Post your conlang's phonology

[Grunnen]

A nice consonant inventory that is indeed reminiscent of indigenous American languages, especially of western North America. Now choose a set of vowels and build a phonology on that.

Thanks.

Yeah, after I left I realised I hadn't specified the vowels and syllable structure. The vowels are :

Code: Select all

i ə u
e a o

The high vowels serve as the reduced versions of the low ones, in addition to being phonemic themselves.

Syllable structure: CV(CV)(C), where affricates and consonants with labialisation or aspiration are not allowed in coda position.

That's about it, so far. I didn't want to take it further before asking the question I posted in my last post.

[WeepingElf]

A nice consonant inventory that is indeed reminiscent of indigenous American languages, especially of western North America. Now choose a set of vowels and build a phonology on that.

Thanks.

Yeah, after I left I realised I hadn't specified the vowels and syllable structure. The vowels are :

Code: Select all

i ə u
e a o

The high vowels serve as the reduced versions of the low ones, in addition to being phonemic themselves.

Syllable structure: CV(CV)(C), where affricates and consonants with labialisation or aspiration are not allowed in coda position.

CVCVC is not a syllable. That's two syllables.

[2+3 clusivity]

Phonology5.jpg (88.55 KiB) Viewed 5118 times

mea culpa. The bidental column should have its second set in //s and not []s.

Phonology6.jpg (43.06 KiB) Viewed 5118 times

Phonotactics:

(C)(C2)V(C), where C2 = v, vʱ, y, yʱ, rʭ, rʭʱ, r, rʱ, ɽ, ɽʱ.


Breathy voiced vowels are not contrastive after a breathy C.

[ná'oolkiłí]

That is such a cool phonology. Where did you get the idea of all the bidentals? I love the phonetic ranges on some of those phonemes. Are they in free variation, or environmentally conditioned? What do the colors mean? When you say breathy vowels aren't contrastive after breathy Cs, what do you mean? Are vowels following breathy Cs manditorily breathy? Do you contrast something like /da/ and /da̤/? What do you mean by /ɪ̆ ʊ̆ ə̆/?

[----]

How exactly do you pronounce a bidental trill?

[2+3 clusivity]

How exactly do you pronounce a bidental trill?

Well, the terminology for bidental consonants is . . . lacking I suppose. Laughably, I suppose you could say a bidental trill would be a repeated bidental percussive /ʭ:/. What I mean is a "bidentalized voiced alveolar (or dental) trill:" /r͡ɦʭ/. What this means is that basically you spread you lips, clench or close your teeth and make an alveolar trill. The breathy voiced companion is what you would expect from its voiced companion.

That is such a cool phonology.

Thank you.

Where did you get the idea of all the bidentals?

Speech pathology and the Shapsug dialect of Adyghe. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bidental_consonant. Apparently Adyghe in the Shapsug dialect has /hʭ/ where other dialects have /x/. I used /Cʭ/ to symbolize "bidentalization" in my transcription. I thought that having just a single non-sibilant fricative was interesting, but I then considered using bidentalization as a feature, similar to palatalization, etc. Thus, the bidentalized trills and the bidentalized nasal. I also considered that the non-sibilant bidental fricatives were very different depending on the voicing quality so I included both voiced and unvoiced.

Diachronically the langauge I am working on was set to produce /f/ and /v/ from /pʰ/ and /bʱ/ while simultaneously loaning in interdental /θ/ and /ð/. I considered that the two would neatly merge into a bidental position. My idea was that the fricatives would come first and feature would spread elsewhere. The trills started as a laminal dental~alveolar pair and a retroflex pair. I then decided the dental~alveolar pair should split into a phonologically salient dental v. bidentalized alveolar pair while retaining the retroflex contrast. At that point I considered having three places for trills had some natural basis judging by Toda and that it would be possible if unstable.

Hypothetically you would get /θri/ -> <rʭi> /r͡ɦʭ/. I considered that a possible allophone [r̊͡hʭ] might be needed, but decided that it would probably simplify quickly into being voiced.

I love the phonetic ranges on some of those phonemes. Are they in free variation, or environmentally conditioned?

A mix of both.

