# Phonology

## Consonants

Main consonants are listed in the table below:

|               | labial | alveolar | palatal | uvular    | glottal |
|---------------|--------|----------|---------|-----------|---------|
| **nasal**     | m      | n        | ɲ (*nj*)  | ŋ (*n*, *ng*) |         |
| **plosive**   | p b    | t d      |         | k (*c*) ɡ (*g*)   | ʔ       |
| **fricative** | f v    | s z      |         | x (*ch*) ɣ (*gh*) | h   |
| **sonorant**  | w      | ɹ (*r*) l  | j       |           |         |

Notes:

- *n* is pronounced as /ŋ/ only if it is followed by another consonant
- The glottal stop /ʔ/ is not written. It's implied when a syllable does not
  have other consonants (similar to Vietnamese).
- *nj* is pronounced as /ɲ/ even when the two letters are from different words.
  The sames go for other digraphs (ng, ch, gh)
- Some dialects may pronounce *s*, *z* as 

## Vowels

|       | front        | centre | back        |
|-------|--------------|--------|-------------|
| open  | i y          | ɨ (*uë*) | u           |
| mid   | ɛ (*e*) e (*aë*) | ə (*oë*) | ɔ (*o*) o (*oü*)|
| close | a            |        |             |

Notes: In Hàësdáëga's native script all vowels are written as only one character.

### Diphthongs and long vowels

Long vowels are written as duplicated vowels, with the second character having
a diaresis (for example *aä* is pronounced /aː/). For vowels whose
romanizations contain two characters, the later vowel is duplicated (for
example, long version of *aë* is *aëë*)

Diphthongs are written similarly. They're listed below:

- aï /aɪ/
- aü /aʊ/
- aëï /eɪ/
- oëï /əɪ/
- oÿ /oʏ/
- uï /uɪ/

## Tones

There are three tones in Hàësdáëga:

- level tone (a) /˧˧/
- rising tone (á) /˧˥/
- falling tone (à) /˥˩/

## Phonotactics

Syllables in Hàësdáëga have a simple structure: **CVT(C)**

The final consonants can't be sonorants, /h/, /ʔ/, and voiced vowels if they
have voiceless equivalents.  Other than that, there isn't any constraints.

There are thus:

\\( 22  × (10 × 2 + 6 )  × 3  × 11  = 18876  \\) (possible syllables)

Note: These numbers mean:

- 22 consonants
- 10 vowels and their long version
- 6 diphthongs
- 3 tones
- 10 final consonants