2.1 Vowels
2.1.1 Phonemes
Novegradian has seven phonemic vowels, although only six natively, as shown in the table below.
| Front | Central | Back | |
| High | i | (ɨ) | u |
| Mid | e | o | |
| Low | æ | a |
Note that /o/ and /u/ are obligatorily lip-rounded.
The low front vowel /æ/ represents the yat, a vowel lost in the standard forms of most other Slavic languages (although sometimes present in dialectical variants). Its actual realization in Novegradian is higher than the cardinal /æ/, though still lower than /e/. The vowel /ɨ/ is only found in loanwords from Uralic languages or Russian, never in native words.
In addition to the above vowels, the following diphthongs in /j/ or /w/ are acceptable: /aj ej oj uj æj ij aw ew ow uw æw iw/.
2.1.2 Allophones
2.1.2.1 Stressed Vowels
Stressed vowels show relatively little variation. There are, however, two positions in which slight changes may occur.
- Word-finally, the mid-level vowels tend to lower slightly. /e/ becomes [ɛ] and /o/ becomes [ɔ]. In some dialects, /o/ may further lower to [ɒ].
- Word-initially, /e/, /æ/, and /o/ may acquire glides, becoming [je], [jæ], and [wo] respectively. This is more prominent on /e/ and /æ/ than on /o/. Unlike Russian, this also applies to foreign loans.
2.1.2.2 Unstressed Vowels
Unstressed vowels tend to be shorter than stressed vowels, and show a clear loss in quality.
- /i u/ - The high vowels change very little, although word-finally they centralize toward (though not all the way to) [ɪ] and [ʊ], respectively. This also occurs before nasal consonants.
- /ɨ/ - Like the other high vowels, it generally changes very little. Word-finally or before nasals, it may either not reduce at all or centralize toward [ɘ]. Both are considered acceptable as long as the speaker is consistent, although the latter pronunciation is becoming increasingly rare.
- /a/ - Pronounced as schwa [ə] in all positions when unstressed.
- /o/ - Word-initially, it acquires a glide as it does when stressed, though it is much weaker than the stressed version. Elsewhere, there is little discernable reduction in the standard.
- /e/ - Word-initially, it acquires a glide as it does when stressed. It is pronounced [e] before /r l ɫ/ or word-finally and [ɛ] elsewhere.
- /æ/ - Pronounced [i~ɪ] when unstressed, merging completely with /i/ (although in initial position it retains the initial [j] glide).
The vocalic element of each of the diphthongs is subject to the same reductions when unstressed.
2.1.2.3 Summary of Vowel Allophony
| Phoneme | Initial + Stressed | Medial + Stressed | Final + Stressed | Initial + Unstressed | Medial + Unstressed | Final + Unstressed |
| /a/ | a | a | a | ə | ə | ə |
| /e/ | jɛ, je | ɛ, e | ɛ | jɛ, je | ɛ, e | e |
| /i/ | i | i | i | i, ɪ | i, ɪ | ɪ |
| /æ/ | jæ | æ | æ | ji, jɪ | i, ɪ | ɪ |
| /o/ | wo | o | ɔ | u ̯o | o | o |
| /u/ | u | u | u | u, ʊ | u, ʊ | ʊ |
| /ɨ/ | ɨ | ɨ | ɨ | ɨ | ɨ | ɨ, ɘ |
2.2 Consonants
2.2.1 Phonemes
The Novegradian consonant inventory is summarized in the following table:
| Labial | Dental | Post- Alveolar |
Palatal | Velar | |
| Plosive | p b | t d | c ɟ | k g | |
| Fricative | β | s z | ç ʝ | x γ | |
| Pal. Fric. | sʲ zʲ | ||||
| Nasal | m | n | ɲ | ||
| Affricate | ts dz | (ʧ) | |||
| Other | w | r l ɫ | j |
2.2.2 Allophony
- /p/ - An unvoiced bilabial plosive. Always unaspirated.
- /b/ - A voiced bilabial plosive. Word-finally devoices to [p].
- /t/ - An unvoiced dental plosive. Always unaspirated. Before stressed /e i æ/ palatalizes to [tʲ].
