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[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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JS Bangs <jaspax@...>