Naeso/Phonology

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Syllable Structure

(C)V(N)

• C is a consonant or affricate
• V is a vowel
• N is a nasal or liquid

Affricates

These are the possible affricates:

/ts dz dʒ tθ bv pf/

Consonants

• Stops: /p b t d k g/
• Nasals: /m~ɱ n ŋ/
• Fricatives: /f v θ s z ʒ/
• Liquids: /l/

Vowels

Our vowels are /i u a y e/ and /o/.

All vowels are pronounced separately. E.g., “Naeso” is syllabized as /na.ˈe.so/.

One vowel cluster is allowed in a single root word or affix, and any combination of two of Naeso's vowels forms a valid cluster.

Does "any combination of two of Naeso's vowels" mean two different vowels, or also two instances of the same vowel?

Two different vowels; sequences like "aa" are disallowed in roots and are broken by liason/simplified (see vote below) if they are formed at morpheme boundaries

The restriction on vowel clusters applies only to roots.

I.e., when two or more clusters occur in a compound or derived word, that's OK; they don't get simplified.

Liaison

If a compound or derived word would have a sequence of three or four vowels (if e.g. the first element ends in a vowel cluster and the second element begins with a vowel or vowel cluster), insert a consonant after the first or second vowel of a three-vowel sequence or after the second vowel of a four-vowel sequence. The liason consonant is glottal stop /ʔ/, transliterated as an apostrophe but not written in the syllabary.