Arêndron Phonology

Note: throughout this page I shall follow the usual convention that phonemic values are indicated with slashes /thus/; Arêndron orthography is indicated with angle brackets <thus>. For example, the letter <b> represents the phoneme /b/; that is, it is pronounced “b”, as in bird.

Script

The script used to write Arêndron is alphabetic, so I have simply replaced every letter consistently by the same letter or combination of letters to create the Roman transliteration. Double letters in the original script are represented by double letters in the transliteration; however, in the case of letters represented by a digraph such as sh or th, only the first letter of the digraph is doubled, thus: ssh, tth. This does not create ambiguity, because such combinations as s + sh and t + th only occur in compound words, where the derivation is transparent.

The “length mark”, which is used on the vowels transliterated as a, e, o and u, I have represented as a circumflex. There is also a fifth long vowel, which has no corresponding short vowel; I transliterate this with the ligature œ (which I write as Oe, not Œ, when capitalised). This is a matter of convenience; the original grapheme is not derived from the o and e graphemes.

My transliteration of Arêndron uses every letter of the Roman alphabet except for q, and two extra letters: the œ ligature just mentioned, and the “eng” or “agma”, Ŋ in capital form and ŋ in lower case. These can be replaced by oe and ng when writing in media in which the special sorts are not readily available. Circumflexes, if desired, can simply be omitted.

Consonants

Arêndron has the following consonants (displayed in IPA):

Plosives

The six plosives /p/, /b/, /t/, /d/, /k/ and /g/, each written with the same letter as its IPA symbol, have the same sounds as in English. However, the unvoiced plosives (/p/, /t/ and /k/) are never aspirated as the corresponding English phonemes are; that is, /p/ is pronounced like the “p” in spin, not that in pin, and similarly with the others. (You can feel the difference by placing your hand in front of your mouth; aspirated sounds are pronounced with a noticeable puff of air.) The palatal plosive /c/ is not the same as /k/; it is pronounced further forward in the mouth, like the “k” in key or the “c” in cute. It sounds to an English speaker like “ky”.

Be careful to give plosives their correct values; depending on dialect, many English speakers will be tempted to replace /t/ and perhaps also /d/ with either a tap or flap or a glottal stop. This is not done in Arêndron, and indeed the alveolar tap /ɾ/, which is used in American English as an allophone of /t/ or /d/, is in Arêndron a separate phoneme from /d/.

Affricates

The affricates /ts/, written <x>, and /tɕ/, written <ch>, are pronounced like the “ts” in cats and the “tch” in catch respectively. In Arêndron these are both thought of as single sounds, and should be pronounced quickly, not taking up much more time than the simple /t/.

Fricatives

The orthography of Arêndron's fricatives is more complicated because the correspondence between sound and spelling is not one-to-one. Each has one letter (some of which are represented by digraphs in the Roman transliteration) that is thought of as that sound's main spelling:

f

/f/ (as in fan)

v

/v/ (as in van)

th

/θ/ (as in thin)

dh

/ð/ (as “th” in this)

s

/s/ (as in six)

z

/z/ (as in zoo)

sh

/ɕ/ (as “sh” in ship)

j

/ʑ/ (as “s” in vision)

kh

/x/ (as “ch” in loch or Bach)

gh

/ɣ/ (as kh but voiced)

However, when s, sh and th occur intervocalically (between two vowels), they are pronounced as their voiced equivalents, /z/, /ʑ/ and /ð/ respectively. Intervocalic unvoiced /s/, /ɕ/ and /θ/ are written as the double letters ss, ssh and tth. Furthermore, <sh> at the beginning of a word is also pronounced /ʑ/; /ɕ/ never begins the word except in some loanwords. Note that the same letter-combination may be pronounced differently in different forms of the same word; <sh> is /ɕ/ in amash, “day” but /ʑ/ in the plural amâshan. English speakers should note that /ɕ/ and /ʑ/ are not exact equivalents of English “sh” and “s” as in vision; they are pronounced slightly further back in the mouth and without the lip-rounding typical of the English sounds.

