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Phonology and phonotactics
How Agalan sounds, and how you build syllables so spelling matches speech. The design favors easy singing and clear word edges (including inside compounds).
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Beginner
Why these sounds
Agalan vowels stay relatively open, so you can sing high and low without reshaping them much. Consonants prefer the voiced version (vocal cords buzzing) so you can hold a note across letters; a voiceless stop cuts the air for a moment. You may still use unvoiced variants for style.
Word shape puts consonants at the start of a syllable and at the end of the word, so a held note is not cut by a stop in the middle of a syllable. The ending still marks where each word stops when rhythm eats pauses.
Singable vowels and clear edges: spelling shows the sound.
Vowels
Cue words are Standard American English:
| Letter | IPA | English cue |
|---|---|---|
| e | /e̞/ | bet |
| u | /ʌ/ | but |
| o | /o/ | boat (no glide, like Spanish no) |
| a | /ɑ/ | father |
These four sit in a mid-to-open range that stays singable at the top of an untrained range. Two vowel letters in a row are two syllables. Hold each vowel; do not slide them into one sound.
juon = ju'on (/ju.on/).
Consonants (start of a syllable)
Voiced and unvoiced are not different letters. Prefer voiced so the vocal cords stay engaged; unvoiced is fine for style.
| Letter | IPA | English cue | Unvoiced variant | Example |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| h | /ɦ/ | ahead | /h/, hat | huan /ɦu.ɑn/ |
| w | /w/ | we | wul /wul/ | |
| g | /ɡ/ | go | /k/, kite | godogol |
| d | /d/ | do | /t/, toe | daxal |
| j | /j/ | yes (Germanic j as in ja) | jael /ja.el/ | |
| b | /b/ | be | /p/, pay | bodol |
| z | /z/ | zoo | /s/, sea | zazawan |
| m | /m/ | me | humudel | |
| n | /n/ | no | na /na/ | |
| v | /v/ | vie | /f/, fee | vuzunuxel |
| l | /l/ | lie | zel /zel/ | |
| r | /ɹ/ | red | reu /ɹeu/ | |
| x | /ʒ/ | vision (the si) | /ʃ/, shy | xuxul |
Intermediate
Phonotactics (word shape)
A content word has these parts, written as one unbroken token:
- Role letter
- Optional mid-word l after
/ɡ/only:gl-, when the adjective hangs on the word to its left - The root(s); more than one if compounded
- The reference suffix (-l, -m, -n, or -r)
- Optional plural -sh after the reference suffix (plurality.md)
Number words are a closed exception: role letter plus an r-initial marker (number-word exception).
Writing: write role letter + root + ending as one word (zazawan). Native Agalan is lowercase only (capitalization). Full orthography: core.md § Orthography.
Roots have form V(CV)+: they start with a vowel, and each later consonant starts a new syllable. Compound roots are separated by mid-word x. The only consonants at the end of a word are the reference suffix (and optional plural sh). That keeps held notes on vowels inside the word.
Clear syllables: a content root almost always starts with a vowel. Ending and beginning consonants are chosen so you can hear which syllable a consonant belongs to (vaban = va'ban; zelulul is prefix z, root elulu, ending -l: the l in the root starts lu, and the last l is the ending). A syllable ends with a consonant only at the end of the word. Spelling therefore has one pronunciation path. The writing system does not mark stress; musical rhythm may place emphasis.
Word edges: all content words end with a reference suffix (-l / -m / -n / -r), optionally followed by plural -sh (/ʃ/). Allowed word-final clusters: -lsh, -msh, -nsh, -rsh. Digraph sh is this plural marker (word-final, after a reference suffix). Those endings are the audible stop when song compresses pauses.
Mid l and r stay clear: inside a root, l / r are always followed by a vowel, so they read as the start of a syllable rather than as a suffix. Ordinary content after a PoS letter begins with a vowel, so PoS+r… is number-only.
