Luthic: Difference between revisions

Most consonants are word-initial only: They are voiced stops /d/, /b/ and the nasal /m/. A presence of voiceless stops is also found as /t/, /p/ and rarely /k/; who can be allphones of each other. A preference for a front place of articulation is present. Clicks are also present, although mostly for imitative suckling sounds.

More phones now appear: the nasal /n/, the voiceless fricative /t͡ʃ/, who can be an allphone of /t ~ d/; as voice is still not a distinctive feature, and the liquid /l/. The preference for front articulation is still present, triggering palatalisation.

Fricatives may appear: /f ~ v/ and /s/ (who can be further palatalised to /ʃ/), primarily at intervocalic position. Voice may become a distinctive feature at this stage. Onomatopoeiae are also produced, such as /aw aw/ for [[w:Bark|dog’s barking]]; /ow/, or preferably /aj/ for denoting pain. Production of trisyllabic words begins, such as C₁VC₂VC₃V. Consonant clusters are now present and are often subject to [[w:Consonant harmony|consonant harmony]], such as ''-mb-'', ''-nd-'' and ''-dr-''; however voiced-voiceless clusters are still rare, such as ''-mp-'' and ''-tr-''.

Approximately equal numbers of phones are now produced in word-initial and intervocalic position. Additions to the phonetic inventory are the voiced stop /ɡ/ and a few consonant clusters. Co-articulations are perceived, such as labio-velar plosives. Alveolars and bilabials are the two most common places of articulation. Labiodental and postalveolar production increases throughout development, while velar production decreases. Luthic lenitions also become evident, as more fricatives and approximants are produced. Children develop syllabic segmentation awareness earlier than phonemic segmentation awareness.

* ''Nasal assimilation:'' non-nasal sounds often become nasal sound due to a nasal sound in the word [ˈʁɛn.dɐ] > [ˈnen.nɐ];

* ''Weak syllable deletion:'' word-initial and word-terminal unstressed syllables are often omitted [bɐˈna.nɐ] > [ˈna.nɐ];

* ''Coda deletion:'' omission of general coda consonant and the final consonant in the word [kɐr] > [kɐ], [ˈbro.θɐr] > [ˈbro.θɐ] ([ˈbro]);

* ''Consonant harmony:'' a target word consonant takes on features of another target word consonant , [kɐn] > [kɐŋ], [ˈstɛk.kɐ] > [ˈstɛt.tɐ] ([ˈstɛt ~ ˈstɛ]);

* ''Coalescence:'' adjacent consonants are merged into one with similar features [ˈzbaɸ.ɸu] > [ˈβaɸ.ɸu] ([ˈvaɸ.ɸu]);

* ''Cluster reduction:'' consonant clusters are often simplifed into a single consonant [oˈrek.klɐ] > [oˈrel.lɐ] ([ˈrel.lɐ]);

* ''Velar fronting:'' velar plosives are often replaced by alveolar ones nearby a front vowel [ki] > [ti];

* ''Stopping or affrication:'' fricatives are often fortified nearby a front vowel [si] > [ti ~ t͡ʃi];

* ''Gliding:'' taps and liquids are replaced by a glide [ˈka.ru] > [ˈka.wu], [ˈaʎ.ʎo] > [ˈaj.jo].