Huichol phonology

## Orthography

The alphabet currently in use to teach Huichol-speaking children to be literate in their native language is
 **a e h i + k kw m n p r t ts u w x y ʔ**

For *x* an alternative spelling *rr* is seen, even in recent linguistic scholarship and lay publications. When the IPA symbol for the glottal stop, ʔ is not available with the typing device being used, the apostrophe is substituted.

## Syllable structure

Syllables have one of the following structures (C = consonant, V = vowel, V^ = long vowel): CV; CV^; CVV (the two vowels differ in articulation), at least in the base form of words; in speech and sometimes in writing, the elision of vowels creates sequences in violation of these syllable canons. In syllables of the last type, the two vowels form a diphthong in which the first vowel is the most prominent. The language has a large number of diphthongs; both ascending diphthongs and descending diphthongs occur. Examples (period marks syllable boundary):

* *ʔɨi.tɨa* 'to give';
* *niɨ.tɨa* 'to lend';
* *xei.ya* 'to see';
* *xie.te* 'bee'

(the diphthongs are different in the initial syllables of *ʔɨi.tɨa* and *niɨ.tɨa*). The sequences /wV/ are distinct from /uV/, likewise /yV/ is distinct from /iV/. /uV/ and /iV/ are diphthongs, and to form a valid syllable in Huichol, they must be preceded by a consonant.

## Vowels

There are six vowel phonemes: /i, ɛ, a, ɔ, u, ɨ/; /ɛ/ is spelled 'e', and /ɔ/ is spelled 'o'. /ɨ/ is phonetically [ɨ], a close central unrounded vowel, similar to the 'e' in the word 'roses' in English English.

### Details of the articulation of the vowel phonemes

[ɛ] is reported to be even more open than the similar half open front vowel of French, but less open than the [æ] of English 'cat'. [a] is low central.

## Suprasegmental phonemic contrasts

Length is phonemic for vowels. A long vowel is marked by a pair of identical vowel letters. Some minimal pairs:

* *ʔiiya* 'to drink', *ʔiya* 'to chew';
* *ʔeetsiya* 'to cook', *ʔetsiya* 'sown field';
* *pukuʔeewiene* 'looking for a place to get out of the rain', *pukuʔewiene* 'walking around tending to things'.

Stress accent is phonemic. The default position for word stress in Huichol is the penultimate syllable (the next to last syllable), as in Spanish and English. When a word has primary stress on the penult, the orthography does not mark it. When the primary stress of the word falls on a syllable other than the penult, the stress is marked with the acute accent (as in Spanish). When there is a need to mark stress on a long vowel, the acute accent is placed on the *second* vowel letter. Minimal pairs showing phonemic syllable stress:

* *tuaxa* 'to shoot', *tuaxá* 'oak';
* *kɨpi* 'close one's eyes', *kɨpí* 'butterfly'.

## Consonants

There are thirteen consonant phonemes. /t͡s/ has two allophones, the affricate, [ts] by default and the fricative, [s] when it immediately precedes another consonant. /h/, which Grimes (1955) groups with /w y/ for morphophonemic reasons, is phonetically the glottal voiceless fricative, [h]. The boldfaced symbols in parentheses are the symbols used in the Huichol orthography, where these differ from the linguists' symbols.

### Details of the articulation of the consonant phonemes

/k/ before /i/ is aspirated. /k/ before /ɛ/ is palatalized, hence the pronunciation of /kɛ/ is [kjɛ].
/w/ is [w] before /a ü/, [β] (voiced bilabial fricative) before /e i u/. The sequence /wu/, 'vu' occurs only in loanwords from Spanish.

#### The precise description of the articulation of /ts r ɾ/

/r, ɾ/, while basically alveolar, have a retroflex quality. The descriptions of the phonetic content of these two phonemes vacillated from McIntosh (1945:31-32) to Grimes (1955:31) to Grimes (1959:221, 223).

McIntosh described [t͡s s] as "alveolar" and considered these two to be allophones of the same phoneme, with [t͡s] being the main allophone. Grimes agreed with this: he never uses 's' in his list of 13 phonemes.

McIntosh described **r** as "a voiced retroflex alveolar flap" and **x** as "backed alveolar . . . somewhat retroflex"; "backed alveolar" seems to correspond to the term "postalveolar" in more modern phoneticians' jargon. Among phoneticians, the alveolar ridge is seen as a range, not a point, in the sagittal (front to back) dimension of the roof of the mouth. Phoneticians optionally distinguish between *prealveolar* and *postalveolar* (and likewise between *prepalatal*, *midpalatal*, and *postpalatal*). It must be understood that in the jargon, *pre-* and *post-* do not have their normal English meanings. *Postalveolar* means "the rear portion of the alveolar ridge", not "a region behind the alveolar ridge", while *prepalatal* means "the front portion of the palate (immediately behind the alveolar ridge)", not "a region in front of the palate". Thus, the descriptions "backed alveolar" and "*somewhat* retroflex" are consistent (perhaps even duplicative). Grimes (1955) described the allophone symbols [r] as "retroflex reverse flap" and [z s] as "retroflex", but he amended this to "apicoalveolar affricate, fricative, and flap /t͡s r ɾ/ (the latter two with retroflex quality)". The description, "reverse flap" was not defined. By way of conjecture, it may mean that the tongue tip (apex) travels up and backward during the flap articulation instead of straight up or up and forward.

## Intonation

Grimes (1959) investigated the affective use of intonation.

## References

1. ↑ 1.0 1.1 Iturrioz et al. 1999:43
2. ↑ Iturrioz et al. 1999:114
3. ↑ Iturrioz et al. 1999:59-60
4. ↑ Iturrioz et al. 1999:48
5. ↑ 5.0 5.1 Grimes 1981:8-9
6. ↑ Iturrioz et al. 1999:103
7. ↑ Grimes (1959:232) alluded to previous, unpublished research in which he claimed that Huichol phonology includes phonemic tone and length. However, Grimes 1959 did not cite any examples; nor did he in his dissertation, published as *Huichol syntax* (1964), although in the latter work he marks high tone on syllables.
8. ↑ Iturrioz et al. 1999:153ff
9. ↑ Those consulting the works of Grimes on Huichol should take care to note that Grimes (1955) used 'q' for the glottal stop, but from 1959 on, he reassigned 'q' for the labiovelar stop.
10. ↑ Grimes 1959:223, fn. 6