Keranian phonology
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This public article was written by [Deactivated User], and last updated on 7 Sep 2023, 08:57.
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2. Keranian phonology
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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.
Being stuck at home, I'm trying to be somewhat productive in my free time, writing random things related to conlanging and worldbuilding being one of the options.
This was supposed to be a
Standard Keranian lesson, however I don't feel like writing more articles like that, so consider this a regular article about the phonology of this conlang. Enjoy.Before everything's finished, here is a quite detailed article about the Keranian grammar, morphology and lexicon.
Article created in: April 2020
The alphabet used for romanization of Keranian consists of 27 letters, 22 of them denoting consonants and the remaining 5 denoting vowels.
Vowels
| Letter | Romanization | Sound | Notes | Example |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Realized as [ɐ] after uvulars. | ||||
| Realized as [i] after nasals. | ||||
| Realized as [ɤ] after palatals and alveolopalatals. | ||||
| Realized as [u] before nasals. |
Consonants
| Letter | Romanization | Sound | Notes | Example |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Devoiced to [p] when word-final. | ||||
| Devoiced to [t͡ɕ] when word-final. | ||||
| Devoiced to [t] when word-final. | ||||
| Devoiced to [k] when word-final, realized as [g͡ɣ] when word-initial. | ||||
| Realized as [k͡x] when word-initial. | ||||
| Sometimes merged with velar /k g/. | ||||
| Realized as [x] when word-final. | ||||
| Can be [n ɲ ŋ ɴ] depending on the environment. | ||||
| Sometimes can be a trilled [r]. | ||||
| Devoiced to [f] when word-final. | ||||
| Devoiced to [s] when word-final. | ||||
| Devoiced to [ɕ] when word-final. | ||||
Diphthongs
Diphthongs are widespread in Desanian languages, including Standard Keranian as well. Anyway, they are usually transcribed with a vowel symbol + a semivowel symbol rather than two vowels.
| Diphthong | Spelling | Example |
|---|---|---|
Consonant series
Keranian vowels are pretty straightforward, but consonants can have an additional quality: besides plain articulation, some of them can be palatalised or geminated.
Palatalised /tʲ dʲ bʲ vʲ ɾʲ lʲ wʲ χʲ/ are marked by <’> succeeding the base consonant. Digraphs created in this way aren't included into the alphabet.
Geminates include /mː nː tː dː lː ɾː d͡ʑː kː/ and are simply marked by a double letter. They're present mostly in intervocalic positions, but are allowed to be word-initial as well, like in ddite [dːetə] ‘yours’ (contrasting with dite – the 2PSecond person plural (person)
addressee (plural) pronoun).
Some minimal pairs caused by different consonant qualities exist, for example:
ore [oɾə] ‘source’ – or’e [oɾʲə ~ oɾʲɤ] ‘hug’Therefore, palatalisation and gemination can't be simply omitted.
nita [ɲita] ‘dick’ – nitta [ɲitːa] ‘tortoise’
Word-initial clusters are common in the Keranian language. Tens of biconsonantal clusters (and a few triconsonantal ones) are allowed. They've appeared after a deletion of unstressed vowels as the language evolved.
Biconsonantal clusters
Here's a chart showing all allowed word-initial clusters consisting of two sounds. Some clusters are theoritically possible and would be perfectly pronounceable, but can't be actually found in any words, so they aren't counted in.
| b | d | ḍ | t | j | c | g | h | k | m | n | r | s | v | z | ż | ṡ | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| b | |||||||||||||||||
| d | |||||||||||||||||
| ḍ | |||||||||||||||||
| t | |||||||||||||||||
| t | |||||||||||||||||
| j | |||||||||||||||||
| c | |||||||||||||||||
| g | |||||||||||||||||
| h | |||||||||||||||||
| k | |||||||||||||||||
| q | |||||||||||||||||
| l | |||||||||||||||||
| m | |||||||||||||||||
| n | |||||||||||||||||
| r | |||||||||||||||||
| s | |||||||||||||||||
| w | |||||||||||||||||
| v | |||||||||||||||||
| z | |||||||||||||||||
| ż | |||||||||||||||||
| ṡ |
Triconsonantal clusters
Clusters consisting of three consonants start with /d/ or /t/, as they're created by adding a genitive prefix, which is d- or t-. Not all biconsonantal clusters can have an additional sound added; in that case, the prefix is de- /də/.
Allowed triconsonantal clusters include: [dbl], [dbɾ], [dbw], [dgv], [dgw], [dvɾ], [dvw], [dzw], [tkɾ], [tkw], [tkl], [txl] and [txw]. The only triconsonantal word-initial cluster with no /d/ or /t/ is [kɾw] in the word krwan ‘taste’.
Clusters vs. affricates
As one can tell from the tables above, the Keranian language distinguishes affricates /t͡ɕ d͡ʑ/ from clusters /tɕ dʑ/. Some minimal pairs exist, e.g. jime [d͡ʑemə] ‘belly’ – dżime [dʑemə] ‘sibling.GENGenitive (case)
possessive’.
In informal, rapid speech this distinction is usually lost anyway, as the context usually makes everything pretty obvious.
• a comparison between different Desanian languages, including some phonology as well
• an article about the Keranian grammar ✎ Edit Article ✖ Delete Article
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