Mèrun

Consonants
Note: sounds in parentheses occur only as allophones and are not phonemic.

Diphthongs
/ju/ /wi/ /eɪ/ /aɪ/

Sound Changes
Vowels in Mèrun have developed through sound changes from a five-consonant /a e i o u/ vowel inventory with phonemic length. The sound changes follow:

Phonotactics
/ts/ and /ds/ palatalize to [tʃ] and [dʒ] before /i ì e/

/s/ cannot exist before /i ì e/

/x/ becomes affricate [kx] word-initially

/f/ becomes [ ɸ] before rounded consonants /u u ̀ o ò/

/fui/ becomes [ʍi]

Nasal consonants assimilate to the same position as following stops: */ng/ -> /ŋg/

Plosives become voiced after nasals: */nt/ -> /nd/

Fricatives become voiced between vowels: /afa/ -> [ava]

[ r̥] is in free association with [ ɬ] as allophones of /lh/

/s/ becomes [z] after /d/ and [ ʒ] after /g/


 * /bs/ cannot occur

Voiced obstruents become devoiced if occuring at the end of a word.

Syllable Structure
(s)C(l,r,s)VC

/s/ can occur after another consonant in the onset only if the consonant is a plosive.

/ʔ/ can only occur word-initially

Stress
In two-syllable words, if the first syllable has a short vowel and the second does not, stress falls on the second syllable. Otherwise, stress falls on the first syllable.

In words with three or more syllables, the stress falls on the penultimate syllable if it has a long vowel or diphthong; otherwise, stress falls on the antepenultimate syllable. The exception is if the antepenultimate syllable is a grammatical prefix and therefore not part of the stem, and it has a short vowel.