Common (na Xafen): Difference between revisions

Common (na Xafen) (view source)

Revision as of 01:09, 16 February 2020

5,635 bytes added , 16 February 2020

no edit summary

Trafalgar

86

edits

@@ Line 77: / Line 77: @@
 ==Phonology==
 ===Consonants===
+====Phonemic Consonants====
 Common lacks series of paired consonants such as voiced/unvoiced or aspirated/unaspirated typical of many other languages. The default realization of Common consonants is unvoiced and unaspirated. Here are the phonemic consonants of Common:
@@ Line 151: / Line 153: @@
 |
 |}
+====Phonetic Consonants====
+Phonetically, however, Common has significant systematic allophony. The phonetic consonants of Common as as follows:
+{| border="1" cellpadding="1" cellspacing="1" class="bluetable lightbluebg" style="width: 660px; text-align:center;"
+! style="width: 68px; "|
+! style="width: 68px; " |Labial
+! style="width: 68px; " |Labio-dental
+! style="width: 68px; " |Dental
+! style="width: 68px; " |Alveolar
+! style="width: 68px; " |Post-alveolar
+! style="width: 68px; " |Palatal
+! style="width: 68px; " |Velar
+! style="width: 68px; " |Glottal
+|-
+! style="" |Nasal
+| m
+|
+|
+| n
+|
+| ɲ
+| ŋ
+|
+|-
+! style="" |Stop
+| p~b
+|
+|
+| t~d
+|
+|
+| k~g
+|
+|-
+! style="" |Affricate
+|
+|
+|
+|
+| t͡ʃ~d͡ʒ
+|
+|
+|
+|-
+! style="" |Fricative
+|
+| f~v
+| θ~ð
+| s~z
+| ʃ~ʒ
+| ç
+| x
+| h
+|-
+! style="" |Approximant
+| w
+|
+| l
+|
+|
+| j
+|
+|
+|-
+! style="" |Trill
+|
+|
+|
+| r
+|
+|
+|
+|
+|}
+====Allophonic Rules====
+Any consonants except /j/, /w/ and /h/ can be geminated. Geminate consonants occur internally to words only, and the syllable boundary runs right through them. The letters <j>, <w> and <h> corresponding to /j/, /w/ and /h/ may appear doubled in writing due to affixation but are treated as a single, normal-length consonant.
+For some speakers, and in some circumstances such as speaking emphatically or enunciating carefully, aspirated consonants may be heard, especially in areas where a major substratum language has them, such as phonemically in Chinese or allophonically as in English. However, such sounds don't participate in systematic allophonic variation and are generally ignored in a basic discussion of the sound structure of Common. Systematic allophonies are taught, because a large amount of Common learning is L2, and L2 speakers need to understand these rules for good pronunciation. The rules of allophony are not reflected in spelling and must be understood through native speaker intuition or learned.
+Similarly, the glottal stop [ʔ] can be heard in some dialects, and often at the beginning of a word that begins with a vowel when the speaker is trying to emphasize that word. The flap [ɾ] can be found in allophonic variation with [r], with [ɾ] inside words when not geminate and [r] at the beginning and end of a word or when geminate, especially among non-careful speakers in areas with major substratum languages such as Spanish that behave this way. However, these sounds are not considered phonemes or allophones of Common.
+There are four basic systematic allophonies:
+'''1. Stops, Fricatives and Affricates (Except /h/)'''
+The phonemes /p/, /t/, /k/, /t͡ʃ/, /f/, /θ/, /s/ and /ʃ/ undergo this rule. Taking the convention that the consonants in this set are all unvoiced by default, the following rules allow you to determine when they should be voiced. Let C be the consonant in question.
+C > [+voice] / [+voice]__[+voice]
+Essentially this means that inside a word, a single consonant in this class will always be voiced if it is between two sounds which are always voiced. These voiced sounds would be things like vowels, or consonants without unvoiced variants, like /l/, /w/, /r/, /n/, and /m/. If a consonant cluster or geminate (double) consonant occurs, matters become more complicated. If the cluster starts with a continuant (any sound which does not completely obstruct the airflow, such as [s] but not [t]), the voicing does not take effect; otherwise it does, except in the case of gemination. geminate consonants in this class are always devoiced.
+[-cont]C > [+voice][+voice] / [+voice]__[+voice]
+Because geminate consonants (think of the way double consonants are pronounced in Italian) are also always devoiced, in some regional dialects of Common, especially in areas where a major substratum language does not have gemination, it is common for speakers to not pronounce the gemination and instead only pronounce the devoicing. In this fashion, these dialects actually have developed phonemic voicing distinctions, as minimal pairs of words can be formed that differ only by voicing. However, careful High Common speakers worldwide are careful to pronounce the geminate consonants.
+'''2. Bilabial Nasal /m/'''
+The phoneme /m/ systemically assimilates to an alveolar place of articulation (becomes [n]) if followed by a dental or alveolar consonant.
+[m] > [n] / __[+dental]
+[m] > [n] / __[+alveolar]
+So /m/ is pronounced [n] before /n/ (becomes geminate, or disappears in nonstandard dialects that don't have gemination), /t/, /θ/, /s/, /l/ and /r/.
+'''3. Alveolar Nasal /n/'''
+The alveolar nasal /n/ tends to assimilate to the place of articulation of anything that follows it. It becomes /m/ before labials /f/ or /p/ or labialized semivowel /w/, /ɲ/ before palatal /j/, and /ŋ/ before velar /k/ (but not /w/).
+[n] > [m] / __[+labial]
+[n] > [ɲ] / __[+palatal]
+[n] > [ŋ] / __[+velar]
+'''4. Glottal Approximant /h/'''
+The glottal approximant /h/ assimilates to the approximate place of articulation of any vowel that precedes it - it is essentially pulled forward by the preceding vowel to save effort in making the constriction for the /h/ sound. It becomes /ç/ after front vowels or /ə/, and /x/ after back or low vowels. This allophony can be observed when word beginning with /h/ is compounded with another word in front of it which ends in a vowel. Some speakers also exhibit some assimilation to the place of articulation of preceding consonants, but this isn't taught as standard pronunciation.
+[h] > [ç] / V[+front]__
+[h] > [ç] / V[+central]__
+[h] > [x] / V[+low]__
+[h] > [x] / V[+back]__
 ===Vowels===