Realization of front fricative /s/ in the Evenki and Oroqen languages

Though the grouping of Evenki dialects depending on the s~h~ʃ correspondence is well known in Tungus studies, the phonological status of the three components remains ambiguous; they are defined as allophones of the same phoneme or as different phonemes. The Selemdzha local accent of Evenki is described as demonstrating the /s/-pattern word-initially, word-finally, and in word-internal consonant clusters, while the /h/-pattern is found in intervocalic positions. The accent of the Oroqen Autonomous Banner, described as the standard by Chinese researchers, has evolutionized by losing /ʃ/, now replaced by either /s/ or /ɕ/ depending on the subsequent vowel.

This article focuses on the acoustic features of the fricative /s/ in Evenki and Oroqen in the accents mentioned. We used Praat for acoustic measurements of sound duration and intensity, as well as to analyze the location of friction on the frequency scale. Our acoustic study revealed evidence of /ʃ/ replacing /s/ in the speech of Norsk Selemdzha Evenks — mostly before back closed vowels. In other cases, the dental lisping allophone of the phoneme /s/ was detected. In the speech of other Evenks, particularly of the Ivanovskoye Selemdzha Evenki, no /ʃ/-pattern was found, with only the lisping /s/-pattern used instead. The emerging /ʃ/-pattern in the Eastern dialect group can be attributed to migration processes that have rendered the boundaries of the Southern, Northern, and Eastern groups more transparent. In our Oroqen material, the lisping /s/ was characteristic of male subjects. Female subjects pronounced the lisping /s/ mostly before back and central vowels, and the hissing /s/, before front vowels. In male speech, /ʃ/ occurred rarely and as free variation. Our study also showed that intervocalic allophones in Oroqen demonstrated voicing by consistent F0 presence resulting in the [sʲ]-[ɕ]-[z] variation pattern.