Minyeva : Phonology and Phonotactics

last modified: 5/13/02

1. Short description

Consonants: The following consonants are the same as in english: p, b, t, d, k, g; f, v, s, z; l, m, n; w,y,r. The letter 'c' is pronounced 'sh', 'j' is pronounced 'zh' (like in leisure), and 'q' like 'ng' (in thing).

Vowels: The five classic spanish vowels are used in Minyeva: a, e, i, o, and u. They are pronounced "ahh" (open), "ehh", "eee", "ohh", "ooo" (like in the american dot, set, meet, note, root). The 'e' has a slight ey sound (like in the word 'hey'), but the sound shouldn't be carried off to the 'ee' sound like many speakers do (so, not 'hey-ee'). The vowels are always pronounced the same way everywhere (or as is physically possible).

No capitalization is used in Minyeva.

2. Consonant chart & Samba ASCII IPA equivalents:

	bi-labial	labiodental	alveolar	postalveolar	palatal	velar
stop	p - /p/		t - /t/			k - /k/
voiced stop	b - /b/		d - /d/			g - /g/
fricative		f - /f/	s - /s/	c - /S/
voiced fricative		v - /v/	z - /z/	j - /Z/
nasal	m - /m/		n - /n/			q - /N/
trill			r - /r/
lateral approximate			L - /l/
approximate	w - /w/				y - /j/

3. vowel chart & Samba ASCII IPA equivalents:

	front/ open	central/ open	back/ round
high	i - /i/		u - /u/
mid	e - /E/		o - /o/
low		a - /a/

4. Phonotactics: Word Formation Constraints

* possible root word types:

c- (function words, affixes)
c-- (function words, affixes)
cc- (function words, affixes)
cc-- (function words, affixes)
c-c- (common lexical concepts)
c-cc- (semi-common lexical concepts)
cc-c- (semi-common lexical concepts)
cc-cc- (uncommon lexical concepts)

* possible initial letters (c):

p,b,t,d,k,g; f,v,s,z,c,j; l,m,n,q; w,y,r

* possible medial letters (c):

p,b,t,d,k,g; f,v,s,z,c,j; l,m,n,q

* possible initial consonant clusters (cc):

ps,pc; pl; pw,py,pr
bz,bj; bl; bw,by,br
ts,tc; tw,ty,tr
dz,dj; dw,dy,dr
ks,kc; kl; kw,ky,kr
gz,gj; gl; gw,gy,gr

fl; fw,fy,fr
vl; vw,vy,vr
sp,st,sk; sl,sm,sn; sw,sy
zl; zw,zy
cp,ct,ck; cl,cm,cn; cw,cy
jl; jw,jy

ml; mw,my,mr
nw,ny
qw,qy

* possible medial consonant clusters(cc):

pt,pk; pf,ps,pc; pl,pm; pw,py,pr
bd,bg; bv,bz,bj; bl,bm; bw,by,br

tf,ts,tc; tl,tn; tw,ty,tr
dv,dz,dj; dl,dn; dw,dy,dr

kf,ks,kc; kl,kq; kw,ky,kr
gv,gz,gj; gl,gq; gw,gy,gr

fp,ft,fk; fs,fc; fl,fm,fn,fq; fw,fy,fr
vb,vd,vg; vz,vj; vl,vm,vn,vq; vw,vy,vr

sp,st,sk; sf; sl,sm,sn; sw,sy
zb,zd,zg; zv; zl,zm,zn; zw,zy

cp,ct,ck; cf; cl,cm,cn; cw,cy
jb,jd,jg; jv; jl,jm,jn; zw,zy

mp,mb; mf,mv; ml; mw,my,mr
nt,nd; ns,nz,nc,nj; nl; nw,ny
qk,qg; ql; qw,qy

* possible vowel pairings (-v-v):

a-i, e-a, i-e, o-e, u-a
a-o, e-u, i-o, o-u, u-i

* possible diphthongs (vv):

ai, ao, oi

* impossible cv combinations:

yi, wu, wo

* example allowed words:

tsavi (cc-c-, ts-, a-i, -v-)
nesa (c-c-, n-, e-a, -s-)
guzla (c-cc-, g-, u-a, -zl-)

* example disallowed words:

kwota (wo disallowed; o-a disallowed)
sara (-r- disallowed; a-a disallowed)
tlampi (tl- disallowed)
cfui (cf- disallowed; not a valid word type)

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