Re: Yemls Phonology (long)

En réponse à Jeff Jones <jeffsjones@...>:

[snip]

>
> 1.3.1. Syllabary
>
> The transliteration for each (phonemic) syllable is:
>
>        | /I/  /E/   /U/  /O/
>   -----+---------------------
>   null |  e    E     o    O
>   /b/  |  p    P     b    B
>   /f/  |  v    V     f    F
>   /m/  |  w    W     m    M
>   /l/  |  l    L     r    R
>   -----+---------------------
>   /t/  |  c    C     t    T
>   /d/  |  j    J     d    D
>   /s/  |  x    X     s    S
>   /z/  |  i    I     z    Z
>   -----+---------------------
>   /n/  |  y    Y     n    N
>   /k/  |  k    K     q    Q
>   /g/  |  g    G     a    A
>   /x/  |  h    H     u    U
>
> The phonemic value of each letter (the inverse of the above) is:
>
>   A /gO/  a /gU/    N /nO/  n /nU/
>   B /bO/  b /bU/    O  /O/  o  /U/
>   C /tE/  c /tI/    P /bE/  p /bI/
>   D /dO/  d /dU/    Q /kO/  q /kU/
>   E  /E/  e  /I/    R /lO/  r /lU/
>   F /fO/  f /fU/    S /sO/  s /sU/
>   G /gE/  g /gI/    T /tO/  t /tU/
>   H /xE/  h /xI/    U /xO/  u /xU/
>   I /zE/  i /zI/    V /fE/  v /fI/
>   J /dE/  j /dI/    W /mE/  w /mI/
>   K /kE/  k /kI/    X /sE/  x /sI/
>   L /lE/  l /lI/    Y /nE/  y /nI/
>   M /mO/  m /mU/    Z /zO/  z /zU/
>
He he, there was a discussion not long ago about how to use the Latin alphabet
as a syllabary. Seems that you found a way :) .

[snip]

>
> 1.4.2. Diphthongization
>
> Phonetically, the V (i.e. null consonant) syllables combine with the
> vowel of the preceding syllable to produce diphthongs. In careful
> speech, this is limited to syllables within the same word. The
> following table gives the approximate phonetic values for these
> combinations. The columns are for the V syllables and the rows give the
> vowel phoneme of the preceding syllable.
>
>        | {e}   {E}   {O}   {o}
>   -----+-------------------------
>    /I/ | [i:]  [j&:] [jA:] [ju:]
>    /E/ | [EI]  [&:]  [&O]  [EU]
>    /O/ | [OI]  [AE]  [A:]  [OU]
>    /U/ | [wi:] [w&:] [wA:] [u:]
>
> 1.4.3. Consonant Mapping
>
> The following table gives the phonetic values for the consonant
> phonemes. If an entry has 2 forms, the first is the usual value, and
> the second is an assimilatory value. Consonants in the third group have
> variants conditioned by the following vowel, while those in the first
> group don't vary significantly between front and back versions. Of
> particular note are the consonants in the second group, which are
> "historically" conditioned; the values are now distinct enough so that
> the vowel itself need distinguish low vs. high.
>
>        | front      back
>   -----+---------------------
>    /b/ | [b], [p]   [b], [p]
>    /f/ | [f], [v]   [f], [v]
>    /m/ | [m]        [m]
>    /l/ | [l]        [l]
>   -----+---------------------
>    /t/ | [tSH]      [tH]
>    /d/ | [dZ]       [d]
>    /s/ | [S]        [s]
>    /z/ | [Z]        [z]
>   -----+---------------------
>    /n/ | [N]        [n]
>    /k/ | [cH]       [kH]
>    /g/ | [y]        [g], [q]
>    /x/ | [C]        [K], [G]
>
I like it. My conlang Tj'a-ts'a~n has a phoneme /s/ which can have up to four
different pronunciations [s], [z], [S] or [Z] depending on whether the next
vowel is front unrounded or back rounded, and whether the preceeding consonnant
(if any) is voiceless or voiced/voiced nasalised. But I didn't dare go as far as
you :) .

[snip]

>
> 1.4.5. Consonant Assimilation
>
> Elimination of the vowel may cause consonant assimilation.
>
>   {s} [sb]  ==> [sp]
>   {x} [Sb]  ==> [Sp]
>   {f} [fb]  ==> [fp]
>       [fd]  ==> [vd]
>       [fdZ] ==> [vdZ]
>       [fg]  ==> [vg]
>       [fy]  ==> [vy]
>   {u} [Kb]  ==> [Kp]
>       [Kd]  ==> [Gd]
>       [KdZ] ==> [GdZ]
>
> 1.4.6. Default Stress
>
> Word-stems of 1 syllable are stressed only if suffixed or lengthened.
> Word-stems of 2 syllables are stressed on the penult. Word-stems of 3
> or more syllables may be stressed on the antepenult if the vowel of the
> penult can be dropped, otherwise the penult is stressed.
>
So if I take all those rules, the name of the language Yemls should really be
phonemically /nEImU'lIsU/, pronounced [NEImU'lIs]. Or did you capitalize the
first letter only because of English rules, and it should be yemls:
/nIImU'lIsU/, pronounced [Ni:mU'lIs]? Did I understand correctly? If so, I find
it nice that a word people would naturally tend to pronounce /jEml=z/ has in
fact such a different pronunciation :) .

Christophe.

http://rainbow.conlang.free.fr

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