Introducing: Kwalryu

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Davush
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Introducing: Kwalryu

Post by Davush »

Apparently I can't seem to stick to any one language for any length of time...so here is my latest.

Kwalryu /kʷaʑʑɨ/ is the result of a random phonology experiment. I have no ideas for setting or grammar yet, but hopefully they will come. The aesthetic goal was inspired by reasonably small phonologies and simple phonotactics, but with interesting allophonic processes. It's vaguely reminiscent of Northeast Asian meets divergent Polynesian.

Phonemic Inventory

This is purely phonemic, to highlight several pervasive features. Notably, the 3-way contrast in velars and rhotics.

Stops: /p t k kʷ kʲ/ <p t k kw ky>
Nasals: /m n ŋ ŋʷ ŋʲ/ <m n g gw ny>
Fricatives: /ɸ s x xʷ xʲ/ <f s h hw hy>
Rhotics: /r rʷ rʲ/ <r q ry>
Approximants: /w j/ <w y>

Vowels: /a e o I ɨ~ɯ/ <a e i o u>
Dipthongs: /ae̯ ao̯ iɯ̯ ɯi̯/ <ae ao iu ui>
Coda consonants: /n x ɾ/ (also called: N H R)

And a more narrowly-transcribed phonetic inventory of:

[p t k kʷ c]
[m n g~ŋ gʷ~ŋʷ ɲ]
[ɸ s x~h~ɦ xʷ ç]
[d~ɾ~ɻ q~ʁ ʑ~ɾ̝ʲ]
[β~w j~ʑ]

Penultimate Stress
Stress is fixed on the penultimate syllable. Except for words whose final syllable is a diphthong, which receive stress.

muni /mɨ́ɲi/
kasae/kasáe̯/

Word-Initial Fortition
Certain phonemes are fortified in word initial position. This excludes particles and when two words are very closely bound to form one prosodic unit.

/ŋ ŋʷ/ [g gʷ]
/m/ is /b/ when following syllable contains a nasal
/r/ [d]
/rʷ/ [q]

Word-Initial [ɦ]

The only initial clusters allowed are /hC/.

/h/ in these clusters is realised as a voiced [ɦ], which can alternatively be transcribed as a breathy-voiced vowel.
Breathy voiced is transferred onto the preceding vowel if there is any, otherwise it is a breathy voiced vowel of the same quality of that of the following syllable.
Stops after /ɦ/ are often slack-voiced.
Before fricatives, it causes a long fricative.

hkani /ʱkanɨ/ [ɦkanɨ] ~ [a̤g̊anɨ]
muni gi hqamo /mɨɲi ŋi ʱʁamo/ [bɨni ɲi̤ ʁamo]
haul /ʰɸɨɻ/ [ɸɸɨɻ]

Word-initial unstressed /i ɨ/ are fricatised to [ʑ β].

Rhotics
The rhotics are the 'stand out' feature of Kwalryu, showing quite a lot of allophonic variation depending on the position in a word. They pattern with velars.

Intervocalically:
/ɾ/ is most often a single alveolar tap [ɾ], but lateral [l] and retroflex [ɽ] realisations are also common.
/rʲ/ varies between a full fricative [ʑ], a raised palatalized alveolar tap [ɾ̝ʲ], somewhat similar to the Czech <ř>.
/rʷ/ is possibly the most variable phoneme. The most common realization is [ʁ]. It may be slightly labialized for some speakers. It can also be a velarized tap [ɾˠ], lateral [lˠ].

Vowels
/a/ is more accurately [ä].
/e o/ are more accurately mid-close [e̞ o̟].
/o/ may be somewhat de-rounded [ɤ̞] after labials and raised to [ʊ] following labio-velars.
/i/ is close to its cardinal value. It causes obligatory palatalization of preceding alveolars.
/ɨ/ is more often a high-central vowel, [ɨ]. It is often somewhat rounded [ʉ] after palatals, and backed [ɯ] after velars.

/ae ao/ do not occur in closed syllables. Vowels in hiatus do not occur.

