Gzarondan phonology review

Fellows,

I have begun a review of Gzarondan ("Gzarod+in") phonology and
orthography, as well as experimenting with how best to present these
in documentation. The results after the first day of review are shown
below, with the exception of some details such as stress rules and
regular allophones, neither of which has been altered at this stage.

The symbol '+' represents a diacritic.

Phonological categories are defined according to the needs of the
language, and sometimes differ from the strict linguistic definitions.

I am very interested in comments, particularly suggestions on likely
modifications either for Gzarondan itself (if a feature does not
appear naturalistic) or for an immediate ancestor/descendent (I
imagine Gzarondan either evolves from or towards a more regular
phonology).

Adrian.

======================================================================

Vowels and Dipthongs
--------------------

Short    Long      Closing   Rhotic    Lateral
Series   Series    Series    Series    Series

                                       ll  /l=/
a  /a/   aa /a:/                       al  /a5/
i  /@/   iq /8:/                       iql /85/
o  /O/   oo /O:/                       ol  /O5/
e  /E/   ey /e:/             eq /e8/   el  /e5/
y  /I/   yy /i:/   ay /aI/   yq /i8/   yl  /I5/
u  /u/   ou /o:/   au /aU/

Note: 'a'  used for /@/  at beginning or end of word [not 'i']
      'y'  used for /i:/ at end of word [not 'yy']
      'yy' used for /i8/ before 'r' [not 'yq']

Consonants
----------

Approx  Second   Primary  Primary  Unvoiced Voiced   Nasals
imants  ary      Unvoiced Voiced   Stops    Stops
        Fricat   Fricat   Fricat
        ives     ives     ives

                 f  /f/            p /p/    b /b/    m /m/
                 hs /T/   hz /D/
        r  /r/   s  /s/   z  /z/   t /t/    d /d/    n /n/
                 c  /S/
l /l/   hl /K/
j /j/
h /h/   kk /x/                     k /k/    g /g/

Syllable-Initial Consonant Structures
-------------------------------------

L-Series   R-Series   S-Series   F-Series   Affricates

pl /pl/    pr /pr/    sp /sp/
bl /bl/    br /br/
           tr /tr/    st /st/               ts /ts/
           dr /dr/
kl /kl/    kr /kr/    sk /sk/
gl /gl/    gr /gr/                          gz /gz/
                      sf /sf/
                      sl /sl     fl /fl/
                                 fr /fr/

Syllable-Final Consonant Structures
-----------------------------------

p+ /mp/
t+ /nt/
d+ /nd/

Orthographic notes
------------------

Within a word, 'p+', 'b+', 't+', 'd+' are always used for /mp/, /mb/,
/nt/, /nd/ respectively.

Syllable Structure
------------------

                       +--------+
                _______|Syllable|_______
               /       +--------+       \
              /             |            \
          Any              Any            Any
       consonant          vowel        syllable-
          or                or           final
       syllable-        diphthong      structure
        initial             |           or most
       structure            |          consonants
       (or empty)           |          excluding
           |                |          'h' 'r' 'j'
           |                |          and voiced
           |                |          fricatives
           |                |          (or empty)
           |                |              |
           |                |              |
      +--------------+-------------+-----------+
Case: | 'r'          | Rhotic Sz.  | ??        | => LEGAL IF STRESSED
Case: | 'd' or 't'   |    'll'     | ??        | => ILLEGAL
Case: | L-Sz or R-Sz | Lateral Sz. | non-empty | => ILLEGAL
Case: | ??           |    'll'     | non-empty | => ILLEGAL
Case: | ??           |'i' 'iu' 'oo'| 'l'       | => ILLEGAL
      +--------------+-------------+-----------+

Inter-Syllable Constraints
--------------------------

Consonant triads illegal unless ALL of the following apply:
 - Begins with velar stop or nasal.
 - Next vowel is not schwa.

Consecutive stops illegal unless the first is velar.

Consecutive fricatives illegal unless ONE OR MORE of the
following apply:
 - One of them is 'r'.
 - The first is 'kk' or second is 'hl' but not both.
 - One of them is (palato)alveolar and the other is (labio)dental.

Consecutive vowels/diphthongs are always illegal.

A nasal may not be followed by 'r'.

Other restrictions on 'l':
 - A 'tl' may not be followed by schwa.
 - An alveolar stop may not occur between lateral series and ('l' or 'll').

Phonemes cannot be neighbours when this would cause two identical
phonetic values to be neighbours, where [l] and [5] are considered
identical.