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(Created page with "'''Guaru''' [ˈŋuaɾu] (also '''Gualu''', '''Nguaru''', '''Ngualu''') is a constructed language spoken by the inhabitants of Oru, part of an enormous space habitat in an unce...") |
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| /'''hh'''/<br>[ɸ(ː)]<br><'''hh'''> | | /'''hh'''/<br>[ɸ(ː)]~[p(ː)]<br><'''hh'''> | ||
|- align=center | |- align=center | ||
! Tap / Lateral | ! Tap / Lateral | ||
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A geminate glottal stop is written in the romanisation (using the Schaeffer system as here, with <'''x'''> although the Tanner system uses <'''ʻ'''>), distinguishing it from the word initial single glottal stop which is omitted from romanisations. | A geminate glottal stop is written in the romanisation (using the Schaeffer system as here, with <'''x'''> although the Tanner system uses <'''ʻ'''>), distinguishing it from the word initial single glottal stop which is omitted from romanisations. | ||
===Vowels=== | |||
Guaru has a simple five-vowel system similar to Spanish, Hebrew, Japanese and Hawaiian. | |||
{| class="bluetable lightbluebg" | |||
|+ '''Single vowels''' | |||
|- align=center | |||
! !! front !! central !! back | |||
|- align=center | |||
! close | |||
| '''i''' || || '''u''' | |||
|- align=center | |||
! open mid | |||
| '''e''' || || '''o''' | |||
|- align=center | |||
! low | |||
| || '''a''' || | |||
|} | |||
The true values of these vowels can vary a bit, with the mid vowels /e o/ generally being pronounced fairly open, towards /ɛ ɔ/. | |||
Each vowel constitutes a ''mora'' or time unit of speech. Vowels may appear together in "couplets" (bimoraic pairs) as illustrated in the following table. | |||
{| class="bluetable lightbluebg" | |||
|+ '''Vowel couplets''' | |||
|- | |||
! !! -i !! -e !! -a !! -o !! -u | |||
|- align=center | |||
! i- | |||
| '''ii''' || '''ie''' || '''ia''' || '''io''' || '''iu''' | |||
|- align=center | |||
! e- | |||
| colspan="2" | '''ee''' | |||
| '''ea''' | |||
| colspan="2" | '''eo''' | |||
|- align=center | |||
! a- | |||
| colspan="2" | '''ae''' | |||
| '''aa''' | |||
| colspan="2" | '''ao''' | |||
|- align=center | |||
! o- | |||
| colspan="2" | '''oe''' | |||
| '''oa''' | |||
| colspan="2" | '''oo''' | |||
|- align=center | |||
! u- | |||
| '''ui''' || '''ue''' || '''ua''' || '''uo''' || '''uu''' | |||
|} | |||
The sequences of identical vowels /ii ee aa oo uu/ are pronounced as long vowels [iː ɛː aː ɔː uː]. | |||
The sequences /*ei *ai *oi *eu *au *ou/ do not occur as couplets. These may appear, however, where a couplet sits adjacent to another vowel or couplet, as in /eio/ which consists of single /e/ followed by /io/, or /ioua/ consisting of the couplets /io/ and /ua/. | |||
Sequences of three or more vowels are only allowed where there is a high vowel /i/ or /u/ beginning a valid couplet. For example, /uo'''u'''a/, /o'''i'''o/, /i'''i'''e/ /ae'''i'''i/, /ua'''i'''o'''u'''u/ are permitted; /*aeoa/, /*uoa/ and /*eeo/ are not. In addition, no more than two instances of any one vowel may occur together, meaning that /iiio/ and /uuuu/ are not permitted, even though they each consist of valid couplets. Illegal vowel combinations, where they come together, are broken up by the glottal stop /ʔ/ and where they occur across word boundaries, this triggers the underlying initial glottal stop to appear in all but excessively casual speech. |
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