At long last here are the semi-final sound changes from Hlholammelo (Hlh) and Kapakwonak (K) to Classical Noyahtowa (CN).
CN is the result of the rare phenomenon of language fusion: in this case, two related and morphologically very similar languages (Hlh and K) undergo massive cross-borrowing of elements and morphological processes to produce a new language, CN. The balance of word-forming elements in CN falls on the side of Hlh moreso than K--about 60% Hlh and 40% K. Phonologically, CN is unique, resembling neither of its parent languages closely; though most of the sounds unique to K are altered, including all of the diphthongs and most of the consonants with secondary articulations (palatalization, labialization, etc.). But also some sounds unique to Hlh vanish--the long-standing interdental fricative and palatal affricate, e.g.
Earliest CN shows a few words directly from Hlh or K, but most are wholesale reformed from Hlh and K elements, with the inflectional system leveled. Element order and arrangement is identical to that of Hlh and K, where these conincide in Hlh and K; but CN uses Hlh's sound symbolism for formation of augmentatives and diminutives, and K's initial change for formation of certain conjunct (dependent) words. The syllable length sandhi rules and extended vowel length:tensity association for mid and high vowels remain in effect, as in Hlh and K; and compensatory lengthening likewise persists as a feature. The CN stress system remains identical to that of Hlh and K. Legal consonant clusters and clusters of vowels in hiatus in reformed CN words are those present at the end of K's development.
As always, questions and comments are welcome.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Hlh/K > CN
(X) Stress is redistributed in reformed words according to the rules in change (x).
(X) Many of the early CN changes show phonological influence of Hlh upon K and vice-versa, with the balance tilted toward the former. These changes begin with unstressed vowels (including those deriving from K) being centralized to ʌ, while stressed instances of ʌ revert to their former, unreduced qualities (reflecting a persistent alternation in the later stage of Hlh between full and reduced vowels in stressed verses unstressed syllables, respectively; this alternation continues to apply in CN).
{a, ɛ, ɔ, ʊ} > ʌ
ˈʌ > {a, ɛ, ʊ}
(X) Diphthongs in a- merge with those in e-; in the process, some diphthongs become half-long or long monopthongs. The changes of aoˑ and aoː were likely the first, with the monopthongization of aeˑ and aeː following by analogy with those. These changes were all likely underway in the later stage of K, but were probably completed during the formation of CN. Evidence to place them firmly is lacking.
aeˑ > eˑ
aoˑ > eoˑ
aeː > eː
aoː > eoː
(X) Save word-initially, before an unstressed short vowel, certain preaspirated fricatives become unitary long consonants. These changes were all likely underway in the later stage of Hlh, but were probably completed during the formation of CN.
hs > sː / _ʌ
hš > šː / _ʌ
hł > łː / _ʌ
(X) Remaining diphthongs are transformed into half-long or long monopthongs, with the monopthongization conditioned by surrounding consonants and position in the word. The table below summarizes the monopthongization:
Before non-preaspirated palatal
or palatalized
consonants1
Before
glottal or preaspirated
consonants Between
labial,
labialized or
palatalized and labialized
consonants2 Word-
finally In all
other
positions
eaˑ> eˑ aˑ aˑ eˑ aˑ
eoˑ> eˑ oˑ oˑ eˑ oˑ
oaˑ> aˑ oˑ oˑ oˑ aˑ
oeˑ> eˑ oˑ oˑ oˑ eˑ
eaː> eː aː aː eː aː
eoː> eː oː oː eː oː
oaː> aː oː oː oː aː
oeː> eː oː oː oː eː
1 The glide y is here considered a palatal consonant; palatalized and labialized consonants group with the non-preaspirated palatal and palatalized consonants in this context only when the consonants on both sides of the diphthong are not labial, labialized or palatalized and labialized.
2 The glide w is here considered a labial consonant; the preaspirated nasal hm acts as a labial consonant in this context when preceding a diphthong but not when following one; when following a diphthong, hm is treated instead as a glottal or preaspirated consonant. Palatalized labial consonants are treated as palatalized consonants in this context and do not behave as or group with labial consonants here.
Short and long varieties of each consonant condition the foregoing changes identically.
(X) A short stressed vowel becomes half-long, unless this lengthening results in a sequence of two consecutive non-short syllables (reflecting, probably, a still-active change from the later stage of K). Where this change occurs more than once per word, it does so from left to right across the word.
ˈV > ˈVˑ
(x) Half-long mid and high vowels resulting from change (x) above become tense.
{ɛˑ, ɔˑ, ʊˑ} > {eˑ, oˑ, uˑ}
(x) Long consonants shorten in non-short syllables (reflecting, probably, a still-active change from the later stage of Hlh).
