Uínlītska Phonology

Syllable Structure

In roots, the structure (as a regular expression) is ˈC^?V(C^?CV)^*C^?.

In suffixes, the struvcture is CVC^?.

Thus, valid roots include é, ki, and ðœfti, and valid suffixes include -gū, and -tar.

Stress

The first syllable of any root takes primary stress. Secondary stress in words of three or more syllables falls immediately before the last consonant.

Thus, stress falls on the bolded vowels in a, ka, kapta, kaptara, kaptaran.

Consonants

p b	t d			k ɡ	ʔ
f v	s z	ʃ ʒ	θ ð	x ɣ	h
		tʃ dʒ
	ɬ l
m	n			[ŋ]
w		j

The phonemes /x/ and /ɣ/ have allophones [ç] and [ɟ] when immediately adjacent to an apical phoneme. The phoneme /n/ has the allophone [ŋ] when immediately preceeding to a dorsal phoneme.

Summary of consonant changes from ON

hr > ɾ̥ > ɹ̥ > ʃ
kr > kɾ̥ > kʀ̥ > kx > x
ɡr > ɡɾ > ɡʀ > ɡɣ > ɣ
r > ː / V _ (also listed under vowels)
rr > ːr / V _ (by implication)
r > j / (t,d,n,s,z) _
r > n / _ (t,d,s,z)
r > d / # _
r > l
sl > ɬ
(x,ɣ) > (k,ɡ) / s _

Vowels

In strong syllables

i iː
e eː	ə əː	o oː
ɛ		ɔ
		ɑ ɑː

In weak syllables

i ĩ
	ə ə̃
		ɑ ɑ̃

Summary of vowel changes from ON

o > ə
y > i
yː > iw
œ > e
œː > ew
œy > oj
ɛ > e
ɛː > ɛ
ɛi > ej
æ > e
æː > ɑj
u > o
uː > iw
ɒː > ɑw
ɒ > ɔ
ɒu > əw
υr > υː (also listed under consonants)

Further vowel changes in weak syllables

e > i
o,ɛ > ə
ɔ > ɑ
υː > υ
υ(j,w,l,∅)(n,m) > υ̃(j,w,l,∅)

Sound adaptation in borrowed words

Every foreign phoneme (if possible) maps to the identical phoneme in Fínlǣsk.

The following general rules tend to apply to phonemes from various languages without exact duplicates in Fínlǣsk:

Foreign	q	ɢ	ɴ	ɟ	ɰ	kʷ	ʌ
Fínlǣsk	k	ɡ	ŋɡ*	j	w	kw	ɑ

*Inuktitut /ɴ/ becomes /ɡ/ word-initially.

Sandhi / Liaison

Metaphonemic Symbols

For Vowels

Symbol	∅	← ↑ → ↓ ↖ ↗ ↘ ↙	η	υ	ω	◌̽	◌̾	◌́	◌̆
Meaning	Nothing	Umlaut	Vowel	(Unrounded)	(Rounded)	Broken	Merged	Long	Short

For Consonants

Symbol	∅	τ	κ	γ	θ	σ	ζ	ρ
Meaning	Nothing	Stop	(Voiceless)	(Voiced)	Fricative	(Voiceless)	(Voiced)	Liquid

