new language Alpha: Phonology

[qiihoskeh]

This one's pretty simple. But it's gotten a little less simple. Last edited: 2006.Jan.30 Mon

Consonants

Approximate Consonant Pronunciation

p	[p]	t	[t]	c	[tS)], [S]	k	[k]
b	[b]	d	[d]	j	[dZ)], [Z]	g	[g], [N]
f	[f]	s	[s]			h	[h], [X]
		z	[z]
m	[m]	n	[n]
w	[w]	l	[l]	y	[j]

• For c, j, and h, the first phonetic value is for onsets and the second for codas.


• For g, the second value is for codas before k or g and the first in all other situations.


• Except for cc, which represents [S.tS)], double consonants (pp, tt, kk, ff, ss, hh, zz, mm, nn, and ll) represent geminates. The geminate affricate is represented by tc.

Coda consonants arise from the deletion of *i under certain circumstances.

Onset clusters:

pl	bl			kl	gl
py	by			ky	gy
		tw	dw	kw	gw

Except for these, any consonant not followed by a vowel is a coda consonant.

Vowels

Approximate Vowel Pronunciations and Derivations

	+ *i		+ *e		+ *a		+ *o		otherwise
*i -	ii	[i:]	ye	[jE]	ya	[jA]	yo	[jo]	i	[i]
*e -	ei	[ei]	ee	[E:]	ea	[&:]	eo	[Eo]	e	[E]
*a -	oi	[oi]	ae	[AE]	aa	[A:]	ao	[Ao]	a	[A]
*o -	wi	[wi]	we	[wE]	wa	[wA]	oo	[o:]	o	[o]

These are subject to change!

... and have changed! Here's the previous version:

Approximate Vowel Pronunciations and Derivations

	+ *i		+ *e		+ *a		+ *o		otherwise
*i -	ii	[i:]	ye	[jE:]	ya	[jA:]	yu	[ju:]	i	[i]
*e -	ei	[ei]	ee	[E:]	yea	[j&:]	you	[jou]	e	[E]
*a -	oi	[Vi]	ae	[AE]	aa	[A:]	ou	[ou]	a	[A]
*o -	wi	[wi:]	we	[wE:]	wa	[wA:]	uu	[u:]	o	[o]

Syllables and Stress

Syllables are either long (KVV, KVC) or short (KVC), where K is either C or an onset cluster.

If the ultima is marked with an accent, it's stressed (it must be long);
else if the penult is long, it's stressed;
else if the antepenult exists, it's stressed;
else, the penult is stressed.

A stressed short penult is lengthened (by making the vowel long) if the ultima is long, but this isn't shown in writing.

Some Historical Details

I may add these later.