Orvlax

One of the major languages of Sumatra on Earth'.

Vowels

i	ʉ	u
e	ɵ	o
a

Possible vowel combinations in a word:

• /i o a ?/
• /ʉ o a/
• /i ʉ u a/
• /i e o a/
• /i ʉ ɵ o a/
• /i o u a/
• /i u a/

In all of these except the last, /a/ can only occur as the final vowel.

This system is derived from total harmony (save final /a/) + _j _w _ː by the following changes:

• Assimilation: aj aw ew → ej ow ɵw
• Smoothing: ij ej ʉj ʉw ow uw → iː eː ʉː uː oː uː
• iː ʉː uː → … → oː oː ʉː
• Raising: eː ɵː oː → iː ʉː uː
• Loss of vowel length
• iw → … → ??
• oj uj → … → i
• ew → … → o
• ɵj ɵw → … → i o
• Dissimilation of /ʉ/ /i/ (to what???) in an *u-word or *ɵ-word

This can be still seen from that most vowels are unchanged, and the changed vowels can only appear in an open syllable.

Consonants

p	t	k
(b)	d	g
v	z	s
w	l	j
m	n	r

Color code:

Freely occurring

·

non-initial

·

medial only

·

non-final

·

initial only

In other words, coda consonants are /t k d g s r l m n/. Medial [b] should be consider'd allophonic with initial [p], and one could additionally consider medial [z] allophonic with initial [j].

A few morphophonemic rules: -l + l- → -ld-; -r + -l- → -rd-; -m + n- → -nd-; -n + m-, -n + v- → -mv-