The velar fricatives kh and gh obey an opposite rule; <kh> always represents /x/, while <gh> is normally voiced /ɣ/ but instead represents unvoiced /x/ at the end of the word or before a consonant. These sounds do not occur in most dialects of English, but they can be learnt by starting with the “k” and “g” sounds and breathing through them while making them. The unvoiced gh is fronted to a palatal fricative [ç] when it occurs after a front vowel (e or i). This is the sound of “ch” in the German word ich; it is the same as the “hy” sound at the beginning of human transferred to the end of the word.

Arêndron's last two fricatives are the simple breath-consonants /h/, written <h>, and /ç/, written <hj>. These are pronounced like the “h” in hat and the “hy” sound in human respectively. They normally only occur at the beginning of a word, although, as mentioned above, /ç/ can also end a word or syllable when it occurs as a variant of gh.

Nasals

Arêndron has four nasal consonants, /m/, written <m>, /n/, written <n>, /ɲ/, written <nh>, and /ŋ/, normally written <ŋ> (but see below). The first two are the same as English “m” and “n” in man; <nh> is the same as Portuguese “nh”, as in senhor. It is made by pronouncing an “n” further back in the mouth, at the same place as “y”; it sounds similar to the “ni” in onion.

The sound /ŋ/, which is the same as English “ng” as in sing, is written as <ŋ> when it occurs in isolation, but as <n> before g, so the combination ng has the same sound as it does in the English word finger. However, /ŋ/ is still written <ŋ> when it occurs before k, so that ŋk is pronounced like “nk” in bank; the combination nk in Arêndron represents an alveolar /n/ followed by /k/. The English speaker can pratice this by saying the two words “ban car” separately with a pause between them, and noting how this differs from the pronunciation of banker.

Clusters of nasal + plosive at different points of articulation, such as /mt/ and /mk/ and (as mentioned above) /nk/, are more common in Arêndron than in English. The English speaker must be careful not to pronounce mt as “nt” or “mpt”, and similarly with the other clusters.

Other consonants

Of Arêndron's five remaining consonants, two, /w/ (written <w>) and /j/ (written <y>) are straightforwardly the same as English “w” in way and “y” in yes. Both normally occur only at the beginning of a word, although <y> can also occur in the middle of a word after l or r. Be careful not to pronounce it in these positions like the “y” in silly.

Arêndron /ʍ/, written <hw>, is an unvoiced /w/, sounding like “hw” in the same way that /ç/ sounds like “hy”. It also only occurs at the start of a word. Some dialects of English, particularly Scottish English, use this sound at the beginning of words such as white.

The phoneme /ɾ/, written <r>, is not the same sound as English “r” but an alveolar tap, like the Spanish single “r” as in pero, or the American pronunciation of “d” in rider. It is made with a quick upwards motion of the tip of the tongue to strike the ridge behind the teeth. However, /ɾ/ is weakened to an approximant, [ɹ], when it occurs in the coda of an unstressed syllable before a consonant, whether in the same or the following word. Note also that Arêndron r does not colour a preceding vowel as it does in British English; for example, dhar, “ten” is pronounced with a short “a” followed by a tap, and not with a long “a” as in father.

Finally, /ɫ/, written <l>, is a lateral similar to English “l”. However, whereas English “l” has two quite different sounds, a “clear” sound when it begins the syllable, as in lot, and a “dark” sound when it ends the syllable, as in fill, Arêndron <l> always has the “dark” sound.

Double consonants

As explained above, the double consonants ss, ssh and tth indicate the unvoiced pronunciations of those fricatives in intervocalic position. All other double consonants (which also only occur intervocalically) are pronounced exactly the same as the corresponding single consonants; they are not pronounced twice as in languages such as Finnish, or the “nn” in English unnamed.