- /d/ - A voiced dental plosive. Word-finally devoices to [t]. Before stressed /e i æ/ palatalizes to [dʲ].
- /c/ - An unvoiced palatal or palatovelar plosive. Always unaspirated.
- /ɟ/ - A voiced palatal or palatovelar plosive. Word-finally devoices to [c].
- /k/ - An unvoiced velar plosive. Always unaspirated. Before stressed /e i æ/ palatalizes to [kʲ].
- /g/ - A voiced velar plosive. Word-finally devoices to [k]. Before stressed /e i æ/ palatalizes to [gʲ].
- /β/ - A voiced labial fricative. Word-finally lenites to [w] or [u ̯].
- /s/ - An unvoiced subdental fricative. Pronounced with the tongue against the lower teeth, not the upper teeth as is common in many other languages. Before stressed /e i æ/ palatalizes to [sʲ].
- /sʲ/ - An unvoiced palatalized fricative. Realized as [ʃ] (like English "sh") when in clusters with oral plosives.
- /z/ - A voiced subdental fricative. Pronounced with the tongue against the lower teeth. Word-finally devoices to [s]. Before stressed /e i æ/ palatalizes to [zʲ].
- /zʲ/ - A voiced palatalized fricative. Realized as [ʒ] when in clusters with oral plosives, and word-finally devoices to [sʲ].
- /ç/ - An unvoiced palatal or palatovelar fricative.
- /ʝ/ - A voiced palatal or palatovelar fricative. Word-finally devoices to [ç].
- /x/ - An unvoiced velar fricative. Before /e i æ/ palatalizes to [xʲ].
- /γ/ - A voiced velar fricative. Word-finally lenites to [j]. Before /e i æ/ undergoes strong palatalization, becoming [j].
- /m/ - A voiced bilabial nasal.
- /n/ - A voiced dental nasal. Before /e i æ/ palatalizes to [nʲ].
- /ɲ/ - A voiced palatal nasal.
- /ts/ - An unvoiced dental affricate. Behaves as a single consonant.
- /dz/ - A voiced dental affricate. Behaves as a single consonant. Word-finally devoices to [ts].
- /ʧ/ - An unvoiced post-alveolar affricate. Only found in loanwords. Behaves as a single consonant.
- /w/ - A labio-velar approximant.
- /r/ - A dental trill.
- /l/ - A dental lateral. Often palatalized as [lʲ]. Before stressed /i e æ/ palatalization can be so strong that a fricative release is acquired [lɮ].
- /ɫ/ - A velarized dental lateral, or "dark l". Never realized as [w].
- /j/ - A palatal approximant.
The main process at work here is an active devoicing of final voiced consonants if they have an unvoiced counterpart. This applies even to foreign loans. If the word has derivations where the consonant is still pronounced voiced (ie, is non-final), then the letter representing the voiced sound is used in spelling. Otherwise, the unvoiced letter is used (eg, яс "I", from Common Slavic *azъ). Only /β/ and /γ/ are problematic in this position. /β/, not having an unvoiced counterpart, becomes an approximant [w], forming a diphthong with whatever vowel precedes it. /γ/ does not become [x] as would be expected, but instead lenites to [j], also forming diphthongs.
The dental consonants /t d s z n/ are allophonically palatalized before stressed /e i æ/. This is a palatal secondary articulation, meaning [nʲ] remains distinct from [ɲ]. The velar consonants /k g x/ follow the same pattern, becoming [kʲ gʲ xʲ], but /γ/ always becomes [j]. Palatalization is only phonemic in the case of /sʲ zʲ/, which can also occur before back vowels, unstressed front vowels, consonants, and at the ends of words. Generally any [sʲ zʲ] before a stressed front vowel will be analyzed as /sʲ zʲ/ if they occur throughout the entire paradigm of a word and as /s z/ if they occur only in certain forms, but since /s z/ and /sʲ zʲ/ do not contrast in this position, this is only a matter of custom.
For most speakers, /l/ has a weak palatal quality to it that strengthens to a fricative release before stressed front vowels. In colloquial speech this strongly palatalized /l/ may even become a postalveolar fricative [ʒ].
