Chlouvānem/Phonology: Difference between revisions

Breathy-voiced vowels are closely related to /Vɦ/ sequences as, in many cases, instances of the latter are what historically created the former. In Chlouvānem saṃdhi, /Vɦ/ sequences at the end of a morpheme become /V̤/ when followed by a consonant and, viceversa, breathy-voiced vowels become /Vɦ/ sequences when followed by a vowel. This is especially notable in declension and conjugation:

: ''mailtvąa'' /maɪ̯ɴ̆tʋäɦä/ "waters", stem ''mailtvą~mailtvah-'', ergative case ''mailtvahei'' /maɪ̯ɴ̆tʋäɦeɪ̯/, exessive case ''mailtvąt'' /maɪ̯ɴ̆tʋɑ̤t/

: ''švęke'' /ɕʋe̤ke/ "to point at", root ''švę~šveh-'', 1SG present indicative ''švehu'' /ɕʋeɦu/

* palatal [ç] or [ʝ] before palatals;

* velar [x] or [ɣ] before velars;

* uvular [χ] before /ʀ/ or /ɴ̆/;

* bilabial [ɸ] or [β] before labials;

* glottal [h] or [ɦ] otherwise.

See, for example, ''švęke'' /ɕʋe̤ke/ – Std. [ɕʋe̤ke~ɕve̤ke], Cam. [ɕvexkə].

/ä/ (usually simply transcribed as /a/), statistically the most common vowel phoneme in Chlouvānem, is an open central unrounded vowel [ä] in most local pronunciations, but is better transcribed as near-open [ɐ] for the Jade Coastal ones and in a few Eastern Plain ones (notably in the Nīmbaṇḍhāra Delta); this slightly closer realization has been spreading to Standard Chlouvānem.

: ''haloe'' "name" /ɦäɴ̆ɔə̯/ – Std. [ɦäɴ̆ɔə̯~ɦɐɴ̆ɔə̯~ɦɐɴ̆ɔɒ̯], Līl. [ɦɐɴ̆œː], Lṭh. [ɦɐɴ̆oɪ̯], Līt. [ɦɐɴ̆ɔɒ̯~ɔɪ̯], Tmṣ. [ɦäɴ̆ɔɒ̯], Cam. [ɦäɴ̆ɔɪ̯], Lkn. [ɦäɴ̆oə̯]

In various areas of the Northern Plain, including in and around Mamaikala, the /äs/ ending is realized as [əʃ]:

: ''prātas'' "wind" /pʀäːtäs/ – Std. [pʀäːtäs~pʀäːtɐs], Līl. [pʀäːtɐs], Mam. [pʀäːtəʃ], Cam. [pʀäːtäs]

/äː/ (usually simply transcribed as /aː/) is realized as [äː] in most contexts for nearly all pronunciations. Jade Coastal ones realize it as an open back unrounded vowel [ɑː] word-finally, while in the Southern Far East it is often backed and rounded to [ɒː] after labial consonants. Exclusively in and around Cami, it is fronted to [æː] when adjacent to /j/.

: ''lilyā'' "my, mine" /ɴ̆iɴ̆jäː/ – Std. [ɴ̆iɴ̆jäː], Līl. [ɴ̆iɴ̆jɑː], Tmṣ. [ɴ̆iɴ̆jäː], Cam. [ɴ̆iɴ̆jæː], Lkn. [ɴ̆iɴ̆jäː]

: ''vāyam'' "image" /ʋäːjäm/ – Std. [ʋäːjä̃m~ʋäːjɐ̃m], Līl. [väːjɐ̃m], Tmṣ. [ʋäːjä̃m~wäːjä̃m], Cam. [ʋæːjä̃m~wæːjä̃m], Lkn. [ʋɒːjä̃m]

Both /ä/ and /äː/ are, nearly everywhere, backed when allophonically nasalized as [ɑ̃ ɑ̃ː], except before word-final /m/:

: ''Lāmberah'' (name of a river) /ɴ̆aːmbeʀäɦ/ – Std. [ɴ̆ɑ̃ːmbeʀäħ], Līl. [ɴ̆ɑ̃ːmbeʀɐχ], Mam. [ɴ̆ɑ̃ːmbeʀäħ], Cam. [ɴ̆ɑ̃ːmbeʀäh]

/ɑ̤/ does not have particular regional variation, save for the unpacking to [äH] in the Northern Far East/East/Northeast/parts of the North:

: ''mąšake'' "to pay" /mɑ̤ɕäke/ – Std. [mɑ̤ɕäke~mɑ̤ɕɐke], Līl. [mɑ̤ɕɐke], Tmṣ. [mɑ̤ʃäke], Cam. [mäçɕäkə].