(2) A short stressed vowel in a checked syllable 
tends to become phonetically long when, through 
morphological processes it comes to occupy a 
syllable final word medial position. 
dika leave it! (*¢ak leave something) 
mina come! (*min come) 
péta sweep! (*pet sweep) 
2. CONSONANTS 
2.1. The consonantal system of Popoluca may 
be represented as follows: 
Bila- Alve- Palato- Glot- 
bial olar alveolar Velar tal 
Stops: 
Voiceless p t t k ? 
Voiced b d d g£ 
Affricates ¢ é 
Spirants s § h 
Nasals m n i n 
Semivowels Ww y 
Lateral 
Flap r 
DESCRIPTION OF CONSONANTS 
2.2. Stops. The voiceless stops p, t, and k are at 
bilabial, alveolar, and velar points of articulation 
respectively. The palato-alveolar is blade- 
palato-alveolar in point of articulation, the tip of 
the tongue turns down. All are unaspirated ex- 
cept in syllable final position, e. g., mak fog, 
hap mouth, ?ampat I met. 
The quality of the glottal stop depends upon its 
position in the word and syllable. In word initial 
it is unaspirated and almost inaudible, e. g., 
°arci uncle, older brother, ?&Si crab, ?6ma fog, 
°uspin alligator. 
In syllable initial and word medial position the 
glottal is clearly audible, e. g., m&.?a deer, na.?a 
chicle, p6.?a piece. 
In syllable medial position preceding k the 
glottal closure is practically simultaneous with 
that of the stop. Hence, in this position it is often 
dificult to hear, e. g., so?k grass fodder (Sp. 
“zacate’”’), mu?k grass. In syllable medial posi- 
tion preceding any other consonant it is clearly 
audible, e. ¢., hu?» owl, *he?n dig. 
In syllable final position followed by another 
syllable the glottal is so strongly aspirated that the 
preceding vowel reappears as a voiced or unvoiced 
partial rearticulation following the glottal, e. g.: 
{k4?*.ba] he dies (-pa ine. suf.)________ /kA?ba/ 
[KA?4.tak] ladder (ka? + tak house)___ /kA?tak/ 
INSTITUTE OF SOCIAL ANTHROPOLOGY—PUBLICATION NO. 8 
[AAS DAI iiSh cae ee ae ee en ee [tX?pa/ 
[er ?et Si] alle ee ee ee /mé?si/ 
(ha°s.yuk] younger sibling_-.__.______- /hdé?yuk/ 
In word final position the glottal is strongly 
aspirated, e. g., na? water, yu? hunger, ka? hand, 
¢a? stone, *ka? die. 
Syllables of the form consonant short vowel, 
when final in an utterance, are always pronounced 
CV’. This inorganic glottal disappears when the 
syllable is in included position, whereas a true 
glottal remains. 
a Gi [?4°4i?] uncle, ?a?n4°ci pitpa my uncle goes out 
*Gi? give, ?anci? pé?m I give it to that one 
(Throughout this grammar and the accompany- 
ing text the inorganic glottal, though phonemic, 
will be omitted.) 
2.3. The voiced stops b, d, d, and g are unaspi- 
rated and lenis. Their occurrence is restricted to 
word-medial syllable-initial position except for d 
which is also word initial in the single morpheme 
da n0. 
2.4. The voiceless affricates ¢ and é correspond 
to the English values in “hits” and “church” 
respectively. 
2.5. Spirants. The voiceless spirants s and § 
are at alveolar and palato-alveolar points respec- 
tively. The voiceless spirant h most frequently is 
an aspiration (ef. English ‘hat’’). In syllable 
final position following a vowel it is more strongly 
spirantal, e. g., tuh rain, w6hno crane. 
2.6. Nasals. The voiced nasals m, n, f, and 7 
are at bilabial, alveolar, palato-alveolar, and velar 
points of articulation respectively. In word final 
position they are aspirated, e. ¢., ham lime, 
hon bird, ¢a*h serpent, hu?y owl. In syllable final 
position following a glottal, as in the example 
hu?y, a nasal is given syllabic value. For de- 
scriptive purposes, however, since nonnasals also 
may occupy this final position, the syllabic quality 
of the nasals is considered nonphonemic.® 
2.7. Semivowels. Bilabial w is voiced, rounded, 
slightly aspirated. Palato-alveolar y in word or 
phrase final ends in a very strong aspiration or 
voiceless off-glide, e. g., puy foot, ¢oy remedy, 
way hair. Following a glottal in the syllable form 
CV°C y is phonetically syllabic, e. g., ho’y become 
angry. It is, however, treated as nonsyllabie on 
the phonemic level for the reason indicated in 2.6. 
5 Elson has an excellent treatment of this phenomenon. (See p. 13 of cita- 
tion given in footnote 2.) 
