Aud̄d̄aun̄yo Phonology
The consonant inventory of Aud̄d̄aun̄yo is fairly complex, whilst the vowel inventory is fairly small. Meanwhile the phonotactics are fairly simple, albeit with some substantial sandhi processes
Aud̄d̄aun̄yo Consonants
consonants are listed here in their standard romanised orthography
all consonants except w & y can be geminated in which case they are written twice. If the consonant is written as a digraph, only the first character is repeated
horizontal bars mark either fricatives or dentals
dots mark emphatic (ejective) consonants or uvulars
acute accents mark lateral fricatives or palatal nasals
carons mark palatal fricatives
Aud̄d̄aun̄yo Vowels
vowels here are shown in their standard romanised orthography
macrons mark long vowels
grave accents mark short low-mid vowels
carons mark long low-mid vowels
ai and au are pronounced [aɪ̯] and [aʊ̯] respectively
Aud̄d̄aun̄yo Phonotactics
The possible syllables are:
CV̆
CV̄
CV̆+
CV̄+
CV̆K
where C is any consonant, V̆ is a short vowel (including diphthongs), V̄ is a long vowel, + is used for a coda consonant matching the onset of the following vowel, K is any consonant other than w or y
w & y are not allowed in the coda, but are sometimes morphologically expected to occur in them. In these cases, the semivowel contracts with the preceding vowel resulting in raising (and fronting or backing depending on the semivowel)
In colloquial speech, and in pausa, final short monophthongs are usually dropped, with final long monophthongs shortening, and final rising vowels (diphthongs) contracted to the corresponding low-mid short vowel. This can lead to final consonant clusters although if these are difficult for the speaker, a short vowel /a/ may be inserted between the two consonants
Aud̄d̄aun̄yo Sandhi
affricates lose their fricative when followed by a dental, alveolar, or palatal fricative
glottals are lost following another consonant, causing gemination of that consonant instead
most consonants (all except approximants or trills) assimilate in place of articulation to a following “close” consonants (provided that consonant is also not an approximant or trill)
dentals are close to both alveolars (e.g. t̄s > ts, d̄ś > dś)
alveolars are close to each other, dentals, and palatals (e.g. ṣt̄ > ṯ̣t̄, sc > šc)
palatals are close to both alveolars and velars (e.g. št > st, cḵ > kḵ)
velars are close to palatals and uvulars (e.g. kš > cš, ḵq > q̄q)
uvulars are close to velars and glottals (e.g. q̄k > ḵk, q̄’ > h’)
glottals are close to uvulars (e.g. hq > q̄q)
if two consonants in a cluster are close but the first cannot assimilate due to a gap in the phonology, the second consonant assimilates instead (e.g. tst̄ > tst, ġh > ġq̄)
if two consonants (again not approximants or trills) are “close” and share manner of articulation, they also assimilate voicing reducing the cluster to gemination (voicing is dominant, emphatic/ejective intermediate, and voicelessness is recessive) i.e.
ss > ss
sṣ > ṣṣ
sz > zz
ṣs > ṣṣ
ṣṣ > ṣṣ
ṣz > zz
zs > zz
zṣ > zz
zz > zz
Aud̄d̄aun̄yo Orthography
So far we have used the standard romanised orthography. Additionally, in dictionaries, class vowels are frequently marked with an underdot
There is additionally a native orthography but this is so far a complete WIP