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Ihlleng: Difference between revisions
→Plurals
(Reworked vowel system) |
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/ˈmadːle/ - mother -> /ˈmadːlemad/ - mothers | /ˈmadːle/ - mother -> /ˈmadːlemad/ - mothers | ||
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The reason for this irregularity is that, in an earlier stage of the language, Ihlleng also had the vowel phonemes /ɛi/ and /ɔu/. However, these phonemes underwent a split. In stressed syllables, they became /eː/ and /oː/. Elsewhere, they became /ei/ and /ou/. So in reduplications, they became different vowels. | The reason for this irregularity is that, in an earlier stage of the language, Ihlleng also had the vowel phonemes /ɛi/ and /ɔu/. However, these phonemes underwent a split. In stressed syllables, they became /eː/ and /oː/. Elsewhere, they became /ei/ and /ou/. So in reduplications, they became different vowels. | ||
The only exception to the above irregularity is if the stressed syllable has an alveolar stop (t or d) in the onset. In this case, the vowel is reduplicated as /o/ e.g. | |||
/ˈdoːkta/ - doctor -> /ˈdoːktaˈdok/ - doctors | |||
The reason for this is that there was another sound change that applied to */ɛi/ and */ɔu/, that was triggered by a preceding alveolar stop. | |||