A Phonological Study of Rongpa Choyul

Abstract

This paper presents a detailed description of the phonology of the Rongpa variety of Choyul, an understudied Tibeto-Burman language spoken in Lithang (理塘) County, Dkarmdzes (甘孜) Tibetan Autonomous Prefecture of Sichuan Province, China. Based on firsthand fieldwork data, this paper lays out Rongpa phonology with details, examining its syllable canon, initial and rhyme systems, and word prosody. Peculiar characteristics of this phonological system are as follows: First, Rongpa has a substantial phonemic inventory, which comprises 43 consonants, 13 vowels, and 2 tones. 84 consonant clusters are observed to serve as the initial of a syllable. Secondly, the phonemic contrast between plain and uvularized vowels is attested. In addition, regressive vowel harmony on uvularization, height, and lip-roundedness can be clearly observed in various constructions including prefixed verb stems. Finally, regarding word prosody, two tones in monosyllabic words, /H/ and /L/, are observed to distinguish lexical meanings, and disyllabic words exhibit four surface pitch patterns. Pitch patterns in verb morphology are also examined. The findings and analyses as presented in this paper could form a foundation for future research on Rongpa Choyul.

1. Introduction

Choyul (a.k.a. Choyu, Chuyu, Queyu, and, in Chinese, Quèyù, 却域) is an understudied Tibeto-Burman language spoken primarily by thousands of people residing along Nyagchu River (ཉག་ཆུ Yǎlóngjiāng 雅砻江), primarily in Dkarmdzes (དགར་མཛེས Gānzī 甘孜) Tibetan Autonomous Prefecture, Sichuan Province, China, specifically in the counties of Nyagchu (ཉག་ཆུ Yǎjiāng 雅江), Rta’u (རྟའུ Dàofú 道孚), Nyagrong (ཉག་རོང Xīnlóng 新龙), and Lithang (ལི་ཐང Lǐtáng理塘) (Lu 1985). It is also reported to be spoken in the hamlet of Thabsmkhas (ཐབས་མཁས Tǎgé塔格) of Lhasgang (ལྷ་སྒང Tǎgōng 塔公) Township, Darmdo (དར་མདོ Kāngdìng 康定) County (Suzuki and Wangmo 2016, 2018).

Previous studies on Choyul are scanty. The earliest linguistic description dates back to Lu (1985), which is a sketch of the phonology and grammar of the speech form spoken in Tuanjie Township (团结乡), Nyagchu County.1 Wang (1991) presents a language profile of the variety of gYanglagshis (གཡང་ལ་གཞིས Yóulāxī 尤拉西) in Nyagrong County. Nishida (2008) published a preliminary phonological system of Rongpa Choyul, based on the speech form of bTsanmda Hamlet (བཙན་མདའ Zēngdá cūn 增达村). Suzuki et al. (manuscript) presents a phonological study of Lhasgang Choyul, and Suzuki and Wangmo (2016) also lay out the sociolinguistic status of Lhasgang Choyul. Suzuki and Wangmo (2018) provide a wordlist of Lhasgang Choyul, which contains around 750 words with their equivalents in the neighboring Tibetan language. Xuan Guan, a PhD candidate in the University of Oregon, has been investigating the Pubarong (ཕུ་པ་རོང Pǔbāróng普巴绒) variety of Choyul for several years. Her research findings were presented in several conferences over the past few years. Figure 1 below illustrates the geographical locations where varieties of Choyul have been documented to this date.

The term “Choyul” is translated as “Quèyù (却域)” in Chinese. Wang (1991, p. 46) mentions that “yù (域)” may be etymologically related to the Tibetan morpheme “ཡུལ <yul>”, meaning “region; place”, but the origin and meaning of “què” are yet to be figured out. One possibility is that it refers to the regions alongside the Nyagchu river, where this language is spoken (Wang 1991, p. 46; Suzuki 2018).2

The genetic affiliation of Choyul is yet to be determined. It was tentatively assigned to the “Qiangic” branch by previous scholars (Lu 19853; Wang 1991; Sun 1983, 1991, 2001, 2016). Lu (1985, p. 67) stated that Choyul is closely related to Qiang and Pumi, and thus it should be classified as affiliated to the Qiangic branch. Choyul was once considered as a member of the southern branch of Qiangic (Sun 1983, 2001), but was afterwards subsumed into the central branch (Sun 2016, p. 4).4 However, Chirkova (2012) has argued that it could be more adequate to regard “Qiangic” as an areal grouping rather than a genetic subgroup of Sino-Tibetan. She argues that the “Qiangic subgroup” is controversial for the following four reasons: (1) common typological features are also found in other neighboring non-Qiangic languages, which is considered as the result of parallel developments or areal phenomena; (2) the small proportion of shared common vocabulary; (3) the lack of common innovations; and (4) the historical, ethnic, and linguistic complexity of the Qiangic languages area. Thus, the genealogical relationships among “Qiangic” languages remain to be discussed, and the genetic position of Choyul is yet to be finalized.

The speech form examined in this paper, the Rongpa variety of Choyul (henceforth Rongpa), is spoken by people from the townships of Rongpa (རོང་པ Róngbà 绒坝, in Rongpa /roʶ^L pe^H/), Lhayul (ལྷ་ཡུལ Hāyī 哈衣, in Rongpa /xkə^H mdi^H/), and Dga’khog (དགའ་ཁོག Gākē 呷柯, in Rongpa /gɘ^L kʰɘ^H/) in Lithang County. Rongpa speakers are identified ethnically as Tibetan by the official government and traditionally follow common Tibetan cultural practices and practice Tibetan Buddhism. Over the past decade, Rongpa speakers have been relocated from their home villages to Lithang County due to the construction of water dams and hydropower stations. They often refer to their language as /ro^L xkɜ^H/ (རོང་སྐད <rong.skad>), meaning “the speech of the farming area (in Mandarin Chinese nóngqūhuà 农区话)” (Suzuki 2018), which is not mutually intelligible with the neighboring Tibetan dialects, namely the dialect of the nomadic area (/ɣaʶ^L xkɜ^H/ ཝ་སྐད <wa.skad> mùchǎnghuà 牧场话) and the dialect of Lithang (/po^L xkɜ^H/ བོད་སྐད <bod.skad> zànghuà 藏话, which literally means “Tibetan”), the latter of which is spoken by up to three-quarters of the population in Lithang County. Other than Tibetan and Choyul, Sichuan Mandarin (/ʤɛ^L xkɜ^H/ རྒྱ་སྐད <rgya.skad> hànhuà 汉话, which literally means “Chinese“) is also commonly used in the area.

The phonological analysis presented herein is based on materials collected during several recent fieldtrips to Gaocheng Town (gāochéngzhèn 高城镇) in Lithang County in 2021 and 2022. The main dataset is a word list that contains approximately 2000 entries. Each entry was recorded with five repetitions and spoken in isolation using the digital recorder (SONY ICD-UX575F) at a sampling rate of 48 kHz. Recordings were saved as .wav files and analyzed using Praat (Boersma and Weenink 2018). We also elicited the vowel alternation patterns of a hundred verbs that index the person and number of the subject. Our main consultant is Ms. Tshelhamo (ཚེ་ལྷ་མོ 泽拉姆), 43 years old in 2023. She was born in Rimda’ Village (རི་མདའ <ri.mda’> Réndá cūn 仁达村), Rongpa Township. She lived in Rimda until 2016; that year, she and the other villagers were relocated to Gaocheng Town by the local government. In addition to Choyul, she also has a good command of the neighboring Tibetan dialects and Sichuan Mandarin.

The remainder of this paper starts with a description of the syllable structure of Rongpa in Section 2. Section 3 discusses the initial inventory that comprises simple consonant initials (Section 3.1) and complex initials (Section 3.2). Then, in Section 4, the vocalic system, including plain vowels (Section 4.1) and uvularized vowels (Section 4.2), will be analyzed, followed by a brief discussion of vowel harmony alternations (Section 4.3). Section 5 focuses on the suprasegmental phenomena of Rongpa. As a conclusion, the main findings will be summarized in Section 6.

2. Syllable Canon

The syllable canon of Rongpa is quite simple, and can be formulated as:

(C)(C)(C)V

All Rongpa syllables are open. The optional onset is composed of, at most, three consonant slots, followed by an obligatory simple vowel slot. The minimum syllable is a single vowel, e.g., /ɛ^H/ ‘question marker’. The simple initial slot C allows all 43 consonant phonemes.

Complex C₁C₂ initials abound, which can be divided into 4 subtypes in terms of the member that appears in the first slot, C₁. C₂ that are compatible with each type of C₁ initial are also summarized in

Table 1. Rongpa C₁C₂ clusters as complex initials.

	First Element (C1)		Second Element (C2)
a.	dorsal fricative	/x/ /ɣ/	obstruents; voiced nasals; voiced lateral;
b.	nasal	/m/ /N/5	voiceless unaspirated stops and affricates; voiced stops and affricates; voiced nasal /n/;
c.	bilabial stop	/p/ /b/	all coronal consonants; labiodental fricative /v/;
d.	velar consonant	/k/ /kʰ/ /ɡ/	labial glide /w/

:

The maximum syllable is CCCV. Note that in Rongpa, only /xkw/ is observed, e.g., /xkwɛ^H/ ‘be shy’; /xkwaʶ^L/ ‘to pick: 3’.

Table 2. Rongpa syllable types.

Syllable Types		Examples
V		/ɛH/ ‘question marker’6	/aʶH tsaʶL/ ‘turnip’
CV		/muH/ ‘sky’	/səL/ ‘nit’
C1C2V	C1=/x/ or /ɣ/	/xpaʶL/ ‘toad’	/ɣmaʁH/ ‘bamboo’
	C1=/m/ or /N/	/mdʐiH/ ‘thunder’	/NtʰeH/ ‘to sing’
	C1=/p/ or /b/	/ptʂɛL/ ‘friend’	/bziH/ ‘marmot’
	C1=/k/, /kʰ/ or /ɡ/	/kʰwaʶL/ ‘to pick: 3’	/ɡwɛL/ ‘to block: 3’7
C1C2C3V		/xkwɛL/ ‘charcoal’	/xkwaʶH/ ‘to carve: 3’

below exhibits all the syllable types that have been attested in Rongpa.

3. Onsets

The onset system of Rongpa is quite complex, with 43 simple initial consonants (Section 3.1) and at least 84 complex initials (Section 3.2).

3.1. Simple Consonant Initials

Table 3. Rongpa simple consonant inventory (consonants enclosed in parentheses are phonemes, each of which is only observed in one example). (43 consonants).

	Place		Labial	Alveolar	Postalveolar	Retroflex	Palatal	Velar
Manner
plosive	voiceless	−asp	p	t				k
		+asp	pʰ	tʰ				kʰ
	voiced		b	d				ɡ
affricate	voiceless	−asp		ts	ʧ	tʂ
		+asp		tsʰ	ʧʰ	tʂʰ
	voiced			dz	ʤ	dʐ
nasal	voiceless		m̥	n̥				(ŋ̊)
	voiced		m	n				ŋ
trill	voiceless			r̥
	voiced			r
fricative	voiceless	−asp	(f)	s	ʃ	ʂ		x
		+asp		sʰ	ʃʰ	ʂʰ
	voiced		v	z	ʒ	ʐ		ɣ
approximant	voiced		w				j
lateral approximant	voiceless			l̥
	voiced			l

presents the 43 simple consonant initials, all of which can occur in the C slot as the onset of CV syllables.

