CHAPTER 3

VARIATION IN PHONOLOGY AND IN
PHONOLOGICAL SHAPE OF MORPHEMES

3-1 Introduction

The basic phonology of Aymara has been described
by L. Martin-Barber (Hardman et al. 1975:3, Chapter 3).
To the phonemic inventory therein described must now be
added the velar nasal, although it is of limited occur-
rence. Variations in phonological shape of morphemes
both within and across dialects are paralleled by morpho-
phonemic rules operating within dialects, to be discussed

in Chapter 4, to which this chapter is an introduction.

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3-2 Phonemes

3-2.] Phonemic inventory

Figure 3-1 shows Aymara phonemes in Yapita
phonemic orthography.
There are three vowels (front, central, and

back) and a phoneme of vowel length. |

The 27 consonants
are divided into voiceless and voiced. Voiceless conso-

nants are 12 stops, three affricates, and three fricatives.

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