Chlouvānem/Phonology: Difference between revisions

: ''Std.'' — Standard

: ''Cam.'' — Cameyi (Northern Far Eastern)

: ''Klš.'' — Kælšamīṇṭi (Southern)

: ''Līl.'' — Līlasuṃghāṇi (Jade Coastal)

: ''Mam.'' — Mamaikali (Northern Plain)

: ''Pmh.'' — Pamahīnēni (Inland Southern)

: ''Tlš.'' — Tālišulkhāni (Western Plain)

: ''Tmṣ.'' — Tumyāṣrālami (Eastern Plain)

: ''Ytc.'' — Yotachušeyi (Northeastern)

In the Jade Coast and Eastern Plain, /u/ and /uː/, but not /ṳ/, are fronted to /ʉ/ following /j/ and (in the Nīmbaṇḍhāra Delta only) after /ɕ ɲ/:

===Vowels /e eː e̤ ɛ ɛː/===

The vowel /ɔ/ in all contemporary Chlouvānem pronunciation is the result of the merger of historical (Classical) /ɔ/ and another vowel, usually reconstructed as */ʌo̯/ or */ɔʊ̯/; both are still distinguished orthographically, with '''o''' used for the former and '''å''' for the latter, making /ɔ/ the only Chlouvānem phoneme that has two completely different letters for it to be written with.

When word-final (an occurrence which is limited to borrowed proper nouns, the accusatives of dual pronouns, the dative of cardinal numerals, and some Eastern toponyms), it is realized as [oː] virtually everywhere:

Currently, there is a tendency among young speakers, almost exclusively adolescents and young adults in the major urban areas, towards the development of a spelling-based phonemic distinction, with /o/ [o] corresponding to written '''o''' and /ɔ/ [ɔ] corresponding to written '''å'''. In its most radical form, this overrides even the raising of /ɔ/ (when written '''å''') and the [oː] pronunciation in words like ''emibå'' mentioned above; otherwise this tendency still keeps them merged in those contexts. However, this usage is considered non-standard and not appropriate in formal circumstances.

/aɪ̯/ is fronted to [æɪ̯] in virtually all of the Chlouvānem-speaking world except for most of the Plain and of the Jade Coast (Līlasuṃghāṇa and Taitepamba being the only major areas there where fronting occusrs). In some areas of the South (notably in Kælšamīṇṭa), it is merged with /eɪ̯/ as [e̞ɪ̯] or even [ɛɪ̯]. When word-final and unstressed, as commonly occuring as a plural marker, most of the Southern Far East reduces it to [ɛ].

/ɔə̯/ varies much more diatopically, with the [ɔə̯] realization (likely the Classical one) being mostly only persistant in the Standard, in the Near East, in the North, and in the West. Most other areas have a fronted and more closed second element in [ɔɪ̯]; the Southern Far East usually has a more closed first element in [oə̯], while the southern Jade Coast and parts of the Southern coast have both in [oɪ̯]. Opening, rounding, and backing of the second element to [ɔɒ̯] is found almost exclusively in a coastal strip from just north of Taitepamba through Līlta (where [ɔɪ̯] is however also found) to the Nīmbaṇḍhāra Delta included, and is a possible realization in the Standard. Finally, a realization as a rounded front vowel is found in the southern rainforest and adjacent areas, including the whole of the Līlasuṃghāṇa metro area.