Braereth
Braereth is actually a collection of three fairly mutually intelligible dialects. Classical Braereth was a Western Romance language spoken in pockets of mountainous areas from the Alps to the Carpathians until the mid-sixteenth century, when it fell out of use.
The modern language is still often written in the classical orthography, though the two dialects that have emerged from it sometimes diverge sharply. The dialect known as Tenibvreth is much more conservative to the original phonology. The Eomentesa dialect, however, has a sound that is much more similar to modern Iberian languages.
For the purposes of this text, We will use the Classical spelling of the language; where appropriate and necessary, dialectal forms will be shown in double-brackets, e.g. undix [unˈdi] ‘where’, but Tenibvrith ⟪ubvi⟫ [ˈuvi] or Eomentesa ⟪quondex⟫ [kwonˈde]. Specific differences in the phonologies of the two modern dialects are described under Phonology.
Phonology
Classical Braereth
Consonants | Labial | Dental | Alveolar | Palatal | Velar | Vowels | Front | Back | |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Plosive | p · b | t̪ · d̪ | c · ɟ | k · ɡ | High | i | u | ||
Affricate | · b͡β | t͡s · d͡z | t͡ʃ · d͡ʒ | Mid | e | o | |||
Fricative | ɸ · β | θ · [ð] | s · [z] | ʃ · (ʒ) | (x) · | Low | a | ||
Nasal | m | n̪ | ɲ | [ŋ] | Diphthongs | To Front | To Back | ||
Lateral | l̪ | ʎ | High | ui̯ | ou̯ | ||||
Trill | r [ɾ] | r̝ | Mid | ei̯ | eu̯ | ||||
Approximant | w | j | Low | ae̯ | au̯ |
* Characters in square brackets are allophones; they are not phonemic.
* Characters in parentheses only occur in borrowings.
Tenibvreth Dialect
Consonants | Labial | Dental | Alveolar | Palatal | Dorsal | Vowels | Front | Back | |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Plosive | p · b | t · d | k · ɡ | High | i | u | |||
Affricate | t͡s · d͡z | t͡ɕ · d͡ʑ | Mid | e | o | ||||
Fricative | f · v | θ · [ð] | s · z | ɕ · ʑ | χ · | Low | a | ||
Nasal | m | n | ɲ | [ŋ] | Diphthongs | To Front | To Back | ||
Lateral | l̪ | [ɬ] · ɮ | [ʎ] | [ɫ] | High | ui̯ | iu̯ | ||
Trill | r [ɾ] | r̝ | Mid | eu̯ | |||||
Approximant | ʋ | j | Low | ai̯ | au̯ |
Eomentesa Dialect
Consonants | Labial | Dental | Alveolar | Palatal | Dorsal | Vowels | Front | Back | |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Plosive | p · b | t̪ · d̪ | k · ɡ | High | i | u | |||
Affricate | t͡s · d͡z | Mid | e̞, e̞ː | o̞ | |||||
Fricative | f · v | θ · | s · z | (ç) · | Low | a | |||
Nasal | m | n̪ | [ŋ] | Diphthongs | To Front | To Back | |||
Lateral | l̪ | High | |||||||
Trill | r [ɾ] | Mid | |||||||
Low | au̯ |
Orthographic and Phonemic Mapping
Orth. | Brae. | Ten. | Eom. | Example | Classical | Tenibvreth | Eomentesa | Environment/Notes |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
a | a | a | a | ath ‘to’ | [aθ] | [aθ] | [ats] | |
ae | ae̯ | ai̯ | e̞ː | laectje ‘milk’ | [ˈl̪ae̯.cʧe̞] | [lai̯ʨ] | [l̪eːts] | |
aou | au̯ | au̯ | a.o̞ | saou ‘salt’ | [sau̯] | [sau̯] | [ˈsa.o̞] | Only occurs word-finally. |
au | au̯ | au̯ | au̯ | aubvru ‘tree’ | [au̯.b͡βru] | [au̯vʀ(ʊ)] | [ˈau̯.bro̞] | |
au | au̯ | au̯ | a.o̞ | normau ‘normal’ | [n̪orˈmau̯] | [norˈmau̯] | [n̪o̞rˈma.o̞] | /_# |