Qohenje Consonants

Header division
LABIAL LABIO-DENTAL ALVEOLAR PALATAL VELAR GLOTTAL
VOICELESS STOP p ṗ t   k ‘
VOICED (PRE-NASAL) STOP b ḃ d   g  
NASAL m ṁ n   ŋ  
FRICATIVE ɸ f s sj x h / ḥ
AFFRICATE     c cj q  
LIQUID     l      
TAP     r      
APPROXIMANT w / ẉ     j / ĵ    

Pronunciation (comparative explanations)

Stand. Trans. IPA     Stand. Trans. IPA  
p p like English "p" although without the puff of air following (unaspirated). Like the "p" in "spin"   sj ç Like English "sh", but with the tongue further back along the top palate.
b ᴺb like English "m", followed by an English "b" (mb)   c c Like an English "t" followed by an English "s". Like the final sequence in "cats".
m m like English "m"   cj tç Like the English "ch" but with the tongue further back along the top palate.
ɸ ɸ Like Japanese "f". Between the lips, like the gesture of blowing out a candle   l l Like the English "l" in "wall" (a 'dark l')
w / ẉ w Like English "w"   r ɾ Lightly tapped, like (a light) Spanish "r".
ṗ ƥ Like a "p" pronounced in the lip position for "f", and without a puff of air after it. (English has no sound like this.)   j / ĵ j Like English "y"
ḃ ɓ Like a Qohenje "ṁ", followed by a "b" pronounced in the lip position for "v". (English has no sound like this.)   k k Like English "k", but without the puff of air (unaspirated). Like "k" in "skill".
ṁ ɱ Like an "m", produced in the lip position for "v". (English has no sound like this)   g ᴺg Like an English "ng", followed by an English "g" (ngg). E.g., the "ng" in "finger".
f f Like English "f" (distinct from Qohenje ɸ)   ŋ ŋ Like the English "ng" in "sing"
t t like English "t", but without the puff of air after it (unaspirated). Like the "t" in "stop".   x x Between the German "ch" in "acht", or the Scots "ch" in "loch", and the French "r".
d ᴺd like an English "n", followed by an English "d" (nd).   q kx A Qohenje "k" followed by a Qohenje "x". This sound is probably the hardest Qohenje consonant. It sounds a little like the sequence "cr" in French "craie".
n n Like English "n".   ‘ ˀ This is a glottal stop, like the "tt" in Cockney "bottle", or the sound between the two "a"s in the admonition "a a, no you don't!"
s s Like English "s"   h / ḥ h Like English "h".

 

Transcription

Note the non-standard use of the following roman characters:

  • c for [ts]
  • b for [mb]
  • d for [nd]
  • g for [ŋg]
  • q for [kx]

and the marked or otherwise unusual letters:

  • ṗ/ƥ for the voiceless labiodental stop (there is no standard IPA symbol)
  • ḃ/ɓ for the prenasal (voiced) labiodental stop
  • ṁ/ɱ for the labiodental nasal
  • ŋ / ŋ for the velar nasal
  • ϕ / ϕ for the bilabial voiceless fricative

The following Qohenje digraphs have particular pronunciations:

  • sj = [ç]
  • cj = [tç]
  • ĵj (in Qohenje script) is pronounced (and transcribed) hj / [hj]
  • ẉw (in Qohenje script) is pronounced (and transcribed) hw / [hw]

Consonants that meet across syllable boundaries show backwards place assimilation, so a sequence like will be pronounced: ; will be pronounced , and so on. This phenomenon occurs word-internally as well, so the Qohenje form will realise phonetically as .

Consonant categories

The consonants in Qohenje are functionally grouped into the following categories:

LIGHT p, pj, pw, ṗ, ṗj, t, tj, tw, k, kj, kw, ‘
HEAVY b, bj, bw, ḃ, ḃj, d, dj, dw, g, gj, gw, r, rj, rw
SMOOTH m, mj, mw, ṁ, ṁj, n, nj, nw, ŋ, ŋj, ŋw, l, lj, lw
SHARP ɸ, ɸj, ɸw, f, fj, s, sj, sw, x, xj, xw, c, cj
ROUGH w, hw (ẉw), h, hj, j, hj (ĵj), q, qj, qw, h, hj, hw

Consonant mutations

The aspect forms are distinguished by a set of consonant mutations that affect the initial and often the final consonant of the aspect syllable. These consonant mutations affect only the textures of the Qohenje consonants.

The mutations can be summarized as follows

Cons type SHARP   ROUGH   LIGHT   HEAVY   SMOOTH
Flying ɸ   ẉ   p   b   m
Skimming f   ḥ   ṗ   ḃ   ṁ
Surface s   ĵ   t   d   n
Swimming x   q   k   g   ŋ
Diving c   h   ‘   r   l
Sharp mutation BASE ➙ 1st ➙ 2nd  
Rough mutation BASE ➙ 1st ➙ 2nd  
Light mutation BASE ➙ 1st ➙ 2nd
Heavy mutation BASE ➙ 1st

Note that so called "smooth" consonants (m,ṁ,n,ŋ and l) do not mutate. "Heavy" consonants only mutate once, while all others show two mutations.

Phonotactics

C[voiceless stop]
C[fricative]
C[affricate]		 ) C[unreleased] / _$
/kap/ )     /kaṗ/ )     /kat/ )     /kak/ )     /ka‘/ )  
  [kap]     [kaƥ]   /kas/ [kat]   /kax/ [kak]     [kaˀ]
/kaɸ/     /kaf/     /kac/     /kaq/     /kah/  

C[nasal]

C[voiced stop]

) C[nasal] /_$
/kam/ )     /kaṁ/ )     /kan/ )     /kaŋ/ )  
  [kam]     [kaɱ]     [kan]     [kaŋ]
/kab/     /kaḃ/     /kad/     /kag/