Inng

Inng Inng-lan
Pronounced:	[iŋː˩län˩]
Species:	Human
Writing system:	None. Romanization for conlanging purposes.
Credits
Creator:	Qwynegold
Created:	21/02/2013

Phonology

Inng has only 16 phonemic consonants, and four vowels. But allophones there are a lot more of because of Inng's extensive allophony.

Phoneme and allophone inventories

Both phonemes and allophones are represented in the following tables. Generally the phonemes are represented with a letter that is also used for one of its allophones. The only exception is /r/ which is not realized as [r] but as retroflexion or other changes of the previous vowel.

Consonant inventory

All of the phonemes except for /r/ have as an allophone the same sound as what the phoneme is transcribed with. So for example /p/ has the allophone [p]. /r/ however is never realized as [r].

Consonants
	Bilabial				Labiod.				Alveolar								Retroflex		Alveolo-palatal				Palatal				Velar						Glottal
	Plain		Pal.		Plain		Pal.		Central				Lateral						Plain		Lab.		Plain		Lab.		Plain		Lab.		Pal.
									Plain		Lab.		Plain		Lab.
Nasal		/m/ [mː]		[mʲ]						/n/ [nː]		[nʷ]						[ɳ]		[n̠ʲ]		[n̠ᶣ]						/ŋ/
Syllabic nasal		[m̩] [m̩ː]								[n̩] [n̩ː]								[ɳ̍ː]										[ŋ̍] [ŋ̍ː]
Plosive	/p/ [pʰ]	/b/	[pʰʲ]	[bʲ]					/t/ [tʰ]	/d/	[tʰʷ]	[dʷ]							[ṯʰʲ]	[ḏʲ]	[t̠ʰᶣ]	[d̠ᶣ]					/k/ [kʰ]	/ɡ/			[kʰʲ]	[ɡʲ]
Affricate									/t͡s/ [t͡sʰ]	/d͜z/	[t͡sʰʷ]	[d͜zʷ]	[t͜ɬʰ]	[d͡ɮ]					[t͡ɕʰ]	[d͜ʑ]	[t͡ɕʰᶣ]	[d͜ʑᶣ]
Syllabic affricate													[t͡ɬ̩ʰ] [t͡ɬ̩ːʰ]	[d͜ɮ̍] [d͜ɮ̍ː]
Fricative	[ɸ]		[ɸʲ]		/f/		[fʲ]		/s/		[sʷ]								[ɕ]		[ɕᶣ]		[ç]		[çᶣ]		[x]						/h/
Approximant														/l/ [lː]		[lʷ]		[ɭ]		[l̠ʲ]		[l̠ᶣ]		[j]​		[ɥ]		[ɫ]	[ʍ]	[w]
Syllabic approximant														[l̩] [l̩ː]				[ɭ̍ː]						​
Rhotic										/r/

The "syllabic affricates" are affricates with a syllabic release. From now on, all the affricates will be transcribed without the tiebar, as there is no ambiguity: Any plosive followed by any fricative in the same word stands for an affricate.

Vowel inventory

Just as with the consonant table above, all of the vowels have the same sound as an allophone as what the phoneme is transcribed with.

Vowels
	Front		Central		Back
Close	/i/ [iː]			[ʉː]		/u/ [uː]
Close-mid	[e] [eː]					[o] [oː] [o˞ː]
Mid			/ə/ [əː] [ɚː]
Open-mid	[ɛ] [ɛː]		[ɝː]			[ɔ] [ɔː]
Near-open			[ɐ˞ː]
Open	/a/ [aː]		[ä] [äː]		[ɑ] [ɑː]	[ɒ] [ɒː]

Tone inventory

Inng has a pitch accent system, where open syllables may have high or low pitch (which may be realized as [˥] respectively [˩]), or be unaccented. Closed syllables are all unaccented.

Tones
/˥/	[˩˥]	[˩˩˥]	[˥˩˥]	[˥˩]	[˥˩˩]	/˩/

Syllable structure

The syllable structure for Inng is (O)N(N)(C), where O can be any consonant except for /ŋ, r/, N can be any vowel or /ŋ, l/, and C can be /m, n, ŋ, p, t, k, ts, l, r/.
Since /ŋ, l/ can be both consonants and vowels, it is important to distinguish between nucleuses and onsets/codas. Phonemes in nucleus may have non-syllabic realizations, so there are words that on the phonemic level are different with regard to syllable structure, but which are realized the same way. However, pitch may distinguish these words, as the tones are dependent on the surrounding consonants.
It is also important to distinguish between words that have a single nucleus (N) and words that have a double nucleus (NN). Single and double nucleuses may both be realized as a long vowel, but with pitch distinguishing them from each other.

Allophony

Nucleuses

Vowels and syllabic nasals are realized as long when in an open syllable (word-final). /ə, əə, a, aa/ become [o, oː, ɑ, ɑː] when followed by a velar (effectively one of [ŋ, k, w]). [w] also adds rounding to /a, aa/, see the table below.

