Qalaq

Setting  Qalaq is a language spoken by a nomadic tribe in northern Africa, Qalaqrang, originally from the shores of the Nile, but, through a series of migrations, most motivated by the Islamic conquest of northern Africa, now living on largely the same territory as the Tuareg. Despite formally converting to Islam, the tribes still retain an ancient pantheon and a great number of traditional stories and legends.

Phonology
Phonemes and Transcription

The forms in the paranthesis are aproximate phoneme pronounciation using IPA symbols, while the symbol on the left represent how these sounds are transcribed. NOTE: NOTE:
 * While schwa is not within Qalaq vowel inventory, many speakers reduce unaccented vowels to schwa when they are not needed to distinguish words or grammatical forms. This is particularly common in conjuctions and postpositions.
 * The phonetic realisation of mid-vowels in Qalaq is not strictly defined. The e, while it is ideally an open ɛ, can be articulated by various speakers in various contexts as a closed e, or a more open æ. o shows similar variation.
 * There are no true diphthongs in Qalaq, albeit any combination with the two semiwovels can be interpreted as a diphthong. All combinations are allowed.


 * (h) is an allophone of (x) world initially. Both are transcribed as kh.
 * All aspirated consonats are aspirated very forcefully and audably. Some constriction of the throat is also present when they are articulated, similar to Arabic empathic consonants.
 * s, z, n, l, c, cc and dz are slightly palatalized before e and i.

Phonotactics
Essentially, a syllable in Qalaq can be defined as: (C)(C)V(C)(C). However, there are additional rules forbidding some combinations.
 * rs syllable initally is not allowed.
 * th may only appear adjecent to a vowel or an approximant.

Sandhi
There is also a small degree of sandhi, the rules of which are as follows:
 * s is palatalized into sh when preceeding an r, m, p, k. The equivalent rule applies to z preceeding r, m, b, g. Both are also palatalized after r syllable finally and reduced to kh and gh respectivelly syllable finally after an l.