Azkali language: Difference between revisions

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== Phonology ==

=== Vowels ===

According to most analyses, Azkali has a modest vowel system of five vowels, notably including the lack of a rounded back mid vowel, instead being unrounded. The estimated number of allophones of these vowels is between ten and twelve, though some dialects have as many as fifteen. Some analyses posit these allophones as phonemic, possibly making Azkali the language with one of the largest vowel systems in the world. The chart shown below describes the Southern Azkali, Eastern Azkali, and Chekearoa dialect vowels, as well as the vowels of Standard Azkali.

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=== Consonants ===

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Contrasting with almost all of the languages that geographically surround it, Azkali has no true voiced stops. The only analog to a voiced stop, romanized as <g>, is a voiced velar lateral affricate ([ɡʟ̝]) in somewhat more than half of all recorded dialects. The other half pronounce it as /g/. Dialects that pronounce g as /ɡʟ̝/ are what are known as ''[[Zigeran (Azkali language)|zigeran]]'' dialects.

The Azkali consonant system is characterized by (1) four nasal phonemes, two of which, the voiced palatal and velar nasals (marked in parentheses in the above table), are fairly uncommon; (2) in most dialects, the lack of voiced stop altogether; (3) in about half of all dialects, the presence of the voiced velar lateral affricate /ɡʟ̝/, an extremely rare phoneme, in the place of a voiced velar stop; (4) the existence of a distinction between lamino-dental and apico-alveolar voiceless sibilant fricatives; (5) the existence of voiceless and voiced dental fricatives; and (6), the distinction between the voiced labialized post-alveolar approximant and the voiced alveolar tap.

The Azkali consonant system is characterized by (1) four nasal phonemes, two of which, the voiced palatal and velar nasals (marked in parentheses in the above table), are fairly uncommon; (2) in most dialects, the lack of voiced stop altogether; (3) in about half of all dialects, the presence of the voiced velar lateral affricate /ɡʟ̝/, an extremely rare phoneme, in the place of a voiced velar stop; (4) the existence of a distinction between lamino-dental and apico-alveolar voiceless sibilant fricatives, a distinction seen in only a handfull of other languages; (5) the existence of voiceless and voiced dental fricatives, possibly due to aereal influences from Loremese; and (6), the distinction between the voiced labialized post-alveolar approximant and the voiced alveolar tap.

The phoneme /h/ is extremely variable — most dialects, including the Otzeipao, Chekearoa, Atzogui(riki), and Kalilondan dialects pronounce it as /h/. However, most inland dialects and the Achari dialect substitute /h/ with it's voiced variant /ɦ/. Further still, Northern dialects and the Hadheri neighborhood of Chekearoa, especially starting around the 1960s, have began to pronounce /h/ as /x/. In most dialects /h/ is pronounced as /x/ in rapid speech, but again this is not a universal phenomenon, as even in rapid speech Otzeipao dialects regularly keep the pronunciation as /h/.

There are a large range of dialects, and many of them have radically different phonetic inventories compared to standard Azkali dialects.

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 == Phonology ==
+=== Vowels ===
 According to most analyses, Azkali has a modest vowel system of five vowels, notably including the lack of a rounded back mid vowel, instead being unrounded. The estimated number of allophones of these vowels is between ten and twelve, though some dialects have as many as fifteen. Some analyses posit these allophones as phonemic, possibly making Azkali the language with one of the largest vowel systems in the world. The chart shown below describes the Southern Azkali, Eastern Azkali, and Chekearoa dialect vowels, as well as the vowels of Standard Azkali.
 {| class="wikitable"
@@ Line 111: / Line 113: @@
 |''a:''
 |}
+=== Consonants ===
 {| class="wikitable"
 |-
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 Contrasting with almost all of the languages that geographically surround it, Azkali has no true voiced stops. The only analog to a voiced stop, romanized as <g>, is a voiced velar lateral affricate ([ɡʟ̝]) in somewhat more than half of all recorded dialects. The other half pronounce it as /g/. Dialects that pronounce g as /ɡʟ̝/ are what are known as ''[[Zigeran (Azkali language)|zigeran]]'' dialects.
-The Azkali consonant system is characterized by (1) four nasal phonemes, two of which, the voiced palatal and velar nasals (marked in parentheses in the above table), are fairly uncommon; (2) in most dialects, the lack of voiced stop altogether; (3) in about half of all dialects, the presence of the voiced velar lateral affricate /ɡʟ̝/, an extremely rare phoneme, in the place of a voiced velar stop; (4) the existence of a distinction between lamino-dental and apico-alveolar voiceless sibilant fricatives; (5) the existence of voiceless and voiced dental fricatives; and (6), the distinction between the voiced labialized post-alveolar approximant and the voiced alveolar tap.
+The Azkali consonant system is characterized by (1) four nasal phonemes, two of which, the voiced palatal and velar nasals (marked in parentheses in the above table), are fairly uncommon; (2) in most dialects, the lack of voiced stop altogether; (3) in about half of all dialects, the presence of the voiced velar lateral affricate /ɡʟ̝/, an extremely rare phoneme, in the place of a voiced velar stop; (4) the existence of a distinction between lamino-dental and apico-alveolar voiceless sibilant fricatives, a distinction seen in only a handfull of other languages; (5) the existence of voiceless and voiced dental fricatives, possibly due to aereal influences from Loremese; and (6), the distinction between the voiced labialized post-alveolar approximant and the voiced alveolar tap.
+The phoneme /h/ is extremely variable — most dialects, including the Otzeipao, Chekearoa, Atzogui(riki), and Kalilondan dialects pronounce it as /h/. However, most inland dialects and the Achari dialect substitute /h/ with it's voiced variant /ɦ/. Further still, Northern dialects and the Hadheri neighborhood of Chekearoa, especially starting around the 1960s, have began to pronounce /h/ as /x/. In most dialects /h/ is pronounced as /x/ in rapid speech, but again this is not a universal phenomenon, as even in rapid speech Otzeipao dialects regularly keep the pronunciation as /h/.
 There are a large range of dialects, and many of them have radically different phonetic inventories compared to standard Azkali dialects.