Appendix:Kinuk'aaz pronunciation

This appendix provides an overview of the phonology, phonotactics and romanization of the Kinuk’aaz language spoken by the Omec. The language has undergone changes to its original form, with adjustments made to the phonetic inventory to make it more distinctive from the other Votan languages.

Standard Romanization

Letter	IPA	English example	Notes
a	a	father
b	b	bother
d	d	dog
dz	dz	adze
e	e	bait
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

Letter	IPA	English example	Notes
a	a	father
d	d	dog
dh	ð	then
dj	ɟ	-	Like the g in ague, but in any context.
e	e	bait
f	f	food
g	g	good
h	h	ham
i	i	beet
j	j	yawn
k	k	skill
l	l	left
m	m	man
n	n	no	Assimilates to a following velar consonant.
o	o	moat
ö	ø	—	Like e pronounced with rounded lips.
p	p	span
r	ɾ	—	Trilled when doubled.
s	s	see
sh	ʃ	sheep
t	t	stop
th	θ	think
tj	c	-	Like the c in cute, but in any context.
u	u	rude
v	v	voice
y	y	—	Like i pronounced with rounded lips.

Phonology

Consonants

The consonant inventory includes plain stops/affricates, glottal stops/affricates, fricatives, approximants, and nasals.

Plain Stops/Affricates: p/b, t/d, ts/dz, k/g

Glottal Stops/Affricates: t’, ts’, k’, q’, ʔ

Fricatives: v, s/z, h

Approximants: l, ʀ

Nasals: m, n, ŋ*, ɴ*

Note that the above sounds are represented using the International Phonetic Alphabet (IPA), and the romanization used with actors is mostly identical. [ʀ] is written as r, [ʔ] is represented by an apostrophe (’), and [ŋ] and [ɴ] are both written as n since they are predictable allophones of [n]. The limited phonemic inventory was deliberately chosen to differentiate Kinuk’aaz from other Votan languages, notably lacking any palatal sounds.

The most distinctive sounds in Kinuk’aaz are the ejectives and the trilled uvular r. The q’ sound is the rarest due to its difficulty for English speakers. Ejectives are voiceless obstruents pronounced while holding one's breath, giving them a distinct quality.

Vowels

The vowel inventory consists of high, mid, and low vowels, as well as diphthongs.

High: i/iː, y/yː, ɨ, u/uː

Mid: e, ø, o

Low: a/aː

Diphthongs: ia, ai, øy, oy

Long vowels are indicated by doubling the vowel symbol, and most vowels are represented by their corresponding IPA symbol in the romanization. However, [y] is written as ü, [ø] is written as ö, and [ɨ] is considered a predictable variant of i. The presence of front-rounded vowels and long vowels distinguishes Kinuk’aaz from other Votan languages.

Phonotactics

Here are some key points about Kinuk’aaz phonotactics:

• Generally, the last syllable of a root is stressed, although verbs often exhibit penultimate or antepenultimate stress due to suffixation. Nouns usually have word-final stress, since they take fewer suffixes in general.
• Voiced obstruents become voiceless word-finally and the preceding vowel is lengthened.
• Ejective stops and affricates become pulmonic (i.e. plain voiceless) word-finally.
  • For instance, the word for "language" is nuk’aaz, derived from the word for "tongue" (nuk) with an augmentative suffix.
• The old vowel *u regularly changes to v.
• Obstruents undergo progressive voicing assimilation, resulting in word-internal clusters such as *sd becoming zd.
• Syllables can begin with a consonant followed by an approximant or v at most. Syllables can only end with a single consonant, with ts, ts’, and dz considered as single consonants.
• High vowels lower to mid vowels after q’ and the old implosive consonants *b’ and *d’.
• Some notable vowel changes:
  • *ai > e
  • *ae > ai
  • *ee > ii
  • *uu > üü
  • *oo > uu
  • *ou > uu (except at the end of a word, where it becomes ov)
• Consonants in Kinuk’aaz can occur as geminates (doubled consonants), and they undergo two types of mutation: N-mutation and V-mutation. Further details about these mutations will be discussed in the context of morphology, where their implications become clearer.