Wohaiehn Phonology

1.1  Sounds (in IPA)

Wohaiehn has the following consonant phonemes:

Obstruents: /p t k ʔ ɸ s ʦ x/ (written <p t k h f s c x>)

Sonorants: /m n ŋ l w j/ (written <m n ng l w i>)

It also has the following vowels, diphthongs, and triphthongs:

Single Vowels: /a ɒ e ø i y ʌ o ɯ u/ (written <a aw e ew i iw o ow u uw>, though rounded vowels do not need to be followed by w when they are preceded by it)

Diphthongs: /ai ei oi ui iu/ (written <ai ei oi ui iu>, and often realized as glides, ala [aj ej oj wi ju])

Triphthongs: Diphthongs followed by vowels tend to become triphthongs, as do rounded vowels followed by other vowels (with a [w] inserted).

1.2  Phonotactics

All consonants except /ŋ/ may occur in onsets, however /w/ occurs by itself only at the beginning of a word, and is never followed by unrounded vowels.  (Rounded vowels are not marked with <w> when following /w/ for this reason.)  All words must begin with a consonant, and within words, all vowels must be separated by consonants or glides (as with the triphthongs).  Onset clusters must begin with an obstruent other than /ʦ/, which can then be followed by a single non-nasal sonorant.  There is some ambiguity as to whether <i> before vowels is a consonant /j/ or part of a triphthong or the diphthong /iu/.  In the event, it does not really matter which it is, because they are treated exactly the same way with regards to the phonology.

Obstruents may not occur as codas, with the exception of /ʔ/.  Sonorants often occur as codas (more frequently than as onsets), and /ŋ/ occurs exclusively as a word-final coda, and never as part of a coda cluster.  Series' of sonorants may also occur as codas, with no more than one nasal (other than /ŋ/), which must occur last, and no more than one glide, which must occur first.  (In other words, coda clusters can be (w/j)(l)(m/n).)  The same confusion of /j/ in the coda versus an /i/ as part of a diphthong occurs as in the onset, but in most (if not all) cases the /i/ in the diphthongs is realized as /j/, so the difference is still largely academic.  When used in a coda, /ʔ/ may occur after any otherwise legal series of sonorants, except /ŋ/, but must be the last consonant in the cluster or coda.

1.3  Allophony

Unless it is surrounded by consonants on both sides, /i/ is almost always pronounced [j].  All obstruents except /ʔ/ are voiced when they occur intervocalically.

(This section is still largely under construction.)

1.4  Sound Changes from Proto-Wohaiehn

• Vowels that were preceded by [w] became rounded, and lost the [w] unless it occurred at the beginning of the word.
• Some [o]s and [u]s not so preceded by [w] became unrounded (Specifics to come.)
• Word-final [n] following a short vowel became [ŋ].
• Obstruent codas other than [ʔ] were lost.
• All voiced obstruents became unvoiced when not intervocalic.
• Long vowels became diphthongs, some of which later turned into triphthongs.  (Specifics to come.)
• All onset-less syllables (including those that became onset-less because of dropped [w]) acquired [ʔ] as an onset.
• [ʃ] became [x] in all contexts.
• [ʧ] became [ʦ] in all contexts.