Realizations of nucleuses

/i/ [i]	/u/ [u]	/ə/ [ə]	/a/ [ä]	/l/ [l̩]	/ŋ/ [ŋ̍]
/ii/ [iː]	/ui/ [ɥi]	/əi/ [ej]	/ai/ [aj]	/li/ [l̠ʲi]	/ŋi/ [n̠ʲi]
/iu/ [ju]	/uu/ [uː]	/əu/ [ow]	/au/ [ɒw]	/lu/ [lʷu]	/ŋu/ [nʷu]
/iə/ [je]	/uə/ [wo]	/əə/ [əː]	/aə/ [ɛ]	/lə/ [lə]	/ŋə/ [nə]
/ia/ [ja]	/ua/ [wɒ]	/əa/ [ɔ]	/aa/ [äː]	/la/ [lä]	/ŋa/ [nä]
/iŋ/ [iŋ]	/uŋ/ [uŋ]	/əŋ/ [oŋ]	/aŋ/ [ɑŋ]	/lŋ/ [l̩m]	/ŋŋ/ [ŋ̍ː]
/il/ [il]	/ul/ [ul]	/əl/ [əl]	/al/ [äl]	/ll/ [l̩ː]	/ŋl/ [n̩l]

When both the nucleus consists of two consonants, one will be syllabic and the other non-syllabic. Which one is which depends on the surrounding consonants. This table shows their realization in words with neither onset or coda. Also note that all word-final vowels and syllabic consonants are long.

Realizations of nucleus + /r/

/ir/ [ʉː]	/ur/ [o˞ː]	/ər/ [ɚː]	/ar/ [ɐ˞ː]	/lr/ [ɭ̍ː]	/ŋr/ [ɳ̍ː]
/iir/ [ʉː]	/uir/ [ɥʉː]	/əir/ [ʉː]	/air/ [ɚː]	/lir/ [lʉː]	/ŋir/ [nʉː]
/iur/ [jo˞ː]	/uur/ [o˞ː]	/əur/ [o˞ː]	/aur/ [ɚː]	/lur/ [lo˞ː]	/ŋur/ [no˞ː]
/iər/ [jɚː]	/uər/ [wɚː]	/əər/ [ɚː]	/aər/ [ɝː]	/lər/ [lɚː]	/ŋər/ [nɚː]
/iar/ [jɐ˞ː]	/uar/ [wɐ˞ː]	/əar/ [ɝː]	/aar/ [ɐ˞ː]	/lar/ [lɐ˞ː]	/ŋar/ [nɐ˞ː]
/iŋr/ [iɳ]	/uŋr/ [uɳ]	/əŋr/ [əɳ]	/aŋr/ [äɳ]	/lŋr/ [l̩ɳ]	/ŋŋr/ [ɳ̍ː]
/ilr/ [iɭ]	/ulr/ [uɭ]	/əlr/ [əɭ]	/alr/ [äɭ]	/llr/ [ɭ̍ː]	/ŋlr/ [n̩ɭ]

/ir, iir, əir/, /ur, uur, əur/, /ər, əər, air, aur/, /əar, aər/, /ar, aar/, /ŋr, ŋŋr/, respectively /lr, llr/ are in complementary distribution. All of these form unaccented syllables.

Consonants

Consonants before close vowels and semivowels

Consonant	+[i]	+[j]	+[u]	+[w]	+[ɥ]
/m/	[mʲi]	[mj]	[mu]	[mw]	[mɥ]
/n/​	[n̠ʲi]	[n̠ʲ]	[nʷu]	[nʷ]	[n̠ᶣ]
/p/	[pʲʰi]	[pʰj]	[pʰu]	[pʰw]	[pʰɥ]
/b/	[bʲi]	[bj]	[bu]	[bw]	[bɥ]
/t/	[t̠ʲʰi]	[t̠ʲʰ]	[tʷʰu]	[tʷʰ]	[t̠ᶣʰ]
/d/	[d̠ʲi]	[d̠ʲ]	[dʷu]	[dʷ]	[d̠ᶣ]
/k/	[kʲʰi]	[kj]	[kʰu]	[kʰw]	[kʰɥ]
/ɡ/	[ɡʲi]	[ɡj]	[ɡu]	[ɡw]	[ɡɥ]
/ts/	[tɕʰi]	[tɕʰ]	[tsʷʰu]	[tsʷʰ]	[tɕᶣʰ]
/dz/	[dʑi]	[dʑ]	[dzʷu]	[dzʷ]	[dʑᶣ]
/f/	[fʲi]	[fj]	[fu]	[ɸ]	[ɸʲɥ]
/s/	[ɕi]	[ɕ]	[sʷu]	[sʷ]	[ɕᶣ]
/h/	[çi]	[ç]	[ʍu]	[ʍ]	[çᶣ]
/l/	[l̠ʲi]	[l̠ʲ]	[lʷu]	[lʷ]	[l̠ᶣ]

The above table shows the realizations of consonants followed by [i, j, u, w, ɥ]. [j] is the realization of /i/ before another vowel, [w] is the realization of /u/ before a vowel other than /i/, and [ɥ] is the realization of /u/ before [i]. So for example the words /fing, fia˥, ful, fue˩, fui/ (fetch, feast, fort, foil (V.), foe) are pronunced [fʲiŋ˥˩, fjaː˥˩˥, ful˥˩, ɸoː˥˩˩, ɸʲɥiː˥˩˩].