User:Ceige/NotherPIE

$LANG

Underlying Phonology

$LANG's phonology is chronologically divided into two loose categories: Early and Late $LANG. These are not well defined.

Consonants

$LANG has the following consonant phonemes:

• P (p, b̥, b), m, w: labial
• T (t, d̥, d), n, l (l, r): dento-alveolar
• S (s, z̊, z), ɲ, ʎ, y: palatal
• K (k, g̊, g), ŋ: velar
• Kʷ (kʷ, g̊ʷ, gʷ), ŋʷ: labiovelar
• ʔ, ħ, ħʷ (ˀ, ʀ, ʀʷ; ɦ, ˤ, ˤʷ): laryngeal/guttural

One may imagine the above system evolved from something resembling the system below, after many mergers and splits, but this is just one possibility of an older system:

• P, m, w: labial
• T, s, n, l: dento-alveolar
• Ć, ś, ń, ĺ: palato-alveolar
• Č, š, ň, j: palato-velar
• K, x, ŋ, ʀ: velar

Vowels

$LANG's underlying vowels and their possible realisations (default, +ATR +salient, -ATR +salient) are:

• i, ey, ay
• u, eu, au
• (⟨Ø⟩ ə, ⟨ə⟩ ɐ), ⟨e⟩ æ, ⟨a⟩ ɑ

There is a bit of crossover between vowel and consonant here - see the consonant section for y and w!

Accent

$LANG has a four-dimensional accent system partially capable of derivation, using:

• pitch
• salience
• ATR (cf Mongolian)
• and consonant gradation

... to aid in word segmentation when listening to the language and to differentiate different words.

All these are features of Late $LANG.