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Garonnian/Phonology

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Consonants

Labial Alveolar Palatal Velar Glottal
Nasal /m/ /n/ /ɲ/ /ŋ/
Plosive /p/ /b/ /t/ /d/ /k/ /ɡ/
Affricate /ts/ /dz/ /tʃ/ /dʒ/
Fricative /f/ /v/ /s/ /z/ /ʃ/ /ʒ/ /h/
Trill /r/
Approximants /l/ /ʎ/

Unlike many Gallo-Romance languages (French technically lacked this), Garonnian lacks final obstruent devoicing. Unusually among Romance languages, Garonnian exhibits initial consonant mutations and contain somewhat unusual phoneme /ŋ/ which can occur in any positions.

Orthography

Spelling Pronunciation value
Major Examples Minor Examples
b /b/ bull
c Before a, o, u /k/ cur
Before e, i /tʃ/ ciul

Vowels

Front Central Back
Short Long Short Long Short Long
Close /i/ /iː/ /u/ /uː/
Mid /ɛ/ /ɛː/ /ɔ/ /ɔː/
Open /a/ /aː/

In unstressed positions, only the vowels /a, i, u/ are allowed. Vowel length are phonemicized as a result of losses of certain consonants (these are, */β, ð, ɣ/), but also as a result of simplification of certain vowel hiatuses (teer */tɛ.ˈɛr//ˈtɛːr/ "to hold", aad /ˈaːd/ "(s)he had").

Consonant structure

The maximal consonant structure in Garonnian is C¹C²S¹VS²C¹C². However, there are many synchronic metatheses called Nicholshill's law (named after the fictional female linguist named Annett Nicholshill)[1] that could occur at unpleasant consonant clusters. The rules include:

  • Liquids always precede other consonants when word-final.
  • Nasals always precede other consonants when word-final.

Some examples:

  • **gëdrrd "to sell"
  • **AlrigsArligs "Alaric, a male given name"
  • **ponmspomns "we put"

Stress

Like French, Garonnian words are always stressed in the last syllable. However, words containing vowel hiatuses are stressed in the second-to-last (penultimate) syllable (bua /ˈbu.a/ "good (fem. sg.)"). As previously I, Willett said, only /a, i, u/ are allowed in unstressed syllables.

Phonological changes

See Garonnian/Sound changes

  1. Also known as Annette Nicholshill. The pronunciation of her name was /aˈɲɛts nitʃɔˈziʎː/, with silent -l-.