Uínlītska Phonology

Syllable Structure

BNF

Not quite right yet

WORD ::= SIMPLE | SIMPLE WORD | SIMPLE COMPLEX WORD | WORD SUFFIX
SIMPLE ::= STRONGVOWEL | C STRONGVOWEL | Q STRONGVOWEL 
COMPLEX ::= C WEAKVOWEL | Q C WEAKVOWEL | Q WEAKVOWEL
SUFFIX ::= C WEAKVOWEL | C WEAKVOWEL C | C STRONGVOWEL
STRONGVOWEL ::= COREVOWEL | COREVOWEL ':' | EXTVOWEL | EXTVOWEL ':' | EXTVOWEL '*'
WEAKVOWEL ::= COREVOWEL | COREVOWEL '~'
COREVOWEL ::= 'i' | 'ə' | 'ɑ'
EXTVOWEL ::= 'e' | 'o'
C ::= 'ʃk' | 'sk' | 'p' | 't' | 'tʃ' | LIQUID | SIBILANT | NASAL
Q ::= '·' | LIQUID | SIBILANT
LIQUID ::= 'w' | 'j' | 'l'
NASAL ::= 'm' | 'n'
SIBILANT ::= 's' | 'ʃ' | 'f' | 'x' | 'z' | 'ɬ'

Stress

The first syllable of any root takes primary stress. Secondary stress in words of three or more syllables falls immediately before the last consonant.

Thus, stress falls on the bold and italic vowels in a, ka, kafta, kaftasa, kaftasat.

Consonants

p	t		k	ʔ
f	s z	ʃ	x ɣ
		tʃ
	ɬ l
m	n		[ŋ]
w		j

The phoneme /n/ has the allophone [ŋ] when immediately preceeding to a dorsal phoneme.

Vowels

In strong syllables

i iː
e eː	ə əː	o oː
ɛ		ɔ
		ɑ ɑː

In weak syllables

i ĩ
	ə ə̃
		ɑ ɑ̃

Summary of vowel changes from ON

o > ə
y > i
yː > iw
œ > e
œː > ew
œy > oj
ɛ > e
ɛː > ɛ
ɛi > ej
æ > e
æː > ɑj
u > o
uː > iw
ɒː > ɑw
ɒ > ɔ
ɒu > əw
υr > υː (also listed under consonants)

Further vowel changes in weak syllables

e > i
o,ɛ > ə
ɔ > ɑ
υː > υ
υ(j,w,l,∅)(n,m) > υ̃(j,w,l,∅)

Sound adaptation in borrowed words

Every foreign phoneme (if possible) maps to the identical phoneme in Fínlǣsk.

The following general rules tend to apply to phonemes from various languages without exact duplicates in Fínlǣsk:

Foreign	q	ɢ	ɴ	ɟ	ɰ	kʷ	ʌ
Fínlǣsk	k	ɡ	ŋɡ*	j	w	kw	ɑ

*Inuktitut /ɴ/ becomes /ɡ/ word-initially.

Sandhi / Liaison

Vowels

Umlauting

Base vowel

η

a

á

e

é

ę

i

í

o

ó

ǫ

ø

ǿ

i-umlaut

υ

e

é

i

í

e

i

í

i

í

e

e

é

u-umlaut

ω

ø

ǿ

eu

éu

ęu

i

í

o

ó

ǫ

o

ó

Consonants

Long Clusters

CCC sequences are phonotactically disallowed, though note that this means phonemic sequences (things like tj /tʃ/ are considered single consonants under these rules). The following is a simple summary of the rules, in the order they are applied, along with contrived examples.

• If an orthographic j occurs anywhere in the CCC sequence, it is moved to the end: mantj /mɑntʃ/ + kun /kun/ > mantkjun /mɑnttʃun/
• Phonemic "double" or "long" consonants lose their first orthographic component: mantkjun /mɑnttʃun/ > mankjun /mɑntʃun/.

Sandhi

Some general rules apply to the sandhi process that occurs when compound words are formed:

Description	Pattern		Example
	From	To	From	To
Stop+Stop with same voicing are unaffected	κ1κ2	κ1κ2	-k+t-	-kt-
	γ1γ2	γ1γ2	-b+d-	-bd-
Stop+Stop with different voicing take regr voice assim	γ1κ2	κ1κ2	-ɡ+t-	-kt-
	κ1γ2	γ1γ2	-p+ɡ-	-bɡ-
Stop+Fric with same voicing become Fric-Stop	κ1σ2	σ1κ2	-k+s-	-xt-
	γ1ζ2	ζ1γ2	-d+v-	-zb-
Stop+Fric with different voicing take progr voice assim	κζ	κσ	-k+v-	-kf-
	γσ	γζ	-b+s-	-bz-
Fric+Fric with same voicing become geminated stops	σ1σ2	κː1	-s+s-	-tː-
	ζ1ζ2	γː1	-v+v-	-bː-
Nas+Nas take retr POA assim & progr voice assim	μ̥1μ2	μ̥ː2
	μ1μ̥2	μː2