Cː > C / _{Vˑ, Vː}
(x) Compensatory lengthening occurs with the shortening of consonants in change (x) above, with its application constrained by the syllable length sandhi rules. The vowel immediately following a shortened consonant will become long if it is half-long; this change occurs from left to right across the word wherever it can. If the lost length of a shortened consonant cannot be compensated for in this way, the length is simply lost.
(X) When the first member of a consonant cluster before a voiceless consonant, a nasal is assimilatorily devoiced and merges with h as h.
mp > hp
nt > ht
ns > hs
nk > hk
mʸpʸ > hpʸ
nʸtʸ > htʸ
nʸsʸ > hsʸ
nʸkʸ > hkʸ
mʷpʷ > hpʷ
nʷtʷ > htʷ
nʷsʷ > hsʷ
nʷkʷ > hkʷ
mʸʷpʸʷ > hpʸʷ
nʸʷtʸʷ > htʸʷ
nʸʷsʸʷ > hsʸʷ
nʸʷkʸʷ > hkʸʷ
(X) The glide y uncondiitionally merges with ḽ as ḽ.
y > ḽ
(X) The glide w unconditionally merges with m as m.
w > m
(X) After a word-initial sequence of h plus short stressed or unstressed vowel, an h is inserted before a short, non-preaspirated voiceless stop, affricate or fricative (save h or x) or voiced nasal, provided that this stop, affricate, fricative or nasal is followed directly by a vowel. This change applies alike to stops, affricates, fricatives and nasals with or without secondary articulations like palatalization, labialization or both palatalization and labialization.
C[-voice] > hC[-voice] / #hV_{V, Vˑ, Vː}
{m, n} > h{m, n} / #hV_{V, Vˑ, Vː}
(X) An h is inserted before an intervocal short, non-preaspirated voiceless stop, affricate or fricative (save h or x) or voiced nasal in the final syllable of a word when this stop, affricate, fricative or nasal is directly preceded by a sequence of h plus short stressed or unstressed vowel. This change applies alike to stops, affricates, fricatives and nasals with or without secondary articulations like palatalization, labialization or both palatalization and labialization.
C[-voice] > hC[-voice] / hV_{V, Vˑ, Vː}#
{m, n} > h{m, n} / hV_{V, Vˑ, Vː}#
(X) Consonant clusters of the form h+C (with glides not considered consonants, and including consonants with secondary articulations like palatalization and labialization) become unitary preaspirated consonants.
hC > hC
(X) Labialized and palatalized and labialized consonants undergo dissimilation (i.e., delabialization) after a sequence of labial, labialized or palatalized and labialized consonant plus vowel or vowel cluster. This dissimilation will fail to occur, however, if the consonant to be dissmilated is followed directly by a labialized or palatalized and labialized consonant. This change is reminiscent of a similar change involving dissimilation of palatalized consonants in early Hlh.
(h)Cʷ > (h)Cʷ / {(h)Cʷ, (h)Cʸʷ, (h)m, mː, (h)p, (h)φ, (h)pʸ, (h)mʸ, (h)φʸ}V(V)_{(h)Cʷ, (h)Cʸʷ}
(h)Cʸʷ > (h)Cʸʷ / {(h)Cʷ, (h)Cʸʷ, (h)m, mː, (h)p, (h)φ, (h)pʸ, (h)mʸ, (h)φʸ}V(V)_{(h)Cʷ, (h)Cʸʷ}
(h)Cʷ > (h)C / {(h)Cʷ, (h)Cʸʷ, (h)m, mː, (h)p, (h)φ, (h)pʸ, (h)mʸ, (h)φʸ}V(V)_
(h)Cʸʷ > (h)Cʸ / {(h)Cʷ, (h)Cʸʷ, (h)m, mː, (h)p, (h)φ, (h)pʸ, (h)mʸ, (h)φʸ}V(V)_
(X) The consonants nʸ, nʷ and nʸʷ are assimilated by a following mʸ, mʷ and mʸʷ, respectively, and the resulting geminate consonant clusters become new unitary long consonants.
nʸmʸ > mʸː
nʷmʷ > mʷː
nʸʷmʸʷ > mʸʷː
(x) Long consonants shorten in non-short syllables (reflecting, again, probably, a still-active change from the later stage of Hlh).
Cː > C / _{Vˑ, Vː}
(x) Compensatory lengthening occurs with the shortening of consonants in change (x) above, with its application constrained by the syllable length sandhi rules. The vowel immediately following a shortened consonant will become long if it is half-long; this change occurs from left to right across the word wherever it can. If the lost length of a shortened consonant cannot be compensated for in this way, the length is simply lost.
(X) A short vowel is inserted between the two consonants of a remaining consonant cluster when both members of the cluster have secondary articulations. When the consonants are palatalized or palatalized and labialized, the inserted vowel is ɛ; when the consonants are labialized, it is ʊ.
CʸCʸ > CʸɛCʸ
CʸʷCʸʷ > CʸʷɛCʸʷ
CʷCʷ > CʷʊCʷ
(X) Stress is redistributed according to the rules in change (x).
