Gujarati phonology

Gujarati phonology is the study of the inventory and patterns of the consonants, vowels, and prosody of the Gujarati language.

Vowels

*The three sibilants of Sanskrit are now two in standard Gujarati: IPA|/s/ and IPA|/ʃ/. Retroflex IPA| [ʂ] still appears in clusters in which it precedes another retroflex: IPA| [spəʂʈ] ('clear'). [Harvcoltxt|Mistry|1997|p=658]
*Persian and English are sources of IPA|/z/. Persian's IPA|/z/'s have by and large been transposed to IPA|/dʒ/ and IPA|/dʒʱ/: IPA|/dʒin̪d̪gi/ ('life') and IPA|/tʃidʒʱ/ ('thing'). The same cannot be so easily said for English: IPA|/tʃiz/ ('cheese').
*The distribution of sibilants varies over dialects and registers. The standard set is IPA| [s] and IPA| [ʃ] , while some speakers maintain IPA| [z] as well for the appropriate borrowings. Some dialects only have IPA| [s] , others prefer IPA| [ʃ] , while another system has them non-contrasting, with IPA| [ʃ] occurring contiguous to palatal segments. Lastly, a colloquial register has IPA| [s] or both IPA| [s] and IPA| [ʃ] replaced by voiceless IPA| [h] . This replacement does not extend to Sanskrit borrowing used by educated speakers speaking this register.
*The occurrence of IPA|/ɾ/ as a second member in consonantal clusters is one of Gujarati's conservative features as a modern Indo-Aryan language. For example, languages used in Asokan inscriptions (3rd century BC) display contemporary regional variations, with words found in Gujarat's Girnar inscriptions containing clusters with IPA|/ɾ/ as the second member not having IPA|/ɾ/ in their occurrence in inscriptions elsewhere. This is maintained even to today, with Gujarati IPA|/t̪ɾ/corresponding to Hindi IPA|/t̪/ and IPA|/t̪t̪/. [Harvcoltxt|Mistry|2001|p=274]

tress

The matter of stress is not quite clear:
*Stress is on the first syllable except when it doesn't have IPA|/a/ and the second syllable does.Harvcoltxt|Mistry|1997|p=660]
*Stress is barely perceptible. [Campbell, G.L. (1991) "Gujarati." "Compendium of the world's languages. v. 1. Abaza to Lusatian." New York: Routledge. pp. 541-545.]
*Stress typically falls on the penultimate syllable of a word, however, if the penultimate vowel in a word with more than two syllables is schwa, stress falls on the preceding syllable. [ [http://www.lmp.ucla.edu/Profile.aspx?LangID=85&menu=004 UCLA Language Materials Project: Gujarati.] Retrieved on 2007-04-29]

ə-deletion

Schwa-deletion, along with a-reduction and IPA| [ʋ] -insertion, is a phonological process at work in the combination of morphemes. It is a common feature among Indo-Aryan languages, referring to the deletion of a stem's final syllable's IPA|/ə/ before a suffix starting with a vowel.

This does not apply for monosyllabic stems and consonant clusters. So, better put, #VCəC + V# → #VCCV#. It also doesn't apply when the addition is an "o" plural marker ("see Gujarati grammar#Nouns") or "e" as an ergative marker ("see Gujarati grammar#Postpositions"). [Harvcoltxt|Mistry|1997|pp=661-662] It "sometimes" doesn't apply for "e" as a locative marker.

The second example shows an ɑ-reduction as well.

ə-insertion

ə finds itself inserted between the emphatic particle IPA|/dʒ/ and consonant-terminating words it postpositions. [Harvcoltxt|Cardona|Suthar|2003|p=667]

Fortunately IPA| [kɛ̤ʋũ's] situation can be explained through murmur. If to a formal or historical root of IPA|/kəɦe/ these rules are considered then predicted, explained, and made regular is the irregularity that is IPA| [kɛ̤ʋũ] (romanized as "kahevũ").

Thus below are the declensions of IPA| [kɛ̤ʋũ] 's IPA|/ɦ/-possessing, murmur-eliciting root IPA|/kəɦe/, this time with the application of the murmur rules on the root shown, also to which a preceding rule must be taken into account:

:0. A final root vowel gets deleted before a suffix starting with a non-consonant.

However in the end not all instances of IPA|/ɦ/ become murmured and not all murmur comes from instances of IPA|/ɦ/.

One other predictable source for murmur is voiced aspirated stops. A clear vowel followed by a voiced aspirated stop can vary with a pair gaining murmur and losing aspiration: IPA|#VCʱ ←→ #V̤C.

References

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