Coda Consonants

Only /n x r/ (= N H R) are permitted in coda syllable- or word-finally.

Coda N:
Forms a homorganic nasal with a following stop, fricative, or nasal. This makes geminate nasals marginally phonemic. Stops are voiced after nasals.
Coda N + Rhotics: /nr nrʲ nrʷ/ are realised [nz ɲʑ nðˠ].
/nw nj/ merge with /ŋʷ ŋʲ/.
Word-finally, it is often [ŋ] or realised as nasalisation on the preceding vowel

Coda H:
Functions the same as word-initial /h/. Word-finally it is often fricatised to /x~ç~ɸ/.

kah /kah/ [kax]
kih keh /kih keh/ [kiç keç]
kuh koh /kɨh koh/ [kɨɸ koɸ]

Coda R:
Is most often realised as a somewhat retroflex approximant [ɻ].
With rhotics, they cause gemination:

/rr rrʲ rrʷ/ are [ɻː ʑː ʁː] making geminate rhotics marginally phonemic.

Coda-consonants are always represented with a single grapheme in the orthography:

/ɻ/ <l> for coda-R.
/ŋ/ <n> for coda-N.
/h/ <h> for coda-H.
Last edited by Davush on 16 Apr 2020 12:44, edited 2 times in total.
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Re: Introducing: Kwalryu

Post by Creyeditor »

I like that rhotics have properties of coronals and dorsals combined. That's a property of natlangs that I haven't seen in any conlang, IIRC.
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Davush
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Re: Introducing: Kwalryu

Post by Davush »

Creyeditor wrote: 12 Apr 2020 18:46 I like that rhotics have properties of coronals and dorsals combined. That's a property of natlangs that I haven't seen in any conlang, IIRC.
Thanks! You've actually just inspired an idea that I really like!

Palatalisation and Labialisation are now only contrastive on velars, so:

/k kʷ kʲ/ [k kʷ c] <k kw ky>
/ŋ ŋʷ ŋʲ/ [ŋ ŋʷ ɲ] <n gw ny>
/x xʷ xʲ/ [x xʷ ç] <h hw hy>

So /r rʲ rʷ/ pattern with them.

This means the distinction is now /ti ki/ [ti ci], rather than previous /ti ki/ [tɕi ki]. If the coronals are dental, this makes them also more phonetically distinct, I think?

In that light: /r rʷ rʲ/ are [ɾ~l ðˠ~ɣ ʑ] medially, and [d dˠ ɟ] initially, and coda R is usually a retroflex approximant [ɻ].

Some more example words:

potal [potaɻ]]
yuhyan [jɨçã]
rufa [dˠɨɸa]
dhwahil [dˠaçiɻ]
gwonrye [ŋʷõʑe]
kuhhyo [qç̩ço]

Labialization is non-contrastive before/ɨ/.
This can be explained if /ɨ/ comes from de-rounding of earlier *u. /ɨ/ causes labials to be somewhat backed
Thus /ku xu ru/ are [qɨ Xɨ dˠɨ].

/nr nrʷ nrʲ/ are realized with a preceding nasalized vowel:

anra [ãɾa]
andhwa [ãðˠa]
anrya [ãʑa]
Davush
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Re: Introducing: Kwalryu

Post by Davush »

Update:

I am not entirely happy with /rʷ/ [ðˠ]. I think I will make [ʁ] the most common realisation, with [q] word-initially. Romanised <q>.

Plurals
Plurals are formed by a kind of (much eroded) reduplication which takes part in several morpho-phonemic processes. This makes plurals seem quite opaque, but the processes are basically regular.

There is a kind of consonant gradation which happens to the reduplicated syllable in stops and fricatives:

Stops > Fricatives e.g. -pa > -pafa
Fricatives > hF e.g. -fa > -fahfa

A final NV syllable itself becomes fortified, with the reduplicated syllable being unfortified:
NV > nP e.g. -na > -ndana

Final RV syllables do not fully reduplicate, but gain coda R. e.g. -ra > -lra.

