Thropoi Phonology

The phonology of Thropoi is pretty standard, with one or two exceptions.

Consonants


p b t d th k
p b t d θ~ð k

f v w s z sh zh

f v w~ʋ s z ʃ ʒ

m n l r j
m n* l r** j

* <n> is /ŋ/ before k
** <r> is /ɹ/ when not followed by a vowel

Vowels


a á o ó i í
ɐ a ɔ o ɪ i

u ú ü e é ë
u y ʏ ɛ e *

The last vowel is the most interesting. It is generally not pronounced. You could consider it a mix between a glottal stop and a /ə/. For instance, "darëthi" ('my') is pronounced [dɐɹθɪ], [dɐɹəθɪ] or [dɐrəθɪ]. The combination "të ... të" would be [tə ... tə] in most cases.

When a vowel is followed or preceded by an ë, the ë is omitted. E.g. 'mano'+'ëth' > "manoth" ('I have'). When there is a word break in between, the ë remains visually, but is not pronounced. For instance, "atë átallëth" ('and I eat') would be [ɐ:ta:tɐlθ].

Alternatively, you could write the <ë> as <'>. For instance "at' átallëth" or even "at' átall'th".

Hwong Zheng Phonology

Hwong Zheng, the Tsang language, is a syllable based language; most words consist out of one or two syllables that follow a consistent pattern:

(C) (J) V (N)

C
p, t, d, k ,g, h
p, t, d, k, g, h

r, f, l, m, s, z
r, f, l, m, s, z

sh, zh, th, ts, dz, tsh, dzh
ʃ, ʒ, θ, ts, dz, tʃ, dʒ

J
y, w
j, w

V
e, a, o, oo, i, ie, uu, ou, eu
ɛ, a, ɔ, o, ɪ, i, y, u, ø

N
n, ng, y
n, ŋ, j

Standard romanisation above, IPA below.

There are no conjugations or affices, nor any way to distict a verb from a noun without looking at its context.

Cupboard Utopia

Єтι Καтαᴧυ!

I've been working on some diachronics of some sort; it started with noun conjugations, but I will develop it to a couple of dialects. I'll probably put some of those into my conworld. You might just see something about all this sometime soon.

Δακрι мнεc xтωнc εмοнε οᴧβκε?

Back.dat is.3pl lands happiness.gen wealth.gen-and?

Are there lands of happiness and wealth on the other side?

Noortje was quite jumpy at that moment. Strolling across my table as if I weren't trying to get something done on my pc. I guess she noticed it was almost time for dinner, demanding some extra attention in the meantime.

And yes, both the ευтιε καтαᴧυ and The Sentence were written in a dialect of some sort. This one was created after first applying 'elesion' and then 'contraction'. Well, I haven't worked that out, really.

Verbal Vowel Assimilation

As a response to yesterday's comment, I will run through the examples given their again, this time with pre- and post-assimilation forms.

If you haven't read seen the TALVAC yet, please 'tab' it as a reference.

The Lurioneski verbs have the following suffices for person and number:

1sg (I) -ω
2sg (you) -ὶc
3sg (he) -ὶ
1pl (we) -ὸмα
2pl (you) -ὶтε
3pl (they) -εc

For instance, "I am" is мεнω and "you are" (pl) is мεнιтε.

However, most verbs also have a thematic vowel, which is either -ε, -α, -ο or -υ.
Ignoring the last one (as it is a rather tricky one), they assimilate as usual, meaning they combine with other vowels (in this case those of the verb suffices).

ε+ω > ω; ε+ὶ > ε͂ι*; ε+ὸ > ω; ε+ε > ε
E.g.: нοιмεὶc > нοιмε͂ιc ("you name"); нοιмεὸмα > нοιмωмα ("we name").

α+ω > ῶ; α+ὶ > ὶ; α+ὸ > ῶ; α+ε > α
E.g.: οιδαω > οιδῶ ("I know"); οιδαὶтε > οιδὶтε ("you know" (pl)).

ο+ω > ω; ο+ὶ > ὶ; ο+ὸ > ω; ο+ε > ο
E.g.: παнxοὶ > παнxὶ ("he eats"); παнxοεc > παнxοc ("they eat");

Got it? Great, 'cause it only gets harder.