Blanks below denote "no deviation from the above"

b

d

ð

f

ɡ

ɣ

h

j

k

l

ɬ

m

n

ŋ

p

r

s

ʃ

t

tʃ

θ

v

w

x

z

b

vd

v

vɡ

bɣ

pk

pɬ

m

mn

ŋɡ

pp

bz

bʒ

pt

ndʒ

bð

bɣ

d

ð

dv

ðɡ

dɣ

tk

tɬ

nm

n

ŋɡ

tp

dz

dʒ

tt

dʒ

ð

zb

dɣ

ð

zb

ðv

ðð

θk

θt

nm

n

ŋɡ

θp

θs

tʃ

tt

dʒ

θθ

zb

θk

dd

f

vv

ɡ

bb

All sound changes in CSMF format

# Standard rules to turn ON orthographic into IPA, assigning classes and attributes along the way
use 'read-ON-as-IPA.csmf'

#t > s, tt > st, d > t, dd > ʔt (et al)
τ > σ / V _ V
τ > h / _ κ
h > ʃ / _ κ[+velar]
h > s / _ κ[-velar]
δ > ʔ / _ κ[-voice]
δ > ∅ / _ κ[+voice]
δ > τ

#More fricathivization
hr > ʃ
kr > x
ɡr > ɣ
θ > ɬ
ð > z
s > ʃ / # _ T

#Vowels
o > ə
y[+long] > iw
y > i
œy > oj
œ[+long] > ew
œ > e
ɛi > ej
ɛ[-long] > e
ɛ[+long] > ɛ[-long]
æ[+long] > ɛj
æ > ɛ
ɒ[+long] > ɑw
ɒu > əw
ɒ > ɔ
u[+long] > iw
u > o

#Eliminate 'r'
υr > υ[+long]
r > j / κ[+dental] _
r > n / _ κ[+dental]
r > d / # _
r > l

σl > ɬ
σ > τ / σ _

#Vowel reduction in unstressed syllables
e[-stress] > i
(o,ɛ)[-stress] > ə
ɔ[-stress] > ɑ
υ[+long][-stress] > υ[-long]
υ[-stress]μ > υ[+nasal]
υ[-stress]ρμ > υ[+nasal]ρ

#Deal with glide and/or vowel clusters
j > i / ρ _ κ, κ _ ρ
w > o / ρ _ κ, κ _ ρ
υ > ː / $1 _
υː > υ[+long]

#Convert IPA to standard Finla orthography
use 'write-IPA-as-Finla.csmf'

Sound Change rules in sc.py format

# First, read Old Norse to IPA

# Includes some shenannigans to workaround multi-char symbols and funky mappings

* ǫ́ ǫː _

* e ɛ _

onlng = áéíóúýœæ

onsht = aeiouyøɛ

* 0 ː <onlng>_

* <onlng> <onsht> _

nonipa = aǫþvh

ipa = ɑɒθwx

* <nonipa> <ipa> _

blb = pbfvφβmλρ

alv = tdθðsznlr

vlr = kgxɣфвŋля

tv = bdg

tu = ptk

t = tu~tv

sv = vzɣ

su = fsx

spri = fsxvzɣ

ssec = φθфβðв

s = su~sv

cv = tv~sv

cu = tu~su

c = cu~cv~ʔʃ

v = eioɛɑɒə

vt = jjwjʔwɣ

fv = eoɛɒ

uv = iəəɑ

r = λρlrля

w = λρlrляwj

rt = bbddgg

ro = lrlrlr

rv = əəiiɑɑ

n = mnŋ

nt = bdg

nr = wlj

na = ɑɑɑ

fipa = ɑəɛɒw

fnonipa = aøęǫu

fsht = aeioø

flng = áéíóǿ

fnas = ā‽ī‽ø



#t > s, tt > st, d > t, dd > ʔt (et al)

* <tu> <su> _<^v>

* <tu> <su> #_

* <tu> <su> <^su>_#

* <tu> s _<tu>

* <tv> ʔ _<tu>

* <tv> 0 _<tv>

* <tv> <tu> _



#More fricathivization

* s ʃ #_<c>

* s ʃ _<vlr>

* θ ɬ _

* ð z _

* x c ʃ_

* ʃ s _c

* ʃ s _<c>



#Vowels

* o ə _

* øy oj _

* øː ew _

* ø e _

* yː iw _

* y i _

* ɛi ej _

* ɛ Ω _ː

* ː 0 Ω_

* ɛ e _

* Ω ɛ _

* ɒː ɑw _

* ɒu əw _

* uː iw _

* u o _



#Eliminate 'r'

* r ː <v>_

* r j <alv>_

* r n _<alv>

* r d #_

* r l _

* l ɬ s_

* l ɬ s_

* s 0 _ɬ



#Vowel reduction in noninitial syllables

* 0 Ω <v><^v>*<v>_

* 0 Ω Ω<^v>*<v>_

* <fv> <uv> _Ω

* ː 0 Ω_

* <n> ƞ Ω_

* <w><n> ƞ#1 Ω_

* Ω 0 _



#Deal with glide and/or vowel clusters

* j i j_

* w o w_

* 0<v> #2`v`vt#2 <v>_ 

* 0<v> #2`v`vt#2 <v>ː_ 

* <v> ː %_



#Convert IPA to standard Finla orthography

* <alv>ʃ #1j _

* <vlr>ʃ #1j _

* ʃ0 sj _

* <r> <ro> _

* ə ø _

* <fipa> <fnonipa> _

* <fsht> <flng> _ː

* ː 0 _

* <fsht> <fnas> _ƞ

* øƞ ø̄ _

* ƞ 0 _

* 0 h _ɬ

* ɬ l _

* x h _