Phonology
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Phonemes
Consonants
Hisyëö has 16 consonants and 1 null consonant which is necessary for the alphasyllabary but you can optionally include a ⟨ ꞌ ⟩ character in Latin representations too.
| Hisyëö | Latin | IPA | Transliteration Sources |
|---|---|---|---|
| ⟨ɽ⟩ | ⟨ ꞌ ⟩ | / . / | glottal stops & hiatus: ʔ . |
| ⟨ɂ⟩ | ⟨h⟩ | /h/ ~ / x / | back fricatives: x χ ʁ ʀ ħ ʕ h ɦ ʢ ʜ ɧ |
| ⟨ɔ⟩ | ⟨k⟩ | / k / ~ /q/ | voiceless back plosives: k q c |
| ⟨ꜿ⟩ | ⟨g⟩ | / ɡ͈ / ~ /ɢ/ | voiced back plosives: g ɢ ʡ ɣ |
| ⟨c⟩ | ⟨ t ⟩ | / t / | voiceless front plosives: t ʈ |
| ⟨ꞇ⟩ | ⟨z⟩ | /t͡ʃ/ ~ / t͡ɕ / | voiceless affricates: t͡s t͡ʃ t͡ɕ ʈ͡ʂ |
| ⟨ɐ⟩ | ⟨s⟩ | / s̟ / | alveolar sibilants: s z |
| ⟨ɋ⟩ | ⟨x⟩ | / ʃ / ~ /ʂ/ | palatal fricatives: ʃ ʒ ʂ ʐ ç ɕ ʑ |
| ⟨ʌ⟩ | ⟨d⟩ | / d / | voiced alveolar plosives: d ɖ |
| ⟨ⱴ⟩ | ⟨ ȷ ⟩ | /d͡ʒ/ ~ / d͡ʑ / | voiced affricates: d͡z d͡ʒ d͡ʑ ɖ͡ʐ ɟ |
| ⟨ʋ⟩ | ⟨p⟩ | / p / | labial plosives: b p |
| ⟨ɤ⟩ | ⟨v⟩ | /β/ ~ / v / | labio-dental fricatives: ɸ β f v θ ð |
| ⟨ƶ⟩ | ⟨m⟩ | / m / | labial nasals: m ɱ |
| ⟨ƨ⟩ | ⟨n⟩ | / n / | other nasals: n ɳ ɲ ŋ ɴ |
| ⟨ʒ⟩ | ⟨w⟩ | / w / | labial approximants: w ɥ ʋ |
| ⟨ʓ⟩ | ⟨ l ⟩ | / l / ~ /ɺ/ | alve./retro approx./taps/trills: ɹ ɻ l ɭ ɺ ɬ ɮ r ɾ ɽ |
| ⟨ɀ⟩ | ⟨y⟩ | / j / | patalal/velar approximants: j ʝ ʎ ɰ ʟ |
- For all phonemes, there is some flexibility in the position, voicing, aspiration, etc. to accommodate learners who speak languages that may pronounce these sounds differently
- Words beginning with a vowel can begin with or without a glottal stop [ʔ] pronounced, at the discretion of the speaker.
- The coda-/n/ can be realized as (1) nasalization of the preceding vowel, (2) it can assimilate to the position of the following sound, i.e. /n/ → [m, n, ɲ, ŋ, ɴ] based on the position of the following or (3) coda-/n/ is pronounced [n] in all places.
- The coda-/k/ is often realized without any audible release [k̚]
- However, when coda-/k/ is preceding /y/ or /w/ then it is realized as a back fricative [x]
- The coda-/t/ is often realized without any audible release [t̚]
- However, when coda-/t/ is preceding /y/ or /w/ then it is realized with aspiration [tʰ]
- The coda-/s/ is often realized as [z] in word final position
- The /h/ is often realized as [ç] when preceding /i/ or /u/ vowels.
