# Phonology

Isanercent shares the same set of phonemes of German. Below is a description
based on Wikipedia article.

## Consonants

|  | labial | alveolar | post-alveolar | palatal | velar/uvular | glottal |
|--|--------|----------|---------------|---------|--------------|---------|
| nasal | m | n        |               |         | ŋ            |         |
| plosive | p b | t d  |               |         | k g          |         |
| affricate | pf | ts  |  tʃ  dʒ       |         |              |         |
| fricative | f v | s z | ʃ ʒ          | ç j     | x            | h       |
| liquid |     | l     |               |         |              |         |

## Vowels

|  | front (u)       | front (r)     | central | back |
|--|-----------------|---------------|---------|------|
| close | ɪ iː       | ʏ yː          |         | ʊ uː |
| close-mid | eː     | øː            | (ə)     | oː   |
| open-mid | ɛ (ɛː)  | œ             | (ɐ)     | ɔ    |
| open |             |               | a       |      |

- /ə/ is often realized as mid central unrounded [ə] and close-mid central
  unrounded [ɘ].  It occurs only in unstressed syllables, for instance in
  Isanercent [ˈɪzaˌnɛɐtsən].  If a sonorant follows in the syllable coda, the
  schwa often disappears so that the sonorant becomes syllabic, for instance
  [ˈɪzaˌnɛɐtsn̩]
- /ɐ/ is a common allophone of the sequence /ər/

## Diphthongs

### Phonemic

| Ending point → | front | back |
|----------------|-------|------|
| open-mid       | ɔʏ̯    |      |
| open           | aɪ̯    | aʊ̯   |

### Phonetic

In the varieties where speakers vocalize /r/ to [ɐ] in the syllable coda, a
diphthong ending in [ɐ̯] may be formed with every stressable vowel.

## Romanization

While we can directly borrow German's orthography, seeing that we can improve
its intuitivity, it is modified a little.

### Consonants

- b: at end of syllable: [p]; otherwise: [b]
- c: [ts]
- ch: after a, o, and u: [x]; after other vowels or consonants or initially:
  [ç] or [k].
- ck: [k], follows short vowels
- d: at end of syllable: [t]; otherwise: [d] or [d̥]
- dz: [dʒ]
- dt: [t]
- f: [f]
- g: when part of word-final -ig: [ç] or [k] (Southern German); at the end of a
  syllable: [k]; otherwise: [ɡ] or [ɡ̊]
- h: [h]
- k: [k]
- l: [l]
- m: [m]
- n: [n]
- ng: usually: [ŋ]; in compound words where the first element ends in "n" and
  the second element begins with "g" (-n·g-): [nɡ] or [nɡ̊]
- nk: [ŋk]
- p: [p]
- pf: [pf] in all cases with some speakers
- qu: [kv] or [kw] (in a few regions)
- r: [ʁ] before vowels, [ɐ] otherwise; or
- s: before and between vowels: [z] or [z̥]; before consonants or when final: [s];
  before p or t at the beginning of a word or syllable: [ʃ]
- sch: [ʃ]; however
- ss: [s]
- t: [t]
- tsch: [tʃ]
- ts: [ts], follows short vowels
- tzsch: [tʃ]
- v: [v]; word-ending: [f]
- w: [v]
- z: [ʒ]
- zsch: [tʃ]

### Vowels

|      | front (u)    | front (r)   | central | back |
|------|--------------|-------------|---------|------|
| close | ɪ (ǐ) i (i) | ʏ (y) y (ü) | | ʊ (ǔ) u (u)  |
| close-mid | e (e)   | ø (ö)       | ə (e)  | o (o) |
| open-mid | ɛ (ä)    | œ (œ)       | ɐ (r)  | ɔ (ǒ) |
| open |              |             | a (a)  |       |