Bis Burunko
Bis Burunko (/bɨs bʉˈɾʉnkɔ/, literally 'the Burungian language'), also known as Burunko or Burungian, is a language isolate spoken on the island of Burung in the north Atlantic.
Background
Phonology and Orthography
Bis Burunko has a relatively simple phonology with 21 consonants, 5 pure vowels and 6 true diphthongs. The orthography is almost entirely regular and predictable, based on a 1:1 spelling to pronunciation system.
Consonants
| Bilabial | Alveolar | Palatal | Velar | Glottal | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Nasal | m /m/ | n /n/ | ng /ŋ/ | ||
| Plosive | p /p/ b /b/ |
t /t/ d /d/ |
k /k/ g /g/ |
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| Sibilant | s /s/ | sh /ɕ/ z /ʑ/ |
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| Fricative | f /ɸ/ | x /ç/ | h /h/ | ||
| Affricate | ch /t͡ɕ/ j /d͡ʑ/ |
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| Flap or tap | r /ɾ/ | ||||
| Approximant | w, u /w/ | y /j/ | |||
| Lateral app. | l /l/ |
Notes:
- n is realised as /ŋ/ before g, k, ng
- medial h is often simply hiatus between vowels
- /w/ is spelled u immediately after a consonant but w elsewhere
- all consonants except fricatives and glides (w, y) may be doubled word-internally; note the trigraphs ssh, cch, nng
For consonant clusters, see Phonotactics below.
Vowels
| Front | Back | |
|---|---|---|
| Close | i /ɨ/ | u /ʉ/ |
| Open-mid | e /ɛ/ | o /ɔ/ |
| Open | a /a/ |
Vowels are considered to be short in all environments but may occur consecutively as in biitosh 'gender neutral person' /bɨ:'tɔɕ/.
Note: word-initial sequences of i + i and u + uu are written yi-, wu-.
Diphthongs
There are six diphthongs proper: ai /aɨ/, ei /ɛɨ/, oi /ɔɨ/, au /aʉ/, eu /ɛʉ/ and ou /ɔʉ/, which may be considered sequences of vowels in measuring syllables. In addition, any vowel is permitted to occur following the 'glides' /w/ or /j/.
Phonotactics
Bis Burunko has a relatively restrictive syllabic structure, with a maximal form CGVVC, in which C represents a consonant, G a glide and V a vowel or part of a diphthong. Of these, only the central vowel is essential but there are also restrictions on the other elements. The table below shows the rules governing each position in the syllable:
| C1 | G | V1 | V2 | C2 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
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The word-final consonants s, sh, ng and z are not permitted to occur before another consonant, so undergo changes in compounds or when consonant-initial endings are added:
- -s is lost, the preceding vowel is doubled and a following voiced plosive or j is devoiced:
- gis 'man' + -do (collective) = giito 'group, band'
- -sh becomes -i-, forming a diphthong with the preceding vowel, and a following voiced plosive is devoiced:
- sush 'empty' + bupung 'person' = suipupung 'vain person'
- arash 'night' + -te (time) = araite 'night-time'
- -ng becomes -m before p, b, f and n before any other consonant:
- gyong 'man' + -bu (collective) = gyombu 'warrior class'
- yong 'foot' + -ko (adjectival) = yonko 'sock'
- -z is lost and causes a following consonant to double (except f, x, h):
- az 'male' + -chi (adjectival) = acchi 'masculine'
- haz 'old' + kora 'bitch' = hakkora 'hag'
In some cases a word ending in a vowel + -i will alter to vowel + -u when a suffix or the second element of a compound begins with a consonant:
Word-final vowels may also be altered or lost when they come into contact with initial vowels in compounds or endings.
Stress
Syllables may be defined as either heavy or light:
- a heavy syllable being either ends in a consonant (az, gyom-bu, ut-te)or contains a long vowel (bii, gii-to) or diphthong (mei, a-rai-te)
- a light syllable ends in a single vowel (fa-be, xu).
Monosyllabic words carry stress. In polysyllables, stress is attracted to heavy syllables. In words containing more than one heavy syllable, primary stress is placed on the last such syllable, with secondary stress on the penultimate heavy syllable. In words with no heavy syllables, primary stress falls on the first syllable.
In some instances, stress does not follow these rules and is marked with an acute accent (e.g. béyong "knee", búrus "iriji person", ugáras "breast").