The 200,000 Year English Project

[VT45]

So, as we all know, languages change over time. That's probably the most obvious statement in linguistics, but how much they change can vary. Some, like Spanish, change slowly, while others like English change more rapidly and diverge. And while over the span of years and decades it might not sound like a language is changing much, but expand that to cover centuries and millennia and you have quite major shifts.

The time it took to turn Proto-Indo-European into English was only 7000 years. So what happens to English over 10,000 years? 100,000 years? 200,000? That's what this thread is for. Each post (besides commentary) will introduce a set of sound changes that can range from conservative to innovate, depending on how much you want to change the language. But each sound shift set must encompass 1,000 years. After listing the sound changes, translate forward the passages listed below. Let's see where we can take English over the next 200,000 years!

Passages for translation:

Hello, my name is Malcolm O'Connor, and I'm a native English speaker. I'm 26 years old, and I'm from Boston.

All human beings are born free and equal in dignity and rights. They are endowed with reason and conscience and should act towards one another in a spirit of brotherhood.

Sound changes:
NORTHERN CITIES SHIFT:
/i/ as in FLEECE, BEAN → /i/
/ɪ/ as in KIT, BIT, BID, PIN → /ɛ/
/ɪ/ as in BATTED (i.e. unstressed) → /ɜ/
/ɛ/ as in DRESS, BET, BED, but not PEN → /ɜ/
/ɛ/ as in PEN → /ɐ/
/a/ as in TRAP, BAT, BAD, AUNT but not ANT → /a/
/a/ as in ANT → /ɛə/
/ə/ as in BANANA → /ɐ/
/ʌ/ as in STRUT, BUT, BUD, but not PUN → /ɐ/
/ʌ/ as in PUN → /ɔ/
/ɝ/ as in NURSE → /ɜ/
/ɑ/ as in PALM, BOT, BOD, BOUGHT, BAWD → /ɑ/
/ɔ/ as in PAWN → /ɑ/
/ɔ/ as in CLOTH but not PAWN → /ɔ/
/ʊ/ as in FOOT, GOOD, WOMAN → /ʉ/
/u/ as in GOOSE, BOOT, BOOED, but not NOON → /u/
/u/ as in NOON → /ʉ/
/aɪ/ as in BIDE, PINE but not BITE → /aɪ/
/aɪ/ as in BITE → /ʌɪ/
/ɔɪ/ as in CHOICE, COIN → /ɔɪ/
/eɪ/ as in FACE, BANE → /eɪ/
/oʊ/ as in GOAT, BONE → /oʊ/
/aʊ/ as in BOUGHED, BOUND but not BOUT → /aʊ/
/aʊ/ as in BOUT → /ɛʉ/
EARLY CONSONANT CHANGES:
* rhotic resurrection
* "g dropping" in -ing forms
* /t/, /d/ flapping (still count as distinct for voicing effects)
* /tr/ → /tʃr/, /dr/ → /dʒr/
* /tʃ/ → /ʃ/, /dʒ/ → /ʒ/ (including /ʃr/, /ʒr/)
* initial prothetic /ɛ/ before /s/ plus oral stop
(/ɛst/ etc. but /sl/, /sn/, /sw/)
* allophonic palatalisation of /k/, /g/ near "narrow" vowel
(that is, /i/, /e/, /ɛ/, /ɪ/)
* /θ/, /ð/ → /s/, /z/
* /t/ → [ʔ] allophonically where in coda with no other obstruent(?)
* likewise /p/, /k/ → [ˀp], [ˀk]
* /b/, /d/, /g/ alone in coda allophonically implosive
(or maybe it's "where in coda with no other obstruent" again?
NEWFIE MERGER:
/ir/ as in FEAR, /er/ as in FAIR both → /eir/
MEDIUM CONSONANT CHANGES:
* coda-simplification:
/t/ dropped after any consonant (e.g. /mɛlt/ → /mɜl/)
obstruents dropped before /s/ (e.g. /mɪks/ → /mɛs/)
* /ʃ/, /ʒ/ allophonically velar unless near "narrow" vowel
DIPHTHONG BREAKING:
(inserted here halfway through the consonant changes because it's what
produces the phonemic split of "broad" and "narrow" stops)
/ɛə/ as in ANT → /ɛ ɐ/
/aɪ/ as in BIDE, PINE but not BITE → /ɑ ɐ/
/ʌɪ/ as in BITE → /ɜ ɐ/
/ɔɪ/ as in CHOICE, COIN → /ɑ ɐ/
/eɪ/ as in FACE, BANE, FEAR → /i ɐ/
/oʊ/ as in GOAT, BONE → /u ɐ/
/aʊ/ as in BOUGHED, BOUND but not BOUT → /a ɐ/
/ɛʉ/ as in BOUT → /ɛ ɐ/
MEDIUM CONSONANT CHANGES, CONTINUED:
* phonemic split of palatalised plosives to /t︠ʃ︡/, /d︠ʒ︡/
(never glottalised/implosive)
* flapped /t/, /d/ merge with /r/ = [ɾ]
* /t/=[ʔ] dropped
* glottalised /p/, /k/ both → /ʔ/
* /h/ dropped
LATE VOWEL CHANGES:
/ʉ/ as in FOOT, GOOD, WOMAN → /y/
/ju/ merges with the above → /y/
/ɜ/ as in DRESS, BET, BED, NURSE, BITE → /ɐ/
"full" nasalisation: e.g. /ɛn/ → /ɛ̃/
LATE CONSONANT CHANGES:
* implosives → /m/, /n/, /ŋ/ (non-nasalising)
* isochrony shift to syllable-timed
* /w/ → /v/
* coda /l/ → /w/ (and unstressed /ɐl/ → /u/)
* /u/→/w/, /i/→/j/ where after empty onset and before vowel
* stress shift towards initial stress
* /sl/, /ʃr/, /fj/ → /ɬ/, /r̥/, /ç/ in onset (not e.g. in "Africa")

