Proto-Rathmosian

Phonology and Orthography

Consonants

	Bilabial	Alveolar	Palatal	Velar
Nasal		m		n
Plosive	p	b	t	d			k	g
Fricative	ɸ		s				x
Trill				r
Approximant		w				j
Lateral app.				l

Vowels

	Front	Near- front	Central	Near- back	Back
Close	i u e ə a
Near-close
Close-mid
Mid
Open-mid
Near-open
Open

Vowel length is non-phonemic and all vowels are usually short. However, certain morphological conditions cause lengthening of the primary vowels a, e, u, i (but not ə). These are then written aa, ee, uu, ii.

The semi-vowels i̯ /j/ and u̯ /w/ may occur after any vowel, effectively creating diphthongs, though for the purposes of syllable structure these are analysed as combinations of vowel + consonant: /aj, ej, uj, ij, əj, aw, ew, uw, iw, əw/. The combinations /ij/ and /uw/ may be analysed as [iː] and [uː]. The primary vowels may still be lengthened in these combinations, e.g. aai̯ /aːj/, eeu̯ /eːw/. /iːj/ and /uːw/ are therefore equivalent of [iːː], [uːː].

Orthography

Proto-Rathmosian is written with the Roman alphabet using the following graphs.

a b d e f g h i k l m n p r s t u ə

The breve is used below i̯ and u̯ to signal the semivowels /j/ and /w/. Long vowels are doubled.

The following table shows the sound to spelling correspondences:

graph	a	aa	b	d	e	ee	f	g	h	i	ii	i̯	k	l	m	n	p	r	s	t	u	uu	u̯	ə
IPA	a	aː	b	d	e	eː	ɸ	g	x	i	iː	j	k	l	m	n	p	r	s	t	u	uː	w	ə

Phonotactics

Words are constructed from a root plus various derivation or morphological affixes. Roots must be minimal CVC (e.g. ret- 'go, move') and may be CCVC (glis- 'live, stay'), CVCC (tii̯k- 'touch, feel'), CCVCC (psau̯m 'breathe'). Affixes may be V, VC, VCV, C, CV, CVC.