Qihep phonology

Main article: Qihep

Qihep phonology includes all phonetical features and rules which are part of the Qihep language.

Phonemic system

In the phonological system of the Qihep language there are 20 recognized consonants, plus 2 allophones and 1 unrecognized phoneme, and 6 vowels, with their long and short variants.

Consonants

This is the consonantal system of Qihep:

Consonants
	Bilabial		Labio- dental		Dental		Alveolar		Post- alveolar		Palatal		Velar		Labialized velar		Glottal
Plosive	p	b					t	d					k	g	kʷ		(ʔ)1
Nasal		m		(ɱ)2			n					ɲ		(ŋ)3
Vibrant								r
Fricative			f	v			s		ʃ	(ʒ)4			x				h
Affricate							ʦ		ʧ	ʤ
Approximants												j		w
Lateral approximants								l

Note:

• [ʔ]¹ is not recognised as an independent phoneme but it is inserted between two vowels, or between two identical consonants.
• [ɱ]² is an allophone of the nasal phoneme [n], realized only before the phonemes [f] or [v].
• [ŋ]³ is an allophone of the nasal phoneme [n], realized only before the phonemes [k], [g] or [kʷ].
• [ʒ]⁴ is an allophone of the affricate phoneme [ʤ], realized only between two vowels. This realization is not however systematic and not every speaker uses this allophone in this phonetic context. This realization is only a possibility.

Vowels

Vowels
	Front		Near- front		Central		Near- back		Back
Close		i(ː)								u(ː)
Close mid		e(ː)								o(ː)
Mid					ə(ː)
Open					a(ː)

Every vowel can be distinctively short and long.

If two vowels are adiacent in a compound word, a glottal stop ([ʔ]) emerges to keep them separated.

Syllabic structure

Maximal syllabic structure is CCV(ː)C, while the minimal is the simple vocalic nucleus V.

• [ˈpreːt] vs. [ˈa]

For the consonantic coda CCV(ː)C, every available consonant is allowed, except for [ʦ], which counts as two consonants and has too much syllabic weight.

For the consonantic onset CCV(ː)C, these are the constrains:

When the onset has a single consonant CV(ː)C, every available consonant is allowed.

When the onset has two consonants CCV(ː)C, there are some restrictions:

• No double consonants or long consonant is allowed.
• The consonant [ʦ] counts as two consonants and takes the entire onset of the syllable, allowing no consonant before or after itself.
• The consonants [ʧ], [ʤ] and [kʷ] count as one consonant, allowing other consonants before themselves.
• If the second consonant is a liquid, Cl or Cr, the first consonant can be only [b], [p], [k], [g], [t], [d], [f], [v], [h], [x], [s] or [ʃ]
• If the first consonant is s or ʃ, every available consonant is allowed as the second consonant except for the two consonants themselves, [s] and [ʃ]. and [ʤ].

The restrictions for the syllabic onset do not apply between syllables. The only rule which is always applied is the no double consonants rule: when two identical consonants find themselves together between syllables, a glottal stop [ʔ] emerges and keeps them clearly separated.

Diphthongs

Since only one vowel, either a long or a short one, is allowed in the vocalic nucleus, no true diphthongs are allowed in Qihep. When two vowels are found together they are always part of two separated syllable.

• [ˌliːˈ.aːl]

A glottal stop [ʔ] may emerge to keep two vowels separated, expecially when the two vowels are identical, to avoid confusion with a long vowel. The emersion of the glottal stop is however not clearly systematic.

• [ˌliːˈʔaːl]
• [faˌʔabˈʧe]]

The glides [j] and [w] are considered as true consonants and take their place in the syllable forming no diphthongs.

• [bej] is a CVC syllable and not a Consonant-Diphtong syllable.

Stress and tones

Every monosyllabic word has its own stress, which does not affect the lenght of the vowel. Since every syllable can have only one vowel as its nucleus, stress marks no difference between any monosyllabic words.

Stress plays a bigger role when words are combined in a compound. In such words the stress of the final syllable is perceived as the main stress (primary) of the new compounded word. The previous accent turns itself in a secondary stress.

• [ˈmar] + [ˈmeʃ] → [ˌmarˈmeʃ]

When a compound is formed with three or more monosyllabic word, only two stress, the primary one on the last syllable and the secondary one, are usually kept. Which of the previous syllable is to be kept stressed is not easily predictable. One predictable case is when the word is formed with an already existing compound word, when the former primary stress turns in the new secondary one:

• [ˈfa] + [ˈskət] → [ˌfaˈskət] ˃ [ˌfaˈskət] + [ˈvran] → [faˌskətˈvran]

These rules are routinely applied with foreign names too, but some of them can retain their original stress position.

• Original French pronunciation France [fʁɑ̃s] → Qihep pronunciation [ˌfranˈsə] or [ˈfranˌsə].

Tones

Long vowels show a tonal feature, which is however not distinctive at all in monosyllabic words. In such words the vowels are pronounced with a rising tone:

• [xěːp] or [xeːp˧˥] or [xeːp³⁵]

As already said, tone is not distinctive between words (as in Chinese) and it's only a feature of the vocalic nucleus of the syllable. However, tone plays a bigger role, again, when words are combined in a compound. In such words a phenomenon of tone sandhi appears. The tone of the last long vowel preserves its original rising value, while the previous long vowels are pronounced with a mid tonal value:

• [kʷǐː] + [xěːp] → [kʷīːxěːp] or [kʷiː˧˥] + [xeːp˧˥] → [kʷiː˧xeːp˧˥] or [kʷiː³⁵] + [xeːp³⁵] → [kʷiː³³xeːp³⁵]

Tone sandhi is triggered also in tri- or plurisyllabic compounds, with the previous vowels all pronounced with a mid tonal value, even if there is a short vowel syllable in between:

• [ʤǐːv] + [snǎː] + [kə̌ːt] → [ʤīːvsnāːkə̌ːt] or [ʤiːv˧˥] + [snaː˧˥] + [kəːt˧˥] → [ʤiːv˧snaː˧kəːt˧˥] or [ʤiːv³⁵] + [snaː³⁵] + [kəːt³⁵] → [ʤiːv³³snaː³³kəːt³⁵]