Yasaro

Yasaro (níñsi jasǎro) is one of around 70,000 Zireen languages spoken on the planet Rishai. This is a brief introduction to the language, which will eventually grow to include more aspects of phonology, grammar, and vocabulary.

Consonants:

p	th [t̪]	t		č [tʃ]	k
m	nh [n̪]	n		ň [ɲ]	ŋ	ñ*
v	l	s [s~z]	r [ʐ]	j	h

• /ñ/ is the Yasaro syllable-final nasal phoneme, contrasting with /m/ (in some dialects) and /ŋ/. See below for pronunciation.

Vowels:

i		u
e		(ɔ)
(ɛ)	a

Pronunciation of vowel + syllable-final nasal /ñ/:

• short vowel + homorganic nasal before stops: lèñpa = [ˈlɛ̂mba], tòñtu = [ˈtɔ̂ndɯ]
• a long and nasal vowel before fricatives: níñsi = [ˈnɪ̌ː̃zi], kelòñra = [keˈlɔ̂ː̃ʐa]
• short and non-nasal at end of words: jasǎro(ñ) = [ʝaˈsǎʐɔ]

Final [ɛ] (from -/eñ/) contrasts with /e/ in some words. Before /ñ/, the distinction between /a/ and /u/ is neutralized to an [ɔ] sound, which is represented here as a phoneme /o/ (since it contrasts with both /a/ and /u/ at the ends of words).

Pitch accent: Underlying stress can fall on any syllable of the main root, but word-final syllables are never stressed. Stressed syllables on non-final syllables are pronounced with a falling tone. When a word ends with a syllable that would ordinarily be stressed, the preceding syllable gets the stress instead, but is pronounced with a rising tone. The stress remains on the final syllable of the root if a suffix is added (for example, tóñpa [ˈtɔ̌mba] "head", but toñpà-ta [tɔmˈpâɾa] "my head").

Vocabulary

Colors

Zireen music