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Contrast and laryngeal states in Tz ’ utujil

This paper investigates the phonetics and phonology of stop consonant allophony in the Mayan language Tz’utujil (Guatemala; ∼ 70,000 speakers). Tz’utujil, like Mayan languages more generally, contrasts plain voiceless stops with a glottalized stop series. The allophonic realization of this laryngeal state contrast varies dramatically by context, with prevocalic stops showing starkly different phonetic characteristics than preconsonantal or word-final stops. This paper argues that these allophonic processes are rooted in contrast preservation: allophonic variation serves to enhance both place of articulation and laryngeal state contrasts, exactly in those positions where the phonetic cues to such contrasts are jeopardized. Acoustic evidence is adduced in support of this claim, and the stop system of Tz’utujil is modeled in Dispersion Theory (Flemming 1995, Padgett 2003, Flemming 2004). 1 Background Tz’utujil is a Quichean-branch Mayan language spoken in the highlands of Guatemala. Like Mayan languages more generally, Tz’utujil has a phonological contrast between plain and glottalized stops. Stop phonemes Plain stops / p t k q > ts > tS P / Glottalized stops / p’ t’ k’ q’ > ts’ > tS ’ / Figure 1: Underlying Tz’utujil stops (Dayley 1985) Dayley (1985) discusses a number of allophonic processes that apply to the system of stops in Tz’utujil. First, Dayley (1985:14) reports that plain stops are aspirated before consonants and word-finally. UCSC Linguistics Research Center