Naeng

Naeng /ʈʼətʼohetʰ/ is a language spoken by the Naeng people in Hussmauch. It is inspired by Naquian and Hmong.

Phonology

Consonants

43 consonants.

Naeng consonants

		Labial	Dental		Retroflex	Palatal	Velar	Uvular	Glottal
			central	lateral
Nasal	plain	m m	n n̪		nr ɳ		ng ŋ
	glottalized	mh mʼ	nh n̪ʼ		nrh ɳʼ		ngh ŋʼ
Stop	tenuis	p p	t t̪	tl t̪ɬ̪	r ʈ		c k	g q	h ʔ
	aspirated	b pʰ	d t̪ʰ	dl t̪ɬ̪ʰ	dr ʈʰ		g kʰ	gq qʰ
	ejective	ph pʼ	th t̪ʼ	tlh t̪ɬ̪ʼ	rh ʈʼ		ch kʼ	qh qʼ
Fricative		f f	x s̻	ll ɬ̪	s ʂ				h
Approximant				l l		y j

Use interpunct · to separate digraphs

Notes

• The lenis stops /p t tɬ ʈ ʈꞎ k qʷˁ/ are short compared to the aspirated stops /pˑʰ tˑʰ tɬˑʰ ʈˑʰ ʈꞎˑʰ kˑʰ qʷˁˑʰ/. Between voiced sounds they may be semi-voiced, the lateral affricates /tɬ ʈꞎ/ in particular being voiced in the stop phase of the articulation [dɬ ɖꞎ].
• The lenis fricatives /f s ɬ ʂ ꞎ x/ are short compared to the fortis fricatives /fˑ sˑ ɬˑ ʂˑ ꞎˑ xˑ χʷˁˑ/.
• The retroflex nasal and stops are subapico-palatal. The retroflex fricatives are laminal post-alveolar.
• /ə/ followed by /m n ɳ ŋ ɭ/ are pronounced as syllabic consonants (similar to Tigall): [m̩ n̩ ɳ̩ ŋ̍ ɭ̩].

Vowels

Naeng has 5 oral and 5 nasal vowels.

i u e ẁ a ii uu ee ẁẁ aa /i ʊ e ə ɐ iⁿ ʊⁿ eⁿ əⁿ ɐⁿ/ (IPA superscript indicates nasal vowels)

Tones

Every syllable may have either high tone or low tone. High tone is marked with an acute accent (high tone /ə́/ is transcribed as ẃ).

Phonotactics

Only V, CV, CVC allowed. Allowed syllable-final consonants: m n ɳ ŋ b d dɮ ɖ ɖɮʵ ɡ ʔ pʼ tʼ tɬʼ ʈʼ ʈɬʵʼ kʼ f s ʂ ɬ ɬʵ x w ɭ j