Vowels

Umlauting

η

←

↑

→

↓

↖

↗

↘

↙

υ

ω

◌̽

◌̾

a

æ

ų

á

á

ę

ǫ

á

á

a

ǫ

aƿ

a

e

ej

i

o

ę

i

ᵫ

œ̨

ę

e

œ

ję

e

ę

ęj

e

ǫ

æ

e

œ

a

æ

ę

œ̨

jæ

ę

i

í

í

u

e

í

ᵫ

œ

e

i

ᵫ

je

i

o

œ

u

ó

ǫ

ᵫ

u

ǫ́

œ̨

e

o

ǫƿ

o

ǫ

œ̨

u

o

a

œ

o

á

æ

ę

ǫ

æƿ

ǫ

u

ᵫ

ju

ú

o

ᵫ

ú

ó

œ

i

u

ƿe

u

ų

e

i

u

a

i

ᵫ

ę

ǫ

ų

u

jæ

ų

æ

ǽ

ę

a

ǽ

ę

œ̨

a

ǽ

æ

œ̨

æƿ

æ

jo

jœ

ju

jó

jǫ

ᵫ́

ju

jǫ́

jœ̨

je

jo

aƿ

ᵫ

Liaison

Default

i

ᵫ

u

e

œ

ų

o

ę

œ̨

ǫ

æ

a

í

ᵫ́

ú

é

œ́

ų́

ó

ę́

œ̨́

ǫ́

ǽ

á

i

η > jη

í

ᵫ́

íj

ᵫ

υ > ƿυ ω > jω

ᵫ́

ǫj

ƿę́

Consonants

Long Clusters

CCC sequences are phonotactically disallowed, though note that this means phonemic sequences (things like tj /tʃ/ are considered single consonants under these rules). The following is a simple summary of the rules, in the order they are applied, along with contrived examples.

• If an orthographic j occurs anywhere in the CCC sequence, it is moved to the end: mantj /mɑntʃ/ + kun /kun/ > mantkjun /mɑnttʃun/
• Phonemic "double" or "long" consonants lose their first orthographic component: mantkjun /mɑnttʃun/ > mankjun /mɑntʃun/.

Sandhi

Some general rules apply to the sandhi process that occurs when compound words are formed:

Description	Pattern		Example
	From	To	From	To
Stop+Stop with same voicing are unaffected	κ1κ2	κ1κ2	-k+t-	-kt-
	γ1γ2	γ1γ2	-b+d-	-bd-
Stop+Stop with different voicing take regr voice assim	γ1κ2	κ1κ2	-ɡ+t-	-kt-
	κ1γ2	γ1γ2	-p+ɡ-	-bɡ-
Stop+Fric with same voicing become Fric-Stop	κ1σ2	σ1κ2	-k+s-	-xt-
	γ1ζ2	ζ1γ2	-d+v-	-zb-
Stop+Fric with different voicing take progr voice assim	κζ	κσ	-k+v-	-kf-
	γσ	γζ	-b+s-	-bz-
Fric+Fric with same voicing become geminated stops	σ1σ2	κː1	-s+s-	-tː-
	ζ1ζ2	γː1	-v+v-	-bː-
Nas+Nas take retr POA assim & progr voice assim	μ̥1μ2	μ̥ː2
	μ1μ̥2	μː2

Blanks below denote "no deviation from the above"

b

d

ð

f

ɡ

ɣ

h

j

k

l

ɬ

m

n

ŋ

p

r

s

ʃ

t

tʃ

θ

v

w

x

z

b

vd

v

vɡ

bɣ

pk

pɬ

m

mn

ŋɡ

pp

bz

bʒ

pt

ndʒ

bð

bɣ

d

ð

dv

ðɡ

dɣ

tk

tɬ

nm

n

ŋɡ

tp

dz

dʒ

tt

dʒ

ð

zb

dɣ

ð

zb

ðv

ðð

θk

θt

nm

n

ŋɡ

θp

θs

tʃ

tt

dʒ

θθ

zb

θk

dd

f

vv

ɡ

bb

All sound changes in CSMF format

use 'read-ON-as-IPA.csmf'
T[-voice] > s / _ $1
T[+voice] > ʔ / _ C[poa=$1][-voice]
T[+voice] > ∅ / _ C[poa=$1][+voice]
t > s / V _ V
k > x / V _ V
p > f / V _ V
d > t / V _ V
ɡ > k / V _ V
b > p / V _ V
dd > ʔt / V _ V
ɡɡ > ʔk / V _ V
bb > ʔp / V _ V
hr > ʃ
kr > x
ɡr > ɣ
o > ə
y > i
y[+long] > iw
œ > e
œ[+long] > ew
œy > oj
ɛ > e
ɛ[+long] > ɛ
ɛi > ej
æ > e
æ[+long] > ɑj
u > o
u[+long] > iw
ɒ[+long] > ɑw
ɒ > ɔ
ɒu > əw
Vr > $1[+long]
r > j / C[+dental] _
r > n / _ C[+dental]
r > d / # _
r > l
sl > ɬ
S[velar] > T[poa=$1] / s _
e[-stress] > i
(o,ɛ)[-stress] > ə
ɔ[-stress] > ɑ
V[+long][-stress] > $1[-long]
V[-stress]RN > $1[+nasal]$2
V[-stress]WN > $1[+nasal]$2
j > i / W _ C, C _ W
w > o / W _ C, C _ W
V > ː / $1 _
Vː > $1[+long]