1.0 Phonology & Phonotactics
Anthologica Universe Atlas / Universes / Miscellanea / Ikxentika / 1.0 Phonology & Phonotactics

1.0 Phonology


1.1 Sounds


1.1.1 Consonants


ArticulationBilabialDentalVelarGlottal
Nasalm+this will never appear on its own - only before a bilabial stop or fricativenŋ
Stopp, bt, dk, gʔ+only in certain dialects
EjectivesP'T'K'
Fricativesɸ, ß, ʋ~vs, z, ʃ~ʒx, ɣ, ʀ~ʁ

A few accents include a Glottal Stop ( ʔ ) between vowels, or after an ejective, though this is not considered to be proper speech, and is rarely thought of as a separate phoneme. Similarly, the "m" only appears before bilabial stops or fricatives,
In common practice, all these phonemes - except nasals - will come in sets of three:
(p-b-P') (t-d-T') (k-g-K') (ɸ-ß-ʋ) (s-z-ʒ) (x-ɣ-ʀ)
The uses of these paradigms will be covered under the Stress Pattern section

1.1.2 Vowels


FrontBack
Closei~y, ɪʊ~ω, u
Midɛʌ
openœ~aɑ~ɒ

These, too, come in the following pairs:
(ɪ-i~y) (ɛ-a~œ) (ʊ~ω-u) (ʌ-ɑ~ɒ)
For ease of use, I shall use the following symbols to write these
(I-i) (e-a) (ʊ-u) (ʌ-ɑ)

2.0 Phonotactics


(N)(C)(L)V(N)(C)
C = All Consonants
L = Liquids: ɸ, s, h, relative to the consonant preceeding it.
N = Nasals: m, n, ŋ, relative to the consonant proceeding it.
V = All Vowels
Soft Consonants [p, t, k, ŋ, n, ɸ, s, x] only pair with Soft Vowels [ɪ, ɛ, ʊ, ʌ]
Hard Consonants [b, d, g, ß, z, ɣ] pair with Soft Vowels, though this may vary depending on accent.
Overhard Consonants [p', t', k', ʋ, ʒ, ʀ] only pair with Hard Vowels [i, a, u, ɑ]
Hard Vowels never appear solitary
e.g, [u-tsɪ-uʋ] is not allowed, but [ʊ-tsɪ-uʋ] would be
Depending on accent, two vowels together may be separated with a [ʔ]
Vowels tend to align with affixes, such that
[*p'i-mɜ-ɔst] would become [p'i-mɪ-ɔst] or [p'a-mɛ-ɔst].
Examples of this can be found in the lexicon.
Soft Consonants may become Hard Consonants due to morphological changes
Hard Consonants may become Overhard Consonants
Prenasalisation will only appear when matching the Point of Articulation of the next phoneme, for example "ntɜ" could be a syllable, but "nkɜ" could not.

2.1 Stress Patterns


This section will explain how one phoneme can vary depending on its position in a word.
A foot will be two syllables at max, though can be a single syllable if two nasal-only syllables appear in a row. Certain monosyllablic words will be hardened, which will be covered in their lexicon entry.
e.g, (pɪ-pɪ)
nɪ-(pɪ-pɪ)
nɪ-nɪ-(pɪ)
When finding the next foot, ignore syllables that start with nasals or vowels.
e.g, (pɪ-pɪ)-nɪ-(pɪ-pɪ)
(pɪ-pɪ)-ɪp-(pɪ-pɪ)
The first syllable in the first foot will become Overhard
e.g, (-pɪ) -> (P'i-pɪ)
The second syllable of the first foot will become Hard
e.g, (P'i-) -> (P'i-)
The first syllable of all subsequent feet will become Hard. All other syllables are left as soft consonants.
e.g, (pɪ-pɪ)(kɪ-kɪ) -> (P'i-bɪ)(gi-kɪ)
Any syllable with a pre-nasalisation or post-liquidisation can be left as just the base consonant, though this does not apply for every syllable.
e.g, (ntɪ-tɪ) -> (T'i-dɪ)
(tsɪ-tɪ) -> (T'i-dɪ)
Any syllable with a /ə/ or /ɔ/ that becomes Overhard will tend to assimilate with any other vowels in that word, though /ə/ tends to become /i/ or /a/, and /ɔ/ tends to become /a/ or /u/. Assimilation will often cause the assimilated vowel to become stressed as well.
e.g, (tə-tɪ) -> (T'i-di)
(tɔ-tɔ) -> (T'u-du)

2.2 Intonation patterns


Under construction

2.3 Auto-Generation


This is for use with the Zompist Language generator
http://www.zompist.com/gen.html

Categories:

note: you may wantto randomise this list
C=ptknŋɸsx
V=ɪɛʊʌ

Rewrite rules:


np|mp
nk|ŋk
nn|n
nŋ|ŋ
nɸ|mɸ
nx|ŋx
pl|pɸ
tl|ts
kl|kx
nl|ns
ŋl|ŋx

Syllable Types:

note: you may want to randomise this list
CV
CVC
V
nCV
nCVC
ClV
ClVC
VC
VnC
CVnC
nCVnC
ClVnC