The ternary contrast of consonant duration in Inari Saami

Abstract

Abstract The three-way distinction of quantity occurs in several Finnic and Saami languages. The paper focuses on the length contrast of consonants in Inari Saami. Similarly to Estonian and other Finno-Ugric languages where three quantities are described, in Inari Saami the distinction between single consonants, short geminates or consonant clusters, and long geminates or consonant clusters appears only on the boundary of a stressed and unstressed syllable of a disyllabic foot. Our results show that in Inari Saami the duration of consonants is inversely related to the duration of both preceding and following vowels, and there is a tendency towards foot isochrony. The results are in line with previous studies on quantity opposition in Inari Saami and in other Finnic languages, showing the ternary distinction of consonant quantities as a foot-level feature of the language. Index Terms : Inari Saami, geminates, three-way quantity 1. Introduction The sound system of Inari Saami reveals three phonologically distinctive quantities. The ternary duration contrast occurs in several Saami languages, including North Saami which has a central position in the Saami language area [1]–[3]. Inari Saami is an eastern Saami language spoken by about 200 native speakers in northern Finland. The Inari Saami phonology is characterized by left-headed feet, word-initial primary stress, and a distinction between short and long vowels and consonants both in stressed and unstressed syllables. The three-way distinction of quantity appears only with consonants in primary stressed feet that are left headed. The ternary contrast is realized by the distinction of single consonants, short and long geminates (traditionally called half-long and long consonants), or consonant clusters on the boundary of the stressed syllable and the following unstressed syllable, e.g.