Additionally:
/e o/ in the final syllable are reduplicated to /i ɨ/.
/ʲa ʷa/ also > /i ɨ/.

PV > FV
yahka /jáʰka/ child
yahkaha /jaʰkáha/ children

hwatoko /xʷatóko/ large bird
hwatokohu /xʷatokóxɨ/ large birds

FV > hFV
qafi /qáɸi/
qafihfi /qaɸíɸɸi/

nihye /ɲíçe/ seed
nihyehhi /ɲiçéççi/ seeds

NV > nPV:
muni /mɨɲi/
munjini /mɨɲɟíni/

qamo /qámo/
qanbomu /qambómɨ/

ragwa /dáŋʷa/
ragwagu /daŋgʷáŋɨ/

RV >RVR (Re Ro > RiR RuR)
hanra /hãɾa/
hanral /hãraɻ/

gwire /ŋʷiɾe/
gwiril /ŋʷiʑiɻ/

gwiro /ŋʷiɾo/
gwiqul /ŋʷiʁɨɻ/

Coda -N -R:
-an -al > -anna -alra /anna aɻɻa/
-en -in -el -il > -enni -inni -elri -ilri /eɲɲi iɲɲi eʑʑi iʑʑi/
-on -un -ol -ul > -oggu -uggu -oldhi -uldhu /oŋŋɨ ɨŋŋɨ oʁʁɨ ɨʁʁɨ/

kyaman /cámaŋ/ eagle
kyamanna /camánna/ eagles

ryal /ʑaɻ/ man
ryalra /ʑaɻɻa/ men
Davush
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Re: Introducing: Kwalryu

Post by Davush »

Vowel-Initial Fricatisation

Word-initial /a i u/ are most often realised as fricatives [ɦ ʑ β] except in very careful speech or when spelling out words. Diachronically, this is likely due to vowel-initial words being forbidden, i.e. they were [ɦa ji wu]. /e o/ are [je wo] utterance initially or in isolation, with the initial glide changing depending on context. /ko e/ > [ko we], /ki o/ > [ci jo], /kon e/ > [kon ne], /kol e/ > [koɻ ɻe].

[ɦ ʑ β] often assimilate to voicing of the following consonant, so <ikenu> /ikenɨ/ > [ɕkenɨ].

This makes word initial geminates phonemic.

Additionally, word-initial /m/ dissimilates to /b/ when the following syllable contains a nasal.

Definiteness

Definiteness is marked on subjects by the prefix a/i/u. Which prefix is used depends on the following vowel. a > a, i e > i, u o > u.

ryal /ʑaɻ/ man
iryal /ʑʑaɻ/ men

muni /bɨɲi/ woman
umuni /βmɨɲi/ or [mmɨɲi] women

qamo /qamo/ cat
aqamo /ɦʁamo/ or [ʁʁamo] cats

If the word is a monosyllable with /e o/, the definite prefix is e- or o-:

ke /ke/ boy
eke /éke/ the boy

ro /do/ hand
oro /óɾo/ the hand

However, if the word gain syllables due to other affixes, the usual rules apply.

Genitives

The possessor of a genitive phrase is marked with -gi /ŋi/. Generally only the possessed is marked for definiteness.

ryalgi aqamo /ʑaɻŋi ɦʁamo/ 'the man's cat'
munjinigi akyamanna /bɨɲɟiɲíŋi ɦcamánna/ 'the women's eagles'
yahkagi imenbemi /jaʰkáŋi ʑmembemi/ 'the children's birds'
qamogi uhyoqu /qamóŋi ɸçoʁɨ/ 'the cat's tree'
kegi oro /keŋi oro/ 'the boy's hand'
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Re: Introducing: Kwalryu

Post by Creyeditor »

Are possessed nouns always interpreted as definite? How do you express a indefinite possessed noun as in "a friend of me"?
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Re: Introducing: Kwalryu

Post by gestaltist »

I love the morphophonology you're getting here, especially the plurals. :) Can't wait to see more grammar and what patterns you get.
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