Okay. I went ahead and edited the example into your quote because you posted before me.shimobaatar wrote: ↑13 Jul 2020 18:18Thank you for the clarification.yangfiretiger121 wrote: ↑13 Jul 2020 18:11Yes, [ɛ́ú̯, ɛ̀ù̯] occurs finally. An example is Ýy [ɛ̀ːˈwɛ́ú̯], the chaotic neutral-aligned afterlife.shimobaatar wrote: ↑13 Jul 2020 18:08If I understand correctly that [ɛ́ú̯, ɛ̀ù̯] only occur before consonants and [ɛ́ːw, ɛ̀ːw] only occur before vowels, then yes, it sounds like they're in complementary distribution with one another.yangfiretiger121 wrote: ↑13 Jul 2020 17:52 The only diphthongs in my setting's Spirittongue language are [ɛ́ú̯, ɛ̀ù̯]. While that's unremarkable in-and-of itself, I'm here to check on the proper name for their relationship with [ɛ́ːw, ɛ̀ːw]. Considering [ɛ́ú̯, ɛ̀ù̯] (before consonants) and [ɛ́ːw, ɛ̀ːw] (before vowels) don't contrast, are [ɛ́ːw, ɛ̀ːw] allophones of or in complementary distribution with [ɛ́ú̯, ɛ̀ù̯]? Based to similarity to [ç, x] in German, I'm fairly sure the pairs are in complementary distribution.
Does either pair occur word-finally, without a following consonant or vowel?
I think I'd describe the situation like this: [ɛ́ú̯] and [ɛ́ːw] are both allophones of the phoneme /ɛ́ú̯/, with [ɛ́ːw] occurring before vowels and [ɛ́ú̯] occurring elsewhere (before consonants and word-finally). Likewise, [ɛ̀ù̯] and [ɛ̀ːw] are both allophones of the phoneme /ɛ̀ù̯/, with [ɛ̀ːw] occurring before vowels and [ɛ̀ù̯] occurring elsewhere (before consonants and word-finally).
As to your question about my meaning, I typed it out as though [ɛ́ú̯, ɛ̀ù̯] are the parent phones because I hadn't planned on including the analogy to Germon. Then, I forgot to edit it after putting the bit about German in. Had I edtited it in a timely fashion, I would've noted that /ɛ́ú̯, ɛ̀ù̯/ are the phonemes. Thus, your post-clarification response is what I meant.