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. The Kinuk'aaz language has 19 consonants, 16 vowels, and no glides.

Standard Romanization

Letter	IPA	English example	Notes
’	ʔ	—	The sound in the middle of "uh-oh".
a	a	father
b	b	bother
d	d	dog
dz	dz	adze
e	e	bait
g	ɡ	good
h	h	ham
i	i, ɨ	machine, chicken
k	k	skill
k’	k’	—	Produced by holding your breath at the same time as making the above sound.
l	l	left
m	m	man
n	n	no	Assimilates to a following velar or uvular consonant.
o	o	moat
ö	ø	—	Like the ai in bait pronounced with rounded lips.
p	p	span
q	q	—	Like a k, but pronounced further back in the throat, with the back of the tongue contacting the uvula.
q’	q’	—	Produced by holding your breath at the same time as making the above sound.
r	ʀ	—	Pronounced roughly like the r in French rouge.
s	s	see
t	t	stop
t’	t’	—	Produced by holding your breath at the same time as making the above sound.
ts	ts	pits
ts’	ts’	—	Produced by holding your breath at the same time as making the above sound.
u	u	rude
ü	y	—	Like the i in machine pronounced with rounded lips.
v	v	voice
z	z	zoo

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.