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Syun Pawel Phonology
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Saa puōr Śun Pāwēl śeera
This public article was written by [Deactivated User], and last updated on 26 Oct 2018, 04:25.

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Menu 1. Inventory and Allophony 2. Phonotactics 3. Stress 4. Morphophonology  Syun Pawel has a relatively small phonemic inventory with no true phonation contrasts, featuring a palatalized coarticulation series and three vowel lengths. It allows fairly complex syllables but with strict rules.

[edit] [top]Inventory and Allophony


Phones in IPA
ConsonantsLabialAlveolarDorsalGlottalVowelsFrontMidBack
Nasalm mʲn nʲGlidejw
Stopp pʲt tʲkʲ kHighi i: i::u u: u::
Fricativeʋ vʲs sʲʝ ɣhMide e: e::o o: o::
Fricative[ʋ̥ fʲ][z zʲ][ç x]Lowa a: a::
Liquidlr
Orthography
ConsonantsLabialAlveolarDorsalGlottalVowelsFrontMidBack
Nasalm ḿn ńGlideyw
Stopp ṕt ćc kHighi ī iiu ū uu
Fricativeẃ vs śj ghMide ē eeo ō oo
LiquidlrLowa ā aa

Vowels occur in three lengths: short, long, and overlong.

Consonant allophony

The sound /ʋ/ is sometimes [ʋ] and sometimes [v], and its phonotactic patterning varies between fricative and liquid.

Although there is no true phonation distinction in Syun Pawel, in most cases the labial and dorsal fricatives appear voiced, while the alveolars and glottal are voiceless; however, all fricatives (except /h/) have a different-voiced allophonic counterpart.

[ʋ̥ fʲ ç x] appear only when immediately adjacent to stops or /h/, and [z zʲ] where immediately adjacent to the voiced fricatives or /l r/. e.g. herśon [herzʲon] 'look for, search' ; ṕvōńa [pʲfʲo:nʲa] 'pretty.'

Vowel allophony

For convenience, /V+/ is used here to represent 'a given vowel placement regardless of length', e.g. /i+/ = {i i: i::}

Word-final short vowels reduce to a more centralized placement when the previous vowel was long or overlong. These reduced vowels are non-modal for many speakers, usually creaky or breathy-voiced, or sometimes voiceless or elided completely. The reductions are /i e a o u/ → [ɨ̰ ɘ̰ ɐ̰ ɵ̰ ʉ̰]

Allophonic diphthongs
ShortLongOverlong
Initial /i+/jiji:j
Initial /u+/wuwu:w
Final /i+/j~ijiji:
Final /u+/w~uwuwu:

These diphthongs (and allophonic glides) occur when long and overlong high vowels split where adjacent to other vowels. For example, sīa /si:a/ → [sija].

[edit] [top]Phonotactics

The maximal syllable is CCV:: or CCV:C, and the minimal is (C)V. The vast majority of syllables are CV+, and the most common overall word structure is CV:CV.

Word-initial consonants are mandatory, however medial syllables may occur without onsets. Diphthongs do not occur within a syllable, and adjacent vowels remain in hiatus, often with glide formation.

Codas are optional, but dispreferred, and can occur with a long vowel but not overlong.

Consonant Clusters
/j/ does not occur in clusters with anything but /l r h/.

Clusters must match in palatalization. For this, the categories are palatal <ḿ ń ṕ ć c v ś j y r>, plain <m n p t k ẃ s g w>, and neutral <l h> (the neutral sounds are allowed in any cluster). The alveolar fricatives /s sʲ/ are partially excepted by this rule, being found with mismatched liquids (/ʋ l r w/).

Onset clusters are quite rare, and must follow one of the following patterns:
  • [stop][homogranic fricative, /l r/] (except: no /pl tl/)
  • s{p t k} or sʲ{pʲ tʲ kʲ}
  • [fric][l, r] (except: no /ʋl ʋɣ vʲr ʝr/)

As mentioned earlier, fricatives match the voicing of adjacent sounds, and so an onset like /pʲvʲ/ would become [pʲfʲ].

In cross-syllabic clusters, nasals must be homorganic to adjacent stops and fricatives. Most other combinations can occur (with (de)voicing of fricatives where applicable), except that /ʝ/ does not occur in clusters with /kʲ sʲ/.

Final consonant clusters do not occur.

Hiatus / Diphthongs
Diphthongs are not phonemic, but may occur in place of hiatus.

Cross-syllable vowel clusters cannot match in height; /i+u+ u+i+ e+o+ o+e+/ are not permitted.

There are also limits on the total length between the combined vowel sounds; short+short, short+long, and long+long are permitted; overlong+short is only permitted if the overlong vowel is one of /i:: u::/ (which will then break into [i:j u:w] or [ji: wu:] depending on position); and other length combinations are not permitted. (Order is irrelevant here.)

[edit] [top]Stress

Stress is syllable-weighted in Syun Pawel, with the longest syllable taking primary stress. The length hierarchy is V:: > V:C > V: > VC > V. Codas have their own hierarchy as well: N > L > F > P > Ø. Onsets have no bearing on syllable weight.

If there is a 'tie' between the two longest syllables (including cases where all syllables are short!), then stress goes to the first of the longest syllables.

As the vast majority of words are two to three syllables in length, this means that the generic pattern is trochaic. However, iambic patterns are also quite frequent, occurring whenever the primary stress is on an even-numbered or final syllable.

[edit] [top]Morphophonology

Most affixes have two or three allomorphs which are selected by the stem based on the initial consonant (for prefixes) or final consonant or lack thereof (for suffixes). As with medial consonant clusters, these come in both palatalized and plain forms to agree with adjacent palatal/plain stem consonants, and furthermore a vocalized form which takes an epenthetic vowel to break up illegal CC clusters, or occurs before stem-initial CC clusters in prefixes.

When an affix has allomorphs, one of the forms is considered the unmarked form, which occurs with the neutral consonants /l h/ and with vowels. Which form is unmarked must simply be memorized, and usually appears as the dictionary form. For example, the plural suffix appears as either -vi or -ẃi (vʲi, ʋi): it is -ẃi only after plain consonants (e.g. tāśikẃi /ta:sʲikʋi/ 'beverages'), and -vi after palatalized consonants (e.g. lavaśvi /lavʲazʲvʲi/ 'plants'), neutral consonants (e.g. sehvi /sehfʲi/ 'snakes') and vowels (e.g. kōćetivi /ko:tʲetivʲi/ 'animals') therefore -vi is the dictionary form.
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