Ingrian phonology

Distribution of the Ingrian language by 2007 (shown in blue).

Ingrian is a nearly extinct Finnic language of Russia. The spoken language remains unstandardised, and as such statements below are about the four known dialects of Ingrian (Ala-Laukaa, Hevaha, Soikkola and Ylä-Laukaa) and in particular the two extant dialects (Ala-Laukaa and Soikkola).

The written forms are, if possible, based on the written language (referred to as kirjakeeli, "book language") introduced by the Ingrian linguist  [fi] in the late 1930s. Following 1937's mass repressions in the Soviet Union, the written language was abolished and ever since, Ingrian doesn't have a (standardised) written language.

Vowels[]

The following chart shows the monophthongs present in the Ingrian language:^[1]

• The vowel /ɨ/ is only present in the stressed syllable of some Russian loanwords, like rьbakka ("fisher"); this vowel has been replaced by /i/ in some dialects.^[1]

All vowels can occur as both short (/æ e i ɨ ø y ɑ o u/) and long (/æː eː iː ɨː øː yː ɑː oː uː/). The long vowel /ɨː/ is extremely rare, occurring in borrowed words like rььžo ("red-haired"). The vowels /eː øː oː/ are often realised as either diphthongs ([ie̯ yø̯ uo̯]) or diphthongoids ([i̯eː y̯øː u̯oː]) and in some dialects even as [iː yː uː].^[1]

Vowel reduction[]

Vowel reduction is a very common feature of the Ala-Laukaa dialect, and is to a very restricted extent also present in Soikkola. The term refers to the process of acoustically weakening the unstressed vowels.

In Soikkola, vowel reduction is restricted to the vowels a and ä; These vowels are sometimes reduced to [ə], but mostly in quick speech, making it a purely phonetic feature:^[1]

linna /ˈlinːɑ/ [ˈlinːə] ("city")

ilma /ˈilmɑ/ [ˈiɫmə] ("weather")

In Ala-Laukaa, this process is much more common. In open final syllables, the vowels /ɑ æ e/ are reduced to [ə], the other vowels (/i ø y o u/) are simply shortened ([ĭ ø̆ y̆ ŏ ŭ]). The process of reducing vowels is contrastive in Ala-Laukaa:^[2]

linna /ˈlinːə/ ("city", nom) linnaa /ˈlinːɑ/ ("city", part)

In a closed final syllable, the reduction of the vowel /e/ is much more uncommon, and occurs primarily in polisyllabic words. In words with three syllables and a long third syllable (in the form CVV), the penultimate syllable will reduce in the same way as described above. In three-syllable words with a short final syllable (in the form (C)CV), however, any short vowel in the second syllable will be reduced to [ə]. In polysyllabic words, reduction of the even syllables don't occur before short syllables.

The reduced vowels in Ala-Laukaa Ingrian can further experience deletion:^[1]

istuisi ("he/she sat down") [ˈistusĭ] ~ [ˈistusʲ] ~ [ˈistuzʲ]

Vowel harmony[]

A diagram illustrating Ingrian vowel groups.

Ingrian, just like its closest relatives Finnish and Karelian, has the concept of vowel harmony. The principle of this morphophonetic phenomenon is that vowels in a word consisting of one root are all either front or back. As such, no native words can have any of the vowels {a, o, u} together with any of the vowels {ä, ö, y}.^[3][4]

To harmonise formed words, any suffix containing one of these six vowels have two separate forms: a front vowel form and a back vowel form. Compare the following two words, formed using the suffix -kas: liivakas ("sandy") from liiva ("sand") and iäkäs ("elderly") from ikä ("age").^[3][4]

The vowels {e, i} are considered neutral and can co-occur with both types of vowels. However, stems with these vowels are always front vowel harmonic: kivekäs ("rocky") from kivi ("rock").^[3]

Compound words don't have to abide by the rules of vowel harmony, since they consist of two stems: rantakivi ("coastal stone") from ranta ("coast") + kivi ("stone").^[3]

Consonants[]

The consonantal phonology of Ingrian varies greatly among dialects. For example, while Soikkola Ingrian misses the voiced-unvoiced distinction, it has a three-way consonant length distinction, missing in the Ala-Laukaa dialect.^[1]

Soikkola dialect[]

• The velar nasal [ŋ] is a form of /n/ occurring before the plosive /k/ (written ⟨nk⟩).
• The velar fricative [x] is a (half-)long version of /h/ (written ⟨hh⟩).
• The postalveolar fricative [ʃ] is found as an allophone of /s/ in some southern subdialects.
• The dental fricative /s/ is always realised as the retracted [s̠].
• /t͡s/ may be realised as the consonant cluster [ts̠].
• [b], [d], [ɡ] and [z] are allophones of /p/, /t/, /k/ and /s/ respectively.

Consonant length[]

In the Soikkola dialect, consonants have a three-way distinction in length. Geminates can be either short (1.5 times the length of a short consonant) or long (twice the length of a short consonant):^[2]

tapa /ˈtɑpɑ/ ("custom" nom)

tappaa /ˈtɑpˑɑː/ ("he/she catches" also: "custom" part)

tappaa /ˈtɑpːɑː/ ("to kill")

A similar phenomenon can be observed in the related Estonian language.

Ala-Laukaa dialect[]

• The velar nasal [ŋ] is a form of /n/ occurring before the plosive /k/ (written ⟨nk⟩).
• /t͡s/ is sometimes found as an allophone of /t͡ʃ/: compare mancikka (Soikkola /ˈmɑnt͡ʃikːɑ/, Ala-Laukaa /ˈmɑnt͡sikːə/).
• /t͡s/ may be realised as the consonant cluster [ts].

Palatalisation[]

In the Ala-Laukaa dialect, phonetic palatalisation of consonants in native words occurs first of all before the vowels {y, i} and the approximant /j/:^[1]

tyttö [ˈtʲytːø̆] ("girl"); compare Soikkola [ˈtytːøi̯] and Standard Finnish [ˈt̪yt̪ːø̞]

The palatalised /t/ and /k/ may both be realised as [c] by some speakers. Furthermore, palatalisation before /y(ː)/ and /i(ː)/ that have developed from an earlier */ø/ or */e/ respectively is rare:

töö [ˈtøː] ~ [ˈtyø̯] ~ [ˈtyː] ("you (plural)")

This same phenomenon is noticed in the extinct Ylä-Laukaa dialect:^[5]

tyttö [ˈtʲytːøi̯] ("girl")

Prosody[]

Stress[]

Stress in Ingrian falls on the first syllable in native words, but may be shifted in loanwords. An exception is the word paraikaa (/pɑrˈɑi̯kɑː/, "now"), where the stress falls on the second syllable. Secondary stress falls on odd-numbered syllables or occurs as a result of compounding and isn't phonemic.^[1][4]

References[]