Linguistic Society of America

Huasteco Intonations and Phonemes

Author(s): Raymond S. Larsen and Eunice Victoria Pike
Source: Language, Vol. 25, No. 3 (Jul. - Sep., 1949), pp. 268-277
Published by: Linguistic Society of America
Stable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/410088 .
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 HUASTECO INTONATIONS AND PHONEMES
RAYMONDS. LARSENand EUNICE VICTORIAPIKE
SummerInstituteof Linguistics
1. Orientation.'Ever since phonemicpitch was reportedfor Maya,2the exist-
ence of similarphonemicpitch in the relatedlanguageshas been an interesting
possibility. The purpose of this paper is to investigate that possibility as it
concernsHuasteco.3We attempt to demonstrate(1) that vowel length is pho-
nemic; (2) that the pitch heard is not that of a 'tone language'but constitutes,
rather,part of an intricate intonationsystem; (3) that stress is non-phonemic.
Specialattentionis given to intonation,since the intonationalpitch of American
Indian languageshas been but little investigated,and we have not seen else-
where in reports of these languages a similar structure comprisinga limited
number of pitch levels united into a system of significantpitch sequences.In
order that the reader may see the suprasegmentalphenomenaof Huasteco
againstthe backgroundof the segmentalmaterial,we give also a briefstatement
of the numberand natureof the consonantand vowelphonemes.
2. Length.Vowellength is independentof stress and intonation.Long vowels
contrastwith shortvowels in environmentswhereboth the stressand intonation
are, within the limits of our perception,identical.In the two followingexamples
the stress is on the first syllable:/bi ow/ 'town',/bi-nom/ 'giver';in these two
examplesthe stress is on the secondsyllable:/cemOa-b/'beingkilled', /ce-mla-/
'death'.The intonationof all fourexamplescan be that of the narrativecontour,
in which case the pitches of the first two and those of the secondtwo are alike.
Vowellength is not dependenton the positionof the vowel in the word.Long
and short vowels occurin all possiblecombinationsin dissyllabicwords (in the
following formulasS indicates a short vowel, L a long vowel): SS /?at'em/
'salt', /calam/ 'shade';LS /bu'c'i?/ 'coward',/?e'yal/ 'boss';SL /ciyo'k'/ 'chin',
/?amu'l/ 'rubbish';LL /?i-la-b/ 'seed', /ya'ni-l/ 'many times'. Likewise, all
possible combinationsoccur in trisyllabicwords: SSS /hilk'oma6/ 'leftovers';
LSS /?a-Auilom/'fieldof garlic';SLS /kw'ahi-lom/'widow';LLS
/hu-6u'k'6ik/
'blisters'; SSL /?alabe-l/ 'pretty'; LSL /bi'noma'c/ 'one who gave'; SLL
plaything';LLL/?e-la.iwa.y/ '(they) surelyfind each other'.
/?uba't'la-b/'game,
The following are words contrastingonly in length: /?ok'/ 'skull',
/?o'k'/
'head';/cabal/ 'cookedcorn',/caba'l/ 'earth';/?u-nuhuw/ 'I sold (it)', /?u-nu-
1 Larsen worked with Huasteco in a series of field trips from 1942 to 1948. He is respon-
sible for much of the lexical material, for the statement of the segmental phonemes, and
for the data used in describing the distribution of phonemes. Pike gathered material on a
field trip in September and October 1948. She is responsible for the analysis of intonation,
stress, and vowel length, and for the present form of the paper.
2 Kenneth L.
Pike, Phonemic pitch in Maya, IJAL 12.82-8 (1946).
3 Huasteco is a Mayan language spoken in the states of San Luis Potosi and Vera Cruz,
Mexico. The dialect described in this paper is that of Otofiiel Oyarvide, an Indian commun-
ity about 40 miles north of Tamazunchale, San Luis Potosi. Our chief informants
were Tomis Martinez, Jos6 Santiago, and Juana Hernindez, all about 20 years old.
268

