User:Waahlis/Hrasic

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Hrasú múng, /ˈχrʌsɯ ˈmɯŋg̚/, Hrasú or Hrasic /ˈkɹæzɪk/ is a language spoken in the Eastern Caucasus, by the Hrasú people.

Phonology

Consonants

The following is the inventory of consonants in the Hrasú language. There are 20 contrastive consonants.

Hrasú consonants
Consonants
Bilabial Denti-alveolar Palatal Velar Glottal
apical laminal
Nasals plain m /m/ n /n/ ng /ŋ/
Plosives aspirated bh /pʰ/ th /t̺ʰ/ ch /kʰ/
unvoiced p /p/ t /t/ c /k/
voiced b /b/ d /d/ g /g/
Fricatives unvoiced sh /s̺ʰ/ s /s/ h /ç ~ x ~ h/
voiced z /z/ y /ʝ/
Trills r /r/
Approximants hu /w/
Laterals l /l ~ ɬ/

Consonant allophony

Allophony is common to many consonants, and sandhi forces them to be realised different in different environments.

The glottal fricative

The phoneme /h/, the so called glottal fricative, is in free variation with the unvoiced palatal fricative /ç/ as well as the unvoiced velar fricative /x/.

h
hɬæ/ = xɬæ/ = çɬæ/
good; well

The velar fricative is the most common one, but the phones are all affected by palatalisation, producing the palatal fricative [ç]. If followed by a rhotic trill /r/, the pronunciation becomes uvular.

hyó hrasú
ə/ çə] hrɑsɯ/ χrʌsɯ]
to leave.subj pride
Palatalisation

Palatalisation occurs due to many factors:

  • The phonemes /ʝ/ and /ɪ/, the voiced palatal fricative and the near-close near-front vowel, tend to palatalise adjacent consonants internally.
  • Externally, a final voiced velar stop, /g/, palatalises the initial consonant of the following word.

All post-bilabial consonants are affected, except the rhotic /r/ and the aspirated apical fricative /s̺ʰ/. As such, the allophony is rather extensive:


Plain /n/ /t/ /d/ /s/ /z/ /l/ /ŋ/ /k/ /g/ /kʰ/ /t̺ʰ / /h/
Palatalised [ɲ] [t͡ʃ] [d͡ʒ] [ʃ] [ʒ] [ʎ] [ɲ]1 [t͡ʃ] [d͡ʒ] [k] [t] [ç]
  1. Realised as /ŋg/ when non-initial. This grants /ŋg/ → [ɲd͡ʒ].
Voicedness

Some phonemes are susceptible to voicedness sandhi. These are the sibilants and the voiced lateral approximant /l/. When preceded by a phoneme differing in voicedness, the above mentioned phonemes assimilate.

hlá gyáng-sóm átzi? méngshi
/ˈçlæ/ /ˈçɬæ/ /ˈgʝæŋgsəm/ /ˈgʝæŋgzəm/ /ˈætzɪ/ /ˈætsɪ/ /ˈmiŋɡs̺ʰɪ/ /ˈmiŋɡz̺ʱɪ/
good; well; happy to say.subj-you.1.p.pl.acc.inf now.int to dance.subj.caus


The voicedness assimilation is included in broad transcriptions, as such, it is enclosed by slashes, //.

Vowels

Hrasú vowels
Front Near-front Central Near-back Back
Close é /i/ ú /ɯ/
Near-close i /ɪ/ u /ʊ/
Close-mid
Mid ó /ə/
Open-mid e /ɛ/ a /ʌ/ · o /ɔ/
Near-open á /æ/
Open a /ɑ/

Morphophonology

Phonological processes

Sample phrases

  • Thún sóm hyó-ác?
  • Thún ác gyáng-sóm téngi!
  • Men gyáng-tum ác ráráchu bhángi, dánin huéng-tu tugángi at.