Below are some salient characteristics of the simple consonantal initials.

• Rongpa obstruents (i.e., plosives, affricates, and fricatives) show a three-way contrast between voiceless unaspirated, voiceless aspirated, and voiced. It is noteworthy that Rongpa has contrastive aspirated fricatives, which is rather rare cross-linguistically. The minimal or near-minimal triplets in (1) illustrate the distinctions:8

(1)	/p/	/poH/ ‘to dig: 1sg’	/t/	/toʁH/ ‘wing’
	/pʰ/	/pʰoH/ ‘to worship: 1sg’	/tʰ/	/tʰoʁH/ ‘meat; flesh’
	/b/	/buH/ ‘breath’	/d/	/doʁL/ ‘to saw: 1sg’
	/ts/	/tsoH/ ‘to sit: 1sg’	/ʧ/	/ʧoL/ ‘to wear (ring): 1sg’
	/tsʰ/	/tsʰoH/ ‘to dye: 1sg’	/ʧʰ/	/ʧʰoH/ ‘to eat: 1sg’
	/dz/	/dzoH/ ‘to teach: 1sg’	/ʤ/	/ʤoH/ ‘to run: 1sg’
	/tʂ/	/tʂəH/ ‘this’	/k/	/kɘH/ ‘age’
	/tʂʰ/	/tʂʰəH NbuH/ ‘buttocks’	/kʰ/	/kʰɘH/ ‘to need’
	/dʐ/	/dʐəH/ ‘to ruminate (animals)’	/ɡ/	/ɡɘH/ ‘vulture’
	/s/	/seH NbeH/ ‘cotton’	/ʃ/	/ʃɘH/ ‘iron spoon’
	/sh/	/sʰeL/ ‘firewood’	/ʃʰ/	/ʃʰɘH/ ‘worship’
	/z/	/zeL/ ‘liver’	/ʒ/	/ʒɘH/ ‘to move’
	/ʂ/	/ʂɜL wuH/ ‘weed’
	/ʂʰ/	/ʂʰɜL wuH/ ‘money’
	/ʐ/	/ʐɜL/ ‘travel-ready dishes’

2.

Affricates and fricatives show a three-way contrast in their places of articulation (i.e., alveolar, postalveolar, and retroflex):

(2)	/ts/	/tsəH/ ‘to squeeze: 1pl’	/tsʰ/	/tsʰəʁH/ ‘thorn’
	/ʧ/	/ʧəL ʧəH paʶL/ ‘cicada’	/ʧʰ/	/ʧʰəʁL ʧʰəʁH/ ‘sweet’
	/tʂ/	/tʂəH/ ‘this’	/tʂʰ/	/tʂʰəʁL tʂʰəʁH/ ‘be pleasant’
	/s/	/səL/ ‘nit’	/dz/	/dzɛH/ ‘to teach: 1pl’
	/ʃ/	/ʃəH/ ‘cypress’	/ʤ/	/ʤɛH/ ‘to run: 1pl’
	/ʂ/	/ʂəH/ ‘louse’	/dʐ/	/dʐɛH/ ‘enemy’

3.

Voiced nasals and liquids show contrasts with their voiceless counterparts, though the occurrences of voiceless nasals and liquids are rare, as minimal pairs in (3) show:

(3)	/m/	/maʶH xkaʶL/ ‘rainbow’	/n/	/neL/ ‘you’
	/m̥/	/m̥aʶL/ ‘eared pheasant’	/n̥/	/n̥eH n̥eL/ ‘red’
	/ŋ/	/ŋɜL/ ‘I’	/l/	/leH/ ‘earth; ground’
	/ŋ̊/	/ŋ̊ɜʶH/ ‘gold’	/l̥/	/l̥eH l̥eL/ ‘be thick’
	/r/	/roH/ ‘to see: 1sg’
	/r̥/	/r̥oL/ ‘to tear down: 1sg’

4.

Rongpa contrasts retroflex fricative /ʐ/ and the trill /r/. Consider these minimal pairs in (4):

(4)	/r/	/rəL/ ‘mountain’	/wɜL rəH/ ‘bear’
	/ʐ/	/ʐəL/ ‘water’	/wɜL ʐəH/ ‘farm cattle’

Phonetically, /r/ can be optionally realized as a retroflex trill, a retroflex flap [ɽ], or even a fricative [ʐ]; /ʐ/, on the other hand, is never pronounced as a trill.

In Rongpa, the orientational prefix rə- ‘or: upward’ can be realized as a glottal stop [ʔə-] or a flap [ɽə-] when combined with verb roots. e.g.,

/rə-ʧʰə^L/→[ʔə^L-ʧʰə^H]~[ɽə^L-ʧʰə^H] (ort:pfv-to raise _{(by hand)}) ‘I have raised upward’

/rə-ʃə^H/→[ʔə^H-ʃə^L]~[ɽə^H-ʃə^L] (ort:pfv-to put) ‘I have put upward’

However, in the interrogative form, only the trill onset [rɛ^LH-] is produced, it is never realized as [ʔɛ^LH-]:

/rɛ^LH-ʧʰə^L/→[rɛ^LH-ʧʰə^L] (ort:q-to raise _{(by hand)}) ‘Have you raised?’

5.

Voiced labiodental fricative /v/ and labial-velar approximant /w/ are contrastive:

(5)	/w/	/wɜL ʐəH/ ‘farm cattle’	/wɛL/ ‘to bake: 1pl’
	/v/	/vɜH/ ‘tsampa’	/kəL vɛH/ ‘to shake: 1pl’

6.

Alveolar nasals /n̥/ and /n/ are realized as a palatal nasal [ɲ̊] and [ɲ], respectively, when followed by the vowels /e, ɛ, o/. In other words, palatal nasals can be observed among the surface forms, but they are not phonemic. Consider the examples below:

(6)	/nɛL/→[ɲɛL] ‘fish’ /n̥oL/→[ɲ̊oL] ‘fried barley’ /n̥eH n̥eL/→[ɲ̊eH ɲ̊eL] ‘red’

The alveolar nasal is realized as [n] and [n̥] in other environments.9 This variation can be formulated as:

$$\left[\begin{array}{c}+\mathrm{coronal}\\ +\mathrm{nasal}\end{array}\right]\to \left[\begin{array}{c}+\mathrm{dorsal}\\ +\mathrm{high}\\ +\mathrm{front}\end{array}\right]/\_\_[\mathrm{e},\mathrm{\epsilon },\mathrm{o}]$$

Alveolar nasal /n, n̥ / is palatalized before [e,ɛ, o].

7.

Velar consonants retract to uvular when the nuclei of the syllable is a uvularized vowel, e.g.,

(7)	/koʶL/→[qoʶL] ‘valley’ /kʰoʶH/→[qʰoʶH] ‘head’ /xoʶL/→[χoʶL] ‘to wear (necklace): 1sg’ /ɣoʶL/→[ʁoʶL] ‘lunatic’

8.

The two rather marginal phonemes are: a labio-dental voiceless fricative /f/, only observed in /paʶ^L fe^H/ ‘soda’, and a voiceless velar nasal /ŋ̊/, only observed in /ŋ̊ɜʶ^H/ ‘gold’.

Table 4. Examples of Rongpa simple consonant phonemes.

Phoneme	Example	Phoneme	Example
/p/	/pəH/ ‘sun’	/ʧ/	/ʧəL ʧəH paʶL/ ‘cicada’
/pʰ/	/pʰɘL/ ‘salary’	/ʧʰ/	/ʧʰiH/ ‘salt’
/b/	/bɛL vəH/ ‘pine tree’	/ʤ/	/ʤɛH/ ‘Han nationality’
/m̥/	/m̥ɜH/ ‘person’	/ʃ/	/ʃəH/ ‘incense’
/m/	/muH/ ‘sky’	/ʃʰ/	/ʃʰɘH/ ‘worship’
/w/	/wɜL rəH/ ‘bear’	/ʒ/	/ʒeH/ ‘house’
/f/	/paʶL feH/ ‘soda’	/tʂ/	/tʂoʁH/ ‘ploughshare’
/v/	/vɜH/ ‘tsampa’	/tʂʰ/	/tʂʰoʁH/ ‘fence’
/t/	/toʁH/ ‘wing’	/dʐ/	/dʐəH/ ‘to ruminate (animals)’
/tʰ/	/tʰoʁH/ ‘meat’	/ʂ/	/ʂəH/ ‘louse’
/d/	/doL/ ‘to fly’	/ʂʰ/	/ʂʰɜH/ ‘strength’
/ts/	/tsɜL/ ‘he’	/ʐ/	/ʐəL/ ‘water’
/tsʰ/	/tsʰɜH/ ‘goat’	/j/	/ɛL jɛH/ ‘sister-in-law’
/dz/	/dzeH/ ‘to teach’	/k/	/kuL/ ‘tent’
/n̥/	/n̥ɜL n̥ɜH/ ‘green; blue’	/kʰ/	/kʰuH/ ‘corner’
/n/	/nɜʶH/ ‘milk’	/ɡ/	/ɡoH/ ‘supper’
/r̥/	/r̥ɛL/ ‘to tear’	/ŋ̊/	/ŋ̊ɜʶH/ ‘gold’
/r/	/rəL/ ‘mountain; hill’	/ŋ/	/ŋɛH/ ‘silver’
/s/	/sɜH/ ‘pepper’	/x/	/xɘH/ ‘mouse’
/sʰ/	/sʰɜH/ ‘to kill’	/ɣ/	/ɣɘH/ ‘barley liquor’
/z/	/zeL/ ‘liver’
/l̥/	/l̥aʁH/ ‘wind’
/l/	/leH/ ‘land; ground’

provides example of consonantal phonemes that can serve as a simplex initial:

3.2. Consonant Clusters as Complex Initials

Rongpa has a rich inventory of clusters, including (1) clusters with velar fricative /x/ or /ɣ/ as the first element; (2) clusters with nasal /m/ or /N/ as the first element; (3) clusters with bilabial stop /p/ or /b/ as the first element; and (4) clusters with labial glide /w/, as will be discussed in more detail in Section 3.2.1, Section 3.2.2, Section 3.2.3 and Section 3.2.4.

3.2.1. C1 = Dorsal Fricative /x/ or /ɣ/

Table 5. Inventory of consonant clusters with /x/ or /ɣ/ as the first element C1 (32 clusters).

