Consonants:
/pʰ p b ᵐb tʰ t d ⁿd kʰ k g ᵑg ʔ/
/sʰ s z ɮ ʂʰ ʂ ʐ ɕʰ ɕ ʑ h/
/t͡sʰ t͡s d͡z ⁿd͡z t͡ʂʰ t͡ʂ d͡ʐ ⁿd͡ʐ t͡ɕʰ t͡ɕ d͡ʑ ⁿd͡ʑ/
/m̥ m n̥ n ɲ̊ ɲ ŋ̊ ŋ/
/ɾ~r rʰ/
/w l ɦj j/
(Note: /ɦj/, described in the grammar I am using as a ‘voiced aspirated glide’, is described as being characterised by ‘onset aspiration and delay of full oral release’, with a co-articulation of [ɦ] and [j] ‘usually accompanied with breathiness that extends throughout the syllable’.)
Vowels:
/i ʏ ɯ u e o ə æ a ɑ/
/ĩ ũ õ æ̃ ã ɑ̃/
Every vowel seems to have a length contrast as well.
Diphthongs: /ui ua ue uæ əo ao/
Tone:
There are three phonemic tones, which described using tone numbers are:
- Low: 13
- Mid: 353
- High: 53
- In the sample sentences, there also seem to be many words (usually function words and clitics) which do not have a tone marked, but this is not explicitly mentioned in the phonology section. I think these can be safely assumed to be another tone.
Syllables: (C)V(V)(C)
The grammar is slightly unclear about this, but syllables which phonemically end with a vowel seem to phonetically end with a non-phonemic [h] or [x].
Sample text:
(I’ve indicated the clitics and affixes, as this is what the grammar does. I’ve also tried to guess where the intonation breaks are, but this may not be entirely correct.)
/tə¹¹ræ̃⁵⁵=ji ŋa⁵⁵tã⁵³ rə põ⁵³=nə=ji za³⁵³ se¹³ dʑiʔ … põ⁵⁵za⁵³ ‖ põ⁵⁵za⁵³ rə põ⁵³=nə de³⁵³ de-nə n̥õ ‖ tæ̃¹³ kʰə⁵⁵ rə ŋa⁵⁵tã⁵³ ɡue¹³ɕa⁵³ re ‖ ɡue¹³ɕa⁵³ zĩ tʰæ̃ ræ̃⁵⁵ | dzɯ¹³ tɕi=tsa=jæ ɲɯ¹³ a¹¹ɾĩ⁵⁵ tʂo¹¹mo⁵⁵ mæ¹³ ɦjõ³⁵³ ni/
And if anyone’s interested, here’s the translation:
An ancient story called 'the yak of the grassland'...'grassland yak' [='rabbit'].------------------------
The rabbit lived on the grassland. Then he was extremely clever. When [he] had been clever, [he] begged a shepherd for butter every day.
The next language should be a bit easier. It’s actually a descendent of a language I previously posted here, but for this one, I can’t figure out an orthography for this one which I’m happy with.
Consonants:
/m n ŋ/
/p t k b d g/
/θ s ʃ ð z/
/w ɹ j l/
Vowels:
/i ɨ u/
/e ə o/
/a/
Every vowel has a length contrast.
Also /ae ai ao au aə aɨ ou uo/, but I’m not sure yet whether I want to make these diphthongs or vowel hiatuses.
Phonotactics: (C)(w,y)V(C), with consonant clusters required to agree in voicing, and nasal clusters required to agree in place of articulation
For a sample text, I’ll just run my previous sample text through the sound changes:
/uː nəsek jel yidnəkaeθ/
/jamaθeʃaɨθ uːjem ðjɨjem na jaθ segjem jen/
/nəkalaʃaɨθ/
/kaeʃ ma jaθ gu səŋɨθ/
