Fiat Lingua

Title: Patterns of Allophony

Author: William S. Annis

MS Date: 06-20-2019

FL Date: 04-01-2015

FL Number: FL-00002B-01

Citation: Annis, William S. 2019. “Patterns of Allophony."

FL-00002B-01, Fiat Lingua, <http://
fiatlingua.org>. Web. 01 Apr. 2015.

Copyright: © 2015 William S. Annis. This work is licensed

under a Creative Commons Attribution-
NonCommercial-NoDerivs 3.0 Unported License.

http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/3.0/

Fiat Lingua is produced and maintained by the Language Creation Society (LCS). For more information
about the LCS, visit http://www.conlang.org/
 Patterns of Allophony
William S. Annis
June 20, 2019

This is a small collection of common allophones taken from the PBase database1 , presented
as graphs. In making these graphs I have focused on selecting patterns that occur more than
once, or which are part of a larger pattern that occurs more than once. For example, in some
languages /l/ will present as [d] after nasals. In fewer languages both /r/ and /l/ will do this, so
I include them both. I have tried to leave out one-off exotica, but one or two might have slipped
through if they struck me as especially interesting.
I have omitted certain very common changes. For example, voicing assimilation of any kind
is left out for consonant clusters, and do I not include either nasal assimilation or word-final
devoicing. I have also left out all patterns of deletion, which are also largely predictable (as
codas, word-finally, etc.).

Reading the Graphs

Arrows indicate the direction of change. The environment in which the change occurs is indi-
cated by the grey text to the right of the line. So, in the selection below, note that /t/ becomes [θ]
before /p/, /t/, and /k/, but becomes the glottal stop [ʔ] word finally.

The environments are given in fairly standard notation: C is a consonant, V a vowel, N any nasal
consonant, # is a word boundary, and the underline represents the sound itself. Curly braces
enclose a set of phonemes. So, the notation _# marks a change that occurs at the end of a word,
_{w,j}V marks a change that occurs when the sound is followed by either /w/ or /j/ and then a
vowel, and #_{i,e} marks a change that happens at the start of a word and followed by either /i/
or /e/.
1

1
 ������

_{k,g,r,w},
_N
{k,g,r,w}_

_#,
_{w,j}{i,u} _{j,h,ʔ}, aʔ_
_j

_i, {tʃ,z}_,
_{h, ʔ}u i _N
ɛ{h, ʔ}_ _w

_jV,
_{k,x,l,r}, _{m,n},
_ʔ{e,o}
_r{t,d,s} _C#,
_a

w_, _w,
_{p,f,m} _N e aʔ_
_t{o,u}

{k, w}_{k, w},

_r,
_{l,r}, _{w,j,h}, w_{b,g,m,ŋ,w},
_N,
{tʃ,ʃ,j}_ _CC, _{ʒ}, V_V {k,w}_{k,w},
C_C,
_C# _# w_C
_CC,
_C#

u ɛ _jV j

_r,
_{h,m,w},
_N,
_{ʔ,w},
_{b,m,r} C_C, {tʃ,ʃ}_ C_C {ʃ,ʒ}_
{p,f,m,w}_{p,f,m,w},
_C#,
_{p,f,m}
_{w, kʷ}

_jV, {k, w}_{k, w},

_{m,n}, _j, {ʔ,h}_,
ʊ ə ɪ ɨ
_a, _ʔ{e,o}, _{ʔ,h}
_C# _#

_V _# _t{o,u} _t{o,u}

_V _Xa ɑ o

_{t,s,n},
_CC,
_V _N _CC,
_C#
_#

w ɔ
 ��������������������

{a,o}_,
V_V, _{i,e},
{a,ɔ}_{a,ɔ},
_{p,t,k} {i,e}_
_{a,ɔ}

x q

_N,
V_V V_V _# N_, _#
V_V

_{u,o,ɔ},
p _# ɢ χ ɴ _# c t ts
{o,u}_V

_N, _N, V_V,

_{i,e},
_{p,t,k} N_, {i,e}_V _# _# _# _{p,t,k} N_, N_, _{i,j} _{i,j} _{i,e} V_V
{i,e}_
V_V V_V _N

_{o,u}, V_V,
_N V_V f b _{u,o,ɔ} g ʔ θ _N d dz {i,e}_V tʃ cç z
V_V _{w,j}

_{u,o,ɔ}, _{u,o,ɔ}, V_V, _N,

_N, _C, _N, _t, _t,
V_V _{p,t,k} _# _{o,u} V_V, {o,u}_V, _# _{i,e} _{p,t,k}, _# V_V _{p,t,k} _# _{i,j} _{i,e} V_V _{i,e} V_V,
_# _# _# _{i,u} _C
_# #_ _{d,z,n,l,r,j} _{b,d,g}

m β v ʔm ɸ w ŋ ɟ ɣ {i,e}_V a_V n ɾ ð ʔn _t _{d,dz,g} dʒ ʃ _t

_#,
_# #_, V_V V_V _t _{i,e}
_{i,u}

ɲ j s ʒ
 ����������

f ð

_{o,u} _{o,u} N_ _{s,z,ʃ,ʒ}

N_,
ɸ _{t,n} h v pf d
_{s,z,ʃ,ʒ}

_{p,t,k,ʔ}, _s,
N_,
_{t,n} _{i,u}, _{k,t,p}, _{o,u} _n
#_{o,u}
{i,u}_ N_

m_,
p θ n s β V_a _m z ɣ
_{s,z,ʃ,ʒ}

_{i,e},
N_, _{i,e}, V_V, _n, _{i,e}, N_,
V_V _{s,z,ʃ,ʒ} _{s,z} _k{i,j}, _s N_ _{u,o,ɔ} _{i,e,j}
{p,t,k,w,ɾ} i_V _{o,u} n_ _{tʃ,dʒ,ʃ,ʒ} _{s,z,ʃ,ʒ}
_{tʃ,dʒ,ʃ,ʒ}

ɦ t _w ʃ ts ʔ b w m ʒ g _{i,e,ɛ}

_w N_ V_V V_a _ŋ

x tʃ j

_{s,z,ʃ,ʒ}

k
 ���������

ŋ l

_{u,o,a},
_{w,j}V #_u
_{w,j}

#_{i,e,} _V[+nasal],
m _i �g w r
_{i,u} _n

_{c,ɟ,ɲ,j}, N_, _#, _{t,ts,s,r},#_{i,e,a},

_i V_V _{w,j}V n_ _{o,ɔ,u} V_{o,u} {t,f,s}_ V_V p_ m_ V_V b_ _w _{t,d,s,ʃ,z,ʒ,l,n} V_V N_,
_{i,e} #_{i,e} _{i,e} _n

{b,d,v}_, {i,u,a}_{i,u,a}, _C,

̃ w �b _{c,ɟ,ɲ,j} b j k ɣʷ β x p v ɣ _{k,kʷ} ɾ N_, n
N_ _# _{w,j}

{i,u,a}_{i,u,a},
#_{ɨ,ə,a}, N_,
_V[+nasal] _{w,j} n_ _#, _{p,t,k,s,h,ɾ,w} n_ _{w,j}V
_N _N
V_i

ɲ g ʃ dʒ z ʔ h d ⁿd