User:Juhhmi/Irbel
Irbel /iɻ.vʲeʎ/ (or Westlang /ɚwəl/) is an a priori language isolate spoken in Lıutpaét /lʲʉspɘtʲ/ of Western Kingdoms of eastern Sword of Vortex.
Phonology
Consonants
There are twenty-? phonemically distinguished consonants since the palatalization process forms contrastive pairs.
| Bilabial | Labio-dental | Alveolar | Post-alveolar | Retroflex | Palatal | Velar | Glottal | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Nasal | n | ɲ | ||||||
| Plosive | p pʲ | t tʲ | c | k | ʔ | |||
| Fricative | f fʲ v vʲ | s | ʒ | ɕ ç | x | h | ||
| Approximant | ɻ | j | ||||||
| Trill | r | |||||||
| Lateral approximant | l lʲ | ʎ |
Affricates: /t͡ɕ/ and /d͡ʑ/
Coarticulated consonants: /w/, /ɥ/ and /ɧ/
- According to the current Master of Spoken, Teakp Kwın /t͡ɕäxpʰ kuʉ̯ɲ/, sound /ɧ/ is realized as a combination of [f̞] [ʃ̞] and [ç] and educational facilities follow her advice when correcting dialectal variaties and attempting to teach the sound to foreigners.
Vowels
Monophthongs
| Front | Central | Back | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Close | i y | ɨ: ʉ | u |
| Near-close | ɪ | ||
| Close-mid | e ø | ɘ | o |
| 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/ (child) vs. ayha /ɑʊ̯hɑ/ (to boil).
- 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 /vʲätʲ 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/ (reign) vs. caec /kɑcʰ/ (cat).
- "Mute" back vowel o occurs between vowels and non-palatalized or not fully spirantized coda: cac /kax/ (type of fir tree) 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 /ceç/ (long), but catéta /kɑt͡ɕetɑ/ (agree) ≠ cateta /kɑɕtɑ/ (beautiful).
- 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 /cäcʰ/ (shock). Notice, that the final palatal consonant is not spirantized as opposed to ateaf /ɑt͡ɕäç/ (sneeze, "achoo").
- 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 /ketetʲ/ (thousand) vs. caétaéht /ketetʰ/ (fever).
Consonants
Realization of different graphemes in a word, and * means that the grapheme is not used in the position with all .
| 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 | ɲ | * | 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 | * | */x | ç | * | * |
| g | ks | ʔs | ks | ɧ | ç | f |
| j | j | ʒ | ʒ | d͡ʑ | ʑ | ʑ |
| v | w | * | * | ɥ | * | * |
- After back vowels, c is not fully spirantized /ç/, but weakly aspirated /cʰ/. Ligatures f and k are /ç/ after a and u respectively.
- Grapheme x /x/ comes word-finally only after front vowels.
- 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/ (flow) vs. cíhuıt /cihuɕ/ (imagine)
| Grapheme | Phoneme | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| w | ou̯/uʉ̯ | word-initially/-medially |
| y | ɨ: |
- When used as lone nuclei, they are non-palatalized and palatilization is indicated by ı. If followed by a vowel, h is placed after the grapheme: tyıp /tɨ:pʲ/ (settlement) vs. kyhíp /kɨ:hipʲ/ (pinnacle)
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 | |
| ay | äɪ̯ | |
| ey | ei̯ | |
| eu | ø | Stressed syllable, considered as front vowel |
| ia | æ | Similarly to eu |
- All diphthongs are separated from vowels following them with h.
Examples: cıuq /cʉkɘ/ (sleeve), cíu /cihu/ (flow), cead /cäkɪ/ (neck), céa /cehɑ/ (mock)
Balancing
The construction of words according to previous orthographic rules is called Mages /ənɑɧeɕ/ or "balancing". How the vowels are distributed into words... Neutral forms; aesthetic variation in poems (word art with meaning-changing accents?)