<!>dhoklang Scratchpad (NP: Algonquitut?) (2015-07-25 22:14:31)
dhoklang Scratchpad (NP: Algonquitut?)
Anthologica Universe Atlas / Forums / Department of Creativity / dhoklang Scratchpad (NP: Algonquitut?) / <!>dhoklang Scratchpad (NP: Algonquitut?) (2015-07-25 22:14:31)
Aaaaand since I'm not in the mood to work on a redo of Old Quomonak's diachronics I'll move onto fucking around with one of the other branches, tentatively referred to as Western Steppe Nahtak. This branch shares a few early changes with Old Quomonakian:
a) the reduction of initial *we/*wɨ, *ye/*yɨ segments to *o *i;
b) the merger of *r and *l into a single phoneme *l;
c) merger of *θC clusters into *sC clusters;
d) loss of *ʔ in *ʔR clusters (where *R = /w r l y/).
Very Early Changes, c. -3000 to c. -2500
Again, many of these changes are shared with other branches, particularly Quomonakian.
1. Initial glide-vowel reduction
*we, *wɨ -> o / #_
*ye, *yɨ -> i / #_
2. *r and *l merger
*r -> l / _
3. Merger of *θ and *s in clusters
*θ -> s / _C
Resulting *sč becomes *št; *sc becomes *st.
4. Loss of *ʔ in clusters with glides
ʔ -> Ø / _R (R=w, y, l)
5. Rhinoglottophilia
In an initial syllable of the sort
#hV₁CV₂
where C is not part of a cluster and isn't a nasal, a nasal is inserted before C:
hV₁CV₂ -> hV₁NCV₂ / #_
This gives rise to new nasal-fricative clusters *nθ *ns *nš *nh *nł. *ns and *nš merge into *nc and *nč immediately; *nł merges with *nl, leaving *nθ and *nh as the only nasal-fricative clusters going forward. The cluster *nʔ immediately metathesizes to *ʔn.
In initial syllables of the sort
#hV₁NV₂
where N = *m *n *ŋ, no additional nasal is inserted, but V₁ is lengthened.
6. Loss of initial *h.
h -> Ø / #_
Proto-Nahtak to Pre-Proto-Western Steppe, c. -2500 to c. -1800
Branch differentiation becomes more concrete at this stage.
7. Loss of *š.
*š becomes *x before back vowels (*a *o *ɨ) and in clusters; otherwise it merges with *s:
*š -> x / _B, _C
*š -> s / otherwise
8. *a to *o shift after labials
After labial and labialized consonants- that is, any of *p *m *w *kʷ- *a *ā become *o *ō:
*a *ā -> o ō / [p m w kʷ]_
9. Gemination in clusters with *ʔ
In any cluster *ʔC, *ʔ is lost and the following consonant is geminated:
ʔC -> C: / _
10. Loss of *h with compensatory lengthening; loss of *ʔ
*h is lost in all remaining positions. When a coda, it lengthens any preceding vowel:
Vh -> V: / _C, _#
h -> Ø / _
Remaining *ʔ is lost as well:
ʔ -> Ø / _
11. Reappearence of /š/; loss of *č and *ł
/š/ reappears from two sources: *č, except after a nasal, and *ł initially:
č -> š / _ ! N_
ł -> š / #_
*ł merges into /l/ otherwise:
ł -> l / _
Pre-Proto-Western Steppe to Early Proto-Western Steppe, c. -1800 to c. -750
Sometime in the early-to-mid negative second millennium, two major changes occurred which mark the emergence of a defined Western Steppe branch: "Western Steppe Umlaut", a vowel assimilation process, and the "Western Steppe Velar Shift". There are also some hard-to-date cluster changes stuck in here, too.
12. Western Steppe Umlaut
Word-final vowels cause vowels in the preceding syllable to change. A large number of words are affected, making it difficult to identify vowel correspondences with other branches.
Length was conserved but played no role in the details of the shift (that is, e. g., where *a shifted to *e, *ā likewise shifted to *ē), and will not be marked below. <$> marks a syllable boundary.
a) Changes before final *i
Before a word-final *i, the following changes occurred:
*ɨ ->i / _$i#
*e -> i / _$i#
*a -> e / _$i#
*o -> ø / _$i# (*ø is almost immediately broken into /(w)e/, as we shall see, but is reconstructed as a necessary intermediate)
b) Changes before final *o
Before a word-final *o, the following changes occurred:
*i -> ɨ / _$o#
*ɨ -> a / _$o#
*a -> o / _$o#
c) Change before final *a
Only *i was affected by a word-final *a:
*i -> e / _$a#
13. Breaking of *ø
New umlauted *ø doesn't survive long, and quickly unpacks as follows:
ø ø: -> we wē / V[t c k n θ s š h]_, #_, #k_
ø ø: -> e ē / otherwise
Resulting -kw- became kʷ, and -cw- became -sw-.
