reference

line guide.

Each path drawn by iyrow encodes phonetic information in its line quality, shape, and endpoint markers.

Line Quality: Voicing
voiced
Solid line. Vocal cords are vibrating throughout the phoneme.
unvoiced
Dashed line. Air only; no cord vibration.
Onset Markers
how a line begins
vowel
vowels
Solid dot. The path arrives at a vowel nucleus position; the articulation is already set before onset.
glide
w   y
The articulator is already in motion at onset. No hard start.
lateral
l   ɫ
Solid dot. Tongue tip contacts alveolar ridge. Full, immediate voiced contact.
approximant
r   ɹ
Medium arrowhead. Tongue bunching or retroflexion with directional onset.
nasal
m   n   ŋ
Dot + ring. The velum lowers before the oral closure; nasal resonance begins before the stop is released.
voiced stop
b   d   g
Solid arrowhead. Hard-edged burst with voicing.
voiced fricative
v   z   ʒ   ð
Arc on a solid line. Air builds through constriction while voicing is sustained. No burst, no silence.
unvoiced stop
p   t   k
Inward chevron. Aspiration follows. Path continues dashed.
unvoiced fricative
f   s   ʃ   θ   h
Arc on a dashed line. Air builds through constriction. No voicing, no burst. Arc size is tiered: θ smallest, f mid, s ʃ h full.
voiced affricate
dʒ
Small arrowhead. Stop-to-fricative release; d to ʒ.
unvoiced affricate
tʃ
Small inward chevron. Stop-to-fricative release; t to ʃ.
Inner Nodes
Marks at each intermediate phoneme position along the path, between onset and terminal.
voiced inner node
Solid dot. The path passes through a voiced phoneme position.
unvoiced inner node
Open circle. The path passes through an unvoiced phoneme position. No cord vibration.
nasal inner node
Dot + ring. Nasal resonance at an interior position; velum open, oral closure maintained.
s-cluster stop node
Faint open circle. A stop following /s/ in a cluster (st, sk, sp); unaspirated, voicing is ambiguous. The closure is real but perceptually between voiced and unvoiced.
Terminal Markers
How the path ends at the final phoneme of a word. Marker sits at the trailing edge of the hex.
vowel / lateral
vowels   l   ɫ
Solid dot. The gesture arrives and decays in place. No directed release.
nasal
m   n   ŋ
Dot + ring. Word ends in nasal resonance; velum stays open after the final closure.
rhotic
ᶦr   ɚ   r   ɝ   ᶷr
Medium arrowhead. Rhotic resonance directs the path off the grid; the tongue posture is retained into silence.
glide terminal
w   y
Fade-out with chevron. The articulator is still in motion at word end. No hard landing.
released stop
b   d   g
Solid arrowhead. Full voiced stop with audible release burst at word end.
aspirated stop
p   t   k
Hollow arrowhead. Unvoiced stop released with aspiration; air burst follows closure.
airtrail
f   s   ʃ   θ   v   z   ʒ   ð   h
Open circle. Fricative terminal: air continues through constriction and trails off without a defined endpoint.
unreleased
p   t   k   ʔ
Faint dot. Closure is held but not released; common in casual speech word-finally. Glottalization shown the same way.