The Optative is quite easy. It just puts -ε͂ι- between the verb root and the suffix. But again, the vowels assimilate (when possible).

ε+ε͂ι > ε͂ι; α+ε͂ι > ᾶι; ο+ε͂ι > ο͂ι;
E.g.: οιδαε͂ιω > οιδᾶιω ("may I know"); παнxοε͂ιεc > παнxο͂ιεc > παнxο͂ιc ("may they eat").


The Coniunctive does something tricky. When verbs have a thematic vowel, it lengthens it, causing it to assimilate differently. (When there is no thematic vowel, it simply puts -e- in between.) Let's take the same examples as before, but this time in the coniunctive:

e+ω > eω; e+ὶ > eὶ; e+ὸ > eὸ; e+ε > e

E.g.: нοιмeὶc > нοιмeὶc ("you could name"); нοιмeὸмα > нοιмeὸмα ("we could name").

ά+ω > άω; ά+ὶ > άὶ; ά+ὸ > άὸ; ά+ε > ά

E.g.: οιδάω > οιδάω ("I could know"); οιδάὶтε > οιδάὶтε ("you could know" (pl)).

ό+ω > όω; ο+ὶ > όὶ; ό+ὸ > όὸ; ό+ε > ό

E.g.: παнxόὶ > παнxόὶ ("he eats"); παнxόεc > παнxόc ("they eat");

There is no visual distinction between the indicative 3pl and coniunctive 3pl of a verb (e.g. between παнxοc and παнxοc), as accents are rarely used. They are pronounced differently: [pɐnxɔs] and [pɐnxos] respectively.

(* I changed this one, but the chart still says ε+ὶ > ὶ.)

So there you have it.

Vowel Assimilation 2

Although I have already done a post on vowel assimilation (appropriately called 'Vowel Assimilation'), I've given it a second thought, and made

 The Awesome Lurion Vowel Assimilation Chart (or TALVAC)

Yes, I'm making that up while typing. Sometimes my brilliance amazes me.

Oh, and it includes both the Naupilan and the Karvokan accent! How'd you like that?

Well, without further ado, here it is!

Ofcourse you can click on it for a bigger version. How else were you supposed to actually read it?

In case you're wondering how to interpret this fantastic chart (and I know you are):

When a vowel on the left is followed by a vowel on the top, they either assimilate, in which case another vowel(cluster) is shown in the appropriate row and column, or they do not, in which case a hyphen, -, is shown.

The left chart (the big one) is the general Lurion assimilation, the bottom right shows the Karvokan exceptions.

The top right is the Naupilan accented assimilation chart, which is quite compact, as the Naupilans pronounce everything alike and make no distinction between long and short vowels when assimilating.

And to please those who enjoy seeing me make mistakes: no, I did not intentfully forget to add a ~ on the Naupilan α+ο>ῶ and α+ω>ῶ assimilations. But no, I systematically did not add circumfleces on diphthongs (like ε͂ι), so that does not count.

Well, you didn't suspect to see something as shockingly marvelous or overwhelmingly beautiful as TALVAC when you woke up this morning, did you?

Diacritics and stress paterns

I have worked out the vowel assimilation again, which I will post later today or tomorrow, and I realised I haven't said anything about stress paterns.

Please make sure to have read 'Alphabet and Phonology', which I edited today as well.

First of all, I have added some diacritics, although they are not used in regular writing, only in texts explaining stress, vowel assimilation or linguistics, and sometimes in academic texts when differences in pronounciation are invisible, e.g.: δαυcтε or δᾶυcтε, [dæʊstɘ] (the general imperative of  δαιн) as opposed to δάυcтε [da:.œstɘ] (the conjunctive general imperative).

