Tsushiman phonology

**Tsushiman** has a very complex phonology with many rules.

## Syllable Structure

Tsushiman syllables follow a (C)V(N)T syllable structure. This can be represented as syllables having an optional initial (or onset) a mandatory medial (or nucleus), an optional final (or coda), and a tone.

### Medials

Medials
 Close
 Mid
 Open

### Finals

Finals
 Liquid

## Allophony

### /i/

The archiphoneme /i/ is rarely actually realized as [i]; it only is realized as such when found in a syllable spoken in isolation. In regular speech, even formal and slowly enunciated, it is almost always realized as [ɪ]. When following [s], [z], [ts], [dz], and [t], it is realized as [ɨ]; meanwhile, [ɕ̠], [ʑ], [tɕ̠̠], and [dʑ̠] make it realize as a more retracted [ɨ̠]. When following [ʂ], [ʐ], [ʈʂ], it is realized as a syllabic retroflex approximant [ɻ̩].

### /h/

The archiphoneme /h/ is realized in a number of ways. Preceding [a] and [aɪ] it is pronounced [x]. Preceding [ɪ] it is pronounced [ç]. Preceding [ɯ] and [ʊ] it is pronounced [ɸ].

### Other Phonemes

* All plosives and affricates are completely unaspirated.
* /t/ becomes [tɕ] preceding [ɨ] (which then turns the [ɨ] into [ɨ]) and [ts] preceding [ɯ] and [ʊ]; it is spelled as pronounced. In its place, /ɾ/ becomes [t] preceding all these vowels, but is still spelled with <d>.
* /f/ is pronounced [ɸ] preceding [ɯ] and [ʊ].

## Labialization and Palatalization

The majority of onset consonants can be labialized or palatalized (but not both at the same time), represented with a  or  *respectively placed between the last letter of the onset consonant and the vowel. The following restrictions apply:*

** /i/ and /u/ can neither follow a labialized nor palatalized consonant. /ɯ/ cannot follow a labialized consonant, but it can follow a palatalized one.*

*Sandhi
------**Tone
----**/wɪ/ and /ʋɪ/ are both spelled <i> and are pronounced [ɪ]. /wɪɯ/ and /ʋɪɯ/ CANNOT EXIST

/wɯ/ and /wɯɪ/ are spelled as expected but are pronounced [ɯ] and [ɯɪ]

/jɤ/, /jɛɪ/, /jɪ/, and /jɪɯ/ are spelled as expected but are pronounced /ɤ/, /ɛɪ/, /ɪ/, and /ɪɯ/.

Syllables with null and glottal stop onset actually both start with [ʔ] if it's the first syllable in the utterance or if the syllable preceding it ends with a consonant. Only when the preceding syllable ends with a vowel (i.e. has null coda) do they become distinct - glottal stop onsets retain [ʔ], whereas null onsets have an epenthetic /h/, which has different pronunciations (see below).

Labialization and Palatalization
Syllables can be labialization and palatalization with the following restrictions:

Syllables with /ɪ ~ ɨ/ and/or /ɯ/ medial onset cannot be palatalized nor labialized.

/w/, /ʋ/, /ⱱ/, /j/, and /ʔ/ cannot labialize

/w/, /ʋ/, /ⱱ/, /s/, /z/, /ts/, /dz/, /ʂ/, /ʐ/, /ʈʂ/, /ɖʐ/, /ɕ/, /ʑ/, /tɕ/, /dʑ/, /j/, and /ʔ/ cannot palatalize

Orthography
This is just a romanization, the proper orthography of Tsushima will be in modified Chinese characters

Labialization is represented with <u>, palatalization with <u>. For example, kou labialized is kuou, and palatalized is kiou. (I'm considering a palatalization system with <w> and <y> to make it look more like Japanese e.g. kwou, kyou but it looks ugly in many cases e.g. myao vs. miao.)

I can't decide between fully choosing between <ts> / <c>, <tsh> / <ch>, and <ng> / . I'll probably use the latter ones in transcriptions simply for aesthetics but the former ones I thought of first and are equally valid if not more unambiguous.

/ŋɪ/, /ŋɪɯ/, /ʔɪ/, and /ʔɪɯ/ are spelled <qhi> (or <ngi>), <qhiu> (or <ngiu>), <jhi>, and <jhiu>

Glottal stop final / coda will be indicated by a diacritic on the vowel, as I'm planning on making it a "tone". Specifically there will be tones which have the same "height" but different length. There's also gonna be a nasal tone which prenasalizes plosives

Credit where credit is due
I took a lot of inspiration from u/WEN-QONHIUNG's Honwenese, especially with  representing /ŋ/ and having tones vary by length. (BTW please help me with the labiodental and alveolar approximant orthography, it's really ugly but I can't think of anything better)

Thank you for your time, I'm creating a subreddit r/BoltonTsushima for this conlang and its conworld. visit r/EvolvingConlang too to see amogus language**All Possible Syllables