Aug01 – A Constructed Language

Aug01 Phonology and Orthography

Legend: Definitions, Terms, <Text>, [IPA], -Tags-, and "Glosses".

Letters and Sounds

The tables show the relevent phonetic symbols (in IPA) with the corresponding orthographic (romanization) symbols. The 34 letters used are:
a â b d e ê θ g gʷ h i î k kʷ l m n ŋ o ô p q r s t u û v x xʷ χ y z ' — c f j w aren't used.
An alternate romanization using diacritics isn't shown here.

In the following tables, an asterisk * indicates that the letter is used for more than one sound.

Vowel Qualities

There are 5 short vowels and 5 long vowels. The diphthongs are [au] au, [ai] ai, and [ɔi] oi. There are no other vowel sequences.

Short Vowels
front central back

high i i - - - u u

high-mid - - - o o -

low-mid - ɛ e* - ɜ e* - ɔ -

low - - ɑ a -

Short Vowels
	front	central	back
high	i	i	-	-	-	u	u
high-mid	-	-	-	o	o	-
low-mid	-	ɛ	e*	-	ɜ	e*	-	ɔ	-
low	-	-	ɑ	a	-

Long Vowels
front central back

high iː î - - - uː û

high-mid - eː ê - - - oː ô -

low - aː â* - ɑː â* -

Long Vowels
	front	central	back
high	iː	î	-	-	-	uː	û
high-mid	-	eː	ê	-	-	-	oː	ô	-
low	-	aː	â*	-	ɑː	â*	-

Consonant Qualities

There are 24 onset consonant phonemes using 27 phones and 21 coda consonant phonemes using 25 phones.

Onset Consonants
labial coronal dorsal guttural

nasal voiced m m - n n - - ŋ ŋ - -

stop voiceless p p* - t t - - k k kʷ kʷ q q ʔ '

voiced b b - d d - - g g gʷ gʷ - -

fricative voiceless ɸ p* - θ θ s s - ç x* x x* xʷ xʷ χ χ h h

voiced - v v - z z - - ʀ r* -

rhotic voiced - - r r* - - -

vocoid voiced - l l - j y - -

Onset Consonants
	labial	coronal	dorsal	guttural
nasal	voiced	m	m	-	n	n	-	-	ŋ	ŋ	-	-
stop	voiceless	p	p*	-	t	t	-	-	k	k	kʷ	kʷ	q	q	ʔ	'
voiced	b	b	-	d	d	-	-	g	g	gʷ	gʷ	-	-
fricative	voiceless	ɸ	p*	-	θ	θ	s	s	-	ç	x*	x	x*	xʷ	xʷ	χ	χ	h	h
voiced	-	v	v	-	z	z	-	-	ʀ	r*	-
rhotic	voiced	-	-	r	r*	-	-	-
vocoid	voiced	-	l	l	-	j	y	-	-

Coda Consonants
labial coronal dorsal guttural

nasal voiced m m - n n - ɲ ŋ* ŋ ŋ* - ɴ ŋ* -

stop voiceless - t t - - k k kʷ kʷ q q ʔ '

voiced b b - d d - - g g gʷ gʷ - -

fricative voiceless ɸ p - θ θ s s - ç x* x x* xʷ xʷ χ χ -

voiced - - z z - - ʀ r* -

rhotic voiced - - r r* - - -

vocoid voiced - l l - - -

Coda Consonants
	labial	coronal	dorsal	guttural
nasal	voiced	m	m	-	n	n	-	ɲ	ŋ*	ŋ	ŋ*	-	ɴ	ŋ*	-
stop	voiceless	-	t	t	-	-	k	k	kʷ	kʷ	q	q	ʔ	'
voiced	b	b	-	d	d	-	-	g	g	gʷ	gʷ	-	-
fricative	voiceless	ɸ	p	-	θ	θ	s	s	-	ç	x*	x	x*	xʷ	xʷ	χ	χ	-
voiced	-	-	z	z	-	-	ʀ	r*	-
rhotic	voiced	-	-	r	r*	-	-	-
vocoid	voiced	-	l	l	-	-	-

Phonotactics

Onsets

The onset is a single consonant phoneme.

Rhymes

The following rhyme types appear:

light: -V
heavy: -Vː, -VV, -VC
extraheavy: -VːC, -VVC

Allophones

The allophone [ç] appears before i and î and after i, î, ê, ai, and oi; [x] appears otherwise.
The allophone [ɸ] appears after a vowel while [p] appears otherwise.
The allophone [r] appears next to a palatal, velar, or labiovelar or separated from such only by a short vowel while [ʀ] appears otherwise.
The allophones [ɜ], [ɔ], and [ɑː] appear before labiovelars and uvulars and after uvulars; [ɛ], [o], and [aː] appear otherwise.
A coda dorsal nasal assimilates to the following onset in point of articulation: the allophone [ɲ] appears before palatals, the allophone [ɴ] appears before uvulars, and the allophone [ŋ] appears otherwise.

Prosody

The procedure for determining stress is as follows:

If the ultima is extraheavy, stress it;
else if the penult is heavy, stress it;
else if the ultima is heavy, stress the antepenult;
else stress the penult.

Note that words of 2 syllables with heavy ultimas have heavy penults.

A stressed vowel has a high tone except if the syllable is extraheavy it has a high falling tone.

Morphophonology

Vowel Alternations

The vowel u appears before labiovelars and uvulars and after uvulars; i appears otherwise.

The vowel î becomes û before labiovelars and uvulars and after uvulars.

The vowel ê becomes au before labiovelars and uvulars and oi after uvulars.

The diphthongs ai and oi become â and ô before labiovelars and uvulars.

Diphthongs and long vowels also alternate with sequences of short vowels + the consonant v or y (with some vowel following the consonant), as shown in the following table:

Vowel Alternations
î iy- û iv-

ê ey- au ev-

ai ay- â av-

oi oy- ô ov-

In a word of 2 syllables, if the ultima is heavy and the penult is light, the penult short vowel is replaced by the corresponding long vowel.

Vowel Alternations
î	iy-	û	iv-
ê	ey-	au	ev-
ai	ay-	â	av-
oi	oy-	ô	ov-

Vowel Metathesis

Vowel sequences are avoided by a vowels shifting from after the preceding consonant to before it. Such a position shift may involve a series of vowels. Example: dospil + infix a becomes dosipal.

page started: 2017.Aug.02 Wed
current date: 2017.Aug.06 Sun
content and form originated by qiihoskeh

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