(X) Unstressed vowels are centralized to ʌ, while stressed instances of ʌ revert to their former, unreduced qualities.
{a, ɛ, ɔ, ʊ} > ʌ
ˈʌ > {a, ɛ, ɔ, ʊ}
(X) Assimilations and mergers occur among certain palatalized, labialized and palatalized and labialized consonants, in all positions, to short and long, preaspirated and non-preaspirated consonants alike.
(h)mʸ > (h)nʸ
mʸː > nʸː
(h)φʸ > (h)sʸ
(h)nʷ > (h)mʷ
(h)sʷ > (h)φʷ
(h)mʸʷ > (h)nʸʷ
mʸʷː > nʸʷː
(h)φʸʷ > (h)sʸʷ
(X) Intervocally, voiceless non-preaspirated consonants with secondary articulations voice, likely by means of their secondary articulations.
tʸ > dʸ / V_V
sʸ > zʸ / V_V
pʸ > bʸ / V_V
kʸ > gʸ / V_V
pʷ > bʷ / V_V
tʷ > dʷ / V_V
kʷ > gʷ / V_V
φʷ > βʷ / V_V
pʸʷ > bʸʷ / V_V
tʸʷ > dʸʷ / V_V
kʸʷ > gʸʷ / V_V
sʸʷ > zʸʷ / V_V
(X) Remaining voiceless palatalized consonants (including preaspirated consonants) merge with palatal consonants: voiceless palatalized stops merge to (h)č, while voiceless palatalized fricatives merge to (h)š.
(h)tʸ > (h)č
(h)pʸ > (h)č
(h)kʸ > (h)č
(h)sʸ > (h)š
(X) Remaining voiceless palatalized and labialized consonants (including preaspirated consonants) merge to labialized palatal consonants:
(h)pʸʷ > (h)čʷ
(h)tʸʷ > (h)čʷ
(h)kʸʷ > (h)čʷ
(h)sʸʷ > (h)šʷ
(X) Voiceless labialized palatal affricates merge with voiceless labialized palatal fricatives:
(h)čʷ > (h)šʷ
(X) Remaining voiceless labialized consonants (including preaspirated consonants) merge to (h)φ: voiceless labialized fricatives directly, voiceless labialized stops via (h)W.
(h)pʷ > (h)W > (h)φ
(h)tʷ > (h)W > (h)φ
(h)kʷ > (h)W > (h)φ
(h)φʷ > (h)φ
(h)šʷ > (h)φ
(X) Voiced, non-nasal stops are nasalized:
dʸ > nʸ
bʸ > mʸ
gʸ > ŋ̑
bʷ > mʷ
dʷ > nʷ
gʷ > m
bʸʷ > mʸʷ
dʸʷ > nʸʷ
gʸʷ > ŋ̑ʷ
(X) Palatal nasals merge with palatalized nasals:
ŋ̑ > nʸ
ŋ̑ʷ > nʸʷ
(X) Vowels undergo a chain shift, regardless of stress or length; in the process, the reduced vowel ʌ disappears, and along with it is lost the persistent alternation between full and reduced vowels in stressed verses unstressed syllables. Consonantal conditioning factors apply to certain changes. The chain shift is describable in three stages, the first of which is:
ʊ > ɩ
uˑ > iˑ
uː > iː
Followed by:
ɔ > ʊ
oˑ > uˑ
oː > uː
The foregoing changes of the high back vowel occur in all positions save before a prepasirated or non-preaspirated labial or labialized consonant; the changes involving the mid back vowel are exceptionless.
The second stage of the chain shift lowers the front vowels:
ɛ > a
eˑ > aˑ
eː > aː
Followed by:
ɩ > ɛ
iˑ > eˑ
iː > eː
The foregoing changes of the mid front vowel occur in all positions save before a prepasirated or non-preaspirated palatal, palatalized or palatalized and labialized consonant; the changes involving the high front vowel are exceptionless.
The third stage of the chain shift sees the merger of the reduced vowel ʌ with ɛ and a:
ʌ > ɛ / _(h)C[+palatal]
ʌ > ɛ / _(h)C[+palatalized]
ʌ > a
That is to say, ʌ becomes ɛ before a preaspirated or non-preaspirated palatal, palatalized or palatalized and labialized consonant and a in all other positions.
