Scellan/Accents

A major language of Verse:Tricin, Skellan has many accents. Some common accent features are

• "R-breaking": epenthesis in certain /rC/ clusters. Most accents have this feature to some degree.
• long vowels for nasal vowels
• In lambdic accents: nasal vowel mergers so that the total number of nasal vowels is less than 11. The first victims tend to be the back nasal vowels /ũ õ ɔ̃/ (which often merge into two vowels) and the front rounded nasal vowels /ỹ ø̃ œ̃/ (which often merge into their unrounded counterparts /ĩ ẽ ɛ̃/).
• Some dialects retain the conservative pronounciation of y as [ɨ] in some environments. Backed realizations of stressed y, such as [ʌ], [ɤ] or [ʊ], is a special feature of some accents.
• Pronouncing n before V as [l]
• hn hŋ being realized as [ʔn ʔŋ] when not word-initial and not before a stressed vowel
• Like in English, there are "nonstandard" pronunciations of /θ ð/. There are various strategies:
  • These may become stops, dental [t̪˭ d̪] or alveolar [t˭ d], in some environments. In Skellan eye dialect this may be transcribed by substituting d for þ.
  • /ð/ may become [z], and /θ/ might participate in a chain shift θ > t > d.
  • Coda /θ/ may become [f].
• /t/-glottalization
• Allophonic vowel length or tensing, especially in non-lambdic accents
  • Vowels may lengthen in open syllables, before voiced consonants, or before front fricatives /f v θ ð s z/.
• Uvular R; /r/ is realized as [ʀ] or [ʁ], while /ʟ/ is a uvular nasal flap.
• /θ ð/ as "slit fricatives" [θ̠ ð̠~ɹ].

TODO: Some accents might merge /œ/ and /ə/

Sgewlan accents

Eetøøm pronunciation

The so-called Eetøøm Sgewlan (eetøøm being an old word for 'standard') accent is the most well-known of the non-lambdic accents. Eetøøm pronunciation is based on the middle and upper middle class accent of the capital Alcve after the industrial revolution. It is characterized by having a vowel length distinction instead of nasal vowels. Though non-Sgewlans often fetishize the accent, Sgewlans view it as extremely posh and use it almost exclusively in formal speeches, acting, and classical singing, and prefer to use their native accents.

TODO: merge some L-colored vowels with other vowels

• l is normatively pronounced [ɴ̆].
• Short vowels: /i y ə u ɛ œ a ɔ/ = [i y ə u e ø a o] (/y œ/ are more front than in General Fyxamian)
• Lambdic vowels: /ĩ ỹ ũ ẽ ø̃ ə̃ õ ɛ̃ ã ɔ̃/ = [io yo uo ejo øyo əwo æo ao o:]~[ʏː ʉ̠ː uː ɛu ɞː ɔu ɔu œː ɑː oː]
• Diphthongs: /ai ui au ɛu iu ɛɪ œy ɔu iə yə uə/ = [aə ui au ɛu iu əɪ ɵy ou iə yə uə]
• Unstressed /ə̃/ merges with /ɔ/.
• In Advanced Eetøøm Sgewlan, /iə yə uə/ are pronounced [iː yː uː] (in line with Contemporary Alcvean).
• /ai/ is [aə].
• Linking L after [ɔ ʏː ʉ̠ː uː ɛu ɞː ɔu ɔu œː ɑː oː] (analogous to linking R in RP)
  • For example, gyl jew in 'out of the blue' is often pronounced /ko jɛu‿ʟ in/.
• Syllabic resonants and schwa + resonant sequences are distinct (except when the resonant is l).
• R-breaking: Word-final /rC/ undergoes epenthesis to [rəC] for any C. This rule also operates in words derived from words with final /rC/.

Contemporary Alcvean

The contemporary accent of Alcve, the capital of Sgewla.

• cl is pronounced as if it was cŋ.
• /ai au/ = [æː ɑʊ]
• /ĩ ỹ ũ ẽ ø̃ ə̃ õ ɛ̃ ã ɔ̃/ = [ʏː ʉ̠ː uː ɛu ɞ̠ː ou ou œː ɑː ɔː]
• /ɛi œy ɔu/ = [eɪ øʏ oʊ]
• /iə yə uə/ = [iː yː uː]
• Unstressed /ə̃/ and /ɔ/ are realized as [o].
• /ui/ = [oi] or even lower [oe] or [ɔe]
• Especially in working-class accents, /ð/ may become [z], and /θ/ may participate in a chain shift: /θ/ > [t] and /t/ > [d].
• For the 1st person pronoun naw, the form no is preferred in colloquial speech. Due to the L-linking rule (see above), this has led to the stereotype of Sgewlans saying nol for naw among non-Sgewlans.

