Zeng

My take at something pseudo-Germanic sounding.

Consonants

	L.	A.	P.	V.	G.
Aspirate stops		tsʰ (~tʃʰ)		kʰ
Lax stops	b̥	d̥	ɟ̊	ɡ̊	(ʔ)
Nasals	m	n	ɲ	ŋ
Fricativs	f	s	(ʃ)	x	h
Approximants	w (~ʋ)	l	j
Vibrant		r

Latin transcription is per IPA, except the aspirates are z k, and the palatals are transcribed with acutes, ǵ ń ś. Eng may opionally be ASCIIfied as ng.

In final position, the stops are simply [p t ts c^(ç) k], with the two velars' contrast neutralized.

Initial clusters:

• kr kl km kn kń kw kj
• gm gw (← *bm *bw)
• zm zn zw
• dw ?
• br bl bn bń bj
• fr fl fn
• sr sl sm sn
• śń (← *sń)

Coda clusters:

• l, r or homorganic nasal + any stop
• ndl rdl [ntɬ rtɬ]
• When these clusters occur medially, the lax stops will be fully voiced.

Medially additionally:

• dr dl dm dn
• wr wl wn wń (in which /w/ is generally fricated to [β ~ v])
• mr ml mn mń
• sw ?
• xr xl xn
• sonorant + fricativ?

Vowels

Simple /i e a o u/, ± length, as well as /au ai/. Long vowels contrast level tone (written dubbled, eg. aa) and falling tone (written with a circumflex, eg. â). Length is neutralized before coda nasals.

Test drive

• brań Zâk wixril anz, keer holbi mimńai bjosud lax
• ganu irbex ǵerkaw
• meeres gersu eń agwald aun - xos jûsi ŋazma smalǵanax

External history

Zeng is the spiritual descendant of my original conlang project, uwjge (/ʉwɣɡɛ/). The circumflex vowels used to be /aʌ eɛ oɔ ʉw/ (no î) for instance. Also, the name happens to be recycled from its successor, Zwöng (a version of its grammar has mutated into the ARL2 project).