Clusters

Two clusters worthy of special mention are /tj/, written <tj>, and /dj/, written <dj>. In the standard dialect, they are pronounced “ty” and “dy”, like the beginnings of tune and dune in British English. However, many speakers simplify these to [tɕ] and [dʑ], similar to the first sounds in chat and jam. These pronunciations are especially common for tj and dj at the beginning of a word; indeed, word-initial dj is often simplified further to [ʑ] (the same sound as j, see above), although this tends to be regarded as an “incorrect” pronunciation.

All other clusters should be pronounced as the combination of their component sounds; Arêndron has no digraphs other than those already listed. For example, sch is a combination of the sounds s and ch, as in mischief, and is not pronounced like German “sch” in schwimmen.

Vowels

Arêndron has the following vowels and diphthongs (again in IPA):

Short vowels

Arêndron's five short vowels are /a/, /ɛ/, /ɪ/, /ɔ/ and /ʊ/, written <a>, <e>, <i>, <o> and <u> respectively. These are roughly equivalent to the English vowels in pat, pet, pit, pot and put (note that the last is not the vowel in shut). The <o> has the sound of the “o” in pot in British or Australian, not American English; for an American speaker, it is most similar to the “au” in caught, with the lips strongly rounded as though to make an “oo” sound.

Vowel reduction

Short low vowels (/a/, /ɛ/ and /ɔ/) in unstressed positions are often reduced in Arêndron; that is, they are pronounced like the “a” in English about. In particular, word-final “an” or “en” is pronounced like the second syllable of redden. Vowel reduction also applies to word-final a and e, except in the negative suffix -te, where the e is given its full value. (It is still short, however; be careful not to lengthen it to the sound of “ai” in rain.) Word-final o only occurs in the pronoun do and the genitive suffix -o; in both cases it is not reduced but still pronounced short, like the “o” in pot. Word-final i and u represent long vowels, for which see below.

Long vowels and diphthongs

Arêndron historically represented long vowels with a length mark, represented in the Roman transliteration by a circumflex, and diphthongs by a sequence of two vowel letters; however, because some of these sounds have shifted from one category to the other, they are best treated together. In addition, word-final i and u also stand for long vowels.

Considering first those sounds that are shared with English: ai, /aɪ/ is like “i” in bite; au, /aʊ/ is like “ou” in round; ê, /ɛɪ/ is like “ai” in rain; ei and word-final i are both /iː/, like “ee” in feet.

The sounds of eu, /əʊ/ and ô, /ɔː/ are like the “oa” in boat and the “au” in caught respectively, though in both cases the British pronunciation of the word uses a closer approximation to the Arêndron sound than does the American. Note in particular that eu starts with the sound of “a” in about, and that ô, like o, is said with the lips rounded.

The diphthong oi, /ɔɪ/ has the same sound as in the English word voice. Its counterpart ui, /ʊɪ/, a sound not found in English, is the same but starting from the sound of “u” in put. It should take the same time to pronounce as oi; it should not be given two syllables like the “ui” in ruin.

Long â, /ɛː/ has a sound found in British English, in the word air, but not American. It is the same as the e sound but held for twice as long. Word-final u is pronounced like long û, /ʉː/, like the “oo” in food but pronounced closer to the centre of the mouth and with the lips more strongly rounded than they are for the English sound.

The ligature œ stands for /ɘː/, a vowel similar to the “a” in about but slightly tenser and held for longer. For British or Australian speakers, it sounds most like the “ir” in bird. Finally, aa stands for /aː/, the long version of the a sound; this is similar to the “a” in father.

“A” backing

Both short /a/ and long /aː/, and the starting points of the diphthongs /aɪ/ and /aʊ/, are moved back to [ɑ] when they occur after the sound ŋ. In other words, they are pronounced like the “a” in father but right at the back of the mouth.

Diphthong simplification

Most diphthongs are simplified to single long vowels before /ɾ/ in the coda of the same syllable. For instance, the /aʊ/ in dhaur is simplified; that in dhaura is not, because the /ɾ/ in that word is followed by a vowel and thus acts as the onset of the next syllable.

