Senu Yivokuchi

Phonology \ Dialectal variation

Senu Yivokuchi is spoken by many people in one of many dialects, which vary especially in their phonetic form. Here we will note some important phonetic variants.

The /w/ vs. /v/ variants. These sounds often come from the same ancient source, and accordingly, several dialects merge the two or realize them differently. In one dialect, /w/ is realized as [v] when it's a syllable onset (hence modern vokr- for old /wOkar/). In another dialect, the two sounds become [v\] (a labiodental approximant). Proto-Itrumi had a feature of suprasegmental aspiration, by which (among other things) breathy voice was applied on vowels and approximants; in modern standard Senu Yivokuchi breathy /w/ becomes /v/, but some dialects preserve the old /w/.

Fricative voice variants. Proto-Itrumi had only one series of fricatives, reconstructed as unvoiced. Senu Yivokuchi preserves them and adds another series, of voiced fricatives, by several means. Several dialects have apparently had free variation of voice in the fricative series, so voiced reflexes of ancient unvoiced fricatives are found. The most common change involves intervocalic voicing. Some dialects voice fricatives not only between vowels, but also after some or all voiced sounds.