labials

Mon Feb 27 11:47:21 UTC 2006

sent on behalf of
Prof. Dr. Yuri Tambovtsev, Dept of English and Linguistics of  Novosibirsk
Pedagog. University, P. O. Box 104, Novosibirsk-123, 630123.  Russia. 
<mailto:yutamb at mail.ru>yutamb at mail.ru       

He'd be grateful for feedback

Frans Plank

******************

Some universal trends in the distribution of labial  consonants in world
languages

Yuri Tambovtsev, Novosibirsk Pedagog.  University  
<mailto:yutamb at mail.ru>yutamb at mail.ru

The aim of this research is to establish the exact limits, in  which the
labial consonants function. That is, the frequency of occurrence in
different language families is studied. It allows us to find out the
universal  trends in the distribution of labial consonants in world
languages. Most all of  world languages use labial consonants. The problem
is to find out the overall  natural foundation why some languages do not
use as many labial consonants in  their speech chains as the others. There
arises a question if the use of labial  consonants in the speech chain of
any language is determined by some linguistic  factors. Or the occurrence
of labial consonants is not determined by the system  of a particular
language. That is, it is determined by the work of the  articulation
apparatus of man. It also can be that the articulation habits  resist the
particular system of a language. It may, very well, be, that the  system of
a language requires more labials in its speech chain, but it is  resisted
by the work of the articulation tract. The investigation of the use of
labial consonants may enlighten the limits, in which the labial consonants
may  occur. It may explain the force, which makes the human language use
labials (cf.  Tambovtsev, 2003). To my mind, there exists a universal
potential to use  labials, though in every concrete language this potential
embodies itself to a  different degree, because of the press of the
phonological system of this or  that languages. Therefore, this potential
expresses itself differently in  different language branches, subgroups,
groups, families and super-families. One  can find the exact figures on the
use of labial consonants elsewhere  (Tambovtsev, 2001-a; 2001-b; 2001-c).
   We computed the  transcribed texts in 167 world languages to see the
tendencies of the occurrence  of the occurrence of labial consonants. Below
we provide the mean frequencies of  labials in such language families as
Indo-European (Indic - 10.30%; Iranic -  13.38%; Slavonic - 13.65%;
Germanic - 11.42%; Romanic - 11.08%), Finno-Ugric  (11.22%), Samoyedic
(11.46%), Turkic (8.71%), Mongolic (7.28%),  Tungus-Manchurian (10.12%),
Paleo-Asiatic (7.93%), Caucasian (10.45%),  Austronesian (9.11%),
Australian (11.18%) and American Indian (10.52%). The data  show the
general tendencies of the use of labials in world languages. It is  vivid
that Mongolic and Paleo-Asiatic languages underexploit the use of labials.
In fact, the lowest concentration of labial consonants we found in the
speech  chain of the Itelmen language (6.43%), spoken on the Kamchatka
peninsula while  the greatest concentration of labials is in Swahili
(16.61% of all the phonemes  in the speech chain). So, one can see that the
use of labials may be depress  really much, i.e. by about 3 times.
References.
Tambovtsev, 2001-a -  Tambovtsev, Yuri.  Kompendium osnovnyh
statisticheskih harakteristik  funktsionirovanija soglasnyh fonem v
zvukovoj tsepochke anglijskogo, nemetskogo,  frantsuzkogo i drugih
indoevpopejskih jazykov. - Novosibirsk: Novosibirskij  klassicheskij
institut, 2001. - 130 pages.
Tambovtsev, 2001-b - Tambovtsev,  Yuri.  Funktsionorovanie soglasnyh fonem
v zvukovoj tsepochke  uralo-altajskih jazykov. - Novosibirsk: Novosibirskij
klassicheskij institut,  2001. - 132 pages.
Tambovtsev, 2001-c - Tambovtsev, Yuri.  Nekotorye  teoreticheskie
polozhenija tipologii uporjadochennosti fonem v zvukovoj  tsepochke jazyka
i kompendium statisticheskih harakteristik osnovnyh grupp  soglasnyh fonem.
- Novosibirsk: Novosibirskij klassicheskij institut, 2001 - 130  pages.
Tambovtsev, 2003 - Tambovtsev, Yuri.  Tipologija  funktsionirovanija fonem
v zvukovoj tsepochke indoevpopejskih, peleoaziatskih,  uralo-altajskih i
drugih jazykov mira: kompaktnost' podgrupp, grupp, semej i  drugih
jazykovyh taksonov. - Novosibirsk: Sibirskij nezavisimyj institut, 2003.  -
143 pages.

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More on labials

I have computed the sentences from the  works of Richard Rhodes of the
University of Michigan  (Some aspect of Ojibwa discourse; Metaphor and
extention in Ojibwa; Eastern Ojibwa-Chippewa-Ottawa Dictionary). The
results of  the calculating of the frequency of occurrence of the Ojibwa
labial consonants  in the speech sound chain show a great value = 17.14%.
Actually, it is more  than in the other American Indian languages that I
calculated.In fact, it is  much greater than in the other American INdian
languages which I computed.  Compare the frequency of occurrences of labial
consonants in percent to all the  phonemes in the speech chain:

1. Iquito 4.83%

2. Piratapuyo 6.56%

3. Mam 7.33%

4. Totonac 7.38%

5. Kadiweu 7.74%

6. Capanahua 8.04%

7. Quawasquar 9.05%

8. Secoya 9.29%

9. Inga 9.89%

10. Cofan 10.02%

11. Pocomchi 10.83%

12. Quechua 11.40%

13. Nahuatl 11.73%

14. Siriano 11.18%

15. Sayula popoluca 12.34%

16. Kajwa 12.75%

17. Guarani 12.92%

18. Guambiano 14.50%

19. Sweet Grass Cree 15.15%

20. Ojibwa 17.14%

21. Apinaye 17.40%

I wonder if you could share your ideas and  comments about the use of
labial consonants in these American Indian languages.