The diphthongs /aɪ/ and /aʊ/ both simplify to [aː]; /ɛɪ/ to [ɛː]; /əʊ/, /ɔɪ/ and /ʊɪ/ are not simplified in the standard dialect. (The dialect of Urnathel also simplifies /əʊ/ and /ʊɪ/ to [ɤː].)

Vowel hiatus

Within a word, the only vowels that can immediately precede another vowel are ê, ei, û and diphthongs. All of these are pronounced with the appropriate glide to ease the transition between the two vowels: [j] after ê or ei, and [w] after û.

The same occurs when these vowels are followed by other vowels across a word boundary. With other vowels, that is, a, e, o and ô, a glottal stop is usually inserted between the words. Under certain circumstances the first vowel will instead by elided; this is grammaticalised, and will be dealt with in the appropriate places in the morphology.

Foreign sounds

Arêndron has borrowed a good many words from other languages that contain sounds not found in native words. In many cases these sounds are just written as the nearest equivalent Arêndron phoneme, and have come to be pronounced as written; the student of Arêndron therefore does not need to be concerned with what the original sounds actually were. In just a few cases, there are spelling rules pertaining to loanwords different from those for native words; these are explained below.

From Vardeu:

The digraphs dz, gj and kj represent affricates [dz], [ɟʝ] and [cç], pronounced like “ds” in beds, “x” in luxury and “x” in anxious respectively. (The latter two are only rough correspondences.) Many speakers simplify these to [z], [ʑ] and [ɕ] when they occur at the beginning of a word.

In Vardeu words, s and sh are always unvoiced [s] and [ɕ] regardless of position. Some writers make such words follow the Arêndron convention of spelling these sounds ss and ssh when they occur intervocalically; but word-inital [ɕ] is always spelt sh.

Finally, ue represents a diphthong [ʊə], like the British pronunciation of “ure” in sure.

Syllable constraints

Syllables in Arêndron can consist of just a vowel (or diphthong), or they can have up to two consonants before or after the vowel or both. Any of the thirty consonant phonemes can begin a syllable, although /h/, /ç/ and /ʍ/ can only do so at the beginning of a word.

The following consonants cannot end a syllable: /p b c f v ð z ʑ ɣ h ɲ ʍ w j/; of these, /p/, /b/ and /f/ sometimes end syllables in loanwords. Note that the spelling gh can end a syllable or word, but in this position represents /x/ after a back vowel, or /ç/ after a front vowel.

Permissible initial clusters are as follows:
      pr br tr dr kr gr fr
      kl gl fl sl
      tj dj
      tw dw kw gw

Permissible final clusters are as follows:
      nt nd nx ŋk ng
      rt rd rx rk rg rn
      st sk

(Clusters other than those listed do sometimes occur in loanwords.)

Medial clusters of two consonants are freely permitted, but some types have certain restrictions:

Plosive + plosive: only /tk/ and /kt/ occur. The first plosive is unreleased.
Fricative + plosive: all combinations can occur except those with /ɕ/ (though some combinations are more frequent than others). The second consonant assimilates to the voicing of the first.
Nasal + plosive: /t/ and /k/ can follow any nasal. Other plosives can only come after the nasal at the same point of articulation.
Plosive + nasal: only combinations with /n/ are common, though any combination is possible. The plosive is unreleased.
Plosive + fricative: any combination could occur, but most are very rare. The second consonant assimilates to the voicing of the first.
Fricative + fricative: as above.
Nasal + nasal: /mɲ/ and /ŋm/ can occur but are very rare. /mn/ and /ŋn/ are fairly common. Other combinations do not occur.
Affricate + plosive: the plosive can only be /t/ or /k/.
Affricate + fricative: the fricative cannot be a sibilant. All combinations are very rare.
Consonant + approximant: /w/ occurs only after plosives. /j/ occurs only after /ɫ/ or /ɾ/.

Clusters of three consonants are always pronounced with a syllable break after the first consonant, so the first two consonants must form a legal medial cluster and the second two a legal initial cluster. The most common three-consonant clusters are those, such as /ndɾ/ in the name “Arêndron”, where the first two consonants could form a legal final cluster.

Clusters of four consonants do not occur.