Kalise information (partial...)

Phonology

Vowels

Kalise (pronounced [ka.lʲi.se]) is spoken in the country of Kaline (pronounced [ka.lʲi.ne]) by around 8,000,000 people. This page covers the phonology of Southern Kalise, but notes are included for the Northern dialect and other details.

	front				back
	unrounded		rounded		unrounded		rounded
	short	long	short	long	short	long	short	long
close	[ɪ] i	[iː] i̇̄	[ʏ] ü	[yː] ǖ	[ɯ] ı	[ɯː] ī	[ʊ] u	[uː] ū
close-mid	[e] e	[aɪ(~eɪ~eː)][1] ai			[ɤ] ö	[ɤː] ȫ	[o] o	[aʊ(~oʊ~oː)][2] au
open	[a] a	[aː(~ɑː)][3] ā

1. Northern Kalise speakers pronounce ⟨ai⟩ as [eɪ], while it is pronounced as [eː] by younger speakers in this region.
2. Northern Kalise speakers pronounce ⟨au⟩ as [oʊ], while it is pronounced as [oː] by younger speakers in this region.
3. Northern Kalise speakers pronounce ⟨ā⟩ as [ɑː].

Syllabic consonants

	short	long
bilabial nasal	[m̩] m̥	[m̩ː] m̥̄
velar nasal	[ŋ̍] n̥g	[ŋ̍ː] n̥̄g
alveolar tap	[ɾ̩~ɹ̩][1] r̥	[ɾ̩ː~ɹ̩ː][1] r̥̄
alveolar lateral approximant	[l̩] l̥	[l̩ː] l̥̄

1. Most younger speakers and those studying Kalise as a second language tend to pronounce the syllabic ⟨r⟩ as [ɹ].

Fixed codas

	labial	alveolar	velar	alveolar
continuant	[Vm] Vm	[Vn] Vn	[Vŋ] Vng	[Vl(~Vɾ~Vɹ)][1] Vl
obstruent	[Vp̚] Vp	[Vt̚] Vt	[Vk̚] Vk	[Vs][2] Vs

1. Northern Kalise speakers pronounce the ending ⟨l⟩ as [ɾː], but it can get reduced to that in rapid speech, even with Southern Kalise speakers. In addition, younger Northern Kalise speakers tend to pronounce the ending ⟨l⟩ as [ɹː].
2. This sound only exists in Southern Kalise. When Northern Kalise speakers try to pronounce it, it usually comes out like [sɯ].

Flexible codas

nasal	[Ṽ~Vŋ][1] Vⁿ
glottal	[Vʔ~Vh][2] Vʰ

1. Most younger speakers and those studying Kalise as a second language tend to pronounce ⟨ⁿ⟩ as [ŋ], but a lot shorter than ⟨ng⟩ as a coda. It will also turn into a different nasal if it comes before another consonant, i.e. it will turn into [m] before [b].
2. When before a voiceless stop, affricate, or fricative, this coda will make it longer/more tense if the person pronounces it like [ʔ]. Most younger speakers and those studying Kalise as a second language tend to pronounce ⟨ʰ⟩ as [h].

Glides

semivowel	[CʲV] CyV	[CʷV] CwV
alveolar	[CɾV~CɹV][1] CrV	[CˡV] ClV

1. Most younger speakers and those studying Kalise as a second language tend to pronounce the ⟨r⟩ glide with a [ɹ] sound.

