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Introduction

The following outlines the phonology of modern Thernese. Thernese has 28 possible initial consonants, 2 medials, 3 vowels (or vocalic consonants), and a 3-way phonation distinction. It has a very restrictive syllable structure, yielding a relatively small set of possible syllables.

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Syllable Structure

Thernese has a very restrictive syllable structure. Every syllable has an obligatory onset (or initial), consisting of a consonant, and an obligatory vowel that constitutes the rhyme. The onset may also have a liquid release. The rhyme (or final) may be accompanied by a glide preceding the vowel and an optional nasal coda. A given syllable may also be glottalized or breathy. The syllable structure of Thernese is outlined in the diagram below.

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Initial Consonants

Thernese has between 20 and 28 initial consonants depending on whether lateral releases are considered distinct phonemes. Voiceless stops and sibilants /p, t, k/ are typically aspirated while voiced stops are typically fully voiced but may occasionally be pronounced as slightly implosive (especially /b, bl/). In the consonant chart below, liquid releases are treated as separate phonemes; however, they could be analyzed as consonant clusters.

		Labial		Dental		Alveolar		Dorsal		Glottal
		plain	liquid	plain	liquid	plain	liquid	plain	liquid
Nasal		m ⟨m⟩	mˡ ⟨ml⟩			n ⟨n⟩		ŋ ⟨ng⟩	ŋˡ ⟨ngl, xl⟩
Stop	voiceless	p ⟨p⟩	pˡ ⟨pl⟩			t ⟨t⟩		k ⟨k⟩	kˡ ⟨kl⟩	ʔ ⟨x⟩
	voiced	b ⟨b⟩	bˡ ⟨bl⟩					g ⟨g⟩	gˡ ⟨gl⟩
Continuant	voiceless	f ⟨f, hu⟩		θ ⟨th⟩	l̥ ⟨hl⟩	s ⟨s⟩	ʃˡ~ɬ ⟨sl, thl⟩	ç ⟨hi⟩		h ⟨h⟩
	voiced	v ⟨w⟩		(ð) ⟨dh⟩	l ⟨l⟩	z ⟨z⟩	ʒˡ~ɮ ⟨zl⟩	ʝ ⟨y⟩
Click			(mᵑǃ¡) ⟨ml⟩						(ᵑǃ¡) ⟨ngl, xl⟩

• The velars stops /k, g/ and their liquid counterparts can surface as uvular [qʰ~q͡χ, ʁ] when followed by an open vowel /a, ar/.
• /ŋ/ and /ʔ/ can occur in free variation, but most commonly only /ŋ/ is used with liquid releases while a phonemic distinction is maintained elsewhere.
• Glottal consonats /ʔ/ and /h/ only occur with open vowels /a, ar/. Similarly, /v/ only occurs with a labial medial /w/ and /ç/ and /ʝ/ only occur with a palatal medial /j/.
• When plain alveolars /n, t, s, z/ occur in between two rhotic vowels [ɚ_ɚ], they are pronounced as retroflex [ɳ, ʈ, ʂ, ʐ]. This rhotic harmony does not occur if the consonant has a liquid release.
• In some dialects, the liquid release stops are realized as lateral affricates, where /pl, kl/ are pronounced as [tɬ], and /bl, gl/ may be pronounced as [dɮ]. This is particularly common in northern dialects (although often [dɮ] has merged with /zl~ɮ/). Such dialects also tend to prefer the lateral fricative realization of the alveolar liquid release consonants, and liquid release nasals are also realized as a flapped nasal click [ᵑǃ͡¡].
• Historically, there also existed a voiced alveolar stop /d/; however, in the Southern dialects it lenited to /ð/ and is often merged with /l/, while in Northern dialects it became /v/ and /z/ depending on the environment. Northern dialects also typically lack /θ/ and use /f/ in its place.

