Varrit

General Information
Varrit (natively Bvareq Otan [ˈvj̈ɐɾɪʔ ˈɐʊʰtɐŋ]; Alemarese Veariq) is a language isolate spoken on the semi-autonomous Varrit Islands of Alemar, off the coast of Barejinia on the Chevin Peninsula.

Consonants

 * /n/ is realized as [ŋ] word-finally.
 * The lax series consonants are voiced when between two voiced sounds.
 * The aspirated series consonants are preaspirated after vowels.
 * The /h/ phoneme can be pronounced [x] or [h] in free variation, tending towards [x] in educated speech. It is however exclusively pronounced [x] in the coda.
 * The postpalatal approximant /j̈/ is only found as part of the high opening /j̈ɐ/ diphthong.

Vowels
Varrit has three basic, somewhat centralized vowels, two long vowels which tend to diphthongize in uneducated speech, two low closing diphthongs, and a high opening diphthong.
 * The vowel system of Varrit used to be a simple ten vowel system: five short, five long, but it underwent something like the opposite of the Great Vowel Shift of English. Long vowels lowered (except for /aa/), short vowels raised (except for /i/ and /u/).

Stress
Stress is completely predictable. It is placed on the last long vowel, ignoring the last syllable of a word, which is never stressed. If their are no long vowels or the only one is in the last syllable, then the stress is on the antepenultimate.

Writing System
Digraphs: Examples:
 * <ð>, , , and <þ> are only used in borrowed words.
 * 1)  is pronounced /ʔ/ in borrowed words and is used in native words in the digraph , which used to be its own letter.
 * 2)  is pronounced /w/ between a consonant and a vowel.
 * dzirris /tsiris/ [ˈtsɪɾɪs]
 * jummuts /humotsʰ/ [ˈxʊmoːʰts]
 * tqinde /tʼintai/ [ˈtʼɪndɐɪ]
 * akqin /aakʼin/ [ˈj̈ɐkʼɪŋ]
 * huettsu /witsʰo/ [ˈwɪʰtsoː]

Nonfinite forms
Infinitive: -((q)q)i

Present tense
In the tables, V (only present with monosyllabic stem) represents "lengthening" a vowel to its long equivalent unless its already "long".

Verb stems change in order to preserve their vowels length.
 * 1) In the 2s, the ending voices after m, n, and v, and voices after m, n, v, and r after monosyllables. The 2s becomes the same as the 3s when the stem ends in a sibilant. Monosyllabic stem verbs vowels are lengthened in the 3s.
 * 2) In the 3rd sg, the last vowel, if short and becomes the last phoneme in the word in the 3rd sg, will lengthen. A short vowel will also lengthen in the 3rd sg of monosyllabic verbs.
 * 3) The  in the 1st pls only appear if the verb stem ends in a consonant.
 * 4) The in the 2nd pl only appears if the verb stem ends in a vowel.

Examples
Polysyllabic vowel stem verb: tqindeqqi "to eat" [ˈtʼɪndɪʔeː]

Monosyllabic vowel stem verb: niqi "to start, begin, commence" [ˈneːʔeː] Polysyllabic consonant stem verb: berzarri "to bifurcate, branch, fork" [ˈpɪɾzɐɾeː]

Monosyllabic consonant stem verb: zarri "to cut, slash, slice" [ˈzɐɾeː] Irregular verb: aatsi "to go" [ˈj̈ɐʰtseː]