(X) Short voiced non-preaspirated palatalized nasals become palatal glides before or after front vowels and normal nasals otherwise.
nʸ > y / _{ɩ, iˑ, iː, ɛ, eˑ, eː}
mʸ > y / _{ɩ, iˑ, iː, ɛ, eˑ, eː}
nʸ > y / {ɩ, iˑ, iː, ɛ, eˑ, eː}_
mʸ > y / {ɩ, iˑ, iː, ɛ, eˑ, eː}_
nʸ > n
mʸ > m
(X) The short voiced palatalized fricative zʸ becomes a palatal glide.
zʸ > y
(X) Short voiced non-preaspirated labialized consonants become bilabial glides.
mʷ > w
nʷ > w
βʷ > w
(X) Short voiced non-preaspirated palatalized and labialized consonants become bilabial glides.
nʸʷ > w
mʸʷ > w
zʸʷ > w
(X) Short voiced preaspirated palatalized nasals become preaspirated palatal fricatives before or after front vowels and normal preaspirated nasals otherwise.
hnʸ > hš / _{ɩ, iˑ, iː, ɛ, eˑ, eː}
hnʸ > hš / {ɩ, iˑ, iː, ɛ, eˑ, eː}_
hnʸ > hn
(X) Short voiced preaspirated labialized consonants become voiceless preaspirated bilabial fricatives.
hmʷ > hφ
(X) Short voiced preaspirated palatalized and labialized consonants become voiceless preaspirated bilabial fricatives.
hnʸʷ > hφ
(X) Long consonants without secondary articulations become sequences of V+C or C+V or simply shorten to C, depending on environment.
*Cː > C / VV_VV
šː > šɛ / VV_
šː > ɛš
Cː > Ca / VV_
Cː > aC
(X) Before or after a front vowel, the long voiced palatalized consonant nʸː becomes a sequence of ɩy or yɩ or simply y, depending on environment; elsewhere, nʸː yields a sequence of ɩn or nɩ or simply n, depending on environment.
*nʸː > y / VV_{ɩ, iˑ, iː, ɛ, eˑ, eː}V
*nʸː > y / V{ɩ, iˑ, iː, ɛ, eˑ, eː}_VV
nʸː > yɩ / VV_{ɩ, iˑ, iː, ɛ, eˑ, eː}
nʸː > yɩ / V{ɩ, iˑ, iː, ɛ, eˑ, eː}_
nʸː > ɩy / _{ɩ, iˑ, iː, ɛ, eˑ, eː}
nʸː > ɩy / {ɩ, iˑ, iː, ɛ, eˑ, eː}_
*nʸː > n / VV_VV
nʸː > nɩ / VV_
nʸː > ɩn
(X) The long voiced labialized consonant mʷː becomes a sequence of ʊw or wʊ or simply w, depending on environment.
*mʷː > w / VV_VV
mʷː > wʊ / VV_
mʷː > ʊw
(X) The long voiced palatalized and labialized consonant nʸʷː becomes a sequence of ʊy or yʊ or simply w, depending on environment.
*nʸʷː > w / VV_VV
nʸʷː > yʊ / VV_
nʸʷː > ʊy
(X) Compensatory lengthening applies when long consonants simply shorten or yield only a single nasal or glide in changes (x)-(x) above; these changes are marked with *. In these cases, the first vowel preceding the formerly long consonant will become half-long if it is short, provided that this does not result in a sequence of two consecutive non-short syllables; if the first preceding vowel is half-long instead, it will become long. If lengthening the first preceding vowel creates a sequence of two consecutive non-short syllables or if the first preceding vowel is long, the first vowel following the formerly long consonant will become half-long if it is short, provided that this does not result in a sequence of two consecutive non-short syllables; if the first following vowel is half-long instead, it will become long. These changes apply from left to right across the word wherever possible; and the lost length of a long consonant that cannot be compensated for in these ways is simply lost.
(x) Half-long mid and high vowels resulting from change (x) above become tense.
{ɩˑ, ɛˑ, ɔˑ, ʊˑ} > {iˑ, eˑ, oˑ, uˑ}
(X) Stress is redistributed according to the rules in change (x).
(X) The next several changes constitute a turning point in CN: vowel length disappears, and with it several long-standing persistent rules are altered or done away with entirely. To start with, half-long and long vowels contract; they trade their extended length for tonality: long vowels become high-pitched, half-long vowels become mid-pitched, and short vowels are realized as low-pitched relative to these. The only exception is in the final syllable of words of three or more syllables, where all vowels, regardles of length, become low-pitched. Tenseness and laxity of vowels are maintained across this transformation, and the peristsent association of extended vowel length with tensity becomes a peristsent association of high or mid pitch with tensity in the context of the new pitch system: hereafter, among the mid and high vowels, high- or mid-pitched vowels will always be realized as tense, while low-pitched vowels are always lax.
{iˑ, eˑ, aˑ, uˑ, iː, eː, aː, uː} > {ὶ, ὲ, à, ὺ, ὶ, ὲ, à, ὺ} / V(C)(C)V(C)(C)_(C)#
ɩ > ὶ
ɛ > ὲ
a > à
ʊ > ὺ
iˑ > ī
eˑ > ē
aˑ > ā
uˑ > ū
iː > í
eː > é
aː > á
uː > ú
(X) Contemporary with the contraction of vowels in change (x) above, stress disappears from the language; hereafter, high- and mid-pitched vowels function as the accent of words.
