Orthography and phonology

Table 1 shows the romanization of Ŋarâþ Âlþor from Cenvos as well as the IPA values of each letter. Note that in contrast to Ŋarâþ Crîþ, the łil denotes retroflex consonants, not lenition. The letters ⟨š ł č ð⟩ are not used in Ŋarâþ Âlþor.

The phonotactics of Ŋarâþ Âlþor is based on syllables, each of which consists of an onset and a rime. An onset is made of two parts:

• The initial, which is any of c n ŋ v s þ r l m f g p t d h ħ w x n· þ· t· d·.
• The on-glide, which is optionally j or y.

The rime can be one of the following:

• A single vowel, optionally followed by an off-glide or coda.
• A long vowel – two vowel letters of the same quality – optionally followed by an off-glide.
• One of e o a i u z followed by h. This is called a checked vowel and is pronounced somewhat shorter than usual.
• A syllabic m or n.

An off-glide is i, î or u. A coda is any of c n ŋ m p t n· t·.

In a given syllable, it is forbidden for the on-glide to be j and the vowel or the off-glide to be i or î, or for the vowel to be i or î and the off-glide to be i or î. Similarly, it is forbidden for the on-glide to be y and the vowel or the off-glide to be u, or for both the vowel and the off-glide to be u.

The bridges -pp-, -tt-, -t·t·-, and -cc- are pronounced as the geminated ejectives [pʼ], [tʼ], [ʈʼ], and [kʼ].

Tones

The vowel qualities /e o a i/ are capable of holding tone; they are divided into two tone levels: high, written with e o a i, and low, written with ê ô â î. The vowels /u ə/, written as u z, are not capable of holding tone. Additionally, a checked vowel is not capable of holding tone.

This means that a syllable can hold anywhere from 0 to 3 tone levels. However, a syllable with at least one vowel and no tones can ‘steal’ a tone level from a neighboring syllable with at least 2 tones. More precisely, such a syllable can take the last tone of the preceding syllable or the first tone of the following syllable, removing the tone from the original syllable. A syllable can steal from the following syllable only if they are part of the same word. If a syllable can steal from either of its adjacent syllables, then it steals from the preceding one. The decision on which syllable to steal a tone from is made for all eligible syllables simultaneously, so that, for instance, dunâageh /dunaː˩˥ɡĕ/ is realized as [du˨naːɡĕ˦].

Reduplication

Reduplication is indicated in Cenvos with the sen, &. Unlike in Ŋarâþ Crîþ, this always reduplicates the initial syllable. However, multi-syllabic words are not often reduplicated outside of Sadun.