Rokadong Phonology

Information about the artlang created by Astaryuu

Rokadong phonology

Consonants

Allophony

/ɾ/ is a highly variable rhotic sound, with five different realizations, however, given that unless certain circumstances apply, the phoneme is realized as an alveolar tap, /ɾ/ is used to signify it:

• Alveolar trill [r], natively known as long r - standard allophone that most often occurs syllable-initially, especially if the prior word or prefix has a coda liquid
• Uvular tap or trill [ʀ̆ ʀ(ː)], natively known as growl r - may replace [ɾ r] particularly in angry or imperative speech.
  • This may be written in Rokadong script using RR but this is a phonetic transcription akin to English "misspellings" like "yer", "Chewsday" etc.; just writing this by itself is a growling onomatopoeia that would translate to "grr" in English specifically and Latin-script writing systems generally.
• Glottal (labialized) trill, natively known as purr r
• This sound is impossible for humans, so it doesn't have an IPA symbol of its own. It can be written as either the "lowered glottal stop" /ʔ̞(ː(ː))/ or "postpharyngeal trill" /ʢ̠(ː)/. Typically this sound is produced with the mouth closed, [ʢ̠ᵐ(ː)], though transcribing this sound with just the glottal trill symbol is also valid considering the sound is impossible for humans anyway. This site will use ʢ̠(ː) to transcribe the purred r.
• Often this sound is geminated compared to the underlying rhotic. It most often occurs in relaxed or calm states, though occasionally this can indicate tense or nervous moods instead.
• This sound may occur on its own as */ʢ̠ː/, transcribed into Rokajang using RRR or MRR. This is equivalent to /mːː/ <mmm> in languages such as English. Both are used both for relaxing states (such as to express that a food being eaten is delicious) and for nervous states (such as expressing worry about an upcoming activity). For humans, the Nangsein purr r could be approximated as /ʢː/ or /ʕːː/, though just using /mːː/ or /r(ˤ)ːː/ would probably be understood as well.
• Alveolar approximant [ɹ(ː)], natively known as vowel r - a rare allophone often found in multilingual areas where Rokadong and a language with /ɹ/ are used, though in native Rokadong speakers even this usually only occurs word-finally

Syllable-initial /j/ is usually realized as [ʝ] or even [ʑ], an especially strong effect if the prior vowel is /i/. It is debatable, then, if /j/ is a true consonant or simply a glide.

Word-final /s, z/ lenite to [θ, ð] in most dialects. This may also occur in syllable codas, though when it happens, it usually only happens if the next syllable is unvoiced.

/s, z, (t)ʃ, dʒ, n/ palatalize to [ʃ~ɕ, ʒ~ʑ, (t)ɕ, dʑ] before /i, j/, though in some dialects this is rarer for /s, z/.

Neutralization

The nasal phonemes /m/ /n/ /ɲ/ and /ŋ/ maintain their contrast in the onset of a syllable (although onset /ŋ/ never occurs in Rokadong native words, only in loanwords), but in the coda, assimilation will occur with the plosive sounds.

The resulting nasal-affricate clusters *[ɲ.tʃ] and *[ɲ.dʒ] cause the affricate to assimilate as well, to /ɲ.tɕ/ and /ɲ.dʑ/. This does not affect orthography though, only pronunciation.

The consonant /h/ is usually only clear between like vowels, often [ɦ] (or, making the adjacent letters breathy-voiced) or dropped entirely elsewhere.

Vowels

These phonemes are prototypically pronounced as in Spanish, with the back vowels rounded and the central and front vowels unrounded.

Allophony

Root morphemes that end in an open syllable with short /a/ get this vowel realized as [ə] instead. Some dialects realize it as [a] in emphatic speech, while others instead take it further, going with [ə] in unstressed open /a/, or even unstressed closed /a/.

Root morphemes that end in /i/ or /u/ may realize as mid [ɪ ~ e ~ ɛ] and [ʊ ~ o ~ ɒ] if that syllable is closed, especially if the vowel is short, though the reverse does not occur. /e/ or /o/ may still have open-mid realizations in these situations, however.

Diphthongs

Rokadong has three native diphthongs: /aj, aw, oj/. /ja, jo, ju/ are also phonemically valid, but before consonants this is typically realized as a palatalized consonant, for example, kyanyar /kjaɲaɾ/ [kʲaɲaɾ ~ caɲaɾ], so these are not considered diphthongs, at least in native words.

The phonemic analysis of the native diphthongs as /aj, aw, oj/ is preferred to /ai, au, oi/ despite being written like the latter because these diphthongs never have a coda after them, so it can be analyzed as if the semivowel is the coda. The three non-native diphthongs may have a coda nasal, but will rarely have a coda that is not a nasal. All diphthongs are phonotactically long.

