Choni language

Choni (Jonê) and Thewo are dialects of a Tibetic language spoken in western China in the vicinity of Jonê County.

Choni
Thewo-Chone
Cone Tibetan
tço.ne
Pronunciation[tɕo.ne]
Native toChina
RegionGansu, Sichuan
Native speakers
150,000 (2004)[1]
Dialects
  • Thewo
  • Hbrugchu
Language codes
ISO 639-3cda
Glottologchon1285
ELPChoni

Choni has four contrastive aspirated fricatives: /sʰ/ /ɕʰ/, /ʂʰ/, /xʰ/.[2]

Phonology

Consonant phonemes of Nyinpa Choni
Bilabial Alveolar Retroflex (Alveolo-)
palatal
Velar Uvular Glottal
Nasal m n ɲ ŋ
Plosive tenuis p t k
aspirated
voiced b d ɡ
prenasalized ᵐb ⁿd ᵑɡ
Affricate tenuis t͡s t͡ʂ t͡ɕ
aspirated t͡sʰ t͡ʂʰ t͡ɕʰ
voiced d͡z d͡ʐ d͡ʑ
prenasalized ⁿd͡z ⁿd͡ʐ ⁿd͡ʑ
Fricative tenuis s ʂ ɕ x h
aspirated ʂʰ ɕʰ
voiced z (ʐ) ʑ ɣ (ʁ)
Sonorant r j w
Lateral fricative ɬ
approximant l
  • /r/ is phonetically a fricativized alveolar trill [r̝], and may be heard as [ʐ] as an allophone.
  • A syllable-initial /k/ can be heard as a uvular fricative [χ] before voiceless consonants and as a voiced [ʁ] before voiced consonants. A syllable-final /k/ can be heard as a uvular stop [q] after /æ/ or /ɔ/ vowel sounds.
  • [ʁ] can also be heard as an allophone of /ɣ/ between /æ/ or /ɔ/ and another vowel.[3]
Vowel phonemes
Front Central Back
short long short long short long
Close i ʉ ʉː u
ɪ ɪː
Close-mid e o
Mid ə
Open-mid ɛ ɔ
Open æ ɑ ɑː
Nasal vowels
Front Central Back
Close ĩː (ũː)
Close-mid ẽː õː
Open ã ãː
  • [ũː] rarely exists as a phoneme, and is only attested in a few words with a palatal or alveolo-palatal initial.

References

  1. Choni at Ethnologue (18th ed., 2015) (subscription required)
  2. Guillaume Jacques 2011. A panchronic study of aspirated fricatives, with new evidence from Pumi, Lingua 121.9:1518–1538
  3. Jacques, Guillaume (April 2012). "A phonological profile of Cone" (PDF). HAL. Retrieved 20 August 2021.
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