Syrenian/Phonology
Vowels
It is helpful to subdivide the many vowels into 'normal', '+RTR', '+rounding' and '+RTR,+rounding'. On the following chart in each group of four vowels, the top left is 'normal'. Moving to the right is '+RTR' and moving down is '+rounding.'
Front | Central | Back | ||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
High | i | ɪ | ɨ | ɪ̈ | ɯ | u |
y | ʏ | ʉ | ʊ̈ | ɯ̽ | ʊ | |
Mid | e | ɛ | ɘ | ɜ | ɤ | ʌ |
ø | œ | ɵ | ɞ | o | ɔ | |
Low | æ | a | No | ä | ɑ | |
No | No | No | ɒ |
Under certain (common) conditions, vowels become their semi-vowel counterparts according to the following pattern:
Front | Central | Back | |
---|---|---|---|
High | /j/ | /ð/ | /w/ |
Mid | /l/ | /ɻ/ | /ʁ/ |
Low | /ɦ/ | No | /ʕ/ |
Length is normal or long (e.g. a vs. aː). Vowel length is not intrinsic to the vowel, but part of the derivational pattern.
Consonants
First, there is the table of all sounds that occur:
Bilabial | Dental* | Alveolar | Post-Alv. | Palatal | Velar | Uvular | Pharyngeal | Glottal | |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Nasal | m | n | ŋ | ɴ | |||||
Stop | b~ⱱ̟ | d~ɾ | g | ɢ | ʔ | ||||
Fricative | β | z~z͎ | ʒ~ʒꟹ | ɣ | |||||
Approximant | ð | l~ɫ | ɻ | j | w~ɰ | ʁ | ʕ | ɦ | |
Trill | ʙ | r̝͆ | r | ʀ | |||||
Click | ʘ~ʬ | ! |
* Syreni teeth are very sharp, so their tongues do not ever go over the ridge of their teeth.
Affricates are phonemically distinguished (i.e. not separate letters unto themselves). The possibilities are bβ, dz, dʒ, dð, ɡɣ, ɢʁ