****************

 The use of labial consonants in Eskimo  in comparison to
some American Indian and other world languages.

Yuri  Tambovtsev,
Novosibirsk Pedagogical University,
Novosibirsk, Russia. yutamb at mail.ru

In some  languages the use of labial consonants is
underexploited, while in the  others the labials are overexploited.
The articulation base of Eskimo, as of  every other language,
imposes certain restrictions or peculiarities on the  production
of its speech sounds. Labial consonants, as well as the other
vowels and consonants, have certain restrictions of their
distribution.  Therefore, in some languages the use of labials in
the sound speech chain is  very little (e.g. Navahao - 4.15%;
Iquito - 4.83%), while in the other  languages its use is very
high (e.g. Odjibwa - 17.14%; Apinaye - 14.40%).
   The frequency of occurrence of labial consonants in Imaklin
Eskimo is 6.72% to all the sounds in the speech chain. A
similar value  is received after computing the sound speech
chain in Naukan Eskimo - 7.76%.  If we compare the use of
labials in 22 languages of American Indians  (Tab.1), we can
see that they are close to the use of labials in the  Piratapuyo
Indian language.
   Now let us consider if Imaklin  and Naukan Eskimo
overexploit or underexploit labials in their speech  chain.  In
order to understand this point, we must consider a number of
languages. As the starting step we can take the ordered series
of  American Indian languages (Tab.1).
Thus, we can count that the mean of the  use of labial
consonants in these American Indian languages is 10.53%. If a
language has more labials in its sound speech chain, then it
everexploits the use of labials, e.g. Pokomchi - 10.83%;
Siriano  -11.18%; Quechua - 11.40%; Nahuatl - 11.73%, etc.,
which use more labials  than the average American Indian
language. The languages with the frequency  of occurrence of
labial consonants, which is less than10.53% to all the  vowels
and consonants in the speech chain, underexploit the use of
labials. So, we can say that Cofan - 10.02%; Inga - 9.89%,
Secoya -  9.29% and others underexploit labial consonants. The
data of Tab.1 show  which American Indian languages
everexploit and which underexploit the  labial consonants.
   From the point of functioning of labials in  American Indian
languages, both Imaklin Eskimo (6.72%) and Naukan Eskimo
(7.76%) underexploit the use of labials. 
     However, it is necessary to consider the use of labials in the
Paleo-Asiatic  language taxon, to which the Eskimo belongs
together with Itelmen (6.43%),  Chuckchi (8.76%), Koriak
(10.00%). The mean of the use of labials in this  language taxon
is 7.93%. Therefore, we can conclude that according to it,  both
Imaklin Eskimo (6.72%) and Naukan Eskimo (7.76%) also
underexploit  labial consonants. It is striking how close is the
distribution of labials  in Itelmen (6.43%) and Imaklin Eskimo
(6.72%).
   Let us  consider the mean use of labial consonants in some
other language taxons: in  Austronesian (9.11%), Turkic
(9.78%), Tungus-Manchurian (9.78%), Indic  (10.30%), Roman
(11.08%), Australian Aboriginal (11.18%), Germanic
(11.42%), Caucasian (11.51%), Afroasiatic (11.60%), Ugric
(11.79%),  Iranian (13.35%), Slavonic (13.65%) and Bantu
(14.86%).
    In conclusion we can say that both Imaklin and Naukan
Eskimo belong to the languages, which underexploit the use of
labial  consonants.

Tab. 1
Frequency of Occurrence of Labial Consonants in the  Speech
Sound Chain of the Languages of American Indians. Upward
ordered  data, in % to all the Phonemes in the Speech Sound
Chain.
_____________________________________
1.   Navaho - 4,15  % 
2.   Iquito - 4.83 %
3.   Piratapuyo - 6.56  %
4.   Mam - 7.33 %
5.   Totonak - 7.38 
6.   Kadiweu - 7.74 %
7.   Capanahua - 8.04 %
8.   Quawasquar - 9.05 %
9.   Secoya -  9.29 %
10. Inga - 9.89 %
11. Cofan - 10.02 %
12. Pokomchi - 10.83 %
13.  Siriano - 11.18 %
14. Quechua - 11.40 %
15. Nahuatl - 11,73 %
16.  Sayula populuco - 12.34
17. Kaiwa - 12.75 %
18. Guarani - 12.92 %
19. Guambiano - 14.50 %
20. Sweet Grass Cree - 15.15 %
21. Odjibwa -  17.14 %
22. Apinaye - 17.40 %
______________________________________   Mean - 10.53 

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And, lastly, a labial query

I am feeding into my  computer Cocopa Indian Texts by James M. Crawford
(University of California  Press, 1983). I wonder if James M. Crawford or
his colleagues could tell me how  to pronounce "c" like in the word
"capay". Does it sound like "ch" in English? I  wonder  if Cocopa is a
language with the low use of the labial consonants  since there are only 3
labials in it: "p, m, w". However, it may be, that in the  speech
sound chain the use of Cocopa labials is high. Do you know any
publications on the use, i.e. frequency of occurrence of Cocopa phonemes in
its  speech sound chain? I wish I could get in touch who deal with Cocopa
now.  I'd like to compare the frequency of occurrence of Cocopa phonemes
with those in  the 167 languages that I computed.  