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Proto-Borean Phonemes

II. Phonology & Orthography

II.a. Phoneme Inventory

II.a-1.) Consoneme Inventory

II.a-1A.) Labial Group

II.a-1B.) Coronal Group

II.a-1C.) Dorsal Group

II.a-1D.) Glottal Group

II.a-2.) Voloneme Inventory

II.a-2A.) Monopthongs

II.a-2B.) Diphthongs

II.b. Phonotactic Summary

II.a. Phoneme Inventory

II.a-1.) Consoneme Inventory

II.a-1A.) Labial Group

Voiceless Bilabial Plosive

/p/

Voiceless Bilabial Fricative

<ph> /ɸ/, /f/_[j]

Voiced Bilabial Plosive

/b/

Voiced Bilabial Fricative

<bh> /β/, /v/_[j]

Bilabial Nasal

<m> /m/

Bilabial Approximant

<mh> /w/

II.a-1B.) Coronal Group

Voiceless Denti-alveolar Plosive

<t> /t/

Voiceless Denti-alveolar Fricative

<th> /θ/

Voiced Denti-alveolar Plosive

<d> /d/

Voiced Denti-alveolar Fricative

<dh> /ð/

Denti-alveolar Nasal

<n> /n/

Alveolar Approximant

<nh> or <nhr> /ɹ/

II.a-1C.) Liquid Coronal Group

Voiceless Alveolar Sibilant Fricative

<s> /s/

Voiceless Palato-alveolar Sibilant Fricative

<sh> /ʃ/_[h] or <sh> /ʃ/

Voiced Alveolar Sibilant Fricative

<z> /z/

Voiced Palato-alveolar Sibilant Fricative

<zh> /ʒ/_[h] or <zh> /ʒ/

Voiced Denti-alveolar, Alveolar, or Post-alveolar Lateral Approximant

<l> /l/

Velaraized Voiced Denti-alveolar, Alveolar, or Post-alveolar Lateral Approximant

<lh> /l^ɣ/ or /j/ or /ɾ/

II.a-1D.) Dorsal Group

Voiceless Palatal or Velar Plosive

<c> /k/ or /c/

Voiceless Palatal or Velar Affricate or Fricative

<ch> /kx/, /x/, /cç/ or /tʃ/

Voiced Palatal or Velar Plosive

<g> /g/ or /ɟ/

Voiced Palatal or Velar Affricate or Fricative

<gh> /gɣ/, /ɣ/, /ɟʝ/ or /dʒ/

Velar or Palatized Palatal Nasal

<ŋ> /ŋ/, /ɲ^j/[l]_V

Palatalized Palatal Nasal or Velarized Palatal Approximant

<ŋh> /ɰ/ or /jɟ/

II.a-1E.) Glottal Group

<q> /ʔ/

<qh> /h/

<’> /./

<r> /r/_V, /ɹ/C_V, or /r/V_V

II.a-2.) Volonome Inventory

II.a-2A.) Monophthongs

Open Front Vowel

/p/

<ph> /ɸ/, /f/_[j]

/b/

<bh> /β/, /v/_[j]

<m> /m/

<mh> /w/

<t> /t/

<th> /θ/

<d> /d/

<dh> /ð/

<n> /n/

<nh> or <nhr> /ɹ/

<s> /s/

<sh> /ʃ/

<z> /z/

<zh> /ʒ/

<l> /l/

<lh> /l^ɣ/ or /j/

<c> /k/ or /c/

<ch> /kx/, /x/, /cç/ or /tʃ/

<g> /g/ or /ɟ/

<gh> /gɣ/, /ɣ/, /ɟʝ/ or /dʒ/

<ŋ> /ŋ/, /ɲ^j/[l]_V

<ŋh> /ɰ/ or /j/

<q> /ʔ/

<qh> /h/

<’> /./

<r> /r/_V, /ɹ/C_V, or /r/V_V

When a consonant bridges two syllables (i.e. when positioned between two vowels), it is pronounced as being the onset of the next syllable. However, when a consonant cluster sits at the bridge of two syllables, the phonotactics are a bit more complicated:

When a consonant cluster begins with a plosive consonant, and the next consonant is neither an approximant, a lateral, nor a semi-vowel, there follows a very slight schwa [ ? ] preceeding that next consonant, unless the consonant cluster is itself preceeded by a vowel [even if said vowel appears at the end of the previous word], in which case the plosive is re-analyzed as the final consonant on the coda of the preceeding syllable. When a consonant cluster begins with a nasal consonant, however, said consonant is syllablized unless the nasal consonant is preceeded by another vowel [again, even if said vowel appears at the end of the preceeding word], which causes the nasal consonant to be pronounced as the final consonant of the previous syllable’s coda. When preceeding a liquid consonant or semi-vowel, the plosive digraphs ph, bh, th, and dh (/ ph, bh, th, dh /) are modified into fricative consonants (/ f, ß, ?, ð /) , whilst the fricative digraph sh (/ sj /) is modified into an affricative consonant (/ ? /); these digraphs may not be followed by any other type of consonant, except when bridging two syllables or at a syllable’s coda preceeding the nasal consonant n. When preceeding a liquid consonant or semi-vowel, or when following any other type of consonant, the plosive palatal digraphs ch and gh (/ ch, ?h /) become fricative consonants (/ ç, ? /). The digraph lh (/ l?? /) becomes a semi-vowel (/ j /) when preceeded by any type of consonant, but cannot itself preceed a consonant. When following any type of consonant, the aspirated nasal digraph mh becomes a semi-vowel (/ w /), but when preceeding the liquid consonant r or the digraph rh, merely rounds the following consonant; the digraph mh may not preceed any other consonant with the exception of the digraph lh, with the pronunciation of mhlh being uncertain (though the most likely pronunciation is simply / w / followed by / j / with a slight schwa buffering the two). The digraph nh may not be preceeded by any type of cons0nant at the coda, though otherwise its pronunciation remains largely unchanged from that given on the chart to the left, except when modified to / ? / preceeding any consonant, in any position (onset, bridge, or coda).

The standard formula for consonant clusters in the Proto-Borean language, therefore, is:

[Formula]

No consonant cluster may contain more than three distinct consonantal phonemes, allowing a maximum of six characters [if each phoneme is a digraph].

Proto-Borean Phonemes

II.a. Phoneme Inventory

II.a-1.) Consoneme Inventory

II.a-1A.) Labial Group

II.a-1B.) Coronal Group

II.a-1C.) Liquid Coronal Group

II.a-1D.) Dorsal Group

II.a-1E.) Glottal Group

II.a-2.) Volonome Inventory

II.a-2A.) Monophthongs

II.a-2B.) Diphthongs

II.a-2Bα.) “A”-Diphthongs

II.a-2Bη.) “E”-Diphthongs

II.a-2Bι.) “I”-Diphthongs

II.a-2Bυ.) “U”-Diphthongs

II.a-2Bω.) “O”-Diphthongs

II.b. Phonotactic Summary

IV. Morphosyntactic Alignment

V. Semantics

V.a. Predicative Logic

VI. Vocabulary

VI.a. Common Phrases

VI.b. Lexicon