Tasaqi Phonemic Inventory and Dialectal Variation
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A description of the phonemes of Tasaqi and their variation across dialects.
This public article was written by [Deactivated User], and last updated on 29 Jun 2017, 20:41.
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1. Tasaqi Allophony
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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.
Tasaqi has a rather compact consonant inventory compared to most languages. It has 13 consonants, 5 short vowels, and 4 long vowels, with much allophony between them.
Consonants
| Labial | Coronal | Dorsal | Uvular | Glottal | |
| Plosives | p | t | k | q | |
| Fricatives | s | h | |||
| Nasals | m | n | ŋ | ||
| Approximants | ʋ | ɭ | j | ʁ |
Notes on Consonants
Plosives: Plosives are unaspirated, like in English, and become voiced word medially. The /t/ is dental like in Spanish, and is better transcribed as [t̪]. The /t/ also palatalizes to /tɕ/ before /i(:). /The /q/ can be replaced by a glottal stop in some dialects.
Fricatives: The phoneme /h/ can have considerable variation, in the main southern dialect it becomes /ç/ before /i(:)/, but in the north and northwest, it can have allophones of /ɸ/, and in some places be completely replaced by /x/. The phonemes /f/, (and sometimes /x/) are not found in native words, but are common in loanwords and are able to be pronounced by most speakers, except those that live in some rural areas. The /s/ also palatalizes to /ɕ/ before /i(:)/.
Nasals: Nasals have lots of variation, depending on the following consonant, and assimilate to the POA of the following stop. The phoneme /n/ is dental like the /t/. The phoneme /ŋ/ can be found word initially, though in some dialects it is being replaced by a plain /n/.
Approximants: The /ʋ/ is commonly replaced by a /w/ or /v/ by non-native speakers, and some native dialects do not have the /ʋ/, though this is uncommon. The /ʁ/ is replaced by a /r/ or /ɾ/ in some dialects, and the /ɻ~ɭ/ by a /l/.
Vowels
| Front | Mid | Back | |
| High | i i: | u u: | |
| Mid | e e: | ə | |
| Low | ɑ ɑ: |
Notes on Vowels
The vowel /i/ is very high and causes palatalization of the preceding consonant. The /u/ is somewhat unrounded and can be fully unrounded in some dialects. The /e/ is properly middle, between mid high and mid low. The /ɑ/ is very far back and may cause very slight pharyngealization of the preceding consonant.
Capital Dialect
The Capital dialect is the most commonly spoken form of Tasaqi, and is the one used in most formal documents and official contexts, and is considered the national standard culturally and officially. It has an abundance of Lyran loanwords, and is used by a good portion of the population, even those outside the capital. It is near universal in the capital city however, and is similar or the same as the dialects in other major cities. This dialect is the one described in this grammar.
Qaase Dialect
The Qaase dialect is a dialect spoken primarily in one city on one of the major rivers in the nation, along with much of the surrounding area. It is primarily notable for its large amount of influence from Lyran, including a reform to a Spanish five vowel system and the addition of the consonants /w/ and /r/.
Traditional Dialect
The traditional dialect is largely spoken by a small sliver of the population, but one that covers most of the land area of the country. This dialect is largely spoken by many rural farming communities in the country. It has a lack of loanwords from Lyran, preferring instead to use native forms, but it does not come up much, given that these people do not interact much with Lyran inventions and concepts.
Island Dialect
The island dialect is a dialect of Tasaqi spoken by hunter gatherer and fishing groups that live on an island chain stretching out from the north of the country. There are rather close with the Osia culturally, with a few loanwords from their language. Their dialect is very odd phonologically, with a large amount of dropped vowels leading to a mostly monosyllabic language with many complex consonant clusters. ✎ Edit Article ✖ Delete Article
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