133 lines
5.9 KiB
Markdown
133 lines
5.9 KiB
Markdown
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---
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title: Lántas phonology
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backname: Lántas
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backlink: .
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...
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# Vowels
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**TODO vowel diagrams**
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There are three basic vowels `/i a u/`, diphthongs `/ai au iə uə/`, and
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syllabic consonants `/m̩ n̩ r̩ l̩/`. Neither of these last two sets have a length
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distinction, and have the same duration as a long vowel. Note that `/u uː/` are
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substantially more central than `/i iː/`, and the initial place of `/uə/` is
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further back than pure `/uː/`.
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Long vowels, and syllabic consonants other than `{l}`, are spelt with a acute
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accent: `{í á ú ḿ ń ŕ}`. A syllabic `{l}`, because of its height, replaces the
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acute with a stroke: `{ł}`. The diphthongs are spelt `{ai au ia ua}`.
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## Allophony
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**TODO other diagrams**
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* After a velar consonant, including `/ɫ w/`, the vowels
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`/a aː ai i iː iə u uː uə/` are backed and lowered to the forms labelled
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`[ɑ ɑː ɑe ɛ eː eə ɔ oː ɔə]`,
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respectively, in the figures above.
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* After `/j/`, `/i iː iə/` become `[e eː eə]`.
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* After `/tʃ dʒ ʃ j/`, `/u uː/` is fronted to `[y ʉː]`.
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* Before a syllabic consonant, a small schwa may be inserted if necessary to
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make pronunciation easier. This is most common between `/ln̩ nl̩/` and two copies
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of a single sound. For example, `{kalń}` 'cat': `/kaln̩/` → `[kɐlᵊn]`.
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* `/r̩ l̩/` are pronounced as `[ɻː ɫ̩ː]`.
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* Syllabic `/n̩/` assimilates to `[ŋ̍]` before a velar consonant; no other
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assimilation for syllabic nasals occurs, though. (It does for *non*-syllabic
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nasals, though; see below.)
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* Unstressed short vowels are somewhat reduced, `/a/` more than the others.
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# Consonants
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Where unspecified, consonants are spelt the same way as in IPA.
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:::figure
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Labial Dental Postalveolar Velar
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------------ ------------- ------------------ ------------------- -------------
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Plosive `/p b/` `/t d/` `/tʃ dʒ/` `{č ǧ}` `/k g/`
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Fricative `/f/` `/θ s/` `{ŧ, s}` `/ʃ/` `{š}` `/x/` `{h}`
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Nasal `/m/` `/n/`
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Flap `/ɾ/` `{r}`
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Approximant `/w/` `/l/` `/j/`
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:::
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The phonemes `/p t tʃ k s ʃ m n ɾ l x/` can be geminated. For the purposes of
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syllable structure, geminated consonants are counted the same as two separate
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ones. Geminate versions of most consonants are spelt by doubling the letter:
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`{pp}`, `{tt}`, `{kk}`, etc.
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*The phoneme `/θ/` might be written `{þ}` or `{ð}` in places I have forgotten to update.*
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## Allophony
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- Before `/i iː iə/`, `/ɾ/` becomes `[ʑ̞]`, a laminal fricative with only a
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small amount of actual friction, almost `[ɹ̻]`.
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- A nasal followed by a plosive assimilates to the same place of articulation
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(but for compound words this is not reflected in the spelling), for example
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`{rabanpa}` `[ravampa]` 'what book?'.
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- The sequences `/tʃs/` is pronounced as `[tʃː]`, and `/ʃs sʃ ʃj sj/` are all
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`[ʃː]`.
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- Nasals before `/s x/` decay to a nasalisation of the previous vowel, or are
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dropped entirely if that vowel is a syllabic consonant.
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- Voiced plosives `/b d dʒ ɡ/` become fricatives `[v ð ʒ ɣ]` between proper
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vowels. The allophone `[v]` is pronounced `[β]` by some speakers.
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- The velar fricative `/x/` becomes `[h]` before `/r̩/`, and is palatalised to
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`[ç]` before `/i iː iə/`.
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- Long `/tʃː/` is pronounced as `[ṯːʃ]` (distinct from the `[tʃː]` coming from
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`/tʃs tʃʃ/`). Long `/ɾ l/` become `[ʐː ɫː]`.
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- Non-final `/l/` is velarized `[ɫ]` after a back vowel (including the
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allophones `[ɑ ɑː]`). After other vowels, it is palatalised.
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- Non-syllabic `/l/` is pronounced as `[ɬʲ]` at the end of words, even after a
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back vowel. After `/t/` it is `[ɬ]`. The phoneme `/ɾ/` is also devoiced `[ɾ̥]`
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word-finally. The sequence `/lθ/` is realised as `[ɬʲː]`.
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- In many dialects, the long obstruents `/pː tː tʃː kː sː ʃː/` are pronounced as
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ejectives `[pʼ tʼ tʃʼ kʼ sʼ ʃʼ]`, and the long sonorants `/mː nː lː/` as
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`[bᵐ dⁿ ɮː]`.
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# Syllable structure
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The allowed shape of a syllable is *CV*(*C*) where *V* is any vowel and *C* any
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consonant, as long as all clusters take one of the following forms:
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- *KC*, where *K* can be any of `/m n l r θ s ʃ t/` _(coda consonants)_;
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- *FN*, where *F* can be `/f θ s ʃ x/` _(fricatives)_ and
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*N* can be `/m n/` _(nasals)_;
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- *P*`/s/`, where *P* can be `/p t tʃ k/` _(voiceless plosives)_;
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- `/pj bj lj rj/`;
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- geminate consonants.
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Aside from these, a word can also start with a vowel. At the end of a word, the
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consonants from *K* are allowed. A syllabic consonant cannot be next
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to the non-syllabic form of the same consonant---for example, the sequences
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`/ll̩/` and `/l̩l/` are not possible. Two distinct syllabic consonants can be next
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to each other, however, even without a non-syllabic consonant in between.
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Sometimes an inflectional ending can cause an invalid sequence of syllabic and
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non-syllabic consonant. In this case, the sequence is replaced with `{a}` plus a
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long form of the consonant: `{suaþł}` 'speaker'---`{suaþalla}` 'from a
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speaker'.
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# Stress
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Words are stressed on the first long vowel, if there is one. If there are no
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long vowels, _or_ the only one is in the final syllable of a multi-syllabic
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word, then the stress is on the first syllable. For the purposes of deciding
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stress placement, neither diphthongs nor syllabic consonants are counted as
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long.
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# Epenthesis
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Some affixes begin with a consonant. Occasionally, this will cause an illegal
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consonant cluster. In this case a vowel will be inserted. The vowel depends on
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the affix being added, so it is given at the same time as the affix itself. If
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multiple affixes are added, only the extra vowels necessary to make the word
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legal are inserted, going left to right: as further affixes are stacked, they
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might surface and vanish again. See, for instance, the examples given for
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[adjectival genitives](nouns.html#adjectivals).
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