One of trickier aspects of Vaior for beginners is
determining how to link the many affixes correctly. There are some
questions about the order of the affixes, but most often
there is confusion about whether or not the euphonic -a- or
-h- is necessary.
The primer summarizes the issue thus:
- If the suffix starts with a single consonant:
- if the stem ends in two consonants, use -a-
(aist- + -tuv- > aistatuv-)
- if the stem ends in p, t, c, b, d, g, h or v,
use -a-
(ap- + -tuv- > apatuv-)
- If a stem ends in a liquid (l, r), a nasal
(n, m) no helping vowel is necessary
(tuar- + -sallac- > tuarsallac-),
- If the stem ends in a fricative consonant (s, rh, th, f,
ch), you don't need the helping vowel
unless the affix starts with b, g, d, h or
v, (madath- + -dim- > madathadim-, but
madath- + -tuv- > madathtuv-). For the
linguisticky types, this means fricatives may not join with
stops or fricatives of different voicing.
- If the suffix starts with two consonants you always
need the helping -a-
(tuar- + -mbov- > tuarambov-)
That's still a little brief, so this document gives
many more examples, as well as some drills in the euphonic rules of
Vaior.
Consonant Clusters
This is by far the most common situation. Most of
the derivational affixes both start and end in a consonant, and a few
are even a consonant cluster only (e.g. -fr-, X as
ritual, X ritually).
As you're looking at the discussion below, remember
that when I say 'consonants' I really mean 'consonant sounds'. The
point I'm making here is that although rh is written with two
letters that happen to be consonants, it is really a single
consonant sound, namely something like English sh with your
tongue pointed at the roof of your mount.
The simplest consonant rule in Vaior is that
three or more consonants in a row is always forbidden.
So, any time such a grouping might occur, you need -a-:
aist- + -tuv- > aistatuv-
tuar- + -mbov- > tuarambov-
To quiz yourself on these, just scroll your
browser line by line. The answer will always be on the next line.
Don't worry about the meanings now... this is just phonetic
practice.
- tuar- + -tuv-
- tuartuv-
- cath- + -tuv-
- cathtuv-
- cath- + -mbov-
- cathambov-
- tuar- + -rnaid-
- tuararnaid-
- aist- + -pov-
- aistapov-
- corh- + -taist-
- corhtaist-
- corh- + -llac-
- corhallac-
- tuar- + -mmav-
- tuarammav-
- faun- + -tuv-
- fauntuv-
- faun- + -mbov-
- faunambov-
It's when two consonants meet up that things start
to get a little confusing. Most languages have fairly strict ideas
about what sort of consonants area allowed to sit next to each other.
You'll notice, for example, that you'll never see the combination
-pg- in Vaior. Most languages would object to that combination
actually, for perfectly sensible reasons that make sense to people
with a little training in phonetics.
It turns out Vaior is fairly conservative about
which consonant clusters it allows. For starters, stops, p, t, c,
b, d, g, h and v can never be followed by another
consonant. Ignoring h and v for the moment, you'll
notice that all these sounds stop the flow of air. Vaior feels
strongly that any sound stopping the air flow has to be followed by a
vowel. So, ap- + -tuv- > apatuv-. For various
reasons I'll not go into, both h and v also have to be
followed by a vowel.
Nasal, liquid confusion.
Affricates except h can have a single
consonant following them.
Affricates and stops of mixed voicing.
Vowel Clusters
Vowel clusters in Vaior are a little tricker. The
only true diphthongs (vowels pronounced as a single syllable) are
au and ai. Everything else will take up several
syllables, and some cluster combinations are simply illegal. The real
trickiness arises with certain clusters which some speakers accept,
and which some feel have to have -h- to break them.
mie-uir-o
Following is a list of legal vowel clusters. The
top of the list has genuinely common clusters. As you move down the
list there will notes showing that some clusters are handled
differently by different speakers:
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