Appendix:Munja'kin pronunciation

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Munja'kin Language Navigation: Home, Phonology, Grammar, Vocabulary, Dialogue

The Munja'kin language has 17 consonants and 4 vowels.

Standard Romanization

Letter IPA English example Notes
a a father
b b bog
ch chop Always unaspirated
d d dog
g g good
h h ham
i i beet
j jog
k k skill Always unaspirated
l l left Always alveolar
m m man
n n no [ŋ] before a velar consonant
o o coat
p p span Always unaspirated
r ɾ battle
s s see
t t stop Always unaspirated
u u rude
v v voice Allophone of /w/ before /u/ and /o/
w w wet
z z zoo
ʔ uh-oh

Phonetics

Consonants

Labial Alveolar Palatal Velar Glottal
Nasal m /m/ n /n/ (n [ŋ])
Plosive voiceless p /p/ t /t/ ch /tʃ/ k /k/ ' /ʔ/
voiced b /b/ d /d/ j /dʒ/ g /g/
Fricative voiceless s /s/ h /h/
voiced (v [v]) z /z/
Approximant w /w/ l /l/
Tap r /ɾ/

Proto-Munja'kin also had a phonemic /ŋ/, but it merged with /n/. In modern Munja'kin, [ŋ] is merely an allophone of /n/ before velars.

/w/ and [v] are in complementary distribution, /w/ only appears before /i/ and /a/, whereas [v] only appears before /u/ and /o/. However, they are romanized as separate sounds. Both were /w/ in Proto-Munja'kin, but /w/ became [v] before rounded vowels, causing consonant alternations.

Vowels

Munja'kin has only 4 phonetically distinct vowels:

Front Central Back
Close i /i/ u /u/
Mid o /o/
Open a /a/

Proto-Munja'kin also had /e/, but it merged with /i/ when stressed and with /a/ when unstressed. Proto-Munja'kin /o/ became /u/ after /ŋ/ and /g/ or before a syllable-final /ŋ/. These changes all cause vowel alternations.

Phonotactics

Native Munja'kin words use (C)(C)V(C) syllables. A syllable's onset may be any consonant or a sibilant (/s/ or /z/) followed by /p/, /t/, /tʃ/, /k/, /b/, /d/, /dʒ/ or /g/. Null onsets are also allowed and contrast with glottal stops. Vowel sequences are allowed, the same vowel may even appear twice in a row.

A syllable's coda may be /n/ (which becomes /m/ before a labial and [ŋ] before a velar), /s/ (which becomes /z/ before a voiced consonant), or /ʔ/ before /p/, /t/, /tʃ/ or /k/ (these consonant sequences are actually former geminates). In Proto-Munja'kin, a syllable could also end with /m/ or /ŋ/ word-medially, or /ŋ/ word-finally. Nasal codas still contrast before liquids, they merged everywhere else.

Voiceless consonants become voiced after nasal codas (some function words with a nasal coda even cause the following word's first consonant to voice). Epenthetic stops are added between nasals and continuants ([d] after /n/, [b] after /m/ and [g] after Proto-Munja'kin /ŋ/).

Stress

Native Munja'kin words are usually stressed on their penultimate syllable. Compound words are stressed on their first component's last syllable, but adding a suffix cancels this and causes their penult to be stressed instead. No matter where they appeared in a word, the Proto-Munja'kin vowel sequences /ai/ and /au/ became stressed /i/ and /u/, respectively. Any instance of non-penultimate stress is indicated by an acute accent in the romanization.