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 HUASTECO
INTONATIONS
ANDPHONEMES 269

hul/ 'he is (orwe are) selling';/?in-t'okat/ 'I am clean', 'his cleanli-

ness'. /?in-t'oka't/
Phonemicallylong vowels occur with one of two or more differentphonetic
lengths. The phoneticallylonger variety occurs in phrase-finalsyllables. The
phoneticallyshortervariety occursanywherebut phrase-final(a colonrepresents
here a longer subphonemicvariety than does the raised dot): /caku'l/ [tsa'ku:l1
'angry',/ya'ni'l/ [ya*'ni:l]'manytimes'. Whenthese samewords occurin a posi-
tion other than phrase-final,they contain no vowels of the phoneticallylonger
variety: go-?/ [?it-sa,kul'To:?]'you are angry now', /ya-ni-l k'ale/
/?it-caku'l
'he went many times'. That is, long vowel phonemesare phoneti-
[ya',ni-l'k'ale]
cally longer in phrase-finalposition than elsewhere.
3. Potential contourpoint. Intonationand stress are both describedin terms
of a point in the word which is designatedas the POTENTIAL CONTOUR POINT.
This is locatedon the last long vowel of the word,or, if there are no long vowels
in the word, on the first short vowel, regardlessof the numberof vowels in the
word. In the followingformulasof long- and short-vowelsequences,the syllable
containingthe potential contourpoint is in italics. Dissyllabicwords: SS, LS,
SL, LL; trisyllabicwords:SSS, LSS, SLS, LLS, SSL, LSL, LLL; quadrisyllabic
words: SSSS, SLSS, LLSL,etc.; monosyllabicwords: S, L. (Procliticsand parts
of compounds,in our transcriptionsjoined by a hyphen to the followingword,
are not reckonedin the location of a potential contourpoint.) Because of this
differencein the placementof the potentialcontourpoint, a wordthat contains
only shortvowelssoundsvery differentfroma wordwith one or morelongvowels,
even though the intonationcontourmay be phonemicallythe same.
4. Intonation:phonemicsystem. In Huasteco conversation,a sentence may
recurwith a variety of pitch sequences.The differencein pitch from utterance
to utteranceis especiallynoticeableat the end of phrases.The pitches on which
the successive syllables of an utterance are pronouncedform characteristic
sequencesof contours.These contrastwith one another,and are thus phonemi-
cally diverse.The pitch levels whichcomposethe contoursare pitch phonemes;
there are at least three of these, and apparentlyno more than three. We sym-
bolize them by accentmarksover the vowel lettersand the lengthdot: an acute
for high pitch, a macronfor mid pitch, and a grave for low pitch.4
The contrastsbetweenthe levelscannotbe analyzedin termsof less thanthree;
but furtherphoneticlevels of pitch appearto be analyzableas conditionedvarie-
ties of the three intonationphonemes.The mid pitch of a phrase-finalword is
perhapshigher than the mid pitch in other words. The low pitch as it occurs
phrase-finalis possibly lower than low pitch in other environments.That is,
the pitch differencebetweenthe mid and low levels of a phrase-finalword may
prove to be greaterthan between the mid and low levels in other parts of the
phrase.It followsthat within a wordan initial low or mid pitch in the sequence
ow-low-mid or mid-mid-high may be slightly higher than the pitch following it.
SFor a description of phonemic pitch levels combining into meaningful sequences in
English, see Kenneth L. Pike, The intonation of American English (Ann Arbor, 1945). The
English intonational system is structurally analogous to the Huasteco, but much more
complex.

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270 RAYMONDS. LARSENAND EUNICE V. PIKE

