Initial state

Phoneme inventory

Stressed vowels

/æ ɑ ɛ ʌ ɔ e o ɪ ʊ i u/
/ai oi au/
/ar er ir or ər ur jur/

Unstressed vowels

/ə ᵻ ɚ (ɵ)/

Consonants

/p t tʃ k f θ s ʃ/
/b d dʒ g v ð z ʒ/
/h m n ŋ l r j w/

Phonological processes

Vowel lengthening

Vowels lengthen before lenis consonants. Length is not completely allophonic: the checked vowels, except /æ/, are shorter than the free vowels.

Diphthong breaking

Sequences of a diphthong ending in /i/ and /l r/ break into disyllables: el il ail oil air oir > ejəl ijəl aijəl oijəl aijər oijər. (Note that /e i/ are actually [ei ɪi], diphthongs ending in /i/, but /er ir/ are not.) This may also apply to /ul/.

Canadian raising

ai > ʌi before a fortis consonant.

Back vowel fronting

/o u/ are fronted in most environments. /u/ is most fronted after an alveolar consonant, where it becomes [ʏʉ]. Fronting never occurs before /l/, and is absent in a few other words, like 'both', sometimes misspelled 'bolth'.

Diachronics

æ

æ > æi / _[g ŋ]$
æ > eə
æl > æu (after æu > æ)

ɑ

ɑl ɑr > ɔ
ɑ > ɔ / _[g ŋ]$

ɛ

ɛ > e > æi / _[g ŋ]$
ɛl > ɛu

ʌ

ʌ > ə
ʌl > ɔ
ʌr > ɨ

ɔ

ɔ > a EXCEPT _[g ŋ]$
ɔl > ɔ
ɔr does not exist — see or.

e

e > ɛi > æi
el > ejəl > ejŭ
er > e

o

o > ʌu > ɛʉ > œʉ EXCEPT _[l g ŋ v]$ and words with non-shifted o
ol > o
or > o

ɪ

ɪ > ɨ
ɪl > iu > ʏʉ

ʊ

ʊ > ʏ EXCEPT _[l]
ʊl > ʊ
ʏ ʊ > ɨ

i

i > ɯi / [ʃ ʒ r]_
ir > jɨ
il > ijəl > ijŭ

u

u > y EXCEPT _[l]
ul > u

ai

Canadian raising applies — see also ʌi
air > aiər
ai > a > ɑ

ʌi

ʌi > ʌi

au

au > æu > æə > æ

oi

oi > oə

ə

ər > ɨ̆
əl > ŭ
ə > ĭ EXCEPT _#

ᵻ

ᵻ > ĭ