[ts], [tsʰ], [dz], [s], [z] v. [c], [cʰ], [ɟ], [cʰ], [ɟʱ] are conditioned by front vowels for some speakers. The original set was palatal stops, which affricated (and some even deaffricated) and lost their palatal quality, but with front vowels the palatal series shows up for some. [d ~ ɾ], dʱ [dʱ ~ ɾʱ], ɖ [ɖ ~ ɾ̢], [ɖʱ ~ ɾ̢ʱ], [n ~ ɾ̃], ɳ [ɳ ~ ɾ̢̃] are environmentally conditioned for some speakers. The dental or retroflex (nasalized) flaps occur word interanlly for some speakers. [ʋ ~ b], [y ~ ɟ] are conditioned by gemination for some speakers so /ʋ:/ might show up as /ʋ:/ or /b:/.

[pʰ ~ hʭ], [kʰ ~ x], [r ~ ɾ], [rʱ ~ ɾʱ], [ɽr ~ ɾ̢], [ɽrʱ ~ ɾ̢ʱ], [ɦ ~ h] are in free variation. Though [r ~ ɾ], [rʱ ~ ɾʱ], [ɽr ~ ɾ̢], [ɽrʱ ~ ɾ̢ʱ] only occurs when not geminate.

I have been designing the language with a acrolect ~ basilect range and there is considerable morpho-phonological variation across levels. See this for example. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Basilect#Stratification. This inventory is the maximal set from the arcolect.

For example, the personal pronouns range as such from basilect at the top to arcolect at the bottom: (this version is older and includes /ɛ/)

Pronouns3.jpg (109.32 KiB) Viewed 5081 times

What do the colors mean?

Grey means marginal phoneme.

Blue means a phoneme that is marginal and not able to be geminant internally. Gemination is only possible internally.

Purple means non-marginal but not able to be geminant internally.

When you say breathy vowels aren't contrastive after breathy Cs, what do you mean? Are vowels following breathy Cs mandatorily breathy? Do you contrast something like /da/ and /da̤/?

All /V/s following a /Cʱ/ are breathy; however, as you guessed /da/, /da̤/, /ta/ and /ta̤/ contrast. The jury is still out on /tʰa/ v. /tʰa̤/ because breahty and aspirated Cs pattern similarly.

What do you mean by /ɪ̆ ʊ̆ ə̆/?

The over breve is used to show a half-long or super-short vowel in the transcription background I'm used to. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Short_vowel#Diacritics. The typical IPA transcription is /ˑ/. Sorry about the confusion. As background, /ɪ̆ ʊ̆ ə̆/ do not carry stress and are often eliminated.

[----]

How exactly do you pronounce a bidental trill?

What I mean is a "bidentalized voiced alveolar (or dental) trill:" /r͡ɦʭ/. What this means is that basically you spread you lips, clench or close your teeth and make an alveolar trill. The breathy voiced companion is what you would expect from its voiced companion.

If I'm doing this right, that is like, the coolest sound ever.

[Zontas]

Pretty bizarre compared to my usual works. It should be noted /?/ and /h/ only appear before syllable-initial vowels, and vowels are found in tense, lax, and strident varieties. Consonants usually have ballistic fortified mutations paired with murmured originals.

Old Icoyan Vowels




Old Icoyan Consonants

[Click]

Did you make that inventory in Gleb?

[Grunnen]

CVCVC is not a syllable. That's two syllables.

True. I should say the syllable structure of uninflected word forms. Not the structure of a single syllable.

[----]

what does the superscript capital h mean? Epiglottalization?

[Zontas]

Did you make that inventory in Gleb?

No...


Gleb never uses ad-hoc marks.

[Zontas]

what does the superscript capital h mean? Epiglottalization?

Yes.

[Zontas]

CVCVC is not a syllable. That's two syllables.

True. I should say the syllable structure of uninflected word forms. Not the structure of a single syllable.

It is one syllable. Provided the second consonant is /j/ and the second vowel is /@/; hereby forming a triphthong.

[Lyra]

I'm glad I don't have to speak that lang.

~Lyra

[Wattmann]

I.... have no idea on how you shall back that with natural examples.
This has outdone Ubykh-!Xõò in a blender.

[Vuvuzela]

Is that supposed to be a voiceless voiced uvular plosive? How is that even...

[Wattmann]

And a voiceless voiceless uvular plosive with which it is in free variation...

[Vuvuzela]

And a voiceless voiceless uvular plosive with which it is in free variation...

Not to be confused with the breathy voiced voiceless velar plosive.

Zontas: can I romanize that? Pleeeeeeeaaase?

[Zontas]

Is that supposed to be a voiceless voiced uvular plosive? How is that even...

It's a modal voiced velar plosive.

/l/ and /r/ are NOT creaky voiced. That was a typo. They are ballisticized.

[Zontas]

And a voiceless voiceless uvular plosive with which it is in free variation...