C2			Labial	Alveolar	Postalveolar	Retroflex	Velar
plosive	voiceless	−asp	xp	xt			xk
		+asp	xpʰ	xtʰ			xkʰ
	voiced			ɣd			ɣɡ
affricate	voiceless	−asp		xts	xʧ	xtʂ
		+asp		xtsʰ	xʧʰ	xtʂʰ
	voiced			ɣdz
nasal	voiced		xm	xn			xŋ
			ɣm	ɣn			ɣŋ
fricative	voiceless	−asp		xs	xʃ	xʂ
		+asp		xsʰ	xʃʰ	xʂʰ
	voiced			ɣz	ɣʒ	ɣʐ
lateral approximant	voiced			xl
				ɣl

shows all consonant clusters that have dorsal fricatives /x/ or /ɣ/ as the first element C1. C2 in such clusters can be filled by obstruents, voiced nasals, and voiced laterals.

Some characteristics worth noting regarding these clusters are:

• The first element /x/ and /ɣ/ are contrastive before voiced nasals and laterals, which is attested by the following minimal pairs in (8):

(8)	/xm/	/xmɜH/ ‘crupper-strap’	/xn/	/xniH/ ‘nose’10
	/ɣm/	/ɣmɜH/ ‘mushroom’	/ɣn/	/ɣniH/ ‘ear’11
	/xŋ/	/xŋiL/ ‘be skewed’	/xl/	/xliH/ ‘tongue’
	/ɣŋ/	/ɣŋiH/ ‘drum’	/ɣl/	/ɣliH/ ‘hilt (of knife)’

However, the phonemic contrast between /x/ and /ɣ/ is neutralized when followed by obstruents. That is, /ɣ/ only occurs with voiced obstruents and /x/ only occurs with voiceless ones.

2.

In Rongpa, “/x/+voiced sonorants” clusters are not variants of voiceless sonorants. As shown in the following examples in (9), these initials are contrastive.

(9)	/m̥/	/m̥ɜH/ ‘person’	/n̥/	/n̥ɜL n̥ɜH/ ‘green; blue’
	/xm/	/xmɜH/ ‘crupper-strap’	/xn/	/xnɜH NbɜL/ ‘mouth’
	/ŋ̊/	/ŋ̊ɜʶH/ ‘gold’	/l̥/	/l̥aʁH/ ‘wind’
	/xŋ/	/xŋɜʶL/ ‘parrot’	/xl/	/xlaʁH/ ‘white poplar’

3.

In Rongpa, voiceless aspirated fricatives are phonemic. Note that in Khanggsar (Kǒngsè孔色) Stau (a Rgyalrongic language spoken in a neighboring area), voiceless fricatives are realized with aspiration in simplex initial position, and as unaspirated when they are a component of a complex initial (Jacques et al. 2017, p. 598). However, this is not the case in Rongpa. In this language, voiceless fricatives still contrast in aspiration when preceded by /x/ as C1, as minimal pairs in (10) show:

(10)	/xs/	/xsɜʶL xsɜʶH/ ‘be long’	/xʃ/	/xʃəʶH xʃəʶH/ ‘be wide’
	/xsʰ/	/xsʰɜʶL xsʰɜʶH/ ‘be sharp’	/xʃʰ/	/xʃʰəʶH/ ‘to break off: 1pl’
	/xʂ/	/xʂɜʶL xʂəʶH/ ‘to twist’
	/xʂʰ/	/xʂʰəH/ ‘to drive away’

4.

The allophones of C1 = /x/ and /ɣ/

C1 = /x/ and /ɣ/ are observed to surface as uvular and velar fricatives. The distribution of the allophones is laid out as follows:

①

Uvular allophones [χ] and [ʁ]

When the nucleus of the syllable is occupied by a uvularized vowel, C1 = /x, ɣ/ are obligatorily retracted to uvular fricative [χ, ʁ] respectively. Plain vowels, however, do not trigger this assimilation. Consider the examples in (11):

(11)

/xpoʁH/→[χpoʁH] ‘ice’ /xpəʁH/→[χpəʁH] ‘to blow: 1pl’ /xpeʶH/→[χpeʶH] ‘official; leader’ /xpɜʶH/→[χpɜʶH] ‘goiter; pus’ /xpaʁL/→[χpaʁL] ‘toad’

/ɣnoʶH/→[ʁnoʶH] ‘to read: 1sg’ /ɣnəʁH/→[ʁnəʁH] ‘to read: 1pl’ /ɣneʶL/→[ʁneʶL] ‘to grind’ /ɣnɜʶH/→[ʁnɜʶH] ‘brain’ /ɣnaʶH/→[ʁnaʶH] ‘weed’

②

Free variation: [x] or [ʂ]

Voiceless C1 = /x/ can be produced as either [x] or [ʂ]. The two allophones are in free variation. For example:

(12)	/xteH/→[xteH]~[ʂteH] ‘mat’ /xtʂɛH/→[xtʂɛH]~[ʂtʂɛH] ‘crupper-strap’ /xkuL xniH/→[xkuL xniH]~[ʂkuL xniH] ‘toe’

Some other free variants can be observed when /x/ is followed by front vowel /i/, which causes /x/ to be fronted to palatal [ç-] or Postalveolar [ʃ]. That is to say, /x/ can surface as either of the four free variants: [x, ʂ, ç, ʃ]. For instance: /xki^L/→[ʃki^L~çki^L~ʂki^L~xki^L] ‘tooth’.

③

Social/contextual variation in /ɣ/:

When produced with an emphatic tone, the voiced C1 = /ɣ/ is sometimes realized as a voiced pharyngeal fricative [ʕ]. In this case, an additional flap [ɾ] or trill-like sound is often produced between [ʕ] and the following consonant, C2.12 However, this trill/flap is just a concomitant gesture, and cannot be fully produced, otherwise the consultants would say the initial is not pronounced correctly. Consider the examples in (13).

(13)	/ɣniH/→[ʕɾniH] ‘ear’ /ɣnɜH/→[ʕɾnɜH] ‘tail’

5.

The phonemic status of the first elements /x/ and /ɣ/ is attested by many lexical pairs that are minimally distinguished by the existence or absence of C1:

(14)	/p/	/paʁL/ ‘be deaf’	/pʰ/	/pʰoʁH/ ‘to splash: 1sg’
	/xp/	/xpaʁL/ ‘toad’	/xpʰ/	/xpʰoʁL/ ‘to cover: 1sg’
	/m/	/meH/ ‘to name’	/t/	/toʁH/ ‘wing’
	/xm/	/xmeH/ ‘medicine’	/xt/	/xtoʁH/ ‘sink; Tibetan silver’
	/x/	/tʰɘH/ ‘cereal (barley and wheat)’	/d/	/dəʁL/ ‘to saw: 1pl’
	/xt/	/xtʰɘH/ ‘to stampede’	/ɣd/	/ɣdəʁH/ ‘umbrella’
	/ts/	/tsəʁH/ ‘grate’	/tsʰ/	/tsʰaʁH paʁL/ ‘wink; blink’
	/xts/	/xtsəʁH/ ‘ecphyma’	/xtsʰ/	/xtsʰaʁH/ ‘cough [N]’
	/dz/	/dzəʁL/ ‘to thread: 1pl’	/z/	/zoʁH/ ‘woman; daughter’
	/ɣdz/	/ɣdzəʁH/ ‘pillar’	/ɣz/	/ɣzoʁL/ ‘storage container’
	/s/	/sɜʶL piH/ ‘be new’	/n/	/naʁH laʁL/ ‘leaf’
	/xs/	/xsɜʶL xsɜʶH/ ‘be long’	/xn/	/xnaʁL/ ‘nettle’
	/l/	/kʰeH ləH/ ‘spleen’	/ʧ/	/ʧɛL bʒɛH/ ‘clay teapot’
	/xl/	/xləL/ ‘birch’	/xʧ/	/xʧɛL bʒɛH/ ‘shovel’
	/ʧʰ/	/ʧʰəʁL ʧʰəʁH/ ‘be sweet’	/tʂ/	/tʂuL/ ‘village’
	/xʧʰ/	/xʧʰəʁH/ ‘dog’	/xtʂ/	/xtʂuH mɘH/ ‘beggar’
	/tʂʰ/	/tʂʰəʁL tʂʰəʁH/ ‘be pleasant’	/ʂ/	/ɣoʁL ʂaʁH/ ‘peach tree’
	/xtʂʰ/	/xtʂʰəʁH/ ‘to carry (in arms): 1pl’	/xʂ/	/xʂaʁL/ ‘soil’
	/ʂʰ/	/ʂʰɜH/ ‘strength’	/ʐ/	/ʐɜL/ ‘travel-ready dishes’
	/xʂʰ/	/xʂʰɜH/ ‘to drive (cattle): 1sg’	/ɣʐ/	/ɣʐɜH/ ‘fertilizer (excrements)’
	/k/	/koL/ ‘porcupine’	/kʰ/	/kʰuH/ ‘corner’
	/xk/	/xkoL/ ‘to carry (on shoulder):1sg’	/xkʰ/	/xkʰuH/ ‘smoke’
	/ɡ/	/ɡeL/ ‘to like: 2pl’
	/ɣɡ/	/moH ɣɡeL/ ‘old woman’

Table 6. Examples of consonant clusters with /x, ɣ/ as a first element.

Cluster	Example	Cluster	Example
/xp/	/xpeL/ ‘urine’	/xʧ/	/xʧeH/ ‘warehouse’
/xpʰ/	/xpʰoʁL/ ‘to bury’	/xʧʰ/	/xʧʰəʁH/ ‘dog’
/xm/	/xmɜH/ ‘crupper-strap’	/xʃ/	/xʃəʁL xʃəʁH/ ‘be wide’
/ɣm/	/ɣmaʁH/ ‘bamboo’	/xʃʰ/	/xʃʰɜʶH/ ‘to scatter (with hands)’
/xt/	/xtaʁL/ ‘wall’	/ɣʒ/	/ɣʒəʁL/ ‘to blend’
/xtʰ/	/xtʰɘL/ ‘to stamp’	/xtʂ/	/xtʂeH/ ‘cloud’
/ɣd/	/ɣdəʁH/ ‘umbrella’	/xtʂʰ/	/xtʂʰaʁH/ ‘sifter’
/xts/	/xtsɘL/ ‘hail’	/xʂ/	/xʂaʁL/ ‘soil’
/xtsʰ/	/xtsʰaʁH/ ‘cough’	/xʂʰ/	/xʂʰɜL/ ‘to chase (cattle)’
/ɣdz/	/ɣdzɜʶH/ ‘pillar’	/ɣʐ/	/ɣʐɜH/ ‘fertilizer’
/xn/	/xnaʁL/ ‘to peel’	/xk/	/xkɜH/ ‘sound’
/ɣn/	/ɣnɜH/ ‘tail’	/xkʰ/	/xkʰuH/ ‘smoke’
/xs/	/xsoʁL/ ‘pine oil’	/ɣɡ/	/xkuH ɣɡeH/ ‘thief’
/xsʰ/	/xsʰɜʶL xsʰɜʶH/ ‘be sharp’	/xŋ/	/xŋɜʶL/ ‘parrot’
/ɣz/	/ɣzəʁH/ ‘agate’	/ɣŋ/	/ɣŋiH/ ‘drum’
/xl/	/xlaʁH/ ‘white poplar’
/ɣl/	/ɣlɘH/ ‘hand’

lists all the examples of complex initials with /x, ɣ/ as C1:

3.2.2. C1 = Nasal /m/ or /N/

Rongpa has 21 complex initials with a nasal as the first element. C2 that are compatible with /m/ and /N/ are stops and affricates, either voiced or voiceless aspirated. Note that C2 cannot be a voiceless unaspirated stop or affricate. Additionally, /m/ can also occur before a voiced nasal /n/.

