Mapudungun phonology
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This article deals with the phonology of Mapudungun, as well as with different orthographies (grafemarios in Chilean Spanish) proposed for writing this language. The Mapuche did not have a writing system when the Spanish arrived, and historically there have been a number of proposals for Mapudungun spelling, all of them using the Latin alphabet. To this day, no consensus has been achieved between authorities, linguists and Mapuche communities on an unified writing system; the main systems are the following:
- Alfabeto Mapuche Unificado ("Unified Alphabet"), used by Chilean linguists and other people in many publications in/on the language.
- Grafemario Ragileo, made by Anselmo Ranguileo Lincopil and defended by the indigenous Mapuche organization Consejo de Todas las Tierras.
- Nhewenh writing system, an online proposal [1] by Heinrich Puschmann, based on the ascii character set in order facilitate the usage of the language on the internet.
- Azumchefi (also called Azümchefe), proposed by the Corporación Nacional de Desarrollo Indígena as a summary of about six earlier proposals, and recognized by the Chilean Ministry of Education, but not widely used.
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[edit] Consonants
Mapudungun has the following consonant system.
| Phoneme | Unified Alphabet | Ragileo | Nhewenh | Azumchefi | NICE | place of articulation | type of articulation |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| /p/ | p | p | p | p | p | bilabial | stop |
| /t̟/ | ṯ | * | td | * | t' | interdental | stop |
| /t/ | t | t | t | t | t | alveolar | stop |
| /k/ | k | k | k | k | k | velar | stop |
| /tʃ/ | ch | c | ch | ch | ch | postalveolar | affricate |
| /tʂ/ | tr | x | tr | tx | tr | retroflex | affricate |
| /f/ | f | f | f | f | f | labiodental or bilabial | fricative |
| /θ/ | d | z | sd | z | d | interdental | fricative |
| /s/ | s | s | * | s | s | alveolar | fricative |
| /ʃ/ | sh | * | sh | sh | sh | postalveolar | fricative |
| /ɻ/ | r | r | r | r | r | retroflex | fricative |
| /m/ | m | m | m | m | m | bilabial | nasal |
| /n̟/ | ṉ | h | nd | nh | n' | interdental | nasal |
| /n/ | n | n | n | n | n | alveolar | nasal |
| /ɲ/ | ñ | ñ | nh, ñ | ñ | ñ | palatal | nasal |
| /ŋ/ | ng | g | g | g | ng | velar | nasal |
| /w/ | w | w | w | w | w | labiovelar | approximant |
| /j/ | y | y | j | y | y | palatal | approximant |
| /ɣ/ or /ɰ/ (**) | g | q | q | q | g | velar | approximant |
| /l̟/ | ḻ | b | ld | lh | l' | interdental | lateral |
| /l/ | l | l | l | l | l | alveolar | lateral |
| /ʎ/ | ll | j | lh | ll | ll | palatal | lateral |
(*) Raguileo doesn't distinguish between /s/ and /ʃ/, and between /t̪/ and /t/. Also, Raguileo aims to use only one grapheme for each phoneme (no digraphs), so he uses some letters from the alphabet in a non-standard way.
(**) Corresponds to /ɨ/ in the same way that /j/ corresponds to /i/ and /w/ corresponds to /u/.
[edit] Allophones
[edit] Vowels
Mapudungun has six vowels. The three high vowels also have corresponding approximant consonants.
| Phoneme | Unified Alphabet | Ragileo | Nhewenh | Azumchefi | [front] | [back] | [round] | [high] | [low] |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| /a/ | a | a | a | a | + | - | - | - | + |
| /e/ | e | e | e | e | + | - | - | - | - |
| /i/ | i, y | i | i | i, y | + | - | - | + | - |
| /o/ | o | o | o | o | - | + | + | - | - |
| /u/ | u, w | u | u | u, w | - | + | + | + | - |
| /ɨ/* | ü | v | v, y | ü | - | - | - | + | - |
(*) When unstressed, it becomes a schwa (ə).
[edit] See also
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