Phonology
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Inventory


Consonants


/pʼ tʼ tʷʼ tsʼ tsʷʼ tɬʼ tʂʼ cʼ kʼ kʷʼ qʼ qʷʼ/ <pʼ tʼ tʼ sʼ sʼ lʼ rʼ cʼ kʼ kʼ qʼ qʼ>
/pʰ tʰ tʷʰ tsʰ tsʷʰ tɬʰ tʂʰ cʰ kʰ kʷʰ qʰ qʷʰ/ <p t t s s ł ř c k k q q>
/b d dʷ dɮ dʐ ɟ g gʷ ɢ ɢʷ/  <b d d l r j g g ģ ģ>
/m n nʷ ŋ ŋʷ/ <m n n ņ ņ>
/r rʷ w h/ <ŗ ŗ w h>

Loanwords can contain an additional three phonemes: /ɲ j ʔ/ <ň į ʼ>.

Non-ejective stops vary freely between stops and fricatives, but a fricative realization is more likely in syllable-final position, before another consonant, and for s sʼ. Ejectives are only lightly ejectivized.

The plain/rounded distinction is neutralized before /u/.

Clusters agree for rounding.

The main distinction between the nasals /n ŋ/ is that the former is coronal and the latter is dorsal: /n/ can vary across [n̪ n ɳ], and /ŋ/ across [ɲ ŋ ɴ].

Vowels


/a e ə i ɨ u/ <a e o i y u>

Length is marginally contrastive, and appears mostly in loanwords.

Allophony is governed mostly by the consonant immediately preceding the vowel:
P: a e ə i ɨ u
T: æ e ə i ɨ ʉ
S: a e ə i ɨ u
L: a e ə i ɨ u
R: ɑ ɜ ʌ ɯi ɯ u
C: æ e ə i ɪ y
K: a ɛ ə əi ɨ u
Q: ɑ æ ʌ aɪ ʌɘ ɒʊ

However, following uvular consonants cause schwa offglides on high vowels, and following palatal consonants may cause [j] offglides on nonfront vowels. Roundedness also bleeds over onto preceding and following vowels. /ɨ u/ do not contrast after rounded consonants, and schwa is realized as [o] here.

Phonotactics


Kannow's phonotactics would be prohibitively difficult to describe in the traditional syllable-structure model. Consonant clusters are theoretically infinite, but clusters of more than three consonants rarely occur in the same root, and clusters of more than five are uncommon in full words.

However, non-plosive consonants can only occur directly adjacent to a vowel. /w h/ are further restricted: the former cannot occur next to another consonant, and the latter can only occur word-initially, except in some place-names and recent loanwords.

If a cluster would arise that violates that restriction, and that cluster does not contain /w h/, it is resolved by adding an epenthetic vowel, the same as the preceding one (determined by the prefix, if word-initial) as follows: TODO

/w/ cannot appear in clusters; it drops, but rounds the cluster if it contains a roundable consonant.

Clusters containing /h/ are resolved in the following ways:
If /h/ follows a plosive, the plosive aspirates: cnur-hu ''flower-IND.PL'' "flowers" -> cnuřu.
If /h/ is word-initial and precedes a plosive, the plosive aspirates and the vowel lengthens: h-dem-a ''INFR.PRES-talk-C1.A.PL'' "[inferred] they are talking" -> '''teema'''.
If /h/ follows a vowel, the vowel lengthens and the following plosive aspirates: di-h-beņ-tʼ-r ''over-INFR.PRES-jump-C2.D.SG-C2.A.PL'' "[inferred] it[C2] is jumping over it[C2]" -> '''diipeņtr'''.
In some dialects, if /h/ follows ''any'' consonant (or precedes it word-initially), the consonant turns to an aspirated plosive: h-map-kʼ-ow ''INFR.PRES-punch-2S.P-C1.A.SG'' "I heard he is punching you" -> '''paapkʼow''', but most dialects just lengthen the vowel: '''maapkʼow'''.
In any other environment, /h/ just drops.

Ejective stop consonants can only appear in two locations: directly preceding a vowel or word-finally. Voiced stop consonants can appear in only those environments and before /r rʷ j/. In all other environments, they are realized as aspirates.

Also, note that rounded and unrounded consonants cannot occur in clusters together. If one consonant in a cluster is rounded, the entire cluster is realized as rounded.

Consecutive vowels are not allowed; when two vowels would be placed directly next to each other, the second vowel is deleted and the first is lengthened.