User:Elector Dark/Kti/2

General
The Ktarh language (Kti: "ktehanarā", /ktɛxanaˈra:/) is one of the major languages on Oktarhazǣm. It is the most widely spoken Dnaric language, with several billion speakers. It is made up of several dialect clusters and one standard variety; the dialects are decreasing in usage due to official government policy. In actuality, Kti is defined as any speech form descending from proto-Ktarh; this definition doesn't include mutual intelligibility amongst the dialects, as the dialects from two distant points can differ quite a lot.

The Ktarh language (most often plainly called "Kti", sometimes called "ktehanarā") can be abbreviated to "" in situations requiring the usage of its formal name (as shown in the tooltip).

Dialectically, Kti is divided into the following clusters and dialects:
 * - Dialects of Tanu
 * - Upper Tanarh
 * - Lower Tanarh
 * - Peninsular Tanarh
 * - Acrolectic peninsular (lingua franca)
 * - Basilectic peninsular
 * - Peripheric Ktarh
 * → Insular dialects
 * - Eastern dialects
 * → Coastal eastern
 * - Inland eastern
 * - Southern dialects

The acrolectic peninsular Tanarh dialect is usually taken as the closest form to standard Kti. This article describes the acrolectic peninsular Tanarh variety. All forms should be taken as standard unless specifically noted not to be so.

Vowels
There are six cardinal vowels (A E U I O Æ) each representing one cardinal phonemic value of /a ɛ u i ɔ ɞ/ and each cardinal vowel has two lengths that have minimal pairs and allophonic variants depending on position.

The vowels /a: ɛ: u: i: ɔ: ɞ:/ remain more constant to their value than their short variants.

They are organised as such in the vowel space:

Allophony
Each of the twelve vowels have allphones that are dependant on their position.

Diphthongs
Dipthongs are combinations of two vowels. They don't change according to position. They're counted as a single long vowel in length.

The first component of the diphthong is always semivocalic and is thus an onglide.

Tripthongs
Tripthongs are combinations of three vowels. They don't change according to position. They're counted as an overlong vowel or as a dipthong + short vowel in length. Every triphthong has a high central element that also acts as the nucleus of the triphthong.

Consonants
Kti has 12 cardinal consonants ( Sh, S, Z, Zh, K, T, D, H, M, N, R, ' ). They are distributed unevenly along five points of articulation, labial, alveolar, postalveolar, velar and glottal.

* These are allophonic variations of an underlying phoneme.

Allophony
The allophonic variations of consonants are far smaller than in vowels. The only consonants that have a variable pronounciation are /k/ and /x/.

Allophony of /k/
The realisation of /k/ as [k ~ kj] is an enviromental feature. [k] and [kj] are in complementary distribution before vowels.

/k/ is realised as [k] before /a/, /u/, /ɔ/ and /ɞ/ and consonants, while [kj] is seen only sometimes before /i/ and /ɛ/. In initial positions, [k] is always pronounced as such, and an analysis of [kj] as an allophone can be considered correct as [k] seems to be the underlying element and therefore the priviledged value.

Allophony of /x/
The realisation of /x/ is far more simple, as [h] is a simple allophonic equivalent of [x] as it occurs only in initial positions. Unlike [k] and [kj] which share one grapheme, [x] and [h] are differentiated in the orthography. Sometimes, when [x] is put instead of [h], it can be assumed that the previous word is linked with the current one via compounding, phrasing or some sort of derivation, therefore giving rise to certain minimal pairs that don't chage the meaning of one word but of a phrase; this phenomenon occurs only in very fast speech. The view that [h] is an allophone of /x/ is still held, though.

Dialectical Variation
The primary variations in Ktarh acrolects stem from two things:
 * 1) The different outcomes of the sound change which came around in the acrolect as "l > r > ʂ; ʂ > ʃ"
 * 2) The different outcomes of the sound change which came around in the acrolect as "{ m d } > $$\varnothing$$ / 'ɛ_aC#"

The first sound change might have happened differently, with results such as a contrast of /r ʂ ʃ/, /l r ʂ/, /l r ʃ/ and even a total levelling of /ʃ~ʂ/ - the acrolect preserves a contrast of /r ʃ/, with /r/ stemming from earlier /l/ and /ʃ/ stemming from both an earlier /r/ and /ʂ/.

The second sound change, much more limited in scope but far more influental in verbs than the first, was either applied or not. It has resulted in pairs of words such as "akemash" and "akēsh" (stemming from "akeash", often heard instead of the second word's prescribed pronunciation)

Phonotacics
Phonotactics of Kti is divided into syllable rules and combinatorics.

Syllables
Ktarh syllables have the following general structure:

Vowels in Kti always border a consonant. Vowels of equal weight can share control over a single consonant between them, thus having it belong to two syllables at once. Several archaic nouns, such as <ī> (sky, m.i.), may have no consonant; these always have a long vowel.

Syllables sometimes tend to "hoard" consonants taken from previous syllables, thus sometimes reaching three initials. These consonants, while theoretically part of the first syllable, phonetically become part of the second. It should be noted that a post-vocalic glottal stop resets syllable rules, thus always starting a new syllable after it.

The only allowed final cluster in Kti is /rx/ - it only occurs word-finally as it cannot be followed by a consonant. It stems from a syllable with an earlier, deleted vowel.

Stress
Prosodic stress is very syllable-dependant and there are relatively complex rules that are governed by syllable position and structure.

Stress is pretty regular in that it is generally found in the penultimate syllable unless something else happened. If the word is monosyllabilic, the stress is on the sole syllable. A syllable is counted as "light" if it has a short vowel, and "heavy" if it has a long vowel, diphthong or triphthong.

Stress in Kti follows these rules:
 * 1) Primary stress is always on one of the last three syllables.
 * 2) If all three ultimate syllables are either fully heavy or fully light, stress falls on the penultimate.
 * 3) If one of the three ultimate syllables is heavy and the rest light, stress falls on the heavy syllable.
 * 4) If two of the three ultimate syllables is heavy and one is light, stress falls on the first of the heavy syllables.
 * 5) Secondary stress always falls on the syllable that has a gap of one syllable between itself and the stressed syllable.
 * 6) By this, if the primarily stressed syllable is antepenultimate, the secondarily stressed syllable is always the ultimate.
 * 7) Secondary stress cannot fall on on the initial syllable except if it is heavy.
 * 8) Tertiary stressings occur in relation to secondary stress in the same conditions as secondary stress does to primary.
 * 9) Tertiary stress has a gap between itself and secondary stress of one syllable - if the secondarily stressed syllable is ultimate, tertiary stress falls on the syllable two behind primary stress.
 * 10) Tertiary stress, unlike secondary, can fall on the initial syllable regardless of its weight.