Phonology and Orthography
▲
0▲ 0 ▼ 0
We explain the sounds and writing system
This public article was written by [Deactivated User], and last updated on 22 Dec 2023, 03:41.
[comments] phonologyorthographyscriptconscriptsoundaneo
| The font in the script section uses OpenType features that may not work correctly in all browsers (particularly on mobile) |
The phonology of aȣnewo has a relatively low consonant to vowel ratio. The orthography is not deep (the spelling follows the sounds quite well) and the graphemes of the romanization and actual script have a nearly 1-1 correspondence.
1. Phonology
1.1. Phonemes
1.1.1. Consonants
1.1.2. Vowels
1.2. Phonotactics
1.2.1. Onset
1.2.2. Nucleus
1.2.3. Coda
1.3. Prosody
1.3.1. Prosodic stress
1.3.2. Rhythm
1.3.3. Intonation
2. Orthography
2.1. Romanization
2.1.1 Vowels
2.1.2 Consonants
2.1.3 Notes
2.2. Script
2.2.1 Main Letters
2.2.2 Stop Markings
2.2.3 Block Text
1. Phonology
1.1. Phonemes
1.1.1. Consonants
ſlw contains four stops /p/, /t/1, /k/, /ʔ/; seven fricatives /ɸ/, /s/, /ʃ/, /ʒ/, /ɭ̝/2, /ɣ/, /h/; two nasals /n/, /ŋ/; and four approximates /ʎ/, /l/, /ɹ/, /w/3
1often allophonically flapped excepting the first phoneme of a word, rendered as /ɾ/
2non-sibilant alveolar lateral fricative, sounds similar to θ
3labio-velar
| Consonants | Bilabial | Alveolar | Post-Alveolar/ Palatal | Velar | Glottal |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Stop | /p/ | /t/1 | /k/ | /ʔ/ | |
| Fricative | /ɸ/ | /s/ /ɭ̝/2 | /h/ | ||
| Approximate | /ɹ/ /l/ | /w/3 | |||
| Nasal |
1.1.2. Vowels
| Vowels | Front | Near- Front | Central | Near- Back | Back |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Close | /i/ | ||||
| Near-Close | |||||
| Close-Mid | /e/ | ||||
| Open-Mid | /ɛ/ | /ʌ/ | |||
| Near-Open | /æ/ | ||||
| Open | /ɑ/ |
1.2. Phonotactics
1.2.1. Onsets
Every single consonant is legal as an onset before a vocalic nucleus
In addition, the following clusters are legal onsets before a vocalic nucleus
| /ʎ/ | /ɹ/ | /w/ | /l/ | /n/ | /ŋ/ | /ɸ/ | /s/ | /ʃ/ | /ʒ/ | /ɣ/ | /h/ | /ɭ̝/ | /p/ | /t/ | /k/ | /ʔ/ | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| /ʎ/ | |||||||||||||||||
| /ɹ/ | |||||||||||||||||
| /w/ | |||||||||||||||||
| /l/ | |||||||||||||||||
| /n/ | /nw/ | ||||||||||||||||
| /ŋ/ | |||||||||||||||||
| /ɸ/ | /ɸʲ/ | /ɸ͡ɹʷ/ | /ɸ͡w/ | ||||||||||||||
| /s/ | /s͡ʍ/ | ||||||||||||||||
| /ʃ/ | /ʃʷ/ | ||||||||||||||||
| /ʒ/ | |||||||||||||||||
| /ɣ/ | /ɣʷ/ | ||||||||||||||||
| /h/ | h͡ɹʷ | /ʍ/ | /h͡l/ | ||||||||||||||
| /ɭ̝/ | /ɭ̝͡ɹʷ/ | ||||||||||||||||
| /p/ | /pʷ/ | /p͡ɸʷ/ | /pʰ/ | /p͡ɾ/ | |||||||||||||
| /t/ | /tʷ//ɾʷ/ | /t͡l/ /ɾ͡l/ | /ɾ͡n/ | /t͡ʃ/ | /tʰ/ /ɾʰ/ | ||||||||||||
| /k/ | /kʲ/ | /kʷ/ | /k͡l/ | /k͡x/ | /kʰ/ | ||||||||||||
| /ʔ/ | /ʔʰ/ |
1.2.1.2. Onsets preceding vocalic consonants
ſlw has some vocalic consonants. The possible onsets before these differ than those above.
