Trentish Phonology
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<< Trentish
Contents
Phonemic Inventory
Consonants
| labial | alveolar | palatal | velar | glottal | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| plosive | p pʼ pʰ (pʷ?) | tʼ tʰ tʷ | c cʰ cʷ | k kʼ kʰ kʷ | ʔ |
| nasal | m | n | ɲ | ŋ | |
| lateral | l tɬ | ||||
| fricative | s ʃ | x |
Vowels
| i y | ʊ u |
| e ø | o |
| ʌ ɔ | |
| ɑ |
Orthography
Orthography is phonemic.
| Vowels | |||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| a | e | i | o | oh | ö | r | u | uh | ü |
| /ɑ/ | /e/ | /i/ | /ɔ/ | /o/ | /ø/ | /ʌ/ | /u/ | /ʊ/ | /y/ |
| Consonants | ||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| b | p | ph | pw | m | d | t | th | tw | n | s | sh | x |
| /p/ | /pʼ/ | /pʰ/ | /pʷ/ | /m/ | /t/ | /tʼ/ | /tʰ/ | /tʷ/ | /n/ | /s/ | /ʃ/ | /x/ |
| dʼ | tʼ | tʼh | tʼw | ny | g | k | kh | kw | ng | l | ƛ | q |
| /c/ | /cʼ/ | /cʰ/ | /cʷ/ | /ɲ/ | /k/ | /kʼ/ | /kʰ/ | /kʷ/ | /ŋ/ | /l/ | /tɬ/ | /ʔ/ |
Spelling changes to reflect changes in pronunciation such as internal sandhi. Geminated vowels and consonants are spelled double; in digraphs the first letter is doubled (e.g., ssh, nny, uuh).
The letter r is strictly vocalic and has no consonantal value.
W is mainly used as in digraphs as a sign of labialization, but does occur in some loanwords by itself; by those unfamiliar with [w] proper it is pronounced [ʔʷ].
Internal Sandhi
Word-level
- Trentish words can only end in a vowel or a nasal. Stops and /l/ occurring at the end of a word are nasalized, thus /thɑk/ "wear" becomes [thɑŋ]. /ʔ/ and the other consonants are dropped.
Syllable-level
Syllable-final
- Plain voiceless consonants disappear, lengthening the previous vowel:
- /xlɔʔ/ "washed, clean" → [xlɔɔkʷʌ] "be washed".
- Ejectives and /l/ turn to nasals as at the word level:
- /tʰɔl/ "upon" → [tʰɔŋkʷʌ] "be on top of".
- Labialized consonants reduce to [w]:
- /kitʷ/ COLL → [kiwcʷecʷe] "set of journeys".
- Aspirated consonants fricativize:
- /pʼɑlɑkʰ/ "hate" → [pʼɑlɑxpʼɑlɑŋ] "grudge".
Syllable-initial after a nasal
- Aspirated stops are ejectivized by a preceding original nasal:
- /tʰɑŋ/ "wear" → [xɑntʼɑŋ] "wear that"
- Labialized stops inherit preceding nasality:
- /cʷe/ "go" → [xɑnɲʷe] "go up yonder".
- Plain stops are aspirated by a preceding nasal:
- /pɑ/ TOP → [xɑnpʰɑ] "yonder"
- Ejective stops geminate a preceding nasal:
- /pʼɑlɑŋ/ "hate" → [xɑmmɑlɑŋ] "hate that"
Syllable-inital after /ɲ/
- /ɲl/ > [ɲʎ]
- /ɲx/ > [ɲç]
- /ɲm/ > [ɲmʲ] etc.
