Ancient Kartara

(Introduction)

Phonology

Consonant Grid	labial	alveolar	retroflex	velar	glottal
stops	p	t	t́	k	*
fricatives	f	s	ś	h
nasals	m	n	ń
approximants		r
lateral approximants		l	ĺ

Vowel Grid	front	near-front	back
close	i		u
near-close		ï
mid	e		o
open	a

Syllables can be generalized to be a vowel, optionally preceded by a stop or fricative, and optionally ending with any consonant. Only verbs may end in a non-approximant consonant.

Typical Kartara does not use voiced stops or fricatives. However, stops in the middle of words often take on partial voicing when they are preceded by an approximant. For instance: kart́ara is has been interpreted by continentals to be "kardara".

Stops do not typically have aspiration, but when two stops occur next to each other, the first stop is usually aspirated before moving on to the second. For instance: pat́ka is pronounced [paʈʰka].

Glottal stops are not written, but they always happen between equal vowels (Ex: iipke [iʔipʰke̞]). They often occur between any two vowels if both are unaccented, and after a stressed vowel before an unstressed i.

The sound r can fall under the alveolar or retroflex category, or somewhere in between, depending on the word being used. It is written as one symbol and is thought of as one sound, similar to how English has two ways of presenting it's L sound: clear in 'lake' vs. dark (velarized) in 'cool'. Kartara speakers do not register a difference. (Incidentally, l and ĺ are always 'clear'.)

The sound h does not sound like English h. It is the same as the 'ch' in the Scottish word 'loch' or the German name 'Bach'.

Kartara f sounds similar to English f, but is made only with the lips.

Front vowels are unrounded, while back vowels are rounded. The vowel sound ï is used to form dipthongs, which gives Kartara the following nine vowels: a, e, i, o, u, aï, eï, oï, and uï. In IPA, therefore, the vowels are represented as [a], [e̞], [i], [o], [u], [aɪ̆], [e̞ɪ̆], [oɪ̆], and [uɪ̆]. Each vowel has its own separate glyph.

The next-to-last syllable of the root word receives stress. If the root word has only one syllable, then the stress falls on it. A secondary stress may be added to an important affix to denote importance.