Appendix:Noalath pronunciation
The Noalath language has 24 consonants, 7 full vowels, 4 reduced vowels and 1 glide.
Standard Romanization
| Letter | IPA | English example | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| a | ɑ/ǝ | father or sofa | [ɑ] occurs in stressed syllables; [ǝ] elsewhere. |
| b | b | bog | |
| ch | tʃ | chop | |
| d | d | dog | |
| dh | ð | then | |
| e | ɛ/ǝ | bet or sofa | [ɛ] occurs in stressed syllables; [ǝ] elsewhere. |
| f | f | food | |
| g | g | good | |
| h | h | ham | |
| i | i/ɪ | beet or bit | [i] occurs in stressed syllables; [ɪ] elsewhere. |
| j | dʒ | jet | |
| k | k | skill | |
| l | l | left | |
| m | m | man | |
| n | n | no | |
| ng | ŋ | sing | Can occur word-initially. |
| ny | ɲ | New York (certain pronunciations) | Like Spanish ñ. |
| o | ɔ/ǝ | caught or sofa | Lower than regular [o]. [ɔ] occurs in stressed syllables; [ǝ] elsewhere. |
| ö | œ/ǝ | French peur or sofa | Like e pronounced with rounded lips. [œ] occurs in stressed syllables; [ǝ] elsewhere. |
| p | p | span | |
| r | ɾ | battle | |
| s | s | see | |
| sh | ʃ | sheep | |
| t | t | stop | |
| th | θ | think | |
| u | u/ʊ | rude or good | [u] occurs in stressed syllables; [ʊ] elsewhere. |
| ü | y/ʏ | No English equivalent, [y] is the French pur | [y] (like [i] with rounded lips) occurs in stressed syllables; [ʏ] (like [ɪ] with rounded lips) elsewhere. |
| v | v | voice | |
| y | j | yawn | |
| zh | ʒ | casual |
Phonetics
Noalath has a number of vowels with tense-lax pairings that should be familiar to English speakers. It also features front rounded vowels.
Consonants
| Labial | Coronal | Palatal | Velar | Glottal | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Nasal | m [m] | n [n] | ny [ɲ] | ng [ŋ] | ||
| Plosive | voiceless | p [p] | t [t] | k [k] | ||
| voiced | b [b] | d [d] | g [g] | |||
| Affricate | voiceless | ts [ts] | ch [tʃ] | |||
| voiced | j [dʒ] | |||||
| Fricative | voiceless | f [f] | th [θ], s [s] | sh [ʃ] | h [h] | |
| voiced | v [v] | dh [ð] | zh [ʒ] | |||
| Lateral | l [l] | |||||
| Approximants | r [ɾ] | y [j] | ||||
Vowels
Noalath distinguishes 7 vowels in stressed syllables, but only 4 in unstressed ones, as [ɛ œ ɔ ɑ] all merge into [ǝ] when unstressed. The high vowels [i y u] also become the more centralized [ɪ ʏ ʊ] in unstressed syllables.
| Front | Back | |
|---|---|---|
| Close | i [i~ɪ], ü [y~ʏ] | u [u~ʊ] |
| Mid | e [ɛ~ǝ], ö [œ~ǝ] | o [ɔ~ǝ] |
| Open | a [ɑ~ǝ] |
Diphthongs
Noalath has four diphthongs: ai ([ǝi]), oa ([ɔǝ]), öa ([œǝ]) and ea ([ɛǝ]).
Mutations
There are three consonant mutations (porad) in Noalath. The unmutated form of a consonant is called the Still State (Hiyarach Laid), while the mutations are called the Change of Water (Poradach Desha), the Change of Stone (Poradach Molt) and the Change of Wind (Poradach Pöri).
All of Noalath's consonants except [m] mutate, usually after affixes or function words, though mutations also occur by themselves due to analogy.
| Still State | Change of Water | Change of Stone | Change of Wind |
|---|---|---|---|
| n | ny | n | |
| p | p | b | f |
| t | ch | d | th |
| ch | j | sh | |
| k | g | h | |
| b | b | m | v |
| d | j | n | dh |
| j | ny | zh | |
| g | ng | h | |
| f | y | p | (deleted) |
| th | sh | t | |
| s | ts | h | |
| sh | ch | ||
| h | (deleted) | ||
| v | y | b | (deleted) |
| l | n | l | |
| r | zh | d | r |
| y | y | zh | |
Some consonants occur syllable-initially as a result of mutation only and therefore lack a Still State.
Mutations have unpredictable effects on words starting with a vowel.