Wanisinese Wanisini Phonology

Diachronics



Modern Wanisinese (c. 10000 wanpo) is derived from Illeran through the following sound and orthographic changes, applied in order:

  • /e/ or /i/ to <'> (contraction) when between two hard plosives (/p/, /b/, /k/, or /g/) and flanked by two short vowels, e.g. alemaní -> al'mani
  • uninflected nouns written with a final <e> instead of <u>, e.g. naru -> nare
  • /ape/ to /ap/ except at the end of words, e.g. apelí -> aplí
  • <ú> to <ou>, e.g. shúthíma -> shouthíma
  • long vowels (<é>, <í>, <ú>) to short vowels (except terminal <é>), e.g. adazílesta -> adazilesta
  • circumflexed vowels (<ê>, <ô>, <û>) to short vowels, e.g. ôn- -> on-
  • <ue> and <oue> to <u> and <ou> resp., causing some neuter nouns to regain terminal <u>, e.g. rekúu -> rekou
  • otherwise <ou> to /w/ before a vowel, e.g. kúo -> kwo (but not wúo to *wwo)
  • lenited hard plosives (<ph>, <bh>, <kh>, <gh>) lose lenition, e.g. khosarí -> kosari
  • <th> to <s>, <dh> to <z>, e.g. Akasha -> Akasa
  • <pf> to <f>
  • <ai> to <a> at the start of words, <ai> to <i> elsewhere
  • <ei> to <i>
  • <oi> to <o>
  • <qr> to <r>
  • <dt> to <r>
  • <ñ> to <n> (but still read as /ŋ/ before /k/ or /g/)
  • <zh> to <z> and <sh> to <s>
  • <dzh> to <zh> and <tsh> to <sh>
  • <dz> to <d> and <ts> to <t>
  • <g> to <y> before <l>
  • <sri> to <si> and <zri> to <zi>
  • <str> to <sr> and <ztr> to <zr>, e.g. Deztra -> Dezra
  • <h> to <'> between two vowels
  • deletion of <'> between two identical hard plosives (<k>, <g>, <p>, or <b>)
  • assimilation of <mn> to <mm>
  • <rz> to <zz>
  • <kwi> to <qu> and <kw> to <qu>
  • deletion of <i> when after <ek> and before another vowel, e.g. akekía -> akeka
  • deletion of <i> when after <zr> and before another vowel
  • deletion of nasals (<n>, <m>, <ñ>) before a plosive (<t>, <d>, <p>, <b>, <k>, <g>)
  • <ni> to <n> when before <t> or <d>
  • <ldr> to <dd>
  • <lt> and <ld> to <tt> and <dd>, respectively
  • lenition of <tr> to <sh>
  • assimilation of <dr> to <dd>
  • <pr> to <phr> (/fr/)
  • <br> to <vr>
  • <dl> and <lr> to <ll>
  • <i> to <y> after a consonant and before a vowel, e.g. steníu -> stenye, except <si> to <shi> before another vowel, e.g. nasíú -> nashiou

  • Inventory and Orthography




    Latin orthographyIPA
    aɑ
    eɛ
    i
    o
    uʊ
    ou
    é
    yj
    ww


    Latin orthographyIPA
    tt
    ss
    shʃ
    dd
    zz
    zhʒ
    kk
    qk
    qukw


    Latin orthographyIPA
    gg
    pp
    ff
    bb
    vv
    phpf
    rɹ
    ll

    THE MEMORY OF THE CITY
    TSHENTWIDHILDA IL TSHELVANÍ DOISSEIA
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