Dhməhyēn Phonology – Languages of Fertis

Phonetic Inventory

	Labial	Alveolar	Palato-Velar	Velar	Labio-Velar	Pharyngeal	Glottal
Plosives	p/b/bʱ	t/d/dʱ	kʲ/gʲ/gʲʱ	k/g/gʱ	kʷ/gʷ/gʷʱ		ʔ
Fricatives		s			ɣʷ	ħ
Approximants		l, ɾ	j		w
Nasals	m	n

Consonant Inventory

	Front	Back
High	I, iː	u, uː
Low	e, eː	o, oː

Vowel Inventory

[γ^w], [ħ], and [ʔ] are collectively called the laryngeals. In many cases they are syllabic and treated as a kind of half-schwas. In daughter languages, they color the quality of nearby vowels and occasionally develop into vowels, but they do not appear as laryngeals in any daughter language. The pronunciations given here are a guess based on the most common way they affect the vowels around them.

The symbols listed in the tables above are phonetic symbols. These will be used to transcribe Dhməhyēn words, but not to write them. To write them, we utilize a romanization system (below) that should make the pronunciation fairly transparent. The following sounds will be written using the same letter as their phonetic symbol: p, b, w, m, t, d, s, l, n, k, g, ħ, ʔ, i, e, u, and o.

Romanization and Pronunciation

This is the romanization system, which will be used to spell the language using the Roman alphabet. The full system is described in detail below. Where the romanization uses a different symbol than the IPA above, the IPA will be given:

B, b: Pronounced like the “b” in “bad”.
Bh, bh: [bʱ] Pronounced like the “bh” in Sanskrit “bhārata.” In English this sounds like the sound b pronounced while heavily sighing.
D, d: Pronounced like the “d” in “diet”.
Dh, dh: [dʱ] Pronounced like the “dh” in Sanskrit “dharma.” In English this sounds like the sound d pronounced while heavily sighing.
E, e: Pronounced like the “a” in “fate”.
Ē, ē: Pronounced like the “e” in “fate,” but held slightly longer.
G, g: Pronounced like the “g” in “goat” (never like the “g” in “genius”).
Gh, gh: [gʱ] Pronounced like the “gh” in Sanskrit “ghaṭa” (never like the “gh” in “ghost”). In English this sounds like the sound g while heavily sighing.
Ghw, ghw: [g^wʱ] This sound does not appear in English. It is best approximated by pronouncing the sound gwwhile heavily sighing.
Ghy, ghy: [g^jʱ] This sound does not occur in English, it is best approximated by making the sound gh immediately followed by the y sound.
Gw, gw: [g^w] Pronounced like the “gw” in “Gwenivere.”
Gy, gy: [g^j] Pronounced like the “ge” in “gear” (never like the “g” in “genius”). This sound is produced by making the g immediately followed by the y sound.
ɣ, ɣ: [γ^w] Pronounced like the “gh” in Arabic “ghazal,” except with lips rounded as if making in o sound. It is similar to a choking sound.
Ħ, ħ: Pronounced like the “ḥ” in Biblical Hebrew “ḥesed.” It is similar to a heavily emphasized “h” as in English “help.”
I, i: Pronounced like the “i” in “machine”.
Ī, ī: Pronounced like the “i” in “machine”, but held slightly longer.
K, k: Pronounced like the “k” in “skin” (In English an initial “k” is aspirated. Compare the “k” in “keep” and the “k” in “skin.” The Dhməħyēn k should always be pronounced like the “k” in “skin”; never like the “k” in “keep”).
Ky, ky: [k^j] Pronounced like the “c” in “cure” (However, this sound is not aspirated aspiration. Hold your hand in front of your mouth and try pronouncing “cure” without a puff of air hitting your hand.)
Kw, kw: [k^w] Pronounced like the “qu” in “queen” (However, this sound is not aspirated aspiration. Hold your hand in front of your mouth and try pronouncing “queen” without a puff of air hitting your hand.)
L, l: Pronounced like the “l” in “love”.
M, m: Pronounced like the “m” in “matter”.
N, n: Pronounced like the “n” in “never”.
O, o: Pronounced like the “o” in “tote”.
Ō, ō: Pronounced like the “o” in “tote,” but held slightly longer.
P, p: Pronounced like the “p” in “spin” (In English an initial “p” is aspirated. Compare the “p” in “pin” and the “p” in “spin.” The Dhmħyen p should always be pronounced like the “p” in “spin”; never like the “p” in “pin”).
R, r: [ɾ] Pronounced like the “r” in Spanish “pero”. Nearly identical to the “t” or “d” sound in American English “rider” (pronounced quickly).
S, s: Pronounced like the “s” in “sad”.
T, t: Pronounced like the “t” in “stake” (In English an initial “t” is aspirated. Compare the “t” in “take” and the “t” in “stake.” The Dhmħyen t should always be pronounced like the “t” in “stake”; never like the “t” in “take”).
U, u: Pronounced like the “u” in “ruminate”.
Ū, ū: Pronounced like the “u” in “ruminate”, but held slightly longer.
W, w: Pronounced like the “w” in “walk”
Y, y: [j] Pronounced like the “y” in “yet”.
ʔ: Pronounced just like the silence between the words “uh” and “oh” in English “uh-oh”. It will occur naturally in a string of vowels pronounced separately in English. If one stops all airflow mid-vowel and starts again, it will occur.
Double Consonants: Doubled consonants, or geminates, occur very infrequently in Dhməħyēn. To pronounce a doubled consonant, pronounce it twice. You might think of it as hanging onto the consonant. Think of the “n” sound you pronounce in “pen knife”. It’s a longer “n” than if you pronounce the similar phrase “penny”. The same goes for the doubled consonants of Dhməħyēn.

Stress

Dhməhyen has lexical accent, that is the location of the accent is not determined according to phonological rules. Due to morphological ablaut rules, if there is an e in the word, the stress most often occurs on it. Stress is not marked in the romanization but see the IPA entry in the lexicon (not yet published) to determine stress if there is any doubt.

Syllable and Word Structure

The maximum syllable structure in Dhməhyēn is: {s, H}CCVCC, where H = ʔ, h, and ɣ (also called Laryngeals).

Consonant clusters within a syllable follow the sonority hierarchy: obstruent – nasal – liquid – glide – vowel – glide – liquid – nasal – obstruent.
There are never two consonants of the same sonority class in a cluster within a syllable (except in the case of initial s-).
Word final –s is allowed outside the normal syllable structure rules.

When a transformation would result in an illegal syllable (such as ablaut leaving a zero-grade vowel), one of the following consonants may become syllabic: ʔ, h, ɣ, m, n, l, r, y, and w. This is noted by inserting a ə before the consonant. If none of these consonants are present, a syllabic ʔ may be inserted. Typically, this is the consonant following the deleted vowel. Although when this is an illegal consonant, the nearest legal consonant syllabifies. Syllabic y is written as i, syllabic w is written as u. (Note: In all cases, the vowels i and u represent a syllabified vowel, because there are many words in which they exhibit no alternation in any grammatical form however, these have been reanalyzed as vowels.)