The intervals between the three phonemiclevels depend upon the moodof
the speaker.A tired or pouting person may talk with a low voice and narrow
intervals, whereasan animated conversationmay be carriedon with wide in-
tervals betweenthe levels.
4.1. Contourpoint.Althougheach syllableis of necessityspokenon somepitch,
the pertinent pitch sequenceswhich contrast with other sequencesbegin on a
CONTOURPOINT. That is, the contour point is the pertinent beginning point for
a significantintonationcontour.For the most part these contoursbegin at the
last potential contour point in the phrase; such a point is here called a ROUTINE
CONTOURPOINT. Certain other contours begin on a syllable other than the last
potential contourpoint in the phrase;such a point is called a SPECIAL CONTOUR
POINT.Most of the significantcontoursare comprisedof a sequenceof two phone-
mic levels; unless otherwisespecified,one occursat the routine contourpoint,
the other at the end of the phrase.The pitches precedingthe contourpoint, or
between it and the phrase-finalpitch, are predictableand thereforenon-dis-
tinctive (?4.2, ?4.3).
4.2. The precontour,i.e. the pitch sequence of the syllables preceding the
contourpoint, is predictableand thereforeneed not be symbolizedin a phonemic
transcription.
In fast speech, all syllables precedingthe contourpoint (regardlessof word
boundaries) have mid pitch: //?uteyic koyo-c tana-? ?a-1an-k'ima'O//5 [,?ftityit
'He drew near and rested there in the house'.
sko,yo-tsta,ni-?-,A-lInk'i'ma'-O]
In slower speech, word boundaries (here symbolized by spaces) are important,
and any proclitic(to be definedin ?6; identifiedin the transcriptionby a follow-
ing hyphen) has low pitch. The rule for slow speechis that in every word,every
syllable precedingthe potential contourpoint of that word has low pitch. The
sentence already cited is pronounced
[,7?itfyitskb,y5-tsta,nd-?-, -lank'i'ma'O];
compare also //ta-m in-ela? hum-peha6 wahht// [,td-mln,ilUhbm,p2h~t9
'Thenfar ?o'w
he founda cleared
away spot'.
,?-"w'wEhit]
4.3. The intra-contour, i.e. the pitch sequence which occurs on the syllables
between the contour point and the end of the contour, is predictable and need
not be symbolized in a phonemic transcription.
Except for the intra-contour of the slurred contour (for a description see ?5.10),
all intra-contours occur within one word. The long- and short-vowel sequences
in which an intra-contour occurs are limited. In order to contain an intra-contour,
a sequence must end in a short vowel and must contain three syllables or more;
for if the sequence ended in a long vowel, both the beginning point and the end
point of the contour would be contained in that vowel; and if the sequence con-
sisted of two syllables of which the second contained a short vowel, the beginning
point of the contour would be on one of the syllables and the end point on the
other. Of trisyllabic words, only words of the type SSS and LSS contain intra-
contours, because they are the only words with the potential contour point on
the first syllable. Of four-syllable words, only SSSS, LSSS, SLSS contain intra-
contours. Words of five or more syllables are similarly limited.
The pitch of the intra-contour is the pitch of the lowest level of the contour,
6 Double slant lines enclose a transcription including pitch symbols.

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 HUASTECO INTONATIONS AND PHONEMES 271

unless that lowest level is mid, in which case the intra-contour may occasionally
and optionally vary to low. That is to say, if the contour is high-low, mid-low,
low-low, low-mid, or low-high, the intra-contour is low. If the contour is high-
mid, mid-mid, or mid-high the intra-contour is mid, optionally varying to low.
We have no example of a high-high contour. Notice the intra-contours of these
words: //?AhtitmA?// ['?Ahtit'ma?] 'singer', //?dhtitmV?// ['?fhtit'ma?] or
['?ihtitmi?] 'a singer, you say?', //?Ahtitm6?// ['?9htit'mS?] 'and a singer and
...', //?ahtitma?// ['?ahtitma?] 'not a singer?!'.
5. Intonation: morphological system. Certain connotations which are not
expressed by morphemes composed of segmental phonemes are added by means
of ten or more different intonation contours. Each contour is a sequence of two
intonation phonemes. Since these pitch sequences are not intimately related to
specific lexical morphemes or sequences of morphemes, and since their meanings
are various attitudes of the speaker superimposed upon the more concrete (and
more stable) meanings of the words, we have analyzed them as intonational
features rather than as lexical tones. Each significant intonation contour is a
single INTONATION MORPHEME, since it is meaningful as a whole and cannot
be broken into smaller meaningful units.
Certain of the intonation contours will be first illustrated by a sequence of
examples in which the word /?iba-/ 'no' contains the same segmental phonemes,
but different intonation contours and different connotations. Later the contours
will be discussed separately.
//?ibma// (emphatic)
//?ibd'// (matter of fact, without emotion)
//?iba"// (preoccupied, uninterested)
//?ibi'// (called to a person a distance away)
//?ibS'// (unfinished)
//?iba'// (questioning: 'did you say no?')
//?ib'"// (deliberate or thoughtful, with surprise)
//?i'b?// (finality: 'absolutely not!')
This word 'no' shows how the several contours may be used with one word.
Regardless of the contour, /?iba-/ still retains the lexical meaning of 'no'; but
as the contours vary there are implications of different emotional attitudes on
the part of the speaker.
5.1. The narrative contour is mid-low, varying to low-low. Semantically it is
rather colorless, its chief characteristic being lack of emotion. It is used in both
statements and questions. It is located on the last word of the phrase, beginning
on the routine contour point and ending on the last vowel of the phrase. If the
routine contour point falls on a phrase-final long vowel, the contour is a glide
from mid to low. On a phrase-final monosyllabic word with a short vowel, the
contour is a simple mid pitch.6 Examples of the narrative contour on isolated
words: S //h6?// 'water', L //7?'5// 'grandmother', SS //bBy?// 'badger',
LS 'patridge', SL //col5`m// 'lace', LL 'many times',
SSS//hti'6il// //ya'niHl//
//wik'aith?// 'jail', LSS //?3eyaldik// 'bosses', SLS 'deer',
6 //?ic'-mMl//
We neglected to check the form of the other contours when they fall on a phrase-final
monosyllabic word.

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272 RAYMOND S. LARSEN AND EUNICE V. PIKE

LLS //?u-c'Sdik// '(they) speak to each other', SSL //tomkin'l// 'marriage',

SLL //?aki-l'b// 'carrying-shawl'.
The low-low alternant of this contour optionally occurs on words ending with
a long vowel. This form of the morpheme is homophonous with the basically
low-low morpheme (?5.3): //halWb// ~ //hali'b// 'namesake'.
The narrative contour occurs more frequently than any other contour. In a
certain text of 43 sentences by one informant, it is the only phrase-final contour
used.
5.2. The emphatic contour (high-low ~ high-mid) puts extra emphasis on the
word on which it falls. The high-low alternant of this morpheme occurs on the
last word of the phrase, beginning on the routine contour point: //hah yab
'He doesn't want a donkey, he wants a horse';
in-le'? i-bfi'rr6, ?in-le'? i-bimhn.//
//tiwa? ne?ec an-kw'ahi-16m// 'There goes the widow'.
The high-mid alternant occurs on a non-phrase-final word, beginning on a
special contour point and ending on the final syllable of the same word. In this
case another intonation contour, beginning on the routine contour point, is
present in the same phrase: //?in-c6meA? an-?inik// 'He killed the man'.
5.3. The detached contour (low-low) signifies that the speaker is preoccupied
or uninterested or disdainful. It is used by the speaker when he is busy or think-
ing of something else, and in scolding children: //ka-t'aha? 'Do
it this way!'. ?ancan?'?//
5.4. The call contour (high-mid) is used (1) when shouting to or calling some-
one at a distance; (2) when the speaker is startled or frightened; (3) for emotional
emphasis. When the routine contour point is on the phrase-final vowel (always
a long one), there is a glide from high to mid. When the routine contour point
is on some vowel other than the last, the contour-point vowel has high pitch
and the vowels following it have mid: //hos6-// 'Joseph!', //benhami1n//
'Benjamin!', //s'rar// 'Sara!', 'Katherine!', //ka-met'a? an-?ic'a'
//katari'nd//
mil// 'Look at the deer!'.
Optionally this contour may be accompanied by a lengthening of the last
vowel of the word (if that vowel is lexically short), with a consequent shift of the
routine contour point to that vowel: ~ 'Katherine!',
^ //katari'n// //katari'na//
//t'tat// 'Father!', //ka-met'a? am-bidim// //ka-met'a
am-bi6im// 'Look //ta'tia-//
at the horse!' -
One expression has been noted in which the entire contour falls on a non-final
short vowel; with the occurrence of this contour that vowel is lengthened and the
high-mid glide begins and ends on it: //ni-hAyk'i?// 'never!', //ni-h6Jyk'i?//
'absolutely never!'. In this case the post-contour pitch is mid.
5.5. The Sequence contour (low-mid) indicates that something is to follow.
If the routine contour point is on some vowel other than the phrase-final one,
the phrase-final vowel is mid and the contour-point vowel is low: //?'t'6m//
'salt', 'garlic', //cbcobl&k// 'a kick'. If the routine contour point is on
//?At'1o// vowel, the contour may be a glide from low to mid, or optionally
the phrase-final
a low pitch on the last vowel but one and a mid pitch on the last vowel. In the
latter pronunciation the contour begins on a special contour point:
'death'. //ce'mlh//
i/ch'ml'//

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 HUASTECOINTONATIONSAND PHONEMES 273