(X) With the disappearance of vowel length in change (x) above, compensatory lengthening ceases to function as a persistent rule.
(X) In the context of the new pitch system, the syllable length sandhi rules become realized as syllable pitch sandhi rules, wherein the pitch of a syllable is determined by the pitch of its vowel. These rules disallow not only sequences of two or more consecutive non-low-pitched syllables, but also come to disallow disyllabic and polysyllabic words composed entirely of low-pitched syllables, likely in response to the preceding disappearance of stress and mid- and high-pitched vowels assuming the role of word accent. In disyllables and polysyllables composed entirely of low-pitched syllables, the vowel of the second syllable becomes mid-pitched, echoing former stress patterns. The syllable pitch sanhdi rules, like the syllable length sandhi rules from which they come, become persistent rules.
(X) The central vowel becomes a back vowel, regardless of pitch.
à > ὰ
ā > ᾱ
á > ά
(X) Unpreaspirated p and k drop word-initially and intervocally.
p > ø / #_
k > ø / #_
p > ø / V_V
k > ø / V_V
(x) In clusters of three or four vowels in hiatus, a glide is inserted after the second vowel in the cluster. The quality of this glide is determined by the second and third vowels in the cluster: a y is inserted when the second and third vowels are both front, and a w is inserted otherwise.
{V, Vˑ, Vː} {ὶ, ī, í, ὲ, ē, é} {ὶ, ī, í, ὲ, ē, é} ( {V, Vˑ, Vː} ) > {V, Vˑ, Vː} {ὶ, ī, í, ὲ, ē, é} y {ὶ, ī, í, ὲ, ē, é} ( {V, Vˑ, Vː} )
{V, Vˑ, Vː} {V, Vˑ, Vː} {V, Vˑ, Vː} ( {V, Vˑ, Vː} ) > {V, Vˑ, Vː} {V, Vˑ, Vː} w {V, Vˑ, Vː} ( {V, Vˑ, Vː} )
(X) Assimilations take place in clusters of two vowels in hiatus, regardless of the pitch of the vowels in the cluster.
{ὶ, ī, í}{ὰ, ᾱ, ά} > {ὲ, ē, é}{ὰ, ᾱ, ά}
{ὶ, ī, í}{ὲ, ē, é} > {ὲ, ē, é}{ὲ, ē, é}
{ὰ, ᾱ, ά}{ὶ, ī, í} > {ὲ, ē, é}{ὶ, ī, í}
{ὲ, ē, é}{ὶ, ī, í} > {ὶ, ī, í}{ὶ, ī, í}
(X) Word-final consonants drop in all syllabic lengths of word.
C > ø / _#
(X) Word-initially, preaspirated consonants lose preaspiration.
hC > C / #_
(X) Voiced palatal and velar laterals merge with dental l in all positions.
ḽ > l
ʟ > l
(X) Preaspirated and non-preaspirated č weaken to (h)š before or after front vowels and fall together with (h)ł otherwise.
(h)č > (h)š / _{ὶ, ī, í, ὲ, ē, é}
(h)č > (h)š / {ὶ, ī, í, ὲ, ē, é}_
(h)č > (h)ł
(X) Preaspirated and non-preaspirated θ become (h)s intervocally before or after back vowels; in all other positions (including word-initially), they become (h)ł.
(h)θ > (h)s / V_{ὰ, ᾱ, ά, ὺ, ū, ú}
(h)θ > (h)s / {ὰ, ᾱ, ά, ὺ, ū, ú}_V
(h)θ > (h)ł
(X) Remaining preaspirated fricatives reduce to plain fricatives in all positions.
hs > s
hš > š
hł > ł
hφ > φ
(X) Between two preaspirated or non-preaspirated dental or bilabial stops or affricates in any syllabic length of word, low-pitched non-high vowels are raised and fronted.
ὲ > ὶ / {(h)p, (h)t, (h)ƛ}_{(h)p, (h)t, (h)ƛ}
ὰ > ὲ / {(h)p, (h)t, (h)ƛ}_{(h)p, (h)t, (h)ƛ}
(X) Before k, s is assimilated to š.
sk > šk
(X) Between a front vowel and t or ƛ, h is inserted.
t >ht / {ὶ, ī, í, ὲ, ē, é}_
ƛ > hƛ / {ὶ, ī, í, ὲ, ē, é}_
(X) Consonant clusters ht and hƛ from changes (x) above become preaspirated consonants.
ht > ht
hƛ > hƛ
(X) Preaspirated p, t, k, ƛ become consonant clusters after a front vowel.
hp > sp / {ὶ, ī, í, ὲ, ē, é}_
ht > st / {ὶ, ī, í, ὲ, ē, é}_
hk > šk / {ὶ, ī, í, ὲ, ē, é}_
hƛ > sƛ / {ὶ, ī, í, ὲ, ē, é}_
(X) Between front vowels, s and ł are palatalized to š.
s > š / {ὶ, ī, í, ὲ, ē, é}_{ὶ, ī, í, ὲ, ē, é}
ł > š / {ὶ, ī, í, ὲ, ē, é}_{ὶ, ī, í, ὲ, ē, é}
(X) Between front vowels, x is palatalized to š.
x > š / {ὶ, ī, í, ὲ, ē, é}_{ὶ, ī, í, ὲ, ē, é}
(X) Between back vowels, š is backed to x.