Table 7. Inventory of consonant clusters with /m/ or /N/ as a first element. (21 clusters).

C2			Labial	Alveolar	Postalveolar	Retroflex	Velar
plosive	voiceless	+asp		mtʰ
			Npʰ	Ntʰ			Nkʰ
	voiced	−asp		md
			Nb	Nd			Nɡ
affricate	voiceless	+asp		mtsʰ	mʧʰ	mtʂʰ
				Ntsʰ	Nʧʰ	Ntʂʰ
	voiced	−asp		mdz	mʤ	mdʐ
				Ndz	Nʤ	Ndʐ
nasal	voiced			mn

below exhibits the inventory of consonant clusters with a nasal as the first element:

Some characteristics worth noting regarding these clusters are:

• The abstract phoneme /N-/ is homorganic to the following consonant, which can be stated using this phonological rule:13

$$N-\to [{\mathrm{place}}_{\mathrm{i}}]/\_\_\_\left[\begin{array}{c}+\mathrm{consonantal}\\ {\mathrm{place}}_{\mathrm{i}}\end{array}\right]$$

N- assimilates to the place of articulation of the following consonant.

For example:

(15)	/NphaʁL raʁH/→[mphaʁL raʁH] ‘to scratch’ /NtʰeH/→[ntʰeH] ‘to sing: 1sg’ /NkʰuL/→[ŋkʰuL] ‘to use’

2.

C1 = /m/ and /N/ are contrastive before voiced plosives or affricates, as demonstrated by the examples in (16):

(16)	/md/	/mdaʶH/ ‘bow’	/mdz/	/mdzɜH / ‘room’
	/Nd/	/aʶL NdaʶH/ ‘bull’	/Ndz/	/NdzɜH/ ‘to insert’
	/mʤ/	/mʤɜL/ ‘be sticky’	/mdʐ/	/mdʐɛH/ ‘rice’
	/Nʤ/	/NʤɜL/ ‘to change’	/Ndʐ/	/NdʐɛL bəH/ ‘fruit’

3.

If it is preceded by /m/ and the nucleus is /ɛ/ or /a^ʁ/, C2 can be labialized (adding the features of [+labial] and [+round]). Related examples are:

(17)	/mtʂʰaʁH/→[mtʂʰwaʁH] ‘plant ash’ /mdʐɛH/→[mdʐwɛH] ‘rice’

This alternation can be formulated by this phonological rule:

$$\left[\begin{array}{c}-\mathrm{syllabic}\\ +\mathrm{consonantal}\end{array}\right]\to \left[\begin{array}{c}+\mathrm{labial}\\ +\mathrm{round}\end{array}\right]/\mathrm{m}\_\_\left[\begin{array}{c}+\mathrm{syllabic}\\ +\mathrm{low}\end{array}\right]$$

The second consonant is labialized when preceding a /m-/ and followed by a low vowel.

This alternation also gives evidence that [mpʰ] should be underlyingly analyzed as /Npʰ/ rather than /mpʰ/, since in surface realization, no labialization is produced:

/Npʰa^ʁL ra^ʁH/→[mpʰa^ʁL ra^ʁH] *[mpʰ^wa^ʁL ra^ʁH]

In surface realization, some instances of [m] in C1 position are actually derived from the coalescence of /N/ and a preceding third-person prefix P-,14 as demonstrated in example (18).

(18)	/P-NtʰeH/→[mtʰeH] ‘he sings’ /P-NdʐəʶL/→[mdʐəʶL] ‘he arrests’

4.

The ‘nasal + stop/affricate’ clusters can also be found across syllable boundaries. Syllable boundary readjustment has been applied, with original coda becoming part of the following onset. Many of the related examples are etymologically Tibetan loanwords. Examples are listed in

Table 8. Marginal “nasal+stop/affricate” clusters in word medial position.

Rongpa	WT	Gloss
[ndaʶL.mbaʶH]	འདམ་པ <’dam.pa>	‘mud’
[ʃuH.ŋkʰuH]	སྤྱང་ཀི <spyang.ki>	‘wolf’
[loŋL.ŋkʰɘH]	རླུང <rlung>	‘blower (used to chaff)’
[bdʐaʶL.mbaʶH]	འགམ་པ <’gram.pa>	‘cheek’
[loŋL.tʂʰəH]15	རླངས <rlangs>	‘food steamer’
[toŋL.tʂʰaʶH.təL.roL]	སྟོང <stong>	‘(one) thousand’

:

5.

The phonemic status of the first elements /N/ and /m/ is attested by these minimal pairs in (19):

(19)	/ph/	/phaʁH/ ‘to vomit’	/b/	/buH/ ‘breath’
	/Nph/	/NphaʁL raʁH/ ‘to scratch’	/Nb/	/NboH/ ‘to protect:1sg’
	/th/	/tʰiH/ ‘big water tank’	/d/	/deH/ ‘to accumulate: 2pl’
	/mth/	/mtʰiL mtʰiH/ ‘be tall’	/Nd/	/NdeH/ ‘what’
	/tsʰ/	/ɡəL tsʰiH/ ‘vertebra’	/dz/	/dzɛH/ ‘to teach: 1pl’
	/mtsʰ/	/mtsʰiH/ ‘lake’	/mdz/	/mdzɛL/ ‘to soot’
	/dz/	/dzəʁH/ ‘to thread: 1pl’	/n/	/nɘL/ ‘forest’
	/Ndz/	/NdzəʁH/ ‘a unit of length’16	/mn/	/mnɘH/ ‘eye’
	/ʧʰ/	/ʧʰɜH ʧʰɜL/ ‘be thin’	/ʤ/	/ʤoH/ ‘to run: 1sg’
	/mʧʰ/	/mʧʰɜL mʧʰɜH/ ‘be pretty’	/Nʤ/	/NʤoL NʤoH/ ‘be weak (liquor)’
	/tʂʰ/	/tʂʰɜL/ ‘to cut’	/dʐ/	/dʐɛH/ ‘enemy’
	/mtʂʰ/	/mtʂʰɜH mtʂʰɜL/ ‘be skewed’	/mdʐ/	/mdʐɛH/ ‘rice’
	/kʰ/	/kʰuH/ ‘corner’	/ɡ/	/ɡuL/ ‘be freezing’
	/Nkʰ/	/NkʰuL/ ‘to use: 3’	/Nɡ/	/NɡuH NɡuL/ ‘to nod (head)’

Table 9. Examples of consonant clusters with /m/ or /N/ as a first element.

Cluster	Example	Cluster	Example
		/Npʰ/	/NpʰaʶL raʶH/ ‘to scratch’
		/Nb/	/NbeH/ ‘to protect’
/mtʰ/	/mtʰiL mtʰiH/ ‘be tall’	/Ntʰ/	/NtʰeH/ ‘to sing’
/md/	/mdiH/ ‘meal’	/Nd/	/NdeH/ ‘what’
/mtsʰ/	/mtsʰiH/ ‘lake’	/Ntsʰ/	/NtsʰoL/ ‘nest’
/mdz/	/mdzɜH/ ‘room’	/Ndz/	/NdzɜH/ ‘to insert’
/mʧʰ/	/mʧʰɜʶL mʧʰɜʶH/ ‘be pretty’	/Nʧʰ/	/tʂiL NʧʰuH/ ‘horse bell’
/mʤ/	/mʤɜH/ ‘be sticky’	/Nʤ/	/NʤəL/ ‘trouser’
/mtʂʰ/	/mtʂʰaʁH/ ‘plant ash’	/Ntʂʰ/	/NtʂʰeH/ ‘be expensive’
/mdʐ/	/mdʐiH/ ‘thunder’	/Ndʐ/	/NdʐeL/ ‘selvedge’
/mn/	/mnɘH/ ‘eye’	/Nkʰ/	/NkʰuL/ ‘to use: 3’
		/Nɡ/	/NɡuH NɡuL/ ‘to nod’

lists all the example of consonant clusters with /m/ or /N/ as the first element:

3.2.3. C1 = Bilabial Fricative /p/ or /b/

Table 10. Inventory of consonant clusters with /p/ or /b/ as the first element. (27 clusters).

C2			Labial	Alveolar	Postalveolar	Retroflex
plosive	voiceless	−asp		pt
		+asp		ptʰ
	voiced			(bd)
affricate	voiceless	−asp		pts	pʧ	ptʂ
		+asp		ptsʰ	pʧʰ	ptʂʰ
	voiced			(bdz)	(bʤ)	(bdʐ)
trill	voiceless			pr̥
	voiced			br
fricative	voiced	−asp		ps	pʃ	pʂ
		+asp		psʰ	pʃʰ	pʂʰ
	voiced		bv	bz	bʒ	bʐ
lateral approximant	voiceless			pl̥
	voiced			pl
				bl

presents all complex initials with a bilabial stop as the first element. C2 that are compatible with bilabial C1 are basically coronal consonants, except for /bv/, in which labiodental voiced fricative /v/ serves as C2.

Some characteristics worth noting regarding these clusters are:

• The phonemic status of the first element /p/ and /b/

Among the clusters in Table 10, the voicing contrast between /p/ and /b/ is only attested before lateral /l/, as the following minimal pairs in (20) demonstrate:17

(20)	/pl/	/ploL/→[ɸloL] ‘to plait: 1sg’	/kʰoʁL plɘH/→[qʰoʁL ɸlɘH] ‘to unbraid hair’
	/bl/	/bloH/→[βloH] ‘to do: 1sg’	/koʁL blɘH/→[qoʁL βlɘH] ‘lightning’

However, the contrast between /p/ and /b/ is neutralized before obstruents and trills; we find only [p]~[ɸ] before voiceless obstruents and voiceless trills, and [b]~[β] only before their voiced counterparts.

2.

Allophones of the first element /p/ and /b/

The first element C1 shows a process of manner assimilation, specifically: when the second element C2 is a stop or affricate, C1 remain a bilabial stop [p] or [b] (see examples in (21)); however, when C2 is a fricative or liquid, C1 is realized as a bilabial fricative [ɸ] or [β], as examples in (22) show:

(21)	/ptʂoʁH/→[ptʂoʁH] ‘bull’ /ptʂʰəʁH/→[ptʂʰəʁH] ‘tusk (of animals)’ /pʧəH pʧəL/→[pʧəH pʧəL] ‘temple ’ /bʤɜH→[bʤɜH] ‘be full’ /bʤuL /→[bʤuL] ‘to extend’
(22)	/pʃaʁH/→[ɸʃaʁH] ‘honey’ /psɘH/→[ɸsɘH] ‘light’ /bʒeL/→[βʒeL] ‘scabbard’ /blaʁH/→[βlaʁH] ‘thigh’ /braʁH/→[βraʁH] ‘cow’

The manner assimilation rule can be formulated as:

$$\left[\begin{array}{c}\mathrm{p}-\\ \mathrm{b}-\end{array}\right]\to \left[\mathsf{\alpha }\mathrm{continuant}\right]/\_\_\left[\begin{array}{c}+\mathrm{consonantal}\\ \mathsf{\alpha }\mathrm{continuant}\end{array}\right]$$

/p/ and /b/ take on the manner of articulation (regarding the feature [±continuant]) of the following consonant.

