Strish Phonology

For its alpha release Strish orthography will be a variant of ASCII IPA.

Here is the phonemic inventory for Strish:

Vowels

• /i/ - like "ee" in "see"
• /I/ - like "i" in "it"
• /e/ - like "ay" in "say" (without gliding towards the final /i/ sound)
• /E/ - like "e" in "bet"
• /a/ - like "a" in "father"
• /A/ - like "a" in "cat"
• /o/ - like "o" in "phone" (without gliding towards the final /u/ sound)
• /O/ - like "au" in "caught"
• /u/ - like "oo" in "food"
• /U/ - like "oo" in "cook"
• /@/ - like "u" in "cup"
• /y/ - rounded /i/
• /R/ - like "ur" in "hurt"; rhotic

The tense vowels /i/, /e/, /a/, /o/, /u/, /y/, /R/ can all be parts of diphthongs. Not every combination of tense vowels forms a valid diphthong, but there are still too many valid combinations to comfortably try to list here.

Consonants

• /p/ - like "p" in "put"
• /b/ - like "b" in "but"
• /f/ - like "f" in "foot"
• /v/ - like "v" in "vase"
• /m/ - like "m" in "mom"
• /hm/ - voiceless /m/
• /t/ - like "t" in "top"
• /d/ - like "d" in "dot"
• /n/ - like "n" in "no"
• /hn/ - voiceless /n/
• /s/ - like "s" in "sing"
• /z/ - like "z" in "zoo"
• /x/ - like "sh" in "shoe"
• /q/ - like "s" in "pleasure"
• /l/ - like "l" in "lap"
• /hl/ - voiceless /l/
• /r/ - trilled r
• /k/ - like "k" in "keep"
• /g/ - like "g" in "go"
• /x/ - like "ch" in German "ach"
• /q/ - voiced /x/
• /ng/ - like "ng" in "song"
• /hng/ - voiceless /%/
• /'/ - glottal stop

Samples of consonant clusters

• /str/
• /psjk/
• /zdn/
• /xsr/
• /ngl/
• /ts'/