14. Western Steppe Velar Shift
Briefly speaking, *k shifted to either /ʔ/ or /x/ except as the second member of a cluster, and was replaced by *kʷ (medially) and *ŋ (initially); initial *kʷ became /p/ and medial *ŋ became *n.
*k -> ʔ / V_V
*k -> x / #_, _C, _#
*k maintained / C_ or as a geminate
*ŋ -> k / #_
*ŋ -> n / otherwise
*kʷ -> p / # _
*kʷ -> k / otherwise
14. Merger of *c and *č
*c becomes *č in all positions:
*c -> č / _
15. Loss of glides in double-sonorant clusters
The glides *w, *l and *y are lost when they are the second member of a cluster and follow a sonorant:
R -> Ø / N_, R_
(But they are reinserted, with epenthetic ă, to analogize some paradigms, such as in the 3rd animate possessive of nouns.)
16. Spirantization of *t in clusters
*t becomes /θ/ when it is the first member of a cluster.
t -> θ / _C
17. Frication of *l in clusters.
*l becomes *h when it is the first member of a cluster. It's likely that this took the form *l -> r -> R -> h or something of that nature; it's difficult to say.
*l -> h / _C
18. Initial *y split.
*y is lost initially before front vowels *e *i, and becomes /h/ initially otherwise:
y -> Ø / #_F
y -> h / #_ otherwise
Early Proto-Western-Steppe to Late Proto-Western-Steppe, c. -750 to -250
Most Western Steppe languages split off towards the end of this list of final sound changes, but at least one will be split off before the short vowel collapse and subsequent restructuring of the vowel system.
19. Long Vowel Shortening
Long vowels shorten before geminates:
V: -> V / _C₁C₁
20. Short Vowel Lengthening
...just to confuse you. The second of a sequence of three consecutive short vowels, if it is not followed by a cluster, lengthens:
V -> V: / V[+short]$_$V[+short] ! _CC
21. Short Vowel Collapse
The short vowels undergo mergers, trimming their numbers from five to three:
*ŏ-> a / _
*ă *ĕ -> ə / _
*ĭ ɨ -> i /_
21. Various Long Vowel Changes
a) *ē and *ī merge as ī, except before *h, *w or *x, where they merge as ē:
*ī *ē -> ē / _[h, w, x]
*ī *ē -> ī / otherwise
b) *ɨ: merges with *ī after *č *š and with *ē otherwise:
ɨ: -> ī / [č, š]_
ɨ: -> ē / otherwise
22a. Syncope
If a short vowel- that's /a ə i/, now-
it will delete. Any resulting cluster must:
If it fails to meet one of these criteria, it's broken up: CV[+short]C -> !CC -> CəC.
In some words the resulting epenthesis of /ə/ makes it hard to tell that there was any syncope at all; however, because clusters are not allowed word-finally, a word-final cluster (including geminates) resulting from the deletion of a word-final short vowel will ALWAYS be epenthesized.
22b. Word-final consonant changes resulting from syncope
Syncope leaves a lot of new word-final consonants, which undergo a few changes:
- final *č becomes /š/:
č -> š / _#
- final *t becomes /ʔ/; final *θ becomes /t/ in its place:
t -> ʔ / _#
θ -> t / _#
- final *l merges with *w if it's preceded by /ə/:
l -> w / ə_#
- the segments *əy/*ĭy and *əw/*ăw become /ī/ and /ō/:
əy, iy -> ī / _#
əw, aw -> ō / _#
- *w and *y otherwise delete at the end of a word.
23. Final vowel shift.
A few Western Steppe languages do not exhibit this change, which destroyed the last vestiges of a length distinction.
*ĭ -> e
*ī -> i
*ē -> ɛ: -> ɛ
*ā -> ɔ: -> o: -> o
*ō -> u: -> u
*ă -> ɑ -> ɔ
*ə -> a
That should be it for the sound changes. I'll try and get the revamped Quomonak changes done this evening if I can.