Consonants

		labial	alveolar		retroflex		palatal	velar	uvular	glottal
			plain	sibilant	plain	sibilant
nasal		[m] m	[n] n		[ɳ] ṇ			[ŋ] ng	[ɴ][1] n̆
stop/affricate	voiced	[b] b	[d] d	[dz] dz	[ɖ] ḍ	[dʐ] j̣	[dʑ] j	[g] g	[ɢ][1] ğ
	voiceless	[p] p	[t] t	[ts] c	[ʈ] ṭ	[tʂ] q̣	[tɕ] q	[k] k	[q][1] k̆	[ʔ][2] '
	aspirated	[pʰ] ph	[tʰ] th	[tsʰ] ch	[ʈʰ] ṭh	[tʂʰ] q̣h	[tɕʰ] qh	[kʰ] kh	[qʰ][1] k̆h
	tense/long	[p͈~pː] p̄	[t͈~tː] t̄	[t͈s~tsː] c̄	[ʈ͈~ʈː] ṭ̄	[t͈ʂ~tʂː] q̣̄	[t͈ɕ~tɕː] q̄	[k͈~kː] k̄	[q͈~qː][1] k̆̄
	ejective	[pʼ] p'	[tʼ] t'	[tsʼ] c'	[tʼ] ṭ'	[tʂʼ] q̣'	[tɕʼ] q'	[kʼ] k'	[qʼ][1] k̆'
fricative	voiced	[v][3] v		[z] z		[ʐ] zh	[ʑ] z̆		[ʁ][1] rh
	voiceless	[f][3] f		[s] s		[ʂ] sh	[ɕ] x			[h] h
	tense/long	[f͈~fː][3] f̄		[s͈~sː] s̄		[ʂ͈~ʂː] s̄h	[ɕ͈~ɕː] x̄
	ejective	[fʼ][3] f'		[sʼ] s'		[ʂʼ] sh'	[ɕʼ] x'
approximant			[ɹ(~ɾ)][4] r̆				[j] y	[w] w
tap			[ɾ(~ɹ)][4] r
lateral approximant			[l] l

1. These sounds only exist in Southern Kalise. When Northern Kalise speakers try to pronounce them, they usually come out like [ŋ], [g], [k], [kʰ], [k͈~kː], [kʼ], and [h] respectively/from top to bottom.
2. This is not romanized as ⟨'⟩ in all cases, especially when it is at the beginning of a word or name. It is only used when vowels are adjacent to each other.
3. These sounds only exist in Southern Kalise. When Northern Kalise speakers try to pronounce them, they usually come out like [b], [p], [p͈~pː], and [pʼ] respectively/from top to bottom.
4. Most younger speakers and those studying Kalise as a second language tend to pronounce them the same.

Other rules (and allophony... yay)

• The general syllable structure is (C)(G)V(X), where C is a consonant, G is a glide, V is a vowel (or syllabic consonant), and X is a coda.
• All consonants get palatalized before [ɪ], [iː], [ʏ], and [yː].
  • [n] turns into [ɲ] when palatalized.
  • In Southern Kalise, [d], [t], [tʰ], [t͈~tː], and [tʼ] are pronounced with some frication when palatalized; i.e. [d] is pronounced like [dzʲ] when palatalized.
  • [dz], [ts], [tsʰ], [t͈s~tsː], and [tsʼ] turn into [dʑ], [tɕ], [tɕʰ], [t͈ɕ~tɕː], and [tɕʼ] when palatalized.
    • In addition, [dʐ], [tʂ], [tʂʰ], [t͈ʂ~tʂː], and [tʂʼ] also turn into [dʑ], [tɕ], [tɕʰ], [t͈ɕ~tɕː], and [tɕʼ] when palatalized.
    • Likewise, if ⟨i⟩, ⟨i̇̄⟩, ⟨ü⟩, or ⟨ǖ⟩ or a ⟨y⟩ glide comes after ⟨j⟩, ⟨q⟩, ⟨qh⟩, ⟨q̄⟩, or ⟨q'⟩, the [ʲ] is dropped completely.
  • [z], [s], [s͈~sː], and [sʼ] turn into [ʑ], [ɕ], [ɕ͈~ɕː], and [ɕʼ] when palatalized.
    • In addition, [ʐ], [ʂ], [ʂ͈~ʂː], and [ʂʼ] also turn into [ʑ], [ɕ], [ɕ͈~ɕː], and [ɕʼ] when palatalized.
    • Likewise, if ⟨i⟩, ⟨i̇̄⟩, ⟨ü⟩, or ⟨ǖ⟩ or a ⟨y⟩ glide comes after ⟨z̆⟩, ⟨x⟩, ⟨x̄⟩, or ⟨x'⟩, the [ʲ] is dropped completely.
  • [h] turns into [ç] when palatalized.
• All consonants get labiovelarized before [ʊ], [uː], [o], and [aʊ~oʊ~oː]. Southern Kalise speakers tend not to labiovelarize consonants with the last two.
  • [dz], [ts], [tsʰ], [t͈s~tsː], and [tsʼ] turn into [dʒ], [tʃ], [tʃʰ], [t͈ʃ~tʃː], and [tʃʼ] when labiovelarized.
  • [z], [s], [s͈~sː], and [sʼ] turn into [ʒ], [ʃ], [ʃ͈~ʃː], and [ʃʼ] when labiovelarized.
  • [h] turns into [ɸ] when labiovelarized.
• [h] turns into [x] before [ɯ] and [ɯː].
• All voiced stops become nasals before a nasal vowel; i.e. [b] becomes [m] before a nasal vowel.
• Codas cannot come after syllabic consonants, except for the glottal coda.
• Stop codas with no audible release have a release before approximants and [ɾ].
• When stop codas come before a nasal consonant, they assimilate and become a nasal consonant too; i.e. if [t̚] comes before [m], it becomes [n] accordingly.
• Syllabic consonants cannot come after a normal consonant except the glottal stop.
• A glide cannot come after a consonant that sounds the exact same. (Hopefully this is obvious...?)
• The velar and uvular series cannot be palatalized/come before [ɪ], [iː], [ʏ], [yː], only labiovelarized. This only applies to native words, not loanwords or foreign names.
• ⟨y⟩ cannot come before ⟨i⟩, ⟨i̇̄⟩, ⟨ü⟩, or ⟨ǖ⟩ if after another consonant.
• ⟨w⟩ cannot come before ⟨u⟩, ⟨ū⟩, ⟨o⟩, or ⟨au⟩ if after another consonant.
• ⟨w⟩ as a glide cannot come before ⟨y⟩ and vice versa.
• Ejectives cannot come before the glides.