Stops, affricates, and fricatives may precede vocalic consonants.
1.2.2. Nucleus
The nucleus can be:
All vowels listed above
Dipthongs: ei, æʌ, eʏ, ɑi, iʏ, ie, ʊe, ʊo, ʊi, oʊ, ɑʊ, eo, uɪ, oɪ, ɑu
Tripthongs: ɑʊʌ, ɑiɞ, eiɑ
Vocalic consonants: l̩, n̩, s̩ (see onset restrictions above)
1.2.3. Coda
The coda is restricted to /l/, /n/, /ŋ/, /s/, /ʃ/, and /ɭ̝/
A vocalic consonant nucleus does not take a coda with one exception
-/l̩/ can be followed by /n/
1.3. Prosody
The strongest stress is always on the penultimate syllable.
For words longer than three syllables, secondary stresses are on every other syllable before the penultimate.
2. Orthography
2.1. Romanization
The romanization does not use strictly latin letters. Some come from Greek, IPA, or Cyrillic. The graphemes follow the phonemes closely but not perfectly. Some letters used to represent more than one albeit similar sounds. "ө" & "r" were once both written as "r". "ȣ" & "w" were once both written as "w".
2.1.1. Vowels
| Sound | Letter |
|---|---|
| /ɛ/ | e |
| /ʊ/ | ȣ1 |
| /e/ | є |
| /i/ | i |
| /o/ | o |
| /ʏ/ | ʏ |
| /æ/ | æ |
| /ɞ/ | ө |
| /a/ | a |
| /ʌ/ | ʌ |
| /u/ | u |
2.1.2. Consonants
| Sound | Letter |
|---|---|
| /ʎ/ | ʎ |
| /ɹ/ | r |
| /w/ | w |
| /l/ | l |
| /n/ | n |
| /ŋ/ | ŋ |
| /ɸ/ | φ |
| /s/ | s |
| /ʃ/ | ſ |
| /h/ | h |
| /ʒ/ | ȷ |
| /ɣ/ | g |
| /ɭ̝̌/ | ð |
| /p/ | p |
| /t/ | d |
| /k/ | k |
| /ʔ/ | ɂ2 |
1this letter is written around x height when handwritten, similar to other vowels
2this letter is written with a descender when handwritten
2.1.3. Notes
the letter ⟨d⟩ is pronounced /t/ when the first letter in a word and /ɾ/ most everywhere else
the letter ⟨ð⟩ is unvoiced
2.2. Script
2.2.1. Main Letters
The main letters include all vowels as well as ⟨ʎ⟩, ⟨l⟩, ⟨n⟩, ⟨ŋ⟩, ⟨s⟩, ⟨ſ⟩, ⟨h⟩, ⟨j⟩, ⟨φ⟩, ⟨g⟩, ⟨ð⟩
⟨w⟩ and ⟨ȣ⟩ are both written with the character w
⟨r⟩ and ⟨ө⟩ are both written with the character r
All of the main letters have approximately the same width and features extend to five standard vertical heights:
| Vowels | Consonants | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
|
|
2.2.2. Stop Markings
The letters ⟨p⟩, ⟨d⟩, ⟨k⟩ and ⟨ɂ⟩ are written with the markings p d k ɂ respectively, around the letter they precede
For example, ⟨pa⟩, ⟨da⟩, ⟨ka⟩ and ⟨ɂa⟩ are written:
pa , da , ka , ɂa
Clusters involving a stop are similar:
| pφa | dſa | kga | ɂha | kla | pda |
| pfa | |||||
These aren't all clusters involving stops, but they give good examples | |||||
The stop markers are always in the same relative location to the successive letter, but depending on the shape of that letter, the stop markers will change location and/or shape accordingly:
| pe | de | ke | ɂe |
| de | ke | ɂe | |
| pȣ | dȣ | kȣ | ɂȣ |
|---|---|---|---|
| pȣ | dȣ | kȣ | ɂȣ |
| pʏ | dʏ | kʏ | ɂʏ |
| pʏ | dʏ | kʏ | ɂʏ |
| pa | da | ka | ɂa |
| pa | da | ka | ɂa |
| pφa | dſi | kge | ɂhʌ |
| pfa | dſi | kge | ɂhʌ |
2.2.3. Block Text
Block text is usually written boustrophedon style "as the ox plows."
The following example shows the boustrophedoon style, with the first line starting left to right.
▼ Click here to toggle hidden content below
Comments