The resulting Proto-Western-Steppe inventory should be:
Stops/Affricates: *p *t *č *k *ʔ
Nasals: *m *n
Fricatives: *θ *s *š *x *h
Liquids: *w *l *y
Vowels: *i *e *ɛ *a *ɔ *o *u
a) the reduction of initial *we/*wɨ, *ye/*yɨ segments to *o *i;
b) the merger of *r and *l into a single phoneme *l;
c) merger of *θC clusters into *sC clusters;
d) loss of *ʔ in *ʔR clusters (where *R = /w r l y/).
Very Early Changes, c. -3000 to c. -2500
Again, many of these changes are shared with other branches, particularly Quomonakian.
1. Initial glide-vowel reduction
*we, *wɨ -> o / #_
*ye, *yɨ -> i / #_
2. *r and *l merger
*r -> l / _
3. Merger of *θ and *s in clusters
*θ -> s / _C
Resulting *sč becomes *št; *sc becomes *st.
4. Loss of *ʔ in clusters with glides
ʔ -> Ø / _R (R=w, y, l)
5. Rhinoglottophilia
In an initial syllable of the sort
#hV₁CV₂
where C is not part of a cluster and isn't a nasal, a nasal is inserted before C:
hV₁CV₂ -> hV₁NCV₂ / #_
This gives rise to new nasal-fricative clusters *nθ *ns *nš *nh *nł. *ns and *nš merge into *nc and *nč immediately; *nł merges with *nl, leaving *nθ and *nh as the only nasal-fricative clusters going forward. The cluster *nʔ immediately metathesizes to *ʔn.
In initial syllables of the sort
#hV₁NV₂
where N = *m *n *ŋ, no additional nasal is inserted, but V₁ is lengthened.
6. Loss of initial *h.
h -> Ø / #_
Proto-Nahtak to Pre-Proto-Western Steppe, c. -2500 to c. -1800
Branch differentiation becomes more concrete at this stage.
7. Loss of *š.
*š becomes *x before back vowels (*a *o *ɨ) and in clusters; otherwise it merges with *s:
*š -> x / _B, _C
*š -> s / otherwise
8. *a to *o shift after labials
After labial and labialized consonants- that is, any of *p *m *w *kʷ- *a *ā become *o *ō:
*a *ā -> o ō / [p m w kʷ]_
9. Gemination in clusters with *ʔ
In any cluster *ʔC, *ʔ is lost and the following consonant is geminated:
ʔC -> C: / _
10. Loss of *h with compensatory lengthening; loss of *ʔ
*h is lost in all remaining positions. When a coda, it lengthens any preceding vowel:
Vh -> V: / _C, _#
h -> Ø / _
Remaining *ʔ is lost as well:
ʔ -> Ø / _
11. Reappearence of /š/; loss of *č and *ł
/š/ reappears from two sources: *č, except after a nasal, and *ł initially:
č -> š / _ ! N_
ł -> š / #_
*ł merges into /l/ otherwise:
ł -> l / _
Pre-Proto-Western Steppe to Early Proto-Western Steppe, c. -1800 to c. -750
Sometime in the early-to-mid negative second millennium, two major changes occurred which mark the emergence of a defined Western Steppe branch: "Western Steppe Umlaut", a vowel assimilation process, and the "Western Steppe Velar Shift". There are also some hard-to-date cluster changes stuck in here, too.
12. Western Steppe Umlaut
Word-final vowels cause vowels in the preceding syllable to change. A large number of words are affected, making it difficult to identify vowel correspondences with other branches.
Length was conserved but played no role in the details of the shift (that is, e. g., where *a shifted to *e, *ā likewise shifted to *ē), and will not be marked below. <$> marks a syllable boundary.
a) Changes before final *i
Before a word-final *i, the following changes occurred:
*ɨ ->i / _$i#
*e -> i / _$i#
*a -> e / _$i#
*o -> ø / _$i# (*ø is almost immediately broken into /(w)e/, as we shall see, but is reconstructed as a necessary intermediate)
b) Changes before final *o
Before a word-final *o, the following changes occurred:
*i -> ɨ / _$o#
*ɨ -> a / _$o#
*a -> o / _$o#
c) Change before final *a
Only *i was affected by a word-final *a:
*i -> e / _$a#
13. Breaking of *ø
New umlauted *ø doesn't survive long, and quickly unpacks as follows:
ø ø: -> we wē / V[t c k n θ s š h]_, #_, #k_
ø ø: -> e ē / otherwise
Resulting -kw- became kʷ, and -cw- became -sw-.
