finally in Assam Sora. Moreover, it is observed that the voiceless alveolar fricative /s/ is sometimes produced as a voiceless post-alveolar affricate [Ù] by some Assam Sora speakers. For instance, the word for ‘dog’ is sometimes produced askitÙo instead of kisso. Thus, it is likely that the fricative consonant /s/ was originally and an affricate consonant [Ù]
in Assam Sora which is also common in the typology of Munda language. However, the participants in this work have mostly produced the voiceless alveolar fricative,
therefore this chapter considers /s/ as the primary consonant in Assam Sora. More- over, it is observed that sometimes the voiced post-alveolar affricate is also produced as a voiced alveolar fricative [z]. For example, the word for ‘fruit’ is sometimes pro- duced aszoPo instead of ÃoPo. However, since a voiced post-alveolar africate is more consistently produced, this chapter considers /Ã/ as the primary consonant in Assam Sora.
Hence, Assam Sora fricative and affricate consonants are only partly similar to the fricative and affricate consonants of Orissa Sora. While the voiceless alveolar fricative /s/ is reported by most scholars of Orissa Sora, the voiced post-alveolar africate /Ã/ is not reported in Orissa Sora. Rather, Ramamurti (1931, 1938) proposes the presence of a voiced palatal fricative /J/ in Orissa Sora, which is not found in the Assam Sora data used in this chapter. However, a voiced alveolar fricative [z], that is often treated as an allophonic sound in Orissa Sora, also occurs in place of the voiced post- alveolar affricate consonant /Ã/ in Assam Sora. Additionally, the fricative and the affricate consonant are also unique consonants in the Munda consonant system. It is known that, except Gorum (Anderson & Rau, 2008) and Remo (Anderson & Harrison, 2008a), a voiced alveolar fricative is not common to Munda consonant system and usually a voiced post-alveoar affricate /Ã/ is present in most of the modern Munda languages. Hence, the presence of these two consonants in Assam Sora indicate an important resembelence between Assam Sora and Munda languages.
2.4.4 Liquids and Approximants
Speech data reported in this chapter provides evidence that Assam Sora has three liquid consonants and two approximants. The liquid consonants include an alveolar trill /r/, an alveolar lateral /l/ and a retroflex tap /ó/ and the approximants include a labial approximant /w/ and a palatal approximant /j/. Examples of these liquids and approximants in Assam are presented in Table 2.18.
Table 2.18: Liquid consonants in Assam Sora Liquids Sora English
/r/ kuru hair /ó/ kuóu rice
/r/ karu monkey
/ó/ kaóu blue
/j/ jaN mother
/r/ raNa deny
/l/ laNga good
/w/ waN father
In the liquid consonants it is observed that, while the alveolar trill /r/ and the alveolar lateral /l/ can occur in all three phonemic environments, the retroflex tap /ó/ occurs only word medially but never word initially or word finally in Assam Sora.
Similarly, among the approximant consonants it is observed that palatal approximant mainly occurs word initially and word medially and the labial approximant /w/ occurs only word initially. Moreover, in word final position the palatal approximant /j/ often forms an off-glide with the preceding vowel. Thus, it is evident that Assam Sora and Orissa Sora have similar liquid and approximant consonants. However, the labial approximant /w/ found in Assam Sora does not occur consistently in Orissa Sora. It is seen on in the consonant inventory proposed by Stampe (1965), but since the data evidences of his work are not accessible the distinctive nature of /w/ in Orissa Sora is not known.
Hence, the description above provides evidence that Assam Sora has 18 consonant phonemes representing eight places of articulation namely Bilabial, Dental, Alveolar, Post-Alveolar, Retroflex, Palatal, Velar and Glottal and eight manners of articula- tion namely Stops, Fricative, Nasals, Lateral, Trill, Tap Approximant and Affricat.
The 18 consonants presented in Table 2.13 are uniformly produced by Assam Sora speakers of all four regions. Therefore, this work does not distinguish any regional variation of Assam Sora on the basis of its consonant phonemes. Moreover, from the description of the consonant inventory in Assam Sora it is observed that most
of the consonant phonemes are similar to the consonant phonemes of Orissa Sora, particularly the consonants that are commonly found in all the consonant inventories proposed by different scholars. Also, similar to the vowel phonemes, Assam Sora con- sonant phonemes have maximum similarity with the typology of Munda consonant system. Hence, there are no significant indications that there is a diachronic change in the consonant inventory of Assam Sora from the consonant inventory of Orissa Sora.
However, considering the fact that Assam Sora speakers are completely separated from their place of origin it is important to examine the synchronic relation between the two Sora varities. Therefore, phonetic features of some common consonants in Assam Sora are instrumentally examined in Chapter 5 and later those features are compared with the synchronic speech data of Orissa Sora in Chapter 6.