Sound Changes - Monosyllabisation
Posted: Sat Oct 01, 2011 5:17 pm
Hi all, sound changes and diachronics haven't historically been my strong point. But since I spent quite a lot of time writing my own sound change applier I thought I'd better use it for the project that's been an idea in my head for quite a while. I'm going to outline my sound changes below and I'd appreciate comments.
I'll outline the changes first, then add posts about natlangs where similar changes have happened where I know of them and some example words.
Some of these changes could be reordered without changing the results, and in others there are several possible pathways to the same result.
The goal I set myself was to start off from something vaguely similar (although not identical) to proto-Austronesian and then generate something more typical of South-East Asian languages, i.e. development of a large number of monosyllabic morphemes and an increase in the number of possible syllables.
The proto-language
The proto-language was deliberately chosen to have a relatively simple structure and little that's particularly odd or remarkable.
The proto-consonants are:
p t c k ʔ P T C K s h m n ŋ r l w j
where /P/ /T/ /C/ /K/ are a fortis series of stops, which probably evolved from geminates at some point historically. The fortis stops only occur intervocally, and therefore don't occur either word initially or word finally. /ʔ/, /r/ and /l/ also don't occur word initially. The palatals may have been pure palatals or post-alveolar affricates.
This means that the set of consonants which can occur word initially are:
p t c k s h m n ŋ w j
The proto-vowels are the typical:
i e a o u
Syllable structure is simple. All syllables must be open except for the final syllable, which can be closed by any consonant except for the fortis stops. All syllables must have onsets apart from the initial syllable of the word, which can be onset-less.
Stress was on the second syllable, and on every other syllable after that. Content words had a minimum weight constraint: mono-syllabic words had to have a closed syllable.
Early developments
(1) Change of stop contrast to voiced vs voiceless
Lenis stops become voiced except for word finally, and fortis stops become voiceless. This means that the only stops that can begin a word are voiced, which sounds odd but is actually the case in native Basque vocabulary. Basque also historically had a stop contrast of some other kind that developed in this way into a voicing distinction under the influence of neighbouring languages.
(2) Merger of e with other vowel phonemes
E becomes a copy of the following vowel, and is raised to i word finally. This probably happened via centralisation, i.e. e developed to something like ə, which was then influenced by following vowels. The actual changes are:
e -> V1 / _ C V1
e -> i / _ #
After this, the remaining vowels shift their pronunciation into a more box-like formation.
i a o u -> i æ ɒ u
Crucially, /æ/ and /ɒ/ were both low vowels.
(3) Shift of the palatals
The palatals /c/ and /ɟ/ fricativised and then shifted forwards as part of a chain shift. The exact change was:
c -> s -> θ
ɟ -> ʃ
Development of secondary articulations and further vowel changes
(1) Development of secondary articulations
Consonants gain secondary articulations based on the preceding vowel. Consonants follow i are palatalised, and consonants following either u or ɒ are labialised. No change occurs after æ.
C -> Cʲ / i _
C -> Cʷ / [vowel,rounded] _
(2) Stressed vowels undergo a split depending on the following vowel height
The 4 vowel system had 2 high vowels and 2 low vowels. In stressed syllables, these vowels underwent a split based on the height of the following vowel.
[vowel,high,stressed] -> [high-mid] / _ C [vowel,low]
[vowel,low,stressed] -> [low-mid] / _ C [vowel,high]
Everywhere except word finally,
æ, ɒ -> a
Word finally, where this split didn't occur because there was no following vowel, there was a shift in vowel quality:
æ -> ɛ
ɒ -> a
(3) Reduction of unstressed vowels
All unstressed vowels reduce to ə.
Loss of unstressed syllables part 1 - development of non-final unstressed syllables
(1) Schwa is lost before a syllable containing a stressed vowel, producing a large number of onset clusters
(2) If the second element of the cluster if a semi-vowel, that semi-vowel overrides any secondary articulation the consonant already has
Cj -> Cʲ
Cw -> Cʷ
If the first element is a semi-vowel and the second is a glottal, then the same occurs:
j [glottal] -> [palatalised]
w [glottal] -> [rounded]
(3) h is lost before or after other consonants
(4) Secondary articulations are lost from a consonant preceding another consonant
(5) If the second element of the cluster is r or l and the first is a stop, fricative or a nasal, then the cluster is retained. l -> r after a consonant. Any secondary articulation is lost on r.
(6) Stops are devoiced before r
(7) Nasals become voiced stops before r
(8) t,d,s,θ,ʃ -> s / _ C
(9) nasals assimilate to a following obstruent
(10) s, nasals, ʔ lengthen a following obstruent and delete. ʔ also lengthens a preceding obstruent and deletes.
