P2 –  A Constructed Language

P2 Phonology and Orthography

Alphabet Used

The 26 letters and 4 diacritics used are:

a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r s t u v w x y z
` ´ ¯ ^  

Syllable Structure

Each syllable consists of an onset followed by a rhyme; due to palatalization, these are somewhat inter-dependent. The onset is either one of 16 consonant phonemes, one of 4 onset clusters, or null. The rhyme consists of a nucleus followed by a coda. The nucleus is either one of 4 vowel phonemes or one of 2 diphthongs. Any of these may be palatalized or not, affecting the immediately preceding onset. The coda is either one of the 16 consonant phonemes, one of 24 coda clusters, or null. The coda can't be a cluster after a diphthong.

Sounds Used, With Orthography

The QAPA system is used for the phonetic symbols. Where the QAPA font is available, most of the symbols will resemble IPA symbols; otherwise they'll mostly resemble CXS strings, e.g. [f;Ent].

Consonants

Consonant Letters and Sounds
  Labial Coronal Dorsal Guttural
Stops and
Affricate
V'less /p/ p p p p; /t/ t t t t$) /k/ k k k c -
Voiced /b/ b b b b; /d/ d d d d*) /g/ g g g |
Nasals Voiced /m/ m m m m; /n/ n n n J - -
Fricatives V'less /f/ f f f f; /s/ s s c S /x/ x X x C /h/ q W h h
Voiced /v/ v v v v; /z/ z z j Z /r/ r R r 1 -
Approximants - /l/ l l l L - 0 * w w y j
Notes: * The values given for 0 appear only after a vowel.

The 4 onset clusters are pl, bl, kl, and gl.

The 24 coda clusters are given in the table below. Palatalization, if any, isn't shown.

Coda Clusters
f_ v_ s_ z_ x_ r_ m_ n_ l_  
- sp - Xp - mp - lp _p
st Xt - nt lt _t
fk - sk - Nk lk _k
- - zb - Rb mb - lb _b
zd Rd - nd ld _d
- vg zg - Ng lg _g

Vowels

The following table shows the vowels and diphthongs, which are positioned according to the initial vowel quality. The 2nd of each orthographical pair is written when the immediately preceding onset is palatalized and the 1st when it isn't.

Vowel Sounds and Orthography
  Unrounded Rounded
Front Front-Central Back
High u i i - - - -
High-Mid - - - o yo o
Low-Mid - e ye E - - -
Low - ao yao au ae yae A\i a ya A -

Possibly, cu and ju are pronounced Sy and Zy, respectively.

Accents

P2 is a tone language; there are contrasts between high and low tones (short vowels) and between low, rising, high, and falling tones (long vowels and diphthongs).

Tone Diacritics
Short Long or Diphthong
L H LL LH HH HL
a à a (ä) á ā â


page started: 2010.Jun.17 Thu
current date: 2010.Jun.26 Sat
content and form originated by qiihoskeh

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