This contourmost frequentlyoccurs before short pauses, where it connotes

a sequence: //?in-le'? an-?Thhn,?an-bhk5n,?ani han-cbMal.//'He wants a
roastingear, a tortilla, and some cookedcorn'.When the contouris used before
a long pauseit indicatesthat the speakerexpectsto say more.
5.6. The hesitation contour(mid-mid)is similarin meaningto the sequence
contourbut is less deliberate.Whetherbeforea short or beforea long pause, its
connotationis that the sentenceis unfinished://?ac'e'm an-?Aii~•// 'The garlic
was wet- '.
5.7. The questioncontour(mid-high)is frequentlyused by someonerepeating
what anotherpersonhas said. By meansof this intonationhe asks, 'Is that what
you said?' Examples://?ic''l6m// 'playful', 'Did you say play-
ful?'; //k'ale 'He went many times',//?ic'i'16m//
//k'ale ya-ni'l// 'He went many
ya'nil//
times, did you say?'.
This is also the intonationused when assent or dissent is expectedfrom the
one spoken to: //ne?ec ta-?a-lim k'al an-t6?61// 'Are you going fishing?',
//k'a?i- an-t'0l6?// 'Is the baby hungry?'.
Where the routine contour point of this intonation morphemefalls on a
phrase-finallong vowel, the contouris a risingglide frommid to high. Whenthe
routine contourpoint falls on a vowel other than the last one, no glide occurs,
but the pitch steps up to high on the phrase-finalshort vowel, not earlier:
//5uba' in-t'ahV:// 'Does he surely do it?', //kiOa-b an-?!0ilombik// 'Is the
corn ugly?'.
The precontourprecedinga questioncontour(?4.2) is morefrequentlyspoken
rapidly,with mid pitch, than slowly, with mid and low pitches: in-kwi
//ya'nic
or, in slower speech
?iyA'mal//
'He hunted[,yq'nitsinkw'?i'yA'mAl],
a lot, you say?'. [,yq-nitsinkwi?i'y'-mal]
5.8. The unexpectedcontour(low-high)is used when the speakeris surprised
or startled, but is deliberatingabout what has happenedor has been said. If
the last vowel of the phraseis long, the contouris a glide from low to high; if
the last vowel is short, the vowel of the contourpoint is low and the last vowel
is high: //hale? tin-?ulal 'Why does he say he wants beans?'.
in-le'?i-cnink"w'//
in-t'aha-la-halihb// 'Does your namesakedo like this?'.
//?ancana'?
5.9. The contour adds
superemphatic (mid-low mid-low) great emphasis.
In the example we have given, it changes /?iba-/ 'no' to //?i'b'// 'absolutely
not'; the short vowel in the first syllable changes to a long vowel. This contour
seems to be more emphatic than the high-low contour. It requires two syllables;
when the routine contour point is on the phrase-final vowel, this contour must
of necessity begin on a special contourpoint.
5.10. A contemptcontour(high slurredto low) has been noted in at least two
examples. It starts with high pitch at a special contour point, located on the
first potential contour point of the phrase, and steps down gradually to low.
Each syllable of the intra-contour (?4.3) is slightly lower than the preceding one.
//hita? kin k'apuw am-bidim// 'Who eats horse?', //hgnt'o ha-wadS'l// 'What
are you looking at?'. The connotation of the first is contemptuous, disdainful;
the second was addressed to a year-old baby.
No other intonation morphemes have been discovered. A high-high contour

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274 RAYMOND S. LARSEN AND EUNICE V. PIKE