Naming conventions

• Naming conventions in Kaline consist of a family name and a given name, in which the family name is one syllable and the given name is (typically) one or two syllables, unless the parents want to give them a special name or similar but it's very unconventional to do so. Within the country, the surname comes before the given name.
• Foreign names that are also in surname to given name order are written in that same order in Kalise.

Script (with audio samples)

The Kalise script is written vertically. There are audio samples, pronounced in the Southern Kalise accent in a standard manner, but they may have some mistakes or inconsistencies in quality (sorry...)

Vowels

	front				back
	unrounded		rounded		unrounded		rounded
	short	long	short	long	short	long	short	long
close	i	i̇̄	ü	ǖ	ı	ī	u	ū
close-mid	e	ai			ö	ȫ	o	au
open	a	ā

Syllabic consonants

	short	long
bilabial nasal	m̥	m̥̄
velar nasal	n̥g	n̥̄g
alveolar tap	r̥	r̥̄
alveolar lateral approximant	l̥	l̥̄

Fixed codas

	labial	alveolar	velar	alveolar
continuant	im	in	ing	il
obstruent	ip	it	ik	is

Flexible codas

nasal	iⁿ
glottal	iʰ

Glides

semivowel	mya	mwa
alveolar	mra	mla

Consonants

		labial	alveolar		retroflex		palatal	velar	uvular	glottal
			plain	sibilant	plain	sibilant
nasal		ma	na		ṇa			nga	n̆a
stop/affricate	voiced	ba	da	dza	ḍa	j̣a	ja	ga	ğa
	voiceless	pa	ta	ca	ṭa	q̣a	qa	ka	k̆a	a
	aspirated	pha	tha	cha	ṭha	q̣ha	qha	kha	k̆ha
	tense/long	p̄a	t̄a	c̄a	ṭ̄a	q̣̄a	q̄a	k̄a	k̆̄a
	ejective	p'a	t'a	c'a	ṭ'a	q̣'a	q'a	k'a	k̆'a
fricative	voiced	va		za		zha	z̆a		rha
	voiceless	fa		sa		sha	xa			ha
	tense/long	f̄a		s̄a		s̄ha	x̄a
	ejective	f'a		s'a		sh'a	x'a
approximant			r̆a				ya	wa
tap			ra
lateral approximant			la

Punctuation

sentence break or period

word start

Rules from transcription from other languages

TBA

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