Appendix:Bodzvokhan pronunciation
The Bodzvokhan language has 25 consonants, 8 vowels and 1 glide.
Standard Romanization
Letter | IPA | English example | Notes |
---|---|---|---|
a | a | In between father and what. | |
b | b | bother | |
d | d | dog | |
dz | dz | adze | |
e | ɛ | bet | |
ǝ | ə | sofa | |
g | ɡ | good | |
gh | ɣ ~ ʁ | — | Pronounced roughly like the r in French rouge. |
h | ħ | - | You can make this sound by attempting to fog up a mirror. |
i | i | beet | |
k | k | skill | |
kh | x ~ χ | Bach, or Chanukkah | |
l | l | left | |
m | m | man | |
n | n | no | Assimilates to a following uvular consonant. |
ng | ŋ | no | Assimilates to a following uvular consonant. |
o | ɔ | caught | |
ö | œ | - | Like the e in bet, but with lips rounded. |
p | p | span | |
q | q | — | Like a k, but pronounced further back in the throat, with the back of the tongue contacting the uvula. |
r | ɣ~ʁ | — | Pronounced roughly like the r in French rouge. |
s | s | see | |
sh | ʃ | sheep | |
t | t | stop | |
ts | ts | pits | |
u | u | fouton | |
ü | y | - | Like the i in machine, but with lips rounded. |
v | v | voice | |
y | y | — | |
z | z | zoo | |
zh | ʒ | azure |
Phonetics
Bodzvokhan has a high-low vowel harmony system, and is quite unique, phonologically speaking, but it retains some quirks that have come directly from the Russian language through contact and heavy borrowing. These are reflected in the orthography, but not the romanization.
Consonants
Labial | Alveolar | Palatal | Velar | Uvular | Pharyngeal | ||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Nasal | m [m] | n [n] | ng [ŋ ~ ɴ] | ||||
Plosive | voiceless | p [p] | t [t], ts [ts] | ch [tʃ] | k [k] | q [q] | |
voiced | b [b] | d [d], dz [dz] | j [dʒ] | g [g] | |||
Fricative | voiceless | f [f] | s [s] | sh [ʃ] | (kh [x ~ χ]) | h [ħ] | |
voiced | v [v] | z [z] | zh [ʒ] | gh [ɣ ~ ʁ] | |||
Lateral | l [l] |
Notes:
- [ŋ] is a phoneme in its own right, but [ɴ] is an allophonic nasal that occurs when preceding a uvular consonant.
Vowels
Bodzvokhan has 8 phonetically distinct vowels:
Front | Central | Back | |
---|---|---|---|
Close | i [i], ü [y] | ǝ [ɨ~ə] | u [u] |
Mid | e [ɛ], ö [œ] | o [ɔ] | |
Open | a [a] |
The vowel written ǝ has a native pronunciation of [ə], but is sometimes pronounced [ɨ] under influence from Russian.
Diphthongs
Bodzvokhan doesn't have any native diphthongs; where they occur, they will have been borrowed.