The following is a chart consisting of the onset consonants of typical Northern Thernese. Where there are voiced stops in Southern Thernese, there are typically voiced fricatives. Stops in Northern Thernese may be realized as aspirated or tenuis. Lastly, as mentioned above, liquid release consonants in Southern Thernese typically correspond to lateral fricatives and affricates, except for liquid release nasals, which typically correspond to a nasal lateral, which is frequently realized as a nasal slapped click [ᵑǃ͡¡] or occasionally as a nasal lateral click [ᵑǁ].

		Labial	Alveolar		Velar
			plain	lateral
Nasal		m	n	l̃ [ᵑǃ͡¡]	ŋ
Stop/Affricate		p	t	tɬ	k
Fricative	voiceless	f	s	ɬ	x
	voiced	v	z	ɮ	ɣ
Approximant		(w)	r	l	(j)

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Vowels and Finals

Thernese has 3 basic vowel phonemes: /a/, /r/, and /l/. The vowels /r/ and /l/ also have open (diphthongized) and closed forms, realized as [aɚ̯, aɫ̯] and [ɚ, ɫ̩~(w)ʊɫ̯] respectively. The open-closed distinction for /r/ is phonemic, while the distinction for /l/ is allophonic, the open form occuring only on stressed syllables. The vowels can further combine with different medials, resulting in a variety of allophonic realizations as outlined in the table below.

		/a/	/r/	/l/
/∅-/	open	[a] ⟨a⟩	[aɚ̯] ⟨ar⟩	[aɫ̯] ⟨al⟩
	closed	–	[ɚ] ⟨r⟩	[ɫ̩~(w)ʊɫ̯] ⟨uol⟩
/w-/		[wo] ⟨uo⟩	[wʊɚ̯] ⟨ur⟩
/j-/		[je] ⟨ie⟩	[jɪɚ̯] ⟨ir⟩	[jɪɫ̯] ⟨iel⟩

Only finals containing the vowels /a/ and /r/ can end in a nasal coda. All finals can be glottalized or breathy. When a nasal coda or the vowel /l/ is present and the final is breathy, it is typically accompanied by a fricative release, either dental for non-rhotic finals or retroflex for rhotic finals. The following table outlines all possible finals in Thernese.

			/a/		/r/		/l/
			/-∅/	/-n/	/-∅/	/-n/
Plain	/∅-/	open	[a]	[an̪]	[aɚ̯]	[aɚ̯ɳ]	[aɫ̯]
		closed	–	–	[ɚ]	[ɚɳ]	[ɫ̩~(w)ʊɫ̯]
	/w-/		[wo]	[won̪]	[wʊɚ̯]	[wʊɚ̯ɳ]
	/j-/		[je]	[jen̪]	[jɪɚ̯]	[jɪɚ̯ɳ]	[jɪɫ̯]
Glottal	/∅-/	open	[aʔ]	[an̪ˀ]	[aɚ̯ʔ]	[aɚ̯ɳˀ]	[aɫ̯ˀ]
		closed	–	–	[ɚʔ]	[ɚɳˀ]	[ɫ̩ʔ~(w)ʊɫ̯ˀ]
	/w-/		[woʔ]	[won̪ˀ]	[wʊɚ̯ʔ]	[wʊɚ̯ɳˀ]
	/j-/		[jeʔ]	[jen̪ˀ]	[jɪɚ̯ʔ]	[jɪɚ̯ɳˀ]	[jɪ̤ɫ̯ˀ]
Breathy	/∅-/	open	[a̤]	[a̤n̪ᶿ]	[a̤ɚ̯ʂ]	[a̤ɚ̯ɳᶳ]	[a̤ɫ̯ᶿ]
		closed	–	–	[ɚ̤ʂ]	[ɚ̤ɳᶳ]	[ɫ̩θ~(w)ʊ̤ɫ̯ᶿ]
	/w-/		[wo̤]	[wo̤n̪ᶿ]	[wʊ̤ɚ̯ʂ]	[wʊ̤ɚ̯ɳᶳ]
	/j-/		[je̤]	[je̤n̪ᶿ]	[jɪ̤ɚ̯ʂ]	[jɪ̤ɚ̯ɳᶳ]	[jɪ̤ɫ̯ᶿ]

Anticipatory rhotic harmony also occurs, in which a syllable becomes rhotic if the subsequent syllable has the nucleus /r/. This harmony is blocked if a dental articulation occurs between the two vowels or if the /r/ is open.