Dialects

As Rokadong is a fairly widely-spoken language, there are many different dialects. These are frequently grouped into "continental" (found on the mainland of Spectradom), "coastal" (found in coastal and pelagic areas of the Quill Kingdom), and "oceanic" (found on islands far from the mainland of Spectradom). The most attested variant of Rokadong is coastal.

List of dialects

• Coastal Rokadong
• Northern Coastal/Puram Rokadong ("high Rokadong"), found in the montane far-north of mainland Spectradom
• Southern Coastal/Pahang Rokadong ("low Rokadong"), found in the central to southern Quill Kingdom - the prototypical variant
• Continental Rokadong
• Western Continental/Sényandoka ("Sényan speech"), found in the eastern Quill Kingdom
• Southern Continental/Karítadoka ("sketch speech"), found in the Graphite Skyline area
• Oceanic Rokadong
• Polar/Kúshataketeláh ("Snowstorm Island"), found on the far-north island of the same name
• Far Ocean/Yúkatalerabteláh ("Hurricane Islands"), found on the western island chain of the same name
• Tropical Islander/Kairiteláh ("Sugar Islands"), found on the southern tropical island chain of the same name

Dialect variations

In oceanic Rokadong dialects, [s, z] are better described as being in free variation with [θ, ð], unlike the "typical" behavior of there being a phonotactical rule behind it, with one or the other taking priority in all instances. Natively this is referred to as "tékuhasá" (literally "all S"). In Puram Rokadong, [θ, ð] have completely assibilated, where even word and syllable-finally they are [s, z], which is known as "shuzasá" (literally "snake S"). This is similar to ceceo and seseo in Spanish, and has arisen from a similar phenomenon: Old and Middle Rokadong had /θ, s/ [θ~ð, s~z], but assibilation has turned the former into the latter in most cases.

Most oceanic dialects of Rokadong realize /u/ as [ɯ], centralizing to [ɨ] after sibilants and in /ju/.

/ɾ/ has much dialectal variation, as the long r [r] and vowel r [ɹ] are found commonly in some dialects. For example, Karítadoka and Kairiteláh Rokadong use the approximant word-finally, but only the former uses the approximant in other cases. As stated before, the purred (and sometimes growled) r typically become the alveolar trill.

Syllable structure

Rokadong syllables are (C)(j)V(V/C/SR), where C is a consonant, j is /j/, V is a vowel, and SR is a stop-rhotic cluster (though as this is typically realized with an ending schwa). However, note that /ŋ/ and /ʔ/ do not appear in the onset of any native Rokadong words, while /h/ does not appear in the coda of any native Rokadong words, and /ɲ/ only appears in the coda of native Rokadong words as a result of nasal assimilation. /j/ and /w/ may technically appear in the coda of a syllable, but only do so in diphthongs, which are written as if they were /ai/, /au/, and /oi/.

Additionally, the following strings of phonemes are not allowed:

1. Any phoneme followed by itself; if a conflict occurs, one is dropped for consonants, and vowels combine to a long vowel. Long vowels do not become overlong; long vowels may be pronounced as overlong in practice but there is no difference.
2. Two consecutive consonants with the same manner and place of articulation; if a conflict occurs, then the unvoiced consonant is kept if the preceding vowel is short and unstressed, else the voiced consonant is kept.
3. Two nasals, regardless of place of articulation; if a conflict occurs, then the coda nasal is dropped.
4. Two consecutive vowels that only differ in length; if a conflict occurs, then the long vowel is kept. Similarly to the first case, long vowels do not become overlong.
5. The sequences */ji/, */wu/, */wo/, */uw/, */ow/ (without syllabic break), */uo/ (without syllabic break), and */ou/ (without syllabic break), which if needed, either drop the semivowel or become /iː/, /vu/, /vo/, /uv/, /ov/, /oː/ and /oː/ respectively.

Morae and accent

Rokadong morae work as follows:

• The onset does not provide a mora, even if it has /j/.
• The vowel provides one mora, unless it is long or a diphthong, in which case it provides two.
• Phonemes in the coda do not provide a mora unless they are sonorants.

Rokadong is typically described as having mora-timing, though timing may sway more toward syllable-timing in certain dialects or speaking styles. Sényandoka is particularly noted for its syllable-timing, or raisendoka, a result of Sényan vowel length being minimal.

The penultimate vowel is most often the one that gets stressed, known as dunejairi. However, any of the last three syllables in a word could receive the stress, referred to as akajairi for stress on the ultimate vowel, and lenejairi for stress on the antepenultimate vowel.

Rokadong is a dynamic accent language. Pitch accent exists, and is almost always applied to the primary morpheme's stressed vowel - in Pahang Rokadong, this vowel is either a short vowel with high pitch, in which case the next syllable's pitch is falling, or is a long vowel with high-falling pitch, in which case the next syllable has neutral pitch. Other stressed vowels may still be louder than the surrounding syllables. In phonemic transcription, the pitched stress is marked with primary stress and a downstep arrow, while the unpitched stress is marked with secondary stress and no arrow.