Before /j/ the dental and velar consonants may acquire a weak palatalization, but the independent /j/ always remains distinct.
Novegradian has regressive voicing assimilation, meaning that in a cluster containing both voiced and unvoiced consonants, the first will adopt the voicing of the second, if possible. This does not apply to consonants lacking a voiced/unvoiced counterpart. Point-of-articulation assimilation does not occur, however, so clusters such as /ng/ are always realized as [ng], never as [ŋg].
2.3 Syllables
Syllables are usually divided immediately following the vowel whenever possible. This applies across word boundaries as well, meaning a word ending in a consonant is usually slurred together with the following word if it begins with a vowel.
2.4 Stress
2.4.1 Default Stress
Novegradian has no rule defining a default stressed syllable in words. The stress of every word must be memorized on an individual basis (and indeed is important for the morphology of the word). It is phonemic, meaning that there are many words or forms of words that are distinguished only by their different stress patterns.
2.4.2 Morphologically-Induced Stress
The declension or conjugation patterns for the majority of words call for certain stress patterns in certain forms. Nouns and verbs are divided into three classes, known as 'stem-stressed' (stress remains on the same syllable in the stem in all forms), 'ending-stressed' (stress is on the ending in all forms with a non-zero ending, or on the last syllable of the stem in forms with a zero ending), and 'mobile-stressed' (stress moves, generally predictably).
2.5 Phonotactics
All consonants may appear initially or finally on the phonemic level, although rules such as final devoicing can prevent their surface appearance.
2.5.1 Clusters
Novegradian is quite lenient when it comes to word-internal clusters, where almost anything is permitted except for a consonant + another consonant having the same point of articulation and manner of articulation (eg, -pm- and -pt- are acceptable, while -pp- and -pb- are not). While clusters of two oral stops are technically permitted, they are extremely rare and only occur in loan words, and even then usually optionally. /β/ is generally not tolerated in clusters — never as the first consonant, and only as the second consonant in high-class speech. Word-initially most two-consonant clusters are allowed, unless there is too great an upshift in sonority (eg, *jd-, although js- can be seen). Word-finally, clusters are not permitted.
Three-consonant clusters can appear in loanwords. However, no four-consonant clusters are ever permitted, and loaned clusters will be simplified: иструкся istrúksia "instructions" (not *instruksia).
2.5.2 Morpheme Boundaries
Morpheme boundaries generally have little effect on pronunciation. In compounds, assimilation generally does not occur across morpheme boundaries unless the word has been long established. There is even a tendency to preserve allophonic traits in certain compounds (eg, if the first part of a compound ends in a voiced consonant, it may be pronounced devoiced because that is how it is pronounced in isolation).
The one exception is that long consonants, which are allowed nowhere else, may appear if one morpheme ends in a consonant and the following begins with the same: лун- "moon" + -н- adjectival suffix > лунне lúnne "lunar" [lun:e].
2.5.3 Lexical Boundaries
Consecutive words can often affect each other's pronunciation. If the second word begins with a voiced consonant that also has an unvoiced counterpart and the first ends in an unvoiced consonant with a voiced counterpart, both are pronounced voiced due to assimilation, meaning the final devoicing in the first word has been cancelled out. Likewise, if the first consonant of the second word is palatalized, the last consonant of the first may be too, although to a much lesser extent.
2.5.4 Foreign Loans
Recent foreign loans that have not yet been "nativized" are exempt from several phonological rules. They generally will not have any palatalized consonants whatsoever. Instead, a full /j/ sound is inserted before stressed front vowels. There was a time when many consonant clusters forbidden in native words would be preserved, but nowadays there is a much greater tendency to adapt these to fit the Novegradian phonology. Many modern-day loans have two spellings, one more accurately reflecting the original pronunciation and one more accurately representing the nativized pronunciation.
The rule of final devoicing still applies, however. Often the final consonant of a word may be 'pre-devoiced', such that it is always pronounced devoiced in all forms of a word. For example, final /g/ in a loan word will often be spelled as <к> (k).