Language scratchpad/Unnamed langauge 4

This is a yet-unnamed language, spoken somewhere in Likkra.

Consonants
Historically, the language distinguished aspiration in voiceless stops; however, the aspirated stops have spirantised into fricatives, merging /kʰ/ and /x/.

/ɲ/, /ç/, /ʝ/ and /ʎ/ are simply palatalised versions of /n/, /x/, /ɣ/ and /l/ respectively. Likewise, the palatal sibilants are simply palatalised versions of their alveolar and retroflex counterparts.

/h/ as a phoneme is limited to occurring before /a/ and /ə/; before other vowels, it is merged with /x/. [ɦ] is an allophone of /ɣ/, and only occurs before /a/ and /ə/ and after a vowel or non-velar consonant.

Vowels
There are no diphthongs.

Tones
In general, there are only two tones: low and high. However, each syllable falls into one of four tone classes, which not only determines the tone of the syllable, but also its shape. While open syllables and syllables ending in sonorants can have either inherent low or high tone, those with long vowels must have inherent low tone. Checked syllables (syllables ending in obstruents) must have inherent high tone.

Sinitic loanwords in general preserve the four tones of Middle Chinese, with the level tone being represented as short low, the rising tone as short high, the departing tone as long (low), and the entering tone as checked (high).

Phonotactics
The general syllable structure is (C)(S)V(N,l)(C)(s), where S represents a semivowel and N a nasal homorganic with C, with only two consonants permitted in the coda. Clusters are permitted word-medially, but not word-initially; the only valid word-final and coda clusters are /ks/, /ps/, /ŋk/, /mp/, /nt/, /lk/, /lp/, /lt/, /ls/, /ŋs/, /ms/ and /ns/ (all such clusters mark checked syllables). The sequences /lks/, /lps/ and /lts/ in the coda contract to /ls/, and /ŋks/, /mps/ and /nts/ in the coda contract to /ŋs/, /ms/ and /ns/ respectively. The glottal stop is only found word-initially and in intervocalic position; if it would otherwise occur next to a consonant, it is elided. Hiatus is forbidden.

The only consonants permitted in the coda are /m/, /n/, /ŋ/, /p/, /t/, /k/, /s/, /t͡s/ and /l/. If a voiceless stop in the coda occurs next to a voiced obstruent, it is realised as voiced (e.g. /p.d/ is pronounced [b.d]). Similarly, if a voiceless stop in the coda is preceded by a nasal or /l/ and followed by a vowel, it is also voiced (e.g. /nt.a/ is pronounced [n.da]).

The glide /j/ can only occur before /a/, /ə/, /ɛ/, /e/, /o/, /ø/, /u/ and /y/, while the glides /w/ and /ɥ/ can only occur before /a/, /ə/, /ɛ/ and /e/.

While vowels can be short or long in open syllables and syllables ending in sonorants, checked syllables can only have short vowels.

Vowel harmony
There are three classes of vowels: positive, negative and neutral. Due to sound changes, two vowels, /e/ and /i/, belong in two categories, with the category of the vowel in question denoted purely via orthography (note, however, that negative /i/ does not induce palatalisation).

The above table lists the vowels in each category. Each positive vowel is paired with a negative vowel. Within a single word, positive and negative vowels cannot co-exist. This means that any affixes and inflectional morphemes attached to the word must contain vowels of the same category as the vowels of the stem. The sole neutral vowel /i/ is transparent and does not participate in vowel harmony.

Due to the influx of Sinitic loanwords, lexical disharmony is common, and words derived from Sinitic loans may or may not adhere to vowel harmony, depending on the meaning of the word. In the case of lexical disharmony, prefixes harmonise with the first non-neutral vowel of the stem, and suffixes with the last non-neutral vowel.

Tone sandhi
The following rules are observed:
 * Whenever a syllable with a short vowel follows a syllable with a long vowel, the short vowel must have a high tone.
 * Syllables with long vowels following another syllable with a long vowel are pronounced with a falling tone (not indicated in the orthography, as the falling tone is not phonemic).
 * Unless if the syllable is checked, syllables following an unchecked syllable with a high tone have low tone.

Orthography
The main writing system used is Hangul.

The following initials are used: * /ɲ/ and /ʎ/ are simply palatalised versions of /n/ and /l/ respectively. ** The palatal sibilants are always accompanied by palatalisation markers in the medial. † The glottal stop may be written as &#39; intervocally.

The following finals are used:

Out of the above letters, the only letter that can only be used alone in a final is ㅈ. The following final clusters are allowed:
 * Liquid clusters: ㄺ lk /lk/, ㅪ lt /lt/, ㄼ lp /lp/, ㄽ ls /ls/
 * Nasal-stop clusters: ㅦ nt /nt/, ㅮ mp /mp/, ᇬ ngk /ŋk/
 * Nasal-sibilant clusters: ㅧ ns /ns/, ㅯ ms /ms/, ㆂ ngs /ŋs/
 * Obstruent clusters: ㄳ ks /ks/, ㅄ ps /ps/

The following medials are used:

Diacritics
A single dot to the left of a syllable block (e.g. 찌〮) indicates that the syllable is pronounced with a short vowel and a high tone. A double dot to the left (e.g. 시〯) indicates that the syllable is pronounced with a long vowel and either a low or falling tone. The lack of any diacritics indicates that the syllable is pronounced with a short vowel, with a low tone if the syllable is not a checked syllable.