User:Heinrich Puschmann/Nhewenh writing system for Mapudungun

Description

The Nhewenh 08 writing system for Mapudungun is a 2008 update  of the Nhewenh ("fishing net") writing system, created in 1995, and similar to that one. Its most notorious features are the special usage of y (instead of v or ü) for the back unrounded vowel, the usage of the graphemes sd,nd,ld for interdental sounds, and the usage of the graphemes nh,lh for the corresponding palatal sounds. Nonsyllabic coda vowels keep their traditional representations i,u.

The following table includes examples for the usage of most graphemes. In case of some of the sounds, both a preferred representation and a nonconflicting alternative within parentheses () is given.

Phoneme	(pr)	Nhewenh 08	Usage
/a/		a	ailha, mapuce
/t͡ʃ/		c (ch)	ciripa, cau, coike, mapuce, kecu
/e/		e	epu, penhi, mapuce
/f/	[f], [v]	f	filu, weupife, ryf
/ŋ/		g	ge, gilhatun, pagi, logko, lipag
/i/		i	kinhe, felei, sdoi
/j/		j	ju, jene, kaju, aflajai
/k/		k	kinhe, ruka
/l/		l	lamgen, lawal
/l̪/		ld	ldafkend, foldo, peldewe, yldmen
/ʎ/		lh	lhalha, ailha, kulhinh
/m/		m	mara, kuram
/n/		n	nawel, naq
/n̪/		nd	ndamund, konda, pund
/ɲ/		nh (ñ)	nhawe, penhi, inhcinh, aifinh
/o/		o	foro, toki
/p/		p	papai, pataka, penhi, mapuce
/ɰ/	[ɰ], [ɣ]	q	reqle, liqen, iaqel, kuq
/ɻ/		r	ruka, foro, mara, nor
/s/	[s], [ɹ]	s	sakin
/θ/	[θ], [ð]	sd (z)	sdomo, kasdi, mapusdugun, asd
/ʃ/		sh	manshun
/t/		t	toki, pataka
/t̪/		td	fotdym, fytda
/ʈ͡ʂ/	[ʈ͡ʂ], [ʈ]	tr (x)	trewa, trutruka, wentru
/u/		u	ruka, cau, sdeu, inhciu
/w/		w	wentru, mawisda, nawel
/ɨ/	[ɨ], [ə]	y (v)	ylkantun, kyla, kyme, tapyl, kary

A syllable must be of the form [C]N[F], with an optative onset, a nucleus, and an optative coda. Here

• the onset [C] -if present- is either any consonant or one of the semi-vowels j,w,
• the nucleus N must of course be present and is any vowel, and
• the coda [F] -if present- is either one of the semi-vowels i̯,ɰ,u̯ or a fricative, nasal o lateral consonant.

The vowels e,a,o are always nuclei of syllables. In case that one of the upper vowels i,ɨ,u follows a consonant which should not qualify as an onset, digraphs ji,qy,wu can be used without harm, since those onsets are often produced implicitly whenever i,ɨ,u start a syllable . In the infrequent case where one of the vowels e,a,o follow a consonant and start a syllable the digraphs qe,qa,qo with a silent q may be used.

Upercase letters are used exclusively for proper nouns; declarative sentences are inititialized by a slash (/).

Comments and suggestions

You are welcome to povide any comments or suggestions on the acceptability or improval of this writing system; please use the discussion page for that purpose.