A couple shout outs first of all — first to Ephraim, who spent a lot of his personal time answering a lot of my questions through PMs, Elector Dark of the Conlang wiki who answered many questions and help me get rid of a lot of bugs, and Shimobaatar who had assisted me also in PM with a few questions.
The layout has been shamelessly stolen from Dormouses' Silvish.
I. Abbreviations
B = Back Vowels
C = Consonants
E = Front Vowels
F = Fricatives
L = Liquids
N = Nasal Consonants
S = Semivowels
U = Ultrashort Vowels (or the yers)
V = Vowels
Ṽ = Nasal Vowels
@ = Syllable
# = Word Boundary
$ = Stem Boundary
% = Syllable Boundary
1. Phonology
1.1 Consonants
/m~mʲ n~nʲ/ <m n>
/p~pʲ b~bʲ t~tʲ d~dʲ k~kʲ g~gʲ/ <p b t d k g>
/ts~tʃ dz~dʒ ʈʂ~tɕ ɖʐ~dʑ/ <c ӡ č ǯ>
/f~fʲ v~vʲ s~ʃ z~ʒ ʂ~ɕ ʐ~ʑ/ <f v s z š ž>
/j/ <j>
/l~lʲ/ <l>
/r~rʲ/ <r>
1.2 Vowels
1.21 Monophthongs
/a æ e i o u (ɨ)/ <a ä e i o u y>
1.22 Diphthongs
/ja je jo ju wa we/ <ia ie io iu ua ue>
Many other diphthongs may arise across word boundaries in casual speech – these will be marked with a linking [‿].
1.3 Syllable Structure
(C)(C)(L)V(C)(C)(C)
Varangian takes a distinctly Norse approach to syllables where primary stress falls on the root stem, except in compounds, where it falls on the second stem.
In most cases semivowels tend to pattern as consonants and can appear in heavy consonant clusters.
1.4 Allophony
1.41 Consonantal allophony
All consonants – except for /j/ – come in two pairs: palatalized or "soft" consonants and velarized or "hard" consonants. Consonants and vowels tend to mutually affect each other in Varangian; a soft or palatalized consonant generally produces a fronted realization of the vowel before it, and a phonemic front vowel generally palatalizes the preceding consonant. Consonants can also soften or harden other adjacent consonants. At the end of words, consonants that have a voiceless pair are always devoiced.
The syllable onset comprises an optional consonant, however the syllable coda and nucleus are always influenced by the consonant before it across word boundaries. (E.g. if a word ends in a soft consonant, this will affect the vowel of the next word as if it were CʲV)
1.42 Vowel allophony
/ɑ o u/ → [ɑ o u], CVC ! [ɐ~ə ɐ~ə ʊ] [-stress]
/ɑ o u/ → [ä ɵ ʉ], CVCʲ~CʲVC ! [ɪ ᵿ ᵿ] [-stress]
/ɑ o u/ → [æ ø y], CʲVCʲ ! [ɪ ʏ ʏ] [-stress]
/æ e/ → [e], CʲVCʲ~CVCʲ~CʲVC ! [ɪ] [-stress]
/æ e/ → [æ ɛ], CVC ! [ɪ] [-stress]
/i/ → [i} CʲVCʲ~CVCʲ~CʲVC ! [ɪ] [-stress]
/i/ → [ɨ] CVC ! [ᵻ] [-stress]
/ɨ/ → [i} CʲVCʲ~CVCʲ~CʲVC ! [ɪ] [-stress]
/ɨ/ → [ɨ] CVC ! [ᵻ] [-stress]
2. Diachronic Sound Shifts
2.1 800CE to 1000CE
r → ʀ / i_
ʀ → 0 / [+dental]_
Cː → C
C → Cʲ / _V[+front]
Cʀ → Cʲ
C → Cʲ / _Cʲ
ǐ *ǔ → 0 / _[-stress]
2.2 1000 CE to 1200 CE
k g → ʈʂ ɖʐ / _{e,ē,i,ī,eă,eŏ,eŭ}
æi ɒu → ē ō
ø ǿ y ý → e é i ī
k g → ts dz / _{e,ē,i,ī}
f → v / #_
θ → f
ð ɣ → ∅ / V_#
ð ɣ → d g
sts sʈʂ → sː ʂː
sː zː ʂː ʐː → s ʂ
2.3 1200 CE to 1400 CE
w hw hj → v v j
h → ∅
∅ → j w / _{e,o}
eă eŏ eŭ → ja jo ju
sj zj tsj dzj → ʃ ʒ tʃ dʒ
ʂj ʐj ʈʂj ɖʐj → ɕ ʑ tɕ dʑ
...and that's all for now! Feel free to ask any questions and I should get to you fairly quickly, as I am usually browsing this website every day now. My next update should establish Varangian's orthography, and perhaps provide you with some noun declensions as well.
8/6/16: More minor tweaks and fixes.
9/22/16: Added (major) diachronic sound shifts.
1/28/17: Updated diachronic sound shifts into a cleaner format. Removed some parts of the phonology due to changes in the sound laws.