tentative Kien inventory/orthography:
/p t t͡s t͡ʃ k/ <p t c ç k> in high-toned syllables, <b d j ḑ g> in low-toned syllables
/f v ð s z ʃ x ɣ/ <f v * s z ş h *>
/m n ŋ p͡m t͡n k͡ŋ/ <m n ng pm/bm tn/dn kn/gn>
/j ɥ w/ <i y u>
/a e ø o i y u/ <a e ơ o i y u> (all vowels can be long, indicated by doubling the vowel, nasal, indicated by a following <n>, or both)
tones: high, mid, low, high rising, low rising, high falling, low falling: <é e è ẽ ě ê ẻ>
* /ð/ before a front vowel is written <đ>, as is /ɣ/ before a back vowel; the two are in complementary distribution in native vocabulary. When /ð/ appears before a back vowel, it is written <đh>. /ɣ/ cannot appear before front vowels.
example words:
*kambéccera
knéşìì [k͡ŋéʃìː]
*tweccáre
çuaai [t͡ʃwāːj]
*láncakkom
đanàn [ɣānã̀]
*sérhes
sóói [sóːj]
*cerráison
kiêin [kjẽ˥˧j] (had to switch tone marking systems in the transcription there...)
syllable structure looks like it's going to be C(G)VC, but i'm not sure how limited the last C is. there might be a marginal (contrastive, but only appearing word-initially before glides) glottal stop; i don't know if the sound changes will play out that way yet, but if they don't, i'll probably make them.