A reanalysis of Nivaĉle k͡l and ɬ: phonetic, phonological and typological evidence

Abstract

This paper describes and analyzes the typologically unique lateral system of Nivaĉle (Mataguayan). There is no lateral approximant in this language, but rather two lateral obstruents: the lateral fricative /ɬ/ and the complex segment /k͡l/. These two sounds behave differently both in terms of their phonotactic patterning and their morphophonemic alternations; they do not participate in any phonological processes that invoke their lateral articulation as a shared phonologically relevant property. The main proposal advanced here is that /k͡l/ is a complex segment and not an affricate: (i) there is no fricative release, and (ii) the sequence of two phases does not agree in voicing. Further, it is hypothesized that the development of /k͡l/ from Proto-Mataguayan *l can be rooted in speech perception factors, namely, the lateral approximant was realized with a brief stop closure which was misinterpreted as a real stop burst and reanalyzed as /k͡l/.