Introduction - Sound changes - Phonology - Nominal morphology - Verbal Morphology - Syntax - Sample text - Lexicon - Appendix

ɑˈgɑf language

Phonology

Consonnants

Labial Alveolar Velar Glottal
Stop p pʰ b t tʰ d k kʰ g
Nasal m n ŋ
Fricative f s x h
Liquid l ɰ

Notice : the intricate Sandhi rules, combined with the phonotactics, tend to obscure the phonemic analysis of ɑˈgɑf, thus the above table may countains flaws (most likely : it is posible that one of the three series of occlusives is only allophonic - see the appendix).

 

Vowels

Front Central Back
Close i y ɨ u
Close-Mid e ø o
Open-Mid ɛ œ ɔ
Open æ ɑ

All vowels are oral. There is no lenght distinction.

/ɨ/ is quite rare, and some speakers merge it with /i/.

/u/ is also quite rare, some speakers merge /o/ with that sound.

 

Diphthongs

The following diphthongs are possible : /ɛɪ œɪ æɪ ɔʊ æʊ ʲæ ʲɑ/ (see the allophony section for the realisations of /ʲæ/ and /ʲɑ/)

 

Archiphonemes

There are two archiphonemes : the dorsal /γ/ and the nasal /ɴ/.

/γ/ affects a consonnant it directly follows.
/ɴ/ always occures after a vowel, it affects a consonant directly followed by that vowel. Unlike /γ/, it is itself affected by sandhi rules and can sometimes be turned into an actual consonnant.
(see the Sandhi section for the actual effects of both).

 

Allophony

After a consonant, /ʲæ/ and /ʲɑ/ are realised [æ] and [ɑ] and cause palatalisation of the consonant they follow. Elsewhere, they are realised [jæ] and [jɑ].

/x/ tends to be variously realised as [χ], [ʁ] or [ħ] in coda position.

/h/ is quite weak, and some speakers drop it.

Some speakers drop word-final unstressed /ø/. Some also drop intertonic (neither in an initial or final syllable) unstressed /ø/.

A trend characteristic of young speakers is to labialised the velars /k kʰ g ŋ x/ to [kʷ kʰʷ gʷ ŋʷ xʷ] before rounded vowels.

Though this is regarded as higly incorrect and colloquial by purists, an increasing number of speakers tends to merge the aspirates occlusives with the voiceless ones.

In some dialects, /ɰ/ is lost and makes the preceding vowel long.

 

Phonotactics

Basicly (C)V(C).

Consonant clusters and aspirated stops occure only medially.
/s/ and /g/ can't end a word.
/ɰ/ can't start a word.
(see the Sandhi section for both)
Vowel hiatuses are generally prohibited (an epenthetic /h/ is inserted if needed).
There is generally no more than one diphthongs per word, and affixes almost never have diphthongs.

 

Sandhi

The extensive Sandhi rules of ɑˈgɑf are the result of the analogical leveling and the extension to all phonemes of the irregular consonantic mutations of Ayasth (to which are added some rules which were already productive Sandhi rules in Ayasth, and a few additional rules which have developped because of sound change). Thus the following rules affect border phonemes in all situations (phonemes inside roots are not affected).

As mentionned before, the two archiphonemes affect these rules as well, thus they are represented when revelant (the vowels which /ɴ/ is supposed to follow are not represented for the sake of clarity).

Roots and affixes citation form is always pre-Sandhi, except when that would be irrelevant (ie : forms which are such that the Sandhi rules simply won't apply or will always give the same result).

Important : The various rules must be applied in the exact order they're given here !

1 - two adjacent, identical vowels merge to form a new one :
/ææ/ > /ɛ/
/ɑɑ/ > /o/
/ɛɛ/ > /e/
/œœ/ > /œ/
/ɔɔ/ > /o/
/ee/ > /i/
/øø/ > /y/
/oo/ > /u/
/ii/ > /i/
/yy/ > /y/
/ɨɨ/ > /ɨ/
/uu/ > /u/
If the vowels are different, /h/ is inserted.

2 - /m/ lenites to /ɴ/ after /œ ɔ ø o y u æɪ æʊ œɪ ɔʊ/

3 - /n/ and /ŋ/ lenites to /ɴ/ :
   -At the end of words.
   -After /æ ɑ ɛ e ø i æɪ ɛɪ ʲæ ʲɑ/
   -Before /x h g/

4 - /ɴ/ is ellided before /m n ŋ/

5 - /s/ is ellided before /x/, /f/ or /g/

6 - /s/ becomes /x/ before /ŋ/

7 - /sd/ and /dg/ become /g/

8 - /dŋ/ becomes /gŋ/

9 - The following mutations are applied :

Initially Medially, before vowel Medially, before consonant Finally Initially Medially, before vowel Medially, before consonant Finally
p p f p n/d d n/d -/d
t t f t n/d-γ g ŋ/g -/d
tγ t s t n/d-ɴ n
k k x k n/d-γɴ ŋ
f f pʰ pʰø f ŋ/g g gø k
s s d h ɰ d ɰ
sγ x g h ɰγ g ɰ
sɴ s n ɰɴ n
sγɴ x ŋ ŋ/g/ɰγ-ɴ ŋ
x x kʰ kʰø x ɴ d ɴ
m/b b m/b ɴγ(ɴ) ɴ
m/b-ɴ m ɴɴ n ɴ

Where /ɴ/ becomes /n/ or /d/, it doesn't affect a preceding consonant anymore.

10 - Two identical, consecutive consonnants collapse into a single one.

11 - A voiced stop becomes voiceless when forming a cluster with a voiceless consonant.

 

Umlaut

The umlaut patterns from Ayasth are well preserved, and even augmented. Unlike Sandhi however, they do not apply in predictable way.

Some vowels are "umlaut sensible", they undergo umlaut whenever they can.

Some other vowels are "umlaut trigger", they cause umlaut on the vowel preceding them (no matter if this vowel is "umlaut sensible" or not).

These features are always noted in the descriptions of morphemes.

ɑ æ ɛ e i ɔ o u ɛɪ æʊ ɔʊ ʲɑ
ɑ/ʲɑ umlaut ɛ e ɔ o æɪ æʊ
æ/ɛ/æɪ umlaut æ œ ø y æɪ œɪ ʲæ
e/i/ɛɪ umlaut æ ɛ e œ ø y æɪ œɪ ʲæ
ɔ/æʊ umlaut o ɛ e o æɪ æʊ æʊ
o/u/ɔʊ umlaut o ɛ e ɔ æʊ

 

Pitch accent

The pitch accent system of Ayasth is mostly preserved :

The accented syllable, and every syllables before it but the syllable immediatly before it are high. All other syllables are low.

However the accent position has often moved so that it has became unpredictable.

It should also be noted that, save from educated speakers, this system is loosing ground in favor of a more conventional stress system.