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Some words alternate velar and postalveolar consonants. This reflects palatalization in former stages of the language that have yielded some unpredictable irregularities. For example, /vorəx/ "mountain", becomes /vørʒen/ "mountains". | Some words alternate velar and postalveolar consonants. This reflects palatalization in former stages of the language that have yielded some unpredictable irregularities. For example, /vorəx/ "mountain", becomes /vørʒen/ "mountains". | ||
==Phonetics== | |||
===Consonants=== | |||
====Labials==== | |||
In older stages of Shaj, all labials were bilabial. However, labial fricatives in Velshaj are in free variation between their bilabial and labiodental counterparts. Thus, Velshaj may be pronounced [βelʃaĭ] or [velʃaĭ]. | |||
====Coronals==== | |||
Most coronal consonants are apico-dental. These include /l/, /t/, /ð/, and /n/. The lateral and nasal may be in free variation between their dental and alveolar counterparts. Otherwise, /z/, /r/, and /d/ are strictly apico-alveolar. For this reason, and because there is arguably no voicing contrast in Shaj, /d/ is sometimes reconstructed as /ʈ/ or /ṭ/. | |||
The dental nasal will assimilate to the place of articulation of any consonant that directly follows it, or will completely mutate into any consonant that directly precedes it. For example, /ynken/ → /yŋken/ "walls"; and /unəkno/ → /unəkko/ "the wall". | |||
The rhotic /r/ is typically a tap [ɾ], which devoices at the ends of words, or becomes a trill [r] at the beginnings of words, or when doubled. | |||
====Palatals and Postalveolars==== | |||
The postalveolar consonants /ʒ/, /ʃ/, and /tʃ/ may alternatively be realized as retroflex, or apico-palatal consonants. The sequences /nĭ/, /lĭ/, and /ŭĭ/, may be realized as true dorso-palatal consonants [ɲ], [ʎ], and [ɥ], respectively before vowels. | |||
====Velars and Uvualrs==== | |||
The velar fricative /ɣ/ becomes pharyngeal [ʕ] between any two non-high back vowels. Additionally, a sequence of /ɣ/ + /r/ may yield a uvular fricative [ʁ] or trill [ʀ]. For example, /ɣroɣa/ "royal" → [ʁoʕa]. A geminated voiceless pharyngeal fricative [ħː] occurs in rare cases (e.g. /ɣroxxa/ "the queen" → [ʁoħːa]). | |||
====Voiced Stops==== | |||
Although voiced stops disappeared as phonemes early in the history of Shaj, they appear as allophones of other phonemes. Voiced stops are in free variation with their voiceless counterparts, except when beginning a word, or following /l/ or a nasal, in which case they are voiceless, and maybe aspirated. Voiced stops also occur in free variation with their voiced fricative counterparts when beginning a word, or following /l/ or a nasal. Otherwise, they are fricative. Voiced stops in loanwords are substituted by voiceless plosives. | |||
=====Examples of Voiced Stops===== | |||
/velʃaĭ/ = [βelʃaĭ] or [belʃaĭ] | |||
/namvellet/ = [namβellet] or [nambellet] | |||
/panðriʒen/ = [panðriʒen] or [pandriʒen], but not [banðridʒen] | |||
/ʒax/ = [ʒax] or [dʒax] | |||
/tʃarpel/ = [tʃarpel] or [tʃarbel], but not [dʒarpel] or [dʒarbel] | |||
/ɣaləm/ = [ɣaləm] or [ɡaləm] | |||
/kampel/ = [kampel], but not [ɡambel] | |||
====Gemination==== | |||
When two of the same consonant are next to each other, they are geminated. Obstruents are voiceless and sonorants are voiced. The phoneme /ɾ/ becomes a trill [r(ː)] when geminated. | |||
===Vowels and Semivowels=== | |||
====Open Vowels==== | |||
Phonemically there are two open vowels /ɑ/ and /æ/. The open back vowel is in free variation with its central or front counterpart [a]. The falling diphthong /ĭɑ/ is often pronounced [jæ]. The open front vowel ranges between [æ], [ɛ], and [e], being more open in closed syllables. | |||
====Lax Vowels==== | |||
Mid and high monophthongs in closed syllables tend to become lax. /ni/ → [ni], /niθ/ → [nɪθ]. | |||
====Semivowels==== | |||
Semivowels are typically realized as consonants before vowels, or as non syllabic vowels in rising diphthongs. When /ĭ/ is the only vowel in a syllable, it is pronounced the same as /i/. | |||
====Schwa==== | |||
The schwa, though always written, may disappear after a consonant, or cause a following nasal or liquid to become syllabic. For example, /vorəx/ "mountain" → [vorx]; or /muʒər/ "cattle" → [muʒr̩]. The vowel itself is in free variation with any non-open, unround, back or centralized sound. | |||
====Umlaut and Falling Diphthongs==== | |||
In younger, non-standard dialects, rounded front vowels /y/ and /ø/ can alternatively be pronounced as falling diphthongs [wi] and [we], respectively. [wi] is still distinguished from the "rising" diphthong [uj]. | |||
===Morphophonology=== | ===Morphophonology=== | ||
==Morphology== | ==Morphology== | ||
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