User:Juhhmi/Irbel
Irbel /iɹ.vʲeʎ/ (or Westlang /ɚwəl/) is an a priori language isolate spoken in one of the Western Kingdoms of eastern Sword of Vortex.
Phonology
Consonants
There are twenty-one phonemically distinguished consonants since the palatalization process forms contrastive pairs.
| Bilabial | Labio-dental | Alveolar | Post-alveolar | Palatal | Velar | Glottal | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Nasal | n | ɲ | |||||
| Plosive | p pʲ | t tʲ | c | k | |||
| Fricative | f fʲ v vʲ | s | ʒ | ɕ ç | x | h | |
| Approximant | ɹ | j | |||||
| Trill | r | ||||||
| Lateral approximant | l lʲ | ʎ |
Affricates: /t͡ɕ/ and /d͡ʑ/
Coarticulated consonants: /w/, /ɥ/ and /ɧ/
Vowels
Monophthongs
There are six phonemic vowels of which four come in palatal/non-palatal allophone pairs.
| Front | Central | Back | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Close | i y | ɨ: ʉ | u |
| Near-close | ɪ | ||
| Close-mid | e ø | ɘ | |
| Mid | ə | ||
| Near-open | æ | ||
| Open | ä | ɑ |
Diphthongs
Graphemes y and v in coda are used to form diphthongs ay /äɪ̯/, ey /ei̯/, av /ɑʊ̯/ and ev /øy̯/ which occur in both open and closed syllables (without or with coda). Normally between vowels, y forms a long semi-vowel /j:/ and v is /w~ɥ/ so the diphthong nature has to be indicated by h after y or v: aya /ɑj:ä/ vs. ayha /ɑʊ̯hɑ/. Grapheme w as a lone nucleus represents two diphthongs: word-initially wC or whV is /ou̯/ and word-medially /uʉ̯/.
Orthography
Palatalization
The language is written with a modified Westlang (Latin) alphabet script. Notable is the phonemic palatalization which naturally occurs in consonants before front vowels /e/ and /i/. Attempts to express the palatalization have accumulated into a complex system which was greatly simplified by Beate Lucuc /vʲäɕ lukux/ in year 521 of 7th era.
- "Mute" front vowels which trigger palatalization: close ı used with u, and open e with a. Can be used word-finally to change the last coda consonant into palatalized: caoc /kɑkʰ/ vs. caec /kɑcʰ/
- "Mute" back vowel o occurs between vowels and non-palatalized or not fully spirantized coda: cac /kax/ vs. caoc /kakʰ/
- Pronounced front vowels: í and é. Use of u and a respectively with consonants, indicates that no palatilization occurs around í and é.
- Vowels ı and e can be used in single-syllable words in place of pronounced í and é if there is no risk of confusion: céc = cec, but catéta /kɑt͡ɕetɑ/ ≠ cateta /kɑɕtɑ/
- Only two vowels are written in a same syllable. If palatalization of both onset and coda is required, both triggers are placed after the consonants: ceace /cäc/
- If a syllable has a front vowel as nucleus but both onset and coda not palatalized, h can be used to alter the coda instead of o: caétaét /ketet͡ɕ/ vs. caétaéht /ketetʰ/
Consonants
Realization of different graphemes in a word, and * means that the grapheme is not used in the position.
| Grapheme | Plain | Palatalized | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Initial | Before consonants |
Word-final | Initial | Before consonants |
Word-final | ||
| p | p | f | pʰ | pʲ | fʲ | pʲ | |
| b | v | f | f | vʲ | fʲ | fʲ | |
| n | n | N | n | ɲ | Nʲ | ɲ | |
| t | t | s | tʰ | t͡ɕ | ɕ | tʲ | |
| s | s | s | s | ɕ | ɕ | ɕ | |
| r | r | r | r | ɻ | ɻ | ɻ | |
| l | l | l | l | lʲ | ʎ | ʎ | |
| c | k | x | x | c | ç | ç | |
| x | x | * | * | ç | * | * | |
| g | ks | ʔs | ks | ɧ | ʔç | ç | |
| j | j | ʒ | ʒ | d͡ʑ | ʑ | ʑ | |
| v | w | * | * | ɥ | * | * | |
- Grapheme v is only used in codas after a and e to indicate the diphthongs /ɑʊ̯/ and /øy̯/.
| Grapheme | Phoneme | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| q | kɘ | |
| d | kɪ | |
| f | ç | After a |
| k | ç | After u |
| m | n: | Between vowels |
| w | w:/ɥ: | Between back/front vowels |
| y | j: | Between vowels |
- Word-initial w before a back vowel is realized as /əw-/ and before front vowels as /əɥ-/. Word-initial y is similarly /əj-/ and m is /ən-/. In coda, y is used only after a and e for diphthongs /äɪ̯/ and /ei̯/ respectively
Vowels
| Grapheme | With consonants | |
|---|---|---|
| not palatalized: | palatalized: | |
| a | ɑ | ä |
| u | u | ʉ |
| é | ɘ | e |
| í | ɪ | i |
Glottal fricative /h/ separates pronounced vowels in pronunciation and is inserted if more than two vowels would line: cíu /cihu/ vs. cíhuıt /cihuɕ/
Ligatures ... w & j
Digraphs
Examples of the use of e and ı with consonants.
| Grapheme | Phoneme | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| cı | c | Before u |
| cʰ | After u, e and i | |
| ce | c | Before a |
| cʰ | After a | |
| oc | kʰ | Word-finally |
| ot | tʰ | After e and i |
| op | pʰ | After e and i |
| av | ɑʊ̯ | Before vowels: avh |
| ev | øy̯ | Before vowels: evh |
| ay | äɪ̯ | Before vowels: ayh |
| ey | ei̯ | Before vowels: eyh |
| eu | ø | Stressed syllable, considered as front vowel |
| ia | æ | Similarly to eu |
Examples: cıuq /cʉkɘ/, cíu /cihu/, cead /cäkɪ/, céa /cehɑ/