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Yalbi

A language based on Ithkuil with the goal of preserving sanity

Phonology

Yalbi’s phonology is quite barebones compared to Ithkuil, having only 18 consonants, five vowels, and four diphthongs.

Consonants

Labial Alveolar Postalveolar Velar/Uvular Glottal
Nasal m n
Plosive voiceless p t k
voiced b d g
Fricative voiceless f s c x h
voiced v z j
Approximant l
Rhotic r

Consonant Pronunciation

Romanization IPA Description
b /b/ voiced bilabial plosive, as in bad
c /ʃ/ voiceless postalveolar fricative, as in shed
d /d/ voiced dental/alveolar/postalveolar plosive, as in dad
f /f~ɸ/ voiceless labiodental/bilabial fricative, as in fill
g /g~ɢ/ voiced velar/uvular plosive, as in garden
h /h/ voiceless glottal fricative, as in hat
j /ʒ/ voiced postalveolar fricative, as in measure
k /k/ voiceless velar/uvular plosive, as in cow
l /l/ alveolar lateral approximant, as in lie
m /m/ bilabial nasal, as in mom
n /n~ŋ/ dental/alveolar/velar nasal, as in ten or thing
p /p/ voiceless bilabial plosive, as in pal
r /r~ɾ~ɹ~ʀ~ʁ~ɽ/ rhotic consonant, as in red
s /s/ voiceless alveolar sibilant, as in soon
t /t/ voiceless dental/alveolar/postalveolar fricative, as in time
v /v~β/ voiced labiodental/bilabial fricative, as in very
x /x~χ/ voiceless velar/uvular fricative (no English equivalent)
z /z/ voiced alveolar sibilant, as in zig-zag

The letter sequences ts, dz, tc, and dj may be pronounced as affricates.

Vowels

Front Back
High i u
Mid e o
Low a

The vowel combinations ai, ei, oi, and au are pronounced as diphthongs in Yalbi.

ia, ie, io, iu, ua, ue, ui, and uo may be pronounced either as diphthongs or as separate syllables.

Vowel Pronunciation

Romanization IPA description
a /a~ä~ɑ/ open unrounded vowel, as in father
e /ɛ/ open-mid front unrounded vowel, as in fed
i /i~ɪ~j/ close front or near-close near-front unrounded vowel, as in feet or fit; can also be pronounced as a palatal approximant as in yes
o /o̞~o~oʊ/ mid back rounded vowel, as in no
u /u~ʊ~w/ close back or near-close near-back rounded vowel, as in food or put; can also be pronounced as a labiovelar approximant as in well

Diphthongs

These vowel conjuncts are always pronounced as diphthongs.

Optional Diphthongs

These vowel conjuncts may be pronounced either as diphthongs, as separate syllables, or as an approximant followed by a vowel. The timing of the transition does not matter.

Romanization IPA
ia /ia~ja/
ie /iɛ~jɛ/
io /io~jo/
iu /iu~ju/
ua /ua~wa/
ue /uɛ~wɛ/
ui /ui~wi/
uo /uo~wo/

For syllable stress purposes, these count as diphthongs. Only the second letter can carry an acute accent for tone marking.

Disyllabic vowel conjuncts

The vowel combinations oa and oe are always pronounced as two separate syllables.

The following three-vowel conjuncts may be pronounced either as a diphthong followed by a vowel, or as a vowel followed by a diphthong:

Stress

Syllable stress is not morphologically significant in Yalbi.

Two-syllable words are stressed on the first syllable.
Words with three or more syllables are stressed on the second syllable.

Tone

Yalbi has two tone registers: falling and rising. Falling tone is the default and is not marked. Rising tone can be indicated in a number of ways:

Neither syllable stress nor tone is morphologically significant. Each word type has its own stress rules. Tone is used to convey grammatical information or for emphasis. [TODO]

Phonotactics

Readers who are not interested in helping to develop Yalbi or who do not care for formal linguistic stuff may want to skip this section. Additionally, everything described below is very likely to be revised later.

The phonotactics listed below are written by a complete newbie and probably have a ton of flaws. If you find something in here that seems really hard to pronounce, or notice something simple that I’ve missed, or find a Yalbi word that does not follow these rules, please submit an issue or notify me some other way.

Syllables consist of three parts: onset, nucleus, and coda. Additionally, all words must obey certain phonotactic constraints. Unless otherwise stated, the glottal fricative h is not included in any generalized group below, and r is considered an approximant.

Syllable Onset

The onset of a syllable can follow any of these patterns:

Alternatively, if the syllable is not word-initial and is preceded by an empty coda, a syllable onset may be empty.

These rules permit a total of 93 syllable onsets (not including the empty onset).

Syllable Nucleus

The nucleus of a syllable can follow any of these patterns:

Syllable Coda

Alternatively, the syllable coda may be empty.

These rules permit a total of 135 syllable codas.

Phonotactic Constraints

The following phonotactic rules must be obeyed: