An Intro to Tsaban Phonotactics
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Exactly what it says on the tin
This public article was written by [Deactivated User] on 21 Oct 2021, 03:59.
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This article is a work in progress! Check back later in case any changes have occurred.
This article is a work in progress! Check back later in case any changes have occurred.
This article is a summary of phonotactic and allophonic processes in Tsaban. Unless otherwise stated, this article only covers the standard dialect spoken in the capital.
Stress
By default, the penultimate syllable of a Tsaban word is stressed.
roʔu /ˈro.ʔu/ ‘who’ kekhwera /ke.ˈxʷe.rɑ/ ‘louse’
Stress in Tsaban is weight-sensitive, and if there are both light (open) and heavy (closed) syllables in a word, the leftmost heavy syllable will be stressed.
röshen ‘dog’ /rø.ˈʃen/ ḱasün ‘feather’ /k’ɑ.ˈsyn/
These rules also apply to loanwords.
wawosa ‘avocado’ /wɑ.ˈwo.sɑ/ arish ‘almond’ /ɑ.ˈriʃ/
imperiya ‘empire’ /ˈim.pe.ˌri.jɑ/
However, due to sound changes, stress is very unpredictable in practice. Historically, long vowels were stressed. As Tsaban no longer has long vowels, these vowels have lost their quantity distinction but continue to be stressed.
ḱikhwal ‘to see, seeing’ /ˈk’i.xʷɑl/ waʔuʔ ‘liver’ /wɑʔ.ˈuʔ/
The Syllable
Tsaban generally accepts syllables in the following form:
(C)(C)V(C)(C)
Tsaban permits only a limited number of less marked consonants to be a part of the coda. Voiced and ejective segments are not permitted. On the other hand, the glottal stop is permitted in the coda but not the onset.
Both codas and onsets must follow the sonority hierarchy. A plateau in sonority is acceptable. The only exceptions to this rule are the fricatives /s/, /ɬ/, and /ʃ/.
When the sonority hierarchy is violated, these structures are repaired with an epenthetic schwa. Let’s take a look at the genitive suffix /-l/.
röshen ‘dog’ /rø.ˈʃen/ röshenəl ‘of a dog’ /rø.ʃe.ˈnəl/
arish ‘almond’ /ɑ.ˈriʃ/ arishəl ‘of almond’ /ɑ.ri.ˈʃəl/
Tsaban permits onsetless syllables. However, it does prefer onsets. If an onsetless syllable follows a syllable with a coda, the coda is generally parsed as part of the next word.
rəl imperiya ‘that empire’ [rə ˈlim.pe.ˌri.jɑ]
Tsaba has no tolerance for vowel hiatus. These structures are repaired with an epenthetic glottal stop, a rule which also applies across word boundaries. Let’s look at a different case suffix, the locative, /-iʔn/.
imperiya ‘empire’ /ˈim.pe.ˌri.jɑ/ imperiyaʔiʔn ‘empire’ /im.ˌpe.ri.ˌjɑʔ.iʔ.ˈən/
Allophony
Though voiced and ejective segments are not generally allowed to serve as codas, plain stops may surface as ejectives or voiced stops when assimilating to a following obstruent.
Ejectives tend to be very strongly ejectivized word-initially and weakly ejectivized elsewhere.
Oral stops fricate intervocalically.
/b p t d k kʷ/ > [w w s z x xʷ] / V_V
Voiced stops completely assimilate to adjacent nasals.
The pronunciation of the clusters /ʔm/, /ʔn/ and /ʔŋ/, which were historically word-final voiced stops, can vary significantly from dialect to dialect. In careful speech they are generally /ʔəm/, /ʔən/ and /ʔəŋ/, though in rapid speech syllable nasals are more common. They may also be articulated as glottalized or creaky voiced nasals.
The low vowel also varies significantly depending on dialect, and though [ɑ] is the most common realization, [a] is also common, particularly in northern dialects.
In general, vowels tend to be tenser in open syllables and noticeably laxed in closed ones, particularly for mid vowels.
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