Søta

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Classification and Dialects
Søta is a dialect continuum named for the most widely spoken of the Søtic dialects (Sǿta áyns Kagje) as well as the common ancestor language of all the dialects, referred to here as Old Søta. Sǿta áyns Kagje (SK) has become the unofficial standard dialect, used by about 60% of speakers as their day to day language outside their own communities, though it is only the native dialect of roughly 15% of the population and itself is further divided into three subdialects, including the standardized variety of SK that is used by speakers of the other dialects, Eyskagje. Names of dialects are subject to addition/change.
 * Old Søta
 * Group 1
 * Sǿta áyns Kagje
 * Eyskagje
 * Kóvrsǿta
 * Séita
 * Søt'ayns Ara
 * Group 2
 * Subgroup 2.1
 * dialect 2.1a
 * subdialect 2.1a.1
 * subdialect 2.1a.2
 * dialect 2.1b
 * Subgroup 2.2
 * dialect 2.2a
 * dialect 2.2b
 * dialect 2.2c
 * Seghri*

Phonology
Specific comparative charts for the phonemic variants of several dialects can be found on the Comparative Phonology page.

Consonants
1. [ʃ, ç, ʝ] are frequent dialectal realizations of /sj, kj, gj/ respectively, though SK realizes /sj/ as [sj], /kj/ as [kj], and /gj/ as [j].

2. [x, ɣ] are occasional realizations of intervocalic and word-terminal /k, g/ in some dialects.

3. In almost all dialects the cluster /hS/, where S is any sonorant is realized as [S̥] (that is, a voiceless articulation of the sonorant); (/v/ is treated as a sonorant in most dialects, with /hv/ being realized as [f] in most dialects but as [ɸ] in SK).

Vowels
-Most vowels have long/short pairs that will be addressed further in the Orthography.

-Realization of vowels is perhaps the most variable feature among the different dialects; the above table reflects the maximum extent to which a given dialect's vowel system may function.

-/ɑ, ɑː/ is present in most dialects though with varying realizations: as the long counterpart of /a/ in the majority of dialects; as an allophone of /ɔ/ in some others.

-In those dialects wherein /ɑː/ is the realization of long /a/, /ɑː/ has an allophone [ɔ:] before the approximates /r, l, j/.

-/ə/ only occurs in SK as a word-terminal allophone of both /ɛ/ and /a/, though with the pervasiveness of SK as the standard social register in most Søta speaking regions, it is not uncommon to hear terminal /ə/ in colloquial dialectal speech.

Orthography
The orthography of Søta is reasonably regular; a significant amount of the pronunciation of words is conveyed by extra-graphemic spelling conventions, especially relative to vowels (eg. i is /i/ before a single consonant, but /ɪ/ before two (with some exceptions); í is always /iː/; unmarked i in a single syllable word followed by a single consonant will always be /ɪ/). Long vowels are marked by an acute accent; historically all short vowels had long counterparts, though in most modern dialects the long versions of /ɪ, ʊ, ɔ, ɛ/ have merged with /i, u, o ,e/ respectively.