K'tlê – A Constructed Language

---

[kʼtɬ͡e˦] Phonology and Transliteration

This chapter covers the phonology and the ASCII transliteration of the native orthography. The native orthography itself is covered in another chapter.

1. ASCII Transliteration and Pronunciation
   1. Letters Used
   2. Pronunciation
   3. Allophones
2. Phonology
   1. Phonotactics
   2. Regular Alternations

• |k'tlê| -- ASCII Transliteration
• [kʼtɬ͡e˦] -- Phonetics in IPA
• [k'tK)e"<] -- Phonetics in QAPA
• [k^>tKe^H] -- Phonetics in CXS^HTML

Letters Used

The letters used in the ASCII transliteration are a, c, e, f, h, i, k, l, m, n, o, p, r, t, q, x, z, ', and /; they are alphabetized in this order.

Alternate transliterations may be used instead, substituting |£| or the digraph |tl| for |q|, V + circumflex or macron for V + |/|, and doubling for C + |/|. Hence, |k'qe/|, |k'tlê|, and |k'£e̅|.

Since the native alphabet makes no distinction between lower and upper case, the ASCII transliteration is usually written in lower-case letters. However, the upper-case letters are sometimes used. The punctuation used in ASCII transliterations tends to be English-style rather than analogous to that used in the native orthography.

Pronunciation

The following table gives the phonetic value(s) for each letter, digraph, or trigraph used in the transliteration. The IPA tone marks here are [˨] (low tone) and [˦] (high tone).

Pronunciation of the Letters

Single Consonants, Low Tone Vowels				Geminates, High Tone Vowels
Translit.	IPA	CXSHTML	QAPA	Translit.	IPA	CXSHTML	QAPA
p	[p]	[p]	[p]	p/, pp	[pː]	[p:]	[p:]
p'	[pʼ]	[p>]	[p']
t	[t]	[t]	[t]	t/, tt	[tː]	[t:]	[t:]
t'	[tʼ]	[t>]	[t']
k	[k]	[k]	[k]	k/, kk	[kː]	[k:]	[k:]
k'	[kʼ]	[k>]	[k']
q, tl, £	[tɬ͡]	[tK]	[tK)]	q/, ttl, t£	[tː͡ɬ]	[t:K]	[t:K)]
'	[ʔ]	[?]	[?]	'	[ʔː]	[?:]	[?:]
h (f)	[h], [f]	[h], [f]	[h / f]	f	[fː]	[f:]	[f:]
z	[s̻], [ts̻͡]	[sm], [tsm]	[s[] / ts[])]	z/, zz	[s̻ː]	[sm:]	[s[]:]
c	[ɕ], [tɕ͡]	[s\], [ts\]	[$ / t$)]	c/, cc	[ɕː]	[s\:]	[$:]
x	[χ]	[X]	[X]	x/, xx	[χː]	[X:]	[X:]
m	[m]	[m]	[m]	m/, mm	[mː]	[m:]	[m:]
n	[n], [ŋ]	[n], [N]	[n / N]	n/, nn	[nː]	[n:]	[n:]
l	[l], [ɾ]	[l], [4]	[l / 4]	r	[rː]	[r:]	[r:]
i	[i˨], [ɩ˨]	[iL], [IL]	[i%> / I%>]	i/, î, i̅	[i˦], [ɩ˦]	[iH], [IH]	[i"< / I"<]
e	[e˨], [ɛ˨]	[eL], [EL]	[e%> / E%>]	e/, ê, e̅	[e˦], [ɛ˦]	[eH], [EH]	[e"< / E"<]
a	[a˨], [ɑ˨]	[aL], [AL]	[a%> / A%>]	a/, â, a̅	[a˦], [ɑ˦]	[aH], [AH]	[a"< / A"<]
o	[o˨], [ɔ˨]	[oL], [OL]	[o%> / O%>]	o/, ô, o̅	[o˦], [ɔ˦]	[oH], [OH]	[o"< / O"<]
* f' is used instead of h'

Allophones

• For each vowel, the 2nd allophone occurs before or after |x|, before |rr|, and before |l| when it's not followed by a vowel; the 1st allophone occurs elsewhere.
• |L| occurs as [ɾ] ([4] [4]) after a vowel and otherwise as [l] ([l] [l]).
• |N| occurs as [ŋ] ([N] [N]) before |k| and otherwise as [n] ([n] [n]).
• |H| occurs as [f] ([f] [f]) after |'| or any ejective and otherwise as [h] ([h] [h]).
• |C| occurs as [tɕ͡] ([ts\] [t$)]) after |t|, |n|, or |z| and otherwise as [ɕ] ([s\] [$]).
• |Z| occurs as [ts̻͡] ([ts^m] [ts[])]) after |t| or |n| and otherwise as [s̻] ([s^m] [s[]]).

