Appendix:Munja'kin pronunciation
The Munja'kin language has 17 consonants and 4 vowels.
Standard Romanization
| Letter | IPA | English example | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| a | a | father | |
| b | b | bog | |
| ch | tʃ | chop | Always unaspirated |
| d | d | dog | |
| g | g | good | |
| h | h | ham | |
| i | i | beet | |
| j | dʒ | 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.