User:Najahho/High Valyrian Phonotactics

Syllable structure

The maximum possible syllable structure in High Valyrian is CCCVːCC.

Permitted onsets

A syllable may begin with a single consonant, or a permitted cluster. Known permitted clusters consist of an oral stop followed by either a liquid, or a sibilant.

Word-initially

A word may begin with a vowel, a single consonant, an oral stop followed by a liquid, or either of those preceded by a sibilant. That is, I word may begin with three consonants provided they occur in the following configuration:

1st	2nd	3rd
s	p t k q	r l
z	b d g

Permitted nuclei

A nucleus may be a short vowel, a long vowel, or a permitted diphtong.

Permitted codas

Any consonant may appear as a geminate, except for the palatals (ñ, lj, and possibly also j)

Word-finally

A word may end with a vowel, s, n, t, z, or r. The only permissible consonant cluster word-finally is ks.

Palatal resonants

The palatal resonants, ñ and lj, have a particularly limited distribution:

• They may not double.
• They depalatalize before i, or any consonant except for j.
  • When this happens, lj [ʎ] becomes l [l].
  • Likewise, ñ [ɲ] becomes [n], however this is not consistently reflected in the transcription system: the sound may be written either n or ñ, but either way it is pronounced [n].

Disallowed consonant clusters

The following consonant clusters are known to be disallowed:

• *ññ
• *ljlj
• *jj?
• *ln becomes nn

This is most frequently seen in the first person singular of the future active indicative, where *-il·na becomes -inna

It is also common with the suffix -non: *qrin·rhol·no·r → qrīdronnor. Compare also the hypothetical *obūlj·non → *obūnnon

• Conversely, *nl appears to become ll, based on qrin·laodagon → qrillaodagon

Cr clusters

A number of common soundchanges occur when a consonant is followed by r. These are particularly important for the declension of aquatic nouns and adjectives:

• *hr becomes rh [r̥], e.g. *ñuhro → ñurho
• *zr becomes j

Often seen in words of the aquatic gender whose stem ends in z, e.g. vestriarzir → pl. vestriarja

Also with the prefix oz-, e.g. *oz·rughagon → ojughagon.

(Presumably examples of this change will also occur with the prefix maz-, or type I adjectives with stems ending in z, but no examples of either are known so far.)

• *sr may also become j, but it does not always do so. Thus, either kesrio or kejio are acceptable.
• *lr apparently remains unchanged in aquatic nouns, such as pelar,but produces ldr in zaldrīzes.

For the nasals, n, m, and ñ, see Nasal Deletion, below.

Nasal Deletion

• *nr or ñr become dr, with lengthening of the preceding vowel:

This is frequently seen with the prefix qrin-, e.g. *qrin·rughagon → qrīdrughagon

It is also common in nouns and adjectives of the aquatic gender whose stem ends in n, e.g. bianor → pl. biādra

Cf. also the word hēdrȳ, derived from *hen·rȳ.

• By the same process, *mr produces br. Presumably this includes lengthening of the previous vowel as well, but in all examples we know so far, the vowel is already long, e.g. sūmar → pl. sūbri.
• A similar soundchange occurs when n or m (and presumably ñ as well) come before s: the nasal is deleted, with the preceding vowel lengthened, and the s becomes z

This is most commonly seen in emagon and derived words, where *em·za → ēza. This apparently is also an option for regular verbs whose stems end in a nasal.

It is also seen in the word hēzir, derived from *hen·sīr.