Sgewlan accent #2

• /ĩ ỹ ũ ẽ ø̃ ə̃ õ ɛ̃ ã ɔ̃/ are realized as [eː øː oː ɛː œː oː oː ɛː ɑɔ~ɑː ɔː] (more conservatively, /ĩ ỹ ũ/ are [ɪː ʏː ʊː])
• ai wi aw ew iw ee øø oo = /aiː yiː auː ɛuː iuː ɛiː œyː ɔuː/

Sgewlan accent #4 (conservative)

• ee øø oo are all monophthongs: [e: ø: o:]
• /ç/ and /h/ before plosives = [x]
• /h/ after V and before a resonant = [ʔ]
• /ʟ/ = [ɫ~l]

Fyxamian accents

General Fyxamian Skellan

This is the de facto standard accent of Verse:Tricin/Fyxam.

• /œ y/ are commonly centralized, closer to [ɞ ʉ].
• /ɛu/ is slightly higher [eu].
• /au/ > [æw]
• /u, y, i/ > [ʊw, ʏɥ, ɪj]
• epenthesis in /rC/ clusters when C = nasal or /v/. For example, arm 'to live' is [ˈaɾəm].
• Nasal vowels are also consistently pharyngealized, resulting in mergers. The pharyngealization is stronger before nasals.
  • wl~ool~ol [õˁ~ɔ̃ˁ]
  • il~eel~ul [ẽˁ~ø̃ˁ]
  • el~øl~øøl [ɛ̃ˁ~œ̃ˁ]

Lleeb Serŋ

• unrounded /y yə œ/ unrounded to [ɨ ɨə ɜ]
• stressed /ə/ backed to [ʌ]
• /ɔ/ raised to [o]. Merger with /u/?
• /χ/ = pharyngeal h
• non-lambdicity (not from Eetøøm accent)

High Cøøvean (non-lambdic)

Stereotypes (while it was current): cultured, highbrow intellectuals, affluent

High Cøøvean is an obsolete Fyxamian accent. It was like a "Transatlantic" accent, in that it was a compromise between Fyxamian and Sgewlan standard accents.

L-colored vowels are realized as pharyngealized vowels (no nasalization)?

Monophthongs are long in open syllables and short in closed syllables.

Low Cøøvean (non-lambdic)

L-colored vowels realized as [ɐ̯] offglide.

Flian

Notorious for its strange sounds, this is the accent of the Fyxamian city of Flian (/fʟiən/ FLEE-uhn or [fʟiːn] FLEEN) and its environs.

• /ç/ is fronted to [ɕ] and triggers retraction of /ʃ tʃ/ to [ʂ tʂ].
• /χ/ is fronted to [x].
• A chain vowel shift ("Flian Vowel Shift") affects the following non-nasalized vowels.
  1. /ɛu, ui/ > [eo~eə~ɛː, oe~oə~oː]
  2. /au, ai/ > [æw, ɑɪ]
  3. /ou, øy, ei/ > [œw~œː, ɶʏ, æj]
  4. /u, y, i/ > [ʊ, ʏ, ɪ]
  5. /uə, yə, iə/ > [uː, yː, iː] before C
• Front nasal vowels are realized as rhotic nasal vowels: /ẽˁ~ø̃ˁ, ɛ̃ˁ~œ̃ˁ/ are realized as rhotic nasal vowels [ɚ̃, ʌ̃ɚ] or even rhotic oral vowels [ɚ, ʌɚ].
• /θ ð/ > [t̪˭ d̪] often occurs.
• t-glottalization like in Estuary English

Cnollta

Spoken in the Cnollta region in Fyxam, this accent is often perceived as backwards and boorish.

Similar to General Fyxamian, but:

• Especially in lower class accents, /θ/ > /t/ occurs after stressed syllables.
• /ð/ > [ɹ] after vowels.
• Many monophthongs lengthen or diphthongize allophonically:
  • "trap-bath split": /a/ is pronounced [ɑː] before /r f v s z θ ð/ and word-finally, and [æ] or fully front [a] otherwise. For example:
    • saþ /saθ/ 'salty' is pronounced [sɑːθ] or [sɑːt]
    • syvŋá 'art' is pronounced [səvŋɑː]
    • hnaða /hnaðə/ 'door' is pronounced [hnɑːɹə]
    • but glah 'will, intention' is pronounced [kʀæh]
  • /ɛ/ becomes [ɛə] or [eə] before voiced consonants /m n ŋ r v ð z/ or word-finally. /œ/ and /ə/ become [ɞː] and [ɘː] in the same environment.

Need more special features - do something with consonants maybe

Barca

Non-lambdic like Eetøøm

r, rr = American r, sje?

Early Modern Skellan

• The liquid l was always pronounced [lˠ]. Likewise, ll was [ɬˠ].
• The letter y was pronounced /ɨ/.
• The vowel a was never reduced, and was always pronounced [a~ɐ].
• The diphthongs /ɛɪ œʏ ɔʊ/ (written ee øø oo) were long monophthongs [eː øː oː].
• The consonant ç /ç/ was actually /x/, as in Clofabic languages at that time.
• In written diphthongs, the second element was longer unlike in most modern accents, i.e. ai wi aw ew iw ia ua wa = [ɐiˑ uiˑ ɐuˑ euˑ iuˑ iɜˑ yɜˑ uɜˑ]. Thus, for example, ai /ai/ [ɐiˑ] and aj /aj/ [aj] were phonemically distinct.