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").
