L01: Hagana: view article

« Back to Articles » Journal

L01: Hagana

▲

0▲ 0 ▼ 0

An introduction to the phonology of Lithian

This public article was written by [Deactivated User], and last updated on 3 Jan 2017, 07:17.

[comments] lhnlessonslesson 1soundsphonotacticsphonology Huterna (Lessons) (1 article)

1. L01: Hagana

+ Write new article in Huterna (Lessons)

Menu 1. huter dàgalum Huter Daugalum - Lesson Introduction 2. hagana Hagana - Sounds 3. nihige Nihige (Phonotactics)
liдeserna : huter 1 : hagana
Lithian - Lesson 1: Hagana / Sounds
The sounds table may be changed in the near future.

[top]huter dàgalum Huter Daugalum - Lesson Introduction

Welcome to the first lesson of Lithian!

Here, you will (gradually) learn how to speak (and perhaps write) Lithian. Each lesson will talk about a particular topic (from the easiest of course), while you introduce yourself with some of the Lithian vocabulary!

[top]hagana Hagana - Sounds

Lithian has a pretty simple phonology, although it starts to get tricky as you get to the last one. There are about:

5 vowels called nivan Nivans,
8 diphthongs called darivan Darivans,
18 basic consonants called kizan Kizans,
7 onset clustersall of which clusters with just [r] called rózan Rouzans,
2 coda clusters called totan Totans,
And the trickiest of all, the 5 aspirated consonants called heflan Heflans!

	Vowels [Nivan]					Diphthongs [Darivan]
Latin	a	u	i	o	e	ai	au	ei	eu	ia	ie	ou	ui
IPA	a	u	i	o	e	ai	au	ei	eu	ia	ie	ou	ui

	Basic Consonants [Kizan]																		Aspirates [Heflan]					Onset Clusters [Rouzan]							Coda Clusters [Totan]
Latin	p	b	t	d	k	g	s	z	f	v	c	j	m	w	h	r	l	n	ph	th	kh	sh	ch	pr	br	tr	dr	kr	gr	fr	nt	tl
IPA	p̚	b̚	t̚	d̚	k̚	g̚	s	z	f	v	t͡s	d͡ʒ	m	w	h	ɾ	l	n	pʰ	tʰ	χ	ʃ	t͡ʃ	pɾ	bɾ	tɾ	dɾ	kɾ	gɾ	fɾ	nt̚	t̚l

For information about Delvia/Lithian script, click here.

Outside of the sounds (IPAs) mentioned above, there is also some minor quirks:

In onset-less syllables, or in syllables with a lone vowel, a glottal stop is added, like in ~adi adi /ʔadi/ "all".
If the letter [n] precedes [k] or [g], the [n] is pronounced /ŋ/ instead of /n/, like in ~ankal ankal /ʔaŋkal/ "gear".
Only the letter [n] can geminate, but it only happens when a word is suffixed, like in мagenne chagenne /t͡ʃʰagen:e/ "spoke".

The reason Heflan is considered tricky is of course, is because it's aspirated. (except [sh].) In the other words, a consonant followed by a quiet [h], like saying [the] as /tə.he/ but the /ə/ lasts for about 0.1 seconds. Upon learning Lithian, you will need to differentiate /t/ with /tʰ/, /p/ with /pʰ/, /k/ with /kʰ/, and /t͡ʃ/ with /t͡ʃʰ/. [sh] is an exception, however; it is pronounced /ʃ/ instead of /sʰ/. This way, you can differentiate watebowl and wathepaint as well as itapuceiling and itaphuroof.

The other (probably) tricky part is learning to pronounce the voiceless alveolar lateral affricate /t͡ɬ/. This is a phoneme that exists in Lithian, and given its rarity in natlangs, you might probably find yourselves struggling to pronounce it, ending up pronouncing /tˡ/ or /təl/ instead of /t͡ɬ/. (More info about t͡ɬ here)

[top]nihige Nihige (Phonotactics)

Lithian phonotactics can be described at maximum as CCVCC, like in the word, pretl /pɾet̚l/ "dart".

In Lithian, any consonant but [nt] and [tl] can begin a syllable. There are only 10 coda-able consonants: [t], [k], [s], [f], [m], [n], [l], [r], [nt], and [tl].

Assuming that vowels are categorised as V, diphthongs as W, all consonants (excl. [nt] and [tl]) as C, aspirates (heflans) as H, rouzans as R, and coda-able consonants as T, these are the possible phonemic combinations of Lithian:

CV, like in de (the, DEFDefinite
"the")
CW, like in mei (I, 1SFirst person singular (person)
speaker, signer, etc.; I)
CVT, like in gant (world, realm)
CWT, like in liek (now)
V, like in anita (garden)
VT, like in orbis (sphere)

Comments