would appear to be theoretically possible within the system. Any others would
have to be special types, like the one discussed in this section, or a combination
of types, like the one in ?5.9, or would force a different basic analysis.
6. The stress of any word not in phrase-final position is predictable: it coincides
with the potential contour point (?3), and thus depends on the sequence of long
and short vowels in the word. The stress on a phrase-initial or phrase-medial
word is usually less intense than that on a phrase-final word. The latter normally
falls on the routine contour point (?4.1); but occasionally it varies to other syl-
lables, when words ending with a short vowel are spoken with one of the follow-
ing intonation contours: mid-high, low-high, low-mid, mid-mid. In such words
the stress appears to fluctuate between the final syllable and the contour point:
//bdkan// ['bUkin] or [ba'kin] 'tortilla', [?fi-'tt'i-tgikh] or [?ti't?"
//!?u'-d6ik//
9'tsikh] 'conversationalist'.
There is a class of morphemes which are never stressed and which are not in-
cluded in the contrastive intonation contours. Because of this, and because they
never occur in phrase-final position, we treat them as proclitics, and in our
transcription join them to the following word by a hyphen. A hyphen thus in-
dicates that the preceding morpheme is unstressed and outside the intonation
contour: //?u-t'hA?// 'I did (it)'. If the morpheme /?u/ in this ex-
[?fi't'ahA]
ample were part of the stem itself instead of a proclitic, the stress and the in-
tonation (with the narrative contour) would be *['?ftt'Aha?].
The following sentences illustrate the occurrence of the stress with the narra-
tive contour: //?an-?alila'b 6ikhn// 'The cornfield was
[?An?Al1',1-F't?ikan]
'Your friend was hit'.
burned'; //kwa0an a-halfiTb// [,k'wM8nAhA'lf"F]
Compounds are similarly written with a hyphen if the first member, like a
proclitic, is unstressed and outside the intonation contour: //?oO-?inik// [?68
'?inikh]'orphan' from /0o8/ 'to abuse' and /?inik/ 'man'). Without the hyphen,
this transcription would imply a pronunciation *['?8Oinikh].
A second class of compounds is established by morphological rather than by
phonemic criteria. Such compounds are written with a dash; they are stressed
as two words and have the same intonation as a sequence of two words: //pa-le?-
c'ill?// [,p~.-lV'ts'il?J]'a certain type of grasshopper' (from /pa'le?/ 'priest',
/c'ili?/ 'grasshopper').
7. Segmental phonemes. The consonant phonemes in words of native origin
are /p, t, c, 6, k, kw, ?; b; t', c', 6', k', kw'; 8,Y, h; m, n; 1; w, y/. The vowel
phonemes are /i, e, a, o, u/. Loanwords from Spanish contain also /d, f, g, r, s/.
A few extrasystematic sounds are mentioned below (?7.6).
7.1. The stops and affricates /p, t, c, 6, k, kw/ are voiceless, unaspirated (1)
before a vowel: /pik'o?/ 'dog', /tokot/ 'only', /cine/ 'deaf', /5i-6/ 'comes',
/kolol/ 'roach', 'a carrying headpiece'; and (2) before another consonant
of the same point /kwe'6/
of articulation: /?in-hapbil/ 'his opening it',
/c'aka'tla-b/
'calmness', /?akakkwa/ 'there are six it is said'. The stop /t/ is also unaspirated
before /8/ and /6/; /?ahat~ik/ 'they are singing'. Elsewhere these stops are
aspirated--heavily in phrase-final position, more weakly before consonants with
a different point of articulation: /calap/ 'thought', /pahat/ 'singing',
/kale'c/
'went out', /kwaea6/ 'was hit', /?akak/ 'six'; /naptal/ 'without anything',

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 HUASTECO AND PHONEMES
INTONATIONS 275

/pakOa/ 'tall'. The conditioningfactors are not affected by word-boundaries:

/?a-calap pu-lik/ 'your big thought', /?am-pet caku-l/ 'the turtle is mad',
/?an-t'ot kale/ 'the buzzardwent out'.
The glottal stop is perhapsmorefortis in phrase-finalpositionthan elsewhere:
/ha?/ 'water',/?akal/ 'night', /cu?nib/ 'view'.
The phoneme/b/ has severalallophones.It is a voiced bilabialstop in phrase-
initial positionand before/m/; /bele-w/ 'nine',
/elebme'l/ 'improvingin health'.
or
In phrase-medialposition, beforea vowel any voiced consonantexcept /m/,
this allophonevaries optionally with a voiced bilabial fricative: /?u-kekbay/
'I notch (something)'.Beforea voicelessconsonantand in phrase-finalposition,
/b/ is a voicelessbilabialspirant(written[F] in the transcriptionsin ?6): /GubOi-l/
'hurrying',/booob/ 'cornsheller'.Again,the conditioningfactorsarenot affected
by word-boundaries:/?an-?ahabmatiO/ 'The little guitar is loaned', /cemea-b
are beingkilled', /?an-?ahibpu-lik/ 'the big fiesta'. This variation
ya'n/ 'Many
amongallophonesof the phoneme/b/ is not as greatas that reportedfor Tsotsil,
a Mayan languageof Chiapas.7The presenceof a singlevoiced stop contrasting
with a full seriesof voicelessstops is typical of the Mayan family.
7.2. The glottalizedstopsand affricatesare/t', c',)', k', kw'/: /t'ot/ 'buzzard',
'weedpatch', /6'u~ub/ 'finger',/k'ale/ 'went to', /kw'aOap/'tarantula'.
/c'ule'l/
7.3. The fricatives are /0, 9, h/ : /0alam/ 'tender', /Aant'o/ 'not present',
/huhlab/ 'roof'.
7.4. Other consonantsinclude nasals, a lateral, and semivowels.The nasals
are /m/ and /n/: 'mother',/?ahin/ 'alligator'.The phoneme/n/ has two
allophones: a /mi'm/
velar nasal beforevelar consonantsof the same word, and an al-
veolar nasal elsewhere:/mink-an/ 'burst'.
The lateral/1/ is voiced, exceptthat in phrase-finalpositionit may be partially
voiceless:/kolol/ 'roach'.
The semivowels /w/ and /y/ are voiceless in phrase-finalposition, voiced
elsewhere:
/we'w/ 'tail', /yo'y/ 'mosquito'.
7.5. The vowels are /i, e, a, o, u/. Three of these, /i, e, o/, are slightly more
open before a velar consonant than elsewhere: /capik/'strong', /?ehek/'Mexican',
/mokol/ 'trellis'. The vowel /a/, usually low-central, is sometimes mid-central
in a short syllable,especiallywhen the syllableis word-finaland ends in a con-
sonant: /canakw'/ 'bean', /?anam/ 'soil'. All vowels, especially/a/, are often
laryngealizedbetweenglottalizedconsonants:/k'a'k'/ 'hot'.
The vowelsare sometimespartiallyunvoicedwhenphrase-final,or whenword-
final before a voiceless consonant: /cine/ 'deaf', /k'ale tokot/ 'he only went'.
These voiceless allophones of final vowels contrast with /h/, in that /h/ is more
fortis: /?uh/ 'avocado'. Word-final /h/ before a voiced consonant remains fortis,
whereas a word-final vowel in this position is fully voiced: /?an-?uh bi-na0/
'The avocado is given', /?in-ta.ta bacuwat/ 'His father is received'.
There is also a separate phoneme of length, which occurs after each of the
vowels (and after a syllabic nasal in extrasystematic words).
7.6. Other sounds are present also in the language. They are (1) sounds
I Nadine
Weathers, Tsotsil phonemes with special reference to allophones of b. IJAL
13.108-11 (1947).

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276 RAYMONDS. LARSENAND EUNICE V. PIKE

borrowed from Spanish, (2) extrasystematic sounds in expressions of assent,

dissent, and inquiry, and (3) sounds occurring in a few other unclassified words.
Sounds found only in Spanish loanwords are /d, f, g, r, s/: /rika-rdo/ 'Richard',
/fransi'ska/ 'Frances', 'William', /hose-/ 'Joseph'. Such words are
with the same /giye'rmo/ as native words.
spoken intonations
Words of assent and the like include the following. They are here written with
their usual intonations; because they contain extrasystematic sounds, we enclose
them in half-brackets: Lhoh"j 'yes', Lh4~?%?j 'yes', LMmMflnj'yes', LMnLMm
?rhu 'yes'; L?4?j'no', L?Ifr'?rhm 'no'; 1h4M:'what?', LM~uij'what?'.
A scattering of other words-two of them with nasalized vowels, one with a
lenis alveolar trill-contain further sounds: 'take it', 'the neigh-
LhQ?Q9 1?ihjhi'lj
ing of a horse', 'the sound of falling water'.
L•orrorro'lj
8. Morpheme structure. Free morphemes are monosyllabic or dissyllabic:
CVC /hom/ 'incense', 'mountain', CVCC /tay?/ 'lime'; CVCV
/c'e'n/ /?ata'/
'house', CVCVC 'nine', CVCCVC 'wishbone', /Oulkuc/
/bele'w/ /Oambo'k/
'scarecrow, doll'. A small residue of three-syllable words may eventually prove
to consist of more than one morpheme: 'mint'.
/?elbe'nag/
Bound morphemes (stems, affixes, proclitics) have one or two syllables: V /e/
'intransitive' in /k'ibel/ 'to lose oneself' (with /k'ib/ 'to perish' and /1/ 'present
active'); C /1/ 'present active' in the same word, or in /kalel/ 'to go away' (with
/kale/ 'to go out'); VC /il/ 'possessive indicator' in /?in-?ibi-l/ 'it is a root'
(with /?in/ 'his' and /?ib/ 'root'); CV /me-/ 'inchoative' in /?alwa?me'/ 'be-
came good' (with /?alwa?/ 'good'); CVC /6ik/ 'pluralizer' in /?inik6ik/ 'men'
(with /?inik/ 'man'); CVCV /waya/ 'to sleep' in /wayal/ 'sleeps' (with /1/
'present active').
9. Distribution of phonemes. The following statements apply only to phonemes
which appear to be of native origin. Words are separated by spaces, which denote
the potential end of a phrase or a contour.
9.1. Single consonants. Any consonant except /6'/ may be initial, medial, or
final in the morpheme, the word, or the phrase. /6'/ does not occur in word- or
phrase-final position. (We have found only one example of word-final /kw/:
/0akw/ 'a kind of stone'.)
Any consonant except / ', kw, kw'/ may precede or follow any vowel. /kw/ and
/kw'/ do not occur contiguous to /o/ or /u/; so far as our data show, /6'/ does
not precede /e/ and does not follow /a/ or /o/.
9.2. Clusters of three consonants all begin with the sequence /y?/ or /w?/.
The third consonant of the cluster may belong to any of several different phonetic
classes: stops and affricates (glottalized or non-glottalized), fricatives, nasals,
or semivowels.
9.3. Clusters of two consonants. With 21 consonant phonemes occurring in
morpheme-final and morpheme-initial positions, there is a possibility of 441
two-consonant clusters medial in words. We have found 304 of these in slow
speech. Of the 137 remaining possible clusters, 94 are missing because of the
limited distribution of /5', kw, k"'/. Two others are missing because /n/ does
not occur before /p/ or /b/: when a morpheme ending in /n/ precedes a mor-
pheme beginning with /p/ or /b/, the resulting word contains /mp, mb/.