Alua, moa niań eć Máucuań Wacánar, eań zá jam a-naspicar niarev av Aćiarień. Jam tvani-śeś jiarz waun, eań zá o-lev eń Bosteń.
[ˈɐ.lu.ˌɐ, ˈmɑ.ɐ ˈni.ɐ̃ etʃ ˈmau.ku.ˌɐ̃ ˈwɐ.ka.ˌnɐɾ, ˈɛ.ɐ̃ za jɐm ɐ-ˈnɐs.pi.ˌkɐɾ ˈni.ɐ.ˌɾɛv ɐv ˈɐ.tʃi.ˌɐ.ɾi.ˌɛ̃. jɐm ˈtvɐ.ni-ˌʃɛʃ ˈji.ɐɾz waun, ˈɛ.ɐ̃ za ɑ-lɛv ɛ̃ ˈbɑs.tɛ̃.]
Hello, my name be 3S PRS Malcolm O'Connor, and CONJ be 1S PRS speaker INDF native of Acadian. Be 1S PRS twenty-six years old, and CONJ live 1S PRS in Boston.

Tudu bieńs úmeń źiar bars libiar eań itvu eń degneri eań drvoz. Źiar ǵev veś loźeć eań cáńśeńs eań zá źiamas-bijav tu iśazar eń a-naspere av hratiarnitia.
[ˈtu.du ˈbi.ɛ̃s ˈy.mɛ̃ ˈʒi.ɐɾ bɐɾs ˈli.bi.ˌɐɾ ˈɛ.ɐ̃ ˈiʔ.vu ˈɛ̃ ˈdɛŋ.nɛ.ˌɾi ˈɛ.ɐ̃ dɾvɑz. ˈʒi.ɐɾ dʒɛv vɛʃ ˈlɑ.ʒɛtʃ ˈɛ.ɐ̃ ˈkã.ʃɛ̃s ˈɛ.ɐ̃ za ˈʒi.ɐ.ˌmɐs-ˈbi.jɐv tu ˈi.xɐ.ˌzɐɾ ɛ̃ ɐ-ˈnɐs.pɛ.ˌɾɛ ɐv ˈr̥ɐ.ti.ˌɐɾ.ni.ˌti.ɐ.]
All beings human give-birth 3P PASS free and equal in dignity and human rights. Give 3P PASS with logic and conscience and CONJ behave 3P JUSS to each other in spirit INDF of fraternity.

So that's Acadian, a daughter language of English spoken in the year 3000 or so, spoken in New England, Atlantic Canada, and Greenland. It's a moderately conservative language (compared to other English daughter languages), but still shows how it's taken a real left turn from English grammatically. But what might it sound like in the year 4000? Well, that's up to you.

[alynnidalar]

Quick question--what dialect are you starting from, and what mergers are you assuming? I'm just wondering because I have the Northern Cities Vowel Shift (well, most of it) and the vowel shifts don't really line up with mine. (or at least I assume your Northern Cities Shift is based on the Northern Cities Vowel Shift?)

I speak Inland North, though, so that might make the difference.

[VT45]

I'm starting from a New England dialect. All the mergers I've put in are listed in the sound shift list. We've got the NCVS (but only before nasals), Canadian raising and the Canadian Shift, as well as the Newfoundland Merger later on.

But that's all in the first step. What sound shifts will affect this dialect/language in the 4th millennium?

[cntrational]

After ~6000 years and beyond, Future English will be pretty much unconnected to Modern English.

It's more complicated when you try adding in societal and technological changes. What if immortality/eternal youth causes language change to accelerate? What if Modern English remains a standard language for long after the spoken languages have diverged, a la Arabic or Latin? What if space habitats cause a break up of dialects due to isolation? What languages, if any, would affect English in the future, like, say, Spanish and Japanese are today? What technologies would create new slang and usages, like the internet is doing today? What if some change causes language to be fundamentally different from before?

[VT45]

Of course in 6000 years or so it'll be almost impossible to see many similarities to modern English, if any. But what might it sound like?

As to the questions you asked, except for the immortality one the answers are up to you. Want to put a technological collapse in? Go for it. Want to send the dialect off world? Go for it. The language is your oyster.

[Yaali Annar]

Assuming that humans are still using auditory means of communication 6000 years in the future. I see that future english would be heavily pidginized..

[WeepingElf]

200,000 years are an awful lot of time, and the language will change utterly beyond recognition. The common ancestor of English and Chinese probably was spoken considerably less than 200,000 years ago, and nevertheless, the two languages have almost nothing in common and the common ancestor is irreconstructible. And that assumes that human evolution goes on the same way as it has proceeded so far; transhumanists opine that 200,000 years from now, our descendants would probably no longer be recognizable as human beings (I am not a transhumanist, and doubt that, but, well, we don't know). This is a big project; you will have to work out thousands of changes.

[Pole, the]

This is a big project; you will have to work out thousands of changes.

Well, isn't it supposed to be a forum game, isn't it “we” who should work out these changes?

[Shm Jay]

What's wrong with keeping it to, say, 2000 years, which is manageable? You can always keep adding 2000 year increments. 200,000 years is ridiculous and grandiose, like the person who starts learning Klingon and then wants to translate the Bible after one lesson. You might as well make it 200,000,000,000 years; the two time periods are equally unmanageable.

[VT45]

Well I decided on 200,000 years since that would give us a good number of millennium-long increments to have our fun, and also because I'd just recently watched the Doctor Who episodes that took place on Satellite Five, 200,000 years in the future. So the date was stuck in my mind.