Antarctican/Phonation restrictions
This page is regarding an aspect of the phonology of the Antarctican conlang. In addition to distinguishing vowels by height and frontness, vowel phonation is also phonemic in Antarctican. The possible phonation types are modal, tense (also pronounced with a higher pitch), and breathy (also pronounced with a lower pitch). However, not every vowel can occur with every kind of phonation. The possible combinations are listed in the tables below:
Monophthongs
| Voice | Front | Central | Back | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Close | Modal | i /i/ | ue /ɨ/ from /i/ | u /u/ |
| Breathy | ùe /ɨʱ/ | ù /uʱ/ | ||
| Close-mid | Modal | e /e/ | oe /ɘ/ from /e/ | o /o/ from /u/ |
| Tense | é /eˤ/ | óe /ɘˤ/ | ó /oˤ/ | |
| Breathy | òe /ɘʱ/ | ò /oʱ/ | ||
| Open-mid | Modal | ae /ɛ/ from /a/ | õ /ɔ/ | |
| Tense | áe /ɛˤ/ | áo /ɜˤ/ | ô /ɔˤ/ | |
| Breathy | ào /ɜʱ/ | |||
| Open | Modal | a /a/ | ã /ɒ/ from /ɔ/ | |
| Tense | á /aˤ/ |
- Vowels in green are found everywhere.
- Vowels in pink are phonemic at the end of words, where they mark ergative case, and are allophones elsewhere. They occur before another syllable beginning with a voiced consonant followed by a modally voiced vowel. The vowel that they are an allophone of is indicated afterwards.
- Vowels in blue are phonemic at the end of words, where they mark comitative case, and are allophones elsewhere. They occur before another syllable beginning with a voiceless consonant followed by a modally voiced vowel. The vowel that they are an allophone of is indicated afterwards.
- Vowels in orange are only found in reduplications.
Antarctican uses reduplication in its morphology, however it only partially reduplicates diphthongs, reducing them to monophthongs in the reduplicated syllable e.g.
- 'kówntátu /kouɴˤtaˤtu/ – acquaintance, absolutive
- 'kókówntátu /koˤkouɴˤtaˤtu/ – acquaintances (of each other), absolutive
When such diphthongs are truncated, it is always only the first part of it that is preserved e.g. /eiˤ/ and /euˤ/ both shorten to /eiˤ/. /oiˤ/ and /ouˤ/ both shorten to /oˤ/ etc.
Diphthongs
There are similar restrictions on diphthongs:
Ending in /i/
| Voice | Front | Central | Back | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Close | Modal | uy /ui/ | ||
| Breathy | ùey /ɨiʱ/ | ùy /uiʱ/ | ||
| Close-mid | Modal | ey /ei/ | oey /ɘi/ | oy /oi/ |
| Tense | éy /eiˤ/ | óey /ɘiˤ/ | óy /oiˤ/ | |
| Breathy | òey /ɘiʱ/ | |||
| Open-mid | Modal | aey /ɛi/ | ||
| Tense | áey /ɛiˤ/ | |||
| Breathy | àoy /ɜiʱ/ | |||
| Open | Modal | ay /ai/ | ||
| Tense | áy /aiˤ/ |
Ending in /u/
| Voice | Front | Central | Back | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Close | Modal | |||
| Breathy | ùew /ɨuʱ/ | |||
| Close-mid | Modal | ew /ew/ | oew /ɘu/ | ow /ou/ |
| Tense | ów /ouˤ/ | |||
| Breathy | òew /ɘuʱ/ | òw /ouʱ/ | ||
| Open-mid | Modal | aew /ɛu/ | õw /ɔu/ | |
| Tense | áew /ɛuˤ/ | ôw /ɔuˤ/ | ||
| Breathy | àow /ɜuʱ/ | |||
| Open | Modal | aw /au/ | ||
| Tense | áw /auˤ/ |