Ábḫanni

Ábḫanni
Pronunciation	[[ˈáβ.xɐn̪.n̪i]]
Created by	Thisimpliesthis
Setting	Tantíyoz
Language family	Abhannic languages Ábḫanni

Ábḫanni [ˈáβ.xɐn̪.n̪i] is a divergent Abhannic language, and is an isolate within this family, forming its own branch.

Phonology

Consonants

Ábḫanni has the following consonant phonemes:

		Labial	Dental or alveolar	Palatal or prepalatal	Velar	Glottal
Nasal		m /m/	n /n̪/	j /ɲ̟/
Plosive	voiceless		t /t̪/		k /k/
	prenasalized	mb /ᵐb/	nd /ⁿd̪/		ng /ᵑɡ/
Fricative	voiceless		z /θ̱/	s /ɕ/	ḫ /x/
	voiced	b /β/	d /ð/	jh /ʑ/		h /ɦ/
Liquid			r /ɺ/	y /j/

Notes:

• The consonants /n̪/, /t̪/, /ⁿd̪/, and /θ̱/ are denti-alveolar and laminal; /ð/ is interdental and apical; and /ɺ/ is alveolar and apical.

• /n̪/ never occurs word-initially, where it was replaced at some point by /m/. For example, míkkar 'to rock (back and forth)' has an frequentative mbaníkkar 'to stumble around' formed by prefix mba-. However, this word-initial /m/-/n̪/ alteration is no longer productive, and hence forms such has zoimíkkar 'I saw that it rocked' exist when using productive morphology such as the evidential zoi-.

• /n̪/ becomes [ŋ] when preceding /k/.

• When ungeminated and preceding a stressed vowel, /ɲ̟/ becomes the prenasalized voiced plosive [ᶮɟ̟]. It is written nj when geminated.

• /t̪/ and /k/ become [d̪] and [g], respectively, when not geminated and following /n̪/.

• The prenasalized consonants only occur word-initially and are relatively uncommon.

• /ᵑɡ/ becomes [ŋ] when not preceding a stressed or secondarily stressed vowel.

• The unvoiced dental fricative /θ̱/ is a denti-alveolar nonsibilant fricative, i.e., a non-sibilant version of [s̪].

• The phonemes /θ̱/ and /ɕ/ are subject to the assimilaton /ɕVθ̱/ → /ɕVɕ/.

• When geminated, /β/ becomes [pp] and is written pp.

• The voiced dental fricative /ð/ is a true interdental fricative. This phoneme is very uncommon and its distribution is highly restricted, occuring only in /aˈðV/ and /aˌðV/ sequences.

• The consonant /ɺ/ is generally pronounced as a lateral flap. It is subject to the anticipatory dissimilation /ɺVɺ/ → /nVɺ/. Word-finally, this consonant is sometimes weakened to [ɦ].

• The palatal approximant /j/ has restricted distribution, occuring only sequences of the form /VjV/ while adjacent to at least one /i/ or [ɪ̯].

Vowels

The vowel system of Ábḫanni is, described minimally, /i e ɔ a/, and features length and tone distinctions as well as diphthongs. The full set of vowel phonemes is as follows:

		Front		Back
		short	long	short	long
Close		i í /i í/	ii íi ií /iː îː ǐː/
Mid	pure	e é /e é/		o ó /ɔ ɔ́/
	closing		ei éi eí /eːɪ̯ êːɪ̯ ěːɪ̯/	oi ói /ɔɪ̯ ɔ́ɪ̯/	ou óu oú /ɔːʊ̯ ɔ̂ːʊ̯ ɔ̌ːʊ̯/
Open	pure	a á /a á/	aa áa aá /aː âː ǎː/
	closing	ai ái /aɪ̯ áɪ̯/	aai áai aái /aːɪ̯ âːɪ̯ ǎːɪ̯/	ao áo /ɑɔ̯ ɑ́ɔ̯/	aao áao aáo /ɑːɔ̯ ɑ̂ːɔ̯ ɑ̌ːɔ̯/