project Epsilon: Phonology and Orthography

[qiihoskeh]

Last Edited: 2006.Mar.17 Fri

Consonants

Consonant Letters and Phones

p	[p]	t	[t]	ts	[ts)]	tx	[tS)]			k	[k]	q	[?]
b	[b]	d	[d]	dz	[dz)]	dj	[dZ)]			g	[g]
m	[m]	n	[n]					ñ	[J]	n	[N]
f	[f]			s	[s]	x	[S]	ç	[C]			h	[h]
				z	[z]	j	[Z]
w	[w]	l	[l]					y	[j]

The only clusters that can act as onsets are subsets of Cw and Cy.

Vowels

Vowel Phones

[i(:)]			[u\(:)]
				[o(:)]
	[E(:)]
		[a(:)]

The diphthongs are |ei|, |eo|, |ae|, |ao|, and |oi|.

Syllables and Stress

The possible syllable types are:
KV short,
KVV long, open
KVC long, closed, and possibly
KVVC extra-long, and
KVCC extra-long, where
K is an consonant or onset cluster,
VV is a diphthong or long vowel, and
CC is a liquid, nasal, or voiceless fricative followed by a voiceless stop.

Historical Development

Historical Vowel Combinations

	-		+ *i		+ *e		+ *a		+ *u
*i	i	[i]	ii	[i:]	ye	[jE:]	ya	[ja:]	yo	[jo:]
*e	a	[a]	ei	[Ei]	ee	[E:]	aa	[a:]	eo	[Eo]
*a	o	[o]	oi	[oi]	ae	[aE]	ao	[ao]	oo	[o:]
*u	u	[u\]	wi	[wi:]	we	[wE:]	wa	[wa:]	uu	[u\:]
*@	e	[E]

The values |ee| and |ae| have been swapped; this may affect the verb conjugations.

ProtoLanguage Consonants

*p	*t	*k
*m	*n
	*s	*h
	*z
	*l

Some consonants have been palatalized by a following *i. These include:
*ti > [tS)] and *di > [dZ)] before a different vowel
*si > [S] and *zi > [Z] before a different vowel
*ni > [J] before a different vowel
*hi > [C] before a different vowel
*t > [tS)] and *d > [dZ)] before *i
*s > [S] and *z > [Z] before *i
*h > [C] before or after *i

Also, some consonants have been affected by a following *u. These include:
*pu > [?w] and *bu > [w] before a different vowel
*tu > [ts)] and *du > [dz)] before a different vowel
possibly also *su > [s] and *zu > [z] before a different vowel
*hu > [f] before a different vowel
*mu, nu > [Nw] before a different vowel
*t > [ts)] and *d > [dz)] before *u
*h > [f] before *u
Note that /n/ is [N] before /k/ and /g/ as well.

The voiced stops and affricates are intervocalic, or were at some point, or next to *z. Finally, /u/ and /i/ become devoiced and may disappear between two voiceless consonants or between a voiceless consonant and the end of the word.