Middle Nyángar
Phonology
Phonemes
Consonants
Middle Nyángar contrasts 28 different consonant sounds:
| Consonants | ||||||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Bilabial | Labiodent. | Alveolar | Palatal | Velar | Uvular | Glottal | ||||||||||
| Nasal | m | n | ŋ | |||||||||||||
| Nasal Geminate | m: | n: | ŋ: | |||||||||||||
| Plosive | p | b | t | d | g | q | ʔ | |||||||||
| Plosive Geminate | g: | |||||||||||||||
| Ejective | tʼ | qʼ | ||||||||||||||
| Implosive | ɓ | ɗ | ||||||||||||||
| Fricative | ɸ | v | s̺ | s̻ | ʁ | |||||||||||
| Fricative Geminate | s̺: | |||||||||||||||
| Lateral Fricative | ɬ | |||||||||||||||
| Lateral Approximant | l | |||||||||||||||
| Approximant | w | j | ||||||||||||||
Vowels
Despite the moderate consonant inventory, the language only contrasts 3 vowel qualities, also contrasting short and long quantities.
| Vowels | ||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Front | Central | Back | ||||||||
| Close | i(:) | u(:) | ||||||||
| Open | a(:) | |||||||||
There are also 3 diphthongs, each with a corresponding long diphthong:
/ɑe æu øy/ and /ɑ:e æ:u ø:y/
Allophony
There is a lot of allophony with respect to vowels in Nyángar, which can lead to very bad pronunciations if left out or forgotten. This list is not completely exhaustive yet, and will be continually added on to
Consonants
p -> p: (unconditionally)
s̺j s̻j s̺:j -> ʂ ɕ ʂ:
s̺ -> ʃ / V_(C,#)
ŋ ŋ: -> ɲ ɲ: / '_F
p t q -> pʰ tʰ qʰ / '_V
C' -> C̚ / _#
v -> β / mutation from ɸ
m -> 0 / _(C,#) in inflectional affixes and often in all other cases
l -> ɫ / B_#
0 -> k / ŋ_[+plosive, -voice]
ʁ -> χ / next to voiceless
n -> n̩ / C_# where cluster not allowed
ɓ ɗ g: -> p: t’ q’ / next to voiceless consonants
nasal assimilation
Vowels
u -> ʏ / _[+labial]
u u: -> ʉ ʉ: (unconditionally)
V: -> V / _ʔ
ʔ -> j / F_
ɑːe -> ʌi̯ / (q, q’, ʔ)_
ɑːe -> ɑːe̯ / “_.
ɑ -> ɐ / unstressed
æːu -> ɛy̯ / unstressed
i -> ɨə̯ / unstressed
øy -> œ / unstressed _[+ejective, implosive, or geminate]
V -> V~ / _N
æu -> ɛu̯ / unstressed
ɑː -> ɔ̯ə / “_.
iː -> ɐi̯ / unstressed
y̯j -> ɥ / V_V
ə̯j -> j / V_V
y̯ ə̯ i̯ -> ɥ w j / V_V
iː -> i / _C.
øːy -> ɛːy̯ / “_
uː -> ʉ / unstressed
ɑ -> ɐ̥ / s̻_#, [+implosive or +ejective]_#, #_.[+approximant]V
iː -> ɨi̯ / unstressed (even _C)
øːy -> ɛu̯ / unstressed
i -> ɪ̥ / unstressed #_.[+approximant]V
øy -> œʏ̯ / unstressed open
ɑːe -> ɑe / _C#
ɑːe -> ɔːe̯ / stressed open, when spelled <ei>
ɑː -> ɑ / _C.
iː -> i / _j
Orthography
Middle Nyángar uses a modified version of the Latin alphabet in writing. It is a somewhat deep orthography, that is, there is no one-to-one correspondence between phoneme and grapheme. Here are the phonemes again with their corresponding graphemes.
| Consonants | |||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Phoneme | Grapheme | ||||||||
| m, m: | m | ||||||||
| n, n: | n | ||||||||
| ŋ, ŋ: | ng | ||||||||
| p | p, ph | ||||||||
| b, ɓ | b | ||||||||
| t | t | ||||||||
| d, ɗ | d | ||||||||
| g, g: | g | ||||||||
| q | c, k | ||||||||
| ʔ | h | ||||||||
| t' | t, th | ||||||||
| q' | c, k, kh | ||||||||
| ɸ | f | ||||||||
| v | v | ||||||||
| s̺, s̺: | s | ||||||||
| s̻ | z | ||||||||
| ʁ | r | ||||||||
| ɬ | l, lh | ||||||||
| l | l | ||||||||
| w | w | ||||||||
| j | j | ||||||||
| Vowels | |||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Phoneme | Grapheme | ||||||||
| ɑ | a, ä | ||||||||
| i | i, ï ie | ||||||||
| u | o, u, ü | ||||||||
| ɑ: | ai, oe | ||||||||
| i: | e, ë, ee, ui | ||||||||
| u: | iu, ue, uu | ||||||||
| ɑe | ia, í | ||||||||
| æu | eu, ou | ||||||||
| øy | o, ö, eo | ||||||||
| ɑ:e | ae, ei, í | ||||||||
| æ:u | á, io, ou, oou | ||||||||
| ø:y | á, ou, oou, ú | ||||||||
Spelling
In general, spelling is quite straightforward; it just so happens that there are multiple ways to write many of the sounds, and in a few cases, some spellings have multiple pronunciations. There aren't any patterns to this, spelling just has to be learned with pronunciation.
The diaeresis (ä ë ï ö ü) has a specialized function. As you can see, each single vowel has a diaersis counterpart that is pronounced essentially the same as its non-diaeresis version. The diaeresis is only used when a vowel follows another vowel and it creates two syllables, rather than a diphthong.
In general, a glide is inserted in between the two vowels in pronunciation (either [j w ɥ]). Those that introduce a [j] are: aï, aë, eä, eö, eü. Those that introduce a [w] are: aü, iä, iö, iü. Those that introduce a [ɥ] are: oä, oë, öi.
There are also some unusual spelling quirks that are introduced due to the diaeresis, shown in the table below:
| Irregular Spelling | |||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Should be | Is Spelled | ||||||||
| aä | a, aa | ||||||||
| aö | o | ||||||||
| eë | ee | ||||||||
| eï | ee | ||||||||
| ië | ee | ||||||||
| iï | ee | ||||||||
| oö | oou | ||||||||
| oü | oou | ||||||||
| uö | uu | ||||||||
| uü | uu | ||||||||
In general, these are pronounced as would be expected: aa [ɑ:], ee [i:], oou [æ:u] or [ø:y], uu [u:] (when the ö comes from [u])
Additionally, uä, uë, uï, uö are pronounced [ɥɑ], [ɥi:], [ɥi], [ɥø] (when the ö derives from [øy])
The diaeresis is place exactly where the vowel combination should be broken up, with the vowel carrying the diaeresis starting the new syllable. Thus aëi would be broken up /a.i:/ whereas aeï would be broken up /ɑ:e.i/
