Alpha1 Orthography

[qiihoskeh]

Last Edited: 2006.Aug.18 Fri

Orthography and Some Phonology

This is somewhat different than the original Alpha phonology. The pronunciations given are approximate.

Consonants

Consonant Pronunciation

p	[p]	t	[t]			k	[k]	x	[?]
b	[b]	d	[d]			g	[g]
f	[f]	s	[s]					h	[h]
		z	[z]
m	[m]	n	[n]			ñ	[N]
w	[w]	l	[l]	y	[j]

The onset clusters are

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

Vowel Pronunciation

i	[i]	e	[E]	a	[a]	o	[O]	u	[u]

The diphthongs are ae, ao, ei, eu, oi, and ou. A doubled vowel letter indicates a long vowel. All other combinations of two vowel letters are phonologically disyllabic, even if pronounced like diphthongs.

Syllables

The types of syllables are short ((C)V) and long ((C)VV and (C)VC). The consonants b, d, g, h, t, and x are excluded from codas. However, x functions as a geminate between vowels.

Stress

If a syllable is marked with an (acute) accent, that syllable is stressed (stem type 4 or 5); else
if the penult is long, it's stressed (stem type 1); else
if the antepenult is long, it's stressed (stem type 2); else
if the antepenult is short, it's stressed (stem type 3); else
if the penult is short, it's stressed (stem type 4); else
the ultima is stressed (stem type 5) OR the word has no stress.

The stem types are relevent to the "conjugations".