Apr28 –  A Constructed Language

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Apr28 Phonology and Orthography

The tables show the relevent phonetic symbols (in IPA) with the corresponding orthographic symbols.

Vowel Qualities

There are 8 vowel phonemes. There are 2 diphthongs (ai [ai] and au [au]). The vowels may be short or long except that short y and oe don't occur.

Vowel Qualities

	front				back
high	i, y	i, y	-		-		u	u
high-mid	e, ø	e, oe	-		-		o	o
low-mid	-		ɛ	æ	-		-
low	-		-		ɑ	a	-

Consonant Qualities

There are approximately 20 consonant phonemes.

Consonant Qualities

		labial				coronal				dorsal						guttural
stop	voiceless	p pʼ	p	-		t tʼ	t	-		-		k kʼ	k	-		ʔ	'
	voiced	b β	b	-		d ð	d	-		-		g ɣ	g	-		-
affricate	voiceless	-				-		t͡ʃ t͡ʃʼ	c	-						-
	voiced	-				-		d͡ʒ ʒ	j	-						-
nasal	voiced	m	m	-		n	n	-		ɲ	ñ	ŋ	h*	-		-
fricative	voiceless	-		f	f	s z	s	ʃ	x	-				χ	q	h	h*
	lateral	-				ɬ	z	-		-						-
trill	voiced	-				r	r	-		-						-
vocoid	voiced	-				l	l	-		-						-

Syllables and Prosody

Syllables are (C)V, (C)VV, (C)VC, and (C)VCC.

Phonotactics

• There are no syllables of more than 3 moras.
• The short vowels [æ] and [o] occur only in closed syllables.
• The short vowels [e] and [u] occur only in open syllables.
• Only [i], [æ], [a], and [o] occur before coda [ñ], [ŋ], [r], or [l].
• The allophone [z] occurs before a voiced plosive.
• The allophone [ŋ] occurs after vowels; the allophone [h] occurs elsewhere.
• The allophones [β], [ð], [ɣ], and [ʒ] occurs between vowels.
• The allophones [pʼ], [tʼ], [kʼ], and [t͡ʃʼ] occur in coda position except before liquids and fricatives.

The following table shows the origin of the vowels and diphthongs from combinations of vowels or vowel plus coda consonants.

Vowel Origins

	+ 0	+ *i/ʒ	+ *ə/ð	+ *a/ɣ	+ *u/β
*i	(i)	í	í	é	y
*ə	(æ e)	é	ǽ	á	ó
*a	(a)	ai	á	á	au
*u	(o u)	oe	ú	ó	ú

page started: 2013.Apr.30 Tue
current date: 2013.Apr.30 Tue
content and form originated by qiihoskeh

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