[COMMENT] Coatlalopeuh Phonology/Orthography
From: | Shreyas Sampat <shreyas@...> |
Date: | Sunday, April 28, 2002, 18:18 |
Coatlalopeuh (after Spanish Guadalupe) is the working name for my new
conlang.
It's got Semitic-style triconsonantal morphology and a triggered verbal
system.
( /k^haKalobuh/, for the curious.)
But none of that's really important right now, just phonology:
(best viewed in a monospaced font)
Phonetic/Phonemic inventory:
(non-phonemes are enclosed in square brackets; orthography when different
from X-SAMPA is in pipes.)
p [b p^h] t [d t^h] k |c| [g k^h]
s [S f] S |x| [C] x |h| [C^h h]
l L |ll| K |tl|
m n J |n~|
w |o*| r [4] j |e*|
*: When syllable-initial, |e, o| become |hi, hu|, |ih, uh| when
syllable-final.
Vowels:
i [e] a u [o]
Syllable Structure:
(c)(w)(v)(w)(c)
c: any non-semivowel
w: semivowel
v: vowel
A syllable may have no more than three consonants.
Syllabifaction:
If there is one consonant, or a consonant flanked by semivowels, the
consonant is an onset.
If there are two consonants, separate the syllables between them.
If there are three consonants, one must be a semivowel. Separate the
syllables between the other two.
When there are two vowels in contact, they are separated by hiatus.
Stress:
Primary stress falls on the character vowel. (Roots are composed of
two-or-three consonants and a vowel; the vowel appears in every form.) This
is ordinarily the first syllable of the stem.
Secondary stress falls every third syllable thereafter.
Alternations:
When a stop and /j/ come in contact (in contact meaning separated by
nothing, not even a syllable boundary), the stop becomes voiced and the /j/
is elided.
When a stop and /w/ come in contact, the stop becomes aspirated and the /w/
elided.
/s/+/j/ > [S^j]
/s/+/w/ > [f]
/S/+/j/ > [C]
/x/+/j/ > [C^h]
/x/+/w/ > [h]
/r/ > [4] in clusters
High vowels /i u/ preceding stressed syllables in the same word are lowered
to /e o/. This is optionally noted in the orthography.
---
Shreyas
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