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 HUASTECO INTONATIONS AND PHONEMES 277

At the word-boundary,all the 441 clusterswere foundin slow speech,though

clusters with / ', kw, kw'/ are rare.
In normalor rapidspeech,certainof the possible clustersdo not occur,being
replacedby others.In a sequenceof /t'/ or /k'/ plus a non-glottalizedconsonant,
the priorconsonantis relacedby /t/ or /k/ respectively;thus /t'/ + /b/ yields
/tb/, /k'/ + /A/ yields /ks/, and so on. /t'/ is similarlyreplacedby /t/ before
/t', c', 5'/. Further,the four phonemes/k, kw, k', kw'/ all appear as /k/ before
any velar consonant.
In morpheme-medial position, only 25 of the possibleclustersoccur;some of
the morphemesin which they appear may eventually prove to consist of two
morphemeseach.
9.4. Vowels occurmediallyand finallyin morphemes,words,and phrases,as
well as initiallyin morphemes,but never initiallyin phrases.Thereare no vowel
clusters.
The pronominalproclitics and certain others, with the form ?V- or ?VC-,
have alternantsof the form hV- or hVC-, and V- or VC-. The alternant?V- or
?VC- occurs initially in the phrase; the alternanthV- or hVC- occurs after a
wordendingin a vowel; the alternantV- or VC- occurs after a wordendingin a
consonant,whichthen syllabifieswith the vowel of the proclitic.If the alternant
with initial vowel can be consideredto appearin word-initialposition,then the
vowels /i, a, u/ occurinitially in words.
10. Summary.Huastecois consideredto have phonemicvowel length because
(1) certain minimallydifferentwords are persistentlydifferentiatedby length
alone, (2) all the possiblesequencesof long and short vowels occur in wordsof
two and three syllables,and (3) the differencesin length persist in spite of in-
tonation.
The pitch differencesheard in Huasteco are consideredto be intonational
(i.e. to constitute pitch morphemes)ratherthan 'wordtones' because (1) there
is no lexical pitch contrast between words of the same consonant-and-vowel
pattern, and (2) the choice of a particularpitch sequenceis determinedby the
attitude of the speaker,not by any lexicalconsideration.
Stressin Huastecois consideredto be non-phonemicbecause(1) the placement
of stress in any word that is not phrase-finalcan be predictedfromthe shapeof
the word itself, and (2) even among phrase-finalwords, where the stress may
occasionallyand optionallyvary from its usual placement,there is still no con-
trast between words differentlystressed,the less usual placementbeing condi-
tioned or limited by the particularintonation contour that accompaniesthe
phrase.
In place of a system of contrastivelexical tones combinedwith some over-
lappingintonations,like that reportedfor the Maya of YucatAn,we have found
in Huasteco an intonationalstructurewith a restrictednumberof morphemes,
each composedof a sequenceof pitch phonemes.

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