Aheezee phonology

## Sound inventory

The Aheezee phonological system consists of 18 consonants, 4 vowels and 4 diphthongs. It is a “soft-sounding” language, the main reason for which is that it lacks voiceless stops, having a limited /b,d,g/ plosive inventory.

Diachronically, the language features a shift of the following kind: /sː,s/ → /s,z/. Long fricatives had emerged primarily from a preceding /h/, which accounts for the orthography of the fricatives.

Vowels
 Central

Diphthongs
 ‹à›
 ‹è›

## Stress

### Regular stress

Stress is penultimate with σ=2:

* **fufi** /ˈvu.vi/
* **esdable** /əzˈda.blə/

### Weight rule

If a word has more than two syllables and its two first syllables are light and heavy alternating (in any order), stress is initial. In Aheezee, a heavy syllable is any syllable more complex than CV.

With σ>2 and no alternance, regular stress is observed:

* **Jilares** /ʒiˈla.ɾəz/
* **Jesraugne** /ʒəzˈɾaʊ̯g.nə/

With σ>2 and alternance, initial stress takes place:

* **Fajuldye** /ˈva.ʒul.t͡ʃə/
* **Binsiàs** /ˈbin.zi.oʊ̯z/

There is however a rising trend of using regular penultimate stress in σ>2, with alternance in syllable weight, and a \*light\* initial syllable (first case above would be /vaˈʒul.t͡ʃə/), unless the heavy syllable constitutes of a diphthong (\*asdále\* will keep on yielding /ˈaz.daʊ̯.lə/).

### Schwa rule

Schwa cannot be stressed in σ>2, which causes the shift of stress to the first syllable without a schwa that precedes. If no such syllable exists, stress is reset to regularly penultimate and the weight rule does not apply (see the last example).

Stress is always regular with σ=2:

* **Mafi** /ˈma.vi/
* **Mefi** /ˈmə.vi/

Schwa rule applying with σ>2:

* **Lulunmafi** /lu.lunˈma.vi/
* **Lulunmefi** /luˈlun.mə.vi/

Schwa rule exception applying:

* **Efgerwin** /əvˈd͡ʒəɾ.win/

## Allophony

The vowel /i/ in contact with a vowel can produce a hiatus in some dialects, but usually becomes [j] (a phoneme that the language is missing). However, [j] does occur as the allophone of both palatals /ɲ,ʎ/.

Palato-alveolars [ʃ,ʒ,t͡ʃ] are pronounced as alveolo-palatals /ɕ,ʑ,t͡ɕ/ before /i/. Before a nasal, the first two are debuccalised to [h], which sometimes result in syncope (see example #2). Schwas are dropped wherever allowed.

1. Nyef lyajne nelèj /ɲəv ʎaʒ.nə nə.lɛɪ̯ʒ/ → **[jəv jah.nə nlɛɪ̯ʒ] → [jəv ja.nː‿lɛɪ̯ʒ]**
2. Lyajne /ʎaʒ.nə/ → **[jan]**
3. Diundyudemijne /di.un.t͡ʃu.dəmˈiʒ.nə/ → **[di.unˈt͡ʃud.min]**

Word-initial /ə/ becomes [e] without much repression.

* Esdable /əz.dab.lə/ → **[ez.dab.lə]**

The phoneme /g/ turns into [ŋ] before /n/, which reflects the **g → ŋ / \_d** sound change although the former does not show in the spelling.

* Nyagnehle /ɲagˈnəh.lə/ → **[jaŋˈnəh.lə]**

## Phonemisation of /o,e/ and Jasper's rule

Aheezee seems to be currently undergoing a lot of pressure in favour of the phonemisation of /o/ and /e/. Here are the sound changes involved in this phenomenon.

1. {oʊ̯,ɛɪ̯} → {o,e}
	* This is associated with lower class sociolects.
2. ə# → e
	* This was covered in the previous section. Although it does not help the phonemisation of /e/ very much, it increases awareness of the existence of a [e] sound.
3. ə [+s] → o
	* This sound change seems to be motivated by the necessity to distinguish better between /a/ and /ə/ (consider mafi /ˈma.vi/ vs mefi /ˈmə.vi/ shifting to [ˈma.vi] vs [ˈmo.vi] – this may be helped by stress rules as it also prevents a schwa from being stressed in two-syllable words, however the schwa rule in longer words remains, so that words like /luˈlun.mə.vi/ are not affected).

The phonemisation of /o,e/ is the most visible part of a wider shift known as Jasper's rule that is described in two steps: a main diphthong shift and B-gliding. To a lesser extent, B-gliding is also represented by the shift of word-final /v/ to [w].

1. {aʊ̯,oʊ̯,ɛɪ̯} → {ɔʊ̯,o,e}
2. b (as coda or in V\_V) → ʊ̯
	1. v# → w

The consequences of this shift are the loss of two standard diphtongs (see examples #1 and #2), the shift of another (#2), and the emergence of a wide variety of new ones. The newly formed structures seem not to interfere with stress rules and apply them as previously stated.

1. **Binsiàs** /ˈbin.zi.oʊ̯z/ → **[ˈbin.zi.oz]** (but retained as [ˈbin.zi.oʊ̯z] in higher registers; intersectional [ˈbin.zjoz] (colloquially) and [ˈbin.zjoʊ̯z] (otherwise) are possible but rarer)
2. **Jèhri** /ˈʒɛɪ̯h.ɾi/ → **[ˈʒeh.ɾi]**
3. Esdable /ˈəz.dab.lə/ → **[ˈez.daʊ̯.ɫə]**
4. **Mefef** /ˈməv.əv/ → **[ˈmo.vəw]**
5. Juber /ˈʒu.bəɾ/ → **[ˈʒuʊ̯.əɾ ~ ˈʒu.wəɾ]**
6. **Juiebdi** /ʒu.iˈəb.di/ → **[ˈʒu.jəʊ̯.di]**