Siye Phonology
| Consonants | Labial | Coronal | Alveolar | Palatal | Velar |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Nasals | m [m] | n [n] | |||
| Plosives | p [p] [pʰ] [b] | t [t] [tʰ] [d] | k [k] [kʰ] [g] | ||
| Fricatives | p [ɸ] [β] | s [s] [z] | s [ʃ] [ʒ] | p [ç] [ʝ] | k [x] [ɣ] |
| Affricates | p [tçʰ] [tç] | t [ts] [tsʰ] [dz] | k [tʃ] [tʃʰ] [dʒ] | ||
| Liquids | w [ʋ] | l [l] | y [j] | ||
| Miscellaneous | m [◌̃] |
Outside the City, [ç] and [ʝ] merge with [ʃ] and [ʒ], even in Standard Siye.
Plosives and affricates are aspirated word-initially and when they are the initial onset of a verb root before an oral vowel. Before a nasal vowel, the non-aspirated unvoiced onsets are voiced, and the aspirated unvoiced consonants are deaspirated, but remain unvoiced. Initial aspiration of plosives and affricates is far less common outside the City. m word-finally or before a consonant (including h) indicates a nasal vowel. h [0] is a placeholder after /m/ [ⁿ] and (in Early Siye and dialects) intervocalically.
| Affrication | Place of Articulation | Before [u] | Before [i] | Before [ʊⁿ] | Before [ɪⁿ] | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Labial | [p] | [ɸ] | [ç] | [β] | [ʝ] | |
| Initial Labial | [p] | [ɸ] | [tçʰ] | [ɸ] | [tç] | |
| Dental | [t] | [ts] | [ʃ] | [dz] | [ʒ] | [ʃ] from [t] is an etymological spelling |
| Initial Dental | [tʰ] | [tsʰ] | [ʃ] | [ts] | [ʒ] | [ʃ] from [t] is an etymological spelling |
| Velar | [k] | [x] | [tʃ] | [ɣ] | [dʒ] | |
| Initial Velar | [kʰ] | [x] | [tʃʰ] | [ɣ] | [tʃ] | |
| Sibilant | [s] | [s] | [ʃ] | [z] | [ʒ] | |
| Initial Sibilant | [s] | [s] | [ʃ] | [z] | [ʒ] |
| Oral Vowels | Front | Center | Back Unrounded | Back Rounds |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Close | i [i] | u [u] | ||
| Close Mid | e [e] | o [o] | ||
| Open Mid | a [ə] | |||
| Open | a [a] |
| Nasal Vowels | Front | Center | Back Unrounded | Back Rounds |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Close-Mid | im [ɪⁿ] | um [ʊⁿ] | ||
| Open Mid | em [ɛⁿ] | um [ʌⁿ] | om [ɔⁿ] | |
| Open | am [æⁿ] |
[ə] and [a], [ʊⁿ] and [ʌⁿ] are in free variation. [ə] often occurs in unstressed vowels.
Update
As of 2246, unvoiced consonants are officially voiced before nasal vowels. In the City, this does not affect initial aspirated consonants, but in those dialects in which initial consonants are not aspirated, this voicing rule applies.
Nasalization and Advanced Tongue Root
In Standard Siye, the nasal vowels share the feature retracted tongue root (RTR), while the oral vowels share the feature advanced tongue root (ATR). In studies of Siye, the feature is defined as +ATR and -ATR. Standard Siye has the typologically rare 10-vowel ATR. The Near and Mid Provinces reduce the ATR system by removing [ə] in favor of a generalized [a].
| Oral Vowels | Front | Center | Back Unrounded | Back Rounds |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Close | i [i] | u [u] | ||
| High Mid | e [e] | o [o] | ||
| Open | a [a] |
| Nasal Vowels | Front | Center | Back Unrounded | Back Rounds |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Close-Mid | im [ɪⁿ] | um [ʊⁿ] | ||
| Open Mid | em [ɛⁿ] | om [ɔⁿ] | ||
| Open | am [aⁿ] |
The Far Western Province uses a seven-vowel system:
| Oral Vowels | Front | Center | Back Unrounded | Back Rounds |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Close | i [i] | u [u] | ||
| Open Mid | ɛ [ɛ] | ɔ [ɔ] | ||
| Open | a [a] |
| Nasal Vowels | Front | Center | Back Unrounded | Back Rounds |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Close-Mid | im [ɪⁿ] | um [ʊⁿ] | ||
| Open Mid | em [ɛⁿ] | om [ɔⁿ] | ||
| Open | am [aⁿ] |
The Far Eastern Province and the Lake have a slightly different seven-vowel system:
| Oral Vowels | Front | Center | Back Unrounded | Back Rounds |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Close | i [i] | u [u] | ||
| Open Mid | ɛ [ɛ] | ɔ [ɔ] | ||
| Open | a [a] |
| Nasal Vowels | Front | Center | Back Unrounded | Back Rounds |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Close | im [iⁿ] | |||
| Close-Mid | um [ʊⁿ] | |||
| Open Mid | em [ɛⁿ] | om [ɔⁿ] | ||
| Open | am [aⁿ] |
Vowel Dominance
Standard Siye vowels have a dominance system whereby one vowel eliminates an adjacent vowel rather than creating a long vowel or diphthong. Early Siye lacked this feature. The impact of vowel dominance in Siye is extensive, but many exceptions exist to avoid ambiguity. The dominance pattern follows a V-shape, starting in the high back, descending to low central, and ascending to high front. Thus the dominance hierarchy is as follows: /u/ > /o/ > /a/ > /e/ > /i/.
Stress Placement
Stress in Siye is trochaic-dactylic. Polysyllabic affixes can only receive stress on the initial syllable. The combination of the following rules creates a complex primary-secondary stress pattern. Some regularly trisyllabic suffixes have bisyllabic allomorphs to conform to this pattern.
A Siye verb receives primary stress on the first syllable of the verb root; thus the verb /pelekopuyammu/[pe.le.ˈkʰo.ɸu.ˌjæⁿ.mu] and /lekunasonima/ [ˈle.xu.so.ˌni.ma] receive primary stresses on /ko/ and /ku/.
The secondary stresses are distributed according to the following rules:
1) There is a minimum of one and maximum of two unstressed syllables between stressed syllable
2) Only the first syllable of a root or suffix can be stressed.
3) The sequence of preferred placements of secondary stresses are as follows: directional (D) suffix; causative suffix; adverbial suffix; pronominal number suffix; PAM/P (polarity-aspect-mood) suffix.