It's a modal voiced uvular plosive in free variation with a stiff voiced uvular plosive. Both of which only exist as fortited mutations of a murmured velar plosive.

/l/ and /r/ aren't creaky voiced. That was a typo. They're actually ballisticized like (most of) the other fortis mutations.

@Vuvuzela The romanization is currently <Qq>. But knock yourself out.

[Vuvuzela]

Nasal: <m mx n nx ŋ>
Plosive:<px p b tx t d cx c g k q>
Fricative: <f v ṫ ḋ sx s z ṡ ċ ġ ċx ġx hx xx h>
Affricate: <j>
Approximate: <w ẇ y>
Trill: <r>
Lateral: <l lx>

Close: < ī ū i’ u’>
Near-close: <i u>
Mid: <e ē e’ ê o ō o’ >
Near-open:< ô ơ>
Open: <a å a’ å’>

[Wattmann]

And a voiceless voiceless uvular plosive with which it is in free variation...

It's a modal voiced uvular plosive in free variation with a stiff voiced uvular plosive. Both of which only exist as fortited mutations of a murmured velar plosive.

I see no modal voice, and stiff voice has a dedicated diacritic, too.

[2+3 clusivity]

Yeah, I'm really curious here. Could you do a second draft of the notations.

And, are ballistic consonants as in http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ballistic_syllable?

Maybe like a paragraph of explanation would be good. You've obviously put some thought into this.

Also that is a wierd ass vowel system. Rotational rather than mirrored symmetry is cool. You'd probably get /u/ or something sooner or later, but hell why not.

also what are/is tʷɕʷ? Is that two phonemes? Is it supposed to be /tɕʷ/. And that would be labialized voiceless alveolo-palatal affricate, not a postalveol. as you have noted. So confused, but so curious.

[Click]

Kájitre phonology:

Inventory
/ɡ ʦ ʧ ʃ x w ɫ ɾ/ are spelled ‹g z c x h v l r› in the orthography.
/m n/
/p b t d k ɡ/
/ʦ ʧ/
/f s ʃ x/
/w j/
/ɫ ɾ/

The long vowels are spelled with acute accent.
/i iː u uː/
/e eː o oː/
/a aː/

Allophony
/p b t d ʦ f s/ intervocalically lenite to [b β d ð ʣ v z].
/k ɡ ʧ ʃ x/ intervocalically before mid or back vowels lenite to [ɡ ɣ ʤ ʒ ɣ].
/k ɡ ʧ ʃ x/ intervocalically before front vowels lenite and palatalise to [ɡʲ ɣʲ ʥ ʑ ʑ].
/k ɡ ʧ ʃ x/ non-intervocalically before mid or back vowels palatalise to [kʲ ɡʲ ʨ ɕ ɕ].
The sequences /nj ɫj/ are realised as [ɲ ʎ].
The sequences /kj ɡj xj/ are intervocalically realised as [ɟ ʑ ʑ].
The sequences /kj ɡj xj/ are non-intervocalically realised as [c ɟ ɕ].
Nasals assimilate to place of articulation of following obstruent.
/i iː e eː a aː o oː u uː/ are realised as [ɪ i ɛ e ɐ a ɔ o ʊ u] in unstressed syllables before non-nasals and as [ĩ ĩː ẽ ẽː ã ãː õ õː ũ ũː] before nasals.

Phonotactics
There are three syllable patterns: (C)V(ː)(C), (O)(j/w)V(ː)(j/w)(O) and Oɾ/ɫO.
In the second syllable pattern, O stands for every consonant except /j w/.
In the third syllable pattern, O stands for every consonant except /j w ɫ ɾ/.

Morphophonology
Plosives have a right-to-left voicing assimilation i.e. voiceless plosives are assimilated in voice to the following voiced plosive and voiced plosives are assimilated in voice to the following voiceless consonant.
Voiced plosives also devoice after voiceless fricatives and affricates.
The alveolar affricate and fricative /ʦ s/ assimilate to /ʧ ʃ/ before palatal consonants, while the palatal affricate and fricative /ʧ ʃ/ assimilate to /ʦ s/ before alveolar consonants.
The labial nasal /m/ assimilates to /n/ before alveolar, palatal and velar consonants, while the alveolar nasal /n/ assimilates to /m/ before labial consonants.
Double consonants become a single consonant.
Two same short vowels become a single long vowel.
The clusters /ts tʃ/ affricate into /ʦ ʧ/.

Stress
The primary stress falls on the first syllable, while secondary stress falls on the fourth syllable.
The exception to that are compounds, where stress also falls on the first syllable of original words.