š > x / {ὰ, ᾱ, ά, ὺ, ū, ú}_{ὰ, ᾱ, ά, ὺ, ū, ú}
(X) Back vowels are fronted before or after š, regardless of pitch.
{ὺ, ū, ú} > {ὶ, ī, í} / _š
{ὰ, ᾱ, ά} > {ὲ, ē, é} / _š
{ὺ, ū, ú} > {ὶ, ī, í} / š_
{ὰ, ᾱ, ά} > {ὲ, ē, é} / š_
(X) Front vowels are backed before or after x, regardless of pitch.
{ὶ, ī, í} > {ὺ, ū, ú} / _x
{ὲ, ē, é} > {ὰ, ᾱ, ά} / _x
{ὶ, ī, í} > {ὺ, ū, ú} / x_
{ὲ, ē, é} > {ὰ, ᾱ, ά} / x_
(X) Certain fricatives reduce to h between back vowels.
s > h / {ὰ, ᾱ, ά, ὺ, ū, ú}_{ὰ, ᾱ, ά, ὺ, ū, ú}
ł > h / {ὰ, ᾱ, ά, ὺ, ū, ú}_{ὰ, ᾱ, ά, ὺ, ū, ú}
φ > h / {ὰ, ᾱ, ά, ὺ, ū, ú}_{ὰ, ᾱ, ά, ὺ, ū, ú}
(X) Intervocally between two vowels of the same or similar quality, h drops, save when this results in a cluster of three or more vowels in haitus. Where this change occurs more than once per word, it does so from left to right across the word.
h > ø / {ὶ, ī, í}_{ὶ, ī, í}
h > ø / {ὲ, ē, é}_{ὲ, ē, é}
h > ø / {ὰ, ᾱ, ά}_{ὰ, ᾱ, ά}
h > ø / {ὺ, ū, ú}_{ὺ, ū, ú}
(X) Word-initially before a back vowel, n becomes m.
n > m / #_{ὰ, ᾱ, ά, ὺ, ū, ú}
(X) Word-initially before a front vowel, m becomes n.
m > n / #_{ὶ, ī, í, ὲ, ē, é}
(X) Word-initially before another vowel, ὲ becomes ὶ.
ὲ > ὶ / #_V
(X) Word-initially before another vowel, ὰ becomes ὺ.
ὰ > ὺ / #_V
(X) Word-initially before another vowel, the low-pitched high vowels ὶ and ὺ become non-syllabic glides.
ὶ > y / #_V
ὺ > w / #_V
(X) After a word-final cluster of two vowels in hiatus, a sequence of hV is appended, with the quality of the appended vowel determined by the word-final vowel; the appended vowel is always low-pitched.
Vὶ > Vὶhὶ / _#
Vī > Vīhὶ / _#
Ví > Víhὶ / _#
Vὲ > Vὲhὲ / _#
Vē > Vēhὲ / _#
Vé > Véhὲ / _#
Vὰ > Vὰhὰ / _#
Vᾱ > Vᾱhὰ / _#
Vά > Vάhὰ / _#
Vὺ > Vὺhὺ / _#
Vū > Vūhὺ / _#
Vú > Vúhὺ / _#
(X) Vowel-initial words gain an initial h.
V > hV / #_
(X) Before a front vowel, the glide w becomes fricativized to β, save when w is preceded by a back vowel.
w > β / #_{ὶ, ī, í, ὲ, ē, é}
w > β / {ὶ, ī, í, ὲ, ē, é}_{ὶ, ī, í, ὲ, ē, é}
(X) Before a front vowel, the glide y becomes fricativized to ž.
y > ž / _{ὶ, ī, í, ὲ, ē, é}
(X) Low-pitched vowels devoice (completely or partially) before h or a preaspirated consonant; all vowels regardless of pitch devoice word-finally.
