Vowels Hiw has 9
phonemic vowels. These are all short
monophthongs : The three central vowels are all
rounded. becomes a glide whenever it is followed by another vowel.
Consonants Hiw has 14 consonants. Historically, this complex segment was a
voiced alveolar trill (which is why it is written as ). The voiced alveolar trill, spelt as , appears in recent loanwords: e.g. Eng.
bread > Hiw
perët .
Stress Stress is predictable in Hiw, except in the case of words which only contain . Generally, primary stress falls on the last syllable which does not contain . For example: 'moon', 'maybe'. In the case of words whose only vowel is schwa, stress is unpredictable: thus '
pandanus leaf' is
oxytone and 'dish' is
paroxytone. These are the only
polysyllabic words that may have a stressed schwa. Polysyllabic words have
secondary stress, which falls on every second syllable from the primary stressed syllable, going leftwards. For example: 'speak'.
Phonotactics The syllable structure of Hiw is CCVC, where the only obligatory element is V: Hiw's
phonology follows the
Sonority Sequencing Principle, with the following language-specific sonority hierarchy: In syllable onsets, C may not be more sonorous than C. Fricatives and plosives are not distinguished with regard to sonority. Even though is always pronounced as an
approximant, it is best treated as an
obstruent with regards to sonority: this interpretation accounts for words like 'small', which would otherwise constitute a
sonority reversal. Phonological evidence shows that patterns as a liquid, more sonorous than nasals but less sonorous than the glide . Unlike the obstruents, cannot be followed by a nasal. However, it can come after a nasal, as in ‘wrath’. The only consonant found after is - e.g. ‘sweep’. ==Grammar==