Gughúa Phonology and Phonotactics
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This public article was written by [Deactivated User], and last updated on 21 Dec 2022, 19:12.
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7. Gughúa Numerals
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PhonologyGughúa's consonants are rather easy to learn, as there aren't many of them; only four, in fact. The uvular and velar fricatives and plosives, all voiced. Their explanation and orthography are explained below:
g - [g] - Voiced velar plosive - The English "hard g" sound; never like "j."
gh - [ɣ] - Voiced velar fricative - The Greek or Spanish "g" sound; similar to the German "ch," but voiced.
ǵ - [ɢ] - Voiced uvular plosive - Similar to the English "hard g," but farther back in the throat; a voiced version of the Arabic "q."
r - [ʁ] - Voiced uvular fricative - The "r" in French and some German dialects.
The vowels in Gughúa, however, are a little more complex. While there are only four vowels, they each have 2 tones: a mid tone, unmarked; or a high tone, marked with an acute. A diphthong with a high tone on the second vowel has a rising tone, while a diphthong with a high tone on the first vowel has a falling tone. Gughúa vowels are as follows:
a - [a] - Open front unrounded vowel - The American English "a" in "father."
à - [ɑ] - Open back unrounded vowel - The British English "a" in "bath." Sometimes nasalised before or after gh.
o - [ɔ] - Open-mid back rounded vowel - The British English "o" in "odd."
u - [u] - Close back rounded vowel - The American English "oo" in "food."
When à is raised to the high tone, it is written as â. A nasalised à can be rhotacised if it is followed by r, and that r is word-final. A rhotacised à is no longer nasalised.
Phonotactics and Stress
While vowels are allowed to form any diphthong without geminating, Gughúa consonants may only form a cluster between r and another consonant, and may never geminate. Word-final diphthongs may not end with r, and word-initial diphthongs may not begin with r. Otherwise, the language has (C)CVC(C) structure.
Stress, most often, falls upon the first high or rising tone of a word. However, if there is any nasalised à in a word, it will be stressed. If there are no high or rising tones or nasal à, stress falls on the penultimate syllable. ✎ Edit Article ✖ Delete Article
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