It should be noted that, although at first glance the surface representation of [b] as the first element can be accounted for using the manner-assimilation rule above, most of the related examples are Tibetan loanwords, so the complex initials with [b] could have been imported directly from neighboring Tibetan dialects.18 Consider the examples in

Table 11. Marginal clusters of [bC] in Rongpa (question mark “?”denotes uncertainty of the etymological origins).

Cluster	Example	WT	Gloss
[bd]	[niL xuH tsaʁL bdɘH]	བདུན <bdun>	‘twenty-seven’
[bdz]	[sʰaʁL bdzɜH muL tɘL]	(བརྩི <brdzi>)?	‘cosmos flower’
[bdʐ]	[bdʐaʁL mbaʁH]	འགྲམ་པ <’gram.pa>	‘cheek’
[bʤ]	[bʤɜH]	(རྒྱག <rgyag>)?	‘be full’
	[niL xuH tsaʁL bʤeH]	བརྒྱད <brgyad>	‘twenty-eight’
	[bʤuL]	(བརྒྱངས <brgyangs>)?	‘to extend’

.

3.

Analogy with /m/ discussed above; the first element /p/ also triggers labialization of the following consonant:

(23)	/ptsaʶH/→[ptsʷaʶH] ‘rust’19 /ptʂɛL/→[ptʂʷɛL] ‘distiller’s yeast; friend; placenta’ /pʃaʶH/→[ɸʃʷaʶH] ‘honey’ /ʤɛL bʒɛH/→[ʤɛL βʒʷɛH] ‘chicken’

Thus, the phonological rule stated above can be further expanded as:

$$\left[\begin{array}{c}-\mathrm{syllabic}\\ +\mathrm{consonantal}\end{array}\right]\to \left[\begin{array}{c}+\mathrm{labial}\\ +\mathrm{round}\end{array}\right]/\left[\begin{array}{c}+\mathrm{labial}\\ +\mathrm{round}\end{array}\right]\_\_\left[\begin{array}{c}+\mathrm{syllabic}\\ +\mathrm{low}\end{array}\right]$$

The second consonant is labialized when preceding a labial consonant and followed by a low vowel.

4.

Again, the contrast of fricative aspiration still exists in /pC/ clusters:

(24)	/ps/	/psoH/ ‘to grind: 1sg’	/pʃ/	/pʃaʶH/ ‘honey’
	/psʰ/	/psʰoH/ ‘to select: 1sg’	/pʃʰ/	/pʃʰaʶH/ ‘cedar’
	/pʂ/	/pʂəH/ ‘to speak: 1pl’
	/pʂʰ/	/pʂʰəH/ ‘to go: 3 (light verb)’

5.

Apart from prefix P- in inflected verbs, there are also nominal examples showing that the status of the bilabial C1 is stable in Rongpa phonology; see minimal pairs in (25):

(25)	/ts/	/tsaʁH/ ‘fat (meat)’	/r/	/reH/ ‘cliff’
	/pts/	/ptsaʁH/ ‘rust’	/br/	/breH/ ‘horse’
	/s/	/siL siH/ ‘scarecrow’	/l/	/leH/ ‘ground; earth’
	/ps/	/psiH/ ‘moth (in wool)’	/pl/	/pleL/ ‘wooden plate’
	/ʧ/	/ʧəL ʧəH paʁL/ ‘cicada’	/ʒ/	/ʒeH/ ‘sheep’
	/pʧ/	/pʧəH pʧəL/ ‘temple (of the body)’	/bʒ/	/bʒeL/ ‘scabbard’
	/tʂ/	/tʂoʁL/ ‘ploughshare’
	/ptʂ/	/ptʂoʁH/ ‘bull’

6.

The combination of /bv/ is rather marginal since it is observed only once in our database, namely /bve^H/→[βve^H] ‘pig’. The transcription of ‘pig’ as /bve^H/→[βve^H] is also attested by the 3^rd person form of /kə^L ve^H/ ‘to shake’, that is, /kə^L P-ve^H/→[kə^L βve^H] ‘he shakes’. My consultant judged the second syllable [βve^H] as homophonic with /bve^H/→[βve^H] ‘pig’.

7.

Note that except for /bv/, C2 = labial and velar consonants are almost absent in Table 9. It appears that clusters such as [pp^h], [pk], and [bɡ] are not allowed for the phonological restrictions in this language. This fact can also be attested by the morphological evidence of the third-person prefix P- attached to the verb root with bilabial and velar consonant initials. See examples in (26):

(26)	/P-peH/→[peH] ‘He digs’ /P-kheL/→[kheL] ‘He airs (the clothes)’

At first glance, it seems that both /p/ and /k^h/ are immune to being prefixed with P-. However, this third-person prefix P- can be realized as a glide [w] between velar consonant initials and an uvularized open /aʶ/. See examples in (27):

(27)	/P-kʰaʶL/→[qʰwaʶL] ‘He picks’ /P-xkaʶH/→[χqwaʶH] ‘He carves’

It is more plausible to state that the third-person prefix P- is not truly absent. It is realized as a glide [w], and this glide can be deleted in specific environments. Specifically, take the verb /k^he^L/ ‘to air’ as an example: its underlying third-person form is /k^hwe^L/ and its surface form is [k^he^L] due to the /w/ deletion. Alternatively, we can also state that /e/ and /we/ are neutralized after /k^h/. More detailed information is pending future research.

Examples of consonant clusters with /p/ or /b/ as the first element are listed in

Table 12. Examples of consonant clusters with /p/ or /b/ as a first element.

Cluster	Example	Cluster	Example
/bv/	/bveH/ ‘pig’	/pʧ/	/pʧəH pʧəL/ ‘temple (of the body)’
/pt/	/ptaʁH/ ‘to twine: 3’	/pʧʰ/	/pʧʰiH/ ‘to eat: 3’
/ptʰ/	/ptʰeH/ ‘to drink: 3’	/bʤ/	/bʤɜL/ ‘be full’
/bd/	/niL xuH tsaʁL bdɘH/ ‘twenty-seven’	/pʃ/	/pʃaʁH/ ‘honey’
/pts/	/ptseH/ ‘ghost’	/pʃʰ/	/pʃʰaʁH/ ‘cedar’
/ptsʰ/	/ptsʰɛH/ ‘to dye: 3’	/bʒ/	/bʒeL/ ‘sheath’
/bdz/	/sʰaʁL bdzɜH muL tɘL/ ‘cosmos flower’	/ptʂ/	/ptʂɛL/ ‘friend’
/pr̥/	/pr̥ɛL/ ‘to tear down: 3’	/ptʂʰ/	/ptʂʰəH roH/ ‘six’
/br/	/braʁH/ ‘cow’	/bdʐ/	/bdʐaʁL NbaʁH/ ‘cheek’
/ps/	/psiH/ ‘worm’	/pʂ/	/pʂəH/ ‘to speak: 3’
/psʰ/	/psʰɜH/ ‘to kill: 3’	/pʂʰ/	/pʂʰəH/ ‘to go (light verb): 3’
/bz/	/bziH/ ‘marmot’	/bʐ/	/bʐəH roL/ ‘four’
/pl̥/	/pl̥oʁH/ ‘to knead: 3’
/pl/	/pleH/ ‘wooden plate’
/bl/	/blaʁH/ ‘thigh’

:

3.2.4. Clusters with Glide /w/

As described in Section 2, the occurrence of /w/ in consonant clusters requires a restricted environment; /w/ only occurs after velar obstruents, and the nuclei must be [+low] vowels, specifically /ɛ, aʶ/. There are only 4 clusters with glide /w/ in Rongpa, which are listed in

Table 13. Examples of consonant clusters with glide /w/.

Cluster	Example	Cluster	Example
/kw/	/kwaʁH loʶL/ ‘iron stove’	/xkw/	/xkwɛH/ ‘be shy’
/kʰw/	/kʰwaʁL/ ‘to pick: 3’
/ɡw/	/ɡwɛL/ ‘to block: 3’

:

Minimal pairs that show the contrastive status of glide /w/ are:

(28)	/kaʶL/ ‘drop down’	/kʰaʶL kʰaʶH/ ‘be angry’
	/kwaʁH loʶL/ ‘iron stove’	/kʰwaʁL/ ‘to pick: 3’
	/ɡɛL/ ‘to owe: 1pl’	/xkɛL/ ‘to carry (on shoulder): 1pl’
	/ɡwɛL/ ‘to block: 3’	/xkwɛL/ ‘charcoal’

As briefly described in Footnote 14, glide [w] also occurs as an irregular allomorph of third-person prefix P-. When the initial of the verb root includes a velar stop and the vowel of the root is uvularized /aʶ/, a glide [w] is inserted. For example:

(29)	/P-kʰaʶL/→[qʰwaʶL] ‘He picks’ /P-xkaʶH/→[xqwaʶH] ‘He carves’

That is to say, the glide [w] could be a surface realization of the 3rd person prefix P-. It follows that at least some [k^hw] and [xkw] clusters can be analyzed underlyingly as /P-k^h/ or /P-xk/ respectively. More detailed analysis of this morphophonemic process is in order in future research.

4. Rhymes

As shown in

Table 14. Rongpa vowel phonemes inventory.

Plain Vowels	i	e	ɛ	ɘ	ə	ɜ	o	u
Uvularized vowels		eʶ	aʁ		əʁ	ɜʶ	oʁ

, vowels in Rongpa can be divided into two types: plain and uvularized ones, which make up thirteen vocalic phonemes in total. Section 4.1 and Section 4.2 present a phonemic analysis of the vowels, and the phenomena of vowel harmony will be discussed in Section 4.3.

The following examples in

Table 15. Examples of Rongpa vowel phonemes.

