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Mapudungun phonology
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
This article deals with the phonology of the Mapudungun language, and its proposed orthographies. 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; currently the most widely used systems are:
- Alfabeto Mapuche Unificado (Unified Alphabet), used by Chilean linguists and other people in many publications in the language.
- Grafemario Raguileo, made by Anselmo Raguileo Lincopil and defended by the indigenous Mapuche organization Consejo de Todas las Tierras.
- "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.
Contents |
Mapudungun has the following consonant system.
| Phoneme | Unified Alphabet | Raguileo | Azumchefi | NICE | place of articulation | type of articulation |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| /p/ | p | p | p | p | bilabial | stop |
| /t̪/ | ṯ | * | * | t' | interdental | stop |
| /t/ | t | t | t | t | alveolar | stop |
| /k/ | k | k | k | k | velar | stop |
| /tʃ/ | ch | c | ch | ch | postalveolar | affricate |
| /tʴ/ | tr | x | tx | tr | retroflex | affricate |
| /f/ | f | f | f | f | labiodental or bilabial | fricative |
| /θ/ | d | z | z | d | interdental | fricative |
| /s/ | s | s | s | s | alveolar | fricative |
| /ʃ/ | sh | * | sh | sh | postalveolar | fricative |
| /ʐ/ | r | r | r | r | retroflex | fricative |
| /m/ | m | m | m | m | bilabial | nasal |
| /n̪/ | ṉ | h | nh | n' | interdental | nasal |
| /n/ | n | n | n | n | alveolar | nasal |
| /ɲ/ | ñ | ñ | ñ | ñ | palatal | nasal |
| /ŋ/ | ng | g | g | ng | velar | nasal |
| /w/ | w | w | u, w | w | labiovelar | approximant |
| /j/ | y | y | i, y | y | palatal | approximant |
| /ɣ/ or /ɰ/? (**) | g | q | q | g | velar | approximant |
| /l̪/ | ḻ | b | lh | l' | interdental | lateral |
| /l/ | l | l | l | l | alveolar | lateral |
| /ʎ/ | ll | j | 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/.
Mapudungun has six vowels. The three high vowels also have corresponding approximant consonants.
| Phoneme | Unified Alphabet | Ragileo | Azumchefi | [front] | [back] | [round] | [high] | [low] |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| /a/ | a | a | a | + | - | - | - | + |
| /e/ | e | e | e | + | - | - | - | - |
| /i/ | i | i | i | + | - | - | + | - |
| /o/ | o | o | o | - | + | + | - | - |
| /u/ | u | u | u | - | + | + | + | - |
| /ɨ/* | ü | v | ü | - | - | - | + | - |
(*) When unstressed, it becomes a schwa (ə).
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