These diacritics are:
The Acute,  ́, used to lengthen vowels: ά ό ύ, and ί
The Grave,  ̀, used to strengthen vowels: ὲ, ὸ and ὶ
The Circumflex,  ͂, used to indicate the assimilation of an α and an ο: ῶ

There are 21 different vowel types:


α, ά, ο, ό, ὸ, ω, ε, e, ὲ, ι, ί, ὶ, υ, ύ, ο͂ι, ᾶι, ῦι, ε͂ι, ε͂υ, ο͂υ and ᾶυ


We can organise these types on how much they attract the stress (from least to most):

ε
{all others}
e
ω
ὸ, ὶ
ὲ

Stressed syllables in roots
The penultimate (the next to last) syllable of the word's root is normally stressed, except when any ε, e, ω or ὲ is present in its root (ὸ and ὶ do not naturally occur in roots); in which case these vowels are stressed (when the same 'stronger' vowel occurs multiple times, the last is stressed).

Examples (the stressed syllable is underlined):
цιδοр ("wing");
ὑм- ("you" (pl)), when there is only one syllable, it is stressed;
πεπαᴧ- ("egg"), the ε is not stressed (except when it is the only syllable);
αнтрωπ- ("human"), the ω is preferably stressed;
ἁнδр ("man"), the ε is not part of the root in words ending on -εр;
ὁικε ("house"), the last syllable is stressed because it is a strong ὲ, thus actually  ̔ο͂ικὲ;
βοцαнтр ("minotaur"), is a combination of βοц- and αнтр;
φυгε- ("to flee");
φυгοр- ("to cause to flee, to chase"), here, the infix -ὸр- is used to indicate causing something.

However, these stresses can be altered by the following affices (from weakest to strongest):

-ὸр-, as above
e-, the past tense prefix
-ὶнт-, the diminutive infix
-ὸнт-, the substantivating infix
-ο͂υ, -ά -ωc, the genitive suffices

Phew, that took some time writing.

Vowel Assimilation

Vowels may assimilate, depending on their length.
The following types can be distinguished:

α, α:, ο, ω, ε, e, ι, ι:, ι., υ, υ:, ει, οι, αι, υι, ου, αυ, ευ

Here the : marks longer vowels. The ι. is a special type, as it is short but strong; it is used e.g. in the verb suffices -ιc, -ι and -ιтε.

They can be categorised according to their length/strength:

ε
α, ι, υ
o
α:, ω, e, υ:, ει, οι, αι, υι, ου, αυ, ευ
ι:, ι.

The first two rows are weak, the last two are strong.

Assimilation occurs when a weak and a strong vowel meet.
(This is only a rule of thumb, though.)

E.g.:
αα - αα
α:ε - α:
α:ω - α:ω
αει - αι

The ο is medially strong, e.g.: αο - ω or eο - eο (both strong), but οω - ω (weak).
The ι: never assimilates (e.g.: ι:α - ι:α), and the ι. 'eats' all weak vowels, including the ο (e.g.: αι. - ι. or ωι. - ωι.).

Alphabet and Phonology

Edited as of June the 26th.

Let us start with the alphabet and phonology of Lurion. As you might guess, it is ancient greek based, so a lot of graphemes might look the same. However, some are not, for instance the ε, which is a short E (e.g. as in 'let') in Lurion, but is a long E in ancient greek (e.g. as the 'a' in 'make').

The phonemes are shown in IPA.

Consonants

Π, π - [p]
Β, β - [b ]
Т, т - [t]
Δ, δ - [d]
Κ, κ - [k]
Γ, г - [g]
М, м - [m]
Н, н - [n]
Λ, ᴧ - [l]
Р, р - [r]
Φ, φ - [f]
Ц, ц - [v]
C, c - [s]
Z, z - [z/dz/tz]
X, x - [x]

῾ - [h]

Vowels


A, α - [a] [ɐ]
E, e - [e]
Є, ε - [ɛ] [ə]
Ι, ι - [i:] [ɪ]
Ο, ο - [o] [ɔ]
U, υ - [y] [ʏ]
W, ω - [o:]
Capital, small - [long/stressed] [short/unstressed]

When a vowel is followed by more than one consonant or when it is the last vowel, it is short, if it is followed by one consonant or none, it is long. The E and W are always stressed.

Diphthongs

οι, υι, αι - [oj], [uj], [aj]
ει [ɛi]
ου [u ]
αυ [ʌʋ]
ευ [ø]

Therefor, these are not diphthongs:
ωι [o.i], eι [e.i], ωυ [o.y], eυ [e.y]