Vowels
| Hisyëö | Latin | IPA | Transliteration Sources |
|---|---|---|---|
| ⟨o⟩ | /ɑ/ | open-back unrounded vowels: a ɑ ɐ | |
| ⟨ ı ⟩ | ⟨ö⟩ | /ɔ/ | open-back-close-back rounded vowels: ɶ ɒ ɞ ɔ o ɵ |
| ⟨ ʄ ⟩ | ⟨ü⟩ | /u/ | back close vowels: u ʉ ʊ ɯ |
| ⟨ ȷ ⟩ | ⟨ı⟩ | /ɪ/ | central near-close-mid vowels: ɪ ʏ ɨ ɘ |
| ⟨ ɟ ⟩ | ⟨i⟩ | /i/ | front close vowels: i y |
| ⟨ ɿ ⟩ | ⟨e⟩ | /ɛ/ | front/central unrounded near-open-mid vowels: ɛ ɜ æ |
| ⟨ ʇ ⟩ | ⟨ë⟩ | /e/ | front close-mid vowels: e ø |
Phonotactics
Syllable structure is (C)V(C) where only these codas are allowed:
- /k/
- /t/
- / t͡ɕ/
- /s/
- /n/
- /l/
All codas cannot be followed by their same phoneme as the onset of the next syllable. There are also some additional instances where certain onsets are not allowed following certain codas:
- coda-/k/ cannot be followed by onset-/g/
- coda-/t/ cannot be followed by onset-/d/ or onset-/ʃ/
- coda-/ t͡ɕ/ cannot be followed by onset-/s/
- coda-/s/ cannot be followed by onset-/ʃ/
- onset-/h/ cannot exist after any coda
Strong vowels are slightly geminated compared to the weak vowels:
| Strong | Weak | |
|---|---|---|
| Abugida | (null), ⟨ı⟩, ⟨ʄ⟩, ⟨ɟ⟩, ⟨ʇ⟩ | ⟨ʃ⟩, ⟨ȷ⟩, ⟨ɿ⟩ |
| Latin | ⟨o⟩, ⟨ö⟩, ⟨ü⟩, ⟨i⟩, ⟨ë⟩ | ⟨u⟩, ⟨ı⟩, ⟨e⟩ |
Prosody
Emphasis is a slight pitch prominence and increased loudness. Length is only influenced by vowel strength. In two syllable words, the stress is placed on the first syllable regardless of the vowels present. In three syllable words, stress is placed on the second syllable if the first vowel is weak and the second syllable is strong.
Either an unvoiced pause or a voiced clause ender are used to mark the ending of a ta- or te-clause. Sentence endings are also just slightly longer pauses and/or sentence ender particles.
Word restrictions
All of the dictionary words of Hisyëö (not including proper nouns or loanwords, etc.) are either one-, two- or three-syllables long. There are no minimal pairs that contrast using any “conflicting phonemes”.
Consonant Conflicts
- /p/ with /v/ and /t/
- /k/ with /h/ and /g/
- /g/ with /h/, /k/, and /d/
- /t/ with /d/, / t͡ɕ/, /s/, /n/, and /p/
- / t͡ɕ/ with /d͡ʒ/, /t/
- /d/ with /t/, /g/, and /d͡ʒ/
- /d͡ʒ/ with / t͡ɕ/ and /d/
- /s/ with /v/, / t͡ɕ/, and /t/
- /x/ with /s/ and /v/, and / t͡ɕ/
- /v/ with /s/, /x/, /p/, and /w/
- /h/ with Ø, /k/, and /g/
- /m/ with /n/
- /n/ with /m/
- Ø (null onset) with /h/, /k/, and /g/
- /w/ with Ø, /v/, and /l/
- /l/ with /j/ and /w/
- /j/ with Ø and /l/
Vowel Conflicts
- /ɑ/ with /ə/ and /ı/
- /æ/ with /ı/ and /ə/
- /ı/ with /ɑ/, /i/, and /e/
- /ə/ with /ɑ/, /ɔ/, and /æ/
- /ɔ/ with /u/ and /ə/
- /e/ with /ı/ and /i/
- /i/ with /e/ and /ı/
- /u/ with /ɔ/
This means that two words that differ by one sound cannot have any of these conflicting phonemes as the differing sounds. For example, since yöcno
is a Hisyëö word, there are no words like yözmo, yözto or özno also in the language because they differ by one phoneme that conflicts with a phoneme in yöcno.