Sarim

Sarim is one of the larger languages of the Ke:tic family. It is a strongly head-initial, largely isolating language.

Phonology

Phoneme Inventory

	Labial	Dental	Alveolar	Palatal	Velar	Glottal
Plosive/Affricate	b /p/ p /pʰ/	d /t/ t /tʰ/			g /k/ k /kʰ/
Fricative		th /θ/	s /s/	hy /ç/		h /h/
Nasal	m /m/		n /n/	ny /ɲ/	ŋ /ŋ/
Liquid			r /ɾ/ l /l/	y /j/	w /w/

Vowels

i /i/ ī /i:/					u /u/ ū /u:/
e /ɛ/ ē /e:/					o /ɒ/ ō/o:/
			a /ɐ/ ā /ɐ:/

Sarim also has the dipthongs ai au ei au oi ou /ai au ei eu oi ou/, all falling.

Syllable Structure

Sarim has a (C)(C)V(C) syllable structure. Onset clusters are made up of one of /m n p t k b d g s h/ + /r/. Word-internally, only /n/ or /s/ can occur in coda position. Word-finally, /n m r l t d θ s h/ may occur. Note that /h/ does not occur following a consonant.

Allophony

- /n/ assimilates to the point of articulation of any following consonant, e.g. /np/ [mp]. Note that /m ŋ/ do not assimilate to the same point of articulation.

- /k g/ are realised as [ʨ ʥ] before /i/.

- /h/ often strengthens to [x] between vowels.

- /r/ is realised as a tap [ɾ], except word-finally, where it weakens to an approximant [ɹ].

- The three short vowels are generally realised as [ɪ æ ʊ]. Word-final /a/ is realised as [ə]. The long vowels are realised close the their cardinal values, although note that word-final long vowels may be realised as short, e.g. /ari/ [æ'ɾɪ] /ari:/ [æri].

- Short /ai au/ are realised [əj əw].