Phonology Afitti language

1 phonology

1.1 consonant system
1.2 vowel system
1.3 tone , stress
1.4 syllable structure

phonology
the consonant system

the table below displays consonants of afitti; sounds in parentheses of uncertain phonemic status.

afitti has nasals , plosives @ 4 places of articulation: aveolar, bilabial, velar, , palatal. plosives have voicing contrast found in word-initial position. distinction lost in intervocalic position neutralization in favor of voiced variant. majority of plosives voiceless in final position due devoicing process affecting other sounds well.

no words begin voiceless bilabial plosive , final voiceless stops unreleased, these variants occur in free variation released allophone. aveolar , dental stops appear in free variation. dental variant appears speakers if wish stress consonant being pronounced. nasals occur in positions, including syllabic nasals. assimilate following consonant. when word-initial velar nasal follows word-final, voiceless velar stop, stop unreleased , voiced. liquids /l/ , /r/, plosives, tend become devoiced in word-final position. both /l/ , /r/ devoiced allophones can mistaken fricative because of heavy airflow. nasals, liquids have syllabic variant. syllabic /r/ common in language , found in monosyllabic words in word-final position. syllabic /l/, on other hand, rare , unattested in word-initial position. consonant central resonant /r/, opposed /l/, however, not found in word- initial position , changes retroflex flap intervocalically. whenever /r/ occurs in word-initial position, in words borrowed words arabic , other languages. allophonic flap , /l/ confused flap can found following consonant (and preceding vowel), position /l/ absent, 1 of rare cases sequence of consonants can found. lateral liquid found in word-initial, intervocalic , word-final position , palatalized. palatalization leads fricated voiceless palatal release speakers when in word-final position.

the fricatives /s/ , /f/ voiceless but, in instances, vary voiced counterparts. occur word , intervocalically, loanwords possess fricatives in word-final position. /s/ palatalized (realized [ʃ]) before high front vowel /i/.

the vowel system

the table below illustrates vowels of afitti; symbols in parentheses represent prominent allophones of phoneme beside appear.

afitti has 6 vowels have allophonic variation predicted syllable structure. vowels relatively short in afitti occasional lengthening occurring in stressed syllables. furthermore, vowels shorter in closed syllables in open syllables. in closed syllables, vowels become open , centralized. schwa, however, short , limited in distribution, never being found in word-final position. remains short when syllable stressed , in such cases consonant follows may geminated.

combinations of 2 vowels common in afitti , include combinations second vowel schwa. there no clear (level) diphthongs , vowels given individual tones can analyzed part of different syllables. sequences of 3 or more vowels not found within confines of 1 word.

tone , stress

afitti tone language stress. tonal minimal pairs attested monosyllabic, bisyllabic, , trisyllabic words. in longer, however, words stress seems play more important role. stressed syllable marked combination of volume, duration , change in tone, rather tone alone. afitti has 2 phonemic tones clear , strong downdrift, no third tone or downstep. shortening of syllables ending in /r/ has led many words have intervocalic flap following schwa or syllabic /r/. schwa omitted altogether speakers reducing word 1 syllable , possibly eliminating tone. when reduction occurs, 1 tone assimilated neighboring tone, keeping tonal pattern intact.

syllable structure

afitti has both closed , open syllables. syllables may closed liquid, nasal or stop. single-segment syllables may consist of (syllabic) liquid, (syllabic) nasal, or vowel. syllables include combinations of vowel , consonant there few consonant clusters. nasals precede consonants syllabic – there no nasal-consonant sequences or prenasalized segments. liquids follow fricatives or consonants preceded schwa speakers, in many cases realized (exceptionally) consonant clusters. there no tautosyllabic consonants follow liquids or fricatives , nasals not follow other consonants. words contain one, 2 or 3 syllables, verbs may contain many 8 or more.