User:IlL/Spare pages 1/20
Inspirations: Vietnamese, Old Irish, Tiberian Hebrew, Maltese
Phonology
p t c k kħ q = /p t k q ʡ ʔ/; ph th ch kh ħ = /f θ x χ ħ/
m n ng; mh nh ngh = /m n ŋ; ṽ (lenis n) (lenis ŋ)/
x s h = /ɬ ʃ h/
b ƀ đ d g ǥ għ = /v (bilabial l) ɮ ð ɣ ʟ ayin/
r l /r l/
i ê e a o ô u = /i e ɛ a ɔ o u/; ă = shva na; ĕ = ultrashort e; ie uo
Ultrashort vowels cannot carry independent tones
6 tones of Vietnamese
has lenition, lateralization and h-prothesis~aspiration mutations
Proto-language
5 vowels: i e a o u, each syllable had high and low tones
allowed syllables: CV, CVn, CVs, CVl (CVnC becomes CV(sokuon)C as in Hebrew)
Todo: Stress patterns for construct nouns and dependent verbs
Consonants: m n ŋ p t k q̟ q̠ ʔ b d g ʕ s ɬ w l r j
Morphology
Old Irish-style independent-dependent verbal allomorphy, which includes tone changes (the proto-stage had level tones and was predominantly CV, with geminates, nC and sC clusters. tones in reduced syllables leave a mark on the stressed syllable, making tones more complex)
nouns have unpredictable allomorphs as well, worse than TibH construct state (absolute~construct since easy to justify with stress)