Omicron Phonology

[qiihoskeh]

Last Edited: 2006.Aug.19 Sat

Consonants

Here's the current consonant orthography.

p	[p]	t	[t]					k	[k]
b	[b]	d	[d]
f	[f]	z	[s_m]	s	[s_a]			x	[x], [C]	h	[h]
m	[m]	n	[n], [N]
w	[w]	l	[l]			j	[j]	r	[R]

I haven't determined yet what onset clusters will exist. Probably, Cl, Cj, Cw, Cr can occur for most C.

Vowels and Diphthongs

Here's the current vowel orthography.

i	[i]	î	[i:]
e	[e]	ê	[E:]	ei	[ei]	eu	[eu]
a	[a]	â	[A:] or [Q:]	ai	[ai]	au	[au]
o	[o]			oi	[oi]	ou	[ou]
u	[u]	û	[u:]
y	[I\]

Syllables and Stress

Protolanguage

This shows the consonants and vowels of the protolanguage.

	*t		*k
*b	*d		*g
*ph	*th		*kh
	*s
*m	*n
	*l
*w		*y	*r

(*i)			(*u)
	*e	*a

Syllables are (C)G and (C)V(G) (where V is *e or *a and G is *i, *u, or *r).

Stress is phonemic.

Sound Changes

This list mainly of net sound changes and is in progress.

r= > â if stressed and > o if not
ar > â
er > ê
stressed i > î
stressed u > û
unstressed a > o
unstressed e > y if needed to break up certain consonant clusters and > 0 if not
nasals and liquids become syllabic between consonants, final after a consonant, or initial before a consonant

l= > el if stressed and > yl if not

ph > p after aspirate or fricative and > f otherwise
th > t after aspirate or fricative and > z otherwise
kh > k after aspirate or fricative and > x otherwise
b > p before voiceless consonant or when final
d > t before voiceless consonant or when final
g > k before voiceless consonant or when final, > h between vowels or initial before a vowel, and > 0 otherwise

n= > i before fricative or l or r except that n= > u if preceded by i (which becomes j)
m= > u before fricative or l or r except that m= > i if preceded by u (which becomes w)
n > m before b, m
m > n before fricative or l, r, t, d, k, n or when final
en > ei before fricative or l or r
an > au before fricative or l or r
on > ou before fricative or l or r

yt, yn, ym > e when final
ot, on, om > a when final