Gotevian Phonology
This is a brief overview of the basic phonology of the “standard” dialect of Gotevian (also known as the Tyaelm dialect, or eastern dialect). Other dialects include Kerm (Western) and Mera (a dialect spoken on the islands off the southern coast of Gotevi).
Consonants
| Bilabial | Labio- dental |
Dental | Alveolar | Palatal- alveolar |
Palatal | Velar | Glottal | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Stop | p b | t d | k g | |||||
| Fricative | f v | θ ð | ʃ | x | h | |||
| Approximate | w | j | ||||||
| Nasal | m | n | ŋ | |||||
| Trill | r | |||||||
| Lateral Approximate |
l |
ʃ only exists in borrow words from Baen.
Vowels
Diphthongs
- oi
- ou
- ai
- ae
- au
- eu
- ei
Stress Parameters
- For words of words of two syllables, the stress is on the first syllable.
- For words of three or more syllables, the stress is on the penultimate syllable (second from last) if: there is a diphthong on the penultimate syllable and/or if there is a consonantal coda on the penultimate and a consonantal onset on the last syllable.
If neither of the above two criteria is met, the stress for a word of three or more syllables is on the antepenultimate (third from last) syllable.
Phonotactics
- Possible onsets for word-initial syllables: all consonants except ŋ
- Possible codas for word-final syllables: all except h, j, and w
- Possible consonant clusters: Initial: stop + l, stop + r, stop + j; f + r, l; d + l
Allophonic Rules
- [+voiced] → [+voiceless] / __ [+voiceless]
- j → ɕ / t__
- l → ɬ / [+alveolar stop]
- ou → oː /__#
- ae → ai /__#
- ei → eː /__#
- dɛl ‘all’
- dɛr ‘bread’
- fad ‘beard’
- fas ‘dorsal area’
- rɛl ‘bowl’
- rɛs ‘arm’
- rɛθ ‘bed’
- irta ‘spider’
- irθa ‘cobweb’
- alul ‘birchwood’
- ajul ‘condition’
- aril ‘hair’
- anil ‘swan’
- fina ‘holy’
- bina ‘bitter’