The BG Language Creation Guide

Phonological Variation

Part 1

• /q/ voiceless uvular stop
• It has three allophones:
  • [q] voiceless uvular stop
  • [k] voiceless velar stop
  • [c] voiceless palatal stop
• Distribution
  • [c] occurs before [i]
  • [k] occurs before [a]
  • [q] occurs elsewhere (that is before [u] and word finally.)

• /s/ voiceless alveolar fricative
• It has two allophones
  • [s] voiceless alveolar fricative
  • [S] voiceless alveolo-palatal fricative
• Distribution
  • [S] occurs word initially
  • [s] occurs elsewhere

40 Nouns with Phonological Variation

Part 2

• The maximum syllable is 'CVC'.
• Any consonant or vowel may begin a word.
• Only [q] may end a word. In fact, only [q] may appear at the end of a syllable. No other consonant may be syllable-final.
• Although the maximum syllable is 'CVq', there may never be two adjacent consonants. If two consonants come to be adjacent due to compounding or other morphological processes, the first one (the {q}) is deleted. Thus, the word duckling (created by adding the suffix -ya (small) to the root 'daq' )duck') is 'daya' not *'daqya'. daq+
• Sequences of two vowels are permitted.
• Content words must be at least two syllables long or one syllable long ending in [q].
• Thus, these are legal words in Liqupa:
  [badama], [lama], [ana] [laq] [aq], [aala], [iaq]
  but these are not:
  *[sla] *[dal] *[asla] *[baqba].

Part 3

Stress is fixed and word initial. However, no {q}-final syllable can be stressed. If a [q] has been deleted (see above) that syllable still cannot be stressed even if the [q] is no longer present on the surface. If the syllable containing the [q] ending is word initial, stress shifts one syllable to the right. The exception to this rule is dealt with in the section on negating verbs. *