Appendix:Irathient pronunciation: Difference between revisions

From The Languages of David J. Peterson
Jump to navigation Jump to search
m (root awal > zavo/zawalə - two rules with one stone!)
Line 180: Line 180:


* Adjacent obstruents must agree in voicing.  Voicing assimilation is regressive.  Sonorants do not affect voicing.
* Adjacent obstruents must agree in voicing.  Voicing assimilation is regressive.  Sonorants do not affect voicing.
* '''w''' undergoes fortition to '''v''' before '''u''' and '''o''': '''zlawe''' ''singer'' becomes '''zlavu''' in the plural, not '''*zlawu''' ([http://dothraki.com/dl/ssc_defiance.pdf]); '''zavo''' ''apothecary'', pl. '''zawalə'''
* '''w''' undergoes fortition to '''v''' before '''u''' and '''o''': '''zlawe''' ''singer'' becomes '''zlavu''' in the plural, not '''*zlawu'''; '''zavo''' ''apothecary,'' pl. '''zawalə'''
* Coda '''w''' and '''l''' meld into the previous vowel:
* Coda '''w''' and '''l''' meld into the previous vowel:
** '''aw, al''' > '''o''' (e.g., '''the<u>lo</u>''' ''singing,'' but '''t<u>law</u>e''' ''song;'' '''zavo''' ''apothecary, pl. '''zawalə''')
** '''aw, al''' > '''o''' (e.g., '''the<u>lo</u>''' ''singing,'' but '''t<u>law</u>e''' ''song;'' '''zavo''' ''apothecary, pl. '''zawalə''')

Revision as of 07:18, 10 February 2021

Standard Orthography

Irathient IPA English example Notes
a ɑ father
ai ɑi nice
b b bad
d d deck
e ɛ get never like a in gate
ei e gate never like get
ə ə sofa
f f feather only used in borrowed words, not native to Irathient
g g goat never as in genius
gy ɟ close to joke, eggyolk used for /j/ in borrowed words
h h hop always pronounced, even if at end of a word (except for sh and th digraphs)
w ʍ when
i i machine
k kite
l l love always clear, never velarized "dark" [ɫ]
m m matter
n n never
ng ŋ sing can occur at the start of a word; never as in anger
ngg ŋg anger
ny ɲ onion
o o hope
p pike
r r Spanish perro may reduce to tap in some clusters
s s sad
sh ʃ shack used for [tʃ] when borrowing words
t take
th θ thin never as in that
u u crude
v v very
w w war
z z zebra

In some online sources /ɑ/ is spelled aa and the schwa /ə/ is spelled with a single a, as in aarko (DJP Tumblr). In that system the diphthong ai is spelled aai.

Word Stress

  • Most words are stressed on the penultimate syllable.
  • If a word ends in ə the stress is antepenultimate.
  • Imperatives involve an accent shift towards the end of the word; ǝthít! go! (S1E1).
  • Some verb auxiliary forms take a final accent.
  • Some possessive suffixes are written attached to the noun, but do not cause a shift in accent, as in rólame my roller (S1E1).
  • Borrowed words may have an irregular stress accent.

In dialog meant for actors, the stress is always indicated with an acute accent.

Phonotactics and Allophony

  • Adjacent obstruents must agree in voicing. Voicing assimilation is regressive. Sonorants do not affect voicing.
  • w undergoes fortition to v before u and o: zlawe singer becomes zlavu in the plural, not *zlawu; zavo apothecary, pl. zawalə
  • Coda w and l meld into the previous vowel:
    • aw, al > o (e.g., thelo singing, but tlawe song; zavo apothecary, pl. zawalə)
    • ul, uw, el, ew > u
    • iw, il > u, but also palatalizes the previous consonant:
      • s, t, th, h, k > sh
      • z > sh (sometimes > gy)
      • n, ng > ny
      • d, g, l > gy
  • Before a coda nasal, e > ei and a > o (e.g., spom tainted meat, plural spamə; drurein an Irathient fruit, plural drurenə)