ὶ > Ɩ / _{h, hC}
ὲ > Ɛ / _{h, hC}
ὰ > Α / _{h, hC}
ὺ > Ʊ / _{h, hC}
ὶ > Ɩ / _#
ī > I / _#
í > I / _#
ὲ > Ɛ / _#
ē > E / _#
é > E / _#
ὰ > Α / _#
ᾱ > Α / _#
ά > Α / _#
ὺ > Ʊ / _#
ū > U / _#
ú > U / _#
(X) Voiced consonants devoice before a voiceless vowel.
m > M / _{Ɩ, I, Ɛ, E, Α, Ʊ, U}
n > N / _{Ɩ, I, Ɛ, E, Α, Ʊ, U}
l > ł / _{Ɩ, I, Ɛ, E, Α, Ʊ, U}
w > W / _{Ɩ, I, Ɛ, E, Α, Ʊ, U}
y > Y / _{Ɩ, I, Ɛ, E, Α, Ʊ, U}
β > φ / _{Ɩ, I, Ɛ, E, Α, Ʊ, U}
ž > š /_{Ɩ, I, Ɛ, E, Α, Ʊ, U}
(X) Before a voiceless m in a consonant cluster, n devoices.
nM > NM
(X) The consonant cluster NM reduces to M.
NM > M
(X) Intervocally between voiced vowels, non-preaspirated stops, affricates and fricatives (save h) voice.
p > b / {ὶ, ī, í, ὲ, ē, é, ὰ, ᾱ, ά, ὺ, ū, ú}_{ὶ, ī, í, ὲ, ē, é, ὰ, ᾱ, ά, ὺ, ū, ú}
t > d / {ὶ, ī, í, ὲ, ē, é, ὰ, ᾱ, ά, ὺ, ū, ú}_{ὶ, ī, í, ὲ, ē, é, ὰ, ᾱ, ά, ὺ, ū, ú}
k > g / {ὶ, ī, í, ὲ, ē, é, ὰ, ᾱ, ά, ὺ, ū, ú}_{ὶ, ī, í, ὲ, ē, é, ὰ, ᾱ, ά, ὺ, ū, ú}
ƛ > λ / {ὶ, ī, í, ὲ, ē, é, ὰ, ᾱ, ά, ὺ, ū, ú}_{ὶ, ī, í, ὲ, ē, é, ὰ, ᾱ, ά, ὺ, ū, ú}
φ > β / {ὶ, ī, í, ὲ, ē, é, ὰ, ᾱ, ά, ὺ, ū, ú}_{ὶ, ī, í, ὲ, ē, é, ὰ, ᾱ, ά, ὺ, ū, ú}
s > z / {ὶ, ī, í, ὲ, ē, é, ὰ, ᾱ, ά, ὺ, ū, ú}_{ὶ, ī, í, ὲ, ē, é, ὰ, ᾱ, ά, ὺ, ū, ú}
ł > l / {ὶ, ī, í, ὲ, ē, é, ὰ, ᾱ, ά, ὺ, ū, ú}_{ὶ, ī, í, ὲ, ē, é, ὰ, ᾱ, ά, ὺ, ū, ú}
š > ž / {ὶ, ī, í, ὲ, ē, é, ὰ, ᾱ, ά, ὺ, ū, ú}_{ὶ, ī, í, ὲ, ē, é, ὰ, ᾱ, ά, ὺ, ū, ú}
x > γ / {ὶ, ī, í, ὲ, ē, é, ὰ, ᾱ, ά, ὺ, ū, ú}_{ὶ, ī, í, ὲ, ē, é, ὰ, ᾱ, ά, ὺ, ū, ú}
Central Mountain: From Hlholammelo & Kapakwonak to Noyah
-
vohpenonomae
- N'guny
- Posts: 91
- Joined: Sat Nov 02, 2002 4:23 am
Central Mountain: From Hlholammelo & Kapakwonak to Noyah
"On that island lies the flesh and bone of the Great Charging Bear, for as long as the grass grows and water runs," he said. "Where his spirit dwells, no one can say."
-
vohpenonomae
- N'guny
- Posts: 91
- Joined: Sat Nov 02, 2002 4:23 am
I'd like to point out that the developments in CN that lead to the k:n and p:m correspondences came about from a technique I've talked about before: seeing tendencies in natlangs and expanding on/altering them into something new, something which is unattested in natlangs but which is nevertheless phonetically plausible. These correspondences come about from intervocalic voicing of consonants with secondary articulations, then subsequent nasalization of the voiced stops with secondary articulations; and finally these voiced palatalized and labialized nasals yield /y/ or /w/ in some contexts and normal nasals otherwise. I'd always wanted to imitate in CN a k:n correspondence like Cheyenne has; but I wanted to do it in a different way. I saw that in Proto-Arapaho-Atsina that certain palatalized consonants intervocally voiced, while plain consonants did not; I researched and tested this change, and discovered it's apparently pretty natural for Cy and Cw to voice intervocally, because the y-like and w-like secondary articulations seem to lead to this. Put that together with nasalization of voiced stops (a not-uncommon change), and voila!, you have the makings of a k:n correspondence.
"On that island lies the flesh and bone of the Great Charging Bear, for as long as the grass grows and water runs," he said. "Where his spirit dwells, no one can say."
It happens in a number of Algonquian languages, actually (like Cree), which may be part of Jeff's inspiration for it.TheGoatMan wrote:I liked the lenition of nasals to h before voiceless stops.
