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Considering the length, I'm sure I left something out. I hope it's not too cryptic. I've been working on HtmL documentation, but this part is critical, so I'd like to get comments. Jeff PHONOLOGY Vowel Inventory I haven't done a real phonemic analysis, but this should be close. /i/ [i] /e/ [e_o] --- That's supposed to be the diacritic for lowered. /I/ [I] /&/ [&] /a/ [A], [V] /O/ [O] /o/ [o] --- might be an allophone of /o~/ /u/ [u] /y/ [8] /j/ [j] /w/ [w] /i~/ [i~] /&~/ [&~] /a~/ [A~] /o~/ [o~] /y~/ [8~] The nasal vowels and [o] are always long. [&] occurs only in long syllables. [V] occurs only in short unobstructed syllables. [I] is always extra short. The glides probably aren't separate phonemes. Diphthongs /ei/ [e_oi] /ai/ [Ai] /oi/ [Oi] /au/ [&u] /ao~/ [&o~] /wi/ [wi:] /wei/ [we_oi] /w&/ [w&:] /ja/ [jA:] Other diphthongs beginning with /j/ and /w/ are possible. Syllables Long Unobstructed: (C)VV or (C)V: Long Obstructed: (C)VC Short Unobstructed: (C)V Short Obstructed: CVC --- V can only be /I/ Extra Short: CV --- V can only be /I/ The stressed syllable is always long and either has a high-steady tone (H) or a high-falling-to-low tone (HL). Unstressed syllables have low tones (L). This is of course a simplification WRT actual pitches. ORTHOGRAPHY I've been looking at 2 possible orthographies. The difference is in the rounded vowels. The unrounded vowels are: /i/ |i| /e/ |e|, |ë| /I/ |e| /&/ |ae| (written |æ| where possible) /a/ |a| /ei/ |ei| /ai/ |ai| /j/ |i| --- before a vowel /i~/ |in|, |im| /&~/ |en|, |em| /a~/ |an|, |am| |m| is used for marking nasal vowels before |p| or |b|, otherwise |n| is used. This holds for the rounded vowels as well. |ë| is used in places where |e| would be pronounced /I/ or silent. The rounded vowels that are the same for both are: /o/ |o| --- only before |mm| or |nn| /w/ |u|, |ü| --- before a vowel /oi/ |oi| /o~/ |on|, |om| /ao~/ |aon|, |aom| |ü| is used for /w/ in places where |u| is silent. 1st Alternative /O/ |o|, |ö| /u/ |u| /y/ |y| /au/ |au| /y~/ |yn|, |ym| |ö| is used in short syllables, since |o| would otherwise be long when unobstructed. 2nd Alternative /O/ |au|, |o|, |ö| /u/ |o| /y/ |u| /au/ |ao| /y~/ |un|, |um| |o| is used for /O/ only before |rr| or |r|C. |ö| is used in short syllables, since |o| would otherwise be /u/ when unobstructed. Accents There are 3 additional vowel diacritics: ` grave indicates a long unstressed vowel ' acute indicates a stressed vowel ^ circumflex indicates a stressed vowel The circumflex may occur in the last or next-to-last syllable and always indicates HL tone. The acute may occur in any of the last 3 syllables, but is used only when necessary (I haven't figured out all the rules yet). It indicates HL tone in the last syllable and H tone elsewhere. The need to put diacritics on most vowels, especially /y/ is what motivated the 2nd alternative.