(11) bilabial stops and velar stops are lost without any reflex before another obstruent.
I'll outline the changes first, then add posts about natlangs where similar changes have happened where I know of them and some example words.
Some of these changes could be reordered without changing the results, and in others there are several possible pathways to the same result.
The goal I set myself was to start off from something vaguely similar (although not identical) to proto-Austronesian and then generate something more typical of South-East Asian languages, i.e. development of a large number of monosyllabic morphemes and an increase in the number of possible syllables.
The proto-language
The proto-language was deliberately chosen to have a relatively simple structure and little that's particularly odd or remarkable.
The proto-consonants are:
p t c k ʔ P T C K s h m n ŋ r l w j
where /P/ /T/ /C/ /K/ are a fortis series of stops, which probably evolved from geminates at some point historically. The fortis stops only occur intervocally, and therefore don't occur either word initially or word finally. /ʔ/, /r/ and /l/ also don't occur word initially. The palatals may have been pure palatals or post-alveolar affricates.
This means that the set of consonants which can occur word initially are:
p t c k s h m n ŋ w j
The proto-vowels are the typical:
i e a o u
Syllable structure is simple. All syllables must be open except for the final syllable, which can be closed by any consonant except for the fortis stops. All syllables must have onsets apart from the initial syllable of the word, which can be onset-less.
Stress was on the second syllable, and on every other syllable after that. Content words had a minimum weight constraint: mono-syllabic words had to have a closed syllable.
Early developments
(1) Change of stop contrast to voiced vs voiceless
Lenis stops become voiced except for word finally, and fortis stops become voiceless. This means that the only stops that can begin a word are voiced, which sounds odd but is actually the case in native Basque vocabulary. Basque also historically had a stop contrast of some other kind that developed in this way into a voicing distinction under the influence of neighbouring languages.
(2) Merger of e with other vowel phonemes
E becomes a copy of the following vowel, and is raised to i word finally. This probably happened via centralisation, i.e. e developed to something like ə, which was then influenced by following vowels. The actual changes are:
e -> V1 / _ C V1
e -> i / _ #
After this, the remaining vowels shift their pronunciation into a more box-like formation.
i a o u -> i æ ɒ u
Crucially, /æ/ and /ɒ/ were both low vowels.
(3) Shift of the palatals
The palatals /c/ and /ɟ/ fricativised and then shifted forwards as part of a chain shift. The exact change was:
c -> s -> θ
ɟ -> ʃ
Development of secondary articulations and further vowel changes
(1) Development of secondary articulations
Consonants gain secondary articulations based on the preceding vowel. Consonants follow i are palatalised, and consonants following either u or ɒ are labialised. No change occurs after æ.
C -> Cʲ / i _
C -> Cʷ / [vowel,rounded] _
(2) Stressed vowels undergo a split depending on the following vowel height
The 4 vowel system had 2 high vowels and 2 low vowels. In stressed syllables, these vowels underwent a split based on the height of the following vowel.
[vowel,high,stressed] -> [high-mid] / _ C [vowel,low]
[vowel,low,stressed] -> [low-mid] / _ C [vowel,high]
Everywhere except word finally,
æ, ɒ -> a
Word finally, where this split didn't occur because there was no following vowel, there was a shift in vowel quality:
æ -> ɛ
ɒ -> a
(3) Reduction of unstressed vowels
All unstressed vowels reduce to ə.
Loss of unstressed syllables part 1 - development of non-final unstressed syllables
(1) Schwa is lost before a syllable containing a stressed vowel, producing a large number of onset clusters
(2) If the second element of the cluster if a semi-vowel, that semi-vowel overrides any secondary articulation the consonant already has
Cj -> Cʲ
Cw -> Cʷ
If the first element is a semi-vowel and the second is a glottal, then the same occurs:
j [glottal] -> [palatalised]
w [glottal] -> [rounded]
(3) h is lost before or after other consonants
(4) Secondary articulations are lost from a consonant preceding another consonant
(5) If the second element of the cluster is r or l and the first is a stop, fricative or a nasal, then the cluster is retained. l -> r after a consonant. Any secondary articulation is lost on r.
(6) Stops are devoiced before r
(7) Nasals become voiced stops before r
(8) t,d,s,θ,ʃ -> s / _ C
(9) nasals assimilate to a following obstruent
(10) s, nasals, ʔ lengthen a following obstruent and delete. ʔ also lengthens a preceding obstruent and deletes.
(11) bilabial stops and velar stops are lost without any reflex before another obstruent.