Swyr
Humpback Whelsh (Mór-fîl) is a tonal language with a Welsh aesthetic. It is meant to be spoken in Humpback Wales, and has lent some words to Tigal; otherwise it's not part of any conworld setting.
Phonology
Consonants
Humpback Whelsh uses these consonants:
| Labial | Dental | Alveolar | Postalveolar | Palatal | Velar | Labiovelar | Glottal | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Nasal | voiceless | mh /m̥/ | nh /n̥/ | ngh /ŋ̊/ | |||||
| voiced | m /m/ | n /n/ | ng /ŋ/ | ngw /ŋʷ/ | |||||
| Plosive | aspirated | p /pʰ/ | t /tʰ/ | c /kʰ/ | |||||
| unaspirated | b /p/ | d /t/ | g /k/ | gw /kʷ/ | |||||
| Fricative | voiceless | ff, ph /f/ | th /θ/ | s /s/ | si /ʃ/ | ch /χ/ | chw /xʷ/ | h /h/ | |
| voiced | f /v/ | dd /ð/ | |||||||
| Trill | voiceless | rh /r̥/ | |||||||
| voiced | r /r/ | ||||||||
| Approximant | voiceless | ll /l̥~ɬ/ | |||||||
| voiced | l /l/ | i /j/ | w /w/ | ||||||
Unlike in Welsh, the consonants written mh nh ngh are true voiceless nasals.
Finals
Humpback Whelsh allows these finals: -b, -d, -g, -m, -n, -ng, -l and -r. The first three are unreleased stops /-p̚ -t̚ -k̚/.
Vowels
| Front | Central | Back | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Close | i | ɨ | u |
| Mid | e | ə | o |
| Open | a |
| Diphthongs | Second component | ||
|---|---|---|---|
| First component | front | central | back |
| close | ʊi | ʊɨ | ɪu, ɨu |
| mid | əi/ɛi, ɔi | əɨ/ɛɨ, ɔɨ | əu/ɛu, ɔu |
| open | ai | aɨ, ɑːɨ | au |
Tones
Humpback Whelsh has four contrastive tones: level, rising, falling and peaking.
| Tone | Example | Notes | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Level | llyr (blow) | /ɬɨr˧/ | |
| Rising | séng (place) | /seŋ˨˥/ | |
| Falling | chà (assist) | /xa˨˩/ | May be slightly creaky voiced. |
| Peaking | rhêud (pebble) | /r̥eɨt̚˦˥˩/ | |