Apparently a lot of languages don't like Nasal+Voiceless-Plosive clusters; we spent half a semester talking about this in the context of Optimality Theory in one of my courses.
Anyway, Jeff, this is all very cool. Although I'll repeat the request for specific examples even though I know you said that's waiting until you've gotten everything sorted out.
-
vohpenonomae
- N'guny
- Posts: 91
- Joined: Sat Nov 02, 2002 4:23 am
The treatment of PA clusters is odd, and breaks down like this:Whimemsz wrote:It happens in a number of Algonquian languages, actually (like Cree), which may be part of Jeff's inspiration for it.TheGoatMan wrote:I liked the lenition of nasals to h before voiceless stops.
Apparently a lot of languages don't like Nasal+Voiceless-Plosive clusters; we spent half a semester talking about this in the context of Optimality Theory in one of my courses.
Anyway, Jeff, this is all very cool. Although I'll repeat the request for specific examples even though I know you said that's waiting until you've gotten everything sorted out.
In all the Western Languages, voiced and voiceless consonants become /h/ before another consonant; in most of these, /h/ then drops before a fricative, but /h/ before a stop is generally maintained (becoming /s/ or
/š/ before /t/ and /k/, respectively, in Cheyenne). In some, /h/ is also maintained before a nasal, but in others dropped. (Delaware, a New England Language, also maintains h+nasal, and innovates even more of them.)
The Central Languages show more variety. In most, voiceless fricatives become /h/ before another consonant, with the /h/ usually dropping before fricatives and nasals. But in Miami-Illinois, h+fricative is maintained (sometimes becoming a geminate or long fricative in some positions); and in Miami-Illinois, Menominee and most Ojibwe dialects, nasal+obstruent remains, but in Cree nasals become /h/ before other consonants. In general, the further west that a Central Language was originally spoken, the more likely it is to have changed /m/ or /n/ to /h/ before another consonant. The reduction of nasal+obstruent (esp. stop) clusters to preaspirates seems to be a Western feature that is found in a few of the more westerly Central Languages. (The one exception to this appears to be Fox, the classic Central Language and overall the most conservative; the only cluster present in the modern language is /št/, but the oldest records show /ht/, /hp/, /hk/, etc., which reduced to plain consonants by the modern era. This suggests that Fox may have, like the Western languages and Cree, reduced almost all clusters to h+C, then dropped /h/ before consonants; Fox has plain stops for PA nasal+stop clusters, so nasal>h before stops, then h>0 before stop seems likely to have occurred; or at least that's more plausible than a simple dropping of nasals before stops).
I don't know whether it's a general phonetic tendency to dislike nasal+stop clusters or not; it seems to me it probably isn't, because there are plenty of Central Languages that maintain /nk/, /nt/, /mp/ (and these PA clusters were present in Proto-Algic some 6000-7000 years ago); a few of the modern languages voice these to [ŋ], [nd] and [mb], but by no means all.
Addendum: There's also a phenomenon in Algonquian, and larger Algic, that's hard to describe or account for with current phonetic theories. Supposedly, sound change has no memory; and speakers are not aware of previous sound changes where conditioning environments for those changes no longer exist. Yet in some Algonquian languages, there appear to be repeated sound changes which are not at all common changes. An example of this is that pre-Proto-Algonquian changed some Proto-Algic voiceless consonant clusters to h+C, creating the ht, hk, hs, etc. preaspirates present in PA; and then later in many Algonquian daughters, such occurred again--sometimes with the same or similar clusters, or with utterly different ones (like the aforementioned nC>hC changes). It's almost like there was some meta tendency in Algonquian to reduce clusters to hC, which manifested itself at different stages and in different ways in different languages. I don't know how you'd account for such a thing with current theory, considering the temporal separation of these sets of changes. Likewise, Proto-Algic /r/ winds up as /š/ in PA, via devoicing of /r/ to /ł/ and palatalization of /ł/; and then much later in some Algonquian daughters, /l/ and /ł/ merge to /ł/, which is then palatalized to /š/ before front vowels; yet the Algic conditioning environments that led to the r:š correspondence were long-gone by that time. These are not very common sound changes that you'd expect to spontaneously re-occur across several millennia; yet something in Algic-Algonquian must have driven them. But what? It seems like there must be some meta tendency toward certain kinds of sound changes that languages can acquire and keep for long periods; but current theory doesn't have much to say about such things, TMK. I try to mimic stuff like this in my own conlangs, even if I don't completely understand it; one example is that n/m>h/_C[-voice] occurs in both Hlholammelo and Noyahtowa--almost as if there's a lingering tendency in Noyahtowa (inherited from Hlholammelo) to devoice nasals before voiceless consonants.
"On that island lies the flesh and bone of the Great Charging Bear, for as long as the grass grows and water runs," he said. "Where his spirit dwells, no one can say."