14. Western Steppe Velar Shift
Briefly speaking, *k shifted to either /ʔ/ or /x/ except as the second member of a cluster, and was replaced by *kʷ (medially) and *ŋ (initially); initial *kʷ became /p/ and medial *ŋ became *n.
*k -> ʔ / V_V
*k -> x / #_, _C, _#
*k maintained / C_ or as a geminate
*ŋ -> k / #_
*ŋ -> n / otherwise
*kʷ -> p / # _
*kʷ -> k / otherwise
14. Merger of *c and *č
*c becomes *č in all positions:
*c -> č / _
15. Loss of glides in double-sonorant clusters
The glides *w, *l and *y are lost when they are the second member of a cluster and follow a sonorant:
R -> Ø / N_, R_
(But they are reinserted, with epenthetic ă, to analogize some paradigms, such as in the 3rd animate possessive of nouns.)
16. Spirantization of *t in clusters
*t becomes /θ/ when it is the first member of a cluster.
t -> θ / _C
17. Frication of *l in clusters.
*l becomes *h when it is the first member of a cluster. It's likely that this took the form *l -> r -> R -> h or something of that nature; it's difficult to say.
*l -> h / _C
18. Initial *y split.
*y is lost initially before front vowels *e *i, and becomes /h/ initially otherwise:
y -> Ø / #_F
y -> h / #_ otherwise
Early Proto-Western-Steppe to Late Proto-Western-Steppe, c. -750 to -250
Most Western Steppe languages split off towards the end of this list of final sound changes, but at least one will be split off before the short vowel collapse and subsequent restructuring of the vowel system.
19. Long Vowel Shortening
Long vowels shorten before geminates:
V: -> V / _C₁C₁
20. Short Vowel Lengthening
...just to confuse you. The second of a sequence of three consecutive short vowels, if it is not followed by a cluster, lengthens:
V -> V: / V[+short]$_$V[+short] ! _CC
21. Short Vowel Collapse
The short vowels undergo mergers, trimming their numbers from five to three:
*ŏ-> a / _
*ă *ĕ -> ə / _
*ĭ ɨ -> i /_
21. Various Long Vowel Changes
a) *ē and *ī merge as ī, except before *h, *w or *x, where they merge as ē:
*ī *ē -> ē / _[h, w, x]
*ī *ē -> ī / otherwise
b) *ɨ: merges with *ī after *č *š and with *ē otherwise:
ɨ: -> ī / [č, š]_
ɨ: -> ē / otherwise
22a. Syncope
If a short vowel- that's /a ə i/, now-
is in the second syllable of a word AND
is either word-final, OR
is within a word but is neither preceded nor followed by a cluster
it will delete. Any resulting cluster must:
consist of a nasal plus a stop or one of /θ h/ OR
consist of a fricative (/θ s š x h/, just to refresh your memory) plus a sound that isn't a fricative OR
be a geminate consonant
If it fails to meet one of these criteria, it's broken up: CV[+short]C -> !CC -> CəC.
In some words the resulting epenthesis of /ə/ makes it hard to tell that there was any syncope at all; however, because clusters are not allowed word-finally, a word-final cluster (including geminates) resulting from the deletion of a word-final short vowel will ALWAYS be epenthesized.
22b. Word-final consonant changes resulting from syncope
Syncope leaves a lot of new word-final consonants, which undergo a few changes:
- final *č becomes /š/:
č -> š / _#
- final *t becomes /ʔ/; final *θ becomes /t/ in its place:
t -> ʔ / _#
θ -> t / _#
- final *l merges with *w if it's preceded by /ə/:
l -> w / ə_#
- the segments *əy/*ĭy and *əw/*ăw become /ī/ and /ō/:
əy, iy -> ī / _#
əw, aw -> ō / _#
- *w and *y otherwise delete at the end of a word.
23. Final vowel shift.
A few Western Steppe languages do not exhibit this change, which destroyed the last vestiges of a length distinction.
*ĭ -> e
*ī -> i
*ē -> ɛ: -> ɛ
*ā -> ɔ: -> o: -> o
*ō -> u: -> u
*ă -> ɑ -> ɔ
*ə -> a
That should be it for the sound changes. I'll try and get the revamped Quomonak changes done this evening if I can.
The resulting Proto-Western-Steppe inventory should be:
Stops/Affricates: *p *t *č *k *ʔ
Nasals: *m *n
Fricatives: *θ *s *š *x *h
Liquids: *w *l *y
Vowels: *i *e *ɛ *a *ɔ *o *u