The following is the vowels typical of Northern Thernese. Southern /ja/ and /wa/ roughly correspond to /e/ and /o/ respectively, while /(w)al/ and /jal/ correspond to closing diphthongs /ou/ and /ei/. Only the mid and low vowels can combined with the rhotic vowel /ɚ/ to form rhotic diphthongs.

	Front	Central	Back
Closing	ei		ou
Mid	e	ɚ	o
Open		a

Northern Thernese monophthongs all have nasalized counterparts. A syllable can have three different phonations: modal voice, creaky voice, or breathy voice. Alternatively, creaky voice can be realized as a coda glottal stop, and the breathy voice can be realized as a coda glottal fricative, both with some allophonic variations depending on the nucleus of the syllable. The following table lists all possible Northern Thernese finals.

	Plain			Nasalized
	Modal	Creaky	Breathy	Modal	Creaky	Breathy
/a/	[a]	[aʔ~a̰]	[ah~a̤]	[ã]	[ãʔ~ã̰]	[ãh~ã̤]
/ar/	[aɚ]	[aɚʔ~aɚ̰]	[aʂ~aɚ̤]	[ãɚ̃]	[ãɚ̃ʔ~ãɚ̰̃]	[ãʂ~ãɚ̤̃]
/e/	[e]	[eʔ~ḛ]	[eh~e̤]	[ẽ]	[ẽʔ~ḛ̃]	[ẽh~ẽ̤]
/er/	[eɚ]	[eɚʔ~eɚ̰]	[eʂ~eɚ̤]	[ẽɚ̃]	[ẽɚ̃ʔ~ẽɚ̰̃]	[ẽʂ~ẽɚ̤̃]
/o/	[o]	[oʔ~o̰]	[oh~o̤]	[õ]	[õʔ~õ̰]	[õh~õ̤]
/or/	[oɚ]	[oɚʔ~oɚ̰]	[oʂ~oɚ̤]	[õɚ̃]	[õɚ̃ʔ~õɚ̰̃]	[õʂ~õɚ̤̃]
/ei/	[ei]	[eiʔc~eḭ]	[eiç~ei̤]	–	–	–
/ou/	[ou]	[ouʔp~oṵ]	[ouɸ~oṳ]	–	–	–

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Historical Phonology

The following details the historical development of historical Thernese phonology. Thernese is thought to once have been the same language as Luanese, with Thernese and Luanese splitting between the Early Middle Luanese period and the Old Luanese (or Old Luano-Thernese) period. Old Thernese developed from Old Luano-Thernese, having undergone some of the same changes that took place between Old Luano-Thernese and Early Middle Luanese in addition to many other changes that drastically set it a part from Luanese languages. Some similarities in their development include the fortition of voiceless sonorants, the simplification of final consonants and loss of final clusters, and the complex development of medials and diphthongization from vowels. The most notable differences in the development of Thernese include the retention of final glottal articulations (as opposed to undergoing tonogenesis) and the retention and development of initial consonant clusters, where OLT medial *r is retained as medial *l and a second velar/rhotic medial *r developed corresponding to the complex medial *jw in Middle Luanese.

Old Thernese Syllable Structure

In Old Thernese, the syllable structure can be summarized as C(C)V(C). Every syllable has an obligatory onset/initial consonant or consonant cluster followed by a vowel nucleus. A cluster consists of a stop, affricate, or nasal followed by either a liquid medial /l/ or rhotic medial /r/. The vowel can be either a monophthong or diphthong and be followed by a final consonants. Possible final consonants are limited to voiceless stops /p, t, k, ʔ/, nasals /m, n, ŋ/, or a glottal fricative /h/. Nasal finals may also be glottalized as /mʔ, nʔ, ŋʔ/.

