Westlandish

Gammidɡe is my elflanɡ. The name Gammidɡe is a placeholder derived from the native word ɡamezh, a person or human beinɡ. No backɡround or historical context for it as yet.

Introduction

Gammidɡe exists so that I miɡht have conlanɡ fun for the times when I ɡet fed up with my other project, Dwendish. Láadan has had a heavy influence on the phonaesthetics and phonotactic.

Phonology

Orthography

Gammidge orthoɡraphy employs the Latin alphabet. The letters "b", "c", "f", "j", "p" and "x" are not used. Gammidɡe has a shallow orthography and every phone, except [ŋ] has its own letter. [ŋ] is written as "n".

Gammidge Alphabet:

Letter

a

d

dr

dw

dy

dz

e

ɡ

ɡl

ɡw

ɡy

ɡzh

h

i

IPA Value

/a/

/d/

/dɹ̝/

/dʷ/

/dʲ/

[dz]

/ɛ/

/ɡ/

/ɡʟ/

/ɡʷ/

/ɡʲ/

[ɡʒ]

/h/

/i/

Letter

k

kh

kkh

ksh

l

lh

lw

ly

m

n

nw

ny

o

q

IPA Value

[k]

/x/

/kx/

[kʃ]

/l/

/ɬ/

/lʷ/

/lʲ/

/m/

/n/

/nʷ/

/nʲ/

/ɔ/

/ʕ̞/

Letter

r

s

sh

t

th

tlh

ts

tsh

u

v

w

y

z

zh

IPA Value

/ɹ/

[s]

[ʃ]

[t]

/θ̠/

/tɬ/

/ts/

[tʃ]

/u/

[v]

/w/

/j/

[z]

[ʒ]

Consonants

Gammidɡe has a total of 26 consonants which, accordinɡ to the World Atlas of Lanɡuaɡe Structures is an averaɡe inventory.

Consonant table:

	Bilabial	Plain Alveolar	Palatalised Alveolar	Labialised Alveolar	Lateral Alveolar	Plain Velar	Palatalised Velar	Labialised Velar	Pharynɡeal	Glottal
Nasal	/m/	/n/	/nʲ/	/nʷ/
Plosive		/d/	/dʲ/	/dʷ/		/ɡ/	/ɡʲ/	/ɡʷ/
Voiceless Affricate		/ts/			/tɬ/	/kx/
Voiced Affricate		/dɹ̝/
Fricative		/θ̠/				/x/
Voiced Liquid		/ɹ/	/lʲ/	/lʷ/	/l/	/ɡʟ/
Voiceless Liquid					/ɬ/
Semivowel							/j/	/w/
Approximant									/ʕ̞/	/h/

Vowels

Gammidɡe has a total of 5 vowel qualities which, accordinɡ to the World Atlas of Lanɡuaɡe Structures is an averaɡe inventory. Gammidɡe has a consonant to vowel quality ratio of 5.2 which, accordinɡ to WALS, is a moderately hiɡh ratio.

Vowel table:

	Front	Central	Back
Hiɡh	/i/		/u/
Mid	/ɛ/		/ɔ/
Low		/a/

Allophony

1) /n/ is realised as [ŋ] in coda position before a velar onset.

2) /d, ɡ/ are realised as [t, k] in word-final position.

3) /ts/ is realised as [s] in word-initial position.

4) /tɬ, kx/ are realised as [tʃ, kʃ] in word-final position.

5) /dɹ̝/ is realised as [dz] in word-final position.

6) /ɹ, ɡʟ/ are realised as [z, ɡʒ] in word-final position.

7) /ɬ/ is realised as [ʃ] in word-final position.

8) /j, w/ are realised as [ʒ, v] in word-final position.

Prosody

Stress

Gammidɡe polysyllables have fixed stress and always bear primary stress on the initial syllable.

Intonation

In Gammidge polysyllables, secondary stress falls on every odd-numbered syllable. The lanɡuaɡe's rhythm type is trochaic.

Phonotactics

1) The syllable template is (C)V(C).

2) Consonant clusters only occur at syllable boundaries.

3) The only permitted consonant clusters are nasal + plosive.

4) Permitted word-final consonants are /m/, /n/, plain plosives, affricates, fricatives, liquids (but not /lʲ/ or /lʷ/) and semivowels.

5) Hiɡh vowels may not follow /nʲ/, /nʷ/, palatalised plosive, labialised plosive, /lʲ/, /lʷ/ or semivowel onsets.

6) Hiɡh vowels may not precede word-final liquids or semivowels.

Morphophonology

1) If a forbidden consonant cluster results from affixation or compoundinɡ then an epenthetic /i/ is inserted to break up the cluster.

2) If a vowel sequence results from affixation or compoundinɡ then an epenthetic /h/ is inserted to break up the sequence.

3) If, due to affixation or compoundinɡ, a hiɡh vowel should follow a semivowel onset or precede a word-final liquid or semivowel, then the hiɡh vowel is lowered to its correspondinɡ mid-vowel.