Compounds: productive assemblies use mid-word x between roots. Mid-word x joins roots. Word-initial x is the discourse-marker prefix. A lexical compound may look like one long simple root (ohohulabede bedroom): it is a dictionary stem, assembled without x in speech.
Number-word exception
After a role letter, a following r (start of the number marker) may form a cluster that ordinary content words never use (for example /ɡ/+r, /z/+r, /v/+r, /h/+r, /j/+r, /x/+r). Content roots are vowel-initial, so r starting a root syllable only appears after a vowel inside the root (uru). The role-letter+r cluster is legal only in number words. Number-marker V is usually a single vowel (ra / ru / re / ro); end-relative ordinals use digraph eu (reu…, writing #-), stacked vowels like juon. Treat number stems as number grammar. Ordinary vs number-specific endings: reference-suffix.md.
Letter names
Vowels are named by holding the vowel. Consonants take one CV syllable. Recite in table order; pause between names when spelling.
e, u, o, a, hu, we, ga, da, ja, be, ze, me, nu, vu, lo, ro, xe
`agada` → ***a ga a da a***Digit syllables keep mixed vowels for distinctiveness. Letter names that share a starting consonant with a digit use the series opposite vowel: a↔u, o↔e.
| Letter | Digit syllable | Letter name | Mnemonic |
|---|---|---|---|
| w | wo (1) | we | o↔e |
| d | du (2) | da | u↔a |
| r | re (3) | ro | e↔o |
| m | mo (4) | me | o↔e |
| v | va (5) | vu | a↔u |
| g | gu (6) | ga | u↔a |
| l | le (7) | lo | e↔o |
| h | ha (8) | hu | a↔u |
| n | na (9) | nu | a↔u |
| z | zo (0) | ze | o↔e |
Three letters are not digits. Their names follow the English letter-name, mapped onto Agalan vowels:
| Letter | Name | Mnemonic |
|---|---|---|
| j | ja | cue ja |
| b | be | bee |
| x | xe | eks |
Plural -sh is the word-edge ending. Pause between names so da + a stay two syllables. In a clause, package the glyph as a mention (d{z}: interior spoken ze).
Advanced
Singability constraints
These choices keep ordinary singing easy:
| Constraint | Why it helps | How Agalan keeps it |
|---|---|---|
| Mid-to-open vowels | Closed vowels shrink comfortable high range | Four mid-to-open vowels (/e̞ ʌ o ɑ/) |
| One vowel per letter | A slide from one vowel to another forces tract changes mid-note | Stacked letters = separate syllables (juon = ju'on) |
| Few consonant clusters | Clusters are harder to pronounce quickly | Ordinary shape is start-of-syllable consonant + vowel; limited exceptions below |
| Voiced preferred | Voiceless stops cut the note; singers often voice them anyway | Voiced preferred; unvoiced allowed as style only |
| No mid-word syllable-final consonant | Ending a syllable on a consonant breaks a held note | Roots are V(CV)+; a final consonant only at the word edge |
| No lexical stress | Music already places emphasis | Rhythm may stress a beat; spelling does not encode stress |
| Spelling = pronunciation | You need not memorize special readings | One path from letters to sound |
| Audible word edges | Song often removes speech pauses | Content words end in -l / -m / -n / -r (optional -sh) |
Limited clusters (still legal): left-hanging gl-; number-word PoS+r; word-final -lsh / -msh / -nsh / -rsh.
Try it: sing a short Agalan line quickly at a high comfortable pitch, then compare a line that piles closed vowels, clusters, and mid-word stops:
zazawan guzumum.
/ za.za.wan ɡu.zu.mum /
Made-up contrast (built to violate the constraints):
/ seiɹ ˈʈʂuɹt tis ˈheb.ɡiɹn fuofts /
The first should stay easier to sustain even when the second is only a little harder to speak.
See also
- Writing words / orthography: core.md
- Numbers (PoS+
rexception and digit syllables): numbers.md - Mention spans (letter as form in a clause): spans.md
- Mid-word
x: x-compounds.md