Dieu phonology

This article is a technical description of the sound system of the Dieu language, including phonetics and phonology. It has 40 consonant phonemes, 8 monothongs, and 7 diphthongs.

Initials

 * {| class="wikitable"

! colspan="2" | ! Labial ! Alveolar ! Retroflex ! Palatal ! Velar ! Glottal ! rowspan="3" | Plosive ! colspan="2" | Nasal ! rowspan="2" | Affricate ! rowspan="2" | Fricative ! colspan="2" | Approximant
 * style="background: #efefef;" | voiceless
 * p ⟨p⟩
 * t ⟨t⟩
 * ʈ ⟨ṭ⟩
 * c ⟨c⟩
 * k ⟨k⟩
 * ʔ
 * style="background: #efefef;" | voiced
 * ɓ ⟨b⟩
 * ɗ ⟨d⟩
 * ᶑ ⟨ḍ⟩
 * ʄ ⟨j⟩
 * ɡ ⟨g⟩
 * style="background: #efefef;" | aspirated
 * pʰ ⟨ph⟩
 * tʰ ⟨th⟩
 * ʈʰ ⟨ṭh⟩
 * kʰ ⟨kh⟩
 * tʰ ⟨th⟩
 * ʈʰ ⟨ṭh⟩
 * kʰ ⟨kh⟩
 * kʰ ⟨kh⟩
 * m ⟨m⟩
 * n ⟨n⟩
 * ɳ ⟨ṇ⟩
 * ɲ ⟨ņ⟩
 * ŋ ⟨ń⟩
 * style="background: #efefef;" | voiceless
 * ts ⟨ts⟩
 * ʈʂ ⟨ċ⟩
 * tɕ ⟨ć⟩
 * style="background: #efefef;" | voiced
 * dz ⟨dz⟩
 * ɖʐ ⟨dż⟩
 * dʑ ⟨dz̧⟩
 * style="background: #efefef;" | voiced
 * dz ⟨dz⟩
 * ɖʐ ⟨dż⟩
 * dʑ ⟨dz̧⟩
 * dʑ ⟨dz̧⟩
 * style="background: #efefef;" | voiceless
 * f ⟨f⟩
 * s ⟨s⟩
 * ʂ ⟨ṡ⟩
 * ɕ ~ ç ⟨ś⟩
 * x ⟨x⟩
 * h ⟨h⟩
 * style="background: #efefef;" | voiced
 * v ⟨v⟩
 * z ⟨z⟩
 * ʐ ⟨ż⟩
 * ʑ ~ ʝ ⟨ź⟩
 * ɣ ⟨ğ⟩
 * ɣ ⟨ğ⟩
 * ʋ ⟨v⟩
 * l ⟨l⟩
 * ɻ ⟨r⟩
 * j ⟨y⟩
 * w ⟨w⟩
 * }
 * /w, j/ are the only initial consonants permitted to form consonant clusters with other consonants. Old Dieuese also had medial /ɹ, l/, but they have disappeared.
 * /p, ɓ, m/ are bilabial while /f, v/ are labiodental.
 * /t, tʰ, ɗ/ are dento-apical, /s, z, ʂ, ʐ/ are laminal, and /ᶑ, n, ɻ, l/ are apical. /ɻ/ ranges from alveolar to postalveolar.
 * A glottal stop [ʔ] is inserted before words that begin with a vowel or semivowel.
 * /ʈʰ, ts, dz, ʐ/ only occur in Sino-Vietnamese words.
 * ⟨ś, ź⟩ vary between [ɕ, ʑ] and [ç, ʝ]. Opinions differ on how to classify ⟨ś, ź⟩: many scholars classify it as palatal, while others classify it as alveolo-palatal.
 * ⟨ś, ź⟩ vary between [ɕ, ʑ] and [ç, ʝ]. Opinions differ on how to classify ⟨ś, ź⟩: many scholars classify it as palatal, while others classify it as alveolo-palatal.

Vowels

 * {| class="wikitable nowrap" style="text-align: center;"

! ! Front ! colspan="2" | Back ! ! Close ! Close-mid ! Open-mid ! Open
 * unrounded
 * unrounded
 * rounded
 * i ⟨i⟩
 * ɯ ⟨ï⟩
 * u ⟨u⟩
 * e ⟨ĕ⟩
 * ɤ ⟨ə⟩
 * o ⟨ŏ⟩
 * ɛ ⟨e⟩
 * ʌ ⟨ə̆⟩
 * ɔ ⟨o⟩
 * a ⟨a⟩
 * }
 * {| class="wikitable nowrap" style="text-align: center;"
 * }
 * {| class="wikitable nowrap" style="text-align: center;"

! ! Front ! colspan="2" | Back
 * Opening
 * ie
 * ɯɤ
 * uo
 * Closing
 * ei
 * oi
 * ai, au
 * }
 * All vowels exist in long-short pairs, and are unrounded except for the three back rounded vowels: /u, o, uo/.
 * The unrounded back vowels /ɯ, ɤ, ɯə/ are near-back [ɯ̟, ɤ̟, ɯ̟ə] and become [ɨ, ə, ɨə] after palatalized consonants.
 * /a/ is central /ä/.
 * All vowels exist in long-short pairs, and are unrounded except for the three back rounded vowels: /u, o, uo/.
 * The unrounded back vowels /ɯ, ɤ, ɯə/ are near-back [ɯ̟, ɤ̟, ɯ̟ə] and become [ɨ, ə, ɨə] after palatalized consonants.
 * /a/ is central /ä/.

Finals

 * {| class="wikitable"

! ! Labial ! Dental ! Palatal ! Velar
 * Plosive
 * p
 * t
 * c
 * k
 * Nasal
 * m
 * n
 * ŋ
 * Glide
 * w
 * j
 * }
 * Glide
 * w
 * j
 * }
 * }
 * }

Tones
Like many East Asian languages, Dieu uses tone to distinguish words, with the number of possible tones depending on the type of final. In finals that end in a stop, the number of tones is reduced to three. Tones only occur in Chinese loanwords.

There are 7 phonetic tones in Dieu: high, mid, low, high rising, low rising, high falling, low falling.


 * {| class="wikitable" style="text-align: center;"

! Tone name ! Tone ID ! Contour ! Diacritic (Ping'am)
 * High level
 * 1
 * ˦˥ 45
 * Mid level
 * 2
 * ˧ 33
 * Low level
 * 3
 * ˨˩ 21
 * High rising
 * 4
 * ˧˥ 35
 * Low rising
 * 5
 * ˩˧ 13
 * High falling
 * 6
 * ˥˧ 53
 * Low falling
 * 7
 * ˧˩ 31
 * }
 * 5
 * ˩˧ 13
 * High falling
 * 6
 * ˥˧ 53
 * Low falling
 * 7
 * ˧˩ 31
 * }
 * Low falling
 * 7
 * ˧˩ 31
 * }
 * }