Gromavish

Gromavi [ɡɹəʊ'mɑ:vi] (Gromavi: Grumavskish lingska [ɡrʊ'mav.skɪʃ 'lɪŋ.ska]) is a language spoken by approximately 600,000 people in the Gromavi Republic, an archipelago nation in the Northern Sea.

Classification and Dialects
Gromavi is a language of the Indo-European family, in which it occupies an independent branch. However, it's been highly influenced by other branches throughout its history, mainly from Germanic, Romance and Slavic languages. It has also borrowed some vocabulary from the Celtic and Finnic languages.

There is a standardised form, based on the dialect spoken in the capital, Gunindburgh, at the beginning of the 20th century. This is the form used in the government, public media and education. However, there is dialect continuum throughout the country from east to west and from north to south, reflecting the influence of different languages in the syntax and the vocabulary.

Consonants
0) The plosives and affricates are sometimes aspirated /ph/, /bɦ/, /th/, /dɦ/, /kh/, gɦ/, t͡sh/, d͡zɦ/, t͡ʃh/, d͡ʒɦ/ depending on the dialect and in some cases speakers' preference depending on their native language.

E.g., native speakers of Germanic languages as well as Chinese and Korean usually aspirate the voiceless plosives, while native speakers of Hindo-Aryan, Dravidian and some Iranian and Austronesian languages tend to aspirate both voiced and voiceless plosives and affricates.

1) The bilabial fricatives /ɸ/ and /β/ are allophones of /f/ and /v/ respectively before plosives and affricates.

2) The labio-dental nasal /ɱ/ is an allophone of /m/ before labio-dental fricatives.

3) The approximant /ɹ/ and uvular /ʀ/ are allophones of the standard trill /r/ depending on the dialect and in some cases speakers' preference depending on their native language.

E.g., native English speakers prefer the approximant /ɹ/; while native French, Portuguese, German, Danish and some Dutch, Swedish and Norwegian as well as Hebrew speakers prefer the uvular /ʀ/.

4) The velarised /ɫ/ is an allophone of /l/ depending on the dialect and in some cases speakers' preference depending on their native language.

E.g., native English, Portuguese, Catalan, Russian, Belorussian, Ukranian, Albanian, Arabic speakers prefer the velarised /ɫ/.

5) The voiced liquids /r/, /ɹ/, /ʀ/, /ɻ/, /l/ and /ɭ/ become devoiced to /r̥/, /ɹ̥/, /ʀ̥/, /ɻ̊/, /l̥/ and /ɭ̊/ when they come before voiceless phonemes.

6) The retroflex /ɳ/ and /ɭ/ are allophones of the alveolar /n/ and /l/ before retroflex fricatives and affricates allophones.

7) The phoneme clusters /rn/, /rt/, /rd/, /rs/, /rz/, /rt͡s/, /rd͡z/, /rt͡ʃ/, /d͡ʒ/, /rl/ change to the retroflex phonemes /ɳ/, /ʈ/, /ɖ/, /ʂ/, /ʐ/, /ʈ͡ʂ/, /ɖ͡ʐ/ and /ɭ/ in some dialects, lengthening the vowel the comes before the cluster. In the standard form, the alveolar /r/ becomes the retroflex approximant /ɻ/ or /ɻ̊/, making the following phoneme retroflex too.

8) The retroflex /ʂ/, /ʐ/, /ʈ͡ʂ/ and /ɖ͡ʐ/; and the palatal phonemes /ɕ/, /ʑ/, /ç/, /ʝ/, /t͡ɕ/ and /d͡ʑ/ are allophones of the post-alveolar /ʃ/, /ʒ/, /t͡ʃ/, /d͡ʒ/ and the velar /x/ and /ɣ/ depending on the dialect and in some cases speakers' preference depending on their native language.

E.g., the native Russian and Belorussian speakers prefer the retroflex allophones, while the native Polish, Czech, Slovak, Swedish, Norwegian and some Danish, Dutch and German speakers prefer the palatal sounds.

9) The uvular /χ/ and /ʁ/ are allophones of /x/ and /ɣ/ depending on the dialect and in some cases speakers' preference depending on their native language.

E.g., some native German, Danish and French speakers prefer the uvular sounds.

10) The uvular /ɴ/ is an allophone of /n/ before uvular fricatives.