Cheyenne language

Phonology

Cheyenne phonology is not exceptionally complex. While there are only three basic vowels, they can be pronounced in three ways: high pitch, low pitch, and voiceless[1]. The high and low pitches are phonemic, while vowel devoicing is governed by environmental rules, making voiceless vowels allophones of the voiced vowels. The digraph ‘ts’ represents assibilated /t/; a phonological rule of Cheyenne is that underlying /t/ becomes assibiliated before an /e/ (t > ts / __e). Therefore, ‘ts’ is not a separate phoneme, but an allophone of /t/.

The standard Cheyenne orthography is neither a pure phonemic system nor a phonetic transcription; it is, in the words of linguist Wayne Leman, a "pronunciation orthography." In other words, it is a practical spelling system designed to facilitate proper pronunciation. Some allophonic variants, such as voiceless vowels, are shown.

Consonants

	bilabial	dental	palatal	velar	glottal
stop	p	t		k	?
fricative	v	s	S	x	h
nasal	m	n

Vowels

	front	central	back
non-low	e		o
low		a

Pronominal System and Head-Marking

Cheyenne represents the participants of an expression not as seprate pronoun words but as affixes on the verb. Its pronominal system uses typical Algonquian distinctions: four persons (1st, 2nd, 3rd, 4th), two numbers (singular, plural), animacy (animate and inanimate) and inclusivity and exclusivity on the first person plural. The 4th or obviative person is an elaboration of the third; it's an "out of focus" third person. When there are two or or more animate third persons in an expression, one of them will become obviated.

[1] There are also three other variants of the phonemic pitches: the mid, raised-high and hanging-low pitches. These are often not represented in writing, although there are standard diacritics to indicate all of them.

Reference

• Cheyenne Language Web Site

Referenced By