Phoneme	Examples
/i/	/ziL/ ‘wool’	/ʧʰiH/ ‘to eat’
/e/	/leH/ ‘ground; earth’	/tʰeH/ ‘to drink’
/ɛ/	/rɛL/ ‘cloth’	/psʰɛH/ ‘to select (seed)’
/ɘ/	/nɘL/ ‘forest’	/ʒɘH/ ‘to take way; to move’
/ə/	/pəH/ ‘sun’	/ʧʰəH/ ‘to lift; to raise’
/ɜ/	/pɜH/ ‘photo’	/tsɜH/ ‘to milk (cow)’
/o/	/koL/ ‘porcupine’	/xkoH/ ‘to believe’
/u/	/muH/ ‘sky’	/xkuL/ ‘to give birth (a child)’
/oʶ/	/zoʶH/ ‘woman’	/ʐoʶL/ ‘to promise’
/əʶ/	/sʰəʶH/ ‘blood’	/NdʐəʶL/ ‘to support (with hands)’
/eʶ/	/xpeʶH/ ‘official; leader’	/xʃʰeʶH/ ‘to snap (with hands): 2’
/ɜʶ/	/mɜʶL/ ‘fire’	/xnɜʶH/ ‘to shine; to light up’
/aʶ/	/ɣaʶH/ ‘door’	/xkaʶH/ ‘to carve’

illustrate the vocalic phonemes:

4.1. Plain Vowels

Rongpa distinguishes eight plain vowel phonemes, see Figure 2:

Phonemic analysis of plain vowels:

• Minimal sets of all eight plain vowels

As shown in (30), all the plain vowels are contrastive after voiced velar stop /ɡ/:

(30)

/i/ /e/ /ɛ/ /ɘ/ /ɜ/ /ə/ /o/ /u/

/ɡiH/ ‘to like:1pl’ /ɡeH/ ‘to ripe (fruit)’ /ɡɛH/ ‘saddle’ /ɡɘH/ ‘vulture’ /ɡɜH/ ‘to warm oneself (by a fire): 1sg’ /ɡəH/ ‘to warm oneself (by a fire): 1pl’ /ɡoH/ ‘supper’ /ɡuL/ ‘be freezing; to owe (money)’

2.

Closed vowels /i/ and /u/

The phonemes /i/ and /u/ are high but slightly centralized vowels, which should be phonetically transcribed as [ɨ] and [ʉ], respectively. Regarding the distribution of [ɨ] and [ʉ], as

Table 16. The distribution of [ɨ] and [ʉ] (i.e., the places of the preceding consonants).

	Labial	Alveolar	Postalveolar	Retroflex	Velar
[ɨ]	(√)20	√	√	√	√
[ʉ]	√	–	–	–	√

shows, [ʉ] never occurs after coronal onsets. [ɨ], on the other hand, occurs more frequently after coronal onsets. However, the two vowels are not in complementary distribution, as they are contrastive after labial and velar consonants:

Minimal pairs that show the contrast between /i/ and /u/ are in (31):

(31)	/i/	/miH/ ‘wound’	/ɡiH/ ‘to like: 1pl’
	/u/	/muH/ ‘sky’	/ɡuL/ ‘to owe (money)’

3.

Close-mid central vowel /ɘ/

/ɘ/ is a rather illusive phoneme. Minimal pairs that show /ɘ/ is distinct from other adjacent vowels are shown in (32):

(32)	/ɘ/	/xpɘH/ ‘to invert’	/ʒeH/ ‘sheep’
	/e/	/xpeH/ ‘Tibetan incense’	/ʒɘH/ ‘to move’
	/ə/	/xpəH / ‘to soak: 1pl’	/ʒəH/ ‘to sleep: 1pl’

When /ɘ/ occurs after labial and velar consonants, an insertion of glide /w/ is applied, as in the examples in (33), while after coronal consonants, this glide /w/ is absent. See examples in (34):

(33)	/pɘL/→[pwɘH] ‘cow dung’ /mɘH/→[mwɘH] ‘butter’ /xɘH/→[xwɘH] ‘mouse’ /ɡɘH/→[ɡwɘH] ‘vulture’
(34)	/ɣlɘH/→[ɣlɘH] ‘hand’ /xtɘH/→[xtɘH] ‘excrement’ /xnɘH/→[xnɘH] ‘sisters (of a man)’ /tʰɘH/→[tʰɘH] ‘grain (barley and wheat)’

This skewed distribution in which the inserted [w] occurs only after grave consonants (i.e., labial and dorsal) reminds us of the conspicuous phonotactic constrain mentioned in Section 3.2.3. That is, labial stops [p-] and [b-] occur only before coronal consonants. These evidences prompt some hypothesis. For one thing, clusters [pw], [mw], [xw], and [ɡw] in (33) might be other irregular realizations of labial and velar consonants that prefixed with [p-] or [b-] (also see [w] as an irregular allomorph of 3^rd person prefix P- in endnote 14). For another thing, the independent vowel phoneme /ɘ/ in (34) emerges through a vowel coalescence with glide [w], specifically, *wV→/ɘ/.

4.

Close-mid front vowels /e/ and back /o/

/e/ and /o/ are realized as [ɪ] and [ʊ] phonetically. Note that these two vowels are distinguishable from /i/→[ɨ] and /u/→[ʉ], respectively, in this language, as shown in the minimal pairs in (35) and (36):

(35)	/i/	/ʒiH/→[ʒɨH] ‘face’	/ziL/→[zɨL] ‘wool’
	/e/	/ʒeH/→[ʒɪH] ‘sheep’	/zeL/→[zɪL] ‘liver’
(36)	/u/	/kuL/→[kʉL] ‘tent’	/xkuL/→[xkʊL] ‘to give birth (child)’
	/o/	/koL/→[kʊL] ‘porcupine’	/xkoL/→[xkʉL] ‘to carry (on shoulder)’

5.

Central vowels /ɜ/ and /ə/

Other than /ɘ/, Rongpa has two contrastive central vowels, /ɜ/ and /ə/, as illustrated by the examples in (37):

(37)	/vɜH/ ‘tsampa’	/xpɜH/ ‘pancreas’
	/vəH/ ‘belly’	/xpəH/ ‘potherb’
	/tsʰɜH/ ‘goat’	/ʃɜH/ ‘interest’
	/tsʰəH/→[tsʰz̍H] ‘wrinkle’	/ʃəH/→[ʃʒ̍H] ‘Selaginella’
	/xtʂɜH/ ‘rheum officinale’	/xkɜH/ ‘sound’
	/xtʂəH/→[xtʂɻ̍ H] ‘waist’	/kə/ ‘orientational prefix: leftward’

/ə/ has four allophones. After coronal fricatives and affricates, it is realized as syllabic voiced fricatives that are homorganic with the preceding consonant (in some transcription systems, these can be represented using symbols for “apical vowels”), and it is realized as [ə] elsewhere. Thus, the allophones of /ə/ and environments where they occur are summarized in Figure 3:

6.

Open front vowel /ɛ/

/ɛ/ (whose uvularized counterpart is /aʶ/) is the only open plain vowel in the inventory (which can be distinctively characterized using [+low]) and can trigger vowel harmony (see Section 4.3.2 for detailed description).

4.2. Uvularized Vowels

The term “uvularization” is used less commonly in literature. Alternatively, the “velarization” is used to refer to a consonantal, rather than vocalic, feature (Ladefoged and Maddieson 1996, p. 365; Ladefoged and Johnson 2014, p. 245).

In recent years, more and more phonological and phonetic studies have been focusing on the phenomena of velarization/uvularization/pharyngealization in Sino-Tibetan languages (Sun 2000, 2004; Evans 2006a, 2006b; Lin et al. 2012; Sun and Evans 2013; Evans et al. 2016; Gong 2018, 2020; Chiu and Sun 2020). Such phenomena in previous studies are sometimes referred to as those of “tense” and “lax” vowels (Huang 1991a) or RTR (Gao 2015). In recent analyses, velarized or pharyngealized vowels are analyzed as a vocalic feature. In particular, “uvularized vowels” are detected and investigated in Tibeto-Burman languages such as Qiang (Sun and Evans 2013; Evans et al. 2016) and Minyag (Van Way 2018).

There are five uvularized vowels in Rongpa, as is schematized in Figure 4.

• A phonemic analysis

In phonological terms, all the uvularized vowels are non-front vowels. Minimal sets are as follows:

(38)	/oʁ/	/xpoʶH/ ‘ice’	/tsoʶH/ ‘bridge’
	/əʁ/	/xpəʶH/ ‘to blow: 1pl’	/tsəʶH/ ‘ankle’
	/eʁ/	/xpeʶH/ ‘official; leader’	/tseʶL tseʶH/ ‘be wet’
	/ɜʶ/	/xpɜʶH/ ‘goiter; pus’	/tsɜʶH/ ‘deer’
	/aʁ/	/xpaʶL/ ‘toad’	/tsaʶH/ ‘fat [N]’

Each of the uvularized vowels contrasts with its plain counterpart; minimal pairs are:

(39)	/o/	/koL/ ‘porcupine’	/ə/	/tʂʰəH NbuH/ ‘buttocks’
	/oʶ/	/koʶL/ ‘valley’	/əʶ/	/tʂʰəʁH NbuH/ ‘ox horn’
	/e/	/xpeH/ ‘Tibetan incense’	/ɜ/	/xpɜH/ ‘pancreas’
	/eʶ/	/xpeʶH/ ‘leader; official’	/ɜʶ/	/xpɜʁH/ ‘goiter; pus’
	/ɛ/	/kʰɛL kʰɛH/ ‘to break up (the family)’
	/aʶ/	/kʰaʶL kʰaʶH/ ‘be angry’

2.

Allophones of vowel /ɜʶ/

Impressionistically, the phonetic realization of /ɜʶ/ resembles the back open-mid vowel [ʌ] after coronal consonants (see examples in (40)) and [ɔ] after bilabial and velar consonants (see examples in (41)). These allophones appropriately reflect the influence of the gesture of uvularization (i.e., the retraction of the tongue root) on vowels. In other words, both [ʌ] and [ɔ] are endowed with the nature of uvularization.

(40)	/mɜʶL/→[mɔL] ‘fire’ /ɣɜʶL/→[ʁɔL] ‘treetop’
(41)	/tsɜʶH/→[tsʌH] ‘deer’ /tʂɜʶH/→[tʂʌH] ‘to squeeze’

Furthermore, the underlying nature of uvularization of [ʌ] and [ɔ] is also attested by the fact that both [ʌ] and [ɔ] can trigger uvularization harmony (see Section 4.3.1 for more detailed discussion).

The reason why /ɜʶ/ is paired with central open-mid plain vowel /ɜ/ lies in the parallel vowel alternation patterns of the verbs with nuclei /ɜ/ and /ɜʶ/. As shown in

Table 17. Vowel alternation patterns of /tsɜ^H/ ‘to milk _{(a cow)}’ and /xtsɜʶ^H/ ‘to pound _(walnut)’.

Subject	1sg	1pl	2sg	2pl	3
/tsɜH/ ‘to milk (a cow)’	tsɜH	tsəH	tsɜH	tsɜH	ptsɜH
/xtsɜʶH/ ‘to pound (walnut)’	xtsɜʶH	xtsəʶH	xtsɜʶH	xtsɜʶH	xtsɜʶH

, /tsɜ^H/ ‘to milk _{(a cow)}’ and /xtsɜʶ^H/ ‘to pound _(walnut) show a parallel alternation pattern, that is, only the first-person-plural forms show a vowel alternation, while others remain unchanged. This alternation pattern only applies to verbs with nuclei /ɜ/ and /ɜʶ/ underlyingly.

3.