• Syllables are (C)V(C), where
  • V is always a single (short) vowel of either tone.
  • C is always a single consonant (including |q, tl, £| and the ejectives |p'|, |t'|, |k'|).
  • However, |pl| and |kl| act as if single consonants, except that they can appear only as onsets.
• An initial CV(C) syllable can be preceded by an extra coda consonant, which is limited to ejectives and fricatives.
• There are restrictions on what sequences of coda + onset can occur, as shown in the tables below.

Phonotactics

Initial Coda + Onset Combinations

	p	t	k	p'	t'	k'	'	£	m	n	h	z	c	x	l
p'	p'p	p't	p'k					p'£	p'm	p'n	[p'f]	p'z	p'c	p'x	p'l
t'	t'p	t't	t'k					t'£	t'm	t'n	[t'f]	t'z	t'c	t'x	t'l
k'	k'p	k't	k'k					k'£	k'm	k'n	[k'f]	k'z	k'c	k'x	k'l
h/f	[fp]	[ft]	[fk]	[fp']	[ft']	[fk']	f'	[ftK)]	[fm]	[fn]					[fl]
z	zp	zt	zk	zp'	zt'	zk'	z'	z£	zm	zn			[st$)]		zl
c	cp	ct	ck	cp'	ct'	ck'	c'	c£	cm	cn					cl
x	xp	xt	xk	xp'	xt'	xk'	x'	x£	xm	xn					xl

Onsets |pl| and |kl| act like the |p| and |k| columns, respectively, plus |l| [l].

Medial Coda + Onset Combinations

	p	t	k	p'	t'	k'	'	£	m	n	h/f	z	c	x	l/r
p	[p:]										ph	pz	pc	px
t		[t:]						[t:K)]			th	[t:s)]	[t:$)]	tx
k			[k:]								kh	kz	kc	kx
p'		p't	p'k					p'£	p'm	p'n	[p'.f]	p'z	p'c	p'x	p'l
t'	t'p		t'k						t'm	t'n	[t'.f]	t'z	t'c	t'x	t'l
k'	k'p	k't						k'£	k'm	k'n	[k'.f]	k'z	k'c	k'x	k'l
'							[?:]		'm	'n	[?.f]			'x	'l
£	£p	£t	£k	?	?	?	£'		£m	£n	£h	£z	£c	£x
m	mp			mp'			m'		[m:]		mh	mz		mx	ml
n		nt	nk		nt'	nk'	n'	n£		[n:]	nh	[n.ts)]	[n.t$)]	nx	nl
h/f	hp	ht	hk	hp'	ht'	hk'	f'	h£	hm	hn	[f:]	hz	hc	hx	hl
z	zp	zt	zk	zp'	zt'	zk'	z'	z£	zm	zn	zh	[s:]	[s.t$)]	zx	zl
c	cp	ct	ck	cp'	ct'	ck'	c'	c£	cm	cn	ch		[c:]	cx	cl
x	xp	xt	xk	xp'	xt'	xk'	x'	x£	xm	xn	xh	xz	xc	[x:]	xl
l/r	[4.p]	[4.t]	[4.k]	[4.p']	[4.t']	[4.k']	[4.?]	[4.tK)]	[4.m]	[4.n]	[4.h]	[4.s]	[4.$]	[4.x]	[r:]

Onsets |pl| and |kl| act like the |p| and |k| columns, respectively, plus |l| [l].

Regular Alternations

Initial consonant clusters can come about only through vowel deletion, so the blank or missing entries in the first table correspond to cases where the original vowel is preserved.

Medial two-consonant clusters can come about through vowel deletion or because the two consonants were already adjacent, so these blank entries in the second table must be due to consonant alteration. But for a three-consonant cluster to be formed (in this respect, |tl| and the ejectives each count as two consonants), at least one vowel deletion must have occurred, so these blank entries in the second table may correspond to cases of vowel preservation. Here are some rules:

• A plain stop plus a glottal stop becomes the corresponding ejective.
• A plain stop also becomes the corresponding ejective before a nasal or a different plain stop (initially, this also becomes an ejective).
• |T| plus |l| becomes |tl| [tK)].
• Two consecutive |l|'s become |r| [r:].
• Two consecutive |h|'s become |f| [f:].
• In most other cases, two of the same consonant become a single long consonant of the same quality, or an affricate in which the stop part is long.
• A glottal stop assimilates to the POA of a following stop or affricate, producing a long consonant; |c| and |z| act like affricates here.
• A nasal assimilates to the POA of a following stop, affricate, or nasal, producing a long consonant in the last case; |c| acts like an affricate here.
• |C| assimilates to a following |z|, but not vice-versa.

page started: 2008.Dec.14 Sun
prior version: 2009.Mar.29 Sun
last modified: 2009.Oct.19 Mon
content and form originated by qiihoskeh

Table of Contents