User:Juhhmi/Irbel: Difference between revisions

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Revision as of 11:24, 19 September 2014

Irbel /iɹ.vʲeʎ/ (or Westlang /ɚwəl/) is an a priori language isolate spoken in one of the Western Kingdoms of eastern Sword of Vortex.

Phonology

Consonants

There are twenty-one phonemically distinguished consonants since the palatalization process forms contrastive pairs.

Bilabial Labio-dental Alveolar Post-alveolar Palatal Velar Glottal
Nasal n ɲ
Plosive p pʲ t c k
Fricative f fʲ v vʲ s ʒ ɕ ç x h
Approximant ɹ j
Trill r
Lateral approximant l lʲ ʎ

Affricates: /t͡ɕ/ and /d͡ʑ/

Coarticulated consonants: /w/, /ɥ/ and /ɧ/

Vowels

Monophthongs

There are six phonemic vowels of which four come in palatal/non-palatal allophone pairs.

Front Central Back
Close i y ɨ: ʉ u
Near-close ɪ
Close-mid e ø ɘ
Mid ə
Near-open æ
Open ä ɑ

Diphthongs

Graphemes y and v in coda are used to form diphthongs ay /äɪ̯/, ey /ei̯/, av /ɑʊ̯/ and ev /øy̯/ which occur in both open and closed syllables (without or with coda). Normally between vowels, y forms a long semi-vowel /j:/ and v is /w~ɥ/ so the diphthong nature has to be indicated by h after y or v: aya /ɑj:ä/ vs. ayha /ɑʊ̯hɑ/.

Orthography

Palatalization

The language is written with a modified Westlang (Latin) alphabet script. Notable is the phonemic palatalization which naturally occurs in consonants before front vowels /e/ and /i/. Attempts to express the palatalization have accumulated into a complex system which was greatly simplified by Beate Lucuc /vʲäɕ lukux/ in year 521 of 7th era.

  • "Mute" front vowels which trigger palatalization: close ı used with u, and open e with a. Can be used word-finally to change the last coda consonant into palatalized: caoc /kɑkʰ/ vs. caec /kɑcʰ/
  • "Mute" back vowel o occurs between vowels and non-palatalized or not fully spirantized coda: cac /kax/ vs. caoc /kakʰ/
  • Pronounced front vowels: í and é. Use of u and a respectively with consonants, indicates that no palatilization occurs around í and é.
  • Vowels ı and e can be used in single-syllable words in place of pronounced í and é if there is no risk of confusion: céc = cec, but catéta /kɑt͡ɕetɑ/ ≠ cateta /kɑɕtɑ/
  • Only two vowels are written in a same syllable. If palatalization of both onset and coda is required, both triggers are placed after the consonants: ceace /cäc/
  • If a syllable has a front vowel as nucleus but both onset and coda not palatalized, h can be used to alter the coda instead of o: caétaét /ketet͡ɕ/ vs. caétaéht /ketetʰ/

Consonants

Word-final version are included after /, if they are different, and /* means that the grapheme isn't used word-finally.

Consonant pairs
Grapheme Plain Palatalized
p p/pʰ
b v/f vʲ/fʲ
n n ɲ
t t/tʰ t͡ɕ/ɕ
s s ɕ
r r ɹ
l l lʲ/ʎ
c k/x c/ç
x/* x ç
g ks ɧ
j j/ʒ d͡ʑ/ʑ
v w ɥ
  • Grapheme v is only used in codas after a and e to indicate the diphthongs /ɑʊ̯/ and /øy̯/.
Ligatures
Grapheme Phoneme Notes
q
d
f ç After a
k ç After u
m n: Between vowels
w w:/ɥ: Between back/front vowels
y j: Between vowels
  • Word-initial w before a back vowel is realized as /əw-/ and before front vowels as /əɥ-/. Word-initial y is similarly /əj-/ and m is /ən-/. In coda, y is used only after a and e for diphthongs /äɪ̯/ and /ei̯/ respectively

Vowels

Grapheme With consonants
not palatalized: palatalized:
a ɑ ä
u u ʉ
é ɘ e
í ɪ i

Glottal fricative /h/ separates pronounced vowels in pronunciation and is inserted if more than two vowels would line: cíu /cihu/ vs. cíhuıt /cihuɕ/

Digraphs

Examples of the use of e and ı with consonants.

Grapheme Phoneme Notes
c Before u
After u, e and i
ce c Before a
After a
oc Word-finally
ot After e and i
op After e and i
av ɑʊ̯ Before vowels: avh
ev øy̯ Before vowels: evh
ay äɪ̯ Before vowels: ayh
ey ei̯ Before vowels: eyh
eu ø Stressed syllable,
considered as front vowel
ia æ Similarly to eu

Examples: cıuq /cʉkɘ/, cíu /cihu/, cead /cäkɪ/, céa /cehɑ/