TriCons4 –  A Constructed Language

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TriCons4 Phonology and Orthography

Alphabet Used

The 29 letters and 5 diacritics used are:

a

b

c

ç

d

e

f

g

h

i

j

k

l

m

n

ñ

o

p

q

r

s

t

u

v

w

x

y

z

'

¯

^

´

`

˘

(breve)

The letter y is used for both a consonant and a vowel.

Syllable Structure

Each syllable consists of an onset followed by a rhyme, which are mostly independent of each other. The onset is one of 21 onset consonants. The rhyme consists of a nucleus, possibly followed by a coda. The nucleus is either one of 6 short vowels, one of 8 long vowels (6 orthographic), or one of 4 diphthongs (6 orthographic). The coda, if present, is one of the 17 coda consonants.

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. [s[]I"<t'.mo].

Consonants

Onset Consonant Letters and Sounds

		Labial				Coronal						Dorsal						Guttural
Stops	V'less	p	p			t	t							k	k			'	?
	Voiced	b	b			d	d							g	g
Fricatives	V'less			f	f	ç	s[]	s	s`							x	X	h	h
Affricates	V'less									c	t$)
	Voiced									j	d*)
Nasals	Voiced	m	m			n	n					ñ	J
Trills	Voiced							r	r
Approximants						l	l					y	j	w	w

Coda Consonant Letters and Sounds

		Labial				Coronal						Dorsal						Guttural
Stops	Ejectives	p΄	p'			t΄	t'							k΄	k'
	V'less	p	p			t	t							k	k			'	?
Fricatives	V'less			f	f	ç	s[]	s	s`	c	$					x	X	h	h
	Voiced			v	v	z	z[]			j	*					q	R
Nasals	Voiced	m	m			n	n					ñ	J	n	N
Trills	Voiced							r	r
Approximants						l	l

• The ejectives are allophones of the corresponding voiceless stops.
• Coda m [m] is an allophone of /n/ and occurs before p, b, and m.
• Coda ñ [J] is also an allophone of /n/ and occurs before ñ and y.
• The other coda allophones of /n/, which are all written n, are
  • [F] before f,
  • [N] before k, g, w, and r,
  • and otherwise [n].

Most onset consonants have corresponding coda consonants and vice-versa.

• Onset r, f, f, x and ç are the same as their coda counterparts.
• Onset p, t, k, c and j are the same as their coda counterparts with the only differences being in pronuncation.
• Coda v, z, and q correspond, to onset b, d, and g (respectively).
• Onset m and n merge in coda position.
• Onset ñ and h are floating consonants with no coda counterparts.
• Onset y and w become part of the nucleus rather than the coda.

Vowels

The following table shows the long vowels (marked here with macrons ¯), the short vowels, and the diphthongs, which are positioned according to the initial vowel quality.

Vowel Sounds and Orthography

	Unrounded								Rounded
	Front				Central		Back
High	i ī	i i:							u ū	u u:	Higher Long Vowels
High-Lax	y	I
High-Mid	ei eu	e: eu							oi ou	oi o:
Mid					y ȳ	@ @:					Lower Long Vowels
Low-Mid	e ē	E E:							ō	O:
Low			ai au	ai au	ā	A\:	a	A

Accents

TriCons4 is a pitch-accent language. There are contrasts between high and low tones (most short vowels), between rising, high, and falling tones (lower long vowels), and between low, rising, high, and falling tones (diphthongs and higher long vowels)

Tone Diacritics

	Low	High	Rising	Falling	Vowels Using This Pattern
Short	i	-			i, u
	a	ă	-		a, e, o, y
Long	ì	ī	í	î	i, u
	-	ā	á	â	a, e, o, y
	ei	ēi	éi	êi	ei, ou
Diphthong	ai	āi	ái	âi	au, eu, oi, ai

page started: 2010.Jun.06 Sun
current date: 2010.Jul.05 Mon
content and form originated by qiihoskeh

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