Old Thernese Initials

Old Thernese had 16 initial consonants with an aspirated-unaspirated distinction between stops and affricates, the aspired consonants having developed from the merging of early aspirated and breathy consonants. The initial consonants of Old Thernese are outlined below.

		Labial	Dental	Velar	Glottal
Nasals		m	n	ŋ
Stops	plain	p	t	k	ʔ
	aspirated	pʰ	tʰ	kʰ
Affricate	plain		ts
	aspirated		tsʰ
Fricative			s		h
Liquid			l
Rhotic			r

• The exact articulation of the rhotic consonant /r/ varied widely from a velar approximant to an alveolar approximant, often involving labialization.
• When transcribing Old Thernese, the plain or unaspirated consonants are represented as <b, d, g, dz> and the aspirated consonants as <p, t, k, ts>, while the velar nasal is transcribed as <ng> and the glottal stop as <‘>.

Old Thernese Finals

Old Thernese had 5 basic vowels and 8 possible diphthongs, including 4 closing and 4 opening diphthongs. The vowels and diphthongs are outlined below.

From Old Thernese to Modern Thernese

The basic phonological changes from Old Thernese to Modern Thernese are outlined in the table below. First of all, the unaspirated stops and affricates underwent voicing. The affricates *ts and *dz lenited to fricatives /s, z/ while the fricative *s fronted to dental /θ/. Consonants *d and *r merged with *l as modern /l/, and the *n was dropped from the cluster *nl. The labial clusters *pr and *br both dropped the *r medial and became labiodental articulations before eventually merging as the modern labiodental fricative /f/. Clusters involving dental stops merged with other clusters depending on the medial; if the medial was *l then the dental stops became velar while if the medial was *r then the dental stops became labial. The vowels *i and *u both diphthongized and merged with the dipthongs *ia and *ua as modern /ie/ and /uo/ respectively. The vowel *e became rhotic /r/, and likewise the dipthongs *ie, *ue, and *ai also became rhotic /ir/, /ur/, and /ar/ respectively. The *-u in diphthongs *au and *iu was velarized and lateralized, undergoing devocalization and resulting in modern /al/ and /iel/ respectively. Lastly, the final stops all merged as glottal stops, final nasals merged as a single nasal final /N/, and the final *h was dropped.

Old Thernese	Southern Thernese	Northern Thernese
m, mr	→ m	→ m
ml	→ ml	→ nl
p	→ p	→ p
b	→ b	→ v
pr, br	→ f	→ f
n	→ n	→ n
nl, nr	→ l	→ nl, r
t	→ t	→ t
d	→ l	→ z (/_j), v (/else)
tl	→ kl	→ tɬ
dl	→ gl	→ (d)ɮ
tr	→ pl	→ t
dr	→ bl	→ z (/_j), v (/else)
ts	→ s	→ s
tsl, tsr	→ sl	→ ɬ, s
dz	→ z	→ z
dzl, dzr	→ zl	→ (d)ɮ, z
s	→ θ	→ f
sl, sr	→ sl	→ ɬ, f
l, r	→ l	→ l, r
ŋ	→ ŋ	→ ŋ
ŋl, ŋr	→ ŋl	→ nl, r
k	→ k	→ k
g	→ g	→ ɣ
kl, kr	→ kl	→ tɬ, k
gl, gr	→ gl	→ (d)ɮ, ɣ
ʔ	→ ʔ~ŋ	→ ŋ
ʔl, ʔr	→ ŋl	→ l, r
h	→ h	→ x
hl, hr	→ hl	→ ɬ, f
a	→ a	→ a
i, ia	→ ie	→ e
u, ua	→ uo	→ o
ɵ, ɵi	→ r	→ r
iɵ	→ ir	→ er
uɵ	→ ur	→ or
ai	→ ar	→ ar
au	→ al	→ ou
iu	→ iel	→ ei
-p, -k, -t	→ ʔ	→ ʔ
-m, -n, -ng	→ n	→ n
-h	→ ∅	→ h

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