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 pʰ pʲ | t tʰ tʲ | c cʰ | k kʰ | 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.
Dialectal variation:
- In northern Melıap /əɲeˈʎæpʰ/ (Wolf) dialect, word-final, the not fully spirantized but aspirated plosives /pʰ/, /tʰ/, /cʰ/ and /kʰ/ have no audible release instead of aspiration: [p̚ ], [t̚ ], [c̚] and [k̚ ]. Example: Melıap [əɲəjˑɐp̚ ]. Western Teapín /tʲäpʲiɲ/ (Salmon) shows the opposite trend by having all of its word-final consonants being pronounced as fricatives [ɸ], [θ], [ç] and [x]. Example: caco [kɑx] (reign) vs. cac [kəx] (type of fir tree) and Melıap [eɲeˈʎaˑɸ].
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/.
Stress
In most cases, primary stress falls on the first heavy syllable, i.e. syllable containing both onset and coda, or simply on the first syllable, if all the other syllables in the word are equally weighed. Some words, however, have their primary stress on an unusual syllable due to reduction and loss of phonemes (mostly consonant-preceding nasals), and this may be lexical: sacpéta /ˈsɑx.pʲe.tɑ/ (Foehn wind) vs. /sɑxˈpʲe.tɑ/ (miscellaneous)
Syllables containing long front vowels eu /ø:/ or ıa /æ:/ are always stressed: peutíc /ˈpʲø:.tʲiç/ (stew).
Secondary stress is on the last heavy syllable or on the penultimate light syllable: cuítnucarbé /ˈkiɕnuˌkɑrvʲe/ (temple portal).
Geminated consonants /n:/, /ɲ:/, /w:/, /ɥ:/ and /j:/ won't trigger stress in a preceding syllable. If they come before the first heavy syllable in a word, they will be reduced into light syllables /-ʔə̃n-/, /-ʔə̃ɲ-/, /-ʔʉw-/, /-ʔʉɥ-/ and /-ʔɨj-/. Example: lawénat /lɑ.ʉɥeˈnɑtʰ/ (cover) vs. cuıtcéwa /ˈkuɕ.cew:ɑ/ (vision).
Phonotactics
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: caco /kɑkʰ/ (reign) vs. cace /kɑcʰ/ (cat).
- "Mute" back vowel o occurs between vowels and non-palatalized or not fully spirantized coda: cac /kɑx/ (type of fir tree) vs. caco /kɑkʰ/.
- 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 or caétaéto /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:/ɲ: | Between vowels |
| w | w:/ɥ: | Between back/front vowels |
| y | j: | Between vowels |
- If long consonants m /N:/, w /W:/ and y /j:/ come before the first heavy syllable in a word, they undergo reduction which gives rise to light syllables: lawénat /lɑ.ʉɥeˈnɑtʰ/ (cover), témuyapacté /t͡ɕe.ə̃nu.ɨjäˈpɑx.t͡ɕe/ (funeral ceremony)
- 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 /cihutʲ/ (imagine)
| Grapheme | Phoneme | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| w | ou̯/uʉ̯ | word-initially/-medially |
| y | ɨ: |
- When used as lone nuclei, these diphthongs won't trigger palatalization by themselves and palatalization has to be indicated by ı. If followed by a vowel, h is placed after the grapheme: tyıp /tɨ:pʲ/ (settlement) vs. cyhíp /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 |
| ıa | 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 Magés /ənɑɧeɕ/ or "balancing". How the vowels are distributed into words... Neutral forms; aesthetic variation in poems (word art with meaning-changing accents?)
- Symbols: C consonant, P palatal consonant, É front vowel, A back vowel, I palatal trigger, U non-palatal trigger, O non-palatal(2nd)/non-spirantized trigger, L ligature
- CAPI & PÉCO; PIAC & CUÉP