Appendix:Ravkan pronunciation
Ravkan has 38 consonants, 8 vowels and 2 glides.
Standard Romanization
| Letter | IPA | English example | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| a | a, ə | father, sofa | Pronounced [ə] in post-tonic syllables, [a] elsewhere. |
| ai | ai | lie | |
| b | b | bath | |
| by | bʲ | beauty | |
| ch | tʃ | watch | |
| d | d | dog | |
| dy | dʲ | add you | |
| dz | dz | adze | |
| dzy | dzʲ | adds you | |
| e | e ~ ɛ | gate or bet | |
| ei | ei ~ ɛi | bait | |
| f | f | food | |
| fy | fʲ | few | |
| g | ɡ | good | |
| gy | ɡʲ | gules | |
| i | i | machine | |
| j | dʒ | jog | |
| k | k | skill | |
| ky | kʲ | skew | |
| l | l | left | |
| ly | ʎ | million | |
| m | m | man | |
| my | mʲ | mule | |
| n | n | no | Assimilates to a following velar consonant. |
| ny | ɲ | onion | |
| o | o ~ ɔ, ə | lot or coat, sofa | Pronounced [ə] in final, post-tonic syllables, [ɔ] elsewhere. Exceptions are found in some compounds. |
| oi | oi ~ ɔi | point | |
| p | p | span | |
| py | pʲ | spew | |
| r | ɾ | battle | |
| ry | ɾʲ | medium | |
| s | s | see | |
| sh | ʃ | sheep | |
| sy | sʲ | pass you | |
| t | t | stop | |
| ts | ts | pits | |
| tsy | tsʲ | pits you | |
| ty | tʲ | list you | |
| u | u | rude | |
| v | v | voice | |
| vy | vʲ | view | |
| w | w | wet | |
| y | j | young | |
| z | z | zone | |
| zh | ʒ | casual | |
| zy | zʲ | buzz you |
Phonetics
Consonants
Ravkan has 38 phonemic consonants and 2 phonemic glides:
| Labial | Alveolar | Palatal | Velar | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| plain | palatalized | plain | palatalized | plain | palatalized | |||
| Nasal | m | my [mʲ] | n | ny [ɲ] | (n [ŋ]) | |||
| Stop | voiceless | p | py [pʲ] | t | ty [tʲ] | k | ky [kʲ] | |
| voiced | b | by [bʲ] | d | dy [dʲ] | g | gy [ɡʲ] | ||
| Affricate | voiceless | ts | tsy [tsʲ] | ch [tʃ] | ||||
| voiced | dz | dzy [dzʲ] | j [dʒ] | |||||
| Fricative | voiceless | f | fy [fʲ] | s | sy [sʲ] | sh [ʃ] | ||
| voiced | v | vy [vʲ] | z | zy [zʲ] | zh [ʒ] | |||
| Glide | w | y [j] | ||||||
| Lateral | l | ly [ʎ] | ||||||
| Tap | r [ɾ] | ry [ɾʲ] | ||||||
With the exception of the postalveolar /tʃ dʒ ʃ ʒ/, palatalized consonants are depalatalized when they appear word-finally and resurface in case of suffixation.
Vowels
Ravkan has five phonemic monophthongs:
| Front | Mid | Back | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Close | i | u | |
| Mid | e [e ~ ɛ] | o [o ~ ɔ ~ ə] | |
| Open | a [a ~ ə] |
Diphthongs
Ravkan has three diphthongs: ai [ai], ei [ei ~ ɛi], and oi [oi ~ ɔi].
Stress
Ravkan words can only be stressed on one of the last three syllables of the word (the antepenultimate, the penultimate and the final). Most Ravkan words are stressed on their penultimate syllable, although some are irregularly stressed. Furthermore, some suffixes move stress to the final or antepenultimate syllable. Some of the exceptions are as follows:
- The word soldat has word-final stress.
- The suffix -ost attracts stress, making it final.
- The instrumental singular is stressed finally.
- Any suffix of the shape -*VyV(C) leaves stress on the antepenultimate.
- The past tense forms generally leave stress in place. However, past tense forms ending in -uwaya shift stress to the antepenultimate, since it cannot fall before.