Uvularized open vowel /aʶ/

/aʶ/ is the only open vowel among uvularized sets and is the uvularized counterpart of plain /ɛ/. The viability of pairing /aʶ/ with /ɛ/ can also be proved by a vowel harmony process, as will be discussed in Section 4.3.1.

4.

Phonological characteristics of plain and uvularized vowels

Vowel uvularization is essential in Rongpa phonology. Phonological evidence, as observed in phonotactic constrains and vowel harmony processes, can justify the application of the term “uvularization”.

①

Phonotactic constraints

Phonotactic constraints show that Rongpa vowels can be divided into two natural classes. As can be seen in

Table 18. Distribution of plain and uvularized vowels in Rongpa. (“√” means the vowel can occur in that environment).

	Vowel Type	Plain Vowels	Uvularized Vowels
Preceding Consonant
labial		√	√
alveolar		√	√
Postalveolar		√	√
retroflex		√	√
velar		√	–
uvular		–	√

, in terms of phonetic realization, plain vowels do not occur with uvular initials, while uvularized vowels do not occur with velar initials, though both sets of vowels occur with labial and coronal initials.

One plausible interpretation of the distribution in Table 18 is that velar and uvular initials are not phonemically distinct. As is stated above in Section 3.1, uvular consonants are allophones of velar consonants when followed by uvularized vowels.

②

Evidence from the first element /x, ɣ/ of the complex initials

The first element /x, ɣ/ assimilates to uvular fricative [χ, ʁ] when the nucleus of the syllable is a uvularized vowel21, e.g.,

(42)	/xpoʁH/→[χpoʁH] ‘ice’ /xʧʰəʁH/→[χʧʰəʁH] ‘dog’ /xkaʁH/→[χqaʁH] ‘to carve: 3’

Moreover, the uvularized vowel can also trigger progressive assimilation, causing the first element /x/ of the following to become [χ]. Compare the realization of the morpheme /xpe^L/ “tree” in each example in (37).

(43)	/xtʂɛH ɡɛH xpeL/→[xtʂɛH ɡɛH xpeL] ‘walnut tree’ /loʁH xpeL/→[loʁH χpeL] ‘tree’

The vowel of the next syllable is immune to such assimilation, which indicates that uvularization is not a suprasegmental feature that can permeate all syllables of a word.

③

Evidence from vowel harmony processes

Uvularization spreads leftwards from the stem to the prefix(es). If a verb root has a uvularized vowel as its nucleus, orientation prefixes attached to it can be fully uvularized (see detailed discussion later in Section 4.3.1). Consider the examples in (38), in which the orientational prefixes kə- ‘ort: leftward’ and ɣə- ‘ort: rightward’ become [qəʶ] and [ʁəʶ], respectively, because the underlying vowel of the verb root is uvularized.

(44)	/kə-xtəʁH/→[qəʁH-xtəʁL] ‘ort: pfv-to ask: 1pl’ /ɣə-bzəʁH/→[ʁəʁH-βzəʁL] ‘ort: pfv -to pull: 1sg’

4.3. Vowel Harmony

Vowel harmony refers to assimilations among vowels that may be separated by consonants (Rose and Walker 2011, p. 251). Rongpa exhibits a rich array of vowel harmony processes in various domains: uvularization harmony (Section 4.3.1), height harmony (Section 4.3.2), and harmony on lip-roundedness (Section 4.3.3), as will be discussed in the following subsections.

4.3.1. Uvularization Harmony

Uvularization harmonizes leftward from stem to prefix. This process can be observed in various domains:

• Question marker ɛ^H-, non-past negative prefix mɛ-, prohibitive prefix tɛ-

When the vowel of the root is a plain vowel, the question marker, non-past negative, and prohibitive prefixes surface as [ɛ^H-], [mɛ-], and [tɛ-], respectively. On the other hand, when the nucleus of the verb root is a uvularized vowel, these prefixes become [aʶ^H-], [maʶ-], and [taʶ-]. Contrast the examples in (45) and (46).

(45)	/ɛH-ʤoH/→[ɛH-ʤoH] ‘q-to run: 2sg’ /mɛ-ʤoH/→[mɛH-ʤoL] ‘neg: npst-to run: 1sg’ /tɛH-ʤoL/→[tɛH-ʤoL] ‘proh-to run: 2sg’
(46)	/ɛH-xtsɜʶH/→[aʶH-χtsɜʶH] ‘q-to pound (walnut): 2sg’ /mɛ-xtsɜʶH/→[maʶH-χtsɜʶL] ‘neg: npst-to pound (walnut): 1sg’ /tɛ-xtsɜʶH/→[taʶH-χtsɜʶL] ‘proh-to pound (walnut): 2sg’

2.

Orientation prefix22

In Rongpa, the perfective aspect is encoded by adding an orientational prefix to the verb root. The orientation prefix harmonizes with the vowel of the verb root.

As already mentioned in Section 4.2, the vowel of the prefix is uvularized when it is attached to a verb root that has a uvularized vowel as its nucleus:

(47)	/tə-xtoʁH/→[təʁH-χtoʁL] ‘ort:pfv-to rob: 1sg’ /lə-kʰəʁL/→[ləʁL-qʰəʁH] ‘ort:pfv-to collect (firewood): 1pl’ /kə-xmeʁH/→[qəʁH-χmeʁL] ‘ort:pfv-to close (eyes): 2pl’ /kə-xnɜʁL/→[qəʶ-χnɜʁL] ‘ort:pfv-to light up: 1sg’ /lə-P-tʂʰaʶH/→[laʶH-ptʂʰaʶL] ‘ort:pfv-to take apart: 3’

Note that, for orientation prefixes kə- and ɣə-, it is clear that, auditorily, not only the nucleus but also the onset of the prefix could be uvularized. In other words, the feature of uvularization spreads through the whole preceding syllable.23

(48)	/kə-xpəʁH/→[qəʁH-χpəʁL] ‘ort: pfv-to blow: 1pl’ /ɣə-xtʂʰəʁL/→[ʁəʁL-χtʂʰəʁH] ‘ort: pfv-to untie: 1pl’

3.

“tə- ‘one’ + classifier/quantifier” combinations

When the numeral tə- ‘one’ is followed by a classifier/quantifier, the vowel of tə- harmonizes with the vowel of the following syllable in terms of uvularization. Compare the examples in (49) and (50)

(49)	[təH ɣuH] ‘a bundle (of wood)’ [təL tsəH] ‘a piece (of bamboo)’ [təL ʐɛH] ‘a bowl (of rice)’
(50)	[təʶL xsoʶH] ‘a liǎng (in Chinese liǎng两, a unit of weight that equals to 50 g)’ [təʶL sʰɜʶH] ‘a pail (of water)’ [təʶL qʰaʶH] ‘a package (of tobacco)’

4.3.2. Height Harmony

Vowel harmony on height systematically occurs on the orientation prefixes that are attached to the verb root. Specifically, when orientation prefix tə- ‘or: unmarked’ or lə- ‘or: downward’ is attached to roots with [+low] nuclei /ɛ, aʶ/, the vowel of the prefix becomes [ɛ, aʶ] as well. See examples in (51)–(52). Note that examples in (52) exhibit both height and uvularization harmony.

(51)	/tə-ʤɛH/→[tɛH-ʤɛL] ‘ort:pfv-to run: 1pl’ /lə-kʰɛH/→[lɛH-kʰɛL] ‘ort:pfv-to bask (under the sunshine): 1pl’
(52)	/tə-zaʁH/→[taʁH-zaʁL] ‘ort:pfv-to hit: 3’ /lə-kʰwaʁL/→[laʁL-qʰwaʁH] ‘ort:pfv-to collect (firewood): 3’

Note that, however, orientation prefixes kə- ‘or: leftward’ and ɣə- ‘or: rightward’ do not show this height harmony:

(53)	/kə-xtɛL/→[kəL-xtɛH] *[kɛH-xtɛL] ‘ort:pfv-to forge (iron): 1pl’ /ɣə-dzaʁL/→[ʁəʁL-dzaʁH] *[ʁaʁL-dzaʁH] ‘ort:pfv-to thread (a needle): 3’

4.3.3. Harmony on Roundedness

Roundedness harmony is optional. For instance, it sporadically occurs on the prefix that is attached to the verb stem indicating first-person-singular form (the root vowel always alternates to /o/ and /oʶ/ with feature of [+round] when in 1st person singular form), as shown in examples (54)–(55). Note that examples in (55) exhibit both rounding and uvularization harmony.

(54)	/kə-dzoH/→[koH-dzoL]~[kəH-dzoL] ‘ort:pfv-to teach: 1sg’ /ɣə-tʰoH/→[ɣoH-tʰoL]~[ɣəH-tʰoL] ‘ort:pfv-to drink: 1sg’
(55)	/ɣə-dzoʁL/→[ʁoʁL-dzoʁH]~[ʁəʁL-dzoʁH] ‘ort:pfv-to knead (needle): 1sg’ /lə-roʁL/→[loʁL-roʁH]~[ləʁL-roʁH] ‘ort:pfv-to laugh: 1sg’

5. Tone and Pitch Patterns

Choyul tones have been more or less described for several Choyul varieties by various scholars (Lu 1985; Wang 1991; Nishida 2008; Suzuki et al. n.d.; Suzuki and Wangmo 2018), though all these analyses are rather sketchy. In this section we tend to provide a more detailed, though not complete, description of the tonal system of Rongpa.

5.1. Tones in Monosyllabic Words

Monosyllabic words contrast two tones, /H/ and /L/. Impressionistically, some /H/ tone syllables can be realized on a high-level pitch, which is transcribed as [44] (see pitch trace in Figure 5a), while other /H/-tone syllables are realized on a high-falling contour, which is transcribed as [42] (see pitch trace in Figure 6a). Note that there is no contrast between [44] and [42]). On the other hand, /L/-tone syllables are realized on a low-rising contour in isolation, which is transcribed as [24] (see Figure 5b and Figure 6b). Consider the minimal pairs in

Table 19. Rongpa tones on monosyllable words.

Tone	Pitch Pattern	Examples
/H/	[44]~[42]	/l̥aʁH/→[l̥aʁ44] ‘wind’	/xtʂəʁH/→[χtʂəʁ42] ‘flood’
/L/	[24]	/l̥aʁL/→[l̥aʁ24] ‘wheat sprouts’	/xtʂəʁL/→[χtʂəʁ24] ‘willow’

.

Figure 5 and Figure 6 exhibit the pitch traces of the example shown in Praat (Boersma and Weenink 2018):

Rongpa tones are contrastive in all types of syllables.24 The following minimal pairs in

Table 20. Rongpa tone minimal pairs on monosyllables.

/H/	/L/
/toʁH/ ‘wing’	/toʁL/ ‘shell’
/phoH/ ‘to escape: 1sg’	/phoL/ ‘to lose (money): 1sg’
/ɡoH/ ‘supper’	/ɡoL/ ‘back (of the body)’
/xtaʁH/ ‘tiger’	/xtaʁL/ ‘wall (made by stone)’
/xtʂəʁH/ ‘flood’	/xtʂəʁL/ ‘willow’
/ʤiH/ ‘to run’	/ʤiL/ ‘scrotum’
/xuH/ ‘rain’	/xuL/ ‘yoghurt’
/sheH/ ‘mind’	/sheL/ ‘firewood’
/ɣoʁH/ ‘help [N]’	/ɣoʁL/ ‘madman’
/ɣʒəʁH/ ‘balcony’	/ɣʒəʁL/ ‘to mix: 1pl’
/l̥aʁH/ ‘wind’	/l̥aʁL/ ‘wheat sprouts’
/nɛH/ ‘owl’	/nɛL/ ‘fish’

demonstrate the binary contrast with all types of initials and rhymes:

5.2. Pitch Patterns in Disyllabic Words

Rongpa disyllabic words exhibit four pitch patterns, as is summarized in

Table 21. Pitch patterns in disyllabic words.

Pitch Patterns	Examples
[H-H]	[xteH reH] ‘fog’	[tʂʰəH mbuH] ‘buttocks’
[H-L]	[xnɜH mbɜL] ‘mouth’	[ɣoʶH ʧʰiL] ‘sparrow’
[L-H]	[xlɜL mnɜH] ‘moon’	[pʰəL kʰɛH] ‘stomach’
[LH-L]	[tsɜLH nəL] ‘they’	[ɡeLH niL] ‘be early’

:

In our database, we cannot find minimal sets that contrast all the four patterns at once. We can only find minimal pairs that distinguish [L-H] from [H-H] (see examples in (56)) and those that contrast [L-H] and [H-L] (see examples in (57)). Note that there are no instances that distinguish [H-H] from [H-L].

(56)	[L-H]	[ʃiL dɘH] ‘garlic’	[ɛL kɛH] ‘older brother’
	[H-L]	[ʃiH dɘL] ‘coral’	[ɛH kɛL] ‘tick (parasite)’
(57)	[L-H]	[xkoL xliH] ‘bone marrow’	[ʃiL mɘH] ‘sand’
	[H-H]	[xkoH xliH] ‘nine months’	[ʃiH mɘH] ‘dried roasted barley’

The pattern [LH-L] is a moot point at this stage. The first syllable is produced with a complete low-rising contour and the second syllable is on a low pitch. The occurrence of this pattern may result from special morphological structuring. Throughout the whole database, there are three instances that are produced with this pattern. Note that in the first two examples in (58), =nə is probably a plural enclitic.

(58)	[pɜʶLH nəL] ‘others’ [tsɜLH nəL] ‘they’ (/tsɜLH/ ‘he; she’) [ɡeLH niL] ‘be early’

5.3. Pitch Patterns in Verb Morphology

Monosyllabic verb roots also contrast two tones: /H/ and /L/. In general, a verb can take at most two prefixes, with a negative prefix slot located immediately following the orientational prefix: ort-neg-stem (∑). This section examines the pitch variations of perfective and imperative verb forms (Section 5.3.1), and negative verb forms (Section 5.3.2), which to an extent preserve the two-way contrast between /H/ and /L/.

5.3.1. Perfective and Imperative Verb Forms

In Rongpa, a verb stem with an orientation prefix can either indicate the perfective aspect or imperative mood. Orientation prefixes are toneless in Rongpa, as their surface pitch realization is determined by the underlying tone value of the verb root. Take disyllabic verb forms as examples. If the verb root is /H/ toned, a perfective verb formed with this root is also /H/-toned and is realized as [H-L] if it is disyllabic when attached with an orientational prefix. A disyllabic perfective verb with a /L/-toned root, on the other hand, is realized as [L-H]. The tone patterns are fixed and do not result from spreading. Consider the examples in (59)–(60):

(59)	Perfective: Underlying /H/→surface [H-L] [kəH-loL] (ort: pfv-∑) ‘I have planted’ [ʁəʶH-l̥ɜʶL] (ort: pfv-∑) ‘I have herded (sheeps)’ [rəʶH-ptoʶL] (ort: pfv-∑) ‘I have twined’ [ləH-tsɜL] (ort: pfv-∑) ‘I have milked (the cow)’ [təH-sʰɜL] (ort: pfv-∑) ‘I have killed’
(60)	Perfective: Underlying /L/→surface [L-H]: [kəL-xtoH] (ort: pfv-∑) ‘I have pounded’ [ʁəʶL-χnoʶH] (or: pfv-∑) ‘I have peeled off’ [rəL-ntʰoH] (or: pfv-∑) ‘I have held (in hands)’ [ləʶL-qoʶH] (or: pfv-∑) ‘I have picked’ [təʶL-zoʶH] (or: pfv-∑) ‘I have taken away’

Imperative verb forms in Rongpa are also composed of an orientation prefix plus a verb stem. The perfective and imperative verb forms of exactly the same /L/-toned verbs alternate between /L/ and /H/ tones in the two verb forms, Consider the examples in (61).

(61)	Imperative: Underlying /H/→surface [H-L]: [kəH-xtoL] (ort: imp-∑) ‘You pound!’ [ʁəʶH-χnoʶL] (ort: imp-∑) ‘You peel off!’ [rəH-ntʰoL] (ort: imp-∑) ‘You hold!’ [ləʶH-qoʶL] (ort: imp-∑) ‘You pick!’ [təʶH-zoʶL] (ort: imp-∑) ‘You take away!’

We would expect examples in (62) to have undergone the same polar alternation process in (61) by switching between the perfective and imperative forms. However, the imperative counterparts of the examples in (62) are actually realized as [H-H] rather than expected [L-H] (as the perfective /L/-toned pattern observed in (60)). A possible explanation is that [H-H] is another surface realization of /L/, specifically for inflected verbs. This hypothesis, however, requires further investigation in future research.

(62)	Imperative: Underlying /L/→surface [H-H]: [kəH-loH] (ort: imp-∑) ‘You plant!’ [ɣəH-l̥ɜʶH] (ort: imp-∑) ‘You herd!’ [rəʶH-ptoʶH] (ort: imp-∑) ‘You twine!’ [ləH-tsɜH] (ort: imp-∑) ‘You milk!’ [təH-sʰɜH] (ort: imp-∑) ‘You kill!’

5.3.2. Negative Prefixes

There are three negative prefixes in Rongpa.

The non-past negative mɛ- is toneless and its surface pitch is determined by the underlying tone of the verb root. Compare the pitch pattern in (63)–(64):

(63)	Underlying /H/→[H-L]: [mɛH-loL] (neg: npst-∑) ‘I don’t plant’ [maʶH-l̥ɜʶL] (neg: npst-∑) ‘I don’t herd’ [maʶH-ptoʶL] (neg: npst-∑) ‘I don’t twine’ [mɛH-tsɜL] (neg: npst-∑) ‘I don’t milk’ [mɛH-sʰɜL] (neg: npst-∑) ‘I don’t kill’
(64)	Underlying /L/→[L-H]: [mɛL-xtoH] (neg: npst-∑) ‘I don’t pound’ [maʶL-χnoʶH] (neg: npst-∑) ‘I don’t peel off’ [mɛL-ntʰoH] (neg: npst-∑) ‘I don’t hold’ [maʶL-qoʶH] (neg: npst-∑) ‘I don’t pick’ [maʶL-zoʶH] (neg: npst-∑) ‘I don’t take away’

Past negative prefix mə- appears after the orientational prefix. Past negative verb forms surface on only one pitch pattern—[H-H-L], irrespective of its lexical tone, as examples in (65):

(65)	Both underlying /H/ and /L/→[H-H-L]: [kəH-məH-loL] (or-neg:pst-∑) ‘I haven’t planted’ [kəH-məH-sʰɜL] (or-neg:pst-∑) ‘I haven’t killed’ [ləʶH-məʶH-qoʶL] (or-neg:pst-∑) ‘I haven’t picked’ [ləʶH-məʶH-zoʶL] (or-neg:pst-∑) ‘I haven’t taken away’

Prefix tɛ- attaches to the verb stem to express a prohibitive mood. A prohibitive verb form with a /H/-toned stem is produced on the [H-L] pattern, while its /L/-toned counterpart is realized as [LH-L], compare pitch patterns in (66)–(67):

(66)	Underlying /H/→[H-L]: [tɛH-loL] (proh-∑) ‘Don’t plant!’ [taʶH-l̥ɜʶL] (proh-∑) ‘Don’t herd!’ [taʶH-ptoʶL] (proh-∑) ‘Don’t twine!’ [tɛH-tsɜL] (proh-∑) ‘Don’t milk!’ [tɛH-sʰɜL] (proh-∑) ‘Don’t kill!’
(67)	Underlying /L/→[LH-L]: [tɛLH-xtoL] (proh-∑) ‘Don’t pound!’ [taʶLH-χnoʶL] (proh-∑) ‘Don’t peel off!’ [tɛLH-ntʰoL] (proh-∑) ‘Don’t hold!’ [taʶLH-qoʶL] (proh-∑) ‘Don’t pick!’ [taʶLH-zoʶL] (proh-∑) ‘Don’t take away!’

Pitch patterns as observed in verb morphology are summarized in

Table 22. Pitch patterns in Rongpa verb morphology.

∑	Perfective ort: pfv-∑	Imperative ort: imp-∑	Non-past Negative neg: npst-∑	Past Negative ort-neg: pst-∑	Prohibitive proh-∑
/H/	[H-L]	[H-H]	[H-L]	[H-H-L]	[H-L]
/L/	[L-H]	[H-L]	[L-H]		[LH-L]

:

6. Concluding Remarks

This paper presents a preliminary analysis of phonology of Rongpa Choyul, an understudied Sino-Tibetan language, based on firsthand fieldwork data. The main findings are as follows:

• Rongpa has a substantial phonemic inventory, which comprises 43 simple consonant initials, 84 consonant clusters as complex initials, 13 vowels and 2 contrastive tones. All the contrasts in this paper are proved by (near) minimal pairs/sets.
• Regarding consonant inventory, affricates and fricatives in Rongpa show a three-way contrast in their places of articulation (i.e., dental, postalveolar, and retroflex). Coronal fricatives also show three-way contrast in their manner of articulation (i.e., voiceless unaspirated, voiceless aspirated, and voiced). The contrast of fricative aspiration is still remaining even in consonant clusters.
• Rongpa exhibits a complex vocalic system. The phonemic contrast between plain vowels and uvularized vowels is attested. Uvularization is a conspicuous and indispensable vowel feature, which plays an essential role in phonotactic rules and vowel harmony process.
• As for word prosody, two contrastive tones in monosyllabic words, /H/ and /L/, are used to distinguish lexical meanings, while disyllabic words mainly exhibit four pitch patterns: [H-H], [H-L], [L-H], and [LH-L], among which [H-H] and [H-L] are not contrastive. Pitch patterns in verb constructions are also examined, and polar alternations are employed to distinguish different grammatical categories such as perfective and imperative.

The findings and analyses as presented in this paper could form a solid foundation for future research. The physiological and acoustic mechanism of uvularization in Choyul are important directions for further studies. Description of morphosyntax and